Winston Churchill's Their Finest Hour Speech

Following the collapse of France during World War II, the conditions the Allied powers faced became bleaker by the day. The United Kingdom was standing alone in the face of Germany, and under Hitler’s reign, the German “blitzkrieg” or “lightning war,” a tactic involving bombardment, tanks, and ground troops in quick offense proved too much for many countries. Winston Churchill would be the one to place hope in the hearts of the British people, delivering his “Their Finest Hour” speech on the 18th of June, 1940. Churchill utilized persuasive rhetoric whilst appealing to the people's logic and emotions, to raise morale and spirit in the United Kingdom to fight.

The year was 1940; the world’s second great World War was in full swing, with Britain and Germany at the forefront. The fall of Britain’s closest ally, France, stunned the British Empire and threw it into disarray. Through the chaos, Winston Churchill emerged. Churchill would be an inspiring leader who was able to rally the entire nation in times of hardship. Through his leadership, the “British Bulldog” would face the Axis powers and come out victorious, as well as become a public hero for the British people. Yet, immediately after the war, Churchill did not return to the prime minister seat because of a shocking defeat in his re-election, despite his immense reputation he gained from the war. Though lauded by the British population for his prowess as a wartime leader, Churchill’s conservative politics were out of touch with a population ready for post-war relief and led to his defeat in the 1945 election.

In a total war, the home front must be entirely united to continue to fight and fund a war effort, and Churchill appeals to unity and patriotism. He asks the people of Britain to give what Churchill himself will be offering ‘“blood, toil, tears, and sweat”’ (32). If the Prime Minister can give his everything to fight in the war, it encourages the audience to want to participate as well. Churchill continues to appeal to unity through his use of words like ‘we’ and ‘our’ to unite the country with the government as they fight for one cause. By creating a ‘team’, they can effectively rally the audience into action. The public opinion may believe that the Germans are unstoppable, but Winston’s emotionally charged words that with total effort and war from all fronts with the support of God, the feat can be achieved (35). Because of the war, the Prime Minister conveys the necessity for “victory; victory at all costs; victory in spirt of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival” (38-40). By bringing the risk of destruction of the country should they fail, it further persuades the audience to want to give their all so they can win the war. After riling up the crowd with the emotionally charged pathos arguments, Churchill closes with a final remark: ‘“Come then, let us go

Winston Churchill delivered his speech on May 13, 1940, three days after he became prime minister. In Churchill’s speech he wanted to connect with the audience on an emotional level, so he uses many different examples of the rhetorical device pathos. For example, Churchill’s famous quote “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat”. By saying this, he wants the people to know that, he will give all that he has and he will give as much effort as he can and that’s all that he can offer them. Another example of pathos in the speech is when Churchill said, “We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering”. By saying this, Churchill uses terms such as “us”, “struggle”, and “suffering” to get to the people and to show that the war cabinet crisis wouldn’t be an easy thing to get though out of the rhetorical devices ethos, pathos, and logos, Churchill uses pathos more

“This was their finest hour” is a quote by Winston Churchill, the British wartime Prime Minister. Winston Churchill was appointed the Prime Minister of Britain in 1940, shortly after Neville Chamberlain resigned after his unpopular appeasement policies were ignored by Hitler, with his reputation tarnished by the British defeat in Norway. One month into Churchill’s appointment, France, who before the war was said to have the best army in mainland Europe, was defeated within a month and a half. On the previous day, Vichy France, a Nazi Germany-friendly puppet state, was propped up, headed by Marshal Petain after a French armistice was agreed. General Maxime Weygand, while in England, called the Battle of France over. Churchill, leading the only Allied nation remaining fighting on the Western Front, faced disaster.

In Winston Churchill’s speech, ‘We Shall Fight On the Beaches’ he presents a powerful call to action directly to the British House of Commons in the year of 1940 on the forth of June. Winston uses the techniques of figurative language to capture his audience’s attention in a way they could understand the importance of his message, without disregarding his high level of intellect. In order for one to truly understand Churchill’s message one must understand the difficult task he was coined with prior to delivering this powerful message.

