speech winston churchill

8 of Churchill’s greatest speeches

Winston Churchill delivered some of the most inspirational speeches in history, but which of his orations were the most important? Here, Winston S Churchill – grandson of the famous prime minister – selects eight of the very best...

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‘We lie within a few minutes’ striking distance’

16 November 1934, London

Winston Churchill was, in November 1934, a lone voice in questioning the country’s policy of appeasement to Hitler:

“At present we lie within a few minutes’ striking distance of the French, Dutch and Belgian coasts, and within a few hours of the great aerodromes of Central Europe," he said. "We are even within canon-shot of the Continent.

"So close as that! Is it prudent, is it possible, however much we might desire it, to turn our backs upon Europe and ignore whatever may happen there? I have come to the conclusion – reluctantly I admit – that we cannot get away. Here we are and we must make the best of it. But do not underrate the risks – the grievous risks – we have to run.”

More like this

'we take our stand for freedom'.

5 October 1938, House of Commons, London

Just a few days after Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich brandishing his now infamous scrap of paper , Churchill predicted that war had certainly not been averted. He was right.

“This is only the beginning of the reckoning," he told the House of Commons. "This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless, by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.”

• Read more | Did appeasement cause the Second World War?

'Blood, toil, tears and sweat'

13 May 1940, House of Commons, London

It's May 1940. Chamberlain has resigned, and Churchill, now 65, has formed his government. This first speech in office settles the country’s nerves:

“I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this Government: I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. This is our policy. You ask, what is our aim?

"I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory, there is no survival.”

'We shall never surrender'

4 June 1940, House of Commons, London

After the Dunkirk evacuation , Churchill calmed the nation’s euphoria and stiffened its resolve with this speech:

“Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous states have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

• Listen | Richard J Evans answers key questions about the Third Reich

'This was their finest hour'

18 June 1940, House of Commons, London

Churchill stands tall in the face of an impending onslaught, and inspires the pilots of the RAF to victory in the Battle of Britain .

“The battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilisation. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned upon us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war.

"If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’”

• Read more | What exactly was the British empire?

'The few'

20 August 1940, House of Commons, London

As the Battle of Britain climaxes, Churchill praises the bravery of the RAF pilots.

“The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the World War by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

• Read more | 6 Battle of Britain myths

'An iron curtain has descended'

5 March 1946, Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri

In the spring of 1946, Churchill warned about the threat of Soviet Russia. This stopped America’s retreat into isolationism and led to the creation of NATO:

“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin , Prague , Vienna, Budapest , Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere.”

'The nation… had the lion heart'

30 November, 1954. Presentation by both Houses of Parliament, Westminster Hall, London

On his 80th birthday, Churchill showed he was still a master orator:

“I am very glad that Mr Attlee described my speeches in the war as expressing the will not only of Parliament but of the whole nation. Their will was resolute and remorseless and, as it proved, unconquerable. It fell to me to express it, and if I found the right words you must remember that I have always earned my living by my pen and by my tongue. It was the nation and race dwelling all round the globe that had the lion heart. I had the luck to be called upon to give the roar."

Winston S Churchill's Never Give in! The Best of Winston Churchill's Speeches was published by Pimlico in 2003. This feature was first published in Living History Magazine (later merged with BBC History Magazine ) in 2003

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Listen to Winston Churchill’s ‘We Shall Fight on the Beaches’ Speech

On June 4, 1940, British Prime Minis ter Winston Churchill gave a speech that would set the tone for the British resistance against Nazi Germany for the rest of the war. Known as the “We Shall Fight on the Beaches” or “Never Surrender” or Dunkirk speech, it solidified his legacy as one of the 20th century’s greatest orators and political leaders — and cemented his reputation as a man of great moral courage.

It wasn’t an easy task: The Brits had just been handed a devastating defeat, essentially ceding the entire country of France to Adolf Hitler , and Germany looked poised to wrap up the war within weeks. Churchill had to brace Britons for a potential invasion of their island and yet convince them that suing for peace would be the wrong call — and he had to do it as the British military was in shambles, having just been trounced at the Battle of Dunkirk , in which the Brits were forced to hastily evacuate the Continent.

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His speech to the House of Commons instantly electrified listeners and steeled the British public for the fight ahead, and is widely considered to be one of the high points of Churchill’s career.

Below is Churchill reciting his speech in 1949 — the original 1940 speech was never recorded, but his words were spread throughout the country by newspaper and word of mouth. (The most famous section starts at around 11 minutes, 10 seconds.)

Text of Churchill’s ‘Never Surrender’ Speech

When, a week ago today, I asked the House to fix this afternoon as the occasion for a statement, I feared it would be my hard lot to announce the greatest military disaster in our long history. I thought-and some good judges agreed with me-that perhaps 20,000 or 30,000 men might be re-embarked. But it certainly seemed that the whole of the French First Army and the whole of the British Expeditionary Force north of the Amiens-Abbeville gap would be broken up in the open field or else would have to capitulate for lack of food and ammunition. These were the hard and heavy tidings for which I called upon the House and the nation to prepare themselves a week ago. The whole root and core and brain of the British Army, on which and around which we were to build, and are to build, the great British Armies in the later years of the war, seemed about to perish upon the field or to be led into an ignominious and starving captivity.

