All language subtitles for Winston.Churchills.War.S01E01.WEBRip.x264-ION10

Narrator: May 1940,

darkness had
descended upon the world.

Germany and her allies

controlled large
swathes of Europe.

Japan had invaded China

and was looking to
expand her empire further.

Britain, and empire,
were under threat.

But if anybody
likes to play rough,

we can play rough too.

Narrator: In this
fractured world,

Winston Churchill
became prime minister

of the United Kingdom.

He did so with a
clear goal - victory.

Now we are at war, and
we are going to make war,

until the other side
have had enough of it.

Narrator: This is the story
of the man who led britain

and her empire through
one of the darkest moments

in its history.

This is Winston Churchill's war.

Narrator: In September 1939,

Germany, led by
Adolf Hitler's Nazi party,

invaded Poland.

France, britain,

and the commonwealth dominions,

were quick to declare
war on Germany,

but could do little
to directly support

their beleaguered Polish ally.

16 days later, the Soviet union

invaded Poland from
the east, taking advantage

of the instability to
annex their own territory.

By October, all of
Poland was occupied,

and Germany was making
plans for further advancements

in Europe's west.

The second world war had begun,

a war that would plunge
the world into conflict

for over six years.

By the spring of 1940,
Nazi Germany had launched

successful offensives
across Western Europe.

Adolf Hitler,

and his fascist ally
Benito Mussolini,

now dominated much
of mainland Europe,

and Hitler had his sights
set on Great Britain.

The British empire
faced a menace

greater than any she
had faced in centuries.

Against this threat,

britain's newly
appointed prime minister,

Winston Churchill,
resolved to fight

to the end.

He, and the British
empire, were determined,

"to wage war against
a monstrous tyranny."

This was a decision
that profoundly shaped

the outcome of the
second world war,

and would come to define a man

who had himself believed
that he was destined

to lead his nation.

- Lift up your heart,
all will come right,

out of the depths of
sorrow and of sacrifice

will be born again
the glory of mankind.

Narrator: How did
Winston Churchill

come to fulfil his
self-appointed destiny?

Did class, opportunity,
and good fortune

pre-determine his fate?

Or did a combination
of will, drive,

and ambition keep
him on his course?

It was the life he
lived before the war

that had prepared
Churchill for the struggles

and toil that arrived in 1940...

..The successes and the failures

that helped and hindered,

as he led his nation's fight

through years of war.

Narrator: Churchill was born
in blenheim palace in 1874.

The same year as the first
impressionist art exhibition.

This was a fitting
coincidence for a man

who would later develop
a passion for painting.

It was a passion
shared by another key

20th century figure.

A figure whose life and
actions would become

intertwined with
Churchill's own.

Adolf Hitler.

Although Hitler was born
15 years after Churchill,

both would be
defined by their actions

in the second world war.

Their fates would
converge in 1940,

but their lives began
very differently.

Born in Austria in 1889,

Hitler was the son
of a civil servant

and a doting mother.

Up until the first world war,

Hitler was a man
in search of purpose.

Winston Churchill, by contrast,

was born into the
English aristocracy.

- Churchill was an
extraordinary mixture

of English aristocrat
and American tycoon.

His father was the youngest son

of the Duke of marlborough.

His mother was the
daughter of Leonard Jerome,

who was an amazing
American speculator,

who won and lost
fortunes all the time.

He was a strange mixture of this

immensely distinguished
English family,

and an American gambler.

Narrator: Churchill's father,
lord Randolph Churchill,

was inattentive and
largely emotionally absent,

despite young Winston's
many childhood pleas

in letters from boarding school.

As a child, Churchill
did not easily fit

within the conventional
frameworks of schooling.

He was not lacking in intellect,

but Latin gave him trouble,

and mathematics was a challenge.

His early career
in the British army

was equally unconventional.

He possessed a
strong sense of self

beyond the institution.

But more than that, he
considered himself a man

destined for bigger things.

- He had a supreme
self-confidence.

At age 21, he was telling people

that he was destined to
become prime minister

of england, and
they believed him.

