Winston Churchill: The Unknown Story 2/6 - The Long Grass

Winston Churchill, a giant of history, famous for his inspiring leadership. Advanced Britannia, long lived the cause of freedom. But behind the legend lies a complicated character. People tend to see Churchill the icon, Churchill the bulldog warrior, and, of course, that's not the whole story. He was an aristocrat and a man of the people. It says a lot for his charisma and his humility that he was accepted and liked. A trailblazer who also had questionable beliefs. He is an old-school imperialist. He calls Indian people the dusky nation. This is the story of the man behind the myth, using rarely seen footage, personal photographs and told by those who knew him well. When my grandfather was at home, everything revolved around him. It seemed to be a natural way of life. This is the real Churchill. This time, it's the rollercoaster ride of Churchill's early career. As a young MP, his rise through the ranks is meteoric. But when he's blamed for one of the biggest disasters in British history, it all comes crashing down. When he says, I am finished, he is not being melodramatic. But Churchill fights back, and hope returns. This is the moment where he starts to think, you know what, my dream isn't dead. The First World War has been raging for less than six months. Winston Churchill, having suffered initial setbacks, is now enjoying an impressive rise. Only 40 years old, he's now Britain's First Lord of the Admiralty. He's in charge of the largest naval force in the world. He believed the Navy would play a very important part in winning the war for Britain and the British Empire. He relishes the fact that he's going to play a central role in winning the war. So Churchill really loved being First Lord of the Admiralty. Churchill's wife, Clementine, tells him he should be... She said, you're destined for greatness, I believe in your star. She knew that I can't be a politician myself. Women don't do that kind of thing. But the next best thing is to marry someone and do everything in my power to advance his career. Churchill's job comes with an office and a luxurious flat here in the heart of London, and the ceremonial uniform that he wears in this photo. Here he is, First Lord of the Admiralty, a young gun. Smooth, baby-faced, extraordinary to think how much he achieved, how quickly, and look at all his medals. He almost looks intolerably pleased with himself. In Churchill's defence, it would be fair to say, Churchill felt probably he was the right man in the right place. My grandfather hated war, but if there was going to be a war, he wanted to be able to play his part, and he felt, usually, that he had a good idea of what should be done. Churchill's confidence comes from his privileged upbringing. His late father, Lord Randolph Churchill, had also risen fast. And there's his more distant ancestors, whose portraits line the walls of Blenheim Palace, his family home. He is descended from the first Duke of Marlborough, a military hero, one of these great men of history. And he has a real belief that he too, as an individual, can one day make history. He is someone who feels that greatness awaits him by definition, and he is going to change the course of history. One thing he did have was a belief in his own destiny. He said, I don't believe so potent a being would have been placed on this earth without some reason, and I feel I'm here for a purpose. Churchill is someone for whom the war is a great adventure, and as someone who had followed the career of his great ancestor, the Duke of Marlborough, for whom war had been the thing which made them as a family. So, he saw war as a chance to win glory, to win fame, and something which he was born to lead in. Everything seems to be going according to plan. As well as overseeing the navy, Churchill is on the Prime Minister's five-man war council. He is at least ten years younger than the other members of this inner circle of power. He becomes the war council's ideas man. He has the sort of mind that is always casting around for possible new solutions to existing challenges. Sometimes he would drive his admirals, generals and subordinates mad by bombarding them with suggestions, telegrams, minutes and so on. But war desperately needs a fresh approach. By 1915, Britain and its main ally, France, have suffered nearly a million casualties. The death toll in the misery of the trenches shows no sign of letting up. Everyone, including Churchill, everybody's kind of stuck as to what to do. The Germans have invaded. They're not losing the war if they just sit still and do nothing. It's up to the Allies to push them out. The Allies need to stop the carnage and defeat the Germans. So Churchill puts forward a plan. The problem is it's a highly risky one. He wants the navy to attack Turkey, one of Germany's most valuable allies, and knock it out of the war. It's not a stupid idea. In one swoop, you can deprive Germany of a very valuable ally. In a series of tense war council meetings during January and February 1915, Churchill tries to convince his colleagues that Britain should take on Turkey. It is, he claims, the surest and shortest route to victory. Once Churchill has the bit between his