Rhetorical Devices In Their Finest Hour Speech

931 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Interpretations on churchills leadership

Following the collapse of France during World War II, the conditions the Allied powers faced became bleaker by the day. The United Kingdom was standing alone in the face of Germany, and under Hitler’s reign, the German “blitzkrieg” or “lightning war,” a tactic involving bombardment, tanks, and ground troops in quick offense proved too much for many countries. Winston Churchill would be the one to reignite hope in the hearts of the British people, delivering his “Their Finest Hour” speech on the 18th of June, 1940. Churchill utilized persuasive rhetoric whilst appealing to the people's logic and emotions, to raise morale and spirit in the United Kingdom to fight. Winston Churchill had an incredible background, which had earned him the respect …show more content…

He mentions that their army is not one that should be taken lightly, “…in this Island today [we have] a very large and powerful military force. This force comprises all our best-trained and our finest troops, including scores of thousands of those who have already measured their quality against the Germans and found themselves at no disadvantage.” (Churchill) Churchill references the British that have supported the effort in the French conflict, as well as those who have performed in the Battle of Dunkirk and survived, commending their strength and resolve. To further support his standing, Churchill begins listing the chances of German success in invading the United Kingdom, stating that due to “our superior naval surface forces, aided by our submarines,” (Churchill) an invasion by the sea would be a difficult task for the Germans, coupled with the strength of the British Air Force, an air attack would be unlikely to succeed in German favor. That the British, “in the fighting over Dunkirk, which was a sort of no-man’s-land, we undoubtedly beat the German Air Force, and gained the mastery of the local air, inflicting here a loss of three or four to one day after day.” (Churchill) These pieces of information pushed away the fears of air domination by the German force, and in general, …show more content…

He does so by alluding towards the efforts in the First World War, that “during the first four years of the last war the Allies experienced nothing but disaster and disappointment. That was our constant fear: one blow after another, terrible losses, frightful dangers. Everything miscarried.” (Churchill) Churchill related the direness of the situation in the past to the present, and in the past they came out as victors, and as history repeats, they will become victors in the present as well. Churchill also points out a moral right to continue fighting the Germans, referencing the suffering of those who have been conquered by Hitler, and changing the meaning of the war from a simple win or loss, but to a more global conflict that will change the history of all that is known. “Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire... If we can stand up to [Hitler], all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age…” (Churchill) This

Show More
Related

  • Analyzing Winston Churchill's Speech 'The Lights Are Going Out'

    1301 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through his speeches, he tried to persuade America to join in the fight against the growing power if Nazism. One of his speeches are “The Lights Are Going Out”. He said this speech in 1938, to the people of the United States. The purpose of his speech was to encourage the US to join forces with Britain to overtake Nazi Germany. The subject of his speech is the loss of other countries, and America joining the war, and the tone of the speech is urgency. Churchill’s word choices in his speech “The Lights Are Going Out” are effective through his use of rhetoric and vocal techniques.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Rhetorical Devices In The Thing Hings They Carried

    901 Words  | 2 Pages

    Analyzing innocence has always been a difficult task, not only due to it’s rapid reevaluation in the face of changing societal values, but also due to the highly private and personal nature of the concept. The differences between how people prioritize different types of innocence - childhood desires, intellectual naivety, sexual purity, criminal guilt, etc. - continually obscures the definition of innocence. This can make it difficult for people to sympathize with others’ loss of purity, simply because their definition of that loss will always be dissimilar to the originally expressed idea. Innocence can never truly be adequately described, simply because another will never be able to precisely decipher the other’s words. It is this challenge, the challenge of verbally depicting the isolationism of the corruption of innocence, that Tim O’Brien attempts to endeavour in his fictionalized memoir, The

