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Winston Churchill and His Time

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Winston Churchill and His Time V. G\ Trufyuinovsi^] Winston CHURCHLL Vladimir Trukhanovsky takes a Marxist look at Sir Winston Churchill and his time. His book is an attempt to analyse and interpret the part this prominent olitical leader of the 20th century played the history of Britain and in international fairs. Progress Publishers <Mosco%q) j - Vladimir Grigoryevich Trukhanovsky is Editor-in-Chief of the leading Soviet histo- rical Journal, Voprosy istorii, published by the USSR Academy of Sciences and the USSR Ministry of Higher Education. He is also a professor at Moscow University and a Corresponding Member of the USSR Aca- demy of Sciences. His previously published books are: Recent British History (1958), British Foreign Policy , 1918-1939 (1962), British Foreign Policy During the Second World War, 1939-1945 (1965). British Fo- reign Policy Since the Second World War (1957), Essays on Recent British History (1963) and Anthony Eden. British Diplo r°m the T* irtie8 to the Fifties (19?4 \ V. G. Trukhanovsky WINSTON CHURCHILL V.G. Trukhanovsky Progress Publishers Moscow Translated from the Russian by Kenneth Russell , Alex Miller (Chapter 11) and Christopher English (Chapters 12, 13) BT. TpyxaHOBCKHft yHHCTOH qEpqHJiJib Ha amjiuucKOM Hjbixe Printed in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics -11102-550 82-78 014(01)—78 Contents Chapter 1 The Boy and the Young Man 7 Chapter 2r In Search of a Vocation 27 Chapter 3 Winston Changes His Party 50 Chapter 4 The Liberal Politician 78 Chapter 5 The First World War 103 Chapter 6 Organiser of the Armed Struggle Against Soviet Russia 143 Chapter 7 Back to the Conservatives 175 Chapter 8 Awareness of the German Threat 202 6 CONTENTS Chapter 9 His Finest Hour 242 Chapter 10 At the Final Stage of the War 286 Chapter 11 Cold War Crusader 314 Chapter 12 Twilight of His Political Career 347 Chapter 13 The Final Years 370 Bibliography 385 Chapter The Boy and the Young Man For many years Winston Chirchill’s political opponents referred to him as “a young man in a hurry”. This applies as much to his birth as to his style as a politician and statesman. He was so anxious to be born that he made his appearance two months prematurely, on 30 November 1874. Although premature, the baby had energy to spare. He bawled so furiously, shattering the silence of Blenheim Palace, that the Duchess of Marlborough was utterly appalled and remarked: “After all, I have myself given life to quite a number of infants. They were all pretty vocal when they arrived. But such an earth-shaking noise as this newborn baby made I have never heard.” His hair was auburn-coloured. With his blunt and slightly turned-up nose, the child resembled his ancestors in the long line of Marlborough. He was christened Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill. Winston’s father, Lord Randolph Chur- chill, was the third son of the seventh Duke of Marlborough. Churchill’s first definitely established forebear is re- ckoned to be one John Churchill, who is known to have lived in the 17th century and to have been a Dorsetshire lawyer and an ardent Royalist. John Churchill married Sarah, the daughter of Sir Henry Winston of Gloucestershire. A son, Winston, was born to them in 1620, and at the age of twen- ty-two he joined the army and later fought on the side of King Charles I during the English bourgeois revolution of the 17th century. 8 V.G. TRUKHANOVSKY In May 1643, during a lull in the fighting, Winston Chur- chill, who by that time had already risen to the rank of a captain of horse, married Elizabeth, the daughter of Lady Eleanor Drake, who was descended from the family of Sir Francis Drake—a characteristic figure of the period that saw the original accumulation of capital in England: he had managed to combine a career in the Royal Navy with out- right piracy. Drake enjoyed the patronage of Queen Eli- zabeth I, and it was from her that he received his knighthood. Captain Churchill fought for the King, while his wife’s family supported the revolutionary forces of Cromwell. Both sides agreed, however, that political differences should not impede the marriage. The bourgeois revolution in England triumphed, Charles I was beheaded and the cause for which Captain Churchill had fought was lost. But the year 1660 brought a change. On 3 May King Charles II landed at Dover, and the monarchy was restored in England shortly after. Winston Churchill immedi- ately set off for London to receive his reward for his loyalty to the monarchy. Eventually his persistence was rewarded. He was elected to Parliament, acquired a house in London, later secured a profitable post in Ireland and, after his return