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Rolling Stone calls “Dunkirk” the greatest war movie ever. Director Christopher Nolan has made a film that’s “stunning and stirring,” according to the review. Nolan was captivated by the “Dunkirk spirit” that marked the massive and heroic World War II rescue that took place from May 26 to June 4, 1940.
Dunkirk is said to have strengthened the British resolve to fight against Nazi Germany in the face of overwhelming odds. But it did so only after an eloquent and charismatic speaker with a love for words—prime minister Winston Churchill—reframed the event for the public.
At 3:40 p.m. on June 4, 1940, Churchill delivered an update to the House of Commons. A radio announcer read the speech to the public that night (Churchill himself didn’t narrate an audio recording until years later). The evacuation of Dunkirk, code-named Operation Dynamo, ended with the astonishing rescue of 338,000 allied soldiers off the shore of a small French village. The German army had overrun much of the country and the soldiers were trapped. A flotilla of 900 British Navy ships and small boats manned by civilians carried the soldiers across the English channel. They did this all under heavy German bombardment.
Was the retreat a defeat or a victory? Thirty thousand British soldiers had lost their lives or were taken prisoner. France would surrender to Nazi Germany before the month was over. Despite the losses, Churchill called the event “a miracle of deliverance.” Newspapers carried the headline: “Miracle of Deliverance.”
Churchill’s words and style transformed Dunkirk into a symbol of British courage.
In the speech, Churchill did not begin with the headline: 338,000 allied soldiers rescued. Instead, he acknowledged that he expected “perhaps” 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers to be rescued. He built up the suspense to show how much the odds were stacked against them. “The enemy attacked on all sides with great strength and fierceness,” Churchill said. The enemy “sowed magnetic mines in the channel” and sent “repeated waves of hostile aircraft, more than a hundred strong in one formation.” Under the “ceaseless hail of bombs,” the civilians on the boats “never faltered.”
Although Churchill did not sugarcoat the grave situation facing Britain (the losses were “enormous”), Churchill spoke as if Britain had already won the war. His words were short and decisive. “We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end,” Churchill said. Imagine if Churchill had hedged his bet. Nobody would have been inspired if Churchill said, “We might continue to wage war if we deem the conditions favorable.”
In the climatic final paragraph of the speech, Churchill leaves no room for discussion. His words are optimistic, defiant, confident and decisive—exactly what people needed to hear.
“We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight in the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
Churchill uses two powerful rhetorical devices in the paragraph: anaphora and vivid imagery.
Anaphora is the repetition of the same words or phrases in successive sentences. When Churchill repeats “We shall fight…we shall fight…we shall fight,” each sentence adds to the power of the moment. It’s almost impossible not to be moved. A member of parliament wrote in his diary that many in the chamber had tears in their eyes.
Churchill’s speech also included vivid imagery. The British wouldn’t just fight…they would fight “in the air…on the beaches…in the hills…in the streets.” Churchill once said that the last lines of a speech should have a “rapid succession of waves of sound and vivid pictures.” The brain doesn’t process abstractions very well. Churchill’s words were specific, tangible and vivid.
Churchill was very young when he first understood the power of words to inspire. At the age of 22, he wrote, “Of all the talents bestowed upon men, none is so precious as the gift of oratory. He who enjoys it wields a power more durable than that of a great king.”
Dunkirk should be remembered so it can continue to inspire generations. It’s also important to remember that inspiring leaders are always necessary to infuse the Dunkirk spirit into the soul of their listeners.
