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WE SHALL NEVER SURRENDER speech by Winston Churchill (We Shall Fight on the Beaches)

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Winston Churchill - We shall never surrender

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churchill's speech june the 8th 1940 - Bing video

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Gallipoli: Campaign, Battle & Movie - HISTORY | HISTORY

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In the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I, British, French, Australian and New Zealand troops failed to take the Galli…

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WORDS It is arguable whether the human race have been gainers by the march of science beyond the steam engine. Electricity opens a field of infinite conveniences to ever greater numbers, but they may well have to pay dearly for them.

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The International Churchill Society (ICS), founded in 1968 shortly after Churchill's death, is the world's preeminent member organisation dedicated to preserving the historic legacy of Sir Winston Churchill. We are a UK Registered Charity and US IRS 501c3 Registered Nonprofit

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The purpose of this presentation is to give people an understanding why Churchill is worth studying today. The presentation takes look at why most of us remember Churchill, an overview of his polit…

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0:00 / 2:25•Watch full video

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1- First broadcast  as PM , May 19th 1940

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1- First broadcast  as PM , May 19th 1940

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The Real King's Speech - King George VI - September 3, 1939

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Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st earl of Halifax (born April 16, 1881, Powderham Castle, Devonshire, England-died December 23, 1959, Garrowby Hall, near York, Yorkshire) British viceroy of India (1925-31), foreign secretary (1938-40), and ambassador to the United States (1941-46).

The fourth son of the 2nd Viscount Halifax, a well-known churchman and a leader of the Anglo-Catholic movement in Yorkshire, Wood was born with an atrophied left arm that had no hand. He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford, and was elected a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, in 1903.

Wood entered Parliament as Conservative member for Ripon, Yorkshire, in January 1910, and for the next 30 years he had a most successful career in politics. During World War I he served for a time with the Yorkshire Dragoons in France and was assistant secretary to the ministry of national service from 1917 to 1918. After the war he was successively undersecretary of state for the colonies (1921-22), president of the Board of Education (1922-24), and minister of agriculture (1924-25).

In 1925 he was appointed viceroy of India and raised to the peerage as Baron Irwin. His term of office in India (1925-29) coincided with a period of intense nationalist ferment among Hindus and Muslims alike, but his own deep concern with religious faith (like his father, he was a devout High Churchman) enabled him to work on terms of understanding with Mahatma Gandhi, the most powerful figure among Indian nationalists at that time. Halifax accelerated the processes of constitutional advance by using his great influence to that end both during his viceroyalty and after.

On his return from India, he again became president of the Board of Education (1932-35). He succeeded to his father's viscountcy in 1934. Thereafter he was lord privy seal (1935-37), leader of the House of Lords (1935-38), and lord president of the council (1937-38) before being appointed foreign secretary on February 25, 1938, on Anthony Eden's resignation from Neville Chamberlain's government. His tenure of the foreign office was the most controversial period of his career, for by accepting this appointment he identified himself with Chamberlain's policy of "appeasement" toward Adolf Hitler. As lord privy seal he had visited Hitler and Hermann Göring in November 1937, and he accompanied Chamberlain on a visit to Benito Mussolini in Rome in January 1939.

Halifax had been close to Chamberlain long before becoming foreign secretary, and, when Chamberlain resigned in May1940, he hoped Halifax would succeed him as prime minister. In fact, the issue was decided otherwise at a meeting between Chamberlain, Halifax, and Winston Churchill. Halifax remained foreign secretary for the first seven months of Churchill's ministry, but in December 1940 he was named British ambassador to the United States.

In that post he gave great service to the Allied cause during World War II, in recognition of which he was created earl of Halifax in 1944. Named British delegate to the San Francisco Conference in March 1945, he attended the first sessions of the United Nations. His resignation as ambassador became effective on May 1, 1946. In 1957 he published a volume of recollections, Fullness of Days.

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Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st earl of Halifax | Biography & Facts

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Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st earl of Halifax, British viceroy of India (1925-31), foreign secretary (1938-40), and ambassador to the United States (1941-46). As Neville Chamberlain's foreign secretary, he was identified with the policy of appeasement toward Adolf Hitler.

