A short while back, I finished reading "Churchill: A Life" by British historian Martin Gilbert. The nearly one thousand page volume is a distillation of Gilbert’s massive eight volume official biography of Winston Churchill. I mention this not just to brag, as most readers understandably like to, of having read A Whole, Really Big Book but also because the book itself was so excellent. This is mainly because it would be damn near impossible to write a less than interesting account of Churchill’s epic life.

So I thought I’d reprint this little review (which I originally wrote for another friend’s embryonic web site) of this fine biography of the “Last Lion” whose inspiring quote is so prominently displayed on the left side of this page.

I believe that Churchill was, without question, the greatest political leader of the 20th century. A thorough analysis of this assertion would put him atop the list ahead of such possible competitors as, listed chronologically, Theodore Roosevelt, FDR, Gandhi, Truman, Mandela and Reagan. It is worth noting that when, in 1950, Time magazine had to choose its Person of the Half-Century it chose Churchill. (Later, Time would reverse course and name Albert Einstein its Person of the Century in 2000). Churchill’s combination of foresight and historical and geopolitical significance is unmatched.

Most importantly, however, Churchill was invariably on the right side of history, fearlessly advocating the right ideas at the right time and place. His courage (both moral and physical) and tireless determination to shape and to dominate the events that surrounded him are the qualities which made him a great man and an essential historical figure.

It struck me as I read it that this is one of those biographies that makes the reader sit back and realize just how little one is doing with his or her life. It is a call to arms to those of us who toil away our days sitting on a couch eating a bag of cheesy poofs & watching reruns of “Law & Order” while telling ourselves that we are “doing something” with our time.

The catalogue of Churchill’s achievements is staggering. His early years alone were almost implausibly active. He fought in numerous battles on several continents, was a decorated war hero and noted war correspondent. His military exploits in the Boer War in South Africa, which included a daring prison escape from a POW camp, became renowned. All the while, he wrote and published novels and classic accounts of military adventures such as The River War, which detailed the turn-of-the-century British campaign at Omdurman in the Sudan in which he participated.

He became a Member of Parliament in his mid twenties where he would serve, first as a Conservative then as a Liberal then as a Conservative again, for over fifty years. During that time, he held numerous and diverse cabinet positions including Home Secretary, First Lord of the Admiralty (during each World War), Minister of Munitions, Colonial Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer and, of course, Prime Minister during World War II and later from 1951 up until his retirement in 1955.

More than any other figure from his time, Churchill was intimately involved in the prosecution of both World Wars. Before and during the First World War, Churchill was a member of the war cabinet and led the British navy. He displayed imagination and determination to ensure British readiness and war-making capacity before the war as well as decisive leadership once it began. His accomplishments included the development and advocacy of the forerunner of the tank (which would later make the ongoing style of trench warfare obsolete). When he was forced out of the war cabinet after the British-led Gallipoli campaign proved to be disastrous (largely due to factors which Churchill had warned against), Churchill was devastated but, while still a sitting member of Parliament, went over to France to ably lead a combat battalion in the bloody trench war.

Churchill’s had countless brushes with death and was renowned for his courage under fire. He was an early advocate of air power and was an accomplished pilot himself before he was forced by his wife and others to give it up due to their fears for his safety.

Like all truly great leaders, Churchill was a committed optimist and certain that his ideas and beliefs would triumph if implemented.

His eloquent and fierce leadership and inspiration of the beleaguered British people during World War II is well-documented and stands as Churchill’s most lasting accomplishment. A decade of inept pacifistic “leadership” had led Britain to the brink of utter destruction by the Nazi forces that it had gravely and negligently underestimated. It is not an overstatement to say that Churchill brought them back from that brink. His decisive leadership would rally the British until America entered the war and helped turn the tide against the Axis powers.

He was an avid painter, a prolific and gifted writer (he would win a Nobel Prize for Literature for one of his many historical works) and, of course, a legendary and charismatic public speaker.

When one looks at the record, it is amazing how right Churchill was about virtually all of the major issues of his day. He was a lifelong advocate of free trade. He had open-minded and progressive views on social issues in the early 20th century and pushed for reforms at a time when reform was clearly needed (then, like a sensible person, he later returned to conservatism).

He was an early opponent of communism and totalitarianism in all its forms. He was willing and eager to fight for the rights of democratic freedom-loving people wherever they resided. At the very dawn of the twentieth century, he cautioned of the horrors that would follow if industrial European powers ever went to war. In his early writings, he even warned of the threat of Islamic radicalism.

He was an outspoken critic of dangerous disarmament policies after World War I and prophetic in his warnings about Hitler and Nazi Germany. As a reward for his foresight, he was continuously denounced as a war-mongerer.

Yet, he also had previously advocated positions, which, if heeded, could have prevented Hitler’s rise – he opposed the overly punitive war reparations and other humiliations, which the Treaty of Versailles inflicted upon Germany. And he supported the establishment of a symbolic central German figurehead rather than the loose Weimar republic, which would eventually crumble leading to the election of Hitler.

Churchill was a lifelong advocate of “peace through strength” and advocated strong policies of deterrence against Hitler in the thirties and then Stalin after World War II. In neither case was it popular. He always believed that the legitimate grievances of other nations should be addressed but opposed wholesale appeasement of rival military powers. As he put it, the best foreign policy was always to “appease the weak, defy the strong”.

He was an early and forceful advocate of the Jewish people in general and the state of Israel in particular. He was a believer in the creation of a viable United Nations and, later, a “United States of Europe.” He favored the development and use of chemical weapons in World War I and nuclear weapons in World War II to ensure the victory of democratic forces yet was ever mindful of the need for limitation of such weapons in the future.

Above all, he believed Britain’s future lay in a close and “fraternal” association with the United States, which he whole-heartedly admired.

Far from exaggerating the catalogue of his achievements, there are many not even mentioned above. Churchill’s genius, optimism, imagination, determination and foresight were unrivaled and served to lead a wayward and self-questioning empire to ultimate victory over the dark forces which threatened to destroy it. An essential and fascinating historical figure, Churchill’s legacy is one with clear relevance to the modern world and his life and leadership can and should be instructive to all who seek to preserve and promote freedom.

P.S. – In addition to his disregard for physical danger, Churchill also smoked big cigars and drank consistently throughout his life, yet lived to the age of ninety. This caused one colleague to note that “if you were to write a book on ‘Health without Rules’ it would outsell all your other books.” This is yet another reason why Churchill is a role model to the hopeful.