Monday, October 7th 2013.

Winston Churchill’s war speech

Listen to the speech here:  

This is the war speech Winston Churchill delivered on May 13^th 1940: this is the beginning of the WWII / the Second World War. He is speaking to the House, that is to say to the government, representative of England / the English.

His speech starts with a negative clause: “I have nothing to offer…” meaning he knows the truth and he doesn’t hide it: war is going to be hard, long, bloody, exhausting…

His policy is to wage war. He suggests by sea, land or air. This shows that he is ready to fight no matter where… He denounces Nazism, his enemy / opponent in this war is A. Hitler: he uses strong and pejorative words to describe him : “monstrous tyranny”, “lamentable catalogue of human crime”… He finishes his speech on a strong word: “victory”. He repeats it five times to create hope and make sure people remember this concept and not the concept of failure… He also insists on surviving the war: “without victory, there is no survival”.

He is fully conscious of what is implied…