Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born on November 30, 1874.He is known for his courageous leadership as prime minister during World War II.He graduated from the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. Winston served inIndia and the Sudan and became a correspondent during the Boer War. A daringescape after he had been captured made him a national hero. In 1900 he waselected to Parliament as a Conservative, in 1904 he switched to the Liberal party.Then in 1910-11 he worked for special reform with David Lloyd George as homesecretary . Churchill’s role in World War I was controversial and almost destroyed hiscareer. Between his problems with the Navy and his support for the disastrousGallipoli campaign forced his resignation. From 1917 to 1922 he filled severalimportant positions, including minister of munitions and secretary for war. Whilehe was a battalion commander in France, he joined Lloyd George’s coalitioncabinet. After the collapse of Lloyd George and the Liberal party in 1922 Churchillwas left out of Parliament between 1922 and 1924. Then he returned in 1924 andbecame chancellor of the Exchequer in Stanley Baldwin’s Conservativegovernment. He showed conservatism by returning Britain to the gold standardand condemning the trade unions during a strike in 1926. During the depression years (1929-39) Churchill was denied a cabinetoffice. Neville Chamberlain, who dominated the national government from 1931 to1940 disliked Churchill’s idea for India to be self-governed and his support ofEdward VIII To Churchill, Chamberlain’s association with Adolph Hitler at Munichin 1938 aroused suspicion. When Britain declared war on Germany in September1939, however, Churchill’s views were finally appreciated, and the public’sopinion demanded his return. Churchill succeeded Chamberlain as prime minister on May 10, 1940.During the dark days of World War II that followed Churchill’s rousing speechesrallied the British to continue the fight. He urged his fellow citizens to conductthemselves so that, ?if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for athousand years, men will still say, ?This was their finest hour.? By good dealingswith President Franklin D. Roosevelt he was able to get military aid and moralsupport from the United States. After the Soviet Union and the US entered thewar in 1941, Churchill established close ties with leaders of what he called theGrand Alliance. He traveled throughout the war and did a lot to coordinate militarystrategy and to guarantee Hitler’s defeat. His meetings with Roosevelt and Stalinshaped the map Europe after the war. By 1945 he was admired throughout theworld, even though Britain’s military role had become secondary. Churchill wasdefeated by the Labour party in the election of 1945 because he ignored thedemands for social change after the war. He made his ?Iron Curtain? speech inMissouri, in 1946, it was the about the dangers of Soviet expansion. He wasprime minister again from 1951 to 1955, but now his old age and poor healthprevented him from providing good leadership. Churchill received a Nobel Prizefor literature and a knighthood in 1953. Churchill resigned in 1955 and devoted his last years to painting andwriting. He died on January 24, 1965, at the age of 90. Following a state funeralhe was buried near Blenheim Palace. The death of Churchill in 1965, like thedeath of Queen Victoria in 1901, marked the end of an era in British history. Heparticipated in Britain’s transformation from empire to welfare state, and itsdecline as a world power. His true importance is the fact that with sheer stubborncourage he led the British people, the from defeat to a final victory in the greatestconflict the world has seen.
Spanish-American War
The Spanish-American War started when the United States waged war on Spainin 1898. It started because the war was fought in the Spanish colonies of the Philippinesand Cuba. The United State government got mad at the Spanish Governor because hesent many Cuban citizens to reconcentration camps. President McKinley tried to keepneutral but at first Spain would not pull out of Cuba. McKinley offered to just buy Cubabut that didn’t happen. The event that got the United States into the war was when theSpanish sunk the Maine, a United States battle ship. At the same time there wereproblems in the Philippines with the Spanish once again. The United State government got angry at the Spanish governor-generalValeriano Weyler. Weyler had ordered many Cuban men, women and children intoreconcentration camps. He wasn’t able to tell the citizens from the rebels and in thesecamps around 200,000 of the population died from illness and starvation. This upsetAmerican citizens. American President at the time, Grover Cleveland said if “the uselesssacrifice of human life ” went on then the US would take action. President McKinleytook office midway through the conflict and he too tried to stay neutral, he even tried tobuy Cuba to ” avert this terrible calamity” but his plan was rejected. In 1897 an attempt tosettle the conflict was made by the Spanish prime minister, Pr?xedes Mateo Sagasta.Partial control was to be given to the Cubans, and the outrageous system of prison campswas to be abolished. But this wasn’t enough and they continued to try for completeindependence. The Spanish Ambassador for the United States, Enrique Dupuy de Lomewrote a letter and it was published in the Journal and in the letter he called McKinley”weak and a bidder of the crowd…”. This caused the ambassador to resign and this wasn’tany help to the relation between Spain and the US. Six days later the Maine, an Americanbattleship was sunk off the coast of Cuba near Havana. Two hundred and sixty of thecrew members were killed. US naval experts discovered that the blast came from outsidethe ship meaning it was sunk intentionally. The Spanish said that they had no mines inthe area. The press or more reliable the yellow press “discovered” that Spain wasresponsible and they even found some diagrams showing how it was done. Congress tookaction and allocated 50 million dollars in war funds. McKinley demanded that Spain giveCuba full independence. When Spain did not reply, Congress declared war on April 25.The expansionists of the nation were thrilled to get more land but their dreams weredazzled when Congress attached the Teller Agreement that left the Cubans in controlafter peace was made. With the war declared there was a huge demand for volunteers to becomesoldiers. There were only 28,000 at the time so McKinley called for 200,000 volunteers.The hard part was to organize some 17,000 of those volunteers and the current troopsinto a usable and powerful force. These troops left in June for Cuba from Tampa, Florida.Supplies were low and the soldiers were given old wool uniforms, out dated ammunition,meager medical supplies and almost inedible rations. The group that probably helped themost was a group called the Rough Riders, these were once horse back soldiers but theirhorses were in Florida so they resorted to foot travel. This group took the hill overlookingSantiago. In this war there were also 4 units of African American soldiers to lend a handfor their country. Four of these soldiers were awarded with a Congressional Medal ofHonor. The Spanish-American War all started because Spain wouldn’t let Cuba and thePhilippines run the way they wanted. Spain treated the people there very badly and allalong the United States tried to stay neutral but after a battleship, the Maine was sunkwhile in Harbor near Havana the United States declared war on Spain. The United Statesdidn’t have enough military personal so they got around 17,000 volunteer soldiers tosupplement the force they already had so they could go to war. The expansionists gotvery excited about getting another territory so they could maybe add another star to theflag down the road. But the humanitarians in Congress attached the Teller Amendment tothe declaration of war that did not allow this to happen. The Spanish-American War is awar like most others the United States has fought in, it could have easily been avoided.