He had this ambition,
but he also had

a staggering capacity for work.

He read. He prepared himself.

He educated himself
for this political career.

And he said, even
at that early age,

that he was intending
to beat his sword

into an undispatch box,
and succeed in parliament.

Narrator: Churchill also longed

for battle and adventure.

During the second world war,
he sought out opportunities

to travel as close as he
could to the battlefield.

These impulses had
begun as a young adult.

In the 1890s, Churchill
worked as a writer

and war correspondent,
as well as actively serving

in the British army
in Cuba, India,

Sudan, and South Africa.

Even in his early
years, he found ways

to successfully
meld war with words.

- Churchill had really
established his reputation

before the end
of the victorian era

with his early books
'the malakand field force',

'the river war' and so forth.

And he had been
straight from the start,

a master of the condensed
epigrammatic phrase.

In fact, his early
rhetoric is better,

it's far more muscular
than his later rhetoric

in world war two.

Narrator: Churchill's
initial experience in politics

was not a success.

In 1899, he ran as a
conservative candidate

in a by-election in the seat
of oldham, but did not win.

The next year, in
the general election,

he managed to secure
a seat by a slim margin.

He took his seat
in November 1900,

while queen Victoria
still reigned over britain

and the empire.

It was here during his early
days in the house of commons,

where Churchill refined
his rhetorical ability

which would later fortify
the nation at war in 1940.

- Indeed, now that
I come to think of it,

it was at westminster
that I received

a very large part of
my education in politics,

dialectic, rhetoric,

and one or two other things.

- He was very good at
the prepared set oration,

but he knew this himself,
he wasn't particularly good

at being spontaneous.

- I've learned a lot
in these 31 years.

Many things have
happened to the world.

- His technique from the
earliest days in politics

was to memorise long
and detailed speech.

Early in his career, in 1904,

he was in the house of commons,

he was almost all the
way through his speech,

and then suddenly he
had a kind of a brain freeze,

couldn't remember
what he was going to say,

sort of stuttered a few
words, and sat down.

From then on, he almost
always worked from a text.

Narrator: In 1904,
Churchill crossed the floor,

shifting his allegiance
from the conservatives

to the liberal party.

And as Churchill
continued to build

his political career, he
also sought, and found,

happiness in his personal life.

Clementine hozier first
met Winston Churchill

at a ball in 1904.

She later recalled he
hadn't said a word to her

in their first encounter.

He just stood and stared.

Winston proposed at his
birthplace, blenheim palace,

in August 1908, and
they were married

the very next month at
st Margaret's westminster.

In the wars and
political storms to come,

Clementine remained a
beacon of strength and support.

Britain may have stood alone
in those dark days of 1940,

but Churchill certainly did not.

In July 1914,

European tensions
transformed into war.

Churchill had become

first lord of the
admiralty in 1911.

With the first world
war underway,

this position as
the political head

of the royal Navy was
strategically important.

Churchill's role in the
failed gallipoli campaign

in 1915 earned him infamy

that lives on to
the present day.

The plan to use the royal Navy,

to try to force passage
through the dardanelles,

sail a fleet to bombard
constantinople,

and force Turkey out of the war,

ended in abject failure.

The land campaign that followed

also ended in defeat and
withdrawal in January 1916,

after eight months of fighting.

The blame for the
failed gallipoli campaign

was largely laid
at Churchill's feet.

In may 1915, shortly
after the failure at gallipoli,

prime minister asquith
formed a new government

with the conservatives.

They insisted Churchill
lose his position

as first lord of the admiralty,

and he ultimately resigned
from the government.

Churchill now
turned his attention

to what contribution he
might make as a soldier.

In early 1916,
Churchill took command

of the 6th battalion of
the royal Scots fusiliers

and was sent to serve
on the western front.

The battalion he led
had been savaged

in the battle of loos
the previous September,

and morale was low.

As lieutenant-colonel,

Churchill entered the
trenches with his men

at ploegsteert on
the Belgian front

in late January 1916,
where the unit was subject

to shellfire and
suffered casualties.

