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We Shall Fight On The Beaches is a common title given to a speech delivered by Sir Winston Churchill to the House of Commons of the British Parliament on the 4 June 1940. The speech was given shortly after he took over as Prime Minister on the 10 May, in the second year of the Second World War.
This was the second of three speeches given during the period of the Battle of France, with the others designated as the "Blood, toil, tears, and sweat" speech of 13 May, and the "This was their finest hour" speech of 18 June. Each of these speeches was a great inspiration to an embattled United Kingdom as it entered what was probably the most dangerous phase of the entire war.
It was given in the wake of the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force from France at Dunkirk, after it was cut off by the massive German breakthrough at Sedan, France, and as France reeled, shortly to be overcome. In it he tried to temper the national euphoria engendered by this seemingly miraculous delivery (almost the entire army was rescued, a feat thought most improbable beforehand), and send a message to the rest of the world that there would be no negotiated settlement.
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Excerpts
I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once more able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.
Even though large parts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the Old.
Cultural references
Rhetorical style and structure
The speech is a commonly cited example of the rhetorical technique of anaphora, in which a phrase is repeated at the beginning of successive clauses; and of asyndeton, the joining together of related phrases without conjunctions.
Popular misconceptions
The phrase "we shall fight them on the beaches" arose as a common misquotation from this speech. Another misquotation is "we shall fight in the streets".
Popular music
- English heavy metal band Iron Maiden uses a short part of the speech as an intro to the song Aces High in live performances and in the song's video.
- A portion of the speech is sampled in the Supertramp song Fool's Overture, from the album Even in the Quietest Moments.
- The Slovenian Band Laibach features part of the speech in their song The Great Seal, from the album Opus Dei.
- Parts of the speech are paraphrased by English rock band The Kinks in the song Mr. Churchill Says, from the album Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire).
- Patriotic boxer Ricky Hatton uses the most famous lines of the speech as part of his ring entrance.
- The speech is used as Robin Hood's rallying cry to the Merry Men in Mel Brooks' film, Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
Modern Pop Culture
- An allegory to "we shall fight them on the beaches" was made by The Pirate Bay, in response to copyright organizations' legal actions against them.
- Excerpts from the speech are repeated as a rallying call throughout the 1990s teen film Camp Nowhere, starring Christopher Lloyd.
External links
- The Churchill Centre: We Shall Fight on the Beaches, with a short introduction
- The full speech at theyworkforyou.com
- Transcription and MP3 recording of the speech
- The Pirate Bay's allusion to the speech.
References
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