View source for Draft:This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

{{AFC submission|d|essay|u=Mogadorien|ns=118|decliner=GoldRomean|declinets=20250629211830|ts=20250629193956}} <!-- Do not remove this line! -->

{{AFC comment|1=Most of the article is about background, not the quote. Written like an essay, not an article. Also note the article [[Second Battle of El Alamein]]. [[User:GoldRomean|GoldRomean]] ([[User talk:GoldRomean|talk]]) 21:18, 29 June 2025 (UTC)}}

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{{Short description| Churchill's speech, the turn of the tide, after El Alamein and Op.Torch}}
{{Draft topics|media}}
{{AfC topic|soc}}

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[[File:Winston Churchill, cigar in mouth, gives his famous 'V' for victory sign during a visit to Bradford, 4 December 1942. H25966.jpg|thumb|Winston Churchill, cigar in mouth, gives his famous 'V' for victory sign during a visit to Bradford, 4 December 1942.|upright]]
This sentence, taken from one of his most memorable wartime speeches, was publicly delivered.<ref>{{cite web| language=en| website=International Churchill Society | title=Autumn 1942 (Age 68)| date=2015-03-12| url=https://winstonchurchill.org/the-life-of-churchill/war-leader/1940-1942/autumn-1942-age-68/}}</ref> by [[Winston Churchill]], on 10 November 1942<ref>{{cite AV media | language=en| title=The End of the Beginning, Wartime Speeches 1939-1945|orig-date=November 10, 1942| author=Winston Churchill| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyOnrueJgGg| editor=Decca Music Group| publisher=Universal Music Group| minutes=4:08| access-date=2025-05-25}}</ref>, at the Lord Mayor's Day luncheon<ref>{{cite AV media| language=en| title=Time To Remember - The End of The Beginning 1942| series= Reel 4 (1942)| type= motion picture| publisher=British Pathé| orig-year=1942| website=britishpathe.com| location=London| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lUiG-fTfXk| minutes=7| author=<!-- not stated --> | access-date=2025-06-15}}</ref>, at London's City Hall, where he had arrived with his wife in an open car preceded by loudspeakers, making his way through a cheering crowd in the City<ref>{{cite web| language=en| website=International Churchill Society | title=Autumn 1942 (Age 68 )| date=March 12, 2015| url=https://winstonchurchill.org/the-life-of-churchill/war-leader/1940-1942/autumn-1942-age-68/ }}</ref>.
After the decisive victory at  [[Second Battle of El Alamein|El Alamein]] and the launch of this [[Operation Torch|major complex Allied operation]] launched on November 8, the success of which was already underway on November 10<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |author=<!-- not stated --> |DUPLICATE_title=Operation Torch: The Anglo-American Invasion of French North Africa|url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/fr/article/operation-torch-algeria-morocco-campaign |encyclopedia=ushmm.org| title=operation-torch-algeria-morocco-campaign| date=Jan 7, 2019|location=Wasnington,DC|access-date=May 15, 2025}}</ref>, it marked ''the turn of the tide''<ref>{{cite book| language=fr| title=''L'Afrique du Nord dans la Guerre 1939-1945'' | author=Christine Levisse-Touzé | publisher=Éditions Albin Michel | year=1998 | location=Paris| isbn=2-226-100695 | page=332}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| language=en| last=Howe| first=George F.