Winston Churchill: War Hero or War Criminal?

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 17:07:11 -0400

History is written by the victors. One video below is very brief (two minutes), while the other is feature-length. See what you think your answer to the question may be after viewing both.

http://youtu.be/K_j64LLszys

http://youtu.be/K_j64LLszys

Winston Churchill led Britain to victory against the Nazi war machine, but debate continues to rage about whether he was responsible for overseeing atrocitie...

Response by SSG Gerhard S. made Apr 20 at 2015 5:24 PM

SSG Gerhard S. — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 17:24:54 -0400

Hero.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 20 at 2015 6:38 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 18:38:24 -0400

No great world leader gets to his peak by being an innocent lamb. JFK could have been the man that started WW3 if he had shown less patience during the Cuban Missile Crisis. You don't reach the highest positions of power and fame/infamy by making the easy choices. FDR was a great man and hero, but he kept those closest to him in the dark.

Winston Churchill was a great leader and orator. Did he make some bad decisions, probably, but he remains a hero of mine.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 20 at 2015 6:38 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 18:38:41 -0400

This is some serious crap, you'd need to be a complete ignorant fool of any military procedures or basic history to give any sort of credence to this garbage.

Facts, if he was in power would have prevented the Nazi military buildup and prevented the war. Never would have permitted the Munich Agreement.

Obviously he was not a gentle soul and was rapidly voted out of office.
Certainly a hero, not close to perfect by any measurement.

Response by PO1 Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 20 at 2015 7:17 PM

PO1 Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 19:17:58 -0400

There are too many gaps in the argument to be of honest debate. There were many evil and horrible things that happened while Churchill was Prime Minister. However, even as Prime Minister he was not given unlimited powers. Every decision made has it's costs - especially those done in the heat of battle. It's entirely too easy to sit back and Monday-morning-quarterback like this young man is pontificating. Hero? I think he was the man elected to do whatever was necessary to keep Great Britain from becoming a German subject. At the point of his becoming Prime Minister, there were few options. The fact that he achieved the needed goals through dirty deeds was quickly noted by his failure to remain as Prime Minister after the war.

There are entirely too many people AND governments directly responsible for the creation and continuation of Nazi Germany going back 30 years before Churchill was elected. To blame him for everything that happened during the war would be like blaming everything that happened over the past 20 years on Bush 43. Oh, wait, that's happening now. Well, you can see how stupid it is to try and blame everything on Churchill.

Response by Cpl Jeff N. made Apr 20 at 2015 7:33 PM

Cpl Jeff N. — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 19:33:33 -0400

The assclown in the video ought to thank his lucky stars Churchill saw to it that he did not need to speak German. History is written by the victors is a line the weak of mind like to use to question any western history because in the last few hundred years we've done most of the winning. I guess he has forgotten that historians have looked at this from just about every angle imaginable. There is peer review in the west, something that did not exist in many other cultures

Perhaps required reading in Great Britain should be Churchill's 6 book set The Second World War. There is nothing worse than someone throwing out baseless allegations 75+ years later that never had to enter the fray.

Perhaps our youngster forgot about the Battle of Britain, the bombing of London and other cities. The thread they hung on by until we entered the war. These were dire times with a maniac leading a German Army that was crushing everything in it's path.

We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender. - Winston Churchill

Is Churchill a hero? Is Britain free today? There is your answer.

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Apr 20 at 2015 7:34 PM

CAPT Kevin B. — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 19:34:13 -0400

Interesting. He had, as we all do, biases of the time. He certainly was the right one at the right time. Some say he played FDR like a fiddle. The stakes were so high. Interesting enough, some aspects of his speech regarding the rise of Islam would be considered hate speech today by the PC crowd.

He had a similar problem to Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy shot himself in the foot by announcing he'd never run for a third term. Both had huge egos that craved power and had serious mental anguish when they no longer had it. England wanted to move on from the war years and that included the leadership that went with it.

There's a lot of "looking with today's lens" when that in itself will skew accurate history. Pundits that do that quickly get dropped from my read list.