teeth, once he backs a plan, he throws everything into promoting that and supporting that. Steamrollered by Churchill, the war council approves the plan to attack Turkey. Churchill tells a friend, my God, this is living history. Everything we are doing is thrilling. It will be read by 1,000 generations. It's great, extraordinary, visionary stuff. This would be our great moment. There was a sort of almost vulgarity in his ambition. It's only three months since Churchill first put forward the idea of attacking Turkey. At 10.45am, on a quiet spring morning, his great plan begins. The British and French begin to shell the Turkish defences. But by six that evening, three Allied ships have been sunk and three more severely damaged. The Allied fleet is forced to turn back. Churchill's grand plan to win the war is in tatters. Churchill's plan to win the war Churchill's grand plan to win the war is in tatters. Churchill has basically wholly underestimated how difficult this is going to be. There's some of that institutional British racism about how the Turks are regarded because the Turks are far better than he gives them credit for. Back in his office at the Admiralty, Churchill faces humiliation. But he refuses to give up. Instead, he doubles down. The British Navy, the plan is now to send in ground troops. Five weeks after the failed naval attacks, an invasion force of 30,000 men heads for the Turkish coast. They'll land on beaches on the strategically critical Gallipoli Peninsula. If you've been to Gallipoli and you've seen these, I mean, I say beaches, but in some cases you're looking at a patch of shingle, and you're being asked of these men, and you're just flabbergasted. Still in London, Churchill has never seen Gallipoli. He writes to his younger brother Jack, who'll be among those taking part in the landings. This is the hour for a fine feat of arms. I wish I were with you. It would be easier than waiting here. The Gallipoli landings are an absolute mess. The objectives are host to way too much of the troops. And it fails. Back in London, Churchill receives a letter from his brother describing... You can't blame Churchill for everything that transpires. There's other people advocating for it, not just Churchill, but Churchill must bear responsibility for Gallipoli, to some extent, and he does. The entire war cabinet supported the disastrous Gallipoli landings. But when journalists start asking how this catastrophe happened, his colleagues say it's all Churchill's fault. This was a disaster personally, politically, nationally, and the importance of a scapegoat in politics, and especially in war, is vital if you want to keep the press on side. One newspaper at the time is brutal about Churchill, saying he... The press absolutely hammer him. They call him a shouting amateur. After reading the press reports attacking him, Churchill tells a friend... When he says, I am finished, he is not being melodramatic. He is, at that point, being blamed for a huge loss of life. He has few supporters at that time, and he is the individual most closely associated with a disastrous military campaign. Within days of the insults in the press, Churchill is sacked as First Lord of the Admiralty. For cartoonists, his fall is a joke, but for Churchill, it's a personal tragedy. When that power and authority is taken away from him, when he's no longer able to influence events, when he's forced to watch them from the sideline, that is something that he really struggles with. This portrait of him was painted soon after he was sacked from the job he loved. This is someone who looks like they've suffered through or been through a crisis, and I think you can see the sort of depression and sense of defeat in his hair. This is someone who looks rather melancholic. Though no longer running the Navy, Churchill clings on as a member of the War Cabinet. But as the terrible scale of the Gallipoli defeat becomes clear, he's forced to resign from that too. Now that his political career seems well and truly over, his wife Clementine says she fears he'll die of grief. She knew two things about him. A, that he was genuinely horrified at the casualties, the death, the destruction that had happened, but also genuinely dismayed that his political life seemed to be over because he lived for politics. Churchill is down, but not out. He'll try to rebuild his reputation, and he'll do it in a remarkable way, by putting his life on the line. As Winston Churchill turns 41, he's still an MP, but his political career is in ruins and he's been forced to resign from the government. 