| title=Northwest Africa: Seizing the initiative in the West| year= 1993| url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-D114-PURL-gpo86236/pdf/GOVPUB-D114-PURL-gpo86236.pdf| page=675}}</ref>, the reversal<ref>{{cite web| language=en| title=Operation Torch, North Africa Campaign, 8 November 1942: Offensive Deliberate Assault Amphibious| author1=MAJ Gray| author2=COL Tavares| author3=LTC Kahn| author4=MAJ Arnold| author5=MAJ Bird| author6=MAJ Dunham| author7=MAJ French| author8=MAJ Gay| author9=MAJ Kogle| author10= MAJ Olsen| author11=MAJ Wright| author12=CPT Owens| volume=CSI Battlebook 3A| date=1985-03-21| publisher=Combat Studies Institute, USACGSC| location=Fort Leavensworth, KS| page=101| url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA151625.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title=''The Turn of the Tide - Allied Landings in North Africa''| url=https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/82170/ | author=Pathé-Newsreels| date=1943-11-23| access-date=April 14, 2025 }}</ref>, announcing the turning point of the war<ref>{{cite book | author1=[[Roger Carcassonne-Leduc]]| author2=Gérard Linquier| title=8 Novembre 1942, la Première Victoire| publisher=Editions Louis Pariente| year=2000 | page=9 | isbn=2840590530}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| language=fr| title=Operation Torch, Les Débarquements Alliés en Afrique du Nord, 8 Novembre 1942 | url=https://www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/fr/operation-torch-les-debarquements-allies-en-afrique-du-nord|date=November 8, 1942| access-date=April 26, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title=The successful landings in North Africa on November 8, 1942, were one of the elements that would turn the military situation in favor of the Allies from 1942 onward.| url=https://www.histogames.com/HTML/chronologie/epoque_contemporaine/deuxieme_guerre_mondiale/glossaire/1942-tournant-de-la-guerre.php#:~:text=%C2%AB%20Ce%20n%27est%20pas%20la%20fin.%20Ce%20n%27est,comme%20le%20tournant%20de%20la%20Seconde%20Guerre%20mondiale}}</ref> on the Western Front in World War II. As a celebration following, the ringing of the church bells in Great Britain, suspended since 1940, was reestablished throughout the country<ref>{{cite AV media| language=en| title=Time To Remember - The End of The Beginning 1942| series= Reel 4 (1942)| type= motion picture|  publisher=British Pathé| website=britishpathe.com| location=London| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lUiG-fTfXk| time=5:20| author=<!-- not stated -->| orig-year=1942 | access-date=2025-06-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| language=en| website=International Churchill Society | title=Autumn 1942 (Age 68 )| date=2015-03-12| url=https://winstonchurchill.org/the-life-of-churchill/war-leader/1940-1942/autumn-1942-age-68/}}</ref>
Tempering any premature triumphalism, with restraint and humor, Churchill, the British Prime Minister, declared, without predicting the timeframe for achieving final victory, the beginning of the retreat of the Nazi armies, a conjecture confirmed by history.
== An awaited moment reached ==
After the defeat of France in June 1940, Churchill continued the war against the Axis forces without compromise ("We shall never surrender"), under difficult conditions. Setbacks had been mounting for the Allies for more than two years, despite the United States' entry into the war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and the Soviet army was struggling on the Eastern European front.

