Churchill and Empire

June 23, 2014
James (The Rise and Fall of the British Empire) offers a fresh, welcome perspective on the exhaustively-analyzed Churchill by focusing narrowly here on his "ardent and unswerving faith in the British Empire." Throughout his long life, Churchill paternalistically and blindly believed that white Anglo-Saxon Britain was preordained to humanely rule an empire consisting predominantly of backward peoples who could not rule themselves. For him Britain was a civilizing force, war was an unavoidable outcome of imperialism, and the subjugation of India and maritime supremacy made Britain a global superpower. As a young officer at the Battle of Omdurman, Churchill reveled in the romance of a cavalry charge but was dismayed by Britain's slaughter of wounded Dervishes. As James points out, Churchill's passion for empire fostered interventionist impulses. Similarly, his unyielding support of WWI's disastrous Gallipoli campaign was rooted in his belief that the Turks' proclamation of jihad irreparably threatened Britain's prestige in South Asia and the Arab world. The WWII surrender of Singapore dealt a death blow to Churchill's empire; and ironically, the supremacy of AmericaâBritain's partner in the "special relationship" nurtured by Churchillâeclipsed the British Empire as Nazi imperialism never did. James's complex, engrossing, and multifaceted portrait sheds new light on a flawed but brilliant man. Photos.