Winston Churchill

Britain’s wartime prime minister Winston Churchill (1874–1965), who led the country to victory in the Second World War, is considered one of the defining figures of the 20th century. Churchill served as Conservative prime minister twice – from 1940 to 1945 (before being defeated in the 1945 general election by the Labour leader Clement Attlee) and from 1951 to 1955

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Pod David Reynolds WL

Who moulded Winston Churchill? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Diners watch a waitress chalk up the dishes offered on the day's menu at a British Restaurant in Gillingham, 1941. (Photo by Reuben Saidman/ Popperfoto via Getty Images)

Second World War

Eat for victory: the British Restaurants of WW2

Firemen tackling a blitz fire at St Paul's Cathedral, London

Second World War

WW2 timeline: 20 important dates and milestones you need to know

Our collage of events from 1942 shows (from top): German warships sailing up the English Channel in February;
A bomb-damaged street in Valletta, Malta in April; a Mk 3 Lee/Grant tank
in north Africa in June; British and empire soldiers surrendering
to Japanese troops in Singapore, 15 February; British soldiers captured on 21 June during the siege of Tobruk. (Images by Alamy, illustration by Rachel Dickens for BBC History Magazine)

Second World War

1942: Churchill’s darkest hour

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1942: Churchill’s darkest hour . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Our Winston Churchill obsession . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Russian civil war, 1919

General History

Russia-Ukraine crisis: 9 milestone moments in history that explain today’s invasion

Winston Churchill delivering his famous 'iron curtain' speech at Westminster College

Second World War

8 of Churchill’s greatest speeches

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Alex von Tunzelmann explores the stories behind some of the world’s most controversial statues – and gives her take on whether they should stand or fall. (Image by Getty Image)

Should they stand or fall? The great statue debate . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain waves to the crowd at Heston Airport and declaims

Second World War

Did appeasement cause the Second World War?

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Britain's Greatest Prime Minister Podcast Series From HistoryExtra

Who was Britain’s greatest prime minister? Episode 6: Winston Churchill . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Adolf Hitler photographed with British politician Henry Vane-Tempest Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry (left) and Joachim von Ribbentrop (right), minister of foreign affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945. (Photo litzy ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Making friends with Hitler: Britain’s pre-war admiration for the Nazi dictator

Did Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler (pictured) ever meet? (Photos by Getty Images)

Second World War

Q&A Did Churchill and Hitler ever meet?

Winston Churchill on roller skates

Second World War

How the roller skating craze caught Churchill

US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and British prime minister Sir Winston Churchill, meeting during the Casablanca conference in 1943. (Photo by AFP/Getty Images)

Second World War

Churchill and D-Day: did the prime minister oppose the Normandy landings?