48 hours ago, he was at the heart of the war effort. Now all that's gone. Churchill makes an extraordinary decision. Two days after his resignation speech, he reports for duty in France. Churchill is looking for rehabilitation after Gallipoli. When Churchill enlists, this is very much a public act. Press photographers capture him leaving home to go and fight, his wife Clementine loyally by his side. Clementine felt very strongly that by this sort of self-sacrifice, if you like, by volunteering to go and fight on the front, that this was the only way to rehabilitate his political career. A week ago, he was one of Britain's war leaders. Now he's crossing the Channel on a troop ship. That evening, having arrived in France, he writes to Clementine, It's so uncomplicated compared to everything that he's left behind. The freedom, if you like, of just being shot at by a German and knowing who your enemy was because he's on the other side of no-man's land, there's a beautiful simplicity in that for Churchill at this point. Back in England, Clementine is busy doing her bit, organising canteens for munitions workers. She also writes to Churchill every single day. She does write to him how proud she is that her husband is in uniform and away on the front and how she actually sort of rather pitied women whose husbands weren't doing that. This is not the first time Churchill has gone to war. He was an army officer before entering Parliament, fighting in India and Africa. He's since continued to serve in the Yeomanry, a kind of volunteer reserve. Does that equip him for what comes in the First World War and for the new types of warfare? Probably not, but, of course, he would have been better equipped than many of his contemporaries. Churchill is given the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and put in command of a battalion, the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers. About 1,000 men, all hardened veterans. He arrives at his new HQ riding a magnificent black horse with a valet, two grooms carrying a tonne of luggage and a bath complete with boiler to heat water. For the everyman serving on the Western Front, Winston Churchill, at first glance, appears like a very unrelatable figure. Not only that, they know full well that his name is associated with a military disaster on a different front. He isn't well received. There was great opposition to the damned politician. He came with a reputation, for goodness' sake, as a politician who'd cost our soldiers their lives on the peninsula in Gallipoli. So, I think, understandably, there was a wariness. In fact, one of the officers said to him, you know, we had no choice in you coming here. One of the very first things that he does is to summon the officers of his battalion to them and to tell them, gentlemen, I am going to declare war on the lice. So, he's taking an immediate interest in, you know, all the details of his command, the minutiae of his command, the welfare of his men. And that, again, I think, is part of his sort of restless personality. He throws himself fully into everything that he does. Within a few days, Churchill wins his men round. One of them says, after a very brief period, he had accelerated the morale of the men to an almost unbelievable degree. It was sheer personality. He wears the clothes differently. They don't sit on him the same way that they sit on everyone else. The slouch, maybe. But he definitely does stand out in a crowd. Just three weeks after taking command, Churchill leads his men into the front line near the Belgian village of Ploeg Street, known to the Tommies as Ploeg Street. Their job will be to guard this 1,000 yards of the Western Front, the line of trenches that stretches from the North Sea to Switzerland. There's no active operations going on in that sector of the front at that time, so he's not leading anyone into battle. But it's still pretty risky. He relished that because he was part of the action once more. So, in his segment of the front, he was very active, he had a job to do. Soon after arriving at Ploeg Street, Churchill leads a small group of his men on a night-time trip into no-man's land. It was a nightmare. His men said he was like a baby elephant. He'd never duck for a bullet and once told a man, well, if you're ducking for a bullet, it's a long way past you by that point, so why bother? He'd never lie down if a shell started falling, so going out with Churchill into no-man's land was pretty terrifying. So this is Winston Churchill on the Western Front. He is wearing the French poilu helmet. He thought it would make him more noticeable to his men, that they would be able to spot him more easily if he had a different item of headwear on. And he also thought it looked rather fetching as well. It's just like action Churchill. I imagine him stomping round in that gear. Even the coat as well. This is a period of time on the Western Front there's a lot of improvisation going on with keeping yourself warm, keeping yourself dry. Six weeks after arriving in the trenches, he writes to Clementine, kiss the kittens, meaning their children, adding, I think a great deal about you all. I think it was challenging, but it gives him a fresh take on war, a fresh perspective, and he has time to look at our overall approach to war, the mistakes that we were making and that he had made. Later that day, he also gets a reminder of the political life he left behind. He receives some official papers describing the first experimental trials of a new weapon, the tank. Back when Churchill had been on the War Council, it had been one of his pet projects. So the idea of an armoured tracked vehicle that could protect against machine-gun fire was something that Churchill was very keen to see the development of because it seemed to be one of the few ways of possibly breaking that stalemate. Now he's actually serving in the trenches, he