That was the prospect a week ago. But another blow which might well have proved final was yet to fall upon us. The King of the Belgians had called upon us to come to his aid. Had not this Ruler and his Government severed themselves from the Allies, who rescued their country from extinction in the late war, and had they not sought refuge in what was proved to be a fatal neutrality, the French and British Armies might well at the outset have saved not only Belgium but perhaps even Poland. Yet at the last moment, when Belgium was already invaded, King Leopold called upon us to come to his aid, and even at the last moment we came. He and his brave, efficient Army, nearly half a million strong, guarded our left flank and thus kept open our only line of retreat to the sea. Suddenly, without prior consultation, with the least possible notice, without the advice of his Ministers and upon his own personal act, he sent a plenipotentiary to the German Command, surrendered his Army, and exposed our whole flank and means of retreat.

I asked the House a week ago to suspend its judgment because the facts were not clear, but I do not feel that any reason now exists why we should not form our own opinions upon this pitiful episode. The surrender of the Belgian Army compelled the British at the shortest notice to cover a flank to the sea more than 30 miles in length. Otherwise all would have been cut off, and all would have shared the fate to which King Leopold had condemned the finest Army his country had ever formed. So in doing this and in exposing this flank, as anyone who followed the operations on the map will see, contact was lost between the British and two out of the three corps forming the First French Army, who were still farther from the coast than we were, and it seemed impossible that any large number of Allied troops could reach the coast.

The enemy attacked on all sides with great strength and fierceness, and their main power, the power of their far more numerous Air Force, was thrown into the battle or else concentrated upon Dunkirk and the beaches. Pressing in upon the narrow exit, both from the east and from the west, the enemy began to fire with cannon upon the beaches by which alone the shipping could approach or depart. They sowed magnetic mines in the channels and seas; they sent repeated waves of hostile aircraft, sometimes more than a hundred strong in one formation, to cast their bombs upon the single pier that remained, and upon the sand dunes upon which the troops had their eyes for shelter. Their U-boats, one of which was sunk, and their motor launches took their toll of the vast traffic which now began. For four or five days an intense struggle reigned. All their armored divisions-or what Was left of them-together with great masses of infantry and artillery, hurled themselves in vain upon the ever-narrowing, ever-contracting appendix within which the British and French Armies fought.

Meanwhile, the Royal Navy, with the willing help of countless merchant seamen, strained every nerve to embark the British and Allied troops; 220 light warships and 650 other vessels were engaged. They had to operate upon the difficult coast, often in adverse weather, under an almost ceaseless hail of bombs and an increasing concentration of artillery fire. Nor were the seas, as I have said, themselves free from mines and torpedoes. It was in conditions such as these that our men carried on, with little or no rest, for days and nights on end, making trip after trip across the dangerous waters, bringing with them always men whom they had rescued. The numbers they have brought back are the measure of their devotion and their courage. The hospital ships, which brought off many thousands of British and French wounded, being so plainly marked were a special target for Nazi bombs; but the men and women on board them never faltered in their duty.

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Meanwhile, the Royal Air Force, which had already been intervening in the battle, so far as its range would allow, from home bases, now used part of its main metropolitan fighter strength, and struck at the German bombers and at the fighters which in large numbers protected them. This struggle was protracted and fierce. Suddenly the scene has cleared, the crash and thunder has for the moment-but only for the moment-died away. A miracle of deliverance, achieved by valor, by perseverance, by perfect discipline, by faultless service, by resource, by skill, by unconquerable fidelity, is manifest to us all. The enemy was hurled back by the retreating British and French troops. He was so roughly handled that he did not hurry their departure seriously. The Royal Air Force engaged the main strength of the German Air Force, and inflicted upon them losses of at least four to one; and the Navy, using nearly 1,000 ships of all kinds, carried over 335,000 men, French and British, out of the jaws of death and shame, to their native land and to the tasks which lie immediately ahead. We must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuations. But there was a victory inside this deliverance, which should be noted. It was gained by the Air Force. Many of our soldiers coming back have not seen the Air Force at work; they saw only the bombers which escaped its protective attack. They underrate its achievements. I have heard much talk of this; that is why I go out of my way to say this. I will tell you about it.

This was a great trial of strength between the British and German Air Forces. Can you conceive a greater objective for the Germans in the air than to make evacuation from these beaches impossible, and to sink all these ships which were displayed, almost to the extent of thousands? Could there have been an objective of greater military importance and significance for the whole purpose of the war than this? They tried hard, and they were beaten back; they were frustrated in their task. We got the Army away; and they have paid fourfold for any losses which they have inflicted. Very large formations of German aeroplanes-and we know that they are a very brave race-have turned on several occasions from the attack of one-quarter of their number of the Royal Air Force, and have dispersed in different directions. Twelve aeroplanes have been hunted by two. One aeroplane was driven into the water and cast away by the mere charge of a British aeroplane, which had no more ammunition. All of our types-the Hurricane, the Spitfire and the new Defiant-and all our pilots have been vindicated as superior to what they have at present to face.