After a short stint of
leave in London in march,

Churchill returned
to the battlefield.

But he returned as
a man in two minds,

feeling the pull of
politics once again.

When it was clear that
his unit would be absorbed

into another, with
someone else in command,

Churchill resigned his
commission in may 1916.

In mid-1917, Churchill
secured a position

as minister of munitions.

The first world war
was a war of machines.

Aircraft, artillery, and armour

all came to the fore
on Europe's battlefields.

The experience at the
end of the first world war

had shown what a combination
of weapon systems could do.

It was no longer about artillery

and infantry individually,
it was about infantry,

armour, aircraft,
intelligence, artillery,

underground mines.

Everything you could
think of working in Harmony

to try and break
any future deadlock.

Narrator: Churchill
understood this.

He had promoted the value
of the tank since early 1915

when, as first lord
of the admiralty,

he had established the
landships committee.

By 1918, Churchill's
instincts on the potential

of the tank were proven right.

The infantry and armoured
corps had learned to work

more effectively together,
and tanks became

a key element of
the British war effort.

During his tenure as
minister for munitions,

he also briefly met
Franklin Roosevelt.

In July 1918, they
both attended a dinner

in the banquet hall
of gray's inn, London.

When the two met
again years later,

Churchill had forgotten
their earlier encounter.

Roosevelt had not,

and he did not have
fond memories of it.

Roosevelt recalled
that Churchill

had "acted like a stinker."

Churchill and Roosevelt
were not the only future leaders

whose experiences
in the first world war

would inform their
leadership in the second.

Adolf Hitler also
served in the war.

Perhaps for the
first time in his life,

Hitler found purpose
in the bavarian army

in the first world war.

He served on the western front

and was considered
a good soldier.

In 1918, when news of

the German
surrender reached him,

Hitler was in hospital,

recovering from a
mustard gas attack.

- So in 1919, Hitler is
staying with the army.

Biographers of Hitler
always say that the army

was really the only
home he had ever had,

at least since his childhood.

He starts in the course of
1919 to develop a career

as a political education
officer for the army.

They ask him to give
lectures to troops on politics.

And this is where he discovers

the one thing he could
really do - as he wrote,

"I found I could speak."

Narrator: One topic on which
Hitler spoke about at length

was the treaty of versailles,

and the 'stab in
the back' legend -

the contention that
the war had been lost,

not on the battlefield,

but because of internal
dissent on the home front.

- The stab in the back
was a common currency

among all Germans.
They all thought

they'd been betrayed,
this was the kind of

normative discourse.

But the Nazis gave it
a special prominence.

They were planting this
idea of grievance and betrayal

in the German people,

and they did it
very effectively.

Narrator: Signed at the
1919 Paris peace conference,

the treaty of versailles had
imposed severe penalties

on Germany, including
loss of territory,

restrictions on the military,

and reparations in the billions.

Churchill had also attended
the Paris peace conference

as secretary of
state for air and war.

Though he was not directly
involved in the peace talks,

he was involved in
discussions about the shape

of the post-war world.

In February 1921,
Churchill became

secretary of state
for the colonies.

He held responsibility for
all colonial dependencies

of the United Kingdom,

including areas
of the middle east

under British influence.

In the wake of the war

and the defeat of
the ottoman empire,

national borders
across the region

were being redrawn by
the British and the French.

Winston Churchill, colonial
secretary by this stage,

brings together
military officials,

colonial officials,
interested parties,

to literally sit down over
the course of the conference,

to put all of their
ideas on paper

and to come up with
the arrangements that will

become the boundaries
that we recognise today.

Narrator: Churchill's
knowledge of the history

and cultures of the
area did not run deep,

and this lack of a nuanced
understanding by Churchill,

and his British
and French peers,

had serious consequences
in the creation

of nations' borders,
including Lebanon,

Syria and Iraq.

- Iraq is the most
artificial of all the states

that are created,
because essentially,

they are lumping together
three very distinct provinces

of Baghdad, Basra and mosul,

saying, "you are
now a single state."

