The Real Winston Churchill

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 147, 23 June 1945, Page 8

The Real Winston Churchill

By KYLE CRICHTON ' ;;•;.< • , . NEW YORK, . When Winston hurried himself off to Athens to correct a mistake in his Greek policy, it proved again that he may occasionally be wrong but "he always knows'the 'scbrfc. -What is not generally.' "\ 'realised- about ' M£ •GhurcMll is that he is. not so-much a statesman^.and...historian.-, as an instrument of-history-

That eomes from • his .heritage. He is a direct descendant of the Duke of Marlborough! (John Churchill), and Marlborough is the man who almost- single-handedly, established the British Empire. •■> ■• - •••• ~

Anybody who waiits to understand what "Winston' Churchill will .do in a given set of circumstances would do well , to look up the parallels of Churchill's Xife of.' Marlborough,, a ponderous six-volume -opus which reveals as n\uch about Winston as it does about John , . As a" matter of Tact, you can find Churchill in Marlborough, just as- : you might 1, have ffound Hitler in Mein • Kampf. ;_ ■ *

When Churchill' proclaimed that the Jfinglish '-'will . fight on. .the beaches, in- the fields and in the streets,"' he"spoke? with a' .conviction that what had been done before could be done agaijj> -England was isolated and ' beleaguered in Marlborough's iime. and came through with success: •• • ' '

One must hold* that , Churchill is an advocate, of national suicide to believe that Great Britain, weakened as she is now,' will ever , , allow herself to be separated'from her allies. Churchill must, walk an eternal: tightrope. because on the one .hand he seeks- to save the- British Empire,; and on the other; he must exercise everlasting care that nothing he does will bring about the isolation of Great Britain;- .;i t > l ,,.. ,;.; , ■•V,-.>■

The parallels between Churchill and Marlborough are endless. Churchill bobbed up as a war correspondent and general adventurer in South Africa during the Boer War; Maryborough . did his first fighting for France as a soldier of fortune.

Marlborough " was not only the greatest, soldier jof his age, -but a genius who personally held together a coalition that. seemed bent on flying off in all directions at once. With tact and patience, he won diplomatic , triumphs that seemed, impossible. With these qualities went guile and.measures that \vere only slightly- removed from the double-cross; but from his main purpose of defeating the armies of France and preserving the position of England, he never swerved. Churchill's methods are more direct and forthright, but he is equally persistent in holding the target. World War I. Campaign Even in military affairs, Churchill plods doggedly 1 along in Marlborough's shadow. The great march of the Marlborough armies from Belgium t6 Bavaria and the victory at Blenheim were a strategic move of the greatest importance. It meant the military and physical union of Austria-Hungary with its allies. The "Army of the Elector of Bavaria was smashed and th 6 Austro-Hungarian Empire was saved at a time when-it verged on collapse. When Churchill writes about this campaign in his biography of Marlborough,- he turns aside long enough to compare Bavaria with Turkey in the World' War, and suggests that a jn , the Dardanelles (his great project), would have been equally successful in keeping Russia in the war in 1917. ' ,

Naturally- it is impossible to know whether Churchill was prompted to .the Dardanelles plan by the example.

of his forebear, but the coincidence cannot be held trivial.

Mention of the Dardanelles disaster brings up a matter that has always interested Americans: How could Churchill withstand that blo-\y and continue his public career? It is almost unthinkable that an American statesman or military man would have dared show his face after such a fiasco.

Churchill underwent a temporary eclipse, joined the Army as an officer in the line and soon after- returned as Chancellor of the Exchequer, one of the most influential men in the realm. .-'-*.

The parallel- between Marlborough and Churchill assumes a fascinating aspect at this point. In preparation for the secret Peace jof Utrecht, Marlborough's enemies saw to it that he was put out of the way. He was stripped of his command, tried on charges of peculation,. and found -guilty of "unwarrantable and illegal actions."

Churchill - proves at length that this was a frame-up, but the thing of interest is that, although Marlborough went into a mild form .of exile (he took up living on the Conr tinent), he was fully restored .to power after the ascent to the Throne of George I. of Hanover. The example could prove to Churchill that there is a tide in history which ebbs and flows, but which may, with good, fortune, restore a man to his place of eminence.

Churchill needed such support more than ordinarily because his star paled anew after, the war and for years he was a lone voice crying in a wilderness filled with Baldwins, Chamberlains and Hoares. -

/.. The first stμdy of man may be ■man, but the . proper study of a Churchill is another Churchill.— Auckland Star and N.A.N.A.