He was born into a family of some standing in British society, it was a family with a long history of military service. After his father’s death in 1895 he joined the Hussars and during the next 5 years his illustrious career brought him to conflicts in the Sudan, India and South Africa. He distinguished himself several times in battle. After that time he resigned his commission and wanted to concentrate on a literary and political career. In 1900 he was elected to the British Parliament as a conservative MP. In 1904 he changed parties to the Liberals and held a variety of posts before being appointed the First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911, much of his role was in bringing the British navy to war readiness in time for the First World War.

In the second year of that war in 1915, he was held responsible for the disastrous campaigns of the Dardanelles and Gallipoli. He was excluded from the war coalition government. He resigned and volunteered to command an infantry battalion in France. In 1917 he returned to politics under the government of Lloyd George. From 1919 to 1921 he was secretary of state for war. In 1924 he returned to the Conservative Party and played a major role in defeating the General Strike in 1926. he was out of office again in 1929 and remained so until 1939. He issued many unheeded warnings of the threats from both German and Japanese aggression.

On the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe Churchill was again called back to his post as First Lord of the Admiralty, just eight months later he replaced Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister who until then had been mostly ineffective as Britain stood alone in Europe at that time in standing up against the might of Nazi Germany. Churchill promised the British people and the world that Britain would never surrender. He effectively rallied the people of Britain to a resolute resistance and then orchestrated Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin into the Alliance that crushed the Axis forces.

Just ten weeks after the German defeat the Conservative government were themselves defeated when Britain went to the poling stations and Clement Attlee’s Labour Party were victorious. In 1951 he was again made the Prime Minister after another election victory and two years later he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. He was also awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for his historical study of World War II as well as for his political speaking. In 1955 he finally retired as Prime Minister but remained in Parliament until 1964. He died early the following year just two months after his 90th birthday.