Churchill's Many Lives
1940 AD
1940 1940
00.01W51.30N
MISC

LONDON, ENGLAND
	Few people have lived as widely varied a life as Winston Churchill.
	He rode in one of the last successful cavalry charges, escaped from prison, commanded a great navy, won the Nobel Prize for literature, and led his country to victory in a terrible war.
	He was born of an English father and American mother in 1874. As a young man he saw war service in India, fought in a cavalry battle in the Sudan, and escaped after being captured during the Boer War in South Africa. The books he wrote about these adventures launched him on a career of writing.
	In 1900, Churchill won a seat in Parliament and in 1911 was placed in charge of the Admiralty, with orders to make the navy ready for war. When World War I came, the navy was ready.
	Years later, when Adolph Hitler came to power in Germany, Churchill urged Britain to rearm. But Britain was sick of war and didn't want to hear his warnings.
	But they came true. Great Britain and Germany went to war. After several British defeats, the prime minister resigned and Churchill was unanimously elected to take his place.
	With Britain besieged and alone, Churchill stood firm. He promised Britain would "go on to the end, whatever the cost may be." His courage helped England hold out until the United States entered the war.
	Then, with the allies victorious, came a bitter blow. "All our enemies having surrendered unconditionally or being about to do so," Churchill wrote, "I was immediately dismissed by the British electorate from all further conduct of their affairs."
	In the 1945 election the Conservatives lost control of Parliament, so Churchill lost his position as prime minister. In 1950 he lost his seat in Parliament, but returned to office in 1951. In 1953 Churchill won the Nobel Prize for literature. He remained prime minister until his retirement in 1955. He died in 1965.
