Their Finest Hour

Churchill delivered “Their Finest Hour” under challenging circumstances: The majority of Europe had fallen under Nazi power, culminating in the defeat of France, Britain’s closest ally at the time. The war in France was fought between the German army, which had recently invaded Belgium and the Netherlands, and the Allied forces of France, Britain, and Belgium. The German strategy involved a massive assault through the Ardennes Forest, a heavily wooded and hilly region that was thought to be impassable to tanks. However, the German army was able to push through this area and quickly advanced toward Paris, causing the French forces to retreat and ultimately leading to the fall of France. The campaign was marked by several key battles, including the Battle of Sedan, the Battle of Arras, and the Battle of Dunkirk, collectively called the “Battle of France.” The conquest was a significant victory for Germany and solidified Nazi control over much of Western Europe. It also had major consequences for the Allied forces and led to the resignation and subsequent arrest of the French prime minister (Paul Reynaud, who opposed signing any armistice with Nazi Germany). For Churchill, who became the British prime minister in May 1940 after Neville Chamberlain resigned following the Nazi invasion of Norway, the invasion of France was the first major test of leadership.

The final phase of the Battle of France was Dunkirk, also known as Operation Dynamo. It was a major military operation by the British and Allied forces aimed at evacuating hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers, primarily from the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), trapped by the Germans in the area around the French port city of Dunkirk. The operation involved a flotilla of hundreds of civilian and military ships that were sent across the English Channel to rescue the stranded soldiers. Over a period of nine days, between May 26 and June 4, 1940, the ships made trips back and forth across the Channel under heavy fire from German planes and artillery. Most members of the BEF, along with over 120,000 French soldiers, were rescued. Although the evacuation was not a military victory, it was a significant moral victory for the Allies, as it allowed them to rescue a large number of troops and avoid a catastrophic defeat. The Dunkirk evacuation became an important symbol of resilience and perseverance and is cited in Churchill’s speech as an example of the power of civilian and military cooperation in the face of adversity, developing the theme of Unity in the Face of an External Threat.