But the inhabitants
of those provinces

don't necessarily see
or recognise themselves

as being within a
single nation state.

And many of the issues to
do with sectarian violence

that are ongoing
in Iraq to this day

stem out from this.

Narrator: In 1922,
Churchill lost his seat

at a general election,
despite the efforts

of Clementine who
had campaigned for him

while he was ill
with appendicitis.

At the age of 47, Churchill
was out of government.

But by 1924, he had
re-joined the ranks

of the conservatives,
a move that put him

back in government,
and in a position

of significant authority

as chancellor of the exchequer -

the position his
father had once held.

Churchill's father had been
chancellor of the exchequer,

and he'd made a great fuss
about the decimal points,

which he called
"those damn dots".

Churchill didn't have
much more of a clue

about those damn
dots than his father had.

He wasn't very
good at finance at all.

Narrator: The return
to the gold standard

was Churchill's defining
action in this role.

The gold standard was
a system which linked

the currency directly to
a fixed quantity of gold.

The decision is
often criticised,

some suggesting it a
Mark of incompetence,

but Churchill was
not lax in his role.

He did not make
the decision lightly,

and had in fact resisted it.

He even hosted a dinner party

with key economic advisers,

further interrogating the issue.

- He took advice, in the
end he took the wrong advice,

returning britain to
the gold standard,

largely as an expression
of political virility.

He wanted the
pound to be strong,

but it was too strong, and
it undermined the economy,

and it perhaps helped to make
the depression more severe,

perhaps even to have
helped cause the depression.

Narrator: The return
to the gold standard

did strengthen the pound,
but this made UK exports

uncompetitive, and caused
widespread unemployment.

The outcome was not
a good one for Churchill

or the economy, but
the incident tells us

something of the man who
would lead britain in war.

Hosting dinner
late into the night

foreshadowed the many
late-night discussions

he would hold during
the second world war.

It also suggested
he was willing to rely

on expert advice, even
if he disagreed with it.

Churchill's experience as
chancellor also offered him

another chance
to hone his oratory.

His budget speeches
were quite the spectacle.

His speeches as chancellor,
his budget speeches,

which went on and on and on,

sustained by copious
draughts of whiskey,

where the most
brilliant entertainments

that you could possibly hear.

I mean, they were
absolutely wonderful.

Everybody loved him for
these really witty accounts

of what he was going
to do to the economy,

but in practice, he didn't
live up to the rhetoric.

Narrator: In may
1929, Churchill's time

as chancellor came to
an end with the victory

of the labour party
under ramsay MacDonald.

The 1930s are often called
Churchill's wilderness years.

Although he
remained a sitting mp,

he turned his
attention to writing

and to furthering his
publication record.

A number of issues dominated
his focus in this period,

and one in particular
showed him to be

out of step with
the modern world.

His position on India,
and his stubborn resistance

to the growing clamour
for independence,

was an obsession that marked him

as a dated imperialist.

- Things are going
from bad to worse.

Great mismanagement and weakness

are causing unrest
and disturbance

to 300 million primitive people

whose wellbeing is in our care.

We require to have a
clear, practical policy,

and to pursue it with
courage and with conviction.

Narrator: Mahatma Gandhi
had become the influential leader

of the independence
movement after 1918,

promoting non-violent
non-cooperation.

In britain, and in parliament,

views on the independence
of India began to diverge.

- So this argument starts
to come out between people

like Churchill who
were really, if you like,

the representatives
of deep imperialism -

that India was there as a
British possession forever,

and if the British
didn't rule over India,

India would just fall apart.

As he famously said,
"India is no more a nation

"than the equator,"

that it had no
meaning as a nation.

So he completely
dismissed Indian nationalism.

I feel that the Indian
danger will raise a crisis

equal in importance
to the greatest events

in the history of Great Britain.

- So, on the one hand,
people like Churchill,

on the other hand, some
of the more pragmatic

liberal and labour politicians,

who realised
that, at some point,

you would have to
start to devolve power.

- And finally I hope that
by our labours together,

India will possess the only
thing which she now lacks -

full responsibility for
her own government.

Narrator: Churchill was
particularly dismissive

of Gandhi.

To Churchill, ghandi
was an enemy of empire.

- The Tory party was
gradually moving towards

a position of giving tranches
of independence to India,

first of all provincial
independence,

and perhaps eventually
becoming a free dominion

to join Canada and Australia.

Churchill hated this, it
was anathema to him.

- So a lot of effort
that Churchill spent

in politics up until 1935,
was in trying to defeat

the British government's
government of India bill,

which was to extend a measure
of self-government to India.

And there was,
it's got to be said,

an element of racism in
his attitude towards India.

He talked about Gandhi
as a "half-naked fakir",

and used really
rather horrible terms

towards the Indians,

called them a "foul
race" and so on.

He was wholly on the wrong
side of the flow of history.

Narrator: At the same
time, he was also delivering

perceptive warnings
about the rise of the far-right

in Germany.

- We don't know the exact point

at which he first
heard the name 'Hitler',

but we can say that prior
to Hitler seizing power,

he was certainly
aware of Hitler,

and was reading news
reports coming out of Germany,

and was concerned
about the threat

that he potentially posed,

and was concerned
about Hitler's antisemitism.

Narrator: Churchill
watched as Hitler,

who had found his
voice on the battlefields

of the western front,

began using it in
the political sphere.

- So at the same time
that he was starting to warn

about the dangers of Germany,

and to advocate
British rearmament,

he was also engaged
in this parallel,

and ultimately
unsuccessful effort,

to defeat reform in India.

And so the way Churchill
later told the story

in his memoirs was to very
much emphasise his efforts

to combat the Nazis,
and to downplay his efforts

with respect to India.

Narrator: Hitler's rise to power

began in a shattered
post-war Bavaria.

He joined the German
workers party in 1919.

In 1920, the party
changed its name

to the nationalist socialist
German workers party,

better known to
history as the Nazis.

By 1921, he was its leader.

In 1929, the depression
caused economic instability,

and Hitler used it to
strengthen the Nazi party.

In 1932, Hitler won
36% of the votes

in the presidential
election against hindenburg,

and he used this strong
position to his advantage.

In the negotiations that
followed, he held firm.

He would take the role
of chancellor of Germany

and nothing less.

- Hitler absolutely had
an all-or-nothing approach

to gaining power.

One of the real skills
that Hitler had in politics

was a brilliant sense of timing.

He had the nerves to
wait, not jump too soon

at an opportunity in which
he might be closed out

of power and not be able
to do what he wanted to do.

And so he was willing to
wait until that was in fact

handed to him, in
late January, 1933.

Narrator: President hindenburg

had made a fatal mistake
in thinking he could control

Hitler in some
kind of partnership.

But Hitler's ambition
to become dictator

burned as fiercely as the fire

that engulfed the reichstag

a month after he accepted
the chancellorship.

He quickly executed a
plan to gain full control.

In march 1933, the
enabling act passed,

which gave Hitler
dictatorial powers.

The German parliament
had underestimated

the rising dictator,

and they were not
alone in doing so.

- Chamberlain and
other western politicians

made very much the
same kind of miscalculation.

They looked at him,
they thought, you know,

"what is this man?

"Can we really
take him seriously?

"Could he possibly be a threat,

"or is this somebody, perhaps,

"that we can manipulate,
we can bring him

"to the conference table,

"we can discuss
things with him?"

And so on and so on.

But he was a phenomenon, Hitler,

nobody quite like
him in the 1930s.

[Speaking German]

Narrator: In 1930,
Churchill wrote an essay

on Hitler, revealing
conflicting thoughts.

He admired his love for country

and what he called
Hitler's "vital force"

in achieving his goals.

He also understood the
frustration Germans felt

at the punitive reparations

imposed by the
treaty of versailles.

Even so, he recognised
the darkness of the man.

- Churchill was extremely
perceptive about Hitler.

Some people have said
that he recognised the devil

in Hitler because he had
a bit of devil in himself.

But very, very early on,
he talked about the menace

that Hitler represented.

