Winston Churchill

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Winston Churchill : biography

At the end of 1905 Churchill got a position of deputy of Minister for Colonial Affairs and seriously occupied himself with development of constitution for Boer republics. In spring of 1908 Churchill took a place of the Industry and Trade Minister. He as usual came out against increasing of military accounts and at the same time made some social reforms. As a result England for the first time had regulations about remuneration of labour and duration of working days. In February of 1910 at the age of thirty five Winston Churchill already became the Minister for Internal Affairs.

This time in England was very difficult. Mass actions of working people increased, and in autumn of 1910 the strike of miners in South Wales developed into large-scale disturbance. Churchill ordered to send troops in the mutinous district, and although there was an order not to contact with rebellious workers legends about shooting unarmed people spread around English press. The beating of suffragettes by policemen on the 18th of November poured oil on flames. In spite of critics Churchill employed to rather strict arrangements against rebels and criminals. Only his fast and uncompromising arrangements allowed to avoid a general strike in summer of 1911 but politicians didn’t let Churchill carry through devastation of strikers.

At the same time relationship with German began to get worse and Churchill seriously concerned himself with foreign policy. Using the information of military specialists he wrote a memorandum which concerned war aspects of problems in Europe. As a result on the 23d of October Winston Churchill was appointed to be the First Lord of the Admiralty. Although the transfer seemed to be a demotion Churchill got this position without any doubts and started the biggest fleet modernization in England’s history.

On the 3d of August in 1914 Great Britain went to the war but several days before Churchill single-handed ordered the English fleet to occupy war positions near the coastline of the Island. He personally took part in Antwerp’s defeat and although they had to surrender the city, experts claim that this delay allowed to strengthen Dunkirk and Calais. The next year Churchill insisted on holding the Dardanelles operation but it was a disaster for allies and resulted in government crisis. After the formation of the coalition government Churchill was removed from his post as the Lord of Admiralty and on the 15th of November he submitted an application for retirement and went to the Western Front. Churchill was in command of the battalion as a colonel but he didn’t miss possibilities to visit the Parliament and take part in debates. At the end of spring in 1916 Churchill left command and went to England, and in summer of the next year he took the position of the Minister for Armament. At the beginning of 1919 he became the Minister for War and Aviation.

It was Winston Churchill who became the main initiator of the intervention of Entente’s forces in Russia and he claimed that it was absolutely necessary to stifle Bolshevism in the beginning in order not to let the infection spread. There were many opponents of this decision, among them was the Prime Minister of Great Britain but Churchill using political maneuvers and persuasions prolonged the staying of English army in Russia till 1920.

In 1921 Winston Churchill was appointed to be the Minister for Colonial Affairs and the next elections of 1922 were unfortunate for him. He suffered a defeat as an independent candidate next year too. Only in 1924 Churchill was nominated to the House of Commons again from the Westminster district. At that time he became the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In many ways owing to his unsuccessful actions in 1926 in England the strike was organized. Three years later the Conservative Party suffered a defeat in elections and till 1939 Winston Churchill didn’t hold posts in government. He devoted his time to literature and reading. Actually at the same time Churchill organized a small group in the parliament which was against the independence of India and promoted strict opposition to German militarization.