The British Prime Minister, who supported this landing in North Africa, had succeeded in winning President Roosevelt's decision despite the reluctance of Gen. Marshall and the American General Staff: landing in North Africa in 1942 rather than attempting a landing in France across the Channel in 1943.<ref>{{cite web| language=en| author1=Maj Gray| author2=Col Tavares| author3=Ltc Kahn| author4=Maj Arnold| author5=Maj Bird| author6=Maj Dunham| author7=Maj French| author8=Maj Gay | author9=Maj Kogle| author10=Maj Olsen| author11=Maj Wright| author12=Cpt Owens| title=Operation Torch, North Africa Campaign 8 November 1942: Offensive Deliberate Assault Amphibious| volume=CSI Battlebook 3A | publisher=Combat Studies Institute, US Army Command and General Staff College| location=Fort-Leavensworth, Kansas| date=1985-03-21| pages=131| url=https://apps.d/ADA151625.pdftic.mil/sti/tr/pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Operation Torch, North Africa Campaign, 8 November 1942: Offensive Deliberate Assault Amphibious| url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA151625.pdf | pages=98}}</ref> which required resources that were then unavailable. The risk of another defeat in this delay could lead the Soviets to seek a separate peace with the Nazis, giving them access to the Balkan oil fields. This would also have allowed dozens of German divisions to return west, making a future Allied landing in Europe even more uncertain.
''Victory changes sides''<ref>{{cite book| language=fr| author1=[[Roger Carcassonne-Leduc]]| author2=Gérard Linquier| title=November 8, 1942 The First Victory| publisher=Editions Louis Pariente| year=2000| page=9 | isbn=2840590530}}</ref> after the British success at [[Second Battle of El Alamein|El Alamein]] (November 4, 1942) and that of [[Operation Torch]]<ref>{{cite web| language=en| title=Operation Torch, North Africa Campaign, November 8, 1942: Offensive Deliberate Assault Amphibious| author1=MAJ Gray| author2=COL Tavares| author3=LTC Kahn| author4=MAJ Arnold| author5=MAJ Bird| author6=MAJ Dunham| author7=MAJ French| author8=MAJ Gay | author9=MAJ Kogle| author10= MAJ Olsen| author11=MAJ Wright| author12=CPT Owens| volume=CSI Battlebook 3A| date=1985-03-21| publisher=Combat Studies Institute, USACGSC| location=Fort Leavensworth, Kansas| page=8 | url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA151625.pdf}}</ref> (on November 8, 1942, the Allied landings in North Africa) later called the ''bisector of the war''<ref>{{cite book | language=fr| title= L'énigme d'Alger, la Bissectrice de la Guerre, 8 Novembre 1942| author1=Richard René| author2= De Sérigny Alain| editor= Fayard| year=1947| page=1 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| language=en| last=Howe| first=George F.| title=Northwest Africa: Seizing the initiative in the West| date= 1993| url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-D114-PURL-gpo86236/pdf/GOVPUB-D114-PURL-gpo86236.pdf| page=189}}</ref>, opening to the West in time and at the right time, the second front promised to Stalin by Roosevelt and Churchill to prevent the tottering USSR from concluding a separate armistice<ref>{{cite web| title=Operation Torch, North Africa Campaign, 8 November 1942: Offensive Deliberate Assault Amphibious| url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA151625.pdf}}</ref> with Germany.

