I found this from the Independent:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/not-his-finest-hour-the-dark-side-of-winston-churchill-2118317.htmlMost of the OP is in there but with a different conclusion.
Anyone who knows anything about modern British history knows that Churchill was a bit of a c*nt. Racist yes and a believer in the ‘traditional’ British concepts of the ‘white mans burden’ - the inherent superiority of the British upper class over... everyone else.
I thinks there’s an odd thing going on in the thread that’s trying to weigh up two separate (but possibly related) issues: Churchill’s c*ntishness and his importance in the battle against Hitler and the Third Reich.
Chirchill’s importance to the defeat of Hitler wasn’t in winning the final battles. Once Russia changed sides and America finally came into the war the writing was on the wall. His importance was in the darkest hours when mainland Europe was over-run, Japan was on a murderous rampage across Asia and it would have been the easiest thing in the world to appease Hitler.
Churchill probably wouldn’t have suffered under the Reich. There were plenty in the aristocracy and the establishment who would have been fine with Britain under the Nazis. Churchill, possibly because of his c*ntishness and belief in Britain fought back.
You could argue (and many would today) that if Britain had capitulated then the death toll from the European War and the Japanese conquest of Asia (no world war) would have been lower. Of course millions would have still died in the Extermination camps (the remaining Jews, homosexuals, intellectuals, communists, political dissidents... anyone who looked a bit different) but the world would have been at ‘peace’.
I read one sneering post saying that Churchill just ‘made a few speeches’. Apart from the fact that he did far more, particularly getting support from the US, the importance and power of those iconic speeches should not be underestimated. Britain stood alone in Europe after Dunkirk.
”Ser, I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once more able to defend our island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty's Government – every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength.
Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. 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, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old”.And
What General Weygand has called the Battle of France is over ... the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilisation. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands.
But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth[note 5] last for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour."Just a speech? Maybe, but what speeches and how important for a nation that had suffered a massive defeat and been sent home across the channel with its tail between its legs.
Anyone suggesting ‘anyone’ could have done what Churchill did is quite simply, wrong. There may have been someone but I’m at a loss to know who was around at the time who would have put up the same pugnacious resistance to Hitler.
So does any of that excuse his history of racism and appalling colonial behaviour? No.
Am I happy that he was the leader of Britain at a time of exceptional danger for the world? Absolutely. Because it means we are free to read posts like the OP and call even our greatest war time leaders c*nts if we want to.
Revisit his past and read up on the dreadful things that Britain did at its colonial worst (Churchill wasn’t unique) but let’s not re-write history.