Englishness, Myth and Connectivity

Barely four weeks in office, on 4 June 1940, Winston Churchill went before the House of Commons to perform one of his most defining rhetorical feats. On the previous day the evacuation at Dunkirk had effectively been completed but the new Prime Minister did not deem this a cause for celebration: with France teetering on the brink of collapse and the prospect of Hitler's invasion of Britain seeming only a matter of time, Churchill chose to dispel any illusions Britons might be harbouring at this stage. As his speech unfolded, he reminded his audience that wars are not won by evacuations and, more importantly, that Britain's struggle for survival was imminent. Yet the closing words of his address remove themselves from the ineluctable reality of a war going badly and, instead, weave a vision of a mythical victory built on defiance, providence and the mobilisation of the inner sanctum of British identity, insularity: