Misplaced Pages

#526473

227-749: The percentages agreement was a secret informal agreement between British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin during the Fourth Moscow Conference in October 1944. It gave the percentage division of control over Eastern European countries, dividing them into spheres of influence . It is also known as the naughty document , a nickname coined by Churchill himself due to his concerns regarding American reaction to any deal with such strong imperialist undertones, although in reality U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt

454-705: A junior ministerial position he had requested. He worked beneath the Secretary of State for the Colonies , Victor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin , and took Edward Marsh as his secretary; Marsh remained his secretary for 25 years. Churchill's first task was helping to draft a constitution for the Transvaal ; and he helped oversee the formation of a government in the Orange River Colony . In dealing with southern Africa, he sought to ensure equality between

681-717: A military occupation of Egypt that had begun in 1882, which was envisioned in Britain as being permanent. For Churchill, British control of the Suez canal required British control of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea . Losing control of either would cancel out the advantage of control of the Suez Canal. Thus, for Churchill, it was critical to ensure that the nations on the Mediterranean sea lanes, like Italy and Greece, were in

908-518: A "cavalier fashion" dividing up Eastern Europe into spheres of influence with no effort to consult the peoples concerned. As Churchill saw it, the agreement was very favourable for Britain as EAM mostly controlled Greece, which Stalin agreed to accept as being in the British sphere of influence, while in exchange Britain recognised Bulgaria and Romania, which the Red Army already occupied, as being in

1135-463: A "war without hate", a pure military clash in the desert without the partisan murders and ethnic cleansing that was occurring across Europe. This view has been challenged by recent historians, given that there were indeed many civilians who lived in the region and the campaign was marked by numerous atrocities and abuses by both Italian and German forces towards Allied prisoners of war and local Jewish , Berber , and Arab populations. After victory by

1362-679: A Communist regime, and furthermore he wanted to keep the part of Transylvania that Hungary had received under the Second Vienna Award of 1940. On 6 October 1944, the Battle of Debrecen began as the Red Army broke out onto the Hungarian plain. The Red Army captured and then lost Debrecen , though the three Soviet corps that had been encircled by the German counterattack were able to escape. The Soviet drive to Budapest had been halted for

1589-851: A Conservative MP in 1900, he defected to the Liberals in 1904. In H. H. Asquith 's Liberal government , Churchill was president of the Board of Trade and Home Secretary , championing prison reform and workers' social security. As First Lord of the Admiralty during the First World War, he oversaw the Gallipoli campaign , but after it proved a disaster, was demoted to Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster . He resigned in November 1915 and joined

1816-521: A Liberal, Churchill attacked government policy and gained a reputation as a radical under the influences of John Morley and David Lloyd George . In December 1905, Balfour resigned as prime minister and King Edward VII invited the Liberal leader Henry Campbell-Bannerman to replace him. Hoping to secure a working majority , Campbell-Bannerman called a general election in January 1906, which

2043-718: A Soviet reply, on 23 September, the Deputy Foreign Commissar, Andrey Vyshinsky , told Clark Kerr that the Soviet Union would honour the Eden–Gusev agreement of May 1944. Besides for Greece, Churchill pushed very strongly for Bulgaria to return to pre-1941 frontiers. Churchill was notably indifferent to reversing the 1940 Treaty of Craiova , which had given the Bulgarians the Southern Dobruja at

2270-685: A coalition government that would see the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia provisional government proclaimed by Marshal Josip Broz Tito in 1943 unite with the Yugoslav government-in-exile based in London, headed by King Peter II . Churchill had hopes that he with the help of Stalin could persuade Tito to accept King Peter II, believing that retaining the House of Karađorđević would ensure Yugoslavia would remain at least partially in

2497-720: A commitment that the Bulgarians were to pull out of the parts of Yugoslavia and Greece they had occupied, the problem of spheres of influence in Bulgaria and the Bulgarian armistice had not gone away. The Americans had now discovered an interest in Bulgaria after all, and the Secretary of State Cordell Hull insisted upon a text of armistice agreement that would give the American delegation on the ACC supervising Bulgaria an equal say with

SECTION 10

#1732772561527

2724-602: A difficult challenge for the British forces. However, the Allies were left with the advantage of having secured the island of Malta, enabling the Allies to carry out future aerial operations. Additionally, on land, allied British and American forces were able to hold onto their possessions. On December 4, 1942, the Allied Force Headquarters in North Africa reported that military operations were ongoing in

2951-589: A difficult position, Churchill appealed directly to Roosevelt. The British historian David Carlton recounts that [Churchill told Franklin Roosevelt] on 31 May…that the proposed Anglo-Soviet arrangement applied only to war conditions and was not an attempt to carve up the Balkans. Roosevelt was unimpressed and on 11 June held that the result would be "the division of the Balkan region into spheres of influence despite

3178-425: A distinction between criminal and political prisoners , with rules for the latter being relaxed. There were educational innovations like the establishment of libraries, and a requirement to stage entertainments four times a year. The rules on solitary confinement were relaxed, and Churchill proposed abolition of automatic imprisonment of those who failed to pay fines. Imprisonment of people aged between 16 and 21

3405-614: A fascination with the Balkans, which he saw as one of the most favourable places for operations. A recurring theme of his "Mediterranean Strategy" was his plan for the Allies to land on the Adriatic coast of Yugoslavia and advance through the Ljubljana Gap in the Alps to reach Austria in order to stake a post-war claim on Eastern Europe. The collapsing German position in the Balkans spurred Churchill's interest once again in his plans for

3632-511: A flat in London's Mayfair , using it as his base for six years. He stood again as a Conservative candidate at Oldham in the October 1900 general election , securing a narrow victory to become a Member of Parliament aged 25. In the same month, he published Ian Hamilton's March , a book about his South African experiences, which became the focus of a lecture tour in November through Britain, America and Canada. Members of Parliament were unpaid and

3859-476: A full meeting of minds with the Russians. The same day Churchill sent a letter to Stalin saying that Britain had special ties to King Peter II and King George II of Greece, which made it a matter of British honour that they be restored to their thrones, though he also professed to believe that the peoples of the Balkans were entitled to choose any form of political system they liked except fascism. Churchill stated

4086-475: A huge gaping hole in the German lines on the Eastern Front, and led to rapid Soviet advances. On 20 August 1944, the Red Army launched a major offensive into the Balkans and invaded Romania, whose oil was key to the German war effort. On 21 August 1944, Churchill's doctor, Lord Moran, wrote in his diary: "Winston never talks of Hitler these days. He is always harping on the dangers of Communism. He dreams of

4313-599: A large majority, it established the principle of a minimum wage and the right to have meal breaks. In May 1909, he proposed the Labour Exchanges Bill to establish over 200 Labour Exchanges through which the unemployed would be assisted in finding employment. He promoted the idea of an unemployment insurance scheme, which would be part-funded by the state. To ensure funding for their reforms, Lloyd George and Churchill denounced Reginald McKenna 's policy of naval expansion, refusing to believe war with Germany

4540-891: A member of the Conservative Party , which he led from 1940 to 1955. He was a member of the Liberal Party from 1904 to 1924. Of mixed English and American parentage, Churchill was born in Oxfordshire into the wealthy, aristocratic Spencer family . He joined the British Army in 1895 and saw action in British India , the Mahdist War and the Second Boer War , gaining fame as a war correspondent and writing books about his campaigns. Elected

4767-617: A monarchy or become a republic. Stalin replied that ...it was difficult to influence Italian Communists. The position of Communists differed in different countries. It depended upon their national situation. If Ercoli [Palmiro Togliatti, secretary-general of the Communist party of Italy] were in Moscow Marshal Stalin might influence him. But he was in Italy, where the circumstances were different. He could send Marshal Stalin to

SECTION 20

#1732772561527

4994-640: A mutual de-escalation, but this was refused. Churchill pushed for higher pay and greater recreational facilities for naval staff, more submarines, and a renewed focus on the Royal Naval Air Service , encouraging them to experiment with how aircraft could be used for military purposes. He coined the term " seaplane " and ordered 100 to be constructed. Some Liberals objected to his level of naval expenditure; in December 1913 he threatened to resign if his proposal for 4 new battleships in 1914–15

5221-509: A number of their documents captured, alerting British intelligence to the problem. The British responded by instituting an improved call signal procedure, introducing radiotelephonic codes, imposing rigid wireless silence on reserve formations, padding out real messages with dummy traffic, tightening up on their radio discipline in combat and creating an entire fake signals network in the southern sector. Allied codebreakers read much enciphered German message traffic, especially that encrypted with

5448-450: A piece of paper which he pushed across to Stalin, who ticked it off and passed it back. The result of these discussions was that the percentages of Soviet influence in Bulgaria and, more significantly, Hungary were amended to 80 percent and Romania to 100 percent. Churchill called it a "naughty document". After discussing the Balkans, Churchill and Stalin turned towards the proposed United Nations, with Churchill ceding to Stalin's demand that

5675-624: A preference for Protestantism over Roman Catholicism because he felt it "a step nearer Reason". Interested in parliamentary affairs, he declared himself "a Liberal in all but name", adding he could never endorse the Liberal Party 's support for Irish home rule . Instead, he allied himself to the Tory democracy wing of the Conservatives and on a visit home, gave his first speech for the party's Primrose League at Claverton Down . Mixing reformist and conservative perspectives, he supported

5902-671: A reputation as a conciliator. He worked with Lloyd George to champion social reform . He promoted what he called a "network of State intervention and regulation" akin to that in Germany. Continuing Lloyd George's work, Churchill introduced the Mines Eight Hours Bill , which prohibited miners from working more than an eight-hour day . In 1909, he introduced the Trade Boards Bill , creating Trade Boards which could prosecute exploitative employers. Passing with

6129-463: A sense of legitimacy to these gains". In his biography of Churchill, Roy Jenkins writes that the agreement "proposed Realpolitik spheres of influence in the Balkans. The [Foreign Office] record reported [Churchill] as saying that 'the Americans would be shocked if they saw how crudely he had put it.'" David Carlton wrote that "[With the October contract] a clear if informal deal had been done on

6356-646: A series of raids against Italian positions in Libya. Following the defeat of France on 25 June, Italian forces in Tripolitania – facing French troops based in Tunisia – redeployed to Cyrenaica to reinforce the Italian Tenth Army . This, coupled with the steadily degrading equipment of the British forces, led General Archibald Wavell to order an end to the raids and place the defence of

