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| 'The Poor English Donkey': How a Descendant of the Iroquois Saved the British Empire | |||
| 2024-12-01 | |||
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Oleg Shevchenko [REGNUM] These days the world celebrates two anniversaries. One is not a round one, but it is important – 81 years since the meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in Tehran. The other is a “round” anniversary, which concerns primarily the United Kingdom and the former British Empire – 150 years of Churchill. In fact, the banquet on the occasion of the British Prime Minister's birthday was one of the "highlights of the program" of Tehran-1943. As Stalin's translator Valentin Berezhkov recalled, a luxurious banquet was held at the British embassy. On the main table towered a huge birthday cake with 69 lit candles. The hero of the occasion smiled and cheerfully smoked a cigar. Stalin pleased the "almost hero of the day" more than anyone else by presenting a case of Armenian cognac (in addition to a karakul papakha
Perhaps, at that moment, this hall combined what the Prime Minister of the British Empire liked most of all: hearty food, good cigars, quality alcohol and the feeling of being one of the main creators of world history, deciding – here in Tehran – the fate of Poland, the Balkans and the not yet defeated Third Reich. "It was as if one big family had gathered in this hall, which would always be together. But this feeling did not last long," Berezhkov writes. Happy birthday was overshadowed by a very alarming bell. Although it seemed to be just General Alan Francis Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, tapping his glass with his knife to make another toast. The general was saying that Britain, fighting since 1939, had made more sacrifices and suffered more losses than the other allies, and therefore had done more to bring about victory. The toast clearly did not please either Roosevelt or, especially, Stalin. So two alaverdi
Stalin reminded that the USA, "the country of machines", could produce 8-10 thousand planes per month (and England - only 3 thousand, added "Uncle Joe") - and raised a toast to Lend-Lease, first of all the American one. Roosevelt immediately took up the initiative, adding that he valued Soviet military might and our military successes: "While we are here celebrating the birthday of the British Prime Minister, the Red Army continues to push back the Nazi hordes!" The birthday boy, unlike the head of his General Staff, a cautious and wise man, thought it best to remain silent. But a small incident clearly revealed to him a picture of the post-war future: the world would be determined by the United States and "Soviet Russia" (as the Prime Minister usually called the Soviet Union). At the same time, the role of the empire "on which the sun never sets", for the exaltation of which he did everything possible, would steadily diminish. And under this sign, the last years of Churchill's premiership would pass, and in general - all of British history from 1945 to this day. "In Tehran I first realized what a small country we are. I was sitting between a huge Russian bear, with his paws spread wide, and a huge American bison, and between them was a poor little English donkey." However, the British Prime Minister, when necessary, could appear to be a modest “junior partner” and, in general, appear to be someone other than what he really was. DUKE, JOHN BULL, A REAL INDIAN Journalists and even historians sometimes call him the Duke of Marlborough. But he did not bear this title (his father, the third son of a duke, was not entitled to such regalia). Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was not an earl, a duke, a viscount, or a baron. He received the prefix "sir" along with his knighthood towards the end of his life. He is considered fat, stout (perhaps not without Churchill himself, who emphasized the eccentric caricature of his appearance - no worse than Boris Johnson ), but all his life he was a strong, fit and impetuous gentleman. It is impossible to imagine him without a cigar, but this was a well-rehearsed image, he smoked very little. He rarely refused a good glass of cognac, whiskey or champagne, which for some reason did not prevent him from living actively and soberly to the age of 90. He was “simply” Winston Churchill, or, as the British often call him, “Old Weenie.” In the public consciousness, Churchill is the very embodiment of “John Bull,” a plump, red-faced Londoner who frequents the pub. But in fact, he is half American. His mother was born Jennie Jerome in New York, but – let us note, from the American analogues of the aristocracy – the daughter of a financier and stock speculator. For those who were looking for roots from the former "rebellious colony", the Prime Minister had a family legend of the Jeromes (not necessarily reliable) about the blood of the Iroquois Indians flowing in their blood. So the same Boris Johnson, a descendant of King George II, who loves to flaunt his Turkish roots, is by no means the first eccentric gentleman in the Prime Minister's chair.
