His Costly Mistakes

Churchill inspired millions, but he also got big things wrong.

• He pushed hard for the 1940 Norway campaign, which ended in retreat and exposed his weakness for risky military gambles
• He resisted the D-Day invasion of France, favoring the Mediterranean instead and slowing the Allied advance
• During the Bengal famine of 1943, in which an estimated three million Indians died, his choices remain bitterly debated

He opposed Indian independence for decades, once dismissing Gandhi as "a half-naked fakir."