The militarism,
the belligerence,

the hostility to the Jews,

the crushing of any
Democratic elements

in Germany, and worst
of all, as far as Churchill

was concerned,
the threat of a revival

of the first world war.

Narrator: While Churchill's
warnings on appeasement

went unheeded for
some time in parliament,

they did not go
unnoticed in Germany.

- Churchill wrote an article,
which was published in 1935,

in a British magazine
called 'the strand magazine',

called 'the truth about Hitler.'

it was a somewhat
ambiguous article in some ways,

but towards the
end of the article,

he strongly denounced
the night of the long knives,

and Hitler's murder of his
former collaborators in 1934,

in, you know, some
really quite strong

and violent language.

And the Germans
immediately reacted

by banning this article.

Narrator: Churchill's
fears about Hitler

were well-founded.

The darkness he
feared did indeed rise.

- By the late 1930s,
Churchill's prophecies

were being seen to be realised,

because in 1936,
we got Hitler marching

into the rhineland, tearing
up the treaty of locarno,

the anschluss with Austria,

and then eventually
the gobbling up

of czechoslovakia in two slices.

So, Churchill was often wrong.

One might almost say that
he was almost invariably wrong,

but he was right
when it mattered,

and that was the
crucial thing about it.

Narrator: As
Hitler's powers grew,

domestic issues in britain

also called
Churchill's attention.

One such issue
was the abdication

of king Edward viii in 1936.

It was an affair that
scandalised the empire.

The king had fallen
for a married woman,

Wallis Simpson, and
he would willingly give up

his role and duty as sovereign

for a life with his great love.

Churchill had known
Edward since before

the first world war,

and Edward had
often sought his advice.

Churchill sympathised
with the king,

but he did not
support the abdication.

Churchill, as one of the
leaders of the opposition,

pushed the government
for more time

so Edward could
reconsider his decision.

But Edward's mind was made
up, and in December 1936,

he made history.

- By an instrument
of abdication,

dated the tenth day
of December instant,

his former majesty
king Edward viii,

did declare his
irrevocable determination

to renounce the
throne for himself

and his descendants.

God save the king.

Narrator: In a speech
following the abdication,

Churchill warned of
potential external threats

to empire.

"Danger gathers upon
our path," he cautioned,

urging all to support
the king's successor

and ensure a
strong, united empire.

But britain, and in particular

its members of parliament,
were not united in the plan

against German aggression.

- I'm going to meet
the German chancellor

because the
situation seems to me

to be one in which discussions

between him and me may
have useful consequences.

Narrator: In 1938,
the Munich Agreement

made clear the rifts in opinion

on German appeasement.

- Look at this shot
in which you see

the statesmen all
together - Mussolini, Hitler,

daladier, and the
camera pans over

to mr Chamberlain on the right.

It is two o'clock
in the morning,

an agreement has been reached.

Narrator: In the
Munich Agreement,

Germany, Italy,
France and britain

agreed to the German
annexation of the sudetenland

in western czechoslovakia.

- There was, of course,
significant opposition

and anger about the
Munich Agreement

within some elements
of the conservative party

amongst the anti-appeasers -

Churchill and his circle,
Eden and his circle.

- Churchill certainly regarded
the Munich Agreement

as a sell-out of czechoslovakia

by britain and France.

In parliament, he even
went so far as to say

that czechoslovakia could
have done better negotiating

by itself rather
than involving britain

and France in the negotiations.

He believed that only
the threat of a declaration

of war would have
prevented the dismemberment

of czechoslovakia.

Narrator: Churchill's
opposition to the agreement

was not to suggest he
was actively seeking war,

but rather seeking
to stop Hitler.

- No-one was saying
that they wanted war.

Churchill wasn't saying
what he wanted was war.

There were just
different roads to peace

that they were proposing.

But what they were
really saying was,

"we need to fight
this war at some point,

"we can't keep on
giving in to Hitler."

Narrator: For
many, the sacrifice

of the sudetenland was a
step too far in appeasement.

