Hitler vs Churchill: The Eagle and the Lion (2017) - full transcript
NARRATOR: May 10, 1940.
An extraordinary coincidence -
the same day that Hitler launches
his "lightning war"
on Western Europe,
Churchill is named Prime Minister
of Great Britain.
As if fate had a hand
in the decision.
A few weeks later, Hitler conquers
France, Holland and Belgium.
Churchill finds himself isolated,
facing an army that has already
vanquished a large portion of Europe.
Churchill refuses to surrender.
CHURCHILL: We shall defend our
island, whatever the cost may be.
We shall fight on the beaches, we
shall fight on the landing grounds.
We shall never surrender.
(SPEAKS GERMAN)
(CHEERING)
Between 1940 and 1945,
Hitler and Churchill devoted
every minute of their existence
to the other's destruction.
These two diametrically-opposed
personalities will do battle,
and both promise their people
victory.
The combat these titans wrought
determined the course
of human destiny.
Beneath the clamour of bombs,
a river of blood and bodies,
these larger-than-life leaders seem
to fuse with their nations.
Their dual, undoubtedly the
most important of the modern era,
pits two possible worlds
against one another.
How did they get here?
How did destiny bring two men
so different
and yet, at times, so alike, together
for this ultimate confrontation?
As early as the First World War,
Corporal Hitler
and Lieutenant-Colonel Churchill
found themselves at odds.
The two intrepid soldiers distinguish
themselves on the battlefield.
After the war, thanks to his
impressive talent as a public speaker
and his violent henchmen,
the little Austrian corporal,
leader of the Nazi Party,
has become the Chancellor of Germany.
In the 1930s, Hitler is at his apex.
While in England,
the aristocratic Churchill
has lost the election and hit bottom.
Seen as politically washed up,
the old deputy is nonetheless
the only person
who relentlessly denounces
Nazi Germany.
When Hitler sets off World War II,
he's unstoppable.
In less than six weeks,
he wins the Battle of France.
Churchill, the failed politician,
is called back by his government
and named Prime Minister
of Great Britain.
20 years after the end
of the First World War,
the two men find themselves,
once again, face to face,
each at the head of their own nation.
A combat of titans ensues.
In August of 1940,
the Battle of Britain begins.
Hitler can launch attacks
from Belgium,
the Netherlands, France,
Denmark and Norway.
Many commenters believe
that England will be beaten
before the month is over.
(AIR RAID SIREN WAILS)
Hitler orders Goering to launch
an aerial attack,
baptised the Eagle Attack.
Starting on August 12, 1940,
hundreds of bombardiers,
escorted by Luftwaffe bombers,
crush every military objective
in southern England.
A merciless battle ensues between
the German Messerschmitts on one side
and the British Spitfires
and Hurricanes on the other.
(GUNFIRE)
The sky over Britain
is stained blood-red.
(GUNFIRE)
The Royal Air Force holds its own,
but after several days,
the situation is dire.
At the end of August, British pilots
have practically lost control
of airspace over southern England,
and the Germans have the upper hand.
Happily, a fortuitous incident
will change the course of destiny.
On August 24, a German plane
mistakenly drops a bomb on London.
For Churchill, it's a provocation.
The next day he orders
the bombing of Berlin.
His generals try to dissuade him
from this suicide mission,
because Berlin is much too far away.
But Churchill, as impulsive as ever,
stands firm.
Only a handful of pilots manage,
with great difficulty,
to release their bombs on the suburbs
of the capital of the Reich.
The audacious operation
infuriates Hitler.
It confirms all his opinions
about Churchill -
a madman, a drunkard, a pig,
who will attack German civilians
without a second thought.
For Hitler, it's intolerable.
HITLER: (SPEAKS GERMAN)
(CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS)
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
The Fuhrer orders his air force
to change their military objectives.
Major British cities
must be destroyed.
The Blitz begins.
In two months' time,
London is hit with almost 100,000
explosive bombs,
and one million incendiary bombs.
In November 1940,
the city of Coventry is hit hard.
More than 500 are dead.
The Germans even invent the word
'conventrize'
as a synonym for annihilation.
Churchill visits the city.
REPORTER: Mr Churchill,
now Prime Minister, promised
that for every bomb dropped,
the enemy would get three back.
He won't forget Coventry.
Despite the fiery wrath
that rains down on British cities,
the apocalyptic scenes
the citizens endure,
and the tens of thousands of deaths,
the English manage to hold on.
Londoners eat and sleep in
air raid shelters or the Underground.
REPORTER: Hitler hopes by killing
large numbers of civilians,
and women and children
that he will terrorise
and cow the people
of this mighty, imperial city.
Little does he know
the spirit of the British nation.
(BIG BEN CHIMES)
The day after bombings, the British
carry on, as is their wont,
and Londoners return to work
as if nothing had happened.
The catchphrase of the day is,
"London can take it."
During the Blitz campaign,
Churchill is regularly on-hand
in bombed-out neighbourhoods
to bolster the people's morale.
Hitler felt certain that Britain's
spirit would be crushed,
along with their leader.
But the bombings have
the opposite effect.
Churchill's firmness,
his unflappable dignity,
his unwavering faith in the future,
his confidence that England
will triumph,
his smile, his hat, his cigar,
his passionate speeches,
align in this moment of history
and make Churchill a symbol
of the fight against tyranny.
CHURCHILL: We shall defend our
island, whatever the cost may be.
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.
Hitler had his people behind him.
Now, Churchill has his.
(ALL CHEER)
Hitler has made a terrible mistake.
Changing his military objectives
allowed the Royal Air Force
to regroup and go on the offensive.
(GUNFIRE)
RAF dominates their attackers.
(GUNFIRE)
The British are victorious
in the battle for the sky.
Churchill won the Battle of Britain
because he acted impulsively -
a strategic amateur.
Hitler lost because he made
the same mistake.
There are more than 23,000 dead,
but England is not invaded.
It's Hitler's first defeat.
Churchill kept him at bay.
The Axis propaganda machine
opens fire on Churchill,
depicting him as a
blood-thirsty creature
eager to plunge Europe into war.
And Hitler singles him out
in several speeches.
HITLER: (SPEAKS IN GERMAN)
While Hitler bellows,
one man in his entourage
has a singular moment of clarity.
Of Churchill, Goebbels writes:
"This man is a mixture
of heroism and cunning.
"If he had been in power in '33,
we wouldn't be where we are now.
"And I believe he'll cause
us other problems.
"We must not underestimate him."
