Churchill’s Final Moments (Part 2)
Only twenty five when he returned to Britain, Churchill was already a celebrity, known for both his reporting and his personal exploits. Determined to follow in his father’s footsteps, he parlayed that celebrity into a political career. He won election to Parliament in 1900 as a Conservative MP. However, conflicts with his party’s platform led him to switch and join the Liberals in 1903. He rose in Liberal ranks, and by 1908 was in the government as a cabinet minister – the youngest in half a century. Alongside Lloyd George, Churchill laid the foundations for Britain’s welfare state.
In 1911, Churchill became First Lord of the Admiralty, and oversaw the Royal Navy’s rapid expansion in an arms race with Germany. However, when WWI broke out Churchill was criticized for a series of naval failures early in the war. They culminated in the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign of 1915. It had been Churchill’s brainchild, and its humiliating collapse forced him to resign in disgrace. It sent him into the first of many recurrent bouts of depression. Gallipoli remained a stain on Churchill until it was washed out and redeemed by his WWII leadership.