Accordingly, Winston Churchill has created speeches criticized by the same way. Churchill was the prime minister of England who used his word choices to create speeches that made people appreciated him during World War Two. Many of his speeches are about uniting to fight the Nazis. One of the speeches was “The Lights Are Going Out”. On October 16, 1938 in the United States and London, the

Sir Winston Churchill’s speech, ‘We Shall Fight on the Beaches’ was a wonderful piece of moving rhetoric. The diction that Churchill uses to deliver his message is not so advanced that one cannot understand him easily, but still manages to portray a sense of Churchill’s deeply intellectual status

Queen Elizabeth wrote an inspiring speech to the Troops who fought for the Armada about their honor and power over this astonishing war. Alongside, Winston Churchill delivered a majestical yet powerful speech about the issue dealing with battle of Britain and the unifications needing to be healed. Queen Elizabeth and Winston Churchill both delivered exhilarating speeches to their troops and counties with the battle of Britain. The Queen delivers her speech to the courageous group of men and women who fought this rigid, enduring war. While Winston delivers his speech to the House of Commons. While analyzing and juxtaposing these two speeches and their contrastive audiences; it is very mere to see the compelling diction, dynamic emotion used in their speeches.

Winston Churchill symbolized Britain during World War II. His image, and that of the British people as a whole, was one of defiance in the face of overwhelming adversity. His galvanizing and courageous leadership as Prime Minister of Britain during World War II was the catalyst for the stubborn resistance of the British and the ultimate victory of the Allied forces over Hitler. His speeches stirred the masses and mobilized the British. When everything continued to go wrong, when things could seemingly get no worse, he was there to encourage and give support to the Allied armies. With his inspiring speeches, he motivated the nation of Great

Winston Churchill’s speech “The Few” is one worthy as any of admiration. In this speech Churchill addresses the contrast between the brutality of World War One and World War Two. He speaks of how despite the lessening of bloodshed, much of Europe has lost more than they had in “The Great War”. However, he follows this disheartening reality, with another hope inspiring reality. Churchill reminds all of the audience of England’s upper hand of the sea, her allie America, and her inevitable victory. He then guarantees people’s hopes by reminding them of the vicious air battles which they have not only been fighting, but winning. The admiration for the fighter pilots is one felt by the whole of the country, this is so evident that Churchill himself states, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” A remarkable quote, holding more meaning than that of the words alone.

European land was annihilated and the European countries were all in dispute. Men from all around stepped up and fought for their country, risking and generally losing their lives to save their loved ones. This fatal war was known as World War 2, the deadliest war in history. The war took a devastating toll on many people worldwide, while they watched a majority of their loved ones pass; many felt defeated, until one man stepped up, Winston Churchill. Winston Churchill pronounced his “We Shall Never Surrender” speech on June 4, 1940 at the House of Commons, in the United Kingdom. He delivered his speech in the aftermath of a successful evacuation of the British forces at Dunkirk, following the German Army attack. Churchill’s uplifting words gave the nation hope and a sense of pride, which had been lost during the brutal war. Through imagery and repetition, Winston Churchill delivered his theme in his speech, “We Shall Never Surrender”, that no matter the hardships and defeats that a nation might experience, to not lose hope and to unite together in order to gain strength.

During the first year of World War II Winston Churchill is recommended by the former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain as his replacement going on to win the election; becoming Prime Minister that following Friday. Before then, Churchill was not a popular person amongst the Members of Parliament due to mistakes made in World War I Nearly all of whom publicly denounced him, some going as far as to publicly mock and heckle his election speeches because of his record of making hasty rash decisions. However, Churchill managed to change the political atmosphere around him with a short, but powerful speech. “Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat” uses masterful diction, repetition, and structure to keep his address to the assembled group of the House of Lords and Commons brief and informative, while indicating the importance of haste to achieve victory.

Being confident is one of the most important leadership quality to me. I choose Winston Churchill because he was confident in his opinion to Adolf Hitler, that no one should believe or think that Adolf Hitler was being honest. Winston Churchill said that Hitler will not keep his promise and he will do whatever he thinks is right.

August 28th, 1963, 250,000 marchers stood in front of the Washington Monument to hear a message. A message from the leader of the civil rights leader whom many of the marchers have come to respect and follow. Marchers from all different backgrounds all supporting the civil rights and jobs for the African American community. Martin Luther King Jr. took the podium in front of these marchers and spoke a message that would inspire not just those present, but all of America to have a dream just like his. A dream in a country that has been stacking the cards against them for a couple hundred years. King took the podium and spoke of his dream, “… a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”” (King npg.). King’s speech resonated with thousands of African Americans and inspired them to dream his dream and start a movement that would lead them their civil rights.