For the time being, Hitler must
postpone the invasion of England.
His plan is to make them fold
by destroying one of Britain's
blood enemies - the Soviet Union.
In June 1941,
three million German soldiers,
backed by the air force,
enter Russia.
Operation Barbarossa
begins spectacularly.
In a few hours
more than 1,200 Soviet airplanes
are demolished on the ground.
While Hitler immobilises
part of his armies in the East,
a dramatic event
takes place in the West.
In December 1941, the United States
naval base Pearl Harbor
is attacked by the Japanese.
Our two strategists rejoice
at the same time
but not for the same reason.
Hitler is buoyed
because Japan is on his side.
He tells his marshals,
"There's no way we can lose the war!
"We now have a partner who has
remained undefeated for 3,000 years!"
Churchill is ecstatic.
Pearl Harbor is the lifesaver
he's been waiting for,
having tried unsuccessfully
for months to convince
the American President
Franklin Roosevelt to enter the war.
He writes, "No American will think it
wrong of me if I proclaim
"to have the United States at
our side was to me the greatest joy."
"England would live,
Britain would live.
"I went to bed and slept the sleep
of the saved and thankful."
But the deliverance is short-lived.
Because of Japan, the US Army
will now need to preserve
their weaponry for themselves.
What will be left for England?
Two weeks after Pearl Harbor,
the British Prime Minister
travels to the United States
to give one of the most
important speeches of his life.
He must, at all costs, convince
Congress to continue to aide England.
Churchill brings his
most powerful weapons with him -
his grit and his sense of humour.
If my father had been American
and my mother British...
(CLEARS THROAT)
..instead of the other way around,
I might have got here on my own.
(CONGRESS LAUGHS)
What kind of a people
do they think we are?
Is it possible that they do not
realise that we shall never cease
to persevere against them
until they have been taught a lesson
which they and the world
will never forget?!
His speech is a success, but
he was under a great deal of stress
and his age didn't help matters.
After a long discussion
with Roosevelt,
Winston feels a terrible pain
in his left arm.
It's a heart attack.
Out of the question for Churchill
to give up the fight,
he begs his doctor,
"Do not tell me to rest. I can't.
"No-one else can do this job.
"You mustn't say anything.
"At a time when we've allied
with the United States,
"England cannot reveal its
prime minister has a weak heart.
"This must remain secret."
Though his condition stays a secret,
Winston can't hide
the series of disasters
taking place on the battlefields.
Everywhere,
Hitler armies have the upper hand.
In North Africa or during
the Battle of the Atlantic,
hundreds of thousands of English
soldiers die or are taken prisoner.
Churchill is criticised
in Parliament.
Because whereas the Nazi dictator
imposes his viewpoints,
the Prime Minister must support his
with sound arguments.
England's parliament is a democracy,
after all.
Churchill says,
"I'm like a fighter pilot.
"I go out on a mission every night,
"knowing that one of them
will be the last."
Regardless, his political adversaries
understand that if Hitler
is to be stopped,
replacing Churchill in
the middle of a war is impossible.
The British Lion is in incredible
physical shape, no-one would guess
that the sexagenarian had suffered
a heart attack.
A general says,
"Winston is doing a tremendous job
"and always makes it looks as
if he was enjoying himself.
"I can understand why his entourage
is so devoted to him.
"He dedicates each waking hour
to winning the war.
"He shows no sign of fatigue
and seems in better shape
"than politicians who work less
than he does."
In fact,
Churchill has never been happier.
His depression is far behind him.
In response to journalists he says,
"I have only one goal.
"It is to get rid of Hitler and
it has simplified my life immensely."
The bloodbath on the
eastern front was horrific,
but the Wehrmacht
survived the winter.
Hitler's tenacity has paid off.
His generals agree.
His determination saved
the German army from defeat.
Hitler assigns his troops
new objectives -
Stalingrad and the Caucasus.
The self-taught strategist
is confident.
"Now that January and February
are behind us,
"our enemies will no longer see us
"bear the curse
of the Napoleon's armies.
"We will start to right the balance."
But to realign the power balance,
Hitler neglects to coordinate
his offensives
with his Japanese and Italian allies.
He doesn't even inform Mussolini
that he plans to invade the USSR.
Hitler sees war
as an individual sport.
Whereas Churchill
is more of a team player.
As he told Ribbentrop in the '30s,
his mission is to turn
the entire world against Hitler.
He shuttles back and forth
between Roosevelt the capitalist
and Stalin the communist in order
to build an invincible coalition.
But the Kremlin's leader
has his own demands.
He wants a second front in Europe
to help relieve the Red Army.
Winston, still traumatised by the
failed landing at Gallipoli, baulks.
But to bring down the Reich,
the old lion puts aside his fears.
In the utmost secrecy,
he convinces Stalin and Roosevelt
to first attack the Axis Power's
weak spot - North Africa.
On November 8, 1942,
Anglo-American troops disembark
in Oran, Algiers and Casablanca.
Operation Torch, devised by
Churchill, is a resounding success.
A few days earlier,
General Montgomery launched
his attack on El Alamein in Egypt
against the enemy stronghold.
He breaks Rommel's Afrika Korps
and forces them into a long retreat.
On the Russian Front,
Hitler's army can't budge
and steels itself
for another harsh winter.
The old lion's efforts
at last bear fruit.
The coalition works in concert.
Always on the go,
Churchill is a veritable dynamo.
He inspires his troops and his
generals with a hunger for victory.
All the while preserving
his inimitable sense of humour.
When General Montgomery says to him,
"I don't drink, I don't smoke
and I am 100% fit,"
Churchill replies, "I drink
and I smoke and I am only 200% fit."
Hitler can't accept defeat.
He becomes more and more irritable.
He's lost confidence in his generals.
Halder, List, Von Manstein,
Keitel and Guderian
are relieved of their commands
or transferred to another front.
Sometimes Hitler
doesn't bother to replace them
and take their posts himself.
He thus becomes the Commander
of all the Armed Forces -
the Commander of the Army,
and the commander of a division
of the army, within the army.
His multiple roles are a caricature.
He could practically hold a meeting
of the general staff all by himself.
Upon learning that Hitler
has given himself all the power,
Churchill taunts him.
CHURCHILL: The jaws of another
Russian winter are closing
on Hitler's armies.
They have, of course,
the consolation
of knowing that they have been
commanded and led
not by the German General Staff
but by Corporal Hitler himself.
But this consolation is short-lived
because the Soviet counterattack
is of an unprecedented force.
