Navy Estimates: Statement by Rt. Hon. Winston Churchill in the House of Commons on the 27th February, 1940.

CHURCHILL, Winston S.

$975.00

Item Number: 124153

London: H. M. Stationery Office Press, 1940.

First edition of this scarce wartime pamphlet, the only printing of this speech delivered by Churchill on February 27th 1940 in the House of Commons as First Lord of the Admiralty. Octavo, original wrappers. In near fine condition. Uncommon.

As First Lord of the Admiralty during the First World War, Churchill oversaw the Gallipoli Campaign. After it proved as disaster, he was demoted to Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He resigned in November 1915 and joined the Royal Scots Fusiliers on the Western Front for six months. In 1917, he returned to government under David Lloyd George and served successively as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War, Secretary of State for Air, and Secretary of State for the Colonies, overseeing the Anglo-Irish Treaty and British foreign policy in the Middle East. Out of government during his so-called "wilderness years" in the 1930s, Churchill took the lead in calling for British rearmament to counter the growing threat of militarism in Nazi Germany. At the outbreak of the Second World War he was re-appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. In May 1940, he became Prime Minister, replacing Neville Chamberlain and oversaw British involvement in the Allied war effort against the Axis powers, resulting in victory in 1945.