CHURCHILL'S SPEECH

Damian in Edinburgh   Mon Mar 15, 2010 7:42 pm GMT
Churchill made that speech in the middle of June 1941, a period during WW2 when Britain had already managed to fight off and thwart the Nazi German attempt to invade and conquer the British Isles in the summer and early autumn of 1940

The worst of the bombing blitz on Britain was coming to an end in June 1941, but was to continue on a more sporadic and irregular manner for the rest of the war, until the horrors of the almost daily V1 and V2 (flying bombs and rockets) attacks on parts of Britain from June 1944 until early spring 1945.

The United States of America was still neutral in June 1941 - it was to be another six months before the Americans entered the war on the side of the Allies (ie Britain and other countries forming part of the "lands who care for freedom's cause" which Churchill mentioned in his speech, as in the OP's post) but it took an attack on neutral American military bases at Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces on 07 December 1941 that finally initiated the American delayed entry into WW2.....a sort of carbon copy "better late than never" situation back in WW1, after which, in both conflicts, many crucial battles had been fought and which resulted in massive casualities on both sides.

However, anti Nazi propaganda and santiment in the United States had gained momentum in the months following the defeat of the Nazi Luftwaffe by the RAF in the Battle of Britain in the summer late autumn of 1940, and after the continual Nazi bombing blitzes on Britain from September 1940 to May 1941, again resulting in many thousands of deaths and injuries among the British civilian population.

In America pro British feeling increased steadily as the neutral Americans saw from afar what was happening over here in Britain as well as in Nazi occupied Europe, and Churchill of course realised this - Churchill had had an American mother remember, and Winston Churchill was much respected over there on the other side of the Atlantic.

America was indeed a mighty country, it still is, and Churchill truly believed that it was only a matter of time before that country entered the war on the side of Britain and the Allies - aid in this form was, in Churchill's mind, "drawing ever closer" - that is, the chance of American entry into the conflict was becoming more likely as time went by, and even though still technically neutral, assistance from the USA was taking place in various ways other than by active military participation. It took the Pearl Harbor attack six months later that forced the Americans to become fully fledged combatants on the side of the Allies.

As it happens, shortly after Churchill made that speech the Nazis attacked Russia and the frontline moved from Western Europe to Eastern Europe and the mammoth that was Russia and the whole perspective of the European war changed dramatically.

Once the Americans had entered the war the British people found their country actually being invaded after all - not by Nazi stormtroopers but by GI Joes from Alabama and Oregon and Virginia and Iowa and Connecticut and all points in between.......hallelujah! Chewing gum for the British kids and nylon stockings and delight and dating for the British lasses and a sharp blow to the pride of the British lads who all resentfully echoed the immortal words of the period:

"Damn Yankees! - over paid, over sexed .....and over here!!"

It was at that time that many British people witnessed active and very blatant racism at first hand and it was a real shock to the British system - all exhibited within the ranks of the American military based in practically every corner of Great Britain during that period of WW2. It is well documented in the annals of British history focussed on this country at that momentous time.

It would be about thirteen or fourteen years later before Britain found itself being faced with similar home grown problems featuring active racism with the advent of mass immigration from the West Indies, so it would be extremely hypocritical for the British people ever to condemn that American racism so clearly demonstrated here on British soil during the Second World War.

That's my last take on this topic.
sunny day   Mon Mar 15, 2010 9:09 pm GMT
Good, Damian.
Because you've said nothing on the subject. Or, should I say, I've found nothing in your posts.
Clarke   Mon Mar 15, 2010 11:43 pm GMT
When I read Damian's historical musings, I am reminded irresistibly of Jane Austen's History of England.
Damian in Edinburgh   Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:24 am GMT
That's my speciality......musing on the social history of my country. I do try and utilise my best native English language skills in the process though in an attempt to keep to roughly adhere to the requirements and general purpose of this Forum. It seems I don't always succeed in this, but I am an Arian after all and you know what we're like. I thrive on critical assessments - it's my lifeblood and journalists are not born to be popular or "nice".
ellachan91   Fri Apr 09, 2010 7:06 am GMT