When we consider how much greater would be our advantage in defending the air above this Island against an overseas attack, I must say that I find in these facts a sure basis upon which practical and reassuring thoughts may rest. I will pay my tribute to these young airmen. The great French Army was very largely, for the time being, cast back and disturbed by the onrush of a few thousands of armored vehicles. May it not also be that the cause of civilization itself will be defended by the skill and devotion of a few thousand airmen? There never has been, I suppose, in all the world, in all the history of war, such an opportunity for youth. The Knights of the Round Table, the Crusaders, all fall back into the past-not only distant but prosaic; these young men, going forth every morn to guard their native land and all that we stand for, holding in their hands these instruments of colossal and shattering power, of whom it may be said that:

Every morn brought forth a noble chance And every chance brought forth a noble knight, deserve our gratitude, as do all the brave men who, in so many ways and on so many occasions, are ready, and continue ready to give life and all for their native land.

I return to the Army. In the long series of very fierce battles, now on this front, now on that, fighting on three fronts at once, battles fought by two or three divisions against an equal or somewhat larger number of the enemy, and fought fiercely on some of the old grounds that so many of us knew so well-in these battles our losses in men have exceeded 30,000 killed, wounded and missing. I take occasion to express the sympathy of the House to all who have suffered bereavement or who are still anxious. The President of the Board of Trade [Sir Andrew Duncan] is not here today. His son has been killed, and many in the House have felt the pangs of affliction in the sharpest form. But I will say this about the missing: We have had a large number of wounded come home safely to this country, but I would say about the missing that there may be very many reported missing who will come back home, some day, in one way or another. In the confusion of this fight it is inevitable that many have been left in positions where honor required no further resistance from them.

Against this loss of over 30,000 men, we can set a far heavier loss certainly inflicted upon the enemy. But our losses in material are enormous. We have perhaps lost one-third of the men we lost in the opening days of the battle of 21st March, 1918, but we have lost nearly as many guns — nearly one thousand-and all our transport, all the armored vehicles that were with the Army in the north. This loss will impose a further delay on the expansion of our military strength. That expansion had not been proceeding as far as we had hoped. The best of all we had to give had gone to the British Expeditionary Force, and although they had not the numbers of tanks and some articles of equipment which were desirable, they were a very well and finely equipped Army. They had the first-fruits of all that our industry had to give, and that is gone. And now here is this further delay. How long it will be, how long it will last, depends upon the exertions which we make in this Island. An effort the like of which has never been seen in our records is now being made. Work is proceeding everywhere, night and day, Sundays and week days. Capital and Labor have cast aside their interests, rights, and customs and put them into the common stock. Already the flow of munitions has leaped forward. There is no reason why we should not in a few months overtake the sudden and serious loss that has come upon us, without retarding the development of our general program.

Nevertheless, our thankfulness at the escape of our Army and so many men, whose loved ones have passed through an agonizing week, must not blind us to the fact that what has happened in France and Belgium is a colossal military disaster. The French Army has been weakened, the Belgian Army has been lost, a large part of those fortified lines upon which so much faith had been reposed is gone, many valuable mining districts and factories have passed into the enemy’s possession, the whole of the Channel ports are in his hands, with all the tragic consequences that follow from that, and we must expect another blow to be struck almost immediately at us or at France. We are told that Herr Hitler has a plan for invading the British Isles. This has often been thought of before. When Napoleon lay at Boulogne for a year with his flat-bottomed boats and his Grand Army, he was told by someone. “There are bitter weeds in England.” There are certainly a great many more of them since the British Expeditionary Force returned.

The whole question of home defense against invasion is, of course, powerfully affected by the fact that we have for the time being in this Island incomparably more powerful military forces than we have ever had at any moment in this war or the last. But this will not continue. We shall not be content with a defensive war. We have our duty to our Ally. We have to reconstitute and build up the British Expeditionary Force once again, under its gallant Commander-in-Chief, Lord Gort. All this is in train; but in the interval we must put our defenses in this Island into such a high state of organization that the fewest possible numbers will be required to give effective security and that the largest possible potential of offensive effort may be realized. On this we are now engaged. It will be very convenient, if it be the desire of the House, to enter upon this subject in a secret Session. Not that the government would necessarily be able to reveal in very great detail military secrets, but we like to have our discussions free, without the restraint imposed by the fact that they will be read the next day by the enemy; and the Government would benefit by views freely expressed in all parts of the House by Members with their knowledge of so many different parts of the country. I understand that some request is to be made upon this subject, which will be readily acceded to by His Majesty’s Government.

We have found it necessary to take measures of increasing stringency, not only against enemy aliens and suspicious characters of other nationalities, but also against British subjects who may become a danger or a nuisance should the war be transported to the United Kingdom. I know there are a great many people affected by the orders which we have made who are the passionate enemies of Nazi Germany. I am very sorry for them, but we cannot, at the present time and under the present stress, draw all the distinctions which we should like to do. If parachute landings were attempted and fierce fighting attendant upon them followed, these unfortunate people would be far better out of the way, for their own sakes as well as for ours. There is, however, another class, for which I feel not the slightest sympathy. Parliament has given us the powers to put down Fifth Column activities with a strong hand, and we shall use those powers subject to the supervision and correction of the House, without the slightest hesitation until we are satisfied, and more than satisfied, that this malignancy in our midst has been effectively stamped out.

Turning once again, and this time more generally, to the question of invasion, I would observe that there has never been a period in all these long centuries of which we boast when an absolute guarantee against invasion, still less against serious raids, could have been given to our people. In the days of Napoleon the same wind which would have carried his transports across the Channel might have driven away the blockading fleet. There was always the chance, and it is that chance which has excited and befooled the imaginations of many Continental tyrants. Many are the tales that are told. We are assured that novel methods will be adopted, and when we see the originality of malice, the ingenuity of aggression, which our enemy displays, we may certainly prepare ourselves for every kind of novel stratagem and every kind of brutal and treacherous maneuver. I think that no idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered and viewed with a searching, but at the same time, I hope, with a steady eye. We must never forget the solid assurances of sea power and those which belong to air power if it can be locally exercised.