The Wehrmacht's situation
is desperate...
..but Hitler doesn't care.
His determination
has turned into obstinacy.
The war genius has
only one strategy -
don't back down.
The Wehrmacht meets
its Russian Verdun.
In Stalingrad, in February of 1943,
General Paulus signs the surrender
of the 6th Army.
Hitler has caused the worst defeat
in German military history.
The Axis forces count 400,000 men
dead, wounded or captured.
After a continuous 23-year rise
to the top since his failed putsch,
Hitler begins his fall.
He becomes more and more mystical
and inscrutable.
He says, "The god of war
has gone over to the other side."
But while Hitler is losing the war,
Churchill is losing control
of his leadership.
Despite the Allied success,
he's been superseded
by Roosevelt and Stalin,
the new masters of the war,
and no longer has full control
of operations.
In Tehran, November, 1943,
Churchill is painfully conscience
of his weakened position.
PHOTOGRAPHER: One more.
"I realised at Tehran
for the first time
"what a small nation we are,"
he writes in his memoirs.
"There I sat with the great Russian
bear on one side of me,
"and on the other side
the great American buffalo,
"and between them,
the poor little English donkey,
"who is the only one who knows
the right way home."
He was the bulldog, the old lion,
and now he compares himself
to a little donkey.
Depression has hit again.
And soon pneumonia
will send him to the mat.
Winston fears his final hours
are drawing near.
But a few days later, fickle as ever,
the patient is much better
and poses in front of cameras
in a uniform that no army general
would dare wear.
Very quickly,
the miracle man finds the energy
to dive back into military maps
and planning.
Because Churchill, like Hitler,
can't stay away from a map
for very long,
the two warriors are nightmares
for their generals.
They give orders
and modify strategies,
when, in fact, neither of them
are great strategists.
But there is a difference.
Winston knows he's an amateur
and listens to his advisers,
who save him from irreparable
mistakes many a time.
Whereas Hitler, by purging his staff,
has essentially silenced his generals
because they don't dare contradict
him, despite repeated catastrophes.
Since the beginning of the war,
Germany has already lost
three million soldiers
and the future looks worse.
The disembarkment is coming.
The Furher never questions
his course of action and announces,
"The Western plutocracy can attempt
to land whenever they like,
"they will fail."
In several months,
England has become an immense arsenal
in preparation for D-day.
Churchill is still just as cagey
about landings,
but this time he has a trump card.
His secret services have assembled
a phantom army.
Codename - Operation Fortitude.
To misdirect German
reconnaissance units,
thousands of inflatable vehicles
of all types are deployed near Dover
to make it look like
a landing in the Pas-de-Calais.
Full decoy divisions,
made out of rubber,
are placed in the fields.
Hitler had leaked false intelligence
to the Allied nations
about his military might
in the 1930s.
Well, he's going to get a taste
of his own medicine.
Churchill can't be sure
the illusion will work,
but he has a joker
on the opposing side -
Adolf Hitler himself.
In the night between
the 5th and 6th of June 1944,
the biggest armada ever assembled
makes its way
towards the French coast.
Hitler goes to bed at 4am.
At 6 in the morning, the fleet
is spotted and combat is engaged.
(MORTARS FIRE)
German generals immediately call
the Chief of Staff,
fearing this armada
is the dreaded invasion fleet.
They call for reinforcements
in case of an attempted landing.
But General Jodl refuses to wake
the Furher to request authorisation.
One doesn't disturb
a sleeping dictator,
especially not Hitler.
Hitler isn't roused until
10 in the morning by his camp aide.
But Hitler is convinced
that the attack on Normandy
is nothing more than a diversion
for the real landing
in the Pas-de-Calais.
He refuses to send reinforcements.
Hitler has taken the bait.
The inflatable rubber decoys
of Operation Fortitude did the job.
It's already 2:30 in the afternoon
when Hitler orders
reinforcement troops.
That's eight hours
after the armada was sighted.
It's too late.
Fear of the dictator
and his unilateral authority
served to hasten the success
of D-day.
Churchill is relieved.
Drawn by the smell of gunpowder,
as always,
he visits
the landing beaches himself.
NEWS REPORTER: Winston Churchill
now came himself
on to the soil of Normandy.
The visit was brief.
It didn't take long
for the Prime Minister
to satisfy himself
that all goes well
on the first stage
of the assault of Europe.
The Prime Minister and his party
returned to the Destroyer Kelvin
in complete confidence
of still greater successes to come.
The architects of victory
return home.
Despite the success
of the Allied force's landing,
the dictator will not admit defeat.
The Berlin bluffer bets everything
on a last counterattack,
a tactic he masters.
On December 16th,
to the shock of Allied forces,
1,900 cannons open fire
in the Ardennes region of France.
For the first hours,
the surprise attack surpasses
the expectations
of the German general staff.
Hitler's playing poker.
This offensive could freeze
the Western Front
and convince the Anglo-Americans
to negotiate with him
to unite against the Soviets.
The move surprises everyone.
General Bradley, Commander
of the First US Army, is furious.
He rages, "My God, where does this
son of a bitch get his manpower?"
Hitler savours his victory.
But it's premature.
The road conditions,
the downed bridges,
and especially the scarcity of petrol
paralyse any progress.
Soon, daylight allows Allied
air forces to harass the Wehrmacht.
They give no quarter
and regain the upper hand.
Hitler has lost his wager.
At his headquarters,
worry and tension mount.
Goering suggests negotiating
an armistice.
"This war is lost," he explains.
Hitler replies, "I forbid you
"to make any decision whatsoever
in the matter.
"If you do not carry out my orders,
I'll have you shot.
"We will never surrender,
we may go down,
"but we'll take everyone with us."
Hitler continues to put all his hopes
on the fall of the Allied coalition.
He tells his generals,
"The moment will come
when tension within the Allied forces
"will be so great that a crack
will appear.
"Every coalition in history
has collapsed sooner or later.
"The only thing to do is wait
for the right moment."
But Churchill has every intention of
avoiding this disastrous prediction.
During the Yalta Conference
in February, 1945, like in Tehran,
the old lion carefully composes
his arguments
to safeguard the great alliance
he founded.
He relinquishes protecting Poland
from Soviet influence
and already senses
the fall of the British Empire,
but it's the price to be paid
for a solid alliance against Hitler.
To accelerate the breakdown
of the Reich,
Winston resorts to the kind of terror
that Hitler used against him.
The Allied forces double down
with massive bombings
on major German cities.
