Churchill about to broadcast to the nation on the afternoon of 8 May 1945, Victory in Europe Day copyright: IWM (H 41843)...

copyright: IWM (BU 8962)...

VE Day Celebrations (1945) A Day that Shook the World The war in Europe is declared over as celebrations break out across Britain A Day That Shook The World is the classic...

The crossing of the Rhine in March 1945 was followed by the final German collapse On 3 May, more than half a million soldiers surrendered to Montgomery Another million followed: on...

Buckingham Palace on VE Day: Despite the film slipping, and only partial sound, this clip still conveys the enormity of the crowds – and the occasion https://wwwyoutubecom/embed/_TDkwwkXqJY copyright: British...

The celebrations begin Although no...

Churchill later gave an impromptu speech to a vast crowd from the balcony of the Ministry of Health at the lower end of Whitehall, telling the crowds, 'This is your victory!' to which they responded loudly: ‘No – it is yours!’ Later that evening, Churchill went out again on to the balcony to speak to the crowds. The last official event of VE Day was a broadcast to the nation by George VI at 9.00pm. Buckingham Palace was lit up by floodlights for the first time since the country had been forced into ‘blackout’ at the start of the War and two searchlights arced over St Paul’s Cathedral, which had withstood the German’s bombing, in a giant ‘V for Victory. In the early hours of 9 May, the celebratory lights were extinguished. The war against Japan was still to be won. Victory had been achieved at great cost – the lives of men, women and children; the destruction of homes and cities; the dislocation of peoples, exhaustion of finances and a weakened British economy. But Britain – led by Churchill, in his and Britain’s ‘finest hour’ – had achieved what it set out to do. Its people had dared and endured and seen victory, ‘in spite of terror’. They – and Churchill – had survived. And for one glorious day, VE Day, they could celebrate.

The armistice to end the First World War was signed on 11 November 1918, and determined a ceasefire at 11am that morning. This is now commemorated as Armistice Day, and each year at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month there is a two-minute silence for people to pause and remember those who died during the conflict. Read Churchill’s own recollection of the day in , and also Dr Warren Dockter’s consideration of one of the most remarkable aspects of Churchill’s character in .

With the net tightening around Germany, the Allied Leaders regrouped to clarify their plans for the final offensive. Yalta, on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea, was deemed a safe venue for the second meeting of ‘The Big Three’. Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt gathered on 4 February 1945 and agreed the plans for the final offensive, the occupation policy for Germany and the establishment of the United Nations and its Security Council. Stalin also agreed to enter the war against Japan, something for which Roosevelt was criticized. But in February 1945, the Japanese still seemed a formidable opponent and the the Soviet Union’s vast army might be needed to oppose them. Even more crucially, Roosevelt was criticised for ‘giving’ Eastern Europe to Stalin. However, there was little else he could do. The simple military fact in February 1945 was that the Soviet Union dominated Eastern Europe and that the power of the atomic bomb (that had yet to be tested) clearly couldn’t be relied on as a counter-measure to curb Stalin’s ambitions. Victory had been achieved at great cost – the lives of men, women and children; the destruction of homes and cities; the dislocation of peoples, exhaustion of finances and a weakened British economy. But Britain – led by Churchill, in his and Britain’s ‘finest hour’ – had achieved what it set out to do. Its people had dared and endured and seen victory, ‘in spite of terror’. They – and Churchill – had survived.