This speech delivered by Prime Minister Winston Churchill on June 18,1940.
"THE FINEST HOUR"
We may now ask ourselves in what way has our position worsened since the beginning of the war. It is worsened by the fact that the Germans have conquered a large part of the coast of the Allies in Western Europe, and many small countries have been overrun by them.....We must not forget that from the moment we declared war on September 3, it was always possible for German to turn all her air force on this country. There would be other devices of invasion, and France could do little or nothing to prevent her. We have therefore lived under this danger during all these months.....If we are now called upon to endure what (the France)have suffered,we will emulate their courage,and if final victory rewards our toils they shall share the gain-aye,freedom shall be restored to all. We abate nothing in our just demands.
What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. The battle of Britain is about to begin. On this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British lift and the long continuity of our institutions and our empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned upon us. Hitler knows he will have to breaks us in this island or lost the war
If we can stand up to him all Europe may be freed and the lift of the world may move forward into broad sunlit uplands;but if we fail, The whole world, including the United State and all that we known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister and perhaps more prolonged by the lights of a perverted science.
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty and so bear ourselves that if the British Commonwealth and Empire last for a thousand years, men will still say This was their finest hour.
Sumber: The last art of the great speech by Richard Dowis
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