Winston Churchill Quotes
First, Poland has been again overrun by two of the great powers which held her in bondage for 150 years but were unable to quench the spirit of the Polish nation. The heroic defense of Warsaw shows that the soul of Poland is indestructible, and that she will rise again like a rock which may for a spell be submerged by a tidal wave but which remains a rock.
Churchill, Winston. "The First Month of War." Radio Broadcast, 1 Oct. 1939, London.
The notion that a the first line of a national anthem should be focused on the survival of the nation is explained by the history of countries that have and have not existed having been overrun and occupied and absorbed into other nations. That fear exists centuries later. See Ukraine for another example {642421}.
The song was adopted as the Polish national anthem in 1927. At the battle of Macieowice, the great Polish hero, Thaddeus Kosciusko, was seriously wounded and is said to have uttered, “Poland is finished.” The song written by another General was meant to counteract the psychological effect that the Russian enemies of Poland were trying to create by quoting Kosciusko. There are even today, Polish patriots who claim that Kosciusko never made the statement and it was all propaganda.
In one of the most unusual revolutions in world history, Brazil became independent from Portugal via a revolution led by the son of the Portuguese King and heir to the throne, Pedro I. The crown prince of Portugal, led Brazil in her breakaway from Portugal and by popular acclaim became Pedro I, Emperor of Brazil. He is probably the only monarch in history who was the heredity monarch of one kingdom and selected by popular acclaim to the throne of another.
The notion that a the first line of a national anthem should be focused on the survival of the nation is explained by the history of countries that have and have not existed having been overrun and occupied and absorbed into other nations. That fear exists centuries later. See Poland for another example {642422}.
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, DL, FRS, RA was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, during the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955. Apart from two years between 1922 and 1924, Churchill was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1900 to 1964 and represented a total of five constituencies. Ideologically an economic liberal and imperialist, he was for most of his career a member of the Conservative Party, as leader from 1940 to 1955. He was a member of the Liberal Party from 1904 to 1924. Churchill was also well known for his military career and as a historian, painter and writer, and among his many awards was the Nobel Prize in Literature.