6583-608: A significant role in informing the Germans of allied strength and intentions between January and June 1942 In addition, the Italian Servizio Informazioni Segrete or SIS code-breakers were able to successfully intercept much radio encrypted signals intelligence (SIGINT) from British aircraft traffic as well as first-class ciphers from British vessels and land bases, providing Supermarina (Regia Marina) with timely warnings of Allied intentions in

6810-420: A small-scale counter-attack called Operation Brevity in an attempt to push Axis forces off the key passes at the border, with some initial success. However they could not hold the advance positions and followed Brevity up with a much larger-scale offensive, Operation Battleaxe intended to relieve the siege at Tobruk, but this operation also failed. Following the failure of Operation Battleaxe, Archibald Wavell

7037-623: A strike in munitions factories along the Clyde and increased munitions production. In his October 1917 letter to his Cabinet colleagues, he penned the plan of attack for the next year, that would bring final victory to the Allies. He ended a second strike, in June 1918, by threatening to conscript strikers into the army. In the House of Commons, Churchill voted in support of the Representation of

Percentages agreement - Misplaced Pages Continue

7264-691: A war zone. In the autumn, he and friend Reggie Barnes , went to observe the Cuban War of Independence and became involved in skirmishes after joining Spanish troops attempting to suppress independence fighters. Churchill sent reports to the Daily Graphic in London. He proceeded to New York and wrote to his mother about "what an extraordinary people the Americans are!" With the Hussars, he went to Bombay in October 1896. Based in Bangalore , he

7491-530: A yacht in the Sea of Marmara just outside of Istanbul , the British ambassador to Turkey, Sir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen secretly signed an armistice with the Hungarian diplomat László Veress under which Hungarian forces would surrender to British and American forces the moment they arrived in Hungary; significantly, the secret armistice was vague about whether it also applied to Soviet forces. Though Kállay rejected

7718-561: Is strongly disputed by the authors Vincent P. O'Hara and Enrico Cernuschi (2013) who claim that historians like F.H. Hinsley have greatly exaggerated the effects of Ultra. For example, they claim that intelligence provided by Ultra had little impact in stopping Italian convoys reaching North Africa. Of the 2.67 million tons of materiel, fuel, and munitions shipped to Africa – nearly all in Italian vessels and under Italian escort – 2.24 million tons managed to arrive despite

7945-599: The Afrika Korps by Adolf Hitler , was placed under the command of Erwin Rommel . His orders were to reinforce the Italians and block Allied attempts to drive them out of the region. However, the initial commitment of only one panzer division and subsequently, no more than two panzer and one motorized divisions, indicated the limited extent of German involvement and commitment to this theatre of operations. The bulk of

8172-552: The Agadir Crisis of April 1911, when there was a threat of war between France and Germany, Churchill suggested an alliance with France and Russia to safeguard the independence of Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands to counter possible German expansionism. The Crisis had a profound effect on Churchill and he altered his views about the need for naval expansion. In October 1911, Asquith appointed Churchill First Lord of

8399-791: The Allies and the Axis Powers . It included campaigns in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts ( Western Desert campaign , Desert War), in Morocco and Algeria ( Operation Torch ), and in Tunisia ( Tunisia campaign ). The Allied war effort was dominated by the British Commonwealth and exiles from German-occupied Europe . The United States officially entered the war in December 1941 and began direct military assistance in North Africa on 11 May 1942. Fighting in North Africa started with

8626-598: The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), began its assault at Gallipoli . Both campaigns failed and Churchill was held by many MPs, particularly Conservatives, to be responsible. In May, Asquith agreed under parliamentary pressure to form an all-party coalition government , but the Conservatives' condition of entry was that Churchill must be removed from the Admiralty. Churchill pleaded his case with Asquith and Conservative leader Bonar Law but had to accept demotion. On 25 November 1915, Churchill resigned from

8853-598: The Baltic to the Mediterranean that would place much of Eastern Europe in the Western sphere of influence. The Hungarian prime minister Miklós Kállay was convinced by 1943 that the Axis powers were destined to lose the war, and his main interest was in ensuring that Hungary signed an armistice with Britain and the United States before the Red Army arrived in Hungary. Throughout 1943, Hungarian diplomats in Turkey were secretly in contact with British and American diplomats, telling them that their government no longer wished to be fighting with Germany. On 9 September 1943, aboard

9080-534: The British Eighth Army – advancing westward along the North African coast – had reached the Tunisian border. Rommel and von Arnim found themselves in an Allied "two army" pincer. They were outflanked, outmanned and outgunned. Rommel went back to Germany for health reasons and was substituted by the Italian general Messe . The British Eighth Army bypassed the Axis defence on the Mareth Line in late March after harsh fighting and First Army in central Tunisia launched their main offensive in mid-April to squeeze

9307-435: The Budget League , and warned that upper-class obstruction could anger working-class Britons and lead to class war. The government called the January 1910 general election , which resulted in a Liberal victory; Churchill retained his seat at Dundee. He proposed abolition of the House of Lords in a cabinet memo, suggesting it be succeeded by a unicameral system, or smaller second chamber that lacked an in-built advantage for

Percentages agreement - Misplaced Pages Continue

9534-402: The Enigma machine . The Allies' Ultra programme was initially of limited value, as it took too long to get the information to the commanders in the field, and at times provided information that was less than helpful. In terms of anticipating the next move the Germans would make, reliance on Ultra sometimes backfired. Part of the reason the initial German attacks in March 1941 were so successful

9761-412: The Hughligans , but was critical of the Conservative government on various issues, especially increases in army funding. He believed additional military expenditure should go to the navy. This upset the Conservative front bench but was supported by Liberals, with whom he increasingly socialised, particularly Liberal Imperialists like H. H. Asquith . Churchill later wrote that he "drifted steadily to

9988-421: The Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940. On 14 June, the British 11th Hussars and part of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment , (1st RTR) crossed the border from Egypt into Libya and captured Fort Capuzzo . This was followed by an Italian counter-offensive into Egypt and the capture of Sidi Barrani in September. The British recaptured Sidi Barrani in December during Operation Compass . The Italian 10th Army

10215-457: The Naval Battle of Casablanca , which ended in an American victory. The Allied landings prompted the Axis occupation of Vichy France ( Case Anton ) including an attempt to capture the French fleet at Toulon, which did them little good, as the main portion of the fleet was scuttled to prevent their use by the Axis. The Vichy Army in North Africa joined the Allies. Following the Operation Torch landings – from early November 1942 –

10442-445: The Partition of Ireland . Concerning the possibility of partition, Churchill stated: "Whatever Ulster's right may be, she cannot stand in the way of the whole of the rest of Ireland. Half a province cannot impose a permanent veto on the nation. Half a province cannot obstruct forever the reconciliation between the British and Irish democracies". Speaking in the House of Commons on 16 February 1922, Churchill said: "What Irishmen all over

10669-453: The Reich in the autumn of 1944. Only on 28 November 1944, after the minesweepers had cleared the Scheldt, could the Allies begin to use Antwerp. This in turn placed Stalin in a relatively favourable position in regards to negotiating power with the Allies. With the Red Army now deep in the Balkans, Adolf Hitler decided that Greece was untenable and he ordered his forces to pull out of Greece to head into Yugoslavia before they were cut off by

10896-500: The Royal Navy at night. Rommel's forces did not have the strength or training to take the fortress. This created a supply problem for his forward units. His front-line positions at Sollum were at the end of an extended supply chain that stretched back to Tripoli and had to bypass the coast road at Tobruk. Further, he was constantly threatened with a breakout of the British forces at Tobruk. Without Tobruk in Axis hands, further advances into Egypt were impractical. The Allies launched

11123-406: The Royal Scots Fusiliers on the Western Front for six months. In 1917, he returned to government under David Lloyd George and served successively as Minister of Munitions , Secretary of State for War , Secretary of State for Air , and Secretary of State for the Colonies , overseeing the Anglo-Irish Treaty and British foreign policy in the Middle East . After two years out of Parliament, he

11350-414: The Russian Civil War , but soon recognised the people's desire to bring them home. After the Soviets won the civil war, Churchill proposed a cordon sanitaire around the country. In the Irish War of Independence , he supported the use of the paramilitary Black and Tans to combat Irish revolutionaries. After British troops in Iraq clashed with Kurdish rebels, Churchill authorised two squadrons to

11577-620: The Siege of Ladysmith and take Pretoria. He was among the first British troops into both places. He and cousin, Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough , demanded and received the surrender of 52 Boer prison camp guards. Throughout the war, he publicly chastised anti-Boer prejudices, calling for them to be treated with "generosity and tolerance", and afterwards urged the British to be magnanimous in victory. In July, having resigned his lieutenancy, he returned to Britain. His Morning Post despatches had been published as London to Ladysmith via Pretoria and sold well. Churchill rented

SECTION 50

#1732772561527

11804-491: The Siege of Sidney Street ; three Latvian burglars had killed police officers and hidden in a house in the East End of London , surrounded by police. Churchill stood with the police though he did not direct their operation. After the house caught fire, he told the fire brigade not to proceed into the house because of the threat posed by the armed men. Afterwards, two of the burglars were found dead. Although he faced criticism for his decision, he said he "thought it better to let

12031-411: The Turkish Straits was biased against the Soviet Union and needed to be revised. Stalin maintained that if Britain had the right to control the Suez canal regardless of what the Egyptians felt and likewise the United States had the right to control the Panama canal regardless of what the Panamanians felt, then so too did the Soviet Union have the right to control the Turkish straits regardless of what

12258-430: The Vichy government in control of French territory not occupied by Germany. This included all of French North Africa . On 10 June, Italy aligned itself with Nazi Germany and declared war upon France and the United Kingdom . British forces (along with Indian and Rhodesian troops) based in Egypt were ordered to take defensive measures, but to avoid provocation as much as possible. However, on 11 June they began

12485-496: The Wehrmacht in northwest Europe. British policy after June 1941 was to support the Soviet Union as a Soviet defeat would free the majority of the Wehrmacht to fight in the west. At the same time, Churchill had hopes that the war would end with the Red Army being more or less still within the 1941 borders of the Soviet Union with the Allies liberating the rest of Europe. Churchill, together with other British leaders, believed that Britain could not afford heavy losses in fighting against

12712-447: The greatest British prime ministers . Churchill was born on 30 November 1874 at his family's ancestral home, Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. On his father's side, he was a member of the aristocracy as a descendant of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough . His father, Lord Randolph Churchill , representing the Conservative Party , had been elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Woodstock in February 1874. His mother, Jennie ,

12939-421: The "Black Code" of the US State Department . However, in September 1941, the Italians had stolen a code book containing the Black Code, photographed it and returned it to the US embassy in Rome. The Italians shared parts of their intercepts with their German allies. In addition the " Chiffrierabteilung " (German military cipher branch) were soon able to break the code. Fellers' reports were very detailed and played

13166-434: The "disgusting butchery of the natives" by Europeans. With Campbell-Bannerman terminally ill, Asquith became prime minister in April 1908. He appointed Churchill as President of the Board of Trade . Aged 33, Churchill was the youngest Cabinet member since 1866. Newly appointed Cabinet ministers were legally obliged to seek re-election at a by-election. On 24 April, Churchill lost the Manchester North West by-election to

13393-471: The Admiralty , and he took up official residence at Admiralty House . He created a naval war staff and, over the next two and a half years, focused on naval preparation, visiting naval stations and dockyards, seeking to improve morale, and scrutinising German naval developments. After Germany passed its 1912 Naval Law to increase warship production, Churchill vowed that for every new German battleship, Britain would build two. He invited Germany to engage in

13620-582: The Admiralty. In May 1940, he became prime minister, succeeding Neville Chamberlain . Churchill formed a national government and oversaw British involvement in the Allied war effort against the Axis powers , resulting in victory in 1945 . After the Conservatives' defeat in the 1945 general election , he became Leader of the Opposition . Amid the developing Cold War with the Soviet Union , he publicly warned of an " iron curtain " of Soviet influence in Europe and promoted European unity. Between his terms, he wrote several books recounting his experience during

13847-439: The Allies in the Battle of Gazala in June and capturing Tobruk . The Axis forces drove the Eighth Army back over the Egyptian border, but their advance was stopped in July only 90 miles (140 km) from Alexandria in the First Battle of El Alamein . Of great significance, on 29 June reports of British military operations in North Africa sent to Washington by the US military attaché in Cairo, Bonner Fellers , no longer used

SECTION 60

#1732772561527

14074-502: The Allies in the North African campaign, the stage was set for the Italian campaign to begin. The invasion of Sicily followed two months later. Nearly 400,000 Axis and Allied troops were lost, injured or died of disease by the end of the North African campaign. Sono circa 400.000 i prigionieri fatti dagli inglesi in Etiopia e in Africa settentrionale, 125.000 presi dagli americani in Tunisia e in Sicilia, 40.000 lasciati ai francesi in Tunisia ("There were about 400,000 prisoners taken by

14301-502: The Allies were able to advance into Tunisia, but only in single division strength. By early December, the Eastern Task Force – which had been redesignated as the British First Army under Lieutenant-General Kenneth Anderson – was composed of the British 78th Infantry Division , British 6th Armoured Division , 1st Parachute Brigade , No. 6 Commando and elements of US 1st Armored Division . But by this time, one German and five Italian divisions had been shipped from Europe and

14528-436: The Allies, the British not only failed to change their codes with any frequency, they were also prone to poor radio discipline in combat. Their officers made frequent open, uncoded transmissions to their commands, allowing the Germans to more easily identify British units and deployments. The situation changed after a counterattack during the Battle of Gazala resulted in the 621st Signals Battalion being overrun and destroyed, and

14755-407: The American ambassador to the Soviet Union, W. Averell Harriman , be allowed to attend the summit as his observer, which was politely refused under the grounds that Harriman could only attend as Roosevelt's representative. Winston Churchill proposed the agreement, under which the UK and USSR agreed to divide Europe into spheres of influence, with one country having "predominance" in one sphere, and

14982-404: The Americans, who objected to the behavior of King Victor Emmanuel III in Italy and King George II in Greece who had both supported fascist regimes and had discredited the Houses of Savoy and Glücksburg . In opposition to Churchill, who favoured not only retaining the monarchies in Italy and Greece but also keeping in power men who supported fascism such as Marshal Pietro Badoglio , Roosevelt

15209-415: The Anglo-American landings in North-West Africa in November 1942 and fighting against Vichy France forces (which then changed sides), the Allies trapped about 250,000 German and Italian personnel in northern Tunisia, forcing their surrender in May 1943. Information gleaned via British Ultra code-breaking was important in the Allied victory in North Africa. The Italian campaign followed, culminating in

15436-432: The Anglo-Soviet summit was generally accurate, though there was much about the Churchill-Stalin talks that he did not know about. For the next several months, Roosevelt was ignorant of the full contents of the Moscow summit and the percentages agreement. After discussing Italy, the conversation once again turned towards Bulgaria, which Stalin claimed that the Bulgarian Communists were being restrained from their radicalism by

15663-416: The Anglophile Veress speaking much about his hopes for closer Anglo-Hungarian ties after the war, led to hopes that Hungary would be in the British sphere of influence in the post-war world. Bulgaria was allied to Germany and had received Romanian, Greek, and Yugoslav territory in 1940–41. In December 1941, King Boris III of Bulgaria declared war on the United States and Great Britain but never declared on

15890-641: The Axis forces until their resistance in Africa collapsed. The Axis forces surrendered on 13 May 1943 yielding over 275,000 prisoners of war . The last Axis force to surrender in North Africa was the 1st Italian Army of General Messe. This huge loss of experienced troops greatly reduced the military capacity of the Axis powers, although some Axis troops escaped Tunisia. This defeat in Africa led to all Italian colonies in Africa being captured. The Axis had considerable success in intelligence gathering through radio communication intercepts and monitoring unit radio traffic. The most important success came through intercepting

16117-455: The British III Corps under General Ronald Scobie landed in Greece. On 10 October 1944, the Germans began to pull out of Greece. On 15 October 1944, Horthy signed an armistice with the Soviet Union, but Hitler had anticipated this move and made preparations to keep Hungary a battlefield regardless of what the Hungarians thought. The fact that Horthy insisted that his honour as a Hungarian officer and gentleman required him to tell Hitler that he

16344-647: The British First Army had one British, one US and one French Corps (a second British Corps headquarters was activated in April). In the second half of February, in eastern Tunisia, the Axis had some successes against the mainly inexperienced French and US troops, most notably in routing the US II Corps commanded by Major General Lloyd Fredendall at the Battle of Kasserine Pass . By the beginning of March,

16571-584: The British and Boers. He announced a gradual phasing out of the use of Chinese indentured labourers in South Africa; he and the government decided a sudden ban would cause too much upset and might damage the colony's economy. He expressed concerns about the relations between European settlers and the black African population; after the Zulu launched their Bambatha Rebellion in Natal , Churchill complained about

16798-487: The British sphere of influence after the war. However, unlike Greece and Italy, which British ships using the Suez Canal route had to sail past, this was not the case with Yugoslavia, which therefore led Churchill to place less importance upon that nation. Towards Greece, British policy as stated in an internal document was "our long-term policy towards Greece is to retain her in the British sphere of influence, and...a Russian-dominated Greece would not be by British strategy in

17025-400: The British sphere of influence after the war. Inconveniently for Churchill, during the war Italy, Greece, and Yugoslavia all had very large and growing Communist parties, and the most effective anti-Axis resistance fighters in those countries were also communist. Churchill appreciated the fact that the Soviet Union for much of the war was doing the majority of the fighting against Germany. At

17252-573: The British to change their minds, President Roosevelt gave a direct order that Operation Torch was to have precedence over other operations and was to take place at the earliest possible date, one of only two direct orders he gave to military commanders during the war. The landings started on 8 November, and finished on 16 November. In an attempt to pincer German and Italian forces, Allied forces (American and British Commonwealth) landed in Vichy-held French North Africa under

17479-973: The British to supply their forces in Egypt via the long route around the Cape of Good Hope. An agreement was soon reached with Greece and Romania, but Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Hungary turned to be more difficult. According to Churchill's account of the incident, Churchill suggested that the Soviet Union should have 90 percent influence in Romania and 75 percent in Bulgaria ; the United Kingdom should have 90 percent in Greece ; and they should have 50 percent each in Hungary and Yugoslavia . Churchill wrote it on

17706-623: The Bulgarians of mistreating British officers in Greek Thrace and wanted the Soviet Union to order them to treat British officers with respect, leading Molotov in a rare moment of wit to say the Soviets had just promised not to interfere in Greek internal affairs. The main point soon turned to be the armistice with Bulgaria. The armistices the Soviet Union had just signed with Romania and Finland gave power to an Allied Control Commission (ACC) which

17933-601: The Communist infusion and invasion". The attempt to work spheres of influence for the Balkans led Gusev to ask if the Americans were included. Eden assured Gusev that the Americans would back the spheres of influence agreement, but when asked, the State Department firmly replied it was not the policy of the United States to make such agreements as that would violate the Atlantic Charter . Placed into

18160-578: The Conservative candidate by 429 votes. On 9 May, the Liberals stood him in the safe seat of Dundee , where he won comfortably . Churchill proposed marriage to Clementine Hozier ; they were married on 12 September 1908 at St Margaret's, Westminster and honeymooned in Baveno , Venice, and Veveří Castle in Moravia . They lived at 33 Eccleston Square , London, and their first daughter, Diana ,

18387-582: The Conservatives. In April, the Lords relented and the People's Budget passed. Churchill continued to campaign against the House of Lords and assisted passage of the Parliament Act 1911 which reduced and restricted its powers. In February 1910, Churchill was promoted to Home Secretary , giving him control over the police and prison services; he implemented a prison reform programme. Measures included

18614-670: The Dardanelles neutral zone, which was policed by the British army based in Chanak . Churchill and Lloyd George favoured military resistance to any Turkish advance but the majority Conservatives in the coalition government opposed it. A political debacle ensued which resulted in the Conservative withdrawal from the government, precipitating the November 1922 general election . Also in September, Churchill's fifth and last child, Mary ,

18841-742: The Eastern Mediterranean". Knowing that the main resistance force in Greece was the Communist-dominated EAM ( Ethnikó Apeleftherotikó Metopes -National Liberation Front ), British policy was to support EAM as a way to tie down German forces that might otherwise fight against the British, but at the same time to prevent EAM from coming to power and ensure that the Greek government-in-exile based in Cairo returned to Greece. Given

19068-591: The Egyptian border with a small screening force. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini ordered the Tenth Army to invade Egypt by 8 August. Two days later, no invasion having been launched, Mussolini ordered Marshal Graziani that, the moment German forces launched Operation Sea Lion to invade Great Britain, he was to attack. Beaten in the Battle of Britain, the German invasion never took place. On 8 September,

