Prize for Literature. Churchillalsomadeanamefor himselfasapainterandwriter:in1953hewasawarded theNobel Thus thedrivingforce behindtheanti-Hitlercoalitionbecameanactive campaignerfor ’s cause. seat inParliament, allbefore his 26thbirthday. four medalsandanOrderofMerit,writefivebooks andwina next five years, saw him fight battles on three continents, win But after graduation he began a military career that, over the the entryexamfor Sandhurst,theRoyal MilitaryAcademy. On finishingschoolin1893,ittookhimthreeattemptsto pass something heenjoyed. to beanoutstandingstudentandschoolwasnottherefore in 1888atHarrow, atopLondonboys’ school.Hedidnotprove enjoying a privileged childhood, began his education of Marlborough,buthismotherwasborninAmerica.After aristocratic -Churchill family of the noble Dukes Winston Churchillwasbornon30November 1874intothe Early life Winston Churchill1874-1965 States ofEurope :callingfor aUnited

© J.Russell & son/CORBIS We mustbuildakindofUnitedStatesEurope.” with astructureunderwhichitcandwell inpeace,safety andinfreedom. It istore-createtheEuropeanfamily, orasmuchofitwe can,andtoprovide it a remedywhich...would inafew years make allEurope...freeandhappy. ‘Speech totheacademicyouth’ heldattheUniversity ofZurichin1946:“Thereis He formulated hisconclusionsdrawnfromthelessonsofhistoryinfamous European illsofnationalismandwar-mongeringoncefor all. that onlyaunitedEuropecouldguaranteepeace.Hisaimwastoeliminatethe ‘United StatesofEurope’.Following theSecondWorld War, hewasconvinced (1940-45 and1951-55),wasoneofthefirsttocall for thecreationof a Winston Churchill,aformer armyofficer, warreporterandBritishPrimeMinister of theEU The FoundingFathers

Foreign . held allofthemostimportant ministerialpostsexceptthatof Minister ofMunitions.Intheyears leadingupto1929,Churchill When in 1917 a new government was formed he became 6th BattalionRoyal ScotsFusiliersinthetrenchesofFrance. He decidedtojointhearmyagainandledmenof the to resign after the failure of a particular military campaign. (Minister responsiblefor thenavy).In1915hewasforced Cabinets asHomeSecretaryandFirst LordoftheAdmiralty career. HewaselectedtoParliament andservedindifferent camp there,returningtoEnglandin1900embarkonapolitical he madeheadlineswhenescapedfromaprisonerof . WhilstreportingontheBoerWar inSouthAfrica, While servingintheBritisharmy, Churchillwasalsoanewspaper Political career

EN In 1929, he became estranged from his party, the Conservatives. A ‘ of Europe’ This is the start of a period in Churchill’s life known as the ‘Wilderness Years’. He continued writing and became a very In 1946 Churchill delivered another famous speech, at the University productive and well published author of articles and books. of Zurich, in which he advocated a ‘’, urging Churchill was among the very first few people to recognise Europeans to turn their backs on the horrors of the past and look the growing threat of Hitler long before the outset of the to the future. He declared that Europe could not afford to drag Second World War and the first to voice his concerns. forward the hatred and revenge which sprung from the injuries of the past, and that the first step to recreate the ‘European family’ of justice, mercy and freedom was “to build a kind of United States of Europe. In this way only will hundreds of millions of toilers be able to regain the simple joys and hopes which make life worth living”.

Council of Europe

With this plea for a United States of Europe, Churchill was one of the first to advocate to prevent the atrocities of two world wars from ever happening again, © © European calling for the creation of a as a first step. Churchill gives the ‘V’ for victory sign during a speech at the European Congress in The Hague in 1948. In 1948, in The Hague, 800 delegates from all European countries met, with Churchill as honorary president, at a grand . Second World War This led to the creation of the Council of Europe on 5 May 1949, In 1939, Churchill’s predictions became reality as the Second the first meeting of which was attended by Churchill himself. World War broke out. In 1940, he became Prime Minister and His call to action can be seen as propelling further integration as led Great Britain through the difficult war years, offering hope later agreed upon during the Messina Conference in 1955, which and determination to the with his inspirational led to the two years later. It was also Churchill who speeches. His staunch refusal to consider defeat or to bargain would first moot the idea of a ‘’ designed to protect with the Nazis inspired British resistance, especially at the start the continent and provide European with some muscle. of the war when Britain stood alone in its active opposition to Furthermore, the European Court of Human Rights was created Hitler. Nevertheless, he lost the elections after the end of the war. in 1959 — a decade after Churchill first championed the idea. He did not, however, lose his ability to interpret correctly how future events would play out, as proven by his famous speech in Providing the inspiration to the people of Europe as the Fulton, Missouri about the threat from the Soviet Communists, in binding factor in the allied fight against Nazism and , which he coined the well-known expression about the ‘’. Winston Churchill consequently became a driving force behind European integration and an active fighter for its cause.

The Founding Fathers of the EU