January 24 - Death of Churchill

This Day in History: 24 January 2020

 

24 January 1965

 

55 years ago, today, Winston Churchill died at the age of 90, unfortunately the third death of a historic figure written about here, on the blog, only this week. Born at Blenheim Place in 1874, Churchill is remembered most significantly as the British leader who guided Great Britain through the hardship of the Second World War. He joined the British Fourth Hussars in 1895 and for the next five years, had an experienced military career, but resigned in 1899 to focus on his literacy and political career. This paid off, as a year later, he was elected to Parliament as a Conservative MP from Oldham, but joined the liberals four years afterwards, and was appointed as Britain's first lord of the admiralty in 1911. In this position, he worked to prepare the British navy for the inevitable war.

 

When the second year of World War One came about, Churchill was held responsible for the failure of the Dardanelles and Gallipoli campaigns, and as a result was excluded from the war coalition government, causing his resignation, but returned to politics as a cabinet member under Lloyd George's government. After World War Two broke out, Churchill was called again to be the first lord of the admiralty, and shortly replaced Neville Chamberlain's ineffective leadership, as he became Prime Minister. Under Churchill, Britain first stood alone against Nazi Germany, but Churchill promised he would "never surrender", granting England the hope they needed to stay determined. Churchill then brilliantly formed an alliance with the United States president, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Soviet Union's dictator Joseph Stalin. However, after the war had concluded, Churchill resigned as Prime Minister after Clement Atlee's Labour party won the election, but again reclaimed leadership and his title as Prime Minister in 1951, before retiring in 1955, but still remaining in Parliament up until a year before his death, and was honoured with a state funeral.

 

Want to find out more about the life and achievements of Winston Churchill? Click here for more information, or to watch a film instead, 'Darkest Hour' retells Churchill's early days of Prime Minister, or 'Churchill' accounts Churchill in his days near to D-Day.