In February 1945,
Churchill and Roosevelt
give the green light
to the bombing of Dresden,
even though this artist city
is overrun with tens of thousands
of refugees
and has no strategic value.
A pilot writes,
"The spectacle was fantastic.
"From an altitude of 20,000 feet
over Dresden,
"it looked like
all the city's streets
"were engraved with fiery lines."
The flames are visible more than
300km from the target.
There are more than 40,000 deaths.
Nothing justified this level
of destruction.
But Winston hasn't forgotten
the Blitz, or Coventry,
or the thousands of countrymen killed
by German bombs.
Churchill would walk
through the ruins,
supporting his people.
For Hitler,
such a gesture is unthinkable,
despite pleas from his
Minister of Propaganda, Goebbels.
Ever since the god of war
had gone over to the other side,
the Furher speaks
to fewer and fewer of the people
who had brought him to power,
and rarely appears in public.
He'd gone from the summits
of his alpine residence
to a Berlin bunker
seven metres underground.
NEWS REPORTER:
It was an historic moment,
this visit
of a British Prime Minister
to the soil
of a conquered Rhineland.
How different it is in spirit
and meaning from Munich,
the last time a British premier
went to Germany.
A visit to the frontline gun site
produces a characteristic
Churchill gesture.
"Hitler personally"
he writes on the giant shell
and the great 240 millimetre gun
is pointed to fire on one
of the main German escape routes
across the Rhine.
(GUNFIRE)
In March, 1945,
the tireless septuagenarian
visits the Siegfried Line.
The Reich has finally been breached.
Since autumn 1939,
every soldier has made the promise
to hang out their washing here.
# On ira pendre notre linge
sur la Ligne Siegfried
# Si on la trouve encore la... #
The old lion will go one better.
He marks his territory
by relieving himself
on the dragon's teeth
with great relish.
Thus while Churchill parades,
Hitler makes his final appearance
in the news.
The eagle has transformed
into a vulture.
Hunched, decrepit,
suffering from Parkinson's disease,
he encourages members
of the Hitler Youth
to hold on
until the last bullet is spent.
The newsreels of the day
censor a piece of film.
We see Hitler trembling,
incapable of controlling himself.
He sinks into madness
and his regime follows.
Firing squads kill deserters
by the dozens.
In the extermination camps,
deportees are massacred or driven
on long death marches
to wipe out every last one.
Having failed to win the war,
Hitler wants a substitute victory -
the success of the genocide.
Even in Germany,
like a final death wish,
Hitler decrees the Nero Order -
the wholesale destruction
of the German infrastructure -
transportation, electricity
and supply lines.
Having wiped out the Jews,
the Slavs and the Gypsies,
Hitler lets even his own people
be destroyed,
as if he wanted to erase
every witness to the apocalypse
into which he drove Germany.
"If the war is lost,
what do I care if the people die?
"Don't count on me to shed
a single tear,
"they don't deserve as much,"
he says.
On April 12th, 1945,
President Roosevelt dies.
Churchill is profoundly saddened.
He says,
"He was a great friend to us.
"He helped us enormously.
"Without him,
we would have surely gone under."
Meanwhile, Goebbels
telephones Hitler...
"My Fuhrer, I congratulate you.
Roosevelt is dead.
"It is written in the stars
that the second half of April
"will mark a decisive turning point
for us."
Hitler is hopeful.
Imagining the coalition
will now break, he says,
"The great miracle, the one
I've always predicted has happened.
"The war is not lost."
But in the East,
the Soviet Army is on the offensive.
(EXPLOSIONS)
The Red Army pours into Berlin.
It's over.
Hitler has just celebrated
his birthday.
He is 56 years old
and looks like an old man.
With his usual unbridled confidence,
he declares to a handful of disciples
who have remained by his side,
"You will see, the Russians
will suffer their greatest defeat,
"the bloodiest defeat
in their history,
"in front of the gates of Berlin."
But it quickly becomes clear
that the Reich
that was to last for 1,000 years has
only a few days left to survive.
Holed-up in his bunker,
Hitler dictates
his final political testament.
His first words are for Churchill,
the only person
who stood up to him in 1940
and the one who caused his downfall.
"By refusing to come
to an understanding with me,
"Churchill subjected his country
to political suicide.
"At the beginning of this war,
"I tried to act as if Churchill
were capable
"of comprehending this great policy.
"But he has been attached to the Jews
for too long.
"My idea behind sparing the English
"was to prevent irreparable harm
in the West."
The fallen eagle
has one last request -
"I want it written on my gravestone -
"'He was the victim of his
generals.'"
Hitler marries Eva Braun.
On April 30th, 1945,
he commits suicide in his bunker.
The spell he cast was so powerful
that many Germans commit suicide,
following him into darkness.
Radio Berlin announces
that Hitler is dead,
"Fighting to his last breath
for Germany against Bolshevism."
Churchill, fervently anti-Russian
as well, comments,
"Well, I must say I think he was
perfectly right to die like that."
Winston has the last word.
On May 8th, 1945, Germany
surrenders.
Cheered in the streets,
given a standing ovation
in Parliament,
congratulated by the King,
Winston savours for one brief moment
the results of a six-year battle.
No-one had believed in him.
Not his father, not his colleagues
in the Deputy Chamber,
and yet just as he promised,
he has accomplished the impossible
and has written history.
CHURCHILL: This is your victory...
..victory of the cause of freedom
in every land.
In all our long history,
we have never seen
a greater day than this.
But the victory quickly turned sour.
The democrat won the war,
but he lost
the legislative elections.
Democracy also has its pitfalls.
Churchill sinks into depression.
So, he travels,
returns to his writing,
and packs paintbrushes
and 86 bottles
of Veuve Clicquot champagne
in his suitcases.
Perhaps he missed Hitler.
For a time after the death
of his best enemy,
he lost his reason for being.
Never has a duel so marked
the history of the world.
The eagle was the poison
and the old lion was the antidote.
What survives of their battle?
Hitler remains one
of the most nefarious men
the world has ever known.
And Churchill,
one of the most idolised leaders
of all times.
He offered the world his bravery
and his incomparable humour.
He would continue to write history
for 20 more years
as Prime Minister and as
a Nobel Prizewinner in Literature.
(SPEAKS FRENCH)
(LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE)
He'd always miss the smell of
gunpowder and the rigours of combat.
Long after the war,
when journalists asked what year
of his life he'd chose to relive,
he replied,
"1940 every time, every time."
