Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) was a British politician known primarily for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and also from 1951 to 1955. Churchill saw military action in India, in the Sudan, and during the Second Boer War, worked as a war correspondent, and later wrote books about his military experiences. He served in the British Army on the Western Front during World War I. Churchill held numerous political positions, including First Lord of the Admiralty, but within the book he is referred to almost exclusively because of his role as Prime Minister, a role that gave him unprecedented power due to the war effort. The book assumes the reader to have a passing familiarity with Churchill's life and accomplishments—no biographical material is supplied but he is often cited as an example. In the book, he is often cited as a political leader.