Loote - Thanks for the posting. Churchill is a fascinating character no doubt. I thought I'd share a few more links that might be of interest - some of these are postive, others are not so postive - :) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Indian self rule and independence - http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=354 That brings us back to Churchill, who had a confrontation of sorts with Gandhi. Churchill was an opponent of Home Rule for India, and Gandhi was the leader of the movement that won Home Rule. Churchill's views on this matter are not today well-known. His opinion was that the people of India were entitled to self-government. He had said years earlier, in a speech in honor of the Fourth of July, that the British Empire must stand for the principles of the Declaration of Independence. Equally, he believed that the people of India were incapable of self-government at the time. India was not so much a country, as he put it, as a "geographic expression." It was divided among peoples of different tribes, languages, and religions, some of whom meant violence upon others. He predicted that Home Rule or independence would mean a civil war and massive casualties. Moreover, Churchill's views continued, Britain carried a responsibility in India. Partly by accident, partly by policy, it had come to exercise sovereignty there, and because of its actions over many decades the population of India had greatly increased. Those people alive because of British rule could rightly blame Britain if they were subjected to violence or oppression. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The other side of Churchill http://www.mises.org/story/1450 With his lack of principles and scruples, Churchill was involved in one way or another in nearly every disaster that befell the 20th century. He helped destroy laissez-faire liberalism, he played a role in the Crash of 1929, he helped start WWI, and by bringing in America to help, prolonged the war and created the conditions for the rise of Nazism, prolonged WWII, laid the groundwork for Soviet domination, helped involve America in a cold war with Russia, and pioneered in the development of total war and undermining western civilized standards. Chris Matthews described Churchill as the "man who save[d] the honor of the 20th century." Rather than this great accolade, Winston Churchill must be ranked with Karl Marx, Woodrow Wilson, Vladimir Lenin, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt as one of the destroyers of the values and greatness of Western civilization. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Churchill and the holocaust - http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/genocide/churchill_holocaust_01.shtml The Allied governments and their leaders have often been accused of failing to respond quickly enough to Nazi persecution of the Jews. In this article, Martin Gilbert focusses on the attempts made by Winston Churchill to respond to the crisis, both in private and as Britain's Prime Minister.