Following the collapse of France during World War II, the conditions the Allied powers faced became bleaker by the day. The United Kingdom was standing alone in the face of Germany, and under Hitler’s reign, the German “blitzkrieg” or “lightning war,” a tactic involving bombardment, tanks, and ground troops in quick offense proved too much for many countries. Winston Churchill would be the one to reignite hope in the hearts of the British people, delivering his “Their Finest Hour” speech on the 18th of June, 1940. Churchill utilized persuasive rhetoric whilst appealing to the people's logic and emotions, to raise morale and spirit in the United Kingdom to fight.
Winston Churchill had an incredible background, which had earned him the respect
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of the people and the influence as the second most powerful individual in the United Kingdom. Churchill enrolled into a Military college when he was of appropriate age, and participated in many conflicts surrounding the areas of Cuba, India and Sudan. In 1908, Churchill became a politician. During his time as the president of the Board of Trade, he began the movement to support the labor class of the British, introducing the ideas of minimum wage, insurance for the unemployed and most importantly the People’s Budget, which taxed the rich to support the social departments. These achievements supported his ethos when regarding the people. During his speech Winston Churchill utilized a logical standpoint to develop his argument as for why the United Kingdom had a sensible chance for victory in the face of great despair.
He mentions that their army is not one that should be taken lightly, “…in this Island today [we have] a very large and powerful military force. This force comprises all our best-trained and our finest troops, including scores of thousands of those who have already measured their quality against the Germans and found themselves at no disadvantage.” (Churchill) Churchill references the British that have supported the effort in the French conflict, as well as those who have performed in the Battle of Dunkirk and survived, commending their strength and resolve. To further support his standing, Churchill begins listing the chances of German success in invading the United Kingdom, stating that due to “...our superior naval surface forces, aided by our submarines,” (Churchill) an invasion by the sea would be a difficult task for the Germans, coupled with the strength of the British Air Force, an air attack would be unlikely to succeed in German favor. That the British “… were accustomed to inflict in the air losses of as much as two and two-and-a-half to one. In the fighting over Dunkirk, which was a sort of no-man’s-land, we undoubtedly beat the German Air Force, and gained the mastery of the local air, inflicting here a loss of three or four to one day after day.” (Churchill) These pieces of …show more content…
information pushed away the fears of air domination by the German force, and in general, developed this idea of a great fortress at which the United Kingdom stands upon. In tandem with his logical approach, Winston Churchill inflicted a pathos appeal upon the people, the emotions of fear and hope within such a desperate situation emphasized the meanings and points that Churchill was attempting to make.
He does so by alluding towards the efforts in the First World War, that “during the first four years of the last war the Allies experienced nothing but disaster and disappointment. That was our constant fear: one blow after another, terrible losses, frightful dangers. Everything miscarried.” (Churchill) Churchill related the direness of the situation in the past to the present, and in the past they came out as victors, and as history repeats, they will become victors in the present as well. Churchill also points out a moral right to continue fighting the Germans, referencing the suffering of those who have been conquered by Hitler, and changing the meaning of the war from a simple win or loss, but to a more global conflict that will change the history of all that is known. “Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire… If we can stand up to [Hitler], all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age…”(Churchill) This concept
of light versus dark, good versus evil, is what makes the argument given by Churchill very effective. The appeal towards fear makes the situation look even worse for the British, and the inclusion of morals and religion increases the scope of people affected. That not only those today will suffer, but those that come after them, the survivors, will suffer in a Nazi-controlled world. The fashion in which Churchill ends his speech leaves a lasting impact upon the people. “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.'“ (Churchill) Churchill’s use of these last few words ignite a great flame of hope and spirit in the citizens of the United Kingdom, that they should follow their duty as British to stand forth against the next coming battles. The impact of the speech had kept the morale of the army together, to give them the power to withstand the German attack, which eventually resulted intervention of the United States, and finally leading the the end of the war.
