The author of the book, which will be discussed in this article, is Boris Johnson. The Churchill Factor is not just a work dedicated to a British statesman from World War II. This is an attempt to unravel the secret of the great British politician. Which, however, was far from the first to be carried out by a journalist, the former mayor of London, and now the British Foreign Minister, Boris Johnson.
Churchill factor - what is it? The driving force that once shaped the personality of one of the most prominent people of the 20th century? Or the totality of the reasons due to which an eccentric but brilliant politician was born, without which - namely, this idea is highlighted in the book - could Hitler win in Europe?
What Johnson remembers
Churchill Factor is a book published fifty years after the death of her hero. The author in the first chapter regrets that for the representatives of modern British youth the name of the legendary politician hardly means anything. In childhood and adolescence, Johnson, like his peers, perceived Winston Churchill as a mystical and almost sacred person. Many legends and apocryphal stories were associated with the name of the great politician. The key points from his biography were studied with enviable scrupulousness by young Johnson. Churchill Factor is a book, one of the goals of which for the author was to convey an understanding of the genius of the legendary politician to today's youth. Because because of the fog that tends to thicken over the past, the scale of Churchill's personality can be forgotten.
The hero of the book, which is discussed in this article, is a clear refutation of the Marxist ideology, based on anonymized economic relations. So many historians and biographers of politics believe, including Johnson. The Churchill Factor, in the opinion of the current British Foreign Secretary, is nothing more than proof that a single person can make a decisive and positive contribution to world history.
The man who made the story
Believing that even today, Churchill’s personality influences social events in the world, Boris Johnson identifies several important features of the politician’s activities, such as:
- being at the origins of the social security system;
- the establishment of the Royal Air Force;
- a decisive influence on the actions of Britain during the war years;
- participation in the founding of Israel.
All of the above, perhaps, explains why the full title of the book by Boris Johnson is “Churchill Factor. How one man made a story. ” The author tells in his work about under what conditions and under the influence of what kind of literature the personality of his hero was formed. And then he claims: the great politician has repeatedly stood in the way of the stream of history and changed its course.
Failed negotiations
In 1940, the question of whether Great Britain entered into peace negotiations with Germany was extremely acute. Churchill's predecessor, like many of his other colleagues, was more inclined to cede some British possessions to Hitler than to make sacrifices. But the prime minister decided to fight. Despite the fact that by the time of the famous speech at a meeting of the wartime cabinet, the Germans had already killed more than thirty thousand British citizens.
"Wild elephant"
This is the nickname Winston Churchill received. Contemporaries treated him at best with a slight distrust. Chamberlain - Churchill's predecessor - turned out to be much more preferable for the British. Lord Halifax urged not to listen to the Prime Minister’s speeches, because they exuded “port and a chewed cigar.”
Few British politicians were pleased with the arrival of the Churchill Gang, as it was customary to call the hero of the book Johnson and his followers in the early forties. Studying for many years the biography of an outstanding public figure, features and numerous obstacles to his ascent to a political Olympus, the British journalist put forward the idea of ​​the genius of an eccentric prime minister. What is the reaction of modern historians to the theory that Boris Johnson outlined in his work?
Churchill Factor: reviews
Russian researchers believe that Johnson lost his sense of proportion in creating the idea that Hitler could have won without Churchill. As in the belief that the British people changed history. There is an opinion that the victory over Hitler’s tyranny was won thanks to American money and ... on Russian blood. One way or another, any historical theory has a right to exist. Because only by studying many assumptions and judgments can one achieve truth.