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I admire Churchill enormously - the man is an absolute hero. I would say five primary qualities were:

  1. Ability to inspire others - even his impromptu speeches were stunning in their intensity. I remember the "Live After Death" Iron Maiden tour, which began with a recording Churchill's "we will fight on the beaches" speech. The huge crowd was silent until the defiant line "We shall never surrender!" That started the gig off with a huge and heartfelt ovation. Utterly inspirational.
  2. Dogged determination - this does not mean being hidebound or blinkered, but being pragmatic and never losing sight of the ultimate goal. For Churchill in WWII, this was nothing less than the preservation of Western democracy against barbarous brutality.
  3. The common touch - Churchill was born with the very silverst of spoons in his mouth, and yet absolutely nothing at all about him in either speech or mannerism screams foppishness or snobbery, unlike those of many other "posh men" of his day. He was also willing to make himself appear to Hitler as a drunken buffoon to make the Nazi leader underestimate him.
  4. Thinking of others - to both his own people and his allies, Churchill was a true friend. When he heard the Army were abolishing unit patches to save cloth, Winston stepped in to prevent it. He knew the importance of esprit de corps, having been a soldier himself, and it hurt him to think of brave soldiers being treated like disposable commodities.
  5. Cool-headed - Churchill hated Hitler with a fierce passion, but he never let it cloud his judgment about the difficult task ahead. Western Europe succumbed to the ravening Nazi horde, but Churchill stood steadfast, never committing more than the beleagured country could afford to give. Hitler's forces gathered in the north of France, but Churchill did not blink, and the Nazi army stopped short of invasion after the Battle of Britain. Hitler's first and possibly greatest mistake of the war was turning his back on Britain without defeating it.

Churchill had many, many other qualities, such as sparkling wit, a sense of humour, and fierce patriotism, so this list can in no way be definitive. The man was a lion.

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13y ago

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