{{blockquote|''But this Battle of Egypt, so important in itself, was also intended to be the prelude and counterpart to the crucial operation undertaken at the western end of the Mediterranean, an operation led by the United States and in which our army, our air force, and especially our navy played an important role. Very comprehensive accounts of what was happening have been published.''<ref>{{cite book| language=en| author=Winston S. Churchill| title=The end of the beginning| volume=The third volume of Winston Churchill's war speeches, 1942 | date=January 1, 1943| publisher=Little, Brown and Company, Boston| pages=344}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Churchill's speech| date=November 10, 1942| url=http://beaucoudray.free.fr/churchill.htm| access-date=April 26, 2025 }}</ref>.}} The end of 1942 is regularly described as the turning point of the Second World War: This feeling was shared by the Allies of the time, civilians and military alike, aware of the shift that was taking place<ref>{{cite web| title=The successful landings in North Africa on November 8, 1942, constitute one of the elements that would turn the military situation in favor of the Allies from 1942 onwards.| url=https://www.histogames.com/HTML/chronologie/epoque_contemporaine/deuxieme_guerre_mondiale/glossaire/1942-tournant-de-la-guerre.php#:~:text=%C2%AB%20Ce%20n%27est%20pas%20la%20fin.%20Ce%20n%27est,comme%20le%20tournant%20de%20la%20Seconde%20Guerre%20mondiale}}</ref>. The successful landings in North Africa on November 8, 1942, were one of the elements that would turn the military situation in favor of the Allies from 1942 onward. On the other hand, was this impression shared by all the protagonists? <ref>{{cite news|language=fr| author=<!-- not stated -->|publisher=L'Humanité| location=Paris| date=November 11, 2012| title=L'Opération Torch, un tournant de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale| url=https://www.humanite.fr/-/2e-guerre-mondiale/loperation-torch-un-tournant-de-la-seconde-guerre-mondiale}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title=Operation Torch, the Allied landings in North Africa| url=https://www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/fr/operation-torch-les-debarquements-allies-en-afrique-du-nord|date=November 8, 1942| access-date=2025-04-26}}</ref>
On January 14, 1943, the  [[Casablanca Conference|Anfa Conference]] opened in Morocco, a French protectorate then liberated by the Allies from the collaborationist tutelage of the Vichy government. It brought together Roosevelt and Churchill (Stalin, invited, did not attend), and also, under this aegis, Giraud and De Gaulle. The Soviet counterattack at Stalingrad began in late November 1942; victory came on February 2, 1943, confirming the retreat of the Axis forces.
"The end of the beginning," a shortened sentence appearing in the speech of November 10, 1942, became its heading.<ref>{{cite book| language=en| author=Winston S. Churchill| title=The end of the beginning| volume=The third volume of Winston Churchill's war speeches, 1942| date=January 1, 1943| publisher=Little, Brown and Company, Boston| page=8}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| language=fr| title= Les Bons Mots du Vieux Lion | url=https://www.herodote.net/Les_bons_mots_du_Vieux_Lion_-synthese-1994.php| DUPLICATE_access-date=2025-04-26| access-date= April 20, 2025 }}</ref>, lucid and restrained expression, announcing the very beginning of the turn that has occurred, with a humor understood in the turn of its terms<ref>{{cite web|language=en| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyOnrueJgGg| title=The End of the Beginning (November 10th, 1942) Wartime Speeches 1939-1945| website=Universal Music Group| author=Winston Churchill | year=2000 | access-date=May 15, 2025 }}</ref>. The rest of history has not contradicted it in facts, time and memories, ''The End of the Beginning'' also establishing itself as the headline<ref>{{cite book| language=en| author=Winston S. Churchill| title=The end of the beginning| volume=The third volume of Winston Churchill's war speeches, 1942 | date=April 1, 2013| publisher=Rosetta Books, LLC| location=New York| pages=448| isbn=9780795331787| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=udEqAAAAQBAJ}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| language=fr| title= The Churchill Book Collector | access-date=May 17, 2025|
url=https://www.churchillbookcollector.com/pages/winston-churchill/233/the-end-of-the-beginning#:~:text=Now%20this%20is%20not%20the,the%20end%20of%20the%20beginning.%22&text=The%20Unrelenting%20Struggle%20is%20the,speeches%2C%20containing%20speeches%20throughout%201942}} </ref> from the volume of his wartime speeches of the year 1942. The war was still far from over, but with 'the turning point of the war' having arrived and the Allies making progress, important lessons were being learned<ref>{{cite web| language=en| last=Howe| first=George F.| title=Northwest Africa: Seizing the initiative in the West| year= 1993| url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-D114-PURL-gpo86236/pdf/GOVPUB-D114-PURL-gpo86236.pdf| page=677}}</ref> for the success of the Allied landings in Normandy<ref>{{cite web| language=en| title=Operation Torch, North Africa Campaign, 8 November 1942: Offensive Deliberate Assault Amphibious| author1=MAJ Gray| author2=COL Tavares| author3=LTC Kahn| author4=MAJ Arnold| author5=MAJ Bird| author6=MAJ Dunham| author7=MAJ French| author8=MAJ Gay| author9=MAJ Kogle| author10= MAJ Olsen| author11=MAJ Wright| author12=CPT Owens| volume=CSI Battlebook 3A| date=1985-03-21| publisher=Combat Studies Institute, USACGSC| location=Fort Leavensworth, KS| page=103| url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA151625.pdf}}</ref> June 6, 1944, [[Operation Overlord]].

