Churchill and Russia: ‘A Resolve to Persevere Through Many Differences’

Abstract

This article contends that Winston Churchill's tenure as Secretary of State for War was the most consequential period for his relationship with Russia. By helping to consolidate his views on the county's geopolitical position and of communism and providing a glimpse of a nation which was capable of democracy and neither inherently Tsarist nor Soviet, those years shaped his perceptions of modern Russia more than any other period. Such views later played a role in forming Churchill's approach to Anglo-Soviet relations in the build up to the Second World War, and his insistence on co-operation with Stalin. His experience of Russia's civil war is therefore necessary for understanding his views of the Soviet Union: he judged it relative to an ideal of modern Russia. Ultimately, the article supports the conclusion that the Grand Alliance with the USSR was the result of a complex evolution in Churchill's views of Russia and international politics, rather than simply sharing a common foe.