MAN: (SPEAKS IN ITALIAN)
Captions by Red Bee Media
(c) SBS Australia 2018
An extraordinary coincidence -
the same day that Hitler launches
his "lightning war"
on Western Europe,
Churchill is named Prime Minister
of Great Britain.
As if fate had a hand
in the decision.
A few weeks later, Hitler conquers
France, Holland and Belgium.
Churchill finds himself isolated,
facing an army that has already
vanquished a large portion of Europe.
Churchill refuses to surrender.
CHURCHILL: We shall defend our
island, whatever the cost may be.
We shall fight on the beaches, we
shall fight on the landing grounds.
We shall never surrender.
(SPEAKS GERMAN)
(CHEERING)
Between 1940 and 1945,
Hitler and Churchill devoted
every minute of their existence
to the other's destruction.
These two diametrically-opposed
personalities will do battle,
and both promise their people
victory.
The combat these titans wrought
determined the course
of human destiny.
Beneath the clamour of bombs,
a river of blood and bodies,
these larger-than-life leaders seem
to fuse with their nations.
Their dual, undoubtedly the
most important of the modern era,
pits two possible worlds
against one another.
How did they get here?
How did destiny bring two men
so different
and yet, at times, so alike, together
for this ultimate confrontation?
As early as the First World War,
Corporal Hitler
and Lieutenant-Colonel Churchill
found themselves at odds.
The two intrepid soldiers distinguish
themselves on the battlefield.
After the war, thanks to his
impressive talent as a public speaker
and his violent henchmen,
the little Austrian corporal,
leader of the Nazi Party,
has become the Chancellor of Germany.
In the 1930s, Hitler is at his apex.
While in England,
the aristocratic Churchill
has lost the election and hit bottom.
Seen as politically washed up,
the old deputy is nonetheless
the only person
who relentlessly denounces
Nazi Germany.
When Hitler sets off World War II,
he's unstoppable.
In less than six weeks,
he wins the Battle of France.
Churchill, the failed politician,
is called back by his government
and named Prime Minister
of Great Britain.
20 years after the end
of the First World War,
the two men find themselves,
once again, face to face,
each at the head of their own nation.
A combat of titans ensues.
In August of 1940,
the Battle of Britain begins.
Hitler can launch attacks
from Belgium,
the Netherlands, France,
Denmark and Norway.
Many commenters believe
that England will be beaten
before the month is over.
(AIR RAID SIREN WAILS)
Hitler orders Goering to launch
an aerial attack,
baptised the Eagle Attack.
Starting on August 12, 1940,
hundreds of bombardiers,
escorted by Luftwaffe bombers,
crush every military objective
in southern England.
A merciless battle ensues between
the German Messerschmitts on one side
and the British Spitfires
and Hurricanes on the other.
(GUNFIRE)
The sky over Britain
is stained blood-red.
(GUNFIRE)
The Royal Air Force holds its own,
but after several days,
the situation is dire.
At the end of August, British pilots
have practically lost control
of airspace over southern England,
and the Germans have the upper hand.
Happily, a fortuitous incident
will change the course of destiny.
On August 24, a German plane
mistakenly drops a bomb on London.
For Churchill, it's a provocation.
The next day he orders
the bombing of Berlin.
His generals try to dissuade him
from this suicide mission,
because Berlin is much too far away.
But Churchill, as impulsive as ever,
stands firm.
Only a handful of pilots manage,
with great difficulty,
to release their bombs on the suburbs
of the capital of the Reich.
The audacious operation
infuriates Hitler.
It confirms all his opinions
about Churchill -
a madman, a drunkard, a pig,
who will attack German civilians
without a second thought.
For Hitler, it's intolerable.
HITLER: (SPEAKS GERMAN)
(CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS)
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
The Fuhrer orders his air force
to change their military objectives.
Major British cities
must be destroyed.
The Blitz begins.
In two months' time,
London is hit with almost 100,000
explosive bombs,
and one million incendiary bombs.
In November 1940,
the city of Coventry is hit hard.
More than 500 are dead.
The Germans even invent the word
'conventrize'
as a synonym for annihilation.
Churchill visits the city.
REPORTER: Mr Churchill,
now Prime Minister, promised
that for every bomb dropped,
the enemy would get three back.
He won't forget Coventry.
Despite the fiery wrath
that rains down on British cities,
the apocalyptic scenes
the citizens endure,
and the tens of thousands of deaths,
the English manage to hold on.
Londoners eat and sleep in
air raid shelters or the Underground.
REPORTER: Hitler hopes by killing
large numbers of civilians,
and women and children
that he will terrorise
and cow the people
of this mighty, imperial city.
Little does he know
the spirit of the British nation.
(BIG BEN CHIMES)
The day after bombings, the British
carry on, as is their wont,
and Londoners return to work
as if nothing had happened.
The catchphrase of the day is,
"London can take it."
During the Blitz campaign,
Churchill is regularly on-hand
in bombed-out neighbourhoods
to bolster the people's morale.
Hitler felt certain that Britain's
spirit would be crushed,
along with their leader.
But the bombings have
the opposite effect.
Churchill's firmness,
his unflappable dignity,
his unwavering faith in the future,
his confidence that England
will triumph,
his smile, his hat, his cigar,
his passionate speeches,
align in this moment of history
and make Churchill a symbol
of the fight against tyranny.
CHURCHILL: We shall defend our
island, whatever the cost may be.
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.
Hitler had his people behind him.
Now, Churchill has his.
(ALL CHEER)
Hitler has made a terrible mistake.
Changing his military objectives
allowed the Royal Air Force
to regroup and go on the offensive.
(GUNFIRE)
RAF dominates their attackers.
(GUNFIRE)
The British are victorious
in the battle for the sky.
Churchill won the Battle of Britain
because he acted impulsively -
a strategic amateur.
Hitler lost because he made
the same mistake.
There are more than 23,000 dead,
but England is not invaded.
It's Hitler's first defeat.
Churchill kept him at bay.
The Axis propaganda machine
opens fire on Churchill,
depicting him as a
blood-thirsty creature
eager to plunge Europe into war.
And Hitler singles him out
in several speeches.
HITLER: (SPEAKS IN GERMAN)
While Hitler bellows,
one man in his entourage
has a singular moment of clarity.
Of Churchill, Goebbels writes:
"This man is a mixture
of heroism and cunning.
"If he had been in power in '33,
we wouldn't be where we are now.
"And I believe he'll cause
us other problems.
"We must not underestimate him."
For the time being, Hitler must
postpone the invasion of England.
