Winston Churchill | Biography, World War II & Facts

Winston Churchill

You must have heard about British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill that he had a moderate & balanced personality. At the same time, he was a successful journalist, author & expert military officer too. His personality was a bunch of countless qualities. Due to his intelligence & sharp strategies, he not only made Britain victorious against Germany in World War 2 but he is considered a founder member of the United Nations. 

Full Name:	Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill
Born:	30 November 1874, Blenheim, United Kingdom
Died:	24 January 1965, Kensington, London, United Kingdom
Mother:	Lady Randolph Churchill
Father:	Lord Randolph Churchill
Spouse:	Clementine Churchill (m. 1908–1965)
Children:	Randolph Churchill, Marigold Churchill, Sarah Churchill, Mary Soames, Diana Churchill

Winston Churchill enters the British Army

In 1893, Winston Churchill joined the cavalry of Britain as a Lieutenant. During that era kept writing as an author about military reporting. In 1898, as a news reporter, he was sent to South Africa for coverage of British military actions. At that moment a dramatic event happened in his life when he was captured by militants. British militants were for spying purposes in armor train that opponents suddenly attacked it. As a result, many of the bogies were dispersed from the railway line.

Experienced Winston Churchill helped many of his soldiers to return to their bodies which were already attached to the train & were still moving. Winston Churchill was arrested & was made prisoner. An interesting fact was that he was arrested by Lewis Botha who later became the prime minister of South Africa. Winston Churchill was present in South Africa as a news reporter not as a military person but still, he was made a prisoner.

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South Africans knew about the family background of Winston Churchill so, they made a plan to return Churchill at cost of gaining their own people who were kept as prisoners in Britain. 2nd reason was that Churchill saved a lot of soldiers and helped them, to flee. He was taken to Pretoria after arrest where many prisoners of war were kept already. FLEEING ATTEMPTS Winston Churchill started planning to flee from camp just after his arrival. Earlier he tried to take all prisoners in confidence to flee together collectively. When he realized it was not possible then he took two of his friends in confidence and made attempt to flee.

They kept monitoring the daily routine of the guards of camp. Then he realized that at a particular time guards are not there to keep eye on that 10feet high wall. Escapism was possible at that particular time period. After living 4weeks in prison, on 12th December 1899, Winston Churchill tried to cross that big wall in order to flee. Just after that, his difficult journey began.

Churchill successfully crossed that wall & easily escaped. Now he was only waiting for his other two friends who had to run away along with him. Then he received the signal that the other 2 friends cannot run away from the camp as guards were now monitoring everything sharply. Now, Churchill has to continue his journey all alone. Now difficulties & struggles began for Churchill because location maps, food & compass all remained behind with his other friend who was now not in a position to flee.

Now Churchill had only two ways. Either go on this difficult journey or return back to his jail. Churchill only has 75 ponds along with a few biscuits in his pocket. Churchill decided to travel 300miles on foot.

The presence of opponents & search for him was another continuous fear for him. He used to travel the whole night and hide himself during day time. From Plutonian, he succeeds in reaching the railway line & he entered a running vehicle (full of merchandise). Now Churchill’s life was full of suspense & thriller just like any action movie. Coal was everywhere in that vehicle. He hid in one of the coal boxes. But thirst & hunger tested his nerves. He even witnessed that vulture who was ready to eat Churchill’s body after his death.

JUMP FROM RUNNING TRAIN

Realizing this situation Winston Churchill decided to leave that train. Therefore, he jumped from a running train. The location where he jumped was full of long grasses & swamps all over. Churchill was in difficulty while the British military was facing defeats one after another. Now the whole area was under the custody of opponent forces. Hopes for Churchill were extremely less. He used the strategy of traveling throughout the night and hiding and resting during the daytime for countless days. He even saw many persons from opponent forces who were searching for him all over.

They were searching each and every inch of land. If they would have caught Winston Churchill they would surely killed him. Churchill took aid from rivers for food & water. He used to drink water from rivers along with all those eatables which were flowing in that river.

This event did not continue for so long. Now swamps started all over. The entire location was barren from food & water. He was losing his courage to move further. Churchill had now only 2 options. Either die in despair or take risks in order to get food aid from someone. He knocked on the door of the home situated in a barren area.

The man who opened the door, was an English man from Britain who had started living over there recently. Who not only gave a place to stay but also hide for many days. John Howard was the only British man in the entire area who was running a company in which other British men were working as employees. Churchill remained there for many days. Opponent forces tried to search him everywhere. They even searched him in that location too but luckily Churchill was present in that room which remained unsearched.

Then he planned to run away from here. He was hidden inside a cotton bundle in a running train. He had to travel for the next 6 days on that train. This train was moving towards Delarosa which was bordering an area of Portuguese African territory. On the 3rd day of the journey, the train was stopped and searched. Now Churchill was happy instead of being sad because he listened to soldiers talking in the Portuguese language which made it evident that fear is almost over now.

BEGINNING OF POLITICAL CAREER

After a long tiring journey,, he finally reached the city of Cape Town in South Africa. He stayed there till the end of the war. He wrote many stories and events as an author during that period. His fame & popularity reached Britain even before his arrival in Britain. He returned to Britain when the war was over. He was welcomed as a hero.

The dream that he always used to see about becoming successful, now that dream come true. After returning to Britain he fame was at its peak. So, he decided to enter politics & achieved success one after another,, and became part of the British parliament. In 1940, he became prime minister of Britain. Due to Churchill’s sharp strategies,, he turned out to be a successful Prime Minister of his time. He is also credited for opening such a huge institution “United Nations”