RESEARCH PROJECT



Research Project OutcomeWhat were the significant pressures that Winston Churchill experienced as Prime Minister of Britain in the mid 1940’s during the Second World War?Winston Churchill can be regarded as one of the most successful and inspiring wartime leaders that the world has ever seen, with his iconic speeches and his unmatched desire to lead his beloved nation to victory. Churchill came under scrutiny many times by his colleagues in parliament, as they weren’t entirely convinced with the way Churchill went about his job as Prime Minister. But this was by no means the only challenge which Churchill came across. He faced a number of significant pressures during his time as Prime Minister from opposing wartime leaders such as Adolf Hitler, from his allies in Franklin D. Roosevelt and the US, even from the people of his nation, Britain, all while battling with health problems and depression. However, Winston Churchill pushed on and focused on the task at hand, defeating Hitler and ending World War II as soon as possible.Churchill’s greatest challenge was the threat of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi forces, who were dominating the war early on and showed little signs of slowing down. If it wasn’t for Hitler’s rise to power, Churchill may never have become the Prime Minister. Churchill warned Britain about Adolf Hitler and the threat he posed with his political beliefs and his strong desire to return Germany to its former state, before it was destroyed economically and structurally as a result of World War One. In the 1930s Winston Churchill called for the rearmament of the British Army to counter the growing threat that Nazi Germany posed, not only to Britain but to the rest of the world. Once Churchill was elected to power, he recognised the depth of the commitment that he needed to defeat Hitler and the Nazi menace. However, in the early stages of Churchill’s time as Prime Minister, he was pushed to consider the idea of negotiating peace terms with Hitler by Lord Halifax, as the war wasn’t going well for Britain at this point.With France also on the verge of defeat, Churchill knew that Britain could be overcome at any point, but Churchill saw that negotiating for peace would be like accepting defeat. Churchill declared that “We are fighting to save the whole world from the pestilence of Nazi tyranny and in defense of all that is most sacred to man." In Churchill’s eyes, Nazism was the primary enemy and had to be dealt with first, which is why he encouraged Roosevelt to fight the German forces first, once they joined the war. Adolf Hitler ended up being no match for Churchill and his allies, losing the Second World War in 1945. Churchill had kept his nation alive and fighting, with his powerful speeches and determined leadership, defeating Hitler and the Nazi threat once and for all.Throughout the Second World War, Winston Churchill had to deal with the immense burden of achieving victory for Britain laid on him, by King George VI, while also being placed under a significant amount of stress from his colleagues in Parliament. On May 10th, 1940, Churchill was appointed as Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, making him the most powerful Prime Minister in British History, but with the two roles, he would be constantly scrutinized by fellow members of Parliament. However, Churchill did not get any time to get comfortable in his new position of power as World War II was well and truly in full swing, meaning that his colleagues expected positive results and quickly, otherwise defeat could be imminent. Hitler and the German forces were winning every fight, everywhere they went, as a result of the German success, a member of Parliament, Lord Halifax, who was the Foreign Secretary at the time, had urged Churchill to consider the idea of negotiating peace terms as the war was going badly for Britain at the time and didn’t want to risk losing the war this early on. Despite the temptation of striking a peace deal with Hitler and Nazi Germany and potentially saving millions of lives, Churchill was not the kind of person to give up this easily and succumb to the enemy. Winston Churchill epitomised the sheer will and fighting attitude that Britain and its people were known for, so he went against Lord Halifax and decided to stay in the war as agreeing terms with someone like Hitler would be an admission of defeat.This crucial decision from Churchill ultimately worked in his favour as Britain went on to win the war and defeat Nazi Germany. But before the war came to a close, it was important that Winston Churchill maintained the support from Parliament, so while he knew that he dominated Parliament, he never took it for granted or neglected his colleagues. However, Churchill almost lost his support when he sent forces to Greece in 1941 when Allied soldiers were defending the Island of Crete. Many soldiers didn’t make it home and Churchill was the man who took the blame for the horrible massacre of British soldiers, similar to Churchill’s fatal blunder in WWI when he practically sent thousands of soldiers to their death at Gallipoli. Members of Parliament started to form doubts of Winston Churchill’s leadership and if Churchill really was the man who could get the nation through the rest of the war.The introduction of the USA in the Second World War is regarded as one of the major turning points in the war as it gave the Allies a much-needed burst of energy and fresh soldiers, ready to fight the enemy. Churchill had worked constantly in order to get America on his side, who at the start of the war was uninvolved but had no interest in joining Germany and Japan. Churchill wrote letters to Roosevelt and visited him in Washington on a number of occasions. But Churchill knew that in order to win the war, he