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Questions tagged [churchill]

For questions about Winston Churchill, British politician and Prime Minister of the U.K. in the 1940s and 1950s.

4 votes
1 answer
2k views

Which four countries were the Teutonic coalition?

I'm reading the Memoirs of the Second World War and just came across the expression "Teutonic Coalition." Is Sir Winston Churchill referring to the Axis? Who are these members? Here's the ...
jean-luc's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
213 views

Where can I find a picture or physical description of the A3 scramble telephone system?

Who has a picture or physical description of the A3 scramble telephone system, which was used for speech privacy by Roosevelt and Churchill between 1940 and 1943. The system was most likely located ...
user avatar
6 votes
4 answers
505 views

How did Charles de Gaulle become the leading figure of French liberation movement?

How did Charles de Gaulle become the leading figure of French liberation movement? While acknowledging his talents and the personality, I find it hard to believe that he was the only or the most ...
Roger V.'s user avatar
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11 votes
1 answer
3k views

What are the 'mushroom trusts' referenced in Churchill's "Second World War"?

It is in a section where he is referring to the collapse of the German economy during and after hyperinflation… p.10 The Gathering Storm – The Follies of the Victors 1919–1929 Here is the passage that ...
Tthis's user avatar
  • 113
3 votes
1 answer
147 views

Where can I find the complete texts of Churchill's essays on extraterrestrial life?

Perhaps I'm just very bad at googling; though I can find numerous articles describing the discovery of Churchill's writings on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, I can't find the original ...
orome's user avatar
  • 1,026
23 votes
4 answers
6k views

Why did Churchill become the PM of Britain during WWII instead of Lord Halifax?

It looks as though both Churchill and Lord Halifax were considered for the top job in 1940, but Halifax turned it down and Churchill took it. History is not my area of specialization, so I cannot dig ...
Frank Booth's user avatar
32 votes
2 answers
11k views

Why did Roosevelt and Churchill use voice-based telecommunication, instead of simpler text-based options which were easier to encrypt?

Roosevelt and Churchill used an extremely sophisticated telephone encryption system, SIGSALY, to communicate during WWII. In fact, they did not use it all the time because apparently it changed the ...
J Fabian Meier's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
176 views

Was the Iron curtain actually present at the time of the Fulton speech?

On March 5th, 1946, Winston Churchill said in his Sinews of Peace speech that From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. At the end ...
user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
2k views

Which peace offer did Hitler give to Great Britain in 1940?

A few days ago, I finished reading John Lukacs' Five days in London: May 1940. I am puzzled by a passage of that book: When Hitler made his grand peace offer to England in his speech of 19 July, ...
José Carlos Santos's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
1k views

What was the reason for the geographical error in Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech 5th March 1946?

In his celebrated speech, at which he used the term Iron Curtain at Fulton, Missouri, on 5th March 1946, with President Harry Truman present, Churchill said the following: From Stettin in the Baltic ...
WS2's user avatar
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22 votes
2 answers
15k views

Was Churchill's "backwards" victory symbol a rude gesture to Hitler?

Churchill was sometimes photographed giving the V-for-victory symbol with the back of the hand to the photographer or crowd. Was this meant as a sly "up yours" gesture to Hitler, or just a less common ...
Amorphous Blob's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
120 views

Churchill's words about war escaping - any reference in his biography or memoir?

In Russia some citation of Churchill's words is mentioned, that I can roughly translate to English as: The most wars in history were escaped due to just putting them off. Have you seen anything ...
Alex34758's user avatar
  • 123
2 votes
2 answers
2k views

What tone of voice and demeanor did Winston Churchill use in the House of Commons during his "We will never surrender" comment on June ,1940?

From what I have learned, on June 4, 1940 Churchill gave his great second speech to the house. There was no contemporaneous recording, it being against the rules of the House at that time. ...
sigoldberg1's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
3k views

What did Winston Churchill mean by this quote?

What did Winston Churchill mean by the quote below? The Almighty in His infinite wisdom did not see fit to create Frenchmen in the image of Englishmen.
Hakim's user avatar
  • 133
19 votes
1 answer
5k views

Is this anecdote about Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill true?

The first time I heard the story about the plans for German officers once the surrender happened was that Stalin wanted to summarily execute 50 thousand of them, Churchill was very angry about this ...
Jeff's user avatar
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