In May 1940, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi war machine were sweeping across the European continent.

The future of the free world hung in the balance.

An isolationist leaning United States was an ocean away.

There was one man who stood between Hitler's seemingly invincible army and crushing defeat.

That one man was Winston Churchill.

He was born on November 30, 1874,

though we think of him as the quintessential Englishman, he was actually half American.

His mother, Jenny, was the daughter of a wealthy New York stock speculator.

His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was of English nobility and a major political figure.

From his early school days, Churchill recognised the power of words.

Throughout his life, he used them with consummate skill. They never let him down.

He first made a name for himself as a war correspondent in the 1890s,

covering conflicts in Cuba, Northern India, the Sudan and South Africa.

Though he never abandoned journalism and became one of the greatest historians of his age,

Churchill used his family connections and his own fame to launch himself into politics.

His confident manner and matchless oratory marked him as a natural leader.

1914 and World War I found him in the key position of First Lord of the Admiralty,

where he did much to modernise Britain's navy. In 1915,

Churchill thought he could bring a speedy end to the war by opening a new front in Turkey,

which he perceived as the weak link in the German alliance against the Allies.

This led to the infamous Gallipoli campaign.

Badly underestimating the fighting strength of the Turks,

...