“ We Shall Fight on the Beaches”
Winston Churchill
Speech Presentation by Morgan Trotter
Speaker
 The speaker is Winston Churchill, a British politician
who the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from
1940-1945. He was widely known as one of the
greatest wartime leaders of the 20th century. This
speech along with "Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat,"
and "This Was Their Finest Hour," are some of the
most well known-speeches in history.
Occasion
 Churchill gave this speech on June 4th, 1940 to the
House of Commons of the Parliament of the United
Kingdom. This was the second of the 3 major
speeches he gave around the period of time
involving the Battle of France.
Audience
 The audience in this case was the members of the
House of Commons, this speech, unlike his others,
was not a live radio broad cast.
Purpose
 The purpose of this speech was to tell of a great
military disaster, and to warn of the possible
invasion of Britain by Nazi Germany. However, in
delivering this speech, he did not cast doubt on
Britain that they wouldn't have an eventual victory.
He instilled hope and confidence in them, and
basically said throughout the speech that they are a
nation, they are one, they battle and face these
struggles together and won't give up through that.
Subject
 The subject of the speech was mainly on the
warnings that Nazi Germany was planning on
invading Britain, and how they plan on dealing with
this potential catastrophe. He was also to tell of the
previous military disaster to the House of Commons.
 “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.”
Ethos, Pathos, and Logos
 Ethos- Churchill builds up credibility by talking about what he is
going to do regarding the invasion. Churchill is a highly
respected man in the United Kingdom, so he uses that to his
advantage by appealing to ethos.
 Logos- Churchill appeals to logos through his heavy use of
factual details, especially in the first part of his speech where
he is explaining the military strategies and how the battle itself
played out.
 Pathos- Churchill uses pathos particular in the part of his speech
where he continues to say “We shall fight,” he is trying to make
the country feel unified and like they have something great to
fight and stand up for. He is trying to make them believe that
they will persevere.
Literary Devices
 Some literary devices that Churchill uses in this
speech is allusion, through telling the House of
Commons about the military disaster with the
Germans. He also uses anaphora, by repeating “we
shall,” 10 times. “We shall go on to the end, we shall
fight in France…we shall never surrender.” His
reasoning for this was to make everyone feel unified
and show the passion he has for Great Britain.
Conclusion
 In conclusion, “We Shall Fight on the Beaches,”
along with Churchill’s other 2 speeches in this series,
left a huge impact on not only the House of
Commons, but on the British community as well.
They gained a new sense of hope and a feeling of
unification. They started to believe in themselves
that they would defeat Nazi Germany.
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