had to get the US on his side, as well as the USSR, led by Joseph Stalin, and for them to start fighting against the Germans. Churchill had devoted much of his energy in trying to persuade the American President to offer support in the war, while also advising him to help in the fight against Germany, before fighting the Japanese who were right across the Pacific Ocean. Roosevelt saw the war as Europe’s problem and was reluctant to join Britain, however Churchill eventually persuaded Roosevelt to fight.The relationship between Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt was one of the most important during the WWII period. The two leaders had a mutual level of respect for each other, which was vital in winning the war. Churchill himself had said that “the only thing worse than fighting a war with allies, is fighting a war without them.” America joining the fight in 1941 had turned the tides and gave the allies side a second wind, spurring them on to fight back against the strong German and Japanese forces, ultimately defeating them both in 1945.Ill Health was another significant pressure that Winston Churchill faced as he became Prime Minister when he was 67 years of age and was showing several signs of fragile health very early on in his leadership. Throughout the entire war period, Churchill had been the victim of a number of strokes, in 1941 he suffered a mild heart attack during his visit to the White House in December, and in 1943 he had contracted Pneumonia. Churchill had the support of his wife, Clementine, who nursed him back to health on a number of occasions, however Clementine couldn’t always be there for him. So, Churchill often had to push on when he was ill, and because Churchill was a very stubborn and ambitious man, he would never let his slowly deteriorating health get in the way of the task at hand. Winston Churchill eventually developed depression which he never received medication for. Instead he sought solace in his tumbler of whiskey and soda, and his iconic and trusty cigar.Churchill struggled with depression, but he managed to get through the war and keep the British people inspired, even if he wasn’t entirely certain of victory. Later in Churchill’s life, after the war, he had faced several major health scares, resulting in countless hospital visits. Churchill would experience a number of strokes and minor heart attacks, often receiving sympathetic letters from many of his friends, which did not provide much help as he still battled with his health and his overwhelming depression.Winston Churchill is seen as one of the most iconic British leaders in history, and rightly so. However, during the Second World War, Churchill occasionally received large amounts of criticism from the British public and people calling for him to be sacked. Churchill brushed off the opinions of the people who showed no support for him and his leadership and instead focused on winning the war for Britain. Churchill was however under enormous pressure to avoid a repetition of the bloodshed that Britain experienced in the First World War, as 700,000 British soldiers were killed in battle. This meant that Winston Churchill had a difficult job to complete. He and Britain had to emerge victorious in the war, while also limiting the number of British soldiers and civilians that were killed.Churchill was successful in doing so, as Britain had lost less than half a million soldiers and civilians in total. However, the loss of such a large number of soldiers and innocent civilians became a heavy burden for Churchill. Churchill always knew that victory was the only option for Britain, so those lives lost were for a good cause, but the overall responsibility that he had to take, took its toll on Churchill in the long run. Winston Churchill embodied Britain’s will to fight and resist the Nazi threat but that did not help in the 1945 British election where Churchill lost his position as Prime Minister. Churchill was no longer the man for the job, but the man truly gave his all for his country, nonetheless, the people cheered for the war leader, not the politician.Winston Churchill had overcome a number of significant pressures during his time, some of which could have actually ended his life. Churchill had dealt with the ongoing pressure and criticism from his peers in parliament, even when they demanded peace talks with the enemy and was given little time to settle into his new role. Churchill’s relationship with Roosevelt provided unnecessary pressure as he had to fight to get the US into the war, as well as the significant pressure from the people of Britain who were counting on him. However, Churchill’s most significant pressure that he faced and overcame during the Second World War was unarguably Adolf Hitler and the German forces, who posed the biggest threat to Europe and the rest of the world.Word Count: 1828Bibliography:Famous People - Winston Churchill 2014, accessed 2 March 2018,, H?2018,?Winston Churchill, accessed?8 March 2018, <, J, Halpin, M & Brown, V?n.d.,?Sir Winston Churchill: A biography, accessed?1 March 2018, < Churchill?2018, accessed?3 March 2018, <, C?2012,?Mini BIO - Winston Churchill,?online video,?16 October, accessed?12 March 2018,, S?2018,?Winston Churchill Biography: In the Darkest Hour,?online video,?13 February 2018, accessed?16 February 2018, Winston Churchill: The greatest Briton??n.d., accessed?24 March 2018, < Storm?n.d., accessed?28 March 2018, < History, N?2017,?An Animated Biography of Winston Churchill,?online video,?7 September, accessed?8 March 2018, Churchill Biography?n.d., accessed?27 February 2018, < Churchill Biography?2017, accessed?27 February 2018, <, A?n.d.,?The May 1940 War Cabinet Crisis: Churchill’s darkest hour, accessed?28 March 2018, < R. 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