Early life

Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born on November 30, 1874, at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England. Young Winston attended the prestigious Harrow School for boys, on the outskirts of London. He did well in English but had little interest in other subjects. He later entered the Royal Military College at Sandhurst and graduated from there with honors.

Soldier and journalist

In 1895, Churchill entered the Fourth Hussars, a famous regiment of the British Army. He spent his first leave as a reporter in Cuba for a London newspaper.

Next Churchill went to India, where he served as a soldier and journalist. In 1898, he joined the British Army in The Sudan and participated in the battle of Khartoum. His early books The Story of the Malakand Field Force (1898) and River War (1899) were based on his dispatches, or official messages, from these two countries.

In 1899, Churchill resigned from the military to enter politics and make a living as a writer. He ran for a seat in Parliament, the legislative body of Britain. He ran as a candidate for the Conservative Party but lost by a narrow margin.

At the start of the Boer War in South Africa in 1899, Churchill received an assignment as a reporter. Soon after he arrived in South Africa, he was taken prisoner. He escaped from the military prison less than a month later, however. This made him a hero in the eyes of his fellow Britons.

Political career

With his new fame, Churchill won a seat in Parliament when he returned to England in 1900. Even Churchill's opponents had to agree that he was a hard worker. He held various offices. He became undersecretary for the colonies in 1906, and two years later he received his first position in the Cabinet, or group of advisers to the prime minister.

World War I

In 1911, Churchill became head of the British Navy. The British government was concerned at that time because Germany had been building up its navy. Churchill ordered the British fleet to be ready for war. He also worked hard to reorganize the Navy. He built a fine staff, obtained heavier guns and faster battleships, and developed the Royal Air Force. When World War I broke out in 1914, Churchill's Navy became Great Britain's first powerful force against Germany.

After World War I

After the war, Churchill continued to serve in Parliament. During that time, he wrote hundreds of newspaper articles and several more books.

Also during the 1930s, Churchill warned his country repeatedly of the growing danger from Germany under Adolf Hitler's rule. Great Britain was exhausted by war and focused on internal affairs, however. Churchill's warnings were not popular.

Prime minister

After Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, Britain declared war on Germany. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appointed Churchill to his old post as head of the Navy. Eight months later, in May1940, Chamberlain was forced to resign. Churchill succeeded him as prime minister.

When Churchill took office, the German military was sweeping through Europe. Churchill committed himself and the nation to an all-out war until victory was achieved. His courage gave confidence to Britain throughout the war.

When other countries joined the war, Churchill helped plan the overall war strategy of the Allied forces. (The Allies consisted of France, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and China.) Churchill was against the Communist policies of the Soviet Union, but he worked with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to defeat the common enemy, Germany.

After World War II

The government led by Churchill broke up soon after World War II ended in Europe. The opposition Labour party won the general election of 1945, and Churchill was forced to resign. He then entered the Parliament as leader of the new opposition. In 1951 he brought the Conservative party back into power, beginning a new term as prime minister. In 1953, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and received the Nobel prize for literature.

Churchill retired as prime minister in 1955. The next year he completed his last literary work, the four-volume A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956–58). Among the honors he received was honorary citizenship in the United States in 1963.

Churchill died in London on January 24, 1965. He was given a state funeral and buried next to his parents near Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.