    Read More

  • First Inaugural Address Rhetorical Analysis

    1634 Words  | 4 Pages

    There have been many historical events in history that have impacted America in many ways. For example, famous Speeches given by important people such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the united states which his main goal was to help America recover from the severe economic issues during the 1930’s. Roosevelt used rhetorical devices to persuade desperate Americans, wounded from the Great Depression, by introducing a plan which it will be the best way to recover from the severe crisis that affected Americans. In Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address, he used personification, diction, and antimetabole to convey his conflicting feelings about the New Deal, in order to face the economic issues

    Read More

  • The Hall Of Fame Rhetorical Devices

    650 Words  | 2 Pages

    Writing a song is certainly a difficult task, there are many techniques used in the making of songs. The artist writes a song very carefully in order to properly convey the message to the listeners. Some songs in particular use a lot of techniques to show the listener their reason for creating the song. There are so many different themes a song can portray. “The Hall of Fame” is one of those songs. The point of this song is to inspire people going through a tough time, and show them they can get through it and become something great. The Script’s song “Hall of Fame” uses rhetorical devices in a way that makes the listener understand that in order to overcome every obstacle life has, the listener has to fight for it.

    Read More

  • Winston Churchill: We Shall Fight on the Beaches

    930 Words  | 2 Pages

    As explained before, this speech was able to significantly restore and raise morale. It prepared Britain for its ‘Darkest Hour’ and how long of a road it would be. This is considered one of Churchill’s finest speeches to this day and how it was so effective amongst the British people. It proved that a valiant defense and an effective leadership could overcome a significantly larger army. Churchill’s speech was not in vain. The blitzkrieg on Britain was a strategic German failure and the consistent bombing of London was able to in some cases improve morale with the British people and was able to show how resilient the island nation can be. For once, Nazi Germany suffered its first major defeat blazing a war trail throughout Europe.

    Read More

  • The Duel

    1039 Words  | 3 Pages

    Once actually forced to fight, Hitler still dominated and he could have very possibly won the war if not for that one fatal mistake he made by hesitating in his plans against the English. I think it is important that Lukacs makes sure to get this message across because some people choose to ignore this truth due to the devastating outcomes that would have resulted if Hitler succeeded. The major point presented by Lukacs concerning the difference between Hitler and Churchill has to do with nationalim versus patriotism. Lukacs describes Hitler as a nationalist and Churchill as a patriot. He describes Hitler as a man of ideas and Churchill as a of man principles, because Churchill's ideas changed throughout the war while Hitler tended to think that his ideas were principles.

    Read More

  • Blood, Tears, And Sweat By Anne Frank: The Definition Of War

    712 Words  | 2 Pages

    First of all, there were many instances that Winston Churchill stated positive things in his speech Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat that gave hope to the British citizens. A few sentences that show this the strongest are, “I take up my task in buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among

    Read More

  • Churchill the Lion Who Roared

    1032 Words  | 3 Pages

    As Lukas wrote, “Churchill understood something that not many people understand even now. The greatest threat to Western civilization was not Communism. It was National Socialism.” Churchill was a modern Nostradamus in his prophetic wisdom. He became a better leader because “the mind of an historian and courage of a soldier.” He understood history patterns really well and was willing to take the risk by informing people of facts they didn’t want to hear. Churchill refused repercussion or allowed euphemistic language to blind him. He led with unembellished facts.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Appeals

    567 Words  | 2 Pages

    After reviewing this week’s episodes of serial, and given our topic, I found that the Rhetorical Appeals are directly linked to the court cases. These Rhetorical Appeals (Ethos, Pathos, and Logos), are used throughout both cases. From Jay’s case, it’s clear that Pathos and Ethos are two main elements supporting his defense. However in Adnan’s case, Logos was the prevalent appeal when defending his innocence.

