How Winston Churchill Changed the World

Establishing a strong sense of how Winston Churchill looks at the world; what he brings to politics that makes him stand out from the start of his career; how the connecting thread of history helps inspire Churchill to deliver his iconic speech.

Despite his high birth, Winston shows scant promise of greatness; his school career is uneven and his parents are distant; as he later notes, "the solitary tree, if it grows at all, grows to be strong and sturdy"; his blossoming begins at Sandhurst.

Few British politicians have risen as fast as Winston Churchill did during the first decade of his parliamentary career; Churchill's meteoric ascent; his conflicts with Arthur Balfour and Joseph Chamberlain; his time as a liberal statesman.

Focusing on Churchill's career as First Lord of the Admiralty; his efforts to make sure the British navy can win battles in the North Sea; central to this are technological developments and his knowledge of aviation.

Churchill pushes his luck too far in Gallipoli and the Dardanelles during World War I; what leads to this major failure and his subsequent resignation from government; how he overcomes this fall from grace by joining the fight on the Western Front.

Churchill's return to government in 1917 as Minister of Munitions and, after the end of World War I, as War Secretary; examining Churchill's fraught relationship with Prime Minister Lloyd George; the publication of his book, "The World Crisis".