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Lived

1881 to 1959

Dates in office

February 1938 to December 1940

Political party

Conservative

Interesting facts

Nick-named 'the Holy Fox' due to his passion for hunting and his Christian moral outlook

Biography

The Prime Minister wrote privately that Halifax was a more congenial colleague: "I thank God for a steady unruffled Foreign Secretary who never causes me any worry". He hoped that Halifax would not become infected with the pessimism and suspicion of Hitler and Mussolini which, in Chamberlain's opinion, some senior Foreign Office officials displayed.

Halifax was nicknamed 'the Holy Fox', reflecting his passion for hunting and his Christian moral outlook. He was a man of great stature, who possessed a rational outlook, calm resolution and a conciliatory manner. His air of aristocratic reserve was accompanied by a shrewd political judgement.

Negotiations with Hitler and Mussolini

Halifax agreed with Chamberlain that it was not worth starting a war to defend the crumbling post-war Versailles settlement. Both men initially believed that they could find a satisfactory solution to the demands of Hitler and Mussolini through negotiation and concession. But their traditional 'gentlemanly' approach to diplomacy was at odds with the new assertive Fascist leadership and the bullying brinksmanship they practiced.

Halifax realised earlier than Chamberlain, but later than others, that Britain would have to stand firm against Nazi demands for territorial aggrandisement. But it came too late to avoid him being cast in 1940 as one of the 'Guilty Men' (in the publication of the same name), held responsible for the war by appeasing fascism.

Halifax was no stranger to foreign affairs having deputised for Eden and acted as spokesman in the Lords since 1935. During the crisis resulting from the Hoare-Laval Pact (which gave Italy territorial concessions at the expense of Abyssinia) Halifax had declared the government's moral standing was at stake and called for the Foreign Secretary to resign. In November 1937 he had accepted an invitation, as Master of the Middleton Hunt, from Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering to visit a hunting exhibition in Berlin and to shoot foxes with him in Pomerania. Chamberlain pushed for the visit to be used to make contact with the German leadership and sound-out their intentions.

Halifax visited Hitler at his mountain retreat at Berchtesgaden where he nearly mistook the German Chancellor for a footman. He recalled in his memoirs: "As I looked out of the car window, on eye level, I saw in the middle of this swept path a pair of black trousered legs, finishing up in silk socks and pumps. I assumed this was a footman who had come down to help me out of the car and up the steps, and was proceeding in leisurely fashion to get myself out of the car when I heard Von Neurath [the German foreign minister] or somebody throwing a hoarse whisper at my ear of 'Der Führer, der Führer'; and it then dawned upon me that the legs were not the legs of a footman, but of Hitler" (Halifax, Fulness of Days, London, 1957).

In a 3 hour conversation, Halifax did little to curb Hitler's ambitions towards Austria and Czechoslovakia with his vague talk of 'possible alterations in the European order which might be destined to come about with the passage of time'.

The Munich crisis

At first Chamberlain continued to dominate foreign affairs and use personal diplomacy to circumvent the normal diplomatic channels. Even with a Foreign Secretary more to his liking, Chamberlain did not take Halifax with him to the Munich conference in September 1938 at which Czechoslovakia was carved up, and after which Chamberlain infamously declared he had secured 'peace for our time'. And at a subsequent mission to Italy to woo Mussolini in January 1939, Halifax played only a secondary role.

However during the Munich crisis, conscious as he was of the political mood and public opinion, Halifax's attitude towards Germany hardened. He was consequently instrumental in modifying Chamberlain's policies. In September 1938 he led the Cabinet in insisting on making fewer concessions to Germany over the Sudetenland. Following Hitler's complete annexation of Czechoslovakia, in March 1939, he pushed for Britain to offer a guarantee of security to Poland. Later that summer Halifax also made Chamberlain reassure France very publicly (if rather belatedly) of British military support should it too be invaded by Germany.

The final years in office

Chamberlain resigned as Prime Minister in May 1940 following the debacle of the Norwegian campaign. Halifax was seen as a leading candidate to replace him but he realised that Churchill would make a superior war leader and, pleading ill-health, withdrew from the race.