Response by CPO Emmett (Bud) Carpenter made Apr 22 at 2015 10:10 AM

CPO Emmett (Bud) Carpenter — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 10:10:36 -0400

Churchill was a hero. It would be nice if he was around today. We could sure use him.

Response by Capt Richard I P. made Apr 22 at 2015 10:58 AM

Capt Richard I P. — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 10:58:27 -0400

In the wise words of Malcom Reynolds: "It's my estimation that every man ever got a statue made of him was one kind of sommbitch or another. Ain't about you, Jayne. It's about what they need. "

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made May 12 at 2015 3:10 AM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 12 May 2015 03:10:53 -0400

Screw that bitch and then you all wonder at RallyPoint why we get pissed off. You have this kind of horse hockey insulting us and but do not saying anything about the President. I know for an example that the President took out the bust of Churchill and that is his prerogative but it angers me to see this continual bullying of our friends in Israel and now the UK. It totally makes me think someone has an agenda.

Response by SSG (ret) William Martin made May 12 at 2015 3:42 AM

SSG (ret) William Martin — Tue, 12 May 2015 03:42:45 -0400

Yes, he was a great leader. I did not go to the links. I bet he was f&*ked a lot on cognac though.

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made May 12 at 2015 4:02 AM

LCDR Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 12 May 2015 04:02:58 -0400

False dichotomy. He was both. He was fine with using chemical weapons on African tribes, and he was the reason Britain held on in WWII. Why would it have to be one or the other? He was a strong leader and a real bastard.

Response by SFC Mark Merino made May 26 at 2015 4:42 AM

SFC Mark Merino — Tue, 26 May 2015 04:42:45 -0400

I'll bet a shiny new dime that Winnie would have this ISIS situation wrapped up in no time. There isn't a high ranking WWII key figure in our military who wouldn't be crucified as a war criminal in today's day and age.

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jul 8 at 2018 6:20 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 06:20:09 -0400

Oh please...I've seen such trash about Gen Eisenhower as well, total nonsense in my view, complete and absolute garbage...my uncle was with Gen Eisenhower as one of his radio operators, as I've said on here many times, my uncle helped send the Telex to Gen Marshall of the German surrender, he saw Churchill at Southwick House before D-Day, many, many times, personally...war criminal? Yeah, right, sure, in their dreams or nightmares, total and complete garbage, as I'd said...by the way, my uncle swiped a copy of the Telex, my cousins still have it in a safe deposit box, plus, Gen Eisenhower personally handed my uncle his diploma at Columbia Univ after WW2 and remembered him briefly when my uncle graduated there on the GI Bill, when Gen Eisenhower was president there before being elected...I've seen such history rewrite by the losers for years, or those who discover that Churchill and Gen Eisenhower gave the Germans of that period exactly what they'd deserved...war criminals...yeah, right, sure...total and complete garbage.....

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jul 8 at 2018 6:22 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 06:22:37 -0400

He also personally saw the Germans drive in for surrender in the limo that brought them to the little red schoolhouse in Reims, Germany...he was eight there, told me of it, many, many times, he was with the 3118th Signal Svc Battalion/Group, which got a Presidential Unit Citation, I got his records showing it from NPRC in St Louis a few yrs ago...war criminals...yeah, right, sure...please pardon me while I retch....

Response by Lt Col Charlie Brown made Jul 8 at 2018 9:13 AM

Lt Col Charlie Brown — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 09:13:10 -0400

He wasn't perfect. No one is but I believe he mostly did his best

Response by SGM Bill Frazer made Jul 9 at 2018 9:41 AM

SGM Bill Frazer — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 09:41:34 -0400

Please- the Germans started fire bombing and indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets in 1940 on England. Any war is not over until the other side sues for peace, the only way to make that happen is break the enemies will to fight. The cities that were targeted were legitimate targets, fire bombs might be questionable. Stalin killed millions of his own people in purges- find a communist that would try him for crimes. Numerous other politicans/country leaders did the same- how many have been tried. Also WTF does folks 60-80 years later who were not present/lived thru that war KNOW about it, other than someone else's writings?