His plan is to make them fold
by destroying one of Britain's
blood enemies - the Soviet Union.
In June 1941,
three million German soldiers,
backed by the air force,
enter Russia.
Operation Barbarossa
begins spectacularly.
In a few hours
more than 1,200 Soviet airplanes
are demolished on the ground.
While Hitler immobilises
part of his armies in the East,
a dramatic event
takes place in the West.
In December 1941, the United States
naval base Pearl Harbor
is attacked by the Japanese.
Our two strategists rejoice
at the same time
but not for the same reason.
Hitler is buoyed
because Japan is on his side.
He tells his marshals,
"There's no way we can lose the war!
"We now have a partner who has
remained undefeated for 3,000 years!"
Churchill is ecstatic.
Pearl Harbor is the lifesaver
he's been waiting for,
having tried unsuccessfully
for months to convince
the American President
Franklin Roosevelt to enter the war.
He writes, "No American will think it
wrong of me if I proclaim
"to have the United States at
our side was to me the greatest joy."
"England would live,
Britain would live.
"I went to bed and slept the sleep
of the saved and thankful."
But the deliverance is short-lived.
Because of Japan, the US Army
will now need to preserve
their weaponry for themselves.
What will be left for England?
Two weeks after Pearl Harbor,
the British Prime Minister
travels to the United States
to give one of the most
important speeches of his life.
He must, at all costs, convince
Congress to continue to aide England.
Churchill brings his
most powerful weapons with him -
his grit and his sense of humour.
If my father had been American
and my mother British...
(CLEARS THROAT)
..instead of the other way around,
I might have got here on my own.
(CONGRESS LAUGHS)
What kind of a people
do they think we are?
Is it possible that they do not
realise that we shall never cease
to persevere against them
until they have been taught a lesson
which they and the world
will never forget?!
His speech is a success, but
he was under a great deal of stress
and his age didn't help matters.
After a long discussion
with Roosevelt,
Winston feels a terrible pain
in his left arm.
It's a heart attack.
Out of the question for Churchill
to give up the fight,
he begs his doctor,
"Do not tell me to rest. I can't.
"No-one else can do this job.
"You mustn't say anything.
"At a time when we've allied
with the United States,
"England cannot reveal its
prime minister has a weak heart.
"This must remain secret."
Though his condition stays a secret,
Winston can't hide
the series of disasters
taking place on the battlefields.
Everywhere,
Hitler armies have the upper hand.
In North Africa or during
the Battle of the Atlantic,
hundreds of thousands of English
soldiers die or are taken prisoner.
Churchill is criticised
in Parliament.
Because whereas the Nazi dictator
imposes his viewpoints,
the Prime Minister must support his
with sound arguments.
England's parliament is a democracy,
after all.
Churchill says,
"I'm like a fighter pilot.
"I go out on a mission every night,
"knowing that one of them
will be the last."
Regardless, his political adversaries
understand that if Hitler
is to be stopped,
replacing Churchill in
the middle of a war is impossible.
The British Lion is in incredible
physical shape, no-one would guess
that the sexagenarian had suffered
a heart attack.
A general says,
"Winston is doing a tremendous job
"and always makes it looks as
if he was enjoying himself.
"I can understand why his entourage
is so devoted to him.
"He dedicates each waking hour
to winning the war.
"He shows no sign of fatigue
and seems in better shape
"than politicians who work less
than he does."
In fact,
Churchill has never been happier.
His depression is far behind him.
In response to journalists he says,
"I have only one goal.
"It is to get rid of Hitler and
it has simplified my life immensely."
The bloodbath on the
eastern front was horrific,
but the Wehrmacht
survived the winter.
Hitler's tenacity has paid off.
His generals agree.
His determination saved
the German army from defeat.
Hitler assigns his troops
new objectives -
Stalingrad and the Caucasus.
The self-taught strategist
is confident.
"Now that January and February
are behind us,
"our enemies will no longer see us
"bear the curse
of the Napoleon's armies.
"We will start to right the balance."
But to realign the power balance,
Hitler neglects to coordinate
his offensives
with his Japanese and Italian allies.
He doesn't even inform Mussolini
that he plans to invade the USSR.
Hitler sees war
as an individual sport.
Whereas Churchill
is more of a team player.
As he told Ribbentrop in the '30s,
his mission is to turn
the entire world against Hitler.
He shuttles back and forth
between Roosevelt the capitalist
and Stalin the communist in order
to build an invincible coalition.
But the Kremlin's leader
has his own demands.
He wants a second front in Europe
to help relieve the Red Army.
Winston, still traumatised by the
failed landing at Gallipoli, baulks.
But to bring down the Reich,
the old lion puts aside his fears.
In the utmost secrecy,
he convinces Stalin and Roosevelt
to first attack the Axis Power's
weak spot - North Africa.
On November 8, 1942,
Anglo-American troops disembark
in Oran, Algiers and Casablanca.
Operation Torch, devised by
Churchill, is a resounding success.
A few days earlier,
General Montgomery launched
his attack on El Alamein in Egypt
against the enemy stronghold.
He breaks Rommel's Afrika Korps
and forces them into a long retreat.
On the Russian Front,
Hitler's army can't budge
and steels itself
for another harsh winter.
The old lion's efforts
at last bear fruit.
The coalition works in concert.
Always on the go,
Churchill is a veritable dynamo.
He inspires his troops and his
generals with a hunger for victory.
All the while preserving
his inimitable sense of humour.
When General Montgomery says to him,
"I don't drink, I don't smoke
and I am 100% fit,"
Churchill replies, "I drink
and I smoke and I am only 200% fit."
Hitler can't accept defeat.
He becomes more and more irritable.
He's lost confidence in his generals.
Halder, List, Von Manstein,
Keitel and Guderian
are relieved of their commands
or transferred to another front.
Sometimes Hitler
doesn't bother to replace them
and take their posts himself.
He thus becomes the Commander
of all the Armed Forces -
the Commander of the Army,
and the commander of a division
of the army, within the army.
His multiple roles are a caricature.
He could practically hold a meeting
of the general staff all by himself.
Upon learning that Hitler
has given himself all the power,
Churchill taunts him.
CHURCHILL: The jaws of another
Russian winter are closing
on Hitler's armies.
They have, of course,
the consolation
of knowing that they have been
commanded and led
not by the German General Staff
but by Corporal Hitler himself.
But this consolation is short-lived
because the Soviet counterattack
is of an unprecedented force.
The Wehrmacht's situation
is desperate...
