History Fiend

Winston Churchill delivered some of the most inspirational speeches in history, but which of his orations were the most important? Here, Winston S Churchill – grandson of the famous prime minister – selects eight of the very best... In his book  Never Give In , Winston S Churchill selects his grandfather’s finest speeches. Here, we asked him to narrow his choices down to the eight of the finest.. 1 ‘We lie within a few minutes’ striking distance’ 16 November 1934. London Churchill is a lone voice in questioning the country’s policy of appeasement to Hitler. “At present we lie within a few minutes’ striking distance of the French, Dutch and Belgian coasts, and within a few hours of the great aerodromes of Central Europe. We are even within canon-shot of the Continent. So close as that! Is it prudent, is it possible, however much we might desire it, to turn our backs upon Europe and ignore whatever may happen there? I have come to the conclusion – reluc...

    Photo story (Clockwise from top le f t): (1) British site after un-reckoned German phosgene (probably) gas attack at Fromelles, France during WWI (2) A British gas bomb in 1915 (3) A Canadian soldier with burns caused by mustard gas during 1917-18 (4) British infantry advancing through chemical weapons attacks and gas clouds at Loos, France on 25 th September 1915 The Great War or World War I that lasted from 28 th  July 1914 to 11 th  November 1918 (though it’s Armistice, the last treaty, Treaty of Sevres, was signed on 10 th  August 1920) was one of the largest wars in the history with 70 million soldiers including 60 million European military personnel were mobilized. The resurgence of Neocolonialism or imperialism was the root cause of WWI. The conflict began between Austro-Hungaria and Serbia while the former fired the first shots in preparation for the invasion of Serbia. Soon Russia mobilized and Germany invaded neutral Luxembourg and Be...