Halifax remained as Foreign Secretary and has been identified with various peacemaking initiatives in the summer of 1940. Churchill then decided he wanted Eden back as Foreign Secretary and in January 1941 Halifax was persuaded to take up the ambassadorship to Washington. There, after an initially hesitant start, he formed a strong working relationship with President Roosevelt and remained until May 1946.

Further reading

Halifax: The Life of Lord Halifax, by The Earl of Birkenhead (London, 1965)

Chamberlain and the Lost Peace by John Charmley (London, 1989)

The Holy Fox: A biography of Lord Halifax by Andrew Roberts (Bath, 1991)

An entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography by DJ Dutton (2008)

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History of Edward Frederick Lindley Wood - GOV.UK

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1881 to 1959 February 1938 to December 1940 Conservative Nick-named 'the Holy Fox' due to his passion for hunting and his Christian moral outlook The Prime Minister wrote privately that Halifax was a more congenial colleague: "I thank God for a steady unruffled Foreign Secretary who never causes me any worry".

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Chamberlain was British prime minister between 1937 and 1940, and is closely associated with the policy of appeasement towards Nazi Germany.

Arthur Neville Chamberlain was born on 18 March 1869 in Birmingham into a political family. His father, Joseph, was an influential politician of the late 19th century and Neville's older half-brother Austen held many Conservative cabinet positions in the early 20th century and won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Chamberlain was educated in Birmingham. After a successful career in business, in 1915 he was appointed lord mayor of Birmingham. In 1916, Lloyd George appointed him director-general of the department of national service, but disagreements between them led Chamberlain to resign. In 1918, Chamberlain was elected Conservative member of parliament for Ladywood in Birmingham and was rapidly promoted. He served as both chancellor of the exchequer (1923 - 1924) and minister of health (1923, 1924 -1929, 1931). In 1937, he succeeded Stanley Baldwin as prime minister.

Like many in Britain who had lived through World War One, Chamberlain was determined to avert another war. His policy of appeasement towards Adolf Hitler culminated in the Munich Agreement in which Britain and France accepted that the Czech region of the Sudetenland should be ceded to Germany. Chamberlain left Munich believing that by appeasing Hitler he had assured 'peace for our time'. However, in March 1939 Hitler annexed the rest of the Czech lands of Bohemia and Moravia, with Slovakia becoming a puppet state of Germany. Five months later in September 1939 Hitler's forces invaded Poland. Chamberlain responded with a British declaration of war on Germany.

In May 1940, after the disastrous Norwegian campaign, Chamberlain resigned and Winston Churchill became prime minister. Chamberlain served in Churchill's cabinet as lord president of the council. He died a few weeks after he left office, on 9 November 1940.

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Read a biography about Neville Chamberlain, and discover why he's closely associated with the policy of appeasement towards Nazi Germany.

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Winston Churchill’s World War Disaster | HISTORY

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A quarter-century before boldly leading Britain in World War II, Winston Churchill spearheaded a World War I military…

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The Lend-Lease Act of 1941 stated that the U.S. government could lend or lease (rather than sell) war supplies to any nation deemed "vital to the defense of the United States." Under this policy, the United States was able to supply military aid to its foreign allies during World War II, while still remaining officially neutral in the conflict. Most importantly, passage of the Lend-Lease Act enabled a struggling Great Britain to continue fighting against Germany virtually on its own until the United States entered World War II late in 1941.
WATCH: World War II Documentaries on HISTORY Vault
Neutrality in Wartime

In the decades following World War I, many Americans remained extremely wary of becoming involved in another costly international conflict. Even as fascist regimes like Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler took aggressive action in Europe the 1930s, isolationist members of Congress pushed through a series of laws limiting how the United States could respond.

But after Germany invaded Poland in 1939, and full-scale war broke out again in Europe, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that while the United States would remain neutral by law, it was impossible "that every American remain neutral in thought as well."

Before passage of the Neutrality Act of 1939, Roosevelt persuaded Congress to allow the sale of military supplies to allies like France and Britain on a "cash-and-carry" basis: They had to pay cash for American-made supplies, and then transport the supplies on their own ships.
WATCH VIDEO: The Lend-Lease Act
Great Britain Asks for Help

But by the summer of 1940, France and much of northern Europe had fallen to the Nazis, and Britain was fighting virtually alone against Germany on land, at sea and in the air. The London Blitz and other German offenses had taken a serious toll on British morale and military strength.