19295-883: The Eighth Army launched a major offensive, decisively defeating the Italian-German army in the Second Battle of El Alamein in late October, driving Axis forces west and capturing Tripoli in mid-January 1943. By February, the Eighth Army was facing the Italian-German Panzer Army near the Mareth Line and came under command of Alexander's 18th Army Group for the concluding phase of the war in North Africa ;– the Tunisia campaign . Operation Torch in November 1942

19522-760: The First World War began in August 1914. The navy transported 120,000 troops to France and began a blockade of Germany's North Sea ports. Churchill sent submarines to the Baltic Sea to assist the Russian Navy and sent the Marine Brigade to Ostend , forcing a reallocation of German troops. In September, Churchill assumed full responsibility for Britain's aerial defence. On 7 October, Clementine gave birth to their 3rd child, Sarah . In October, Churchill visited Antwerp to observe Belgian defences against

19749-569: The Germans and Italians initiated a buildup of troops in Tunisia to fill the vacuum left by Vichy troops which had withdrawn. During this period of weakness, the Allies decided against a rapid advance into Tunisia while they wrestled with the Vichy authorities. Many of the Allied soldiers were tied up in garrison duties because of the uncertain status and intentions of the Vichy forces. By mid-November,

19976-469: The Germans, and the fact that the Red Army was doing the bulk of the fighting, inflicting heavy losses on the Germans while taking even more heavy losses itself, was a source of quiet satisfaction for him. Churchill's "Mediterranean strategy" called for the Allies to take control of North Africa , and then to invade Italy, which in turn would be used as a base for invading the Balkans . It was described by

20203-609: The Gothic Line, which made the best use of the natural defensive terrain of north-eastern Italy that was crisscrossed by mountains and 14 rivers, led to the 8th Army advancing far more slowly than what had been hoped and led for the plans for the Ljubljana Gate being shelved. In Triumph and Tragedy , the last of his History of the Second World War books, Churchill attacked the Americans for Operation Dragoon ,

20430-502: The Hungarians. Churchill was notably reluctant to declare war on Hungary, and only did so under heavy Soviet pressure. In 1942, treaties had been signed by the governments in exile for a post-war federation uniting Yugoslavia and Greece, and another federation uniting Poland and Czechoslovakia ; Churchill had hopes that the proposed Austro-Hungarian federation would serve as the link for an Eastern European super-state stretching from

20657-695: The Italian Comando Supremo ("high command") speedily sent several large motorized and armoured forces to protect their colonies in North Africa . This greatly expanded reinforcement included the soon-to-be-renowned Ariete Armoured division under General Ettore Baldassarre . Meanwhile, the Germans hastily assembled a motorized force, whose lead elements arrived in Tripoli in February. This relatively small expeditionary force, termed

20884-414: The Italians – hampered by a lack of transport, enfeebled by the low level of training among officers, and weakened by the state of its supporting equipment – were ordered to invade Egypt the following day. The battle plan was to advance along the coastal road while limited armoured forces operated on the desert flank. To counter the Italian advance, Wavell ordered his screening forces to harass

21111-495: The Italians, cutting off their retreat. Although they tried desperately to overcome the British force at the Battle of Beda Fomm , the Italians were unable to break through, and the remnants of the retreating army surrendered. Over ten weeks Allied forces had destroyed the Italian Tenth Army and reached El Agheila, taking 130,000 prisoners of war in the process. Mussolini requested help from his German allies, while

21338-622: The Liberals won in a massive landslide. Churchill won the Manchester North West seat and his biography of his father was published; he received advance payment of £8,000. It was generally well received. The first biography of Churchill himself, written by the Liberal MacCallum Scott , was published. In the new government, Churchill became Under-Secretary of State for the Colonial Office ,

21565-641: The Ljubljana Gap, but landing in Dalmatia would require capturing north-east Italy first. On 25 August, the British 8th Army began Operation Olive , an offensive against the Gothic Line in northern Italy spearheaded by the 1st Canadian Corps with the aim of taking Pesaro and Rimini, which were to be used as ports to support the planned British offensive in Yugoslavia. The stiff German resistance on

21792-548: The Malakand Field Force , which received positive reviews. He wrote his only work of fiction, Savrola , a Ruritanian romance . To keep occupied, Churchill embraced writing as what Roy Jenkins calls his "whole habit", especially through his career when he was out of office. Writing was his safeguard against recurring depression , which he referred to as his "black dog". Using London contacts, Churchill got attached to General Herbert Kitchener 's campaign in

22019-679: The Mediterranean. The Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea were key shipping routes between Britain and its colonies in Asia, especially India , together with the Dominions of Australia and New Zealand . It was also the main route that tankers used to carry oil from the Middle East to Britain. Because of the Suez Canal, Churchill and other British officials intended to keep Egypt in the British sphere of influence by continuing

22246-576: The Mediterranean. Indeed, so successful was the Italian SIS in handling the bulk of Axis naval intelligence in the Mediterranean, that "Britain's offensive use of SIGINT was largely negated by Italy's defensive SIGINT." The Afrika Korps had the intelligence services of the 621st Signals Battalion mobile monitoring element which arrived in North Africa in late April 1941, commanded by Hauptmann Alfred Seeböhm. The 621st Signals Battalion monitored radio communications among British units. Unfortunately for

22473-525: The Middle East, and was involved in the installations of Faisal I of Iraq and Abdullah I of Jordan . Churchill travelled to Mandatory Palestine where, as a supporter of Zionism , he refused an Arab Palestinian petition to prohibit Jewish migration. He did allow temporary restrictions following the Jaffa riots . In September 1922, the Chanak Crisis erupted as Turkish forces threatened to occupy

22700-513: The Normandy campaign had crippled the Wehrmacht in western Europe turned out to be mistaken as in what German historians call the " miracle of September ," the Wehrmacht recovered from its defeat in Normandy and stopped the Allied advance. To sustain their advance, the Allies needed a major port closer to their lines than Cherbourg and Marseilles . The deeper the Allies advanced into Europe,

22927-634: The North Sea. The decision of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery to focus on Operation Market Garden , an attempt to outflank the Westwall, which ended in the defeat of the Anglo-Polish paratroopers at the Battle of Arnhem , rather than on clearing the Scheldt, allowed German forces to dig in and deny the Allies use of Antwerp. The Germans had mined the Scheldt, which required minesweepers to remove

23154-517: The People Act 1918 , which gave some women the right to vote. In November 1918, four days after the Armistice , Churchill's fourth child, Marigold, was born. Lloyd George called a general election for 14 December 1918. During the campaign, Churchill called for nationalisation of the railways, a control on monopolies, tax reform, and the creation of a League of Nations to prevent wars. He

23381-598: The Red Army entered Sofia. The Soviet occupation of Bulgaria placed the Red Army on the borders of Yugoslavia, Greece, and Turkey, all of which bordered the Mediterranean sea lanes that Churchill was determined to deny to the Soviets after the war. At the Second Quebec Conference held between Roosevelt and Churchill in Quebec City between 12 and 16 September, Churchill and the rest of the British delegation spent much time talking about Bulgaria. During

23608-758: The Red Army on the Eastern Front by diverting Axis forces to the North African theatre. Over half the German Ju 52 transport planes that were needed to supply the encircled Axis forces at Stalingrad were tied up supplying Axis forces in North Africa. Senior U.S. commanders were strongly opposed to proposed landings in North-West Africa. After the western Allied Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) met in London on 30 July 1942 General George Marshall and Admiral Ernest King declined to approve

23835-615: The Red Army spreading like a cancer from one country to another. It has become an obsession, and he seems to think of little else," going on to note that Churchill's response to the Soviet offensive into Romania was to exclaim: "Good God, the Russians are spreading across Europe like a tide." Though the German 8th and 6th Armies in Romania resisted fiercely, the Romanian Army, whose morale had been declining for some time, collapsed in

24062-655: The Red Army. On 4 October 1944, the 3rd Ukrainian Front under Marshal Fyodor Tolbukhin together with the Yugoslav Partisans took Belgrade. The fact that the Soviets did not follow up taking Belgrade with an offensive onto the Adriatic Sea, instead heading up the Danube river valley towards Budapest, allowed the German Army Group E under Alexander Löhr to escape from Greece. On 4 October 1944,

24289-399: The Red Army. Stalin argued that the Soviets did not intend to use Bulgaria as a base to threaten Turkey, and objected to any British role in Bulgaria, which led Eden to reply that Britain was entitled to a "small share" after having been at war with Bulgaria for three years. Bulgaria turned out to be the main difficulty during the meeting on 10 October between Eden and Molotov with Eden accusing

24516-532: The Regent of Hungary, Admiral Miklós Horthy , decided to open secret talks for an armistice with the Soviet Union, which he had resisted doing until then, sending Stalin a letter claiming that he was misinformed about the incident which led Hungary to become belligerent with the Soviet Union in 1941 , and now accepted that the Soviets did not bomb the Hungarian town of Kassa . Like King Michael, Admiral Horthy hoped that signing an armistice now might save Hungary from

24743-404: The Rhine . Churchill was one of the few government figures who opposed harsh measures against Germany, and he cautioned against demobilising the German Army, warning they might be needed as a bulwark against Soviet Russia . He was outspoken against Vladimir Lenin 's Communist Party government in Russia. He initially supported using British troops to assist the anti-Communist White forces in

24970-424: The Rhineland. Even the U.S. 3rd Army, led by the famously aggressive General George Patton , had its advance in Lorraine slowed to what the American historian Gerhard Weinberg called a "crawl" by October. The British had captured Antwerp , Europe's third-largest port, on 5 September 1944, but Antwerp was useless to the Allies as long the Germans occupied the mouth of the river Scheldt , which connected Antwerp to

25197-476: The Soviet Union was willing to accept the partition of Yugoslavia with Britain taking the Adriatic coast and the Soviet Union the interior, if only the British would cede Bulgaria. On 11 October, Molotov offered Eden 20% influence in Bulgaria and an amended armistice that stated the ACC in Bulgaria would act on the commands of the Soviet High Command but with the "participation" of the British and American governments. Eden agreed to Molotov's draft, and also agreed that

25424-484: The Soviet Union, as the traditional Russophile feelings of the Bulgarian people for their fellow Slavs would have made declaring war too unpopular. In the European Advisory Commission which had the responsibility of drafting armistices with the Axis powers, the Soviet Union, as it was not at war with Bulgaria, was not involved while the United States had no interest in armistices with what were regarded as backward Balkan nations, like Bulgaria. The British thus found Bulgaria