..but Hitler doesn't care.
His determination
has turned into obstinacy.
The war genius has
only one strategy -
don't back down.
The Wehrmacht meets
its Russian Verdun.
In Stalingrad, in February of 1943,
General Paulus signs the surrender
of the 6th Army.
Hitler has caused the worst defeat
in German military history.
The Axis forces count 400,000 men
dead, wounded or captured.
After a continuous 23-year rise
to the top since his failed putsch,
Hitler begins his fall.
He becomes more and more mystical
and inscrutable.
He says, "The god of war
has gone over to the other side."
But while Hitler is losing the war,
Churchill is losing control
of his leadership.
Despite the Allied success,
he's been superseded
by Roosevelt and Stalin,
the new masters of the war,
and no longer has full control
of operations.
In Tehran, November, 1943,
Churchill is painfully conscience
of his weakened position.
PHOTOGRAPHER: One more.
"I realised at Tehran
for the first time
"what a small nation we are,"
he writes in his memoirs.
"There I sat with the great Russian
bear on one side of me,
"and on the other side
the great American buffalo,
"and between them,
the poor little English donkey,
"who is the only one who knows
the right way home."
He was the bulldog, the old lion,
and now he compares himself
to a little donkey.
Depression has hit again.
And soon pneumonia
will send him to the mat.
Winston fears his final hours
are drawing near.
But a few days later, fickle as ever,
the patient is much better
and poses in front of cameras
in a uniform that no army general
would dare wear.
Very quickly,
the miracle man finds the energy
to dive back into military maps
and planning.
Because Churchill, like Hitler,
can't stay away from a map
for very long,
the two warriors are nightmares
for their generals.
They give orders
and modify strategies,
when, in fact, neither of them
are great strategists.
But there is a difference.
Winston knows he's an amateur
and listens to his advisers,
who save him from irreparable
mistakes many a time.
Whereas Hitler, by purging his staff,
has essentially silenced his generals
because they don't dare contradict
him, despite repeated catastrophes.
Since the beginning of the war,
Germany has already lost
three million soldiers
and the future looks worse.
The disembarkment is coming.
The Furher never questions
his course of action and announces,
"The Western plutocracy can attempt
to land whenever they like,
"they will fail."
In several months,
England has become an immense arsenal
in preparation for D-day.
Churchill is still just as cagey
about landings,
but this time he has a trump card.
His secret services have assembled
a phantom army.
Codename - Operation Fortitude.
To misdirect German
reconnaissance units,
thousands of inflatable vehicles
of all types are deployed near Dover
to make it look like
a landing in the Pas-de-Calais.
Full decoy divisions,
made out of rubber,
are placed in the fields.
Hitler had leaked false intelligence
to the Allied nations
about his military might
in the 1930s.
Well, he's going to get a taste
of his own medicine.
Churchill can't be sure
the illusion will work,
but he has a joker
on the opposing side -
Adolf Hitler himself.
In the night between
the 5th and 6th of June 1944,
the biggest armada ever assembled
makes its way
towards the French coast.
Hitler goes to bed at 4am.
At 6 in the morning, the fleet
is spotted and combat is engaged.
(MORTARS FIRE)
German generals immediately call
the Chief of Staff,
fearing this armada
is the dreaded invasion fleet.
They call for reinforcements
in case of an attempted landing.
But General Jodl refuses to wake
the Furher to request authorisation.
One doesn't disturb
a sleeping dictator,
especially not Hitler.
Hitler isn't roused until
10 in the morning by his camp aide.
But Hitler is convinced
that the attack on Normandy
is nothing more than a diversion
for the real landing
in the Pas-de-Calais.
He refuses to send reinforcements.
Hitler has taken the bait.
The inflatable rubber decoys
of Operation Fortitude did the job.
It's already 2:30 in the afternoon
when Hitler orders
reinforcement troops.
That's eight hours
after the armada was sighted.
It's too late.
Fear of the dictator
and his unilateral authority
served to hasten the success
of D-day.
Churchill is relieved.
Drawn by the smell of gunpowder,
as always,
he visits
the landing beaches himself.
NEWS REPORTER: Winston Churchill
now came himself
on to the soil of Normandy.
The visit was brief.
It didn't take long
for the Prime Minister
to satisfy himself
that all goes well
on the first stage
of the assault of Europe.
The Prime Minister and his party
returned to the Destroyer Kelvin
in complete confidence
of still greater successes to come.
The architects of victory
return home.
Despite the success
of the Allied force's landing,
the dictator will not admit defeat.
The Berlin bluffer bets everything
on a last counterattack,
a tactic he masters.
On December 16th,
to the shock of Allied forces,
1,900 cannons open fire
in the Ardennes region of France.
For the first hours,
the surprise attack surpasses
the expectations
of the German general staff.
Hitler's playing poker.
This offensive could freeze
the Western Front
and convince the Anglo-Americans
to negotiate with him
to unite against the Soviets.
The move surprises everyone.
General Bradley, Commander
of the First US Army, is furious.
He rages, "My God, where does this
son of a bitch get his manpower?"
Hitler savours his victory.
But it's premature.
The road conditions,
the downed bridges,
and especially the scarcity of petrol
paralyse any progress.
Soon, daylight allows Allied
air forces to harass the Wehrmacht.
They give no quarter
and regain the upper hand.
Hitler has lost his wager.
At his headquarters,
worry and tension mount.
Goering suggests negotiating
an armistice.
"This war is lost," he explains.
Hitler replies, "I forbid you
"to make any decision whatsoever
in the matter.
"If you do not carry out my orders,
I'll have you shot.
"We will never surrender,
we may go down,
"but we'll take everyone with us."
Hitler continues to put all his hopes
on the fall of the Allied coalition.
He tells his generals,
"The moment will come
when tension within the Allied forces
"will be so great that a crack
will appear.
"Every coalition in history
has collapsed sooner or later.
"The only thing to do is wait
for the right moment."
But Churchill has every intention of
avoiding this disastrous prediction.
During the Yalta Conference
in February, 1945, like in Tehran,
the old lion carefully composes
his arguments
to safeguard the great alliance
he founded.
He relinquishes protecting Poland
from Soviet influence
and already senses
the fall of the British Empire,
but it's the price to be paid
for a solid alliance against Hitler.
To accelerate the breakdown
of the Reich,
Winston resorts to the kind of terror
that Hitler used against him.
The Allied forces double down
with massive bombings
on major German cities.
