Poon Yun Ling (23) F.5A
HISTORY ASSIGNMENT 3
Having a interview with Winston Churchill
Theme:
The appeasement policy, the resistance against the aggression of the Nazi power and
the Cold War.
Objective:
By learning the story of Churchill, readers will be able to know the leading cause of the
Second World War ------the adoption of the appeasement policy and the occurrence of it.
Also, readers will know more about the origin of the Cold War.
Background information:
After the First World War, Germans were resentful about the harsh terms of the Treaty
of Versailles and want revenge. Italy was dissatisfied with the treaty because she failed
to get what she wanted. Two dictators, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, became the
saviour of Germany and Italy respectively. They adopted an expansionist foreign policy.
In order to stop the aggression, Britain carried out the appeasement policy and signed
the Munich Agreement with Hitler. However, this was not an effective method to
prevent war which conform the prediction of Churchill.
Later, the Second World War started. Winston Churchill became the British Prime
Minister in 1940. He had a strong decision to against the Axis Powers. Then, he
cooperated with the United Stated and USSR and defeated the Axis Powers at last.
The end of the Second World War represent the beginning of the Cold War. It was
caused by the ideological differences between capitalism and communism. Churchill
was the leader who strongly opposed the communism.
Churchill:
His background:
Winston Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace on 30 November, 1874. He was a
famous English politician. He has joined two political parties and been the British
Prime Minister twice. He was also a well-known orator, strategist, diplomat and author.
Churchill was one of the most important leaders in world history. He won the 1953
Nobel Prize in Literature for his books on English and world history. Winston Churchill
was voted as the Greatest-ever Briton in the 2002 BBC poll the 100 Greatest Britons.
A chronology of what he has done:
1874
Churchill was born.
1893
He had passed into the Royal Military College at Sandhurst.
1897
His first book, The Story of the Malakand Field Force, was published.
1899
In September, he went to South Africa to report on the Anglo-Boer War. Later, he became a
prisoner of the Boers.
In December, he escaped from the prison.
1901
In the general election, he was a Conservative party candidate and elected.
1904
He became the member of the Liberal Party.
1908
He was promoted to the Cabinet as President of the Board of Trade.
1910
Churchill was promoted to Home Secretary.
1911
He was promoted to First Lord of the Admiralty. He advocated having the naval race with
Germany.
1915
He became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
1917
Churchill was appointed Minister of Munitions.
1921
He became Secretary of State for the Colonies.
1922
He lost his seat in the General Election.
1923
He moved towards to the Conservative party.
1924
He was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. He advocated Britain to return to the
Golden Standard.
1936
He spoke of the need for industry to prepare for war production since Hitler ordered German
troops into the Rhineland.
1938
Churchill issued a press statement to criticize the appeasement policy.
1940
He became the war prime minister and got the military support from US
1945
He was defeated in the election after the war and retired his position.
1946
He expressed the term “The Iron Curtain” in his speech.
1951
Churchill again became Prime Minister.
1953
He won the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature for his books on world history.
1955
He retired from his position because of his health.
1965
He died.
Interview script:
Reporter: In the 1930s, Britain and France responded to the aggression of
the Axis powers with appeasement in order to prevent war.
However, you strongly opposed this policy. What were the
differences about the ideas between you and the Prime Minister,
Chamberlain? Do you think the war will start if Britain did not
adopt the appeasement policy?
Churchill: Chamberlain thought that Hitler would stop aggression after Britain met his
demands. Also, he underestimated the power of Germany because Germany
was treated badly after First World War. Furthermore, he wanted to prevent war
since the British army was not ready for war and all British fear war.
However, I did not believe that the appeasement could stop the aggression of
Hitler since he had great ambition. In 1925, his political book Mein Kampf
showed his ambitious clearly. In the book, he expressed many of his view
points: abolishing the Treaty of Veralilles, conquer the world, revanchism…
In 1933, Hitler was appointed as the Chancellor of Germany. Later, the role
and powers of the head of state transferred to Hitler as Führer und
Reichskanzler. The absolute dictatorship of the Nazi Party began. The
danger of Germany drawn my attention. I warned that Hitler was tearing the
Treaty of Veralilles. For this reason, I opposed the decision of disarm.
However, no one believed me.
In 1936, Hitler ordered German troops into the Rhineland. I spoke of the need for
industry to prepare for war production. However, Britain and France did not
oppose the action of Germany.
In 1938, Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement with Hitler and
Chamberlain told the public that he gained ‘peace for our time’.
Chamberlain believed he could influence and trust the German Fuhrer.
However, I believed that the totalitarian tigers had voracious appetites,
which would only increase after each feeding. We have sustained a total and
unmitigated defeat.
At last, the appeasement policy was collasped when Germany annexed the
Czechoslovakia.
I think the war won’t start if we did not adopted the appeasement policy. At
first, we may stop the war but our unwise let the German grew stronger.
Reporter: You are an indispensable leader who defeat the Axis powers
during the Second World War. You had paid much effort in
order to end the war. What causes did you think that were
important to defeat the Axis Powers?