can see how useful tanks would be. But there is no longer much he can do to develop this new weapon, or anything that might affect the outcome of the war. He writes to Clementine... I do not fear death or wounds, and I like the daily life out here, but how powerless I am. I am sure my true war station is in the House of Commons. He is keen to influence conduct and the decision-making at that level, getting back into that position of influence and doing everything he can to use his newfound skills and experience from the front and change the course of the war. When Clementine realises Churchill is thinking of coming home, she tells him not to, saying... If you are not killed, as sure as day comes after night, you will come into your own again. She found herself in the unenviable position of encouraging her husband to put his life in danger every minute, to show how he was prepared to put his life on the line for the battle. So she said, you've got to stick at it. They had quite a row by letter, you know, him saying, you would have me here till Judgment Day, and she would say, no, I'd have you there until others call you back. Winston Churchill is one of the most ambitious men that's ever lived. He's got the most incredibly overbearing ego. And he's on the Western Front in a minor, relatively minor, given his personal ambition, minor position as a lieutenant-colonel. And he misses politics. He's a political animal. He's itching to get back. But Churchill follows his wife's advice. He's convinced by her argument that to get his political career back on track, he must stay in France and rehabilitate himself. This portrait of Clementine and her one-year-old daughter Sarah is painted around this time. She knows that this is terrifically dangerous and that she's advising him to do it. If you look at her face, beautiful though it is, there's something really sad about it and stressed, actually. After six months as a soldier, Churchill finally makes his way home. His battalion has been merged with another and he's handed over the unified command to the other colonel. He's a politician again. When Churchill comes back to Parliament in 1916, his aim at this point is to get back into the front rank of politics. But Churchill's first speech on his return from the trenches is interrupted by a rival MP who heckles him about Gallipoli. It's going to be very hard for Churchill to escape Gallipoli. It was a crashing defeat. He was the scapegoat, rather rightly or wrongly. But he called it himself, you know, a necessary gamble. My goodness, he was, you know, absolutely hammered for that expression. But Churchill knows that in war and in politics, everything can change overnight, and that's exactly what happens next. It's midway through the First World War. Casualty lists are growing after some of the bloodiest battles in history. Churchill, who has been responsible for the carnage and seen it first-hand, has had enough. This was a man who understood the cost of war. And he has a voice. He has a voice in Parliament. Churchill argues the case in a very powerful speech about the cost of offences on the Western Front. He is critical of the way in which we're conducting the war. He says, Although Churchill is now the soldier's friend, one thing hasn't changed. Churchill was always more ambitious for higher jobs. And I think Churchill really wanted to be back in the Cabinet, to be part of the group of leaders who was running the war. So, of course, I think he had his eye on greater things, more responsibility after the setback, the Great Low of the Gallipoli campaign. He does use some of his first-hand experience of the trenches to talk in some of the parliamentary debates. And on the back of that, attempting to relaunch his political career. When Churchill comes back to Parliament, he has to walk a very fine line. He has to be very careful about the sort of pronouncements he makes. And he doesn't always get that right. For some in government, Churchill playing the humble soldier when everyone knows he's a privileged aristocrat is the last straw. They believe it's time for Churchill to leave politics and not come back. Churchill was always trying to prove himself. That doesn't always go down too well, and he does make enemies. But I ask you, which politician doesn't make the odd enemy if he puts his neck on the line, if he's pushing his agenda over somebody else's? His campaign to return to power backfires as he becomes increasingly isolated. He falls under the influence of a powerful maverick, David Lloyd George, who's also critical of how the government is running the war. So, David Lloyd George, I think, is one of the great figures in British politics. So, his nickname is the Welsh Wizard. He is a man who has a huge sense of personality, wonderful public speaker, incredibly ambitious. Lloyd George is the opposite of the aristocratic Churchill. The child of a single mother, Lloyd George grew up in a cottage. But they were great friends, they went on holiday together, they golfed together. But this was not a relationship of equals. I think Lloyd George regarded himself as the leader and he regarded Churchill as one of his followers. A very able follower, but a follower nonetheless. It's seven