I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty’s Government-every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength. Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.

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Winston churchill’s iron curtain speech—march 5, 1946.

Churchill’s famed “Iron Curtain” speech ushered in the Cold War and made the term a household phrase.

Top image courtesy of America’s National Churchill Museum.

The dying embers of World War II still cast a shadow long over the postwar world when Winston Churchill arrived in the small Midwestern town of Fulton, Missouri in the spring of 1946. Westminster College seemed an unlikely place for the former British Prime Minister to deliver a speech of global importance. President Harry Truman penned a note at the bottom of the college’s invitation: “This is a wonderful school in my home state. If you come, I will introduce you. Hope you can do it.”

Winston Churchill stands with US President Harry S Truman at Westminster College where Churchill gave his now famous speech. Image courtesy of America’s National Churchill Museum.

Churchill, who had won the war in Europe, only to lose in the British general election in July 1945, eagerly accepted the invitation to appear on the same platform with the President of the United States.

Churchill knew that while the world looked forward to putting the horrors of war behind, events at the beginning of 1946 portended an even darker future ahead. In the wake of the Allied victory, the Soviet Union had begun shaping Eastern Europe in their image, bringing the governments of many nations into line with Moscow. On February 9, Premier Joseph Stalin gave a speech in which he declared that war between the East and West was inevitable. On February 22, the American Ambassador to Moscow, George F. Kennan, sent the famous “Long Telegram” warning of the Soviet Union’s perpetual hostility towards the West.

Then, on March 5, 1946, at Westminster College in Fulton, Churchill’s famous words “From Stettin in the Baltic, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent,” ushered in the Cold War and framed the geo-political landscape for the next 50 years. The former Prime Minister, with President Truman at his side, articulated the threat that the Soviet Union and communism posed to peace and stability in the post-war world. Invoking the spirit of the Atlantic Charter he called for a strengthening of Anglo-American ties and for the United Nations to become a peace-promoting world organization that would succeed where its predecessor the League of Nations had failed.

The historic Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, originally located in London. The church was moved to the Westminster College campus in the mid-1960s. Image courtesy of America’s National Churchill Museum.

A statue of Churchill stands outside of the historic church on the Westminster College campus, home to America’s National Churchill Museum. Image courtesy of America’s National Churchill Museum.

“ The Sinews of Peace ,” the title Churchill himself gave his address, endures today as one of the statesman’s most significant speeches. It not only made the term “iron curtain” a household phrase, but it coined the term “special relationship,” describing enduring alliance between the United States and Great Britain. It is a speech that offered a blueprint for the west to ultimately wage—and win—the Cold War.

This article is part of a series commemorating the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II made possible by the Department of Defense.

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The author is Stephen Rogers, Westminster College, with input from Timothy Riley, Sandra L, and Monroe E Trout, Director and Chief Curator at America’s National Churchill Museum.

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Great speeches: Winston Churchill

Great speeches of the 20th century We shall fight on the beaches

This is the edited text of the speech delivered to House of Commons on June 4 1940.

Great speeches of the 20th century The lost art of great speechmaking

Great speeches of the 20th century premier faces the issues.

The House of Commons is still trying to adjust itself to one of the gravest speeches ever made to it in all its long history.

• Winston Churchill

"Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat" Speech by Winston Churchill

Given in the House of Commons on May 13, 1940

Getty Images / Hulton Archive / H. F. Davis

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• B.A., History, University of California at Davis

After only a few days on the job, newly-appointed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave this riveting, yet short, speech in the House of Commons on May 13, 1940.

In this speech, Churchill offers up his "blood, toil, tears, and sweat" so that there will be "victory at all costs." This speech has become well known as the first of many morale-boosting speeches made by Churchill to inspire the British to keep fighting against a seemingly invincible enemy — Nazi Germany .

Winston Churchill's "Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat" Speech

On Friday evening last I received from His Majesty the mission to form a new administration. It was the evident will of Parliament and the nation that this should be conceived on the broadest possible basis and that it should include all parties.

I have already completed the most important part of this task.

A war cabinet has been formed of five members, representing, with the Labour, Opposition, and Liberals, the unity of the nation. It was necessary that this should be done in one single day on account of the extreme urgency and rigor of events. Other key positions were filled yesterday. I am submitting a further list to the king tonight. I hope to complete the appointment of principal ministers during tomorrow.

The appointment of other ministers usually takes a little longer. I trust when Parliament meets again this part of my task will be completed and that the administration will be complete in all respects. I considered it in the public interest to suggest to the Speaker that the House should be summoned today. At the end of today's proceedings, the adjournment of the House will be proposed until May 21 with provision for earlier meeting if need be. Business for that will be notified to MPs at the earliest opportunity.

I now invite the House by a resolution to record its approval of the steps taken and declare its confidence in the new government.

The resolution:

"That this House welcomes the formation of a government representing the united and inflexible resolve of the nation to prosecute the war with Germany to a victorious conclusion."