- Even though we should
give due regard to the fact

that Chamberlain and
appeasement was popular

around the world, there
was a real sense of shame

and embarrassment at
what britain had done,

at how it had abandoned
a worthy ally in the Czechs,

and what was going
on behind the scenes.

Narrator: During
the inter-war period,

Churchill also warned of
the threat of bolshevism,

and the influence of
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

The Soviet union had
formed in the wake

of the 1917 Russian revolution.

Stalin emerged as the
undisputed leader in 1929.

He had his former
rival for the leadership,

Leon trotsky, expelled from
the Soviet union in 1929,

and in 1940, assassinated.

- After the first world war,
Churchill was obsessed

by what had happened
in Russia in 1917,

the Russian revolution.

He saw the bolsheviks
as a danger similar

to that of the jacobins
in the 18th century -

as revolutionaries who
were going to overthrow

not just the Russian
order, but the world order.

They posed a threat to
humanity, to civilisation.

Narrator: Churchill's concerns

about the threat of communism
were deeply ingrained.

His suspicions, and
mistrust of Stalin,

would endure throughout
the second world war.

But he was also a pragmatist.

As the threat of Germany grew,

Churchill recognised
the Soviet union

might serve as a useful ally.

- During the
1930s, he's actually

potentially willing to
work with the Soviet union.

You can see that
he now saw the Nazis

as a greater threat
than the bolsheviks,

and was prepared,
potentially at least,

to work with the lesser evil.

Narrator: The inter-war period

was a time of emerging leaders

jockeying for
power and position.

Germany had Hitler.

The Soviet union, Stalin.

And Italy had Mussolini.

[Speaking Italian]

- Churchill's initial
response to Mussolini

when he heard about him
was, "what a swine Mussolini is,"

but Clementine, his wife,
went out and met Mussolini,

and was very
intoxicated with him -

he was a mesmeric
character, Mussolini.

And Churchill, too,
became rather addicted

to Mussolini when he met him
and he felt that he was going

to save Italy,

particularly save Italy
from the communists.

[Speaking Italian]

His disillusionment
came in 1935,

with Mussolini's
invasion of Ethiopia.

After that, his opinion
of him continued to slide

until eventually
Mussolini joined the axis,

and in due course,
joined Hitler in the war.

Narrator: Not all the
leaders on the world stage

in the inter-war years
were a potential threat

to britain.

Churchill was also forging

an important
political relationship

with a powerful ally
in Franklin Roosevelt,

and the United States.

- Winston Churchill
and Franklin Roosevelt

is one of the great stories
of the second world war.

Of course, it was
Roosevelt who initiated

that relationship.
He wrote to Churchill

in September of 1939,
when Churchill was still

first lord of the
admiralty, and of course,

Roosevelt was a
great naval enthusiast

and was excited by the
fact that this strong character

was now in charge
of the royal Navy.

And this started this
remarkable correspondence

and relationship
between the two of them

that would last throughout
the second world war.

Narrator: Churchill admired
much about Roosevelt.

His sense of social justice,
and he thought him a man

of composure who was
equally capable of action,

"a statesman of world renown."

But he also viewed some
of Roosevelt's social reforms

with suspicion.

Though they would share
a common goal and enemy,

they had deeply
contrasting world views.

- It's a fascinating story,

I mean, they really enjoyed
each other's company,

but they came from
two different universes.

Churchill was kind
of a victorian figure

who was a great believer
in the British empire.

Roosevelt frankly
detested colonialism

and found that aspect
of Churchill's worldview

really reprehensible.

Narrator: In the years to come,

Churchill would work closely
with Roosevelt and Stalin

in the fight against the axis.

And in that partnership,
he would be forced

to confront a shifting reality,

where the views
of the prime minister

of the British empire
were becoming less central

to the changing power
dynamics of the new world.

In September 1939,
the second world war

broke out in Europe.

Germany had invaded
Poland, and two days later,

France and britain
declared war on Germany.

- The fateful hour
of 11:00 has struck,

and britain's final
warning to Hitler

having been
ignored, a state of war

once more exists between
Great Britain and Germany.