25651-556: The Soviet delegation. Though American ambassador to Great Britain John Gilbert Winant was outvoted at a meeting of the European Advisory Commission on 21 October 1944 about the text of the Bulgarian armistice, he also stated that this was not final and the United States was prepared to reopen the question at the next meeting of the European Advisory Commission. It was only in 1958 that Soviet historians first acknowledged Churchill's account in Triumph and Tragedy , and then only to deny it. The Soviet diplomatic historian Igor Zemskov wrote in

25878-455: The Soviet draft, which was almost identical to the Finnish and Romanian armistices. Eden refused to cede, which caused Molotov to bark that Bulgaria bordered the Black Sea, and if the Soviets were willing to accept that Britain had special interests in the Mediterranean, then so did the Soviet Union have special interests in the Black Sea, leading him to say "Bulgaria was not Italy, Spain, Greece or even Yugoslavia". At one point, Molotov hinted that

26105-451: The Soviet sphere of influence. From the British viewpoint, having Greece in the British sphere of influence ended any possibility that EAM might come to power and then give the Soviet Union bases in Greece, whose location made that nation key to controlling the eastern Mediterranean, which for Churchill was far more important than the rest of the Balkans. The fact that Roosevelt did not share Churchill's enthusiasm for restoring King George II as

26332-463: The Soviets would probably enter that nation first, in May 1944, the British Foreign Secretary Sir Anthony Eden met with Fedor Tarasovich Gusev , the Soviet ambassador to the court of St. James, to discuss an arrangement under which Greece would be in the British sphere of influence in exchange for Romania being in the Soviet sphere of influence. Though Yugoslavia was not considered as important as Italy and Greece, Churchill had pressed in June 1944 for

26559-430: The Soviets, and declared war on Hungary and Germany. King Michael hoped that having Romania switch sides might save the Romanian branch of the House of Hohenzollern from being replaced after the war with a Communist regime. The Wehrmacht, which had lost 380,000 men in the unsuccessful attempt to hold Romania over the course of two weeks in August 1944, now found its entire position in the Balkans imperilled. Churchill had

26786-636: The Sudan as a 21st Lancers subaltern while, working as a journalist for The Morning Post . After fighting in the Battle of Omdurman in September 1898, the 21st Lancers were stood down. In October, Churchill returned to England and began writing The River War , about the campaign published in 1899. He decided to leave the army as he was critical of Kitchener's actions, particularly the unmerciful treatment of enemy wounded and his desecration of Muhammad Ahmad 's tomb. On 2 December 1898, Churchill embarked for India to settle his military business and complete his resignation. He spent much time playing polo ,

27013-406: The Tebourba area. The Axis powers attempted a second counter-attack in the neighborhood of Tebourba following their failed attempt on December 1. The attack was successfully repulsed by the Allied powers, and the enemy sustained significant damage to their weaponry. During the winter, there followed a period of stalemate during which time both sides continued to build up their forces. By the new year,

27240-500: The Turks felt. Though Churchill appeared sympathetic for Stalin's claim for the Soviet Union having "the right and moral claim for free passage" through the Turkish straits, he argued that it would take "gradual pressure" to persuade the Turks to accept it. Churchill secured a promise from Stalin that the Red Army would not enter Greece, and then asked Stalin to "soft-peddle the Communists in Italy and not to stir them up", saying he wanted to let "pure democracy" decide whatever Italy remained

27467-599: The advancing Italians, falling back towards Mersa Matruh , where the main British infantry force was based. Positioned on the desert flank was the 7th Armoured Division , which would strike at the flank of the Italian force. By 16 September, the Italian force had advanced to Maktila , around 130 kilometres (80 mi) west of Mersa Matruh, where they halted due to supply problems. Despite Mussolini urging them to carry on, Graziani ordered his men to dig in around Sidi Barrani , and fortified camps were established in forward locations; additional troops were also positioned behind

27694-415: The alliance with the Reich and declared its neutrality. On 5 September 1944, the Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria and the Red Army crossed the Danube into Bulgaria the same day. The Bulgarians promptly surrendered and on the same day as the Soviet Union invaded, Bulgaria switched sides and declared war on Germany. On 9 September, a Communist-led Fatherland Front took power in Bulgaria and on 15 September

27921-409: The animosity of party members would prevent him gaining a Cabinet position under a Conservative government. The Liberal Party was attracting growing support, and so his defection in 1904 may have been influenced by ambition. He increasingly voted with the Liberals. For example, he opposed an increase in military expenditure, supported a Liberal bill to restore legal rights to trade unions, and opposed

28148-434: The area, proposing they be equipped with "poison gas" to be used to "inflict punishment upon recalcitrant natives without inflicting grave injury upon them", although this was never implemented. He saw the occupation of Iraq as a drain on Britain and proposed, unsuccessfully, that the government should hand control back to Turkey. Churchill became Secretary of State for the Colonies in February 1921. The following month,

28375-434: The armistice when he learned that it included the Allied demand for unconditional surrender, on 10 September the Hungarian consul in Istanbul, Dezső Újvári, told Sir Ronald Hugh Campbell , the British ambassador in Lisbon that his government would abide by the terms of the secret armistice. The willingness of Hungary's ultra-conservative government which was dominated by the aristocracy and gentry to reach out to Britain, with

28602-640: The armistice with Hungary when signed would be identical to the Bulgarian armistice. In a telegram to Roosevelt sent on 11 October, Churchill wrote Stalin and I should try to get a common mind about the Balkans, so that we may prevent civil war breaking out in several countries, when probably you and I would be in sympathy with one side and U.J. ["Uncle Joseph"-i.e. Stalin] with the other. I shall keep you informed of all this, and nothing will be settled except preliminary agreements between Britain and Russia, subject to further discussion and melting down with you. On this basis I am sure you will not mind our trying to have

28829-475: The army form. After two unsuccessful attempts to gain admittance to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst , he succeeded. He was accepted as a cadet in the cavalry , starting in September 1893. His father died in January 1895. In February 1895, Churchill was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 4th Queen's Own Hussars regiment of the British Army , based at Aldershot . Eager to witness military action, he used his mother's influence to get posted to

29056-430: The assumption that there would be little to no resistance. Nevertheless, Vichy French forces put up a strong and bloody resistance to the Allies in Oran and Morocco , but not in Algiers , where a coup d'état by the French resistance on 8 November succeeded in neutralizing the French XIX Corps before the landing and arresting the Vichy commanders. Consequently, the landings met no practical opposition in Algiers, and

29283-445: The besieging Germans and promised reinforcements. Soon afterwards, Antwerp fell to the Germans and Churchill was criticised in the press. He maintained that his actions had prolonged resistance and enabled the Allies to secure Calais and Dunkirk . In November, Asquith called a War Council including Churchill. Churchill set the development of the tank on the right track and financed its creation with Admiralty funds. Churchill

29510-409: The best efforts of Ultra and the British Navy to prevent it. In effect, "Ultra did not deny the Axis armies the supplies they needed to reach the Nile." Heavy losses of German paratroopers during the Battle of Crete , made possible by Ultra warnings of the drop times and locations, meant that Hitler hesitated in attacking Malta, which aided the British in gaining control of the Mediterranean, as did

29737-413: The bill would "appeal to insular prejudice against foreigners, to racial prejudice against Jews, and to labour prejudice against competition" and expressed himself in favour of "the old tolerant and generous practice of free entry and asylum to which this country has so long adhered and from which it has so greatly gained". On 31 May 1904, he crossed the floor to sit as a member of the Liberal Party. As

29964-438: The breaking point by the losses caused by the fighting in north-west Europe, Italy, and Burma, and only a skeleton force would be available for operations in the Balkans. Brooke advised Churchill that his plans for the British Army to occupy the Balkans together with Hungary were quite impossible to achieve at present without American participation. The British were especially concerned about the possibility that Stalin might allow

30191-486: The city was captured on the first day along with the entire Vichy African command. After three days of talks and threats, Generals Mark Clark and Dwight Eisenhower compelled Vichy Admiral François Darlan and General Alphonse Juin to order the cessation on 10–11 November of armed resistance from Vichy forces in Oran and Morocco, promising to make Darlan the head of a Free French administration. During Operation Torch, Americans fought Vichy French and German navy vessels in

30418-399: The compromised "Black Code" which the Axis forces had been reading, so the Axis could no longer learn of British "strengths, positions, losses, reinforcements, supply, situation, plans, morale etc" as they had since 1940. General Auchinleck, although he had checked Rommel's advance at the First Battle of El Alamein, was replaced by General Harold Alexander . Lieutenant-General William Gott

30645-403: The creation of spheres of influence, a fact Churchill excluded from his memoirs. [British Foreign Minister] Anthony Eden assiduously avoided the term, and considered the understanding merely as a practical agreement on how problems would be worked out in each country, and the very next day he and [Soviet Foreign Minister] Vyacheslav Molotov modified the percentages in a manner which Eden assumed

30872-515: The declared intention to limit the arrangement to military matters." Churchill then urged the President to consent to the arrangement being given a three-month trial. And on the 13th Roosevelt rather weakly gave way…This turned out to be a decision of great importance. On 22 June 1944, the Red Army launched Operation Bagration and in the ensuing battle over the next 12 days destroyed German Army Group Center , taking out 21 divisions totaling about 300,000 men. The destruction of Army Group Center created

31099-467: The devil. Ercoli could say he was an Italian and tell Marshal Stalin to mind his own business...However, Ercoli was a wise man, not an extremist, and would not start an adventure in Italy. Harriman did not attend the Churchill-Stalin summit in Moscow but he did his best to keep Roosevelt informed about what was being discussed, though notably he never mentioned anything about percentages. The information Harriman provided to his childhood friend Roosevelt about

31326-405: The downfall of the Fascist government in Italy and the elimination of Germany's main European ally. German and Italian forces committed atrocities against prisoners of war and Jewish , Berber and Arab populations. On 10 May 1940, the Wehrmacht started the Battle of France (or Westfeldzug ). Six weeks later, France surrendered. The Armistice at Compiègne took place on 22 June 1940 leaving

31553-463: The expense of Romania. As the Soviets advanced into Bulgaria, the Red Army was also engaged in savage fighting on the Transylvanian passes in the Carpathian mountains leading into Hungary, but few doubted that it would be only a matter of time before the Soviets entered the Hungarian plain. On 21 September 1944, the Red Army took Arad , a Transylvanian city that was shortly occupied by the Hungarians, and panic broke out in Budapest. On 24 September 1944,

31780-476: The face of the Soviet combined arms offensive. The Red Army encircled the German 6th Army, of whom the men serving in its 18 divisions either surrendered or were killed, while the badly mauled 8th Army retreated into Hungary to hold the passes in the Carpathian mountains with the aim of blocking the Soviets from advancing into Hungary. On 23 August 1944, King Michael of Romania dismissed his pro-German Prime Minister, Marshal Ion Antonescu , signed an armistice with