To form an administration of this scale and complexity is a serious undertaking in itself. But we are in the preliminary phase of one of the greatest battles in history. We are in action at many other points — in Norway and in Holland — and we have to be prepared in the Mediterranean. The air battle is continuing, and many preparations have to be made here at home.

In this crisis I think I may be pardoned if I do not address the House at any length today, and I hope that any of my friends and colleagues or former colleagues who are affected by the political reconstruction will make all allowances for any lack of ceremony with which it has been necessary to act.

I say to the House as I said to ministers who have joined this government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many months of struggle and suffering.

You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea, and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.

You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory. Victory at all costs — Victory in spite of all terrors — Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.

Let that be realized. No survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for the urge, the impulse of the ages, that mankind shall move forward toward his goal.

I take up my task in buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men. I feel entitled at this juncture, at this time, to claim the aid of all and to say, "Come then, let us go forward together with our united strength."

• Biography of Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the UK
• Anthypophora and Rhetoric
• US Neutrality Acts of the 1930s and the Lend-Lease Act
• A List of 130 Mass Nouns (Or Noncount Nouns) in English
• World War II: The Lend-Lease Act
• The Bengal Famine of 1943
• A Guide to Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points Speech
• Why Churchill Lost the 1945 Election
• The Resolute Desk
• Many Americans Opposed the War of 1812
• Political Quotes You Need to Know
• The Creation of Britain’s Welfare State
• Pathos in Rhetoric
• Benjamin Disraeli: Novelist and British Statesman
• The Declaration of Independence
• Influential Leaders in European History

A Summary and Analysis of Winston Churchill’s ‘Iron Curtain’ Speech

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Winston Churchill (1874-1965) was UK Prime Minister twice, between 1940 and 1945 and then again between 1951 and 1955. During his first term as Prime Minister, in the Second World War, he wrote and delivered some of the most rousing and powerful speeches ever given by a national leader, with ‘ we shall fight them on the beaches ’ being perhaps the finest of them all.

But in between his two spells as Prime Minister, after the British people voted him and the Conservative Party out of power in 1945, Churchill visited the United States, where he was welcomed by many. And it was at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri that what is perhaps Churchill’s most famous speech of all – the well-known ‘iron curtain’ speech – was delivered on 5 March 1946.

In this speech, Churchill talks about the Cold War that was developing between the West and the Soviet-controlled East, in the wake of the end of the Second World War. His metaphor of an ‘iron curtain’, although not originally his, became forever associated with him after this speech.

‘Iron curtain’ speech: summary

Churchill begins his speech by paying tribute to the Russian people, led by Joseph Stalin: the Soviet Union, of course, had been Britain and America’s ally in the recent war against the Axis powers. Churchill also acknowledges that Russia has sound reasons for wishing to protect itself against possible German invasion. But he also wants to outline to his audience the present situation in Europe.

This is when he introduces the metaphor of an ‘iron curtain’, which he describes as stretching through Europe from north to south, going from Stettin in the Baltic in the north to Trieste in the Adriatic in the south. This iron curtain has ‘descended’ across the continent of Europe.

The capital cities of the ‘ancient states’ of Central and Eastern Europe – Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest, and Sofia – now reside in the ‘Soviet sphere’ and are under the control of Russia to a greater or lesser degree. Only Athens in Greece is free from Soviet control. In the other countries of eastern Europe, police states are being formed under Communist rule, thanks to Russian intervention.

Churchill points out that Europe, recently liberated from the threat of Nazism in the war that ended just one year ago, is in danger of falling short of what Britain and America had planned for it. Because of increased Russian influence in Germany, where the Soviet Union is attempting to infiltrate Communism into German government, pressure will be placed upon the Germans to choose, effectively, between supporting Britain and America and siding with the Soviets.

With this fear in mind, Churchill concludes that what Europe needs, to guarantee safety and stability in the post-war world, is unity. He points out that in both world wars, America has come to the aid of Europe in its hour of need, in order to ensure a victory ‘of the good cause’. He also points out that war has changed in recent years, and with the advent of nuclear power (something implied but not openly stated by Churchill in the speech), ‘war can find any nation, wherever it may dwell between dusk and dawn.’

‘Iron curtain’ speech: analysis

Churchill’s speech has entered the canon of great speeches for one reason above all others: his use of the phrase ‘iron curtain’ to describe the divide between the capitalist West (dominated by Britain and America) and the Communist East (controlled and influenced by the Soviet Union).

This curtain is a barrier separating two very different and opposed ideologies, with ‘iron’ suggesting the military force and power of both sides, as well as the implacable and sturdy nature of the partition. But ‘iron’ here also suggests the oppressive nature of Communist control in eastern Europe, as Russia seeks to set up a divide between itself and the western world. It implies a lack of flexibility and compromise.

In actual fact, Winston Churchill didn’t coin the phrase ‘iron curtain’; the Russian philosopher Vasily Rozanov used it in 1918 in The Apocalypse of Our Times , and the socialist writer Ethel Snowden then used it in a 1920 book about Bolshevik Russia. But it was Churchill who saw the utility of the phrase, and metaphor, for describing the situation that was developing in Europe between East and West, Communism and capitalism, and the dangers that Communism posed to continued peace in Europe.

But although Churchill’s speech begins by drawing attention to this partition, he ends by proposing the solution: unity in Europe. And one way to ensure this is to make sure that Britain and America remain strong allies in order to prevent the spread of Communism. This way, peace in Europe – which had only been secured a year ago, thanks in no small part to American involvement in the war – could be maintained.