Narrator: This marked
the start of the 'phoney war',

a period of almost eight months

where the only action seen
by British forces was at sea.

Prime minister
Neville Chamberlain

appointed Churchill
first lord of the admiralty.

The same position
he had occupied

in the first world war.

- Churchill took a very
aggressive approach

as the first lord
of the admiralty.

He was the only
hawk, if you'd like,

in the Chamberlain
ministry, which was made up

of all the ministers that
were there during Munich.

Churchill immediately
instigated a programme

to increase the size
of the British army.

- Anyone can see
that public opinion

is growing in favour of
compulsory national service

in all its forms,

and especially in
the highest form.

- He wanted to
modernise the royal Navy.

And he was very
much about action.

You know, immediate action.

Narrator: This action
ultimately translated

to a military strategy,
which instead

of attacking Germany head on,

favoured a peripheral approach.

In early 1940,

Churchill's focus had
shifted to scandinavia.

Hitler was shipping
high grade iron ore

from Sweden to
Germany via Norway.

Churchill wanted to stop him.

- He was very anxious
to interrupt the supply

of iron ore from Norway,

which had been a
tactic used by the British

in the first world war.

So he was very aggressive.

Narrator: The royal Navy,
under Churchill's direction,

mined the approaches to Norway,

and planned a
British landing force.

- That aggression ultimately led

to the German
invasion of Norway.

Germany had never
planned to invade Norway.

But when Churchill
ordered the release

of the British prisoners
from the altmark,

Hitler became convinced,
somewhat hypocritically,

that britain would do
whatever it liked in Norway.

And therefore,
Norway was a liability.

Narrator: In April 1940,

Germany invaded
Denmark and Norway.

British troops landed in Norway,

but were quickly
forced to retreat.

The campaign was
considered a grave failure.

On 7 may 1940,
in a lengthy debate,

the house of commons
discussed the matter.

Prime minister Chamberlain
dismissed suggestions

of parallels with the
gallipoli campaign

in the first world war.

Churchill was a key player
in the Norway debacle,

and claimed
complete responsibility,

but the blows of many
in the house of commons

were aimed at prime
minister Chamberlain.

The opposition argued
that the failure in Norway

was representative of
other broader failures.

Former conservative
cabinet minister, Leo amery,

concluded his
speech by demanding

Chamberlain's resignation.

"In the name of god, go."

It was clear his support
as leader within government

was floundering.

Destiny was on
Churchill's doorstep,

but it was not yet certain.

- There was no inbuilt
inevitability about Churchill

replacing Chamberlain in 1940.

In fact, most people assumed
that Chamberlain's successor,

from the anti-appeasement
point of view,

would be either Anthony
Eden, or lord halifax,

who was Chamberlain's
foreign secretary.

Narrator: With Anthony
Eden out of the picture

due to his resignation
from government,

the choice for a successor
came down to two men.

Churchill, or lord
halifax, and ultimately,

halifax took himself
out of contention.

On 10 may 1940,

Chamberlain resigned
as prime minister.

At the age of 65,

Churchill had finally
met his destiny.

He would lead his nation in war.

The result was not one the
public might have expected.

- Churchill was not in the
picture for most people.

Mass-observation
and the gallop polls,

they both asked
these questions -

who most people thought
would replace Chamberlain

if, for any reason,
he didn't carry on

as war leader.

And the consensus was
never that it would be Churchill.

In fact, it was either
halifax or Eden

who always won those polls.

Narrator: Churchill may not
have been the prime minister

the polls predicted,
but in that moment,

he was the man
that britain needed.

The nation needed a leader.

Someone who had a
plan, who had the vision.

And could convince
people that he was sincere

when he said that
britain could win.

Narrator: Soon he would confront

ever worsening crises -

the evacuation of dunkirk,

the fall of France,
and the battle of britain.

And at his nation's
darkest hour,

Churchill turned
toward the United States

in the hope of a powerful
ally joining the fray.

In 1940, his hour had arrived,

and Churchill was
ready and willing

when the bells tolled.

Captioned by
ai-media ai-media. Tv