to England, served as a comptroller of the royal household. The King knighted him and granted him the right to have his own coat of arms. Nevertheless, Churchill considered that the royal largesse was not commensurate with his services, and so he chose for his coat of arms the motto Fiel pero desdichado (“faithful but unfortunate”). This is still the motto of the Churchill family. Elizabeth Drake bore Winston Churchill twelve children. Seven of them died in infancy, but the survivors turned out to be extremely enterprising and achieved a great deal in life. Admittedly, the methods they employed were somewhat dubious. Their daughter Arabella and their son John, who was born in 1650, were particularly successful. The author of one of the biographies of the modern Winston Churchill, Lewis Broad, writes that “the Churchills, like several other ducal houses, owed their initial fortunes to a woman’s fall”. The woman who brought success to the House of Churchill and assisted its rise to fame was Arabella Churchill. Her father managed, not without difficulty, to find her a place in the entourage of Charles II’s brother, the Duke of York, later to be King James II. At first, Arabella made THE BOY AND THE YOUNG MAN 9 little headway as a lady-in-waiting to the Duchess of York. Her appearance was very unprepossessing: she was, as Lewis Broad tells us, “a tall, pale-faced creature ... nothing but §kin and bone”. But soon her position was to undergo a most unexpected change. This is recorded by a Frenchman, Count Grammont, who formed part of the Duke’s entourage at the time. Once, while she was out riding, Arabella’s horse set off at a gallop, and she lost her balance and fell off. “A fall in so quick a pace must have been violent,” Grammont writes, “and yet it proved favourable to her in every respect: for, without receiving any hurt, she gave the lie to all the un- favourable suppositions that had been formed of her person, in judging from her face. The duke alighted, in order to help her.... Those who first crowded around her found her rather in a negligent posture. They could hardly believe that limbs of such exquisite beauty could belong to Miss Churchill’s face. After this accident, it was remarked that the duke’s tenderness and affection for her increased every day.” Ara- bella’s liaison with the Duke of York resulted in her bearing four children, who came to occupy prominent positions among the English aristocracy, and her brother John was launched into a splendid career. At the age of only twenty-two, John Churchill was a cavalry captain, and two years later he became colonel of a regiment of dragoons. He was made a baron at the age of thirty-five. In June 1685 John Churchill gave proof of his abilities in a major enterprise. One of the pretenders to the English throne, the Duke of Monmouth, landed in the British Isles and advanced on Bristol. Winston Churchill and his son John immediately presented themselves to James II and offered their services. John Churchill was promoted on the spot to brigader-general and was ordered to put down the rebellion. In a battle fought on 6 July Monmouth was de- feated, captured and later beheaded. Baron Churchill was made a major-general, and a few years later he became an earl. John Churchill, or “Handsome Jack”, as he was known at the time, founded the dynasty of the Dukes of Marlborough. He reached the peak of his career during the War of the Spanish Succession, when he commanded the Anglo-Dutch forces operating in Europe against France. British historians generally seem to have a very soft spot for John Churchill, depicting him as a great commander, di- 10 V.G. TRUKHANOVSKY plomat and national hero. But this is not the view taken by all historians. He used his position as commander of the coalition forces in Europe not only to plunder the European mainland, but also to extort huge bribes in England herself. While he was taking bribes from the army suppliers, he and his wife were drawing from the Exchequer pay and appointments for the various lucrative posts they occupied totalling annually £64,325—a colossal sum for the time. John Churchill was married to Sarah Jennings, an energetic and enterprising woman who had great influence over Queen Anne. The Queen lavished reward after reward on John Churchill. In 1702 she elevated him to the rank of duke, after which he took the title of first Duke of Marlborough. He was awarded a pension of £5,000 a year. But he had no land or estates. After the battle of Blenheim on 13 August 1704, where Marlborough commanded the forces which defeated France and her allies, he was given a large tract of land at Woodstock (Oxfordshire) and £500,000 for the purpose of building a sumptuous palace and refur- bishing the estate.
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