On May 10th 1940 Germany invaded Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom upon the resignation of Neville Chamberlain. The United Kingdom invaded Iceland, and Belgium declared a state of emergency.

As the new prime minister, Churchill was called on to form a wartime coalition government. On May 13, 1940 Winston Churchill gave his First Speech as Prime Minister to the House of Commons.

Why this speech?

World War II changed the face of the world. There were two possible paths ahead. One side represented division, discrimination and destruction in the name of making one nation “great” among the rest of the world. The other path, was fighting for it’s existence and against all the evils that their opponents stood for.

Churchill is one of the great orators of the 20th century and this speech captures so succinctly that moment in history… with parallels to today that are not lost on me.