HELP..!

#1

Hey everyone, I'm supposed to write a commentary on this speech http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/churchill.htm for my English coursework.

I don't even understand the speech...I don't know what it talks about, it's just so hard..!

I'm supposed to write a commentary of 600 words on it, so I need help please...it's urgent...

#2

600 words is a piece of piss, that is, once you've got out of high school. When IN high school, it seems MASSIVE.

It's about England in World War 2, to start off with. The country uniting together to defeat the evil lurking in the east... (Nazi).

The last line says it all-

I feel entitled at this juncture, at this time, to claim the aid of all and to say, "Come then, let us go forward together with our united strength.".

"It's a piece of PISS", as Professor Tim Bell would say /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" /> .

#3

The Canuck might be better suited to talk about this, but from my point of view, what made this speech great, is that it didn't sugar coat what was going to be going on...The whole idea of blood sweat and tears is that such things build morale, and character for a country...It was probably brutally honest, something that I don't imagine many politicians are...

You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea, and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.

The man basically said, "Lets go kick some ass and take some names later..." I imagine the speech was fiery and stirred quite a few people...It was probably ground breaking in both delivery and content...

Approach the speech in the context of other speeches made during that time...Find a comment on the current state of mind of Canadians before, and after the speech...Talk about how things went from that point on, and also comment on the speaker, and how that affected his political career...

Shit you can spin 600 words out of that easy...I love English..

#4

Okay...I really don't know how you find this speech easy, but...how do I start the intro..!?! I'm cracking my brain on this thing, it's just so hard..!

#5

Set the stage for the speech, the tone...Describe the percieved feelings and opinions of the general public on the matter at hand...Give a brief background about Winston Churchhill, where he was from, and how he got to where he was...Set the stage for the speech...It isn't that the speech was so amazing, it was the context and time in which it was said that made it significant...

Think of it like this...If you're on a basketball team....And your team is up 100-82 with a minute left, a couple of free throws are no big deal...But if you are down 101-100, and you have two free throws, well that changes everthing doesn't it..? You would say, things like,

"The stadium was quiet, all attention was focused on habib as he got ready to make his shot...He has struggled a bit from teh free throw line lately, but is a a career 85% shooter...He has played a brilliant game thus far...And these are teh biggest free throws of his life...

See what I mean..? Its still 2 free throws (still just a speech) but even if you don't play or understand basketball, you can still describe the feeling of the game, and someone know that it is a big difference between being up 20 and shooting free throws, and being down 1, shooting free throws...

Approach this speech the same way...For just an example...

During the World War Era, a slumping Canadian house was faced with a difficut decision of choosing a keynot speaker...Morale was down, and pressure was building due to lack of involvement...A young, newly elected candidate stepped to the podium, and noone knew what to expect...30,000 people stood, awaiting something...Anything...That could give them direction...

Its easy Homez...Like paiting a picture...Set the stage by provoiding the background for the speech...

#6

You could start by introducing the climate in which the speech was given. Remember, this wasn't too long after WWI and most governments were trying to do anything to avoid another war. The British government under Neville Chamberlain appeased the Nazis to the point that the King and many Brits lost confidence in his ability to deal firmly with Hitler. It was at this point that Chamberlain had to resign and Churchill was appointed. Churchill had been in and out of government positions most of his adult life, but had been appointed Lord of the Admiralty just shortly before Chamberlain resigned. He had been very vocal in his writings about the threat of the Nazis and what should be happening.

It was in this situation that Churchill found himself being placed and he accepted the challenge with all the vigor he had in him. He was a very firey personality and so he saw part of his duty as transfering some of that "fire" into his countrymen. He knew that it would not be an easy sell; they were a small country facing a modern, revitalized military machine. But everyone could see what Germany was doing and would continue to do until it was stopped. The problem was getting his countrymen to join him in accepting the responsibility to do something about it.

They had no assurance of any help from anyone else. The US had become very isolationist after WWI and had essentially told Europe, "Take care of your problems yourselves". It wasn't until we were attacked directly by Japan that we were drawn into the war. Granted, the US was a MAJOR supplier of war materiel to the Allies (Britain, Australia, & France). Our merchant ships were being targeted by the U-boat wolfpacks just off our coast. (side note: there are some GREAT wreck dives off the East coast that I'd recommend to any SCUBA divers out there).

That's the world that Churchill was dealing with when he made this address to Parliment. He knew that the road ahead was going to be very rough and that their nation would undergo some horrific events, but they could not afford to let things go any further. It was time to face the threat and do something about Hitler's Germany.

Feel free to quote me. LOL

#7

Oh my God...you guys...haha did you do higher level English or something..???

Okay I really like Mr. Ayhja's example that he gave for the INTRO...Damn right, I'm gonna use it of course..! It's just...really amazing...
Haha Mr. Ayhja, your style of writing, that's what my teacher likes..!

deepdiver32073's idea would be really good guidelines and quotable's for the 2nd paragraph and 3rd paragraph...

Thank you you guys, damn it's not like I still find the commentary on the speech easy, but at least you guys have made it seem a bit easier now, LoL thanks..!

#8

And don't neglect that this was also a veiled intent to gain the anttention of the Americans that Britain was willing to go back to the gold standard, for assistance in preserving their sovereignty against the nazi expansion.

(This was our true motive for assisting in the War, by engineering the Pearl Harbor attack, that was premature by about a week and got out of hand when instead of operational strafing, which we had expected and allowed for - was escalated and followed up by horrific suicide bombers which greatly impacted.)

Churchill was a popular author on an intolerance to the Nazi expansion, and Britain realized quickly that his kind of intolearnce would be the only way the European countries would find any opposition to occupation. His Liberal political stance was perhaps the most allowable for a practical govt. The British Conservative Chamberlain was clearly more fond of allowing the Nazis to expand, and arranging a popular allowance. This almost cost them their borders, when France offered no opposition to the Germans.

summary:

1. The King told me to form a new implementation of govermental force to coordinate a response to the Nazi threat.
2. It will take about a week, and we started three days ago. You have four days until you govt completely changes.
3. The reasons for these changes are necessary, as is their urgency. Welcome to the new era of Britain's destiny.
4. All facets of goverment will have as their prime directive to keep the British War Machine well oiled and well-fueled.

5. Now that is almost done... We can get a record of your approval. (Not that we really care, as your positions are secure, but your authority is subject to the limited jurisdiction that this new British War Machine forged of the remnants of our Empire assigns it.)

--------

The Resolution:

We dont have much time to talk, and no time for debate. We have ALOT of work to do, not the least of which is protection of our colonies and protectorates, and to secure our strategy for my allies.

if you think it has been bad yet, you are mistaken. We have a hell ahead of us, and we better start weaving handbaskets.

So, Chamberlain has suggested we hide behind Europe. No dice. We will take the WAR to Germany. We will prepare for air stirkes, but WE WILL ATTACK UNTIL THERE IS NO ENEMY. There can be no recourse, no hesitation, no option but COMPLETE ABSOLUTE VICTORY. We can not fight to a standstill, like the first world-war. We can not ally ourselves with such evil, whihc represents all WE ARE NOT. To compromise in this path of destruction is to accept we have been destroyed, for we are no longer what the glory of our Empire has become.