It is worth remembering that in 1945, the United Nations had been established in order to try to ensure that peace would continue to reign after the bloodshed of the Second World War. Both Britain and the United States were key members of the United Nations, and the purpose of Churchill’s speech was to remind his American audience of the strong bond between the two nations, as well as America’s role in securing peace in the recent conflict.

When Churchill delivered his ‘iron curtain’ speech at Westminster College, the US President Harry Truman was in attendance, Missouri being his home state; indeed, Churchill and Truman had travelled to the college in the President’s special train. Indeed, it was Truman who had invited Churchill to deliver his speech at the college.

His speech, then, was intended to encourage the continuation of strong British-American relations, with the recent wartime leader of Britain advising the new leader of post-war America that the two nations, the economic and military powerhouses of the West, needed to work together to resist and contain the Communist expansionist programme in Europe.

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Winston Churchill Speech – We Shall Fight on The Beaches

Win ston Churchill’s speech ‘we shall fight them on the beaches’ is one of the defining speeches during the second world war. It uses the technique of repetition to very good effect.

This is one of three speeches Churchill gave at this time. We also have a transcript of Winston Churchill’s Blood Sweat and Tears speech.

4 June 1940

“I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.

At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty’s Government-every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation.

The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength.

Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail.

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”

We also have a transcript of Winston Churchill’s Blood Sweat and Tears speech

Urban myth: Interesting to note that Churchill never said “We shall fight them on the beaches”. If you look at the text above it says “we shall fight on the beaches”.

Image Attribution: By United Nations Information Office, New York [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

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They don’t make em like old Winnie any longer.

The world today, and its weak and highly corruptible so-called leaders, could only marvel at such INTEGRITY. They are bankrupt when it comes to doing GOOD! And if necessary,MUST be forced to do the right thing.

If Churchill could se what Britain has become he would be turning in his grave.

this speach is so touching it made me feel sogreatful that our contery is soo strong. god bless the UK

Just proves that whoever we are and what race we come from we should fight for OUR country and protect it like we protect our family and home!

This is always misquoted. Even the heading on this page gets it wrong despite the correct part being below on the same page.

I’m writing a family history book about my ancestors, and even though they were Norweigian, Winston’s speech is so inspiring I’m going to include it in my 1940’s decade.

Really inspiring.A nation needs legendary leader like Winston churchill to inpire n lead the people.

This speech is very good it shows how the British would never give up no matter what was going to happen. It also shows how they were already planning D-day on June 6th, 1944

At the start of the millenium the BBC polled the British Public who they thought was the greatest Britain ever and Winston won it. Although I thought (and think) Oliver Cromwell is the greatest Briton the overall credibility of the survey is diminished by Diana Princess of Wales coming 3rd

This speech is good. I look up to Churchill. He never gave up in the Battle of Brittan. Even when the RAF was at it’s breaking point. He fought on till he could win control of the air.

I was born in March 1945 and named after Churchill (and Dwight DAVID Eisenhower). Churchill’s speech celebrates the incomprehensible depth of the human spirit.

I listened to that speech over the radio in 1940 and although only fourteen then it inspired me and still brings a tear to the eye 70 years later. There is in my mind the thought that Churchill saved the world from the horrors of Hitlers horrors.

Truly an inspiration can only be compared with jfk the two leaders this world will never have

if it wasn’t for Mr.Churchill WWII would have been a lot bloodier and more costly and more inhuman thank you Mr.Churchill for helping to kill that BLOODY BASTARD Hitler now lets all take a moment to praise Winston Churchill……WInston Churhill

thats is now my homework done coppy and paste

@archie, I’m sure your teacher wouldn’t realise that the homework you handed in was one of the most famous speeches of all time and not actually your own work. No way. Anyway, this speech is so inspirational, if only he could see what the leaders are like now….

Dear everybody, I am just wondering to whom this speech was leaded to? Because it is said that it was to the House of Commons but also to the population on the BBC radio. I would like to know if it has been first to the House of Common and then, a few days later, to the British people through radio. Am I right? Thank you for your help.

yep its a very good speech, im using it for my home work

Using this speach for a ww2 fact file that I need to do x

QUESTION! i feel strongly about the famous churchhills PICS! I FEEL MEH FELLAs pics dont include the famous…. SKIN ED!!!

BEST WISHES,

SIMON COWELL XXXXXXX

this is such a insperational speech

Churchill was the perfect leader during WW11. A tenacious focused PM who not only inspired and led his people but via his friendship with Roosevelt inspired the essential Lend Lease that was Necessary for Britain’s survival Nobody could have done it better The Man of the century.

Winston demonstrated well how powerful words can be compared to bows and arrows…….i wish i would just sit down and listen him talking over and over,he is truly a legend and i look upto him!!!

As an American of a partially British decent I have a certain kindred feeling towards Britain and as a History major mainly studying the 20th century their is no greater man to study than Winston Churchill. His tenacity and Never surrender attitude are the reason the whole of Europe was not run over by the Germans.

Wow I’ve just read this speech,and nearly came to tears. I tried to emagine what the people Of Britain must have been going through at that time,and to have someone to be able to stand up during those days,and deliver a speech like that is truly a blessing. What a brave,and powerful speaker. The world definately could use another Winston Churchill

Winston demonstrated how powerful a speech can be. He is amazing to look up to and has changed the lives of many and has a great influence on all.

