Winston Churchill’s address to the House of Commons as
Britain's new Prime Minister on Monday, May 13, 1940
Mister Speaker, on Friday
evening last I received His Majesty's commission to form a new
Administration........ A War Cabinet has been formed ……. I now invite the
House, by the Resolution which stands in my name, to record its approval of the
steps taken and to declare its confidence in the new Government…..
In this crisis I hope I may
be pardoned if I do not address the House at any length today. I hope that any
of my friends and colleagues, or former colleagues, who are affected by the
political reconstruction, will make all allowances for any lack of ceremony
with which it has been necessary to act. I would say to the House, as I said to
those who have joined the government: "I have nothing to offer but blood,
toil, tears and sweat."
We have before us an ordeal
of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle
and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war,
by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can
give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark
and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our
aim? I can answer in one word: victory; victory at all costs, victory in spite
of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without
victory, there is no survival. Let that be realized; no survival for the
British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no
survival for the urge and impulse of the ages, that mankind will move forward
towards its goal. But I take up my task with buoyancy and hope. I feel sure
that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men. At this time I feel
entitled to claim the aid of all, and I say, "Come then, let us go forward
together with our united strength."
Winston Churchill - May 13,
1940
1. Present the document
(nature, author)
2. Describe the historical
background during which the document was written
3. Explain the author’s intentions
(who is the audience, what is his aim? his strategy)
4. Was his country ever invaded
during the war? why?