months since Churchill got back from France. He's at the Royal Automobile Club in London's Pall Mall. He's in the bath here when Lloyd George telephones with big news. The Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith, has been brought down by his mismanagement of the war. By tomorrow morning, Lloyd George will be the new PM. The tide is turning in Churchill's favour. Churchill wants to be part of this hot new government, you know, led by Lloyd George. You can see him puffed chest, excited. But Churchill's hopes are ruined. The memory of Gallipoli means he's still a political no-no, even for Lloyd George. So, Churchill is actually kept out of government in December 1916. It's simply too politically risky for Lloyd George to take him on at that point. You wouldn't want to be Winston Churchill in that moment. He's like the petulant schoolboy that he once was. You know, he hasn't been selected for the first 15, God damn it, and he's bitterly disappointed. Being an obstinate bulldog, Churchill was never going to relinquish that vision. But he's hanging on by his fingertips. This photo reveals Churchill soon after he was rejected by Lloyd George. You can see the weight of what's on his shoulders. It's not something that he necessarily allows to come out in a lot of his photo portraits, of which I would class this as one. The sort of strain and the cumulative impact of pressure. So, I think that's what you see in this image of him. Early the following year, with the war still raging, Churchill retreats to rural Sussex to lick his wounds in this ancient manor house. That spring, he plays in the woods here with his young family. But his mind is in deep and ceaseless torment. Clementine is really concerned. She knew that Churchill being out of power, he would never be happy and therefore she could never be happy. So Clementine decides to do her best to get Churchill back in government. She invited newspaper editors and proprietors round for lunch and dinner and she pleased Churchill's case that he could bring something to the Cabinet that was otherwise lacking and people had to see his talents and his abilities. Even Lloyd George is invited. The new PM lives nearby and is soon a frequent visitor at weekends. In London, Churchill continues to work on Lloyd George. This is a photo of him with Lloyd George outside Parliament, taken around this time. There's a wonderful purposefulness with which Lloyd George is walking in this picture. Winston Churchill, he's a step behind. He's in this man's shadow. The cigar tucked neatly into the cleft of his forefinger. It's not thrust to the front of the picture. That will come in future years. No, no, no, he's on the back foot and he needs to remember his place. The Churchill-Lloyd George relationship is an interesting one. They are both very strong-willed, emotional characters and it is something of a tempestuous relationship. Then, half a year after he was initially rejected by Lloyd George, Churchill gets the call he's been hoping for. He's offered a post in the government, Minister of Munitions. The Ministry of Munitions has basically one key objective that Churchill will kind of throw himself into. Get in there, make as many munitions as possible and it's a useful outlet for all of his ability. But Lloyd George keeps Churchill under his thumb. Churchill doesn't get an office in Parliament, but here, at the former Hotel Metropole in London's West End. He's now back in government. Churchill is not brought back into the War Cabinet, the real inner circle. It's a very clever move by Lloyd George because Winston Churchill knows full well he's got to work incredibly hard to regain the influence that he had previously. Churchill's been given a second chance and he's determined not to waste it. Churchill travels the country, visiting the thousands of factories now under his control. He wants everyone working in the armaments industry to get behind the war effort. He offers union leaders tea and cake. Churchill prided himself on his bonhomme and his ability to charm, you know, his ability to find the right phrase at the right time and, you know, win the room. Here is Churchill on one of his visits to a munitions factory. You can see also the people around him. They look fairly happy to be in his presence and fairly engaged by his persona. And he looks fairly cheeky, I think. So this is someone who is much more at ease with himself because he's in the thick of things. He's playing what he thinks is a very important part in winning the war and making sure that Britain had the tools, the equipment they needed to pursue the war to success. He wants all the munitions he can get his hands on. He wants new tanks. He wants machine guns. On the one hand, he's doing it because he believes in it, but he also wants people to know that he's doing it. He actually had a graph in the ministry to show how the production of guns had increased exponentially under him as the minister. So, you know, Churchill was all about blowing his own trumpet. Churchill tells the entire House of Commons about his great success and he writes to the War Cabinet, listing exactly how many guns and tanks are being produced. Churchill seizes the opportunity that's given to him by