Winston is one of the two greatest leaders of all time. The other one is JFK. Truly amazing.

I live in austraila and I’m happy that we don’t have to fight for everything we get . god love AU.

rhetorical terms used?

Please never type WWII as WW11. Only up to a second world war no need for an 11th.

marvellous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xD

must read…

Iron maiden used this speech

Some of us who were not born then only hear about these leaders. We marvel at their courage, determination, integrity and intelligence. Times have changed, but if we ever had Sir Winston Churchchill with us today, I am sure he would have been the leader the world had then. Not only Great Britan but the world should honor such a illustrious individual.

Churchill gave the speech to the HoC, portions were read over the radio in the following days. The speech that we now hear in Churchill’s voice was actually recorded for posterity in 1949, 9 years after the actual HoC speech. A great motivating speech from a great man. Marshall, Tx, USA

we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender

Inspiration is the key to success whatever the task ahead. Geat speech that led to victory. But please note, Churchill invoked the name of God as the Mighty power where victory will come from.Who can win against an army that has intertwined its willwith that of the almighty?

It’s definitely a large part of history

Just wrote a 2 and half page essay on it, took like 2 and a half hours.

I think this page should mention it only displays a portion of the speech.

It’s interesting. He’s a gifted orator. This “new world” refers to USA. He repeat the phrase “we shall fight “over and over to emphasise the listener and make them to fight.

According to a BBC documentary this only was spoken in the House of Commons, it never went on Air. Winston Churchill recorded it in his bedroom in 1949 along with other speeches.

It doesn’t detract from how brilliant it is though.

VERY NICE AND COURAGEOS SPEECH.

I have read that Churchill did not say fight “them” but does it matter, it was a most inspiring speech.

cheers for the homework help :’)

that speech is great

“The New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old”

The new world is the United States. I think Churchill knew the potential of the USA had.

I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.

At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty’s Government-every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation.

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”

This speech cool

hi guys very helpful

As a child living in London in 1941, I remember clearly Winston’s voice and his words on the radio at the time of this speech, and it was months before America got into the war (only after Pearl Harbor, which was after this speech.) We had already experienced German bombers and many nights in the air raid shelter by then.

I lived in london at the time winston churchill was saying this speech, i was there ini fact. i found is words inspiring, however i feel that some websites need to analyse the speech t o give the younger generation an understanding of how powerful the overll message was.

Me gusta mucho speach

HOMEWORK DONE !!!

truly a great man

Ironically, I think you will find that this “we shall fight them on the beaches” speech was based on something PM Chamberlain wrote or said a few years earlier – and Winnie lifted some of the phrases but in his initimatable way gave it grandeur etc – see article by Christopher Hitchens on Churchill being the greatest man of 20th century

I saw a documentary some years ago , apparently at the time the famous speech came on the radio ,Winston Churchill was out of the country ,and it was read on air by another man who sounded like Churchill . Has anyone else heard this??.

Thank you – both speeches are amazingly powerful. In January 1965, aged 14, I stood in line for hours in Westminster with my dad and twin brother to file past Winston lying in state.

Note that on the Fight on the Beaches page it says: “Urban myth: “Interesting to note that Churchill never said “We shall fight them on the beaches”. If you look at the text above it says “we shall fight on the beaches”.

If you follow the link to the Blood, Sweat and Tears page (the other myth, as the text explains, it and should be Blood Toil, Tears and Sweat!), the cross reference perpetuates the myth:

“We also have a transcript of Winston Churchill’s Fight them on the beaches speech.”

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Winston Churchill

By: History.com Editors

Updated: June 7, 2019 | Original: October 27, 2009

Winston Churchill was one of the best-known, and some say one of the greatest, statesmen of the 20th century. Though he was born into a life of privilege, he dedicated himself to public service. His legacy is a complicated one: He was an idealist and a pragmatist; an orator and a soldier; an advocate of progressive social reforms and an unapologetic elitist; a defender of democracy – especially during World War II – as well as of Britain’s fading empire. But for many people in Great Britain and elsewhere, Winston Churchill is simply a hero.

Winston Churchill came from a long line of English aristocrat-politicians. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was descended from the First Duke of Marlborough and was himself a well-known figure in Tory politics in the 1870s and 1880s.

His mother, born Jennie Jerome, was an American heiress whose father was a stock speculator and part-owner of The New York Times. (Rich American girls like Jerome who married European noblemen were known as “dollar princesses.”)

Did you know? Sir Winston Churchill won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953 for his six-volume history of World War II.

Churchill was born at the family’s estate near Oxford on November 30, 1874. He was educated at the Harrow prep school, where he performed so poorly that he did not even bother to apply to Oxford or Cambridge. Instead, in 1893 young Winston Churchill headed off to military school at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

Battles and Books

After he left Sandhurst, Churchill traveled all around the British Empire as a soldier and as a journalist. In 1896, he went to India; his first book, published in 1898, was an account of his experiences in India’s Northwest Frontier Province.

In 1899, the London Morning Post sent him to cover the Boer War in South Africa, but he was captured by enemy soldiers almost as soon as he arrived. (News of Churchill’s daring escape through a bathroom window made him a minor celebrity back home in Britain.)

By the time he returned to England in 1900, the 26-year-old Churchill had published five books.