    Read More

  • The Defeat of German in World War Two

    2995 Words  | 6 Pages

    During the early stages of the war, most of Germany’s victories were because of the success of blitzkrieg, or lightening war. Blitzkrieg tactics emphasised mobility and the concentrated use of armour and air power to overwhelm an enemy. Blitzkrieg was especially successful in flat, open countryside and was supremely suited for the Polish campaign in 1939. It was with blitzkrieg, as well as Germany’s superior tactics, effective use of armour, airpower and modern equipment, plus with the support of the USSR that the Germans used to overwhelm Poland in only 5 weeks. Two days after the German troops entered Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany. Hitler did not want this because it was a distraction from his main aim, to attack the USSR.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Dunkirk And The Darkest Hour

    909 Words  | 2 Pages

    For example, Churchill is criticized by many political leaders for lying to the public about the success of the British military in the war, a decision which may have been made in the interest of the government despite its false basis. Furthermore, Churchill’s election is shown not at the result of his potential as a good leader, but rather because he was the only option that the opposition party would accept: many people agreed to him becoming Prime Minister not because they believed he would succeed, but because it was in the interests of their political careers. Military leaders are largely irrelevant, mainly seen as pawns who can be directed to fulfill the purpose of the war. In contrast, in Dunkirk, political leaders are never mentioned aside from Churchill’s Operation Dynamo. The perspective of the battlefield portrays these political leaders as distant, and

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Winston Churchill's Speech

    664 Words  | 2 Pages

    If you look closely at the text, you’ll notice that at the beginning of his speech, Churchill was using general words to explain the formation of the new administration and cabinet, but toward the second half Churchill was using more complex and colorful words to make the audience visualize his words. For instance in the text it says, “...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.” this helps the audience think about their enemy, which was Germany, as a monster in the dark and grief filled part of human crime. He does this because he wants to exaggerate Germany as something of real evil and make the audience afraid of Germany, but he says that the country needs to use its strength to fight back and this makes the audience motivated to join the war and fight the Germans. Another technique Churchill uses to create urgency is rhythm. At the end of his speech, Winston Churchill uses repetition on the words victory and no survival, he does this because he wants to emphasize the thought of victory was possible and he also wanted to use fear as a way to motivate the

    Read More

  • ‘We Shall Fight on the Beaches’- A Rhetorical Analysis

    1568 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sir Winston Churchill’s speech, ‘We Shall Fight on the Beaches’ was a wonderful piece of moving rhetoric. The diction that Churchill uses to deliver his message is not so advanced that one cannot understand him easily, but still manages to portray a sense of Churchill’s deeply intellectual status without being condescending. It is a very inspirational piece, a moving speech, and a powerful call to action aimed to uplift the downtrodden population of Britain at the time. Churchill responded to the need for inspiration with his now-famous speech. His use of rhetoric not only inspired Britain, but was a powerful tool that brought about a final victory over the Nazis.

    Read More

  • Great Britain During World War II

    1434 Words  | 3 Pages

    Six hours later, France would also declare war on Germany. In May 1940, Britain would get a more aggressive pro-war leader, Winston Churchill, to replace Neville Chamberlain. Later that month, on May 26, 1940, in the face of a large-scale German attack, British soldiers on the home front were forced to perform one of the largest evacuations in history, The Evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk on the Belgian coast. From July through October, the British people suffered during the Battle of Britain, which was a lot of intense German bombings. But, the Royal Air Force successfully defended its homeland from the German Luftwaffe, and the Nazis were unable to crush British morale.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Winston Churchill's Their Finest Hour Speech

    1844 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Second World War marked one of the most important eras in the history of the British Empire. Never before had the British isles faced a threat quite like the Nazi menace across the English Channel. Yet, Britain’s situation could be viewed as even more precarious once one considers the state of Britain’s economy, but more importantly war machine, at the outbreak of the war. Years of austerity during the Great Depression had left her armies in serious decay, while Germany had built arguably the strongest military in the world. Yet, Winston Churchill’s famous “Their Finest Hour” speech illustrates a level of confidence in victory that many Brits carried. And, this was in no small part due to the fact that they knew that they had the rest of the British Empire supporting their cause. Through the empire’s contribution of both materials and

    Read More

More about Rhetorical Devices In Their Finest Hour Speech

Open Document