Churchill was an improbable hero for what was to be called "the century of the common man," not only because he was personally so very uncommon, but because he was from an elite British family and was never closely in touch with "ordinary people" in Britain, let alone the rest of the world. Yet, to pigeonhole Churchill that way is misleading.Winston Churchill was seen even in his own lifetime as a historic figure, one of the great men of world history, commemorated all across the world (but especially among the English-speaking peoples) in statues, memorials, streets and schools named after him, and in a plethora of stamps, medals, plates, and other such memorabilia.
This course of lectures explores Churchill's extraordinary life and his remarkable range of skills and achievements in a sixty-year-long public life. It seeks to answer the question, "What was it that was great in Winston Churchill?"
Lecture 1 Family, Background, and Identity
Lecture 2 Soldier and War Correspondent, 1893-1900
Lecture 3 Young Man in a Hurry, 1900-1911
Lecture 4 "I Am a War Person"
Lecture 5 Starting Again, 1916-1930
Lecture 6 Churchill the Writer
Lecture 7 Neglected Prophet in the 1930s
Lecture 8 His "Finest Hour": Churchill the Orator
Lecture 9 Churchill and Stalin: Dealing with the Devil
Lecture 10 Churchill, Roosevelt, and the "Special Relationship," 1940-1945
Lecture 11 Triumph and Tragedy, 1942-1945
Lecture 12 Prophet Again, 1945-1951
Lecture 13 Apotheosis, 1951-1965
Lecture 14 Man of the Century?