After the new British prime minister, Winston Churchill, appealed personally to Roosevelt for help, the U.S. president agreed to exchange more than 50 outdated American destroyers for 99-year leases on British bases in the Caribbean and Newfoundland, which would be used as U.S. air and naval bases.

That December, with Britain's currency and gold reserves dwindling, Churchill warned Roosevelt that his country would not be able to pay cash for military supplies or shipping much longer. Though he had recently been re-elected on a platform promising to keep America out of World War II, Roosevelt wanted to support Great Britain against Germany.

After hearing Churchill's appeal, he began working to convince Congress (and the American public) that providing more direct aid to Britain was in the nation's own interest.

Arsenal of Democracy

In December 1940, Roosevelt introduced a new policy initiative whereby the United States would lend, rather than sell, military supplies to Great Britain for use in the fight against Germany. Payment for the supplies would be deferred, and could come in any form Roosevelt deemed satisfactory.

"We must be the great arsenal of democracy," Roosevelt declared in one of his signature " fireside chats " on December 29, 1940. "For us, this is an emergency as serious as war itself. We must apply ourselves to our task with the same resolution, the same sense of urgency, the same spirit of patriotism and sacrifice as we would show were we at war."

Lend-Lease Policy

Lend-Lease, as Roosevelt's plan became known, ran into strong opposition among isolationist members of Congress, as well as those who believed the policy gave the president himself too much power. During the debate over the bill, which continued for two months, Roosevelt's administration and supporters in Congress argued convincingly that providing aid to allies like Great Britain was a military necessity for the United States.

"We are buying...not lending. We are buying our own security while we prepare," Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "By our delay during the past six years, while Germany was preparing, we find ourselves unprepared and unarmed, facing a thoroughly prepared and armed potential enemy."

Finally, in March 1941, Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act (subtitled "An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States") and Roosevelt signed it into law.

Impact of the Lend-Lease Act

Roosevelt quickly took advantage of his authority under the new law, ordering large quantities of U.S. food and war materials to be shipped to Britain from U.S. ports through the new Office of Lend-Lease Administration.

The supplies dispersed under the Lend-Lease Act ranged from tanks, aircraft, ships, weapons and road building supplies to clothing, chemicals and food. By the end of 1941, the lend-lease policy was extended to include other U.S. allies, including France, China and the Soviet Union.

Through the end of World War II the United States would use it to provide a total of some $50 billion in aid (equal to $690 billion in 2020 dollars) to more than 30 nations around the globe, from the Free French movement led by Charles de Gaulle and the governments-in-exile of Poland, the Netherlands and Norway to Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Paraguay and Peru.

For Roosevelt, Lend-Lease was not motivated primarily by altruism or generosity, but was intended to serve the interest of the United States by helping to defeat Nazi Germany without entering the war outright-at least not until the nation was prepared for it, both militarily and in terms of public opinion.

Through Lend-Lease, the United States also succeeded in becoming the "arsenal of democracy" during World War II, thus securing its preeminent place in the international economic and political order once the war drew to a close.

Ukraine Lend-Lease Act

In 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act. Much like Roosevelt's 1941 program, this act allowed the U.S. government to lend or lease a wide range of military equipment to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries.

Resulting from the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the current Lend-Lease Act exempted the Biden administration from provisions of law that govern the loan or lease of military equipment to foreign countries. The act was designed to expire in 2023.

Sources

Lend-Lease Act, 1941. OurDocuments.gov.
Mark Seidl, "The Lend-Lease Program, 1941-45." Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Lend-Lease and Military Aid to the Allies in the Early Years of World War II. Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State.
Biden Signs Lend-Lease Act to Supply More Security Assistance to Ukraine. U.S. Department of Defense.

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The Lend-Lease Act of 1941 stated that the U.S. government could lend or lease (rather than sell) war supplies to any nation deemed "vital to the defense of the United States." Under this policy, the United States was able to supply military aid to its foreign allies during World War II, while still remaining officially neutral in the conflict.

