Very happy that I decided to NOT wait until WWII to dive into Winston Churchill. The "young titan" was much more involved in early 20th century politics and WWI than I ever knew before.
He had much in common with Theodore Roosevelt. He came from an old, aristocratic family but did not inherit great wealth. He sought infamy from a very young age, working assiduously to climb the rungs of political power. He began as a conservative, but became a liberal early in his career. He fought against the Boers and made much of his living off of his writing.
Virtually all of that could be said of both Churchill and Roosevelt.
The downfall of Churchill's early career came when he promoted (although later backing away from) Britain's push into the Dardanelles in WWI. The idea was to attack Germany's weak ally in the Ottomans, diverting German attention while also dangling a carrot for Russia by opening warm-water access to the Mediterranean.
The effort failed, of course, with devastating effects that lengthened the war and increased the misery.
I'm sure Churchill felt his career was done, at least for a time. But of course, he rebounded to great effect as all the world knows.
A fascinating man.
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