Why Churchill is my icon
Nelson Mandela has been voted the most important political figure in the BBC Two Icons series, but I believe that this should have been Winston Churchill. Disregarding any other of his acts – good or bad – one act alone determined the future of civilisation. Without his leadership, it is almost certain that Britain would have made a treaty with Germany, which would have been on unfavourable terms.
Hitler’s domination of Europe would have been complete and it is possible, or probable, that Russia would have been defeated without the aid from Britain and America. Germany would have taken direct control of a major part of the world, extended its domination and imposed its ideology. America would not have been able to intervene without Britain as a base, even if it had wanted to.
The Nazis would have imposed their system and theory of eugenics on the countries they controlled. What’s more, the murder of Jews and all other human beings they considered to be inferior would have been even greater. While the greatness of Nelson Mandela is without doubt, the abolition of apartheid was also effected by world pressure, which would have been limited if Germany had been dominating the world.
If, on the other hand, the Soviet Union had defeated Germany without support, without the presence of the Allies in Europe, it would have imposed its system of repression on the whole of Europe and beyond. Donald Tomkinson, Crewe