== References ==
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{{reflist}}
==Bibliography==
* (en) Winston S. Churchill, The end of the beginning, vol. The third volume of Winston Churchill's war speeches, 1942, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, January 1, 1943, 344 p.

==Primary sources==
* {{cite web|language=en |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lUiG-fTfXk|title=Time To Remember - The End Of The Beginning 1942 - Reel 4 (1942)| website=British Pathé | time=5:20| author=<!-- not stated --> | year=1942 | access-date=May 15, 2025 }}
* {{cite web| language=en| author1=Maj Gray| author2=Col Tavares| author3=Ltc Kahn| author4=Maj Arnold| author5=Maj Bird| author6=Maj Dunham| author7=Maj French| author8=Maj Gay | author9=Maj Kogle| author10=Maj Olsen| author11=Maj Wright| author12=Cpt Owens| title=Operation Torch, North Africa Campaign 8 November 1942: Offensive Deliberate Assault Amphibious| volume=CSI Battlebook 3A | publisher=Combat Studies Institute, US Army Command and General Staff College| location=Fort-Leavensworth, Kansas| date=1985-03-21| pages=131| url=https://apps.d/ADA151625.pdftic.mil/sti/tr/pdf}}
* {{cite book| language=en| author=Winston S. Churchill| title=The end of the beginning| volume=The third volume of Winston Churchill's war speeches, 1942 | date=January 1, 1943| publisher=Little, Brown and Company, Boston| pages=344}}
* {{cite web| language=fr| last=Brion| first=Alain| website=La Résistance en Normandie| title=Churchill, Discours prononcé le 10 novembre 1942, au Guildhall, dans la cité de Londres, à l'occasion du lunch offert par le Lord Maire| url=http://beaucoudray.free.fr/churchill.htm| access-date=2024-04-26}}
==Secondary Sources==
* {{cite book | language=fr | title=''L'Afrique du Nord dans la Guerre 1939-1945'' | author=Christine Levisse-Touzé | publisher=Éditions Albin Michel | year=1998 | location=Paris| isbn=2-226-100695 | pages=468}}
* {{cite book | language=fr| author1=Roger Carcassonne-Leduc| author2=Gérard Linquier| title=''8 novembre 1942 La Première Victoire'' | publisher=Editions Louis Pariente| year=2000| pages=279| isbn=2840590530}}
* {{cite web| language=fr| title=''Opération Torch, les débarquements alliés en Afrique du Nord, 8 novembre 1942''| url=https://www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/fr/operation-torch-les-debarquements-allies-en-afrique-du-nord| date=November 8, 1942| access-date=2025-04-26}}
* {{cite web| language=fr| url=https://www.histogames.com/HTML/chronologie/epoque_contemporaine/deuxieme_guerre_mondiale/glossaire/1942-tournant-de-la-guerre.php| title= Les débarquements réussis en Afrique du Nord, le 8 novembre 1942, constituent l'un des éléments qui vont retourner la situation militaire en faveur des Alliés à partir de 1942.|  author=<!-- not stated-->| access-date=April 4, 2025}}
* {{cite web| language=en| last=Howe| first=George F.| title=Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative in the West| date= 1993| pages=677| url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-D114-PURL-gpo86236/pdf/GOVPUB-D114-PURL-gpo86236.pdf}}
* {{cite web| language=en| title= The Churchill Book Collector| access-date=May 17, 2025| url=https://www.churchillbookcollector.com/pages/winston-churchill/233/the-end-of-the-beginning#:~:text=Now%20this%20is%20not%20the,the%20end%20of%20the%20beginning.%22&text=The%20Unrelenting%20Struggle%20is%20the,speeches%2C%20containing%20speeches%20throughout%201942}}
* {{cite book | language=fr| title= L'énigme d'Alger, la bissectrice de la Guerre, 8 novembre 1942| author1=Richard René| author2= Alain De Sérigny| publisher= Fayard| year=1947| pages=287}}
* {{cite web| language=en| website=International Churchill Society | title=Autumn 1942 (Age 68)| date=2015-03-12| url=https://winstonchurchill.org/the-life-of-churchill/war-leader/1940-1942/autumn-1942-age-68/ }}

==External Links==
* {{cite AV media| language=en| title=Time To Remember - The End of The Beginning 1942| series= Reel 4 (1942)| type= motion picture|  publisher=British Pathé| website=britishpathe.com| location=London| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lUiG-fTfXk| minutes=7| author=<!-- not stated -->| orig-year=1942 | access-date=May 15, 2025}}
* {{cite web|language=en| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyOnrueJgGg| title=The End of the Beginning (November 10th, 1942) Wartime Speeches 1939-1945| publisher=Universal Music Group| author=Winston Churchill | year=2000 | access-date=May 15, 2025}}

==Related War Speeches==
* '' [[A total and unmitigated defeat]]''
* '' [[Blood, toil, tears, and sweat]]''
* '' [[Be ye men of valour]]''
* '' [[We shall fight on the beaches]]''
* '' [[This was their finest hour]]''
* '' [[Never was so much owed by so many to so few]]''
* '' [[Iron Curtain]]''
* [[Winston Churchill]]
{{Portal|Contemporary period|Second World War|United Kingdom}}