32007-420: The first exhibit of his paintings took place in Paris, with Churchill exhibiting under a pseudonym. In May, his mother died, followed in August by his daughter Marigold, from sepsis . Churchill was haunted by Marigold's death for the rest of his life. Churchill was involved in negotiations with Sinn Féin leaders and helped draft the Anglo-Irish Treaty . He was responsible for reducing the cost of occupying

32234-413: The first health and unemployment insurance legislation, the National Insurance Act 1911 , which Churchill had been instrumental in drafting. In May, Clementine gave birth to their second child, Randolph , named after Winston's father. In response to escalating civil strife in 1911, Churchill sent troops into Liverpool to quell protesting dockers and rallied against a national railway strike . During

32461-406: The government, although he remained an MP. Asquith rejected his request to be appointed Governor-General of British East Africa . Churchill decided to return to active service with the Army and was attached to the 2nd Grenadier Guards , on the Western Front . In January 1916, he was temporarily promoted to lieutenant-colonel and given command of the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers . The battalion

32688-413: The great powers should have the right to vote on and veto territorial disputes involving themselves, giving the example of how China, supported by the United States, was demanding the return of Hong Kong after the war, which Churchill regarded as an outrageous request. As the United States had refused to recognize the Soviet territorial gains of 1939–40, Churchill's message was clear here, namely that there

32915-425: The greater "Greater Bulgaria" created in 1941 when the Germans assigned Yugoslav Macedonia together with much of Greek Thrace and Greek Macedonia to Bulgaria to continue after the war. The "greater Bulgaria" created in 1941 had given Bulgaria a coastline on the Aegean Sea, and most disturbing to the British, the Soviets were allowing the Bulgarians to stay in the parts of Greece and Yugoslavia that they had annexed under

33142-586: The grounds that Bulgaria was now a Soviet ally. Even more frightening to Churchill was the possibility the Red Army might turn south into Greece and liberate it, thereby presenting Britain with a fait accompli with EAM installed in power. In a state of some desperation, Eden sent a cable on 21 September to Sir Archibald Clark Kerr , the ambassador in Moscow, asking him to say that he hoped "the Soviet Government would not find it necessary to send Russian troops into any part of Greece except in agreement with His Majesty's Government". After two anxious days of waiting for

33369-453: The historian David Carlton as a strategy largely based upon Churchill's anti-communist ideology as he wished to place the Allied armies as far into Eastern Europe as possible to block the Red Army from moving west. Carlton also noted the contradiction in Churchill's grand strategy that called for the Soviet Union to do the bulk of the fighting and take the heaviest losses while at the same time he assumed that Britain would be able to step in when

33596-492: The historical journal Mezhdunarodnaya zhizn that Churchill's claim of a percentages agreement was a "dirty, crude" lie with no basis in fact, saying no such offer had been made to Stalin, who would have rejected had it been made. The charge that Stalin coldly and cynically abandoned EAM which was in a position to take over all of Greece in October 1944 proved damaging to his reputation in left-wing circles. Some historians, including Gabriel Kolko and Geoffrey Roberts believe that

33823-429: The house burn down rather than spend good British lives in rescuing those ferocious rascals". In March 1911, Churchill introduced the second reading of the Coal Mines Bill ; when implemented, it imposed stricter safety standards. He formulated the Shops Bill to improve working conditions of shop workers; it faced opposition from shop owners and only passed in a much emasculated form. In April, Lloyd George introduced

34050-414: The importance of the agreement is overrated. Kolko writes : There is little significance to the memorable and dramatic passage in Churchill's autobiography recalling how he and Stalin divided Eastern Europe ... Stalin's "tick," translated into real words, indicated nothing whatsoever. The very next day Churchill sent Stalin a draft of the discussion, and the Russian carefully struck out phrases implying

34277-434: The importance which Churchill attached to Greece, he very much wanted an agreement with Stalin under which Moscow would accept Greece as being within the British sphere of influence. On 4 May 1944, Churchill asked his Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden , the rhetorical question: "Are we going to acquiesce in the communisation of the Balkans and perhaps of Italy?" Churchill answered his question by saying that Britain must "resist

34504-425: The introduction of import tariffs. Arthur Balfour 's government announced protectionist legislation in October 1903. Two months later, incensed by Churchill's criticism of the government, the Oldham Conservative Association informed him it would not support his candidature at the next election. In May 1904, Churchill opposed the government's proposed Aliens Bill, designed to curb Jewish immigration. He stated that

34731-456: The invasion of southern France, to which he was opposed. As an expression of bitterness that the Americans opposed his Mediterranean strategy, Churchill claimed that if only the manpower and resources devoted to Operation Dragoon had been made available for plans to advance up the Ljubljana Gap, then the Allies would have taken Vienna in 1944 and thereby prevented the Red Army from capturing that city in 1945. On 2 September 1944, Bulgaria renounced

34958-443: The king of Greece was a crucial factor in reaching his own deal with Stalin and excluding the Americans. Churchill feared that if Roosevelt was included in the talks about the future of Greece, then the Americans might side with the Soviets and agree to recognise EAM as the legitimate government. During the Dekemvriana fighting in Athens, Roosevelt issued a statement disapproving of the British fighting EAM, and in private stated he

35185-441: The left". He privately considered "the gradual creation by an evolutionary process of a Democratic or Progressive wing to the Conservative Party", or alternately a "Central Party" to unite the Conservatives and Liberals. By 1903, there was division between Churchill and the Conservatives, largely because he opposed their promotion of protectionism . As a free trader , he helped found the Free Food League . Churchill sensed that

35412-438: The line, an armoured reconnaissance soon became a full-fledged offensive from El Agheila in March. In March–April, Allied forces were forced back and leading general officers captured. The Australian 9th Infantry Division fell back to the fortress port of Tobruk, and the remaining British and Commonwealth forces withdrew a further 160 kilometres (100 mi) east to the Libyan–Egyptian border. With Tobruk under siege by

35639-415: The longer their supply lines became while the German supply lines conversely became shorter, giving the Wehrmacht the advantage in the fighting. Though the Wehrmacht had after 1940 neglected the Westwall along the border with France, the logistical problems greatly hindered the Allied advance, and the hastily reactivated Westwall turned out to be a formidable defense line that delayed the Allies from entering

35866-405: The losses of the Italian Navy at the Battle of Cape Matapan . To conceal the fact that German coded messages were being read, a fact critical to the overall Allied war effort, British command required a flyover mission be carried out before a convoy could be attacked in order to give the appearance that a reconnaissance flight had discovered the target. The North African campaign was often labeled

36093-452: The main Italian-German force, a small battlegroup continued to press eastwards. Capturing Fort Capuzzo and Bardia in passing, it then advanced into Egypt, and by the end of April it had taken Sollum and the tactically important Halfaya Pass . Rommel garrisoned these positions, reinforcing the battle-group and ordering it onto the defensive. Though isolated on land, Tobruk's garrison continued to receive supplies and replacements, delivered by

36320-435: The main force. In response to the dispersed Italian camps, the British planned a limited five-day attack, Operation Compass , to strike at these fortified camps one by one. The British Commonwealth force, totalling 36,000 men, attacked the forward elements of the 10-division-strong Italian army on 9 December. Following their initial success, the forces of Operation Compass pursued the retreating Italian forces. In January,

36547-494: The mine owners and striking miners as "very unreasonable". The Times and other media outlets accused him of being soft on the rioters; in contrast, many in the Labour Party , which was linked to the trade unions, regarded him as too heavy-handed. Churchill incurred the long-term suspicion of the labour movement . Asquith called a general election in December 1910 , and the Liberals were re-elected with Churchill secure in Dundee. In January 1911, Churchill became involved in

36774-405: The mines, which in turn required the eviction of the German forces occupying the banks of the river. As a result, a largely Canadian force had to fight the difficult and bloody Battle of the Scheldt in October–November 1944 to make it possible for minesweepers to clear the Scheldt. As long as Antwerp remained closed to the Allies, there was no possibility of the Allies making any major advances into

37001-439: The moment, but it was assumed that the Red Army would resume its advance. At the same time that the Red Army was advancing into the Balkans and was battling its way into Hungary, the Western Allies found themselves stalemated on the Western Front as the hopes of Anglo-American generals to have the war over by Christmas were dashed by the vigorous resistance of the Wehrmacht. The widespread belief held by Anglo-American officers that

37228-422: The name of the new German commander, his time of arrival, and the numbers and condition of the Axis forces, but they might not correctly reveal Rommel's intentions. The primary benefit of Ultra intercepts to the effort in North Africa was to aid in cutting the Axis supply line to Tunisia. Ultra intercepts provided valuable information about the times and routes of Axis supply shipments across the Mediterranean. This

37455-428: The occasion for an Anglo-Soviet clash of interests in the Balkans. In the British transcript of the conversations, Churchill's main fear was that the already imminent prospect of civil war in Greece might be the cause of an Anglo-Soviet war with the Soviets backing EAM and the British backing the king. After discussing Poland, Churchill told Stalin Romania was "very much a Russian affair" and the Soviet-Romanian armistice

37682-400: The only ball sport in which he was ever interested. Having left the Hussars, he sailed from Bombay on 20 March 1899, determined to launch a career in politics. Churchill spoke at Conservative meetings and was selected as one of the party's two candidates for the June 1899 Oldham by-election . While campaigning, Churchill referred to himself as "a Conservative and a Tory Democrat". Although

37909-543: The other country having "predominance" in another sphere. At least part of the reason for the agreement was Churchill still nourished hopes that the British would be able to land in Yugoslavia and advance through the Ljubljana Gap, which would require co-operation with the Red Army who already entered Yugoslavia. Furthermore, Churchill's interest in keeping EAM out of power made him keen to persuade Stalin, whose support for EAM had been mostly rhetorical so far, to abandon EAM as he did not wish for disagreements about Greece to become

38136-475: The percentages were only "a method by which in our thoughts we can see how near we are together" and find a means to come closer. Towards the War Cabinet upon his return to London on 12 October, Churchill stated the agreement was "only an interim guide for the immediate wartime future. ..." Churchill argued that ceding Romania to the Soviet sphere was just because Antonescu had chosen to take part in Operation Barbarossa in June 1941. Through Eden secured from Molotov