Churchill: Firstly, I think the most important reason that caused us defeat the Axis
Power was the strong volition of me and all Britain citizens. Once I have
been the wartime Prime Minister, I only had one important mission: defeat
the Axis Power, bring peace to our country and our world. Hence, three
days after I became the Prime Minister, I made a speech. As I have said in
the speech to the House and to those who have joined this government: I
have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. In order to encourage
the soldiers, I have expressed a speech later: “We shall fight on the beaches.
We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields, and in
the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!” This
clearly should the volition of us.
Secondly, I think the
cooperation of the allies,
Britain, America, Russia etc,
was also a significant cause.
As we had a common enemy,
we put down our animus. For
example, I opposed the
Communism before. However,
I still cooperated with Russia
to ensure that we could defeat
Germany.
Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin met
in a Conference.
Thirdly, I think the military support from the America is the cause that we
should not ignore. In 1940, the US sold us some military equipment such
as rifles, machine guns, bullets etc. This was helpful for us to defeat the
Germany.
Because of the above three main reasons, we defeated the Axis Powers finally.
Reporter: You are the prime minister in the Second World War. You
brought the British to defeat the Axis Powers. You should be
regarded as the hero of your country. However, you lost in the
election and retired your position. What reasons do you think
that caused you lost in the election? Did you feel frustrated
when you knew the result of the election?
Churchill: From my point of view, I think that there are mainly three reasons that cause
us lost in the General Election after the war.
Firstly, people were resentful about our, the Conservative party’s, pre-war
appeasement policy. This led to the outbreak of the Second World War.
People lost their confident of us. Hence, they were not willing to vote us in
the General Election after the war. The election result was the reaction
against the Conservative Party's record in the 1930s under Baldwin and
Chamberlain.
Secondly, people thought Labour Party had a better post-war policy which can
rebuild Britain. People believed that the policies from Labour Party can
bring prosperity to them. Therefore, this attracted people to vote the Labour
Party and we lost the votes.
Thirdly, people thought that the man who had led the nation so well in war was
not the best man to lead it in peace. Although I am the leader who had won
the war, people still distrusted me. At first, I hoped that my own popularity
could withstand the tide. However, I am totally wrong because people did
not trust my ability.
Because of the above three main reasons, we lost in the election.
At first, I felt extremely disappointed. I did not believe we would loss since I have
tried my best to gain the support from people. I even visited ten cities a day
before the election. However, we still lost. I did not know why people would
forget us once they got the peace. At that time, many people thought I would
retire. Nevertheless, I did not want to leave so I became the leader of the
opposite party for six years. At last, I became the Prime Minister again in
1951.
Reporter: You are famously opposed the communism. After the Second
World War, you made a speech to express the term of “Iron
Curtain”. Why do you strongly oppsoed the communism? What
reasons do you think that the “hot war” had not start?
Churchill: I strongly opposed the communism because Russia is being rapidly reduced
by the Bolsheviks to an animal form of barbarism. I feared that the
influence of communism would spread throught the world. The Soviet
Government tries to build up a pro-Communist Germany in their areas;
this will cause new serious difficulties in the British and American zones,
and will give the defeated Germans the power of putting themselves up to
auction between the Soviets and the Western Democracies. This is
certainly not the Liberated Europe we fought to build up. Hence I made the
speech in order to warn the Americans of the Soviet ambition in Eastern
Europe.
After the Second World War, all the countries who joined the war were destroyed
seriously. They were suffered from the economic loss and needed to
rebuild their own country. They had no more capital to start another war.
Furthermore, no people wanted to have a war again since it was a
nightmare for them. In addition, the two blocs were fear of atomic bomb.
They fear if they started the war, the atomic bomb would have a much
serious damage to their recovering countries. Therefore, the war between
two blocs, the capitalist bloc and the communist bloc, did not start.
In 1946, Churchill expressed the term “Iron Curtain” in a speech at
Westminster College, Fulton
Reporter: You won the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature. In 2002, you was
elected as the Greatest-ever Briton in the 2002 BBC poll the
100 Greatest Britons. Do you think your achievements are worth
to get these prize?
Churchill: I think it is my glory to have these awards.
In fact, I have not gone to universities. People must feel very strange that how a
person hasn’t gone to university get the Nobel Prize. Although I haven’t
gone to study in university, I read many books such as history and
philosophy books for four to five hours when I traveled to Cuba. However, I
think my books are not extremely well. It is others admire for my books on
English and world history.
I am so gald that people voted me as the Greatest-ever Briton. I am thrilled that
people have not forget me for these years. Actually, many British are also
very great and had many contributions to our country. I think I can get this
prize because I got the support from people.
During the Second World War, I was the leader who led our soldiers to against the
Naxi Power. I think this is my responsibility to do so. Everyone in Britain
would do so if the country need them to protect. When the Second World
War ended, people
forgot me and I lost in the election.
However, I didn’t feel frustrated. I
became Prime Minister and advance
the relationship between Britain and
the United States. I think because of
the above contribution, people
support me so that I can win this
prize. I hope Britain will have more
brave leaders who greater than me
to improve my country !
Churchill
retired as Prime Minister because of
his health in 1955.
Reporter: This is the end of our interview. Thank you very much.
Churchill: You are welcome.