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The Crown How Clever The Queen Perfectly Negotiated with Churchill

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Introduction

In the 1930s, the United States Government enacted a series of laws designed to prevent the United States from being embroiled in a foreign war by clearly stating the terms of U.S. neutrality. Although many Americans had rallied to join President Woodrow Wilson's crusade to make the world "safe for democracy" in 1917, by the 1930s critics argued that U.S. involvement in the First World War had been driven by bankers and munitions traders with business interests in Europe. These findings fueled a growing "isolationist" movement that argued the United States should steer clear of future wars and remain neutral by avoiding financial deals with countries at war.

First Neutrality Act

By the mid-1930s, events in Europe and Asia indicated that a new world war might soon erupt and the U.S. Congress took action to enforce U.S. neutrality. On August 31, 1935, Congress passed the first Neutrality Act prohibiting the export of "arms, ammunition, and implements of war" from the United States to foreign nations at war and requiring arms manufacturers in the United States to apply for an export license. American citizens traveling in war zones were also advised that they did so at their own risk. President Franklin D. Roosevelt originally opposed the legislation, but relented in the face of strong Congressional and public opinion. On February 29, 1936, Congress renewed the Act until May of 1937 and prohibited Americans from extending any loans to belligerent nations.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Neutrality Act of 1937

The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 and the rising tide of fascism in Europe increased support for extending and expanding the Neutrality Act of 1937. Under this law, U.S.citizens were forbidden from traveling on belligerent ships, and American merchant ships were prevented from transporting arms to belligerents even if those arms were produced outside of the United States. The Act gave the President the authority to bar all belligerent ships from U.S. waters, and to extend the export embargo to any additional "articles or materials." Finally, civil wars would also fall under the terms of the Act.

The Neutrality Act of 1937 did contain one important concession to Roosevelt: belligerent nations were allowed, at the discretion of the President, to acquire any items except arms from the United States, so long as they immediately paid for such items and carried them on non-American ships-the so-called "cash-and-carry" provision. Since vital raw materials such as oil were not considered "implements of war," the "cash-and-carry" clause would be quite valuable to whatever nation could make use of it. Roosevelt had engineered its inclusion as a deliberate way to assist Great Britain and France in any war against the Axis Powers, since he realized that they were the only countries that had both the hard currency and ships to make use of "cash-and-carry." Unlike the rest of the Act, which was permanent, this provision was set to expire after two years.

Neutrality Act of 1939

Following Germany's occupation of Czechoslovakia in March of 1939, Roosevelt suffered a humiliating defeat when Congress rebuffed his attempt to renew "cash-and-carry" and expand it to include arms sales. President Roosevelt persisted and as war spread in Europe, his chances of expanding "cash-and-carry" increased. After a fierce debate in Congress, in November of 1939, a final Neutrality Act passed. This Act lifted the arms embargo and put all trade with belligerent nations under the terms of "cash-and-carry." The ban on loans remained in effect, and American ships were barred from transporting goods to belligerent ports.

In October of 1941, after the United States had committed itself to aiding the Allies through Lend-Lease, Roosevelt gradually sought to repeal certain portions of the Act. On October 17, 1941, the House of Representatives revoked section VI, which forbade the arming of U.S. merchant ships, by a wide margin. Following a series of deadly U-boat attacks against U.S. Navy and merchant ships, the Senate passed another bill in November that also repealed legislation banning American ships from entering belligerent ports or "combat zones."

Overall, the Neutrality Acts represented a compromise whereby the United States Government accommodated the isolationist sentiment of the American public, but still retained some ability to interact with the world. In the end, the terms of the Neutrality Acts became irrelevant once the United States joined the Allies in the fight against Nazi Germany and Japan in December 1941.

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Milestones: 1921-1936 - Office of the Historian

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 12 - Darkest hours Anatomy of a scene by director 

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 12 - Darkest hours Anatomy of a scene by director 

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We Shall Fight on the Beaches: Churchill's Speech on the Dunkirk Evacuation

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Quick Biography

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Dunkirk  - Anatomy of a scene by Christopher Nolan  director 

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Dunkirk  - Anatomy of a scene by Christopher Nolan  director 