38363-469: The plan. Marshall and other U.S. generals advocated the invasion of northern Europe later that year, which the British rejected. After Prime Minister Winston Churchill pressed for a landing in French North Africa in 1942, Marshall suggested instead to President Franklin D. Roosevelt that the U.S. abandon the Germany first strategy and take the offensive in the Pacific. Roosevelt said it would do nothing to help Russia. With Marshall unable to persuade

38590-447: The point that mattered most to Churchill: he had Stalin's consent to handle Greece as he saw fit ." Anthony Eden wrote that months before the meeting, he and Churchill had discussed the issue and "we felt entitled to ask for Soviet support for our policy [with regard to Greece] in return for the support we were giving to Soviet policy with regard to Romania." Richard Crampton described the agreement as "infamous" with Churchill and Stalin in

38817-403: The political almanack. In an 1898 letter, he referred to his beliefs, saying: "I do not accept the Christian or any other form of religious belief". Churchill had been christened in the Church of England but underwent a virulently anti-Christian phase in his youth, and as an adult was an agnostic. In another letter to a cousin, he referred to religion as "a delicious narcotic" and expressed

39044-504: The post-war world and tie the Soviets down in a way that was favourable to British interests. In this regard, Churchill was especially concerned about securing the Mediterranean within the British sphere of influence, making it clear that he did not want Communists to come to power in Italy , Greece , and Yugoslavia as he believed that Communist governments in those countries would allow the Soviet Union to establish air and naval bases in those nations, which would threaten British shipping in

39271-436: The promotion of secular, non-denominational education while opposing women's suffrage . Churchill volunteered to join Bindon Blood 's Malakand Field Force in its campaign against Mohmand rebels in the Swat Valley of north-west India. Blood accepted on condition he was assigned as a journalist, the beginning of Churchill's writing career. He returned to Bangalore in October 1897 and wrote his first book, The Story of

39498-430: The rank of major . Back in the House of Commons, Churchill spoke out on war issues, calling for conscription to be extended to the Irish, greater recognition of soldiers' bravery, and for the introduction of steel helmets. It was in November 1916 that he penned "The greater application of mechanical power to the prosecution of an offensive on land", but it fell on deaf ears. He was frustrated at being out of office, but

39725-559: The reinforcements were Italian and therefore it was up to the Italians to do the bulk of the fighting. The forward Allied force – now named XIII Corps – adopted a defensive posture and over the coming months was built up, before most of its veteran forces were redeployed to Greece to counter the German invasion there. In addition, the 7th Armoured Division was withdrawn to the Nile delta. The veteran forces were replaced by inexperienced newcomers, ill-equipped to face German armour. Although Rommel had been ordered to simply hold

39952-416: The remoteness of Allied airfields from the front line gave the Axis clear air superiority over the battlefield. The Allies were halted and pushed back having advanced eastwards to within 30 kilometres (19 mi) of Tunis. In early December, the Allies were met with the reality that they would not be successful in capturing the key cities of Tunis and Bizerta. The air campaigns by the Axis forces proved to be

40179-429: The reports of Fellers, the US military attaché in Egypt. He had been tasked by Marshall with providing detailed reports on the military situation in Africa. Fellers talked with British military and civilian headquarters personnel, read documents and visited the battlefront. Known to the Germans as "die gute Quelle" (the good source) or more jokingly as 'the little fellow', he transmitted his reports back to Washington using

40406-453: The rioting. Churchill, learning that the troops were already travelling, allowed them to go as far as Swindon and Cardiff , but blocked their deployment; he was concerned their use lead to bloodshed. Instead he sent 270 London police, who were not equipped with firearms, to assist. As the riots continued, he offered the protesters an interview with the government's chief industrial arbitrator, which they accepted. Privately, Churchill regarded

40633-409: The same conference, Roosevelt once again rejected Churchill's plans for the Ljubljana Gap offensive, saying that the Balkans were not the decisive theater of war that Churchill kept saying that it was, and the Allies should focus on north-west Europe. At the conference, Field Marshal Alan Brooke , the chief of the Imperial General Staff, had to inform Churchill that the British Army had been stretched to

40860-412: The same time, he advocated an Anglo-American "Mediterranean strategy" to strike at the supposed "soft underbelly" of the Axis and advance into Eastern Europe, as much to block the Red Army from advancing westward as to win the war. Churchill's "Mediterranean strategy", which he supported for political reasons more than military ones, caused much tension with the Americans, who preferred to fight and defeat

41087-424: The seats had been held by the Conservatives, the result was a narrow Liberal victory. Anticipating the outbreak of the Second Boer War between Britain and the Boer republics , Churchill sailed to South Africa as a journalist for the Morning Post . In October, he travelled to the conflict zone near Ladysmith , then besieged by Boer troops, before heading for Colenso . At the Battle of Chieveley , his train

41314-413: The small port at Bardia was taken, soon followed by the seizure of the fortified port of Tobruk . Some 40,000 Italians were captured in and around the two ports, with the remainder of the Tenth Army retreating along the coast road back to El Agheila . Richard O'Connor sent the 7th Armoured Division across the desert with a small reconnaissance group. It reached Beda Fomm some ninety minutes before

41541-399: The sphere of influence of the Soviet Union." Sergey Radchenko wrote, "even if Stalin gave up on Greece because he never intended to go there in the first place, he tried to present his reluctance as a concession, for which he sought a reciprocal British concession: a promise not to meddle in the Balkans. Stalin valued Churchill's recognition of Soviet gains because such a recognition conferred

41768-410: The time was right to stop the Red Army from moving west. Carlton noted that the Red Army did most of the fighting which also allowed the Red Army to seize most of Eastern Europe in 1944–45. As a corollary to his "Mediterranean strategy", Churchill supported plans for a post-war federation of Austria and Hungary as a way to limit Soviet influence in Eastern Europe, favouring a magnanimous peace with

41995-400: The topic returned to the Balkans, Stalin objected to the British demand for influence in Bulgaria, and soon it turned out that the real issue was Turkey . Accordingly, to the British transcript, Stalin was quoted as saying: "if Britain were interested in the Mediterranean, then Russia was equally interested in the Black Sea". Stalin claimed that the Montreux convention of 1936 which governed

42222-411: The tour was a financial necessity. In America, Churchill met Mark Twain , President McKinley and Vice President Theodore Roosevelt , who he did not get on with. In spring 1901, he gave lectures in Paris, Madrid and Gibraltar. In February 1901, Churchill took his seat in the House of Commons , where his maiden speech gained widespread coverage. He associated with a group of Conservatives known as

42449-414: The war and was becoming economically dependent upon American support. He recognised that the Soviet Union would end up being much stronger than it was before the war, while Britain would be weaker. Fearing that the United States might return to isolationism after the war, leaving an economically weakened Britain to face the Soviet Union alone, he sought a preemptive agreement with Stalin that might stabilize

42676-540: The war. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953. He lost the 1950 election but was returned to office in 1951 . His second term was preoccupied with foreign affairs, especially Anglo-American relations and preservation of what remained of the British Empire , with India no longer a part of it. Domestically, his government's priority was their extensive housebuilding programme, in which they were successful. In declining health, Churchill resigned in 1955, remaining an MP until 1964 . Upon his death in 1965, he

42903-452: The whole of the twenty years I had lived". Churchill began boarding school at St George's in Ascot, Berkshire , aged 7, but he was not academic and his behaviour was poor. In 1884, he transferred to Brunswick School in Hove , where his academic performance improved. In April 1888, aged 13, he passed the entrance exam for Harrow School . His father wanted him to prepare for a military career, so his last three years at Harrow were in

43130-412: The world most desire is not hostility against this country, but the unity of their own". Following a Cabinet decision, he boosted the naval presence in Ireland to deal with any Unionist uprising. Seeking a compromise, Churchill suggested Ireland remain part of a federal UK, but this angered Liberals and Irish nationalists. As First Lord, Churchill was tasked with overseeing Britain's naval effort when

43357-418: Was Chancellor of the Exchequer in Stanley Baldwin 's Conservative government , returning sterling in 1925 to the gold standard , depressing the UK economy. Out of government during his so-called " wilderness years " in the 1930s, Churchill took the lead in calling for rearmament to counter the threat of militarism in Nazi Germany . At the outbreak of the Second World War he was re-appointed First Lord of

43584-441: Was "reasonable and showed much statecraft in the interests of general peace in the future." Churchill then stated that "Britain must be the leading Mediterranean power", which required having Greece in the British sphere of influence. Stalin expressed some sympathy for the British who for much of World War II have been unable to use the Mediterranean because of the danger of naval and air attacks from Axis forces based in Italy, forcing

43811-453: Was a pro quo quid that the United Kingdom would support the Soviet Union regaining the frontiers of 1941 in exchange for the Soviet support for Britain to retake its Asian colonies that had been lost to Japan, which the United States was opposed to. Churchill had been irked by the American support for China's claim to be a great power and was attempting to secure Soviet support against the Sino-American campaign for greater power to China. Once

44038-409: Was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 ( during the Second World War ) and again from 1951 to 1955. Apart from 1922 to 1924, he was a member of Parliament (MP) from 1900 to 1964 and represented a total of five constituencies . Ideologically an adherent to economic liberalism and imperialism , he was for most of his career

44265-424: Was a committed opponent, and targeted his meetings for protest. In November 1910, the suffragist Hugh Franklin attacked Churchill with a whip; Franklin was imprisoned for six weeks. In November 1910, Churchill had to deal with the Tonypandy riots , in which coal miners in the Rhondda Valley violently protested against working conditions. The Chief Constable of Glamorgan requested troops to help police quell

44492-437: Was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa while allowing American armed forces the opportunity to engage in the fight against Nazi Germany on a limited scale. In addition, as Joseph Stalin , the leader of the Soviet Union , had long been pleading for a second front to be opened to engage the Wehrmacht and relieve pressure on the Red Army , it provided some degree of relief for

44719-555: Was a daughter of Leonard Jerome , an American businessman. In 1876, Churchill's paternal grandfather, John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough , was appointed Viceroy of Ireland . Randolph became his private secretary and the family relocated to Dublin . Winston's brother, Jack , was born there in 1880. For much of the 1880s, Randolph and Jennie were effectively estranged, and the brothers cared for by their nanny, Elizabeth Everest . When she died in 1895, Churchill wrote "she had been my dearest and most intimate friend during

44946-522: Was abolished except for the most serious offences. Churchill reduced ( "commuted" ) 21 of the 43 death ( "capital" ) sentences passed while he was Home Secretary. A major domestic issue was women's suffrage. Churchill supported giving women the vote, but would only back a bill to that effect if it had majority support from the (male) electorate. His proposed solution was a referendum, but this found no favour with Asquith and women's suffrage remained unresolved until 1918. Many suffragettes believed Churchill

