TIMELINE OF EVENTS
1874 Born, 30 November
1876 Churchill family moves to Dublin
1880 Churchill family returns to England
1882 Enrolled at St George’s School at Ascot
1884 Enrolled at Brunswick School in Hove
1886 Father becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer
1887 Enrolled at Harrow
1893 Enrolled at Royal Military College at Sandhurst
1894 Commissioned cavalry officer in the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars
1895 Father dies
Writes for the Daily Graphic covering the Spanish American War in Cuba
First visit to the United States
1896 Stationed in India and undergoes self-education
1897 Covers siege of the Malakand for the Daily Telegraph and sees action in the Malakand Field Force on the North-West Frontier of India
1898 Publishes first book
Participates in and covers the Battle of Omdurman in Sudan for the Morning Post
1899 Unsuccessfully stands for Parliament in Oldham by-election
Becomes prisoner of war in South Africa and a national hero when he escapes
1900 Successfully stands for Oldham
Visits United States and Canada on lecture tour
1901 Maiden speech in Parliament
1904 Switches from Tories to Liberals
1905 Becomes Colonial Under-Secretary
1907 Tours Africa
1908 Promoted to President of the Board of Trade
Marries Clementine Hozier
1909 Diana Churchill born
1910 Becomes Home Secretary
1911 Siege of Sidney Street
Randolph Churchill born
Becomes First Lord of the Admiralty
1913 Founds Royal Naval Flying Corps
1914 Outbreak of the First World War
Commands Defence of Antwerp
Sarah Churchill born
1915 The Dardanelles
Dismissed from the Admiralty
Demoted to Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
1916 Commissioned as lieutenant-colonel and commands 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers
1917 Rejoins the Government as Minister for Munitions
1918 First World War armistice
Marigold Churchill born
1919 Becomes Secretary for War and Air
1921 Becomes Colonial Secretary
Founds Middle East Department in Colonial Office
Chairs Cairo Conference, founding Jordan and Iraq
Death of Marigold Churchill
1922 Chanak crisis and fall of the Lloyd George coalition
Loses Dundee election
Mary Churchill born
1924 ‘Re-rats’ to the Tory Party
Appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer
1925 Returns Britain to the Gold Standard
1926 General Strike
1929 Churchill returns to the USA on a tour
1931 Not invited to join the cabinet because of his views on Indian independence
Hit by motor car in New York
1932 Enters political wilderness
Nearly meets Adolf Hitler in Germany
1933 Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany
1935 Stanley Baldwin appointed Prime Minister
1936 Abdication crisis
1937 Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister
1938 Munich Agreement
1939 ‘Churchill is Back!’ He is named First Lord of the Admiralty
Molotov–Ribbentrop pact signed, 23 August
Hitler invades Poland starting the Second World War, 1 September
1940 Churchill is named Prime Minister, 10 May
Churchill convinces the cabinet to fight on, 28 May
Dunkirk evacuation, May/June
Fall of Paris, June
Establishment of Vichy France, 22 June
Churchill orders attack on French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir, 3 July
Battle of Britain begins, 10 July
1941 British troops evacuate Greece, 30 April
Hitler breaks the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact and unleashes Operation Barbarossa, 22 June
Atlantic Charter signed, 14 August
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, bringing the USA into the war, 7 December
1942 Fall of Singapore, February
Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad, 22 August
Battle of El Alamein, November
1943 First Quebec Conference, August
Invasion of the Italian mainland, 3 September
Teheran Conference, November
1944 D-Day invasion of Normandy, 6 June
Second Quebec Conference, September
1945 Yalta Conference, February
Death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 12 April
Hitler commits suicide, 30 April
VE Day, 8 May
Potsdam Conference, July
Conservatives lose general election and Churchill loses his premiership, July
End of the Second World War, 2 September
1946 Describes the ‘Iron Curtain’ in ‘Sinews of Peace’ speech at Fulton, Missouri, 5 March
Gives the ‘United States of Europe’ speech in Zurich, 19 September
1951 Tories win the 1951 general election and Churchill returns as Prime Minister, 25 October
1953 Churchill suffers significant stroke, June
1955 Retires as Prime Minister, 6 April
1961 Visits the USA for the last time on Aristotle Onassis’s yacht Christina
1963 Named first honorary citizen of the United States by John F. Kennedy
1964 Stands down as MP for Woodford, 15 October
1965 Dies seventy years to the day after his father’s death, 24 January