A History of the English Speaking Peoples -- Winston S. Churchill

A knowledgeable student of British history I could never be, what with all those Dukes, Earls, Edwards, Elizabeths, Catherines, Mortimers and Somersets, to name only a tiny fraction of the hundreds of titles and families. Who is a Plantagenet, who is a Lancaster, and which color rose won which wars, when? All fascinating, but too much memory work. That's why reading Winston Churchill's A History of the English Speaking Peoples -- particularly The Birth of Britain, the first in the four-volume series -- is so necessary and exhilarating. His narration moves you along as if on a conveyor belt, rapidly story-telling his way through the centuries, revealing each monarch's triumphs, foibles and disasters, describing battles like he was actually there, detailing important information that sits neatly at the back of your mind, ready to be accessed the next time the Black Death or Edward I comes up in polite conversation.

If you love the intricate bloodlines of English monarchs -- going all the way back to the House of Wessex and King Egbert (802-839) -- the intrigue of medieval royal courts, and excess details of long forgotten wars, A History will fill your heart. So far, I've only read the Birth of Britain, which itself is divided into three books and thirty chapters, and which has no table of contents but an excellent index. It ends with the War of the Roses and the reign of Richard III.

British history, told well, is as exciting as a Mexican drug cartel soap opera. Take, for example, the indefatigable Henry II who ruled from 1154 to 1189 and who created "one of the most pregnant and decisive reigns in English history," according to Churchill. Siring eight legitimate children with Eleanor -- and others with others -- Henry managed to accomplish more in his 56 years than probably any monarch after or elsewhere. He unified a large swath of land that would come to known as the Angevin Empire, including England and Wales as well as parts of Ireland and France. This achievement, however, came at a price, and "[it] was indeed more impressive on the map that in reality," writes Churchill. "A motley, ill-knit collection of states, flung together by the chance of a single marriage."

Ruthless and stubborn, Henry clashed endlessly with the French King Louis VII, his power-hungry sons and even his wife, who ultimately left him. Yet, he triumphed in numerous ways. He succeeded in laying the early foundation for the continuing purpose and functions of British royalty, as well as in establishing momentous legal and political structures that endure to this day, including the very Common Law under which our modern justice system operates. His reckless and ultimately lethal battle with the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket set the stage for the tug-of-war between church and state that endured for centuries.

Then there is Richard II. It is not uncommon for the Shakespearean tragedy of the same name to be considered the definitive image of the infamous, stand-offish, wasteful, oppressive and disturbed ruler. But Churchill defends this king, who ruled from 1377 to 1399. "The character of Richard II and his place in the regard of history remain an enigma," he concludes. "That he possessed qualities of a high order, both for design and action, is evident." Later he writes: "We have no right in this modern age to rob him of [the] shaft of sunlight which rests upon his harassed, hunted life.... He fought four deadly duels with feudal aristocratic society. In 1386 he was overcome; in 1389 he was victorious; in 1397-98 he was supreme; in 1399 he was destroyed."

It is truly impossible to separate the writer, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, from his works, which number more than 40 books in some 60 volumes, and countless articles and speeches. Best known as the Hitler-conquering British Prime Minister between 1940 and 1945, he remains the greatest political hero of the 20th century, bar none. Less well know is the fact that he was first and foremost a well-paid journalist, earning $100,000 as a writer in 1939, or $1.3 million U.S. in 2016 figures. He lived extravagantly, almost beyond his means. At different times he had to lay off his considerable household staff or had to rely on his considerable libel suit winnings to stay financially afloat.

Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953, "he is celebrated for his wit and colourful quotations, [but] it is for the impact of his speeches and broadcasts that he is now justly remembered as a Man of Words," says the International Churchill Society website. "Whether warning of the dangers of fascism, rallying the British nation against attack or wrestling with the problems of the Cold War, ‘he mobilised the English language and sent it into battle.’"

As a brave man of action, he held military positions for 29 years from 1895, including as a major and a lieutenant-colonel. He was stationed in Cuba, India, Egypt, Sudan and on the front lines of World War I. As the website states, he "even took part in one of the last British cavalry charges in history." After being elected to Parliament at the age of 25, he eventually served, besides as PM, in several other top positions, including as First Lord of the Admiralty, Minister of Munitions and Chancellor of the Exchequer.

As we know, he antagonized his colleagues in Parliament, where he loved to arrogantly and often belligerently dazzle them with his wit and intellect. He switched political parties, more then once. Some dared accuse him of being racist and a war-monger. He saved the world from tyranny so, if he had some old fashioned colonial ideas, we can forgive him. Love him or hate him, he is studied probably more than any man in history, born after 1850.

A brilliant self-taught student -- duly impressed with America and Americans -- he was the quintessential renaissance man, with varied and eclectic tastes and hobbies, and a complex personality, thus handing Churchillian researchers no shortage of angles to analyze. Churchill sometimes suffered with depression. He struggled with a lisp despite being a "professional speech-giver." He allegedly cheated on his wife in the 1930s. He loved animals, painted pictures and flirted with Islam though he was reportedly anti-religious. He loved alcohol as a somewhat heavy drinker. He took playful baths almost every afternoon of the Second World War. Instrumental in moving aeroplanes into combat roles in the First World War, he at one time took flying lessons. He invented one of the most effective armoured fighting machines, the tank. Though he ultimately supported it, Churchill dared in 1922 to criticize the Balfour Declaration, that crucial 1917 public statement by the British government proclaiming support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in the area known as Palestine.

The title A History suggests there are other competing written narratives on the subject, or that there could be one day. So far, none exists to my knowledge that challenges Churchill's authoritative work, at least none that focuses on the particular sections of history that he spotlights. Linearly, and politically, he chose to focus his four books from the time of Julius Caesar's first invasion of Britain about 50 years before the Common Era, up to 1914. A History's four volumes -- also titled The New World, The Age of Revolution and The Great Democracies -- underline Churchill's belief, or rather his understanding, that a "special relationship" has always existed between England and its former English-speaking Crown colonies, including Canada, Australia, America, South Africa and others.

Though he began A History in 1937, it was not published until 1956, his having been interrupted by, among other hindrances, World War II and a second stint as prime minister between 1951 and 1955. Indeed, he was in his 80s when later volumes were finished. As noted by one critic, regarding the opinion of Clement Atlee -- the Labour Party prime minister who took power in 1945 -- "a full one-third of the last volume was devoted to the military minutiae of the American Civil War. Social history, the agricultural revolution, and the industrial revolution hardly get a mention. Political opponent... Atlee suggested the work should have been titled, 'Things in history that interested me.'"

Nevertheless, the series was a bestseller and was reviewed positively in both Europe and North America. As noted on Wikipedia, J.H. Plumb of the Daily Telegraph wrote: "This history will endure; not only because Sir Winston has written it, but also because of its own inherent virtues — its narrative power, its fine judgment of war and politics, of soldiers and statesmen, and even more because it reflects a tradition of what Englishmen in the hey-day of their empire thought and felt about their country's past."

I give this book five stars.

As with most books on Lynne Like's, you can get this on Amazon.ca.