Churchill

With the rise of Islamofascism, it is fashionable for pundits online to quote Winston Churchill or point to him as a bulwark against fascism in general.  There's no doubt that as Britain's leader during World War II, he was the right man at the right time.  He shored up a people in desperate need of leadership and confidence after the Neville Chamberlain years.  His speechmaking is legendary, and as an author few can compare with his wordsmithing.  That being said, I'm not exactly a fan of his.

The problem with Churchill's legacy is that people only know the best side of it.  His highest visibility came during World War II and shortly thereafter when he warned the world of Soviet expansionism.  Even though he was unceremoniously turned out of office shortly after the cessation of hostilities, he is largely regarded as one of Britain's best leaders ever.  Insofar as Britain is concerned, that's probably accurate.  But to grade his statesmanship as applied to the rest of the world, it is clear that Churchill had only one thing in mind:  The maintenance and expansion, if possible, of the British Empire.

During World War II, Churchill sought time and again to effect strategies that would help Britain keep its overseas colonies, whether it was in the Middle East, India or northern Africa.  He all but bled Australia dry, demanding Australian troops to fight in Europe and Africa even after Australia was attacked at home by the Japanese.  British prestige mattered more to him sometimes than sound strategy, allowing him to champion the foppish General Bernard Montgomery and his cockamamie plans when sounder strategies existed.  His interest in keeping British influence what it once was ran counter to what a changing world allowed; only the overwhelming preponderance of American and later Soviet might, coupled with British exhaustion at fighting a world war for over six years, convinced Churchill to take what he could and stop overreaching.

Prior to the World War, however, Churchill's legacy isn't so sterling.  In South Africa, he promoted what were essentially concentration camps into which white Boers and black Africans were confined; roughly 42,000 South Africans died in these camps.  Churchill touted his experiences in South Africa as great fun galloping about.

Privately, he was very proud of his Aryan heritage and thought that it was bound to triumph over natives.  This is unsettling reminiscent of another twentieth century leader who later set Europe on fire.  Yet Churchill's words are all but forgotten, obscured by the devastation wrought by the little corporal.

Despite the help of Polish fighter pilots during the Battle of Britain, Churchill saw to it the Poles were kept out of victory parades so as not to offend the Soviets -- who had only signed a non-aggression pact with the Nazis that allowed them to divide up Poland with the Nazis prior to being betrayed.  And lest we forget, it was heroic Poles who stole copies of the Enigma machine and did preliminary work with bombes to root out the secrets of Enigma prior to Alan Turing's discoveries later in the war.

Churchill loathed Gandi and Indians in general, considering them a beastly people with a beastly religion.  Nearly three million Indians starved to death due to Churchill's policies.

Kenya saw the visitation of Churchill's colonial policies during the fifties, resulting in nearly 150,000 Kenyans going into internment camps.  One of those interned was Barack Obama's grandfather. Torture and mutilation were typical in those camps.

Churchill also fused together three very different tribes to form the country of Iraq.  That hasn't worked out so well.

His contempt for Palestinians is shockingly similar to that he held for South Africans, Indians and Kenyans.  There is a distinct pattern to Churchill's world view:  Anyone not British was inferior, necessarily.

But his disdain for non-British people reached its nadir when directed at the Irish.  Turning his well-sharpened wit on them, he infamously said We have always found the Irish to be a bit odd.  They refuse to be English.  As Colonial Secretary in the 1920's, he was responsible for the Black and Tans who ravaged the Irish countryside prior to Partition.  After World War I and the creation of the League of Nations that was designed to recognize both large and small countries, Churchill did nothing to persuade Woodrow Wilson to recognize Ireland.  What's more, again as Colonial Secretary, he threatened the Irish negotiators with the British Army returning from Europe at the end of hostilities unless they agreed to cede the Six Counties to the British.  Cunningly, the British also gerrymandered out the two counties with preponderantly Catholic populations so the British could cynically claim that Northern Ireland's majority wanted to remain a part of the United Kingdom.

Even during World War II, Churchill had his staff draft plans to invade Ireland to gain access to her ports for military bases despite the fact that Ireland was a non-belligerent.

So the next time someone invokes the mighty Churchill as a stout defender of democracy in the face of fascism, remember that democracy for Churchill was largely limited to the British or those whom the British needed in order to survive.  He was contemptuous of other nations and their claims to freedom, especially when their democracy was in opposition to British imperial aims.  Churchill, ironically, is quite similar to a certain sect within American society whose unofficial mantra is Do as we say, not as we do.

Churchill was a great statesman, as long as the state being discussed was Britain.

(c) 2015 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles