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The Churchills
David Starkey uncovers the links between Britain's two greatest war leaders, both called Churchill: Winston, who defeated Hitler, and his ancestor John Churchill, who faced down Louis XIV of France. Starkey tells the story of the two greatest war leaders in British history, both of whom were called Churchill. Everyone knows Winston Churchill led Britain and her Allies in their struggle against Hitler; less well known is John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, who led Britain and her Allies against an earlier would-be dictator of Europe, the Sun King Louis XIV of France.
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Episode 1
The Choice
47 mins
Historian Starkey assesses the position of Winston Churchill during his political wilderness days of the early 1930s,when he was writing a biography of his ancestor,John Churchill,the future Duke of Marlborough. John had been a trusted general at the court of James II,with whose daughter Anne,John's wife Sarah was a great friend but,fearing that the Catholic James would tyrannise the largely Protestant England had helped William of Orange,husband to Anne's sister Mary,to invade the country and depose the king. Just as Churchill was a lone British voice against the atrocities of Hitler in Europe Starkey sees John Churchill as being only too aware of the expansionist plans of the French monarch Louis XIV and draws a comparison between the two Churchills.