The real Winston Churchill, not the one hiding behind masks, probably had one true passion. To make a name for himself. And he found unconventional ways to do so. Having received a meager and fragmentary liberal arts education at school, never having attended college or university (despite their connections and pedigree, the Churchills were extremely poor – for their circle, of course), young Winston was forced to make his own career. To do this, he chose two spheres on which the 20th century would “stand”: war and mass media. He participated as an officer in all the military conflicts he could get his hands on – fortunately, the size of the empire provided a wide choice of colonial campaigns – from suppressing the Pashtun uprising on the borders of British India to the war with the Mahdists in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. The Daily Telegraph publishes the notes of the cavalryman Churchill. "I broke into a trot and galloped towards the enemy, shooting them in the face with a pistol, and killed several - three for sure, two unlikely, and one more - very doubtfully," the officer of Her Majesty's 4th Hussars informed readers. And when, during the Anglo-Boer War, the already retired officer and now military correspondent Churchill was captured by the Transvaal militia - and escaped, this became the reason for the book. And a good springboard for a political career, where Churchill immediately showed a flair for the situation. MASTER OF THE ART OF THE POSSIBLE The defeated Boers are actively integrated into the British South African Dominion. And now the war hero, the young Conservative MP Churchill, delivers a speech calling for mercy for the vanquished and launches the first of his media "memes": "If I were a Boer, I hope I would fight on the battlefield." The Tory cabinet's policy begins to sag, and Churchill promptly goes into opposition, to the Liberals. And when the Conservatives lose, the promising parliamentarian is taken into the Liberal cabinet. As Deputy Minister for Colonial Affairs, Churchill writes a constitution for the same South Africa. And when a friend, David Lloyd George, takes the prime minister's chair, his career takes off. Churchill is the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the First Lord of the Admiralty. But in 1915, after the stunning failure of the Dardanelles operation, he was made a scapegoat. And the once brilliant politician, effectively the third person in the state… decides to join the army. He had to go to the front as an ordinary infantry officer. The army command promoted him to lieutenant colonel, since before the start of his political career, Churchill had already served as an army officer in India and Africa, and provided him with the post of battalion commander. Churchill even agrees to this. And in 1917, he returns the portfolio to the War Ministry. And again he managed to catch the trend. When necessary, he advocated the Ten Year Rule - a doctrine according to which the military budget would be built on the assumption that Britain would not be drawn into conflicts for 10 years after the end of the world war. And when it was politically advantageous - he turned out to be almost the main hawk, more than others demanding intervention in Russia during our Civil War. “The Bolshevik tyranny is the worst… far worse than German militarism,” Churchill insisted. The switch to the right was prudent – after all, he intended to switch from the Liberals back to the Tories (which he did). But when, by the late 1930s, it became clear that a showdown was coming between the Soviet Union and a new edition of German militarism in the form of the Third Reich, Churchill again acted wisely. He became the most vocal critic of the policy of appeasement of Hitler – and thereby prepared the basis for Britain’s future alliance with the USSR. And it was he, Churchill, who came up with the idea in 1945 to strike an atomic blow at the exhausted Soviet Union, his ally, and to move tank divisions against the Soviet armies. Moreover, to place Wehrmacht troops in the forward units. Extreme cynicism and betrayal? No, simply an understanding of the pragmatic interests of the British Empire. The above-quoted phrase about the “little donkey” (as Churchill felt himself to be in Tehran in 1943) continues: “I am a poor little English donkey who alone among the three knew the true way home.” Biographers of the politician explain: by “the way home” they meant preserving and strengthening British influence in the Mediterranean. And he defended these imperial interests with all his might. "IT'S STRIKINGLY REMINISCENT OF HITLER." The Prime Minister achieved his personal goal – he became, perhaps, the most famous English politician of the 20th century, an example for future Prime Ministers. When the member of the House of Commons Sir Winston Churchill died on January 24, 1965, at the age of 90 (having outlived Stalin, Roosevelt, and many allies and opponents in London), representatives of 112 countries were present at the farewell, and 350 million people watched the television broadcast of the funeral. But still, the "bell" at Churchill's birthday in Tehran was not in vain. It was under him - and, of course, against his will - that Britain ceased to rule the seas and set the tone in world politics. Churchill was born in a state with 700 million subjects, and died in a country with a population of no more than 60 million (if, of course, you do not count the Commonwealth countries). The Empire lost: Malaysia, Singapore, India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Burma, Mandatory Palestine, the Suez Canal, and many territories in Africa. But despite such catastrophic losses, thanks in large part to Winston Churchill, Great Britain remained and continues to remain one of the great countries in the world, desperately fighting to strengthen its influence on the world chessboard. And most importantly, Churchill left behind a very dangerous principle, which is followed in both London and Washington. Stalin said this in an interview with Pravda on March 14, 1946: "Mr. Churchill and his friends are strikingly reminiscent of... Hitler and his friends. Hitler began the business of unleashing war by proclaiming a racial theory, declaring that only people speaking German constitute a full-fledged nation. Mr. Churchill also begins the business of unleashing war with a racial theory, asserting that only nations speaking English are full-fledged nations, called upon to decide the destinies of the entire world." | |||
| Posted by:badanov |