Their Finest Hour

“If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future.”

Accepting that mistakes were made during the Battle of France, Churchill brings listeners’ attention back to the present and asks them to concentrate on the work ahead: defending Britain from the threat of Nazi invasion. Similarly, he asks Parliament to postpone inquiries into policy failures that paved the way for the Nazi conquest of France. Stressing the importance of Unity in the Face of an External Threat, he suggests that arguments and recriminations will only help Germany—a point he underscores by using the militaristic language of victory and loss.

“Without this concentrated power we cannot face what lies before us.”

Churchill calls for unity within both Parliament and the country. Warning his colleagues of the upcoming Battle of Britain, he rallies both major political parties behind the war effort.

“I made it perfectly clear then that whatever happened in France would make no difference to the resolve of Britain and the British Empire to fight on, ‘if necessary for years, if necessary alone.’”

This is a warning to Axis powers and encouragement to both the Allies and the British people: Britain is wholly committed to the war against the Nazis. Developing the theme of Patriotism in Dark Times, Churchill implicitly asserts British resilience and courage by stressing the country’s willingness to stand alone against Germany. He also bolsters his own credibility by referencing a prior speech in which he warned that severe Allied defeats were possible. This form of