“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
Winston Churchill, The Lord Mayor’s Luncheon, Mansion House, November 10, 1942
This line feels so right for where we are right now.
For full context of the timing and environment when Churchill said this, I share the segment of his speech below.
To summarise, it was a little over three years into the war and a year and a half after the end of the Blitz. The end of the beginning was the first major victory for the Allies in the war. Nobody knew when the end would be, but it was the “end of the beginning”.
As I post this, the UK marks four weeks today in lockdown and we have now crested the “first wave”, as well as seeing other countries within one or two weeks either side of our status.
For ourselves and those we lead, and as I wrote about 11 days ago, our role is to look at “What Comes Next“.
However, as we start another week, perhaps give yourself permission to pause for a moment, then to give thanks. We do not know what comes next, but: “it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning”.
From the Archives of the Churchill Society
After a series of defeats from Dunkirk to Singapore, Churchill could finally tell the House of Commons that “we have a new experience. We have victory – a remarkable and definite victory.”:
“Alexander and Montgomery turned back Rommel’s forces at El Alamein, thus winning what Churchill called “The Battle of Egypt.” I have never promised anything but blood, tears, toil, and sweat. Now, however, the bright gleam has caught the helmets of our soldiers, and warmed and cheered all our hearts.”
“The late M. Venizelos observed that in all her wars England — he should have said Britain, of course — always wins one battle — the last. It would seem to have begun rather earlier this time. General Alexander, with his brilliant comrade and lieutenant, General Montgomery, has gained a glorious and decisive victory in what I think should be called the battle of Egypt. Rommel’s army has been defeated. It has been routed. It has been very largely destroyed as a fighting force.”
“This battle was not fought for the sake of gaining positions or so many square miles of desert territory. General Alexander and General Montgomery fought it with one single idea. they meant to destroy the armed force of the enemy and to destroy it at the place where the disaster would be most far-reaching and irrecoverable….”
“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.“