Who was British Prime Minister in World War 2?

Answer 1

Answer When Britain declared war on Germany, on 3rd September 1939, the Prime Minister was Neville Chanberlain. He resigned on 10th May 1940 amid increasing criticism of the conduct of the war. He died six months later, on 9th November 1940. He was succeeded as Prime Minister by Winston Churchill, who despite being regarded as one of the greatest Prime Ministers because of his conduct of the war, was defeated in the General Election of 1945.
Neville Chamberlain until May 1940. Winston Churchill from May 1940 until July 1945. Clement Attlee from July 1945
At the beginning of the war, on 3rd September 1939, it was Neville Chamberlain, whose attempts at controlling Hitler by diplomatic means had failed despite the apparent success of the Munich Summit the previous year.

After the disastrous Anglo-French retreat from the beaches of Dunkirk, Chamberlain resigned in May 1940 and was replaced by Winston Churchill, who took over the post only a couple of weeks before the Battle of Britain and remained in office as head of a Coalition Government until the end of the war in Europe in May 1945.

Very soon after this, a General Election was called which saw Churchill ousted and replaced by the Labour government of Clement Attlee- it was Attlee who was Prime Minister when the war ended against Japan, in August 1945.

Answer 2

Winston Churchill is famous for his inspirational speeches during World War 2.

Some of the more famous examples are summarised below along with a brief explanation of their context.

"...We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender..."

The above quotation is an excerpt of a larger speech by Winston Churchill to parliament on the 4th of June, 1940 in part as a response to the withdrawal of British and other allied forces from France at Dunkirk (officially entitled Operation Dynamo) which was a far more successful operation than anticipated. Churchill sought to temper the mood of national euphoria and also to highlight the stark challenges facing the UK as well as making an appeal to the US for support.

"...the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin...Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us...if we fail, then the whole world...will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say,This was their finest hour."

The above is an excerpt from a much larger speech commonly given the title "Their Finest Hour" which was delivered on the 18th of June, 1940 by Churchill to the House of Commons. In it Churchill highlights the severe challenges facing the UK due to the successful German invasion of France and aims to ready the British public for the struggle ahead.

"The gratitude of every home in our island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world except in the abodes of the guilty goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unweakened by their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of world war by their prowess and their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

The above excerpt is from a speech given to the House of Commons on the 20th of August, 1940. It is commonly referred to as "The Few" and was a speech given by Churchill in part to boost the morale of the British public during the Battle of Britain (where Germany sought to gain air superiority over the UK as a prelude to an invasion, and which was resisted by pilots of the RAF and other allied aircrew), and also to highlight the bravery of the men involved.

It was inspired by a visit to the operations room of No. 11 Group RAF (tasked with defending London and the South East and who therefore bore the brunt of the German airborne assault) on the 16th of August during a battle, where Churchill was apparently so moved by what he observed that he ultimately coined the phrase "'Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few" which went on to become the most famous line of the speech.

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