This paper is an analysis of the inaugural address of the former president Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR). We will focus on the main historical events that were happening, and how he addressed those issues in his speech. In his speech he used appeals to grow closer to the crowd he was speaking too. We will state the quotes he used and announce what kind of appeal that it is from. FDR uses words and phrases to pull the crowd in and I will discuss the effects of those words and what they had on the crowd. Finally we will talk about the overall quality and effectiveness of the speech and how it was such a great speech used.
After reviewing this week’s episodes of serial, and given our topic, I found that the Rhetorical Appeals are directly linked to the court cases. These Rhetorical Appeals (Ethos, Pathos, and Logos), are used throughout both cases. From Jay’s case, it’s clear that Pathos and Ethos are two main elements supporting his defense. However in Adnan’s case, Logos was the prevalent appeal when defending his innocence.
Analyzing innocence has always been a difficult task, not only due to it’s rapid reevaluation in the face of changing societal values, but also due to the highly private and personal nature of the concept. The differences between how people prioritize different types of innocence - childhood desires, intellectual naivety, sexual purity, criminal guilt, etc. - continually obscures the definition of innocence. This can make it difficult for people to sympathize with others’ loss of purity, simply because their definition of that loss will always be dissimilar to the originally expressed idea. Innocence can never truly be adequately described, simply because another will never be able to precisely decipher the other’s words. It is this challenge, the challenge of verbally depicting the isolationism of the corruption of innocence, that Tim O’Brien attempts to endeavour in his fictionalized memoir, The
There have been many historical events in history that have impacted America in many ways. For example, famous Speeches given by important people such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the united states which his main goal was to help America recover from the severe economic issues during the 1930’s. Roosevelt used rhetorical devices to persuade desperate Americans, wounded from the Great Depression, by introducing a plan which it will be the best way to recover from the severe crisis that affected Americans. In Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address, he used personification, diction, and antimetabole to convey his conflicting feelings about the New Deal, in order to face the economic issues
Through her speech, Queen Elizabeth inspired her people to fight for the country of England against the Spaniards. Queen Elizabeth persuaded the English troops to defend their country with rhetoric devices such as diction, imagery, and sentence structure to raise their morale and gain loyalty as a woman in power.
Through his speeches, he tried to persuade America to join in the fight against the growing power if Nazism. One of his speeches are “The Lights Are Going Out”. He said this speech in 1938, to the people of the United States. The purpose of his speech was to encourage the US to join forces with Britain to overtake Nazi Germany. The subject of his speech is the loss of other countries, and America joining the war, and the tone of the speech is urgency. Churchill’s word choices in his speech “The Lights Are Going Out” are effective through his use of rhetoric and vocal techniques.
Once actually forced to fight, Hitler still dominated and he could have very possibly won the war if not for that one fatal mistake he made by hesitating in his plans against the English. I think it is important that Lukacs makes sure to get this message across because some people choose to ignore this truth due to the devastating outcomes that would have resulted if Hitler succeeded. The major point presented by Lukacs concerning the difference between Hitler and Churchill has to do with nationalim versus patriotism. Lukacs describes Hitler as a nationalist and Churchill as a patriot. He describes Hitler as a man of ideas and Churchill as a of man principles, because Churchill's ideas changed throughout the war while Hitler tended to think that his ideas were principles.
By examining Churchill’s use of rhetoric we can see what exactly made him such a great leader. His speeches were able to do more damage to the Nazis than any bomb could have done because his language rallied the people together. His use of repetition proved his points and reminded the country of what mattered most. His descriptive words helped build up anger against the Nazi rule and persuade everyone to pull through the tough times. He used pronouns in such a way that it would personalize everything and help unify his country. Through his unique use of words Churchill was able to convince many that if they could just endure that they would at last be victorious (Bungay).