45173-421: Was also a brigade of Free French under Marie-Pierre Koenig . The new formation launched a new offensive, Operation Crusader , in November. After a see-saw battle, the 70th Division garrisoning Tobruk was relieved and the Axis forces were forced to fall back. By January 1942, the front line was again at El Agheila. After receiving supplies and reinforcements from Tripoli, the Axis attacked again, defeating

45400-436: Was appalled at the way the British openly recruited the collaborationist Security Battalions who had loyally served Nazi Germany to fight with them against EAM. Likewise, American media coverage of the Dekemvriana was overwhelmingly hostile towards the British with American journalists criticizing Churchill for recruiting the Security Battalions to fight for the unpopular King George. In response to American claims that Britain

45627-421: Was born in 1909. The success of their marriage was important to Churchill's career as Clementine's unbroken affection provided him with a secure and happy background. One of Churchill's first tasks as a minister was to arbitrate in an industrial dispute among ship-workers and employers, on the River Tyne . He afterwards established a Standing Court of Arbitration to deal with industrial disputes, establishing

45854-433: Was born, and in the same month he purchased Chartwell , in Kent, which became his family home. In October 1922, he underwent an appendectomy . While he was in hospital, Lloyd George's coalition was dissolved. In the general election, Churchill lost his Dundee seat to Edwin Scrymgeour , a prohibitionist candidate. Later, he wrote that he was "without an office, without a seat, without a party, and without an appendix". He

46081-432: Was consulted tentatively and conceded to the agreement. The content of the agreement was first made public by Churchill in 1953 in the final volume of his memoir . The US ambassador Averell Harriman , who was supposed to represent Roosevelt in these meetings, was excluded from this discussion. During the Second World War, Winston Churchill became painfully aware that Britain had spent virtually all of its reserve capital on

46308-432: Was critical in providing the British with the opportunity to intercept and destroy them. During the time when Malta was under heavy air attack, the ability to act on this information was limited, but as Allied air and naval strength improved, the information became instrumental to Allied success. It is estimated that 40% to 60% of Axis supply shipping was located and destroyed due to decrypted information. However, this claim

46535-481: Was derailed by Boer artillery shelling, he was captured as a prisoner of war (POW) and interned in a POW camp in Pretoria . In December, Churchill escaped and evaded his captors by stowing aboard freight trains and hiding in a mine. He made it to safety in Portuguese East Africa . His escape attracted much publicity. In January 1900, he briefly rejoined the army as a lieutenant in the South African Light Horse regiment, joining Redvers Buller 's fight to relieve

46762-488: Was destroyed and the German Afrika Korps was dispatched to North Africa in February 1941 in Operation Sonnenblume to reinforce the Italians and prevent an Axis defeat. Battles for control of Libya and Egypt followed, with advances and retreats until the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942 when the Eighth Army (Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery ) defeated the German–Italian Panzerarmee Afrika and forced its remnants into Tunisia. After Operation Torch ,

46989-597: Was elevated as one of 50 members of the Order of the Companions of Honour , as named in Lloyd George's 1922 Dissolution Honours list. North African campaign Allies [REDACTED]   British Empire [REDACTED]   United States [REDACTED]   Free France Axis [REDACTED]   Italy [REDACTED]   Germany Asia-Pacific Mediterranean and Middle East Other campaigns Coups The North African campaign of World War II took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943, fought between

47216-585: Was exercising "power politics" in Greece, Churchill snapped back in a speech: "What are power politics?...Is having a Navy twice as big as any other Navy in the world power politics? Is having the largest Air Force in the world, with bases in every part of the world power politics? Is having all the gold in the world power politics? If so, we are certainly not guilty of these offences, I am sorry to say. They are luxuries that have passed away from us." Winston Churchill [REDACTED] Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965)

47443-423: Was fully engaged in his reelection campaign as he sought a fourth term, making it impossible for him to attend the Moscow summit as he would like. In a telegraph to Stalin on 4 October, Roosevelt expressed his regret that his reelection campaign kept him from attending, but that "in this global war there is literally no question, political or military, in which the United States is not interested". Roosevelt asked that

47670-519: Was general rather than precise. Henry Butterfield Ryan writes, that "Eden and Molotov haggled over these quantities as though they were bargaining over a rug in a bazaar, with Molotov trying, eventually successfully, to trim Britain's figures." In The Cambridge History of the Cold War , Norman Naimark writes that together with the Yalta and Potsdam agreements, "the notorious percentages agreement between Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill...confirmed that Eastern Europe, initially at least, would lie within

47897-499: Was given a state funeral . One of the 20th century's most significant figures, Churchill remains popular in the UK and the rest of the Anglosphere . He is generally viewed as a victorious wartime leader who played an integral role in defending liberal democracy against the spread of fascism . He has sometimes been criticised for his imperialism and certain comments on race , in addition to some wartime decisions such as area bombing, but historians nevertheless rank Churchill as one of

48124-517: Was going to sign an armistice with the Soviets certainly ended any doubt in Hitler's mind about what he was going to do. The same day that Horthy signed the armistice, German forces took control of Hungary, deposed Horthy and imposed a new government led by Ferenc Szálasi of the Hungarist Arrow Cross Party . As the Germans had pulled out of Greece, EAM had taken over and the British found as they landed that EAM had control of most of Greece. The Anglo-Soviet summit in Moscow that began on 9 October 1944

48351-440: Was in India for 19 months, visiting Calcutta and joining expeditions to Hyderabad and the North West Frontier . In India, Churchill began a self-education project, reading widely including Plato , Edward Gibbon , Charles Darwin and Thomas Babington Macaulay . The books were sent by his mother, with whom he shared frequent correspondence. To learn about politics, he asked her to send him copies of The Annual Register ,

48578-420: Was inevitable. As Chancellor, Lloyd George presented his " People's Budget " on 29 April 1909, calling it a war budget to eliminate poverty. With Churchill as his closest ally, Lloyd George proposed unprecedented taxes on the rich to fund Liberal welfare programmes. The budget was vetoed by the Conservative peers who dominated the House of Lords . His social reforms under threat, Churchill became president of

48805-408: Was interested in the Middle Eastern theatre , and wanted to relieve pressure on the Russians in the Caucasus by staging attacks against Turkey in the Dardanelles . He hoped that the British could even seize Constantinople . Approval was given and, in March 1915, an Anglo-French task force attempted a naval bombardment of Turkish defences. In April, the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force , including

49032-407: Was largely provoked by the Bulgarian issue, especially the possibility of a "greater Bulgaria" after the war in the Soviet sphere of influence together with the possibility that all of the Balkans together with Hungary might be occupied by the Red Army soon. Roosevelt, after studiously ignoring the Balkans for most of the war, had now started to take an interest in the region. In October 1944, Roosevelt

49259-507: Was moved to a sector of the Belgian Front near Ploegsteert . For three months, they faced continual shelling, though no German offensive. Churchill narrowly escaped death when, during a visit by his cousin Marlborough , a large piece of shrapnel fell between them. In May, the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers were merged into the 15th Division. Churchill did not request a new command, instead securing permission to leave active service. His temporary promotion ended on 16 May 1916, when he returned to

49486-421: Was much more open to having Italy and Greece become republics after the war while preferring men of liberal and moderate left-wing positions as the future post-war leaders. However, the fact that no Soviet forces were fighting in Italy lessened Churchill's fears of the Italian Communist Party coming to power after the war. Knowing that the Red Army forces in Ukraine were very close to Romania , which suggested

49713-410: Was promoted from XIII Corps commander to command of the entire Eighth Army, but he was killed when his aircraft was intercepted and shot down over Egypt. He was replaced by Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery . At the end of June, Axis forces made a second attempt to break through the Allied defences at El Alamein at Alam Halfa , but were unsuccessful. After a lengthy period of build-up and training,

49940-402: Was rejected. In June 1914, he convinced the House of Commons to authorise the government purchase of a 51% share in the profits of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company , to secure oil access for the navy. The central issue in Britain was Irish Home Rule and, in 1912, Asquith's government introduced the Home Rule Bill . Churchill supported it and urged Ulster Unionists to accept it as he opposed

50167-411: Was relieved of command and replaced by Claude Auchinleck . The Western Desert Force was reinforced with a second corps, XXX Corps , with the two corps forming the Eighth Army . Eighth Army was made up of army forces from the Commonwealth nations, including the British Army , the Australian Army , the Indian Army , the New Zealand Army , the South African Army , and the Sudan Defence Force . There

50394-458: Was repeatedly blamed for the Gallipoli disaster by the pro-Conservative press. Churchill argued his case before the Dardanelles Commission , whose report placed no blame on him personally for the campaign's failure. In October 1916, Asquith resigned as prime minister and was succeeded by Lloyd George who, in May 1917, sent Churchill to inspect the French war effort. In July, Churchill was appointed Minister of Munitions . He negotiated an end to

50621-407: Was returned as MP for Dundee and, though the Conservatives won a majority, Lloyd George was retained as prime minister. In January 1919, Lloyd George moved Churchill to the War Office as both Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for Air . Churchill was responsible for demobilising the army, though he convinced Lloyd George to keep a million men conscripted for the British Army of

50848-407: Was that Ultra intercepts had informed Wavell that OKW had clearly directed Rommel not to take any offensive action, but to wait until he was further reinforced with the 15th Panzer Division in May. Rommel received this information, but placed more value on his own assessment of the situation. Trusting that the Germans had no intention of taking major action, the British command did not respond until it

51075-411: Was their responsibility by default, and the possibility that the Soviet Union might declare war on Bulgaria never occurred to them, leading them to assume that Bulgaria would be in the British sphere of influence after the war by default. Churchill's support for retaining the monarchies in both Italy and Greece as the best way to keep the Communists out of power after the war also caused tensions with

51302-419: Was to operate "under the general direction and orders" of the Soviet high command, in effect giving the Soviets the main say in those nations. The American draft for the armistice with Bulgaria stated that the ACC for Bulgaria was to be responsible to the governments of the "Big Three" powers, and which Britain had agreed to accept. Molotov wanted Eden to abandon British support for the American draft, and accept

51529-424: Was too late. Furthermore, Rommel did not generally provide OKW or the Italian Comando Supremo details of his planned operations, for he thought the Italians too prone to leak the information. Thus on 21 January 1942, when Rommel struck out on his second offensive from El Agheila, Comando Supremo was just as surprised to learn of it as the British were. Ultra intercepts provided the British with such information as

#526473