Lloyd George and uses it to sort of rebuild his reputation. Churchill would have seen the Minister of Munitions post as a staging post to getting back into the Cabinet and getting back into the real front line of British politics. But Churchill's career lies in the hands of this man, Lloyd George, and that's a dangerous place to leave anything you really love. In four days, the First World War will be over. Churchill knows peace is coming and that soon Britain won't need a Minister of Munitions. For Winston Churchill personally, it would have been a very uncertain time in terms of what awaited him in terms of his career. He could by no means guarantee ongoing political success and influence, which would have been hugely unsettling for Churchill himself. So Churchill writes to Lloyd George, demanding to know the PM's plans for the post-war government. He threatens to resign as Minister of Munitions if he doesn't get what he wants. He's somebody who thinks that he's really good at political manoeuvring and generally isn't really that good about it because he's just not very subtle. It's classic Churchill to take the bull by the horns, to sort of just crash on in there and state his demands, and there's an air of political naivety to that. But Lloyd George refuses to make any commitments. He tells Churchill his demand is an unpleasant surprise and that dissatisfaction with your personal prospects is not a reason to quit. Lloyd George, what he actually was probably, let me put in the most blunt way that I possibly can why what he's saying is so entirely unreasonable. I'll put him in his place, basically do a killer put-down. Churchill does not resign. Days later, he's sitting in his office at the Ministry of Munitions when the war ends. He watches the crowds pour into the street when the armistice is declared at 11am. There's a huge surge of relief and joy that it's over, but also sorrow as well. This is the thing that people have dedicated years to and it's suddenly over. Everyone knows someone who's died. There's wounded everywhere who are going to be carrying their wounds physically and mentally for the rest of their lives. There's going to be a huge economic upheaval as well. Alongside Churchill at his office is a surprise visitor, his wife Clementine. She had been there by his side at so many different points that I totally understand why she wanted to go to his office on Armistice Day. Together, they decide to go out among the crowds in the street. He boarded his car and Clementine went with him in the car and people stood on the running board of the car as the car inched its way through the crowds and together they were cheered and this was such a relief. Finally, the Churchills were back in favour. Churchill tells his driver to head for Downing Street. What happens is he goes along and personally, without any forewarning, decides to knock on Lloyd George's door and says, hey, mate, the war's over, well done you. Uninvited, goes to congratulate the Prime Minister in the wake of this spat, this written spat between the two of them with Churchill trying to push his own political hand. Churchill wants to celebrate with the Prime Minister. Politics is a lot more casual then, so it was possible for a minister to just pitch up at the Prime Minister's house to celebrate a great achievement. The Churchills are welcomed into Number 10, but Clementine, who is four months pregnant, does not intend to stay long. Her relationship with Lloyd George was a difficult one. I mean, she blamed Lloyd George in many ways for Churchill's difficulties and thought he was a slippery character. I mean, she was right on that. Clementine soon leaves, but Churchill stays. He will celebrate the victory over dinner with the Prime Minister. For Churchill, there is always an element of being part of history and wanting to be seen as part of history. It's the importance of being there at key moments with key people. During dinner, Lloyd George tells Churchill what he plans to do next. Near the top of the list is to execute Germany's Kaiser. Churchill says no. One of the more appealing aspects of Churchill was his generosity towards his fallen foe, towards the enemy. Churchill and Lloyd George are again in disagreement. But this evening, it's good humour. There's at the very least between these two, at this point, grudging respect. They've made monumental decisions, difficult decisions, not knowing if they were right or wrong. And in some cases, they were wrong, but they had done this with nothing but victory in mind, and somehow they have won. It's decided the Kaiser will be forced to abdicate, and he'll live out his days in exile, dying in 1941, by which time Churchill will be Prime Minister. That future is far from sure at the armistice dinner in 1918. But a few weeks later, he's invited to return to the Cabinet. His career is back on track. Next time, Churchill is again in the political wilderness. People thought he was too young. People thought he was too old. It was all slightly embarrassing. Makes another, even more remarkable, comeback. His approach is encapsulated by his famous saying, Never give in. And goes on to become the heroic war leader many still celebrate today. We shall never surrender.