Winston Churchill was perhaps one of the greatest public speakers in history. Some of the best speeches have come from being in life or death situations, Winston was known best for this. His small sound clips like, “this was their finest hour”, and “this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning”, encourage his troops and his people that they will win this war and will overcome the greatest odds. Although Churchill told many speeches, his speech on June 18, 1940 showed the most emotion and courage of any other speech he told. In this speech he explained that the war in France is over and the war in Britain would begin. He said that if we fail then the world sink into an abyss. This emotion that he shows would give Britain hope, courage and most of all determination.
Another rhetorical element used in Churchill’s speech is flag waving. Winston Churchill knows that many people are distressed and fearful about the current state of the war and uses patriotism to eliminate their concerns. This can be found in the subsequent text when he says “That is the resolve of His Majesty’s Government-every man of them… the will of Parliament and the nation...we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end…”. Churchill is convincing the public that they will persevere and come out of the war as the victors. Finally, Churchill uses name-calling in his speech as another way to unite the population using an us against them mentality. He uses the word “enemy” to make the distinctions about those who are not an ally of the British people. This again aids in promoting unity as there is a us against them mentality being used. All the rhetorical devices used in Winston Churchill’s speech achieve a sense of comradery amongst the
“We Shall Fight on the Beaches and Day of Infamy are two unalike speeches. Roosevelt and Churchill had dissimilar ideas of their country's’ situation and purpose for being a part of the war. However, they had similar purposes in their speeches, both men wanted their countries secure, to preserve their nation’s way of life and they both to bring an end to the evil that is threatening their nations. When it comes to their differences Churchill and Roosevelt are trying to accomplish different things with their speeches. Churchill is trying to encourage and rally his nation to continue fighting. Where Roosevelt is trying to reunite his nation to enter World War II, seek recrimination, and destroy the evil that striked.
Darkest Hour shows a top down view of the war, with many scenes in a war room in which Churchill makes decisions featuring a large map with colored dots and arrows. One of the primary conflicts surrounding the war is the tension between striking a peace treaty and refusing to give in to Hitler’s demands. As a political move, Churchill’s opponents attempt to get him to admit that he will not even attempt to make peace with Hitler, while Churchill tries to defend staying at war. Near the end of the movie, Churchill interacts with the British citizenry directly, asking them whether or not they would like to stay at peace or go to war- the citizens strongly support defending their land. Churchill’s reasoning for staying at war is both a nationalistic sense of pride and the fear that Hitler will not stop his conquest despite a peace treaty: “You cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth!” as Churchill states. War, in this sense, is depicted in an idealistic way: fought for the defense of the homeland. Losses, while tragic, are in the form of numbers, and citizens still have the support of the war. In Dunkirk, the horrors of war are actualized. Compared to the citizens’ overwhelming will to fight in Darkest Hour, the soldiers in Dunkirk are tired of the war and are simply trying to survive. Although it seems as if they would like to be able to fight back, the
On the 4th of June 1940, the recently elected Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill, delivered the “We shall fight on the beaches” speech to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The “We shall fight on the beaches” speech was announced soon after the Battle of Dunkirk which occurred during the time of the Battle of France, in which Nazi Germany attempted the first phase to conquer the Western Front. The “We shall fight on the beaches” speech was the second of three motivational speeches delivered by Winston Churchill during the period of the Battle of France. The “Blood, toil, tears and sweat” speech was delivered on the 13th of May and the “This was their finest hour” speech was delivered on the 18th of June. Due to the eventual
Winston Churchill in his life was an outstanding politician, one reason leading to his jobs in his growing years. As he grew up, he wanted to surpass his father. He was determined not to be his father in politics, he chose to pick up the
Six hours later, France would also declare war on Germany. In May 1940, Britain would get a more aggressive pro-war leader, Winston Churchill, to replace Neville Chamberlain. Later that month, on May 26, 1940, in the face of a large-scale German attack, British soldiers on the home front were forced to perform one of the largest evacuations in history, The Evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk on the Belgian coast. From July through October, the British people suffered during the Battle of Britain, which was a lot of intense German bombings. But, the Royal Air Force successfully defended its homeland from the German Luftwaffe, and the Nazis were unable to crush British morale.