In February 1945,
Churchill and Roosevelt
give the green light
to the bombing of Dresden,
even though this artist city
is overrun with tens of thousands
of refugees
and has no strategic value.
A pilot writes,
"The spectacle was fantastic.
"From an altitude of 20,000 feet
over Dresden,
"it looked like
all the city's streets
"were engraved with fiery lines."
The flames are visible more than
300km from the target.
There are more than 40,000 deaths.
Nothing justified this level
of destruction.
But Winston hasn't forgotten
the Blitz, or Coventry,
or the thousands of countrymen killed
by German bombs.
Churchill would walk
through the ruins,
supporting his people.
For Hitler,
such a gesture is unthinkable,
despite pleas from his
Minister of Propaganda, Goebbels.
Ever since the god of war
had gone over to the other side,
the Furher speaks
to fewer and fewer of the people
who had brought him to power,
and rarely appears in public.
He'd gone from the summits
of his alpine residence
to a Berlin bunker
seven metres underground.
NEWS REPORTER:
It was an historic moment,
this visit
of a British Prime Minister
to the soil
of a conquered Rhineland.
How different it is in spirit
and meaning from Munich,
the last time a British premier
went to Germany.
A visit to the frontline gun site
produces a characteristic
Churchill gesture.
"Hitler personally"
he writes on the giant shell
and the great 240 millimetre gun
is pointed to fire on one
of the main German escape routes
across the Rhine.
(GUNFIRE)
In March, 1945,
the tireless septuagenarian
visits the Siegfried Line.
The Reich has finally been breached.
Since autumn 1939,
every soldier has made the promise
to hang out their washing here.
# On ira pendre notre linge
sur la Ligne Siegfried
# Si on la trouve encore la... #
The old lion will go one better.
He marks his territory
by relieving himself
on the dragon's teeth
with great relish.
Thus while Churchill parades,
Hitler makes his final appearance
in the news.
The eagle has transformed
into a vulture.
Hunched, decrepit,
suffering from Parkinson's disease,
he encourages members
of the Hitler Youth
to hold on
until the last bullet is spent.
The newsreels of the day
censor a piece of film.
We see Hitler trembling,
incapable of controlling himself.
He sinks into madness
and his regime follows.
Firing squads kill deserters
by the dozens.
In the extermination camps,
deportees are massacred or driven
on long death marches
to wipe out every last one.
Having failed to win the war,
Hitler wants a substitute victory -
the success of the genocide.
Even in Germany,
like a final death wish,
Hitler decrees the Nero Order -
the wholesale destruction
of the German infrastructure -
transportation, electricity
and supply lines.
Having wiped out the Jews,
the Slavs and the Gypsies,
Hitler lets even his own people
be destroyed,
as if he wanted to erase
every witness to the apocalypse
into which he drove Germany.
"If the war is lost,
what do I care if the people die?
"Don't count on me to shed
a single tear,
"they don't deserve as much,"
he says.
On April 12th, 1945,
President Roosevelt dies.
Churchill is profoundly saddened.
He says,
"He was a great friend to us.
"He helped us enormously.
"Without him,
we would have surely gone under."
Meanwhile, Goebbels
telephones Hitler...
"My Fuhrer, I congratulate you.
Roosevelt is dead.
"It is written in the stars
that the second half of April
"will mark a decisive turning point
for us."
Hitler is hopeful.
Imagining the coalition
will now break, he says,
"The great miracle, the one
I've always predicted has happened.
"The war is not lost."
But in the East,
the Soviet Army is on the offensive.
(EXPLOSIONS)
The Red Army pours into Berlin.
It's over.
Hitler has just celebrated
his birthday.
He is 56 years old
and looks like an old man.
With his usual unbridled confidence,
he declares to a handful of disciples
who have remained by his side,
"You will see, the Russians
will suffer their greatest defeat,
"the bloodiest defeat
in their history,
"in front of the gates of Berlin."
But it quickly becomes clear
that the Reich
that was to last for 1,000 years has
only a few days left to survive.
Holed-up in his bunker,
Hitler dictates
his final political testament.
His first words are for Churchill,
the only person
who stood up to him in 1940
and the one who caused his downfall.
"By refusing to come
to an understanding with me,
"Churchill subjected his country
to political suicide.
"At the beginning of this war,
"I tried to act as if Churchill
were capable
"of comprehending this great policy.
"But he has been attached to the Jews
for too long.
"My idea behind sparing the English
"was to prevent irreparable harm
in the West."
The fallen eagle
has one last request -
"I want it written on my gravestone -
"'He was the victim of his
generals.'"
Hitler marries Eva Braun.
On April 30th, 1945,
he commits suicide in his bunker.
The spell he cast was so powerful
that many Germans commit suicide,
following him into darkness.
Radio Berlin announces
that Hitler is dead,
"Fighting to his last breath
for Germany against Bolshevism."
Churchill, fervently anti-Russian
as well, comments,
"Well, I must say I think he was
perfectly right to die like that."
Winston has the last word.
On May 8th, 1945, Germany
surrenders.
Cheered in the streets,
given a standing ovation
in Parliament,
congratulated by the King,
Winston savours for one brief moment
the results of a six-year battle.
No-one had believed in him.
Not his father, not his colleagues
in the Deputy Chamber,
and yet just as he promised,
he has accomplished the impossible
and has written history.
CHURCHILL: This is your victory...
..victory of the cause of freedom
in every land.
In all our long history,
we have never seen
a greater day than this.
But the victory quickly turned sour.
The democrat won the war,
but he lost
the legislative elections.
Democracy also has its pitfalls.
Churchill sinks into depression.
So, he travels,
returns to his writing,
and packs paintbrushes
and 86 bottles
of Veuve Clicquot champagne
in his suitcases.
Perhaps he missed Hitler.
For a time after the death
of his best enemy,
he lost his reason for being.
Never has a duel so marked
the history of the world.
The eagle was the poison
and the old lion was the antidote.
What survives of their battle?
Hitler remains one
of the most nefarious men
the world has ever known.
And Churchill,
one of the most idolised leaders
of all times.
He offered the world his bravery
and his incomparable humour.
He would continue to write history
for 20 more years
as Prime Minister and as
a Nobel Prizewinner in Literature.
(SPEAKS FRENCH)
(LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE)
He'd always miss the smell of
gunpowder and the rigours of combat.
Long after the war,
when journalists asked what year
of his life he'd chose to relive,
he replied,
"1940 every time, every time."
MAN: (SPEAKS IN ITALIAN)
Captions by Red Bee Media
(c) SBS Australia 2018