I.Information about the speech

Since the end of World War I, Winston church had been alert to the rearmament Hitler's Invasion of the defeated Germany. When Hitler rose to power in the 1930s, Churchill became increasingly aware of the Fascists' ambitions. In fact, Churchill was among the first to recognize the growing threat of Hitler long before the outbreak of World War l, but his warnings had gone largely unheeded. At that time, Britain under Prime Minister Chamberlain was pursuing a policy of appeasement, reflecting an element of British public and political sentiment favoring negotiated peace with an ascendant Germany. Nevertheless, Churchill stood firm, objecting to negotiations. After Chamberlain resigned as Prime Minister.

Churchill took office on May 1B,1940. In his first speech as Prime Minister, he expressed his determination to lead the British people in fighting Fascist Germany, saying these famous words: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."

As European states fell one by one, Churchill was certain a German invasion of the Soviet Union was inevitable. Upon learning the news of the invasion, Churchill spent hours composing a speech which he broadcast on the B.B.C.

This speech can be divided into three parts. In the first part, Churchill strongly condemned Nazi Germany in general ("It is devoid of all theme and principle except appetite and racial domination. It excels all forms of human wickedness in the efficiency of its cruelty and ferocious aggression."), and in particular the crimes Fascist German had committed in invading Russia, by using a parallel structure beginning with "I see..." The second part of the speech focuses on the British government's policy and declaration ("We have but one aim and one single, irrevocable purpose. We are resolved to destroy Hitler and every vestige of the Nazi régime."), and his firm stand in carrying out this policy ("From this nothing will turn us-nothing. We will never parley, we will never negotiate with Hitler or any of his gang,"). It follows that any one siding with Britain would be her ally "Any man or state who fights on against Nazidom will have our aid. Any man or state who marches with Hitler is our foe...). The third part is devoted to arguing why Britain should aid the Soviet Union, a Communist country Churchill had criticized before in his political career. He analyzed the ultimate motive of German attack ("I said there was one deeper motive behind his outrage." "His invasion of Russia is no more than a prelude to an attempted invasion of the British Isles."), explaining the logical relations between Hitler's invasion of Russia and his ultimate plan to conquer Britain and the other democracies("He hopes that he may once again repeat, upon a greater scale than ever before,… that then the scene will be clear for the final act, without which all his conquests would be in vain-namely, the subjugation of the Western Hemisphere to his will and to his system."). Finally, he came to the logical conclusion "The Russian danger is therefore our danger..."and ended his speech with a powerful call "Let us redouble our exertions, and strike with united strength while life and power remain."

Besides content, Churchill’s oratorical mastery is another aspect deserving our close study. As the aim of the speech is to condemn, to declare and to argue, the speaker must make his speech convincing and powerful. Also, a good speech should have a strong rhythm as it is meant to be read loud and to be heard. Emphasis and force of meaning are achieved through various rhetorical devices such as repetition of words ("From this nothing will turn us-nothing." etc.), repetition of synonymous words (We have but one aim and one single, irrevocable purpose." etc.), repetition of an identical sentence structure (We shall fight him by land, we shall fight him by sea, we shall fight him in the air.." etc.), parallel structures (I see.."), similes, metaphors, etc. Alliteration is also used to make the speech more rhythmical ("…the dull, drilled, docile. brutish masses of the Hun soldiery…" "the hearth and home"). As a writer, Churchill was very careful in his choice of words. For such a historic moment, his diction is formal and literary which carries more weight than everyday vocabulary.