Churchill: “Crossing the Chamber”

That same year, Winston Churchill joined the House of Commons as a Conservative. Four years later, he “crossed the chamber” and became a Liberal.

His work on behalf of progressive social reforms such as an eight-hour workday, a government-mandated minimum wage, a state-run labor exchange for unemployed workers and a system of public health insurance infuriated his Conservative colleagues, who complained that this new Churchill was a traitor to his class.

Churchill and Gallipoli

In 1911, Churchill turned his attention away from domestic politics when he became the First Lord of the Admiralty (akin to the Secretary of the Navy in the U.S.). Noting that Germany was growing more and more bellicose, Churchill began to prepare Great Britain for war: He established the Royal Naval Air Service, modernized the British fleet and helped invent one of the earliest tanks.

Despite Churchill’s prescience and preparation, World War I was a stalemate from the start. In an attempt to shake things up, Churchill proposed a military campaign that soon dissolved into disaster: the 1915 invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey.

Churchill hoped that this offensive would drive Turkey out of the war and encourage the Balkan states to join the Allies, but Turkish resistance was much stiffer than he had anticipated. After nine months and 250,000 casualties, the Allies withdrew in disgrace.

After the debacle at Gallipoli, Churchill left the Admiralty.

Churchill Between the Wars

During the 1920s and 1930s, Churchill bounced from government job to government job, and in 1924 he rejoined the Conservatives. Especially after the Nazis came to power in 1933, Churchill spent a great deal of time warning his countrymen about the perils of German nationalism, but Britons were weary of war and reluctant to get involved in international affairs again.

Likewise, the British government ignored Churchill’s warnings and did all it could to stay out of Hitler’s way. In 1938, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain even signed an agreement giving Germany a chunk of Czechoslovakia – “throwing a small state to the wolves,” Churchill scolded – in exchange for a promise of peace.

A year later, however, Hitler broke his promise and invaded Poland. Britain and France declared war. Chamberlain was pushed out of office, and Winston Churchill took his place as prime minister in May 1940.

Churchill: The “British Bulldog”

“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat,” Churchill told the House of Commons in his first speech as prime minister.

“We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.”

Just as Churchill predicted, the road to victory in World War II was long and difficult: France fell to the Nazis in June 1940. In July, German fighter planes began three months of devastating air raids on Britain herself.

Though the future looked grim, Churchill did all he could to keep British spirits high. He gave stirring speeches in Parliament and on the radio. He persuaded U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide war supplies – ammunition, guns, tanks, planes – to the Allies, a program known as Lend-Lease, before the Americans even entered the war.

Though Churchill was one of the chief architects of the Allied victory, war-weary British voters ousted the Conservatives and their prime minister from office just two months after Germany’s surrender in 1945.

The Iron Curtain

The now-former prime minister spent the next several years warning Britons and Americans about the dangers of Soviet expansionism.

In a speech in Fulton, Missouri , in 1946, for example, Churchill declared that an anti-democratic “Iron Curtain,” “a growing challenge and peril to Christian civilization,” had descended across Europe. Churchill’s speech was the first time anyone had used that now-common phrase to describe the Communist threat.

In 1951, 77-year-old Winston Churchill became prime minister for the second time. He spent most of this term working (unsuccessfully) to build a sustainable détente between the East and the West. He retired from the post in 1955.

In 1953, Queen Elizabeth made Winston Churchill a knight of the Order of the Garter. He died in 1965, one year after retiring from Parliament.

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Winston Churchill Speeches and Radio Broadcasts

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Dell CEO Invokes Winston Churchill's Words To Describe His Fight With Activist Investor: 'If You're Going Through Hell, Keep Going'

Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) CEO Michael Dell's story has been that of adapting to an ever-evolving personal computing industry. While he has reinvented Dell, it hasn't been an easy task.

Michael Dell , the CEO of Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL), has been at the helm of the company for 40 years. While he successfully took Dell private to reinvent it and bring it back in a healthier shape, he had to cross the hurdles created by activist investor Carl Icahn . 

What Happened : In an interview with Fortune, the 59-year-old CEO recalled a World War II-era quote by the late British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to describe his fight with activist investor Carl Icahn .

"What's that Winston Churchill quote?" Dell asked, before describing his journey of fending off Icahn's threats.

"If you're going through hell, keep going."

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This surge in stock price pushed Dell’s personal net worth up by nearly 20% in the first three months of 2024, making him the 14th richest person globally, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Subscribe to the  Benzinga Tech Trends newsletter  to get all the latest tech developments delivered to your inbox.

Icahn, an activist investor, opposed Dell’s efforts to take the company private , a move that Dell believed was necessary to reset the company for long-term success.

The opposition from Icahn led to a public feud, with Icahn even attempting to buy the company himself and oust Dell as CEO.

Why It Matters : Dell’s success in the AI sector comes after a period of decline in its PC business, a decline that was met with resistance from investors, including Icahn. 

Despite the challenges, Dell’s determination and belief in the deal carried the enterprise through a rough patch. The move to take the company private ultimately positioned Dell Technologies to capitalize on the AI boom. 

"Mad Money" host Jim Cramer credited Dell with taking AI to the "next level" following his namesake company's December 2023 quarter results.

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This article Dell CEO Invokes Winston Churchill's Words To Describe His Fight With Activist Investor: 'If You're Going Through Hell, Keep Going' originally appeared on Benzinga.com .