Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (November 30, 1874 - January 24, 1965) was a British politician, statesman and writer, known for his leadership over the United Kingdom during World War II. He is considered one of the great leaders of wartime and was prime minister of the United Kingdom in two periods (1940-45 and 1951-55). Notable statesman and speaker, Churchill was also a British Army officer, journalist, historian, writer and artist. He is the only British Prime Minister awarded with the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was also made an honorary citizen of the United States of America.
He was born into the aristocratic family of the Dukes of Marlborough. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a charismatic politician and finance minister of the United Kingdom; his mother, Jenny Jerome, was of American origin. As a young army officer, he took action in British India, Sudan and the Second Boer War. He gained fame as a war correspondent and with the books he wrote about his campaigns.
In the political frontline for 50 years, he held numerous political and cabinet positions. Before the First World War, he was President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary and First Lord of the Admiralty as part of the liberal government of H. H. Asquith. During the war he continued as First Lord of the Admiralty until the disastrous Battle of Gallipoli, which he had sponsored and which motivated his departure from the government. He then served briefly on the western front as commander of the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scottish Fusiliers. He returned to the government as Minister of Armament, Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for Air. After the world conflict, he held the post of Finance Minister in the conservative government of Stanley Baldwin between 1924 and 1929, where he took the controversial decision to return the sterling pound in 1925 to the gold standard as in the pre-war parity, which many considered a deflationary pressure on the economy of the United Kingdom. Equally controversial were his opposition to the increase in Indian autonomy and his resistance to the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936.
Although he remained out of politics in the 1930s, he led the alert about the danger of Adolf Hitler and the campaign for rearmament. However, he supported Mussolini's fascism at least until 1934. At the outbreak of World War II, he was reappointed First Lord of the Admiralty and, after the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on May 10, 1940, he became Prime Minister. His firm refusal to accept defeat, surrender or a peace agreement helped to inspire British resistance, especially during the difficult first years of the war, when the United Kingdom was left alone in its strong opposition and in the war against Nazi Germany. He was noted for his speeches and radio programs that helped inspire the British people, whom he led as Prime Minister until the victory of the Allies over the Axis Powers was certain.
After his conservative party lost the general election of 1945, Churchill led the opposition. In 1951 he managed to return to being Prime Minister, until his retirement in 1955. Upon his death in 1965, Queen Elizabeth II granted him the honor of a state funeral in which he gave one of the largest meetings of heads of state ever before views. Churchill is remembered as one of the most influential men in the history of the United Kingdom.
