- This was their finest hour
The This was their finest hour speech was delivered by Sir
Winston Churchill to the House of Commons of theParliament of the United Kingdom on18 June 1940 . It was given shortly after he took over as Prime Minister of Britain on10 May , in the first year ofWorld War II .It was the third of three speeches which he gave during the period of the
Battle of France . These speeches (the other two being the "Blood, toil, tears, and sweat " speech of13 May , and the "We shall fight on the beaches " speech of4 June ) were a great inspiration to the embattledUnited Kingdom as it entered what was probably the most dangerous phase of the entire war.It was given as
France continued to reel from the stunning and massive German breakthrough atSedan, France ; it was shortly to be overcome, and sued for peace a week later, on22 June . In it he tried to give a confident overview of the military situation and rally his people for what he probably knew was going to be a tremendous struggle. The final sentence of the extract below, referring to the idea that theBritish Empire might last a thousand years, illustrates Churchill's extreme attachment and faith in the Empire — its gradual dissolution in the subsequent decades was a source of great distress for Churchill.Excerpts
Cultural references
Parts of the speech are paraphrased by the English rock band
The Kinks in the song "Mr. Churchill Says ", from the album "Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) ". In theHilary Duff song "Gypsy Woman", there are snippets of his speech at the beginning and end of the song where he said "The Battle of France is over" to which Duff replied, "Congratulations, you've joined the ranks of all the rest".The speech is also incorporated inSonic Hub 's 2007 song "Fact Destruction", on their album "Eye of the storm". Some words have been changed to reflect the state of the music industry instead of Britain.In the opening title sequence of the game "", Churchill is heard uttering part of this phrase through the loudspeakers of a city being bombed.
Samples of Churchill's speech were also used in the song "
In Dulce Decorum " byThe Damned in 1987. The song was featured in the Miami Vice episode "Walk Alone" in the third season, and an extended version with complete lyrics/vocals was featured on the compilation album "The Light at the End of the Tunnel ".ee also
*
Never was so much owed by so many to so few External links
* [http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=418 The Churchill Centre: Their Finest Hour]
* [http://www.fiftiesweb.com/usa/winston-churchill-finest-hour.htm Link to audio file of the speech]
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