We also found that we shared a common passion for history. Im very pleased to introduce Candice Mallard to you today. Im a longtime fan of her work. I think what distinguishes her work from the work of other popular historians is her rare ability to engender suspense, despite the readers foreknowledge of the outcome. I speak from experience. When i read her first book, the river of doubt, i spent a lot of time worrying about how Teddy Roosevelt would get out of that brazilian jungle, even though i knew he would. I was listening to the book as i was driving the washington beltway, so it was always a race to see who would get to the exit first, teddy or me. I kept hoping that james a. Garfield would somehow survive the ineptitude of his doctors, even though i knew he would. Im well into her latest book, hero of the empire, the boro war, daring escape and the making of Winston Churchill. And i can tell you im very on the edge of my seat, wondering if Winston Churchill is going to make it out of south africa alive. If my remarks sound more like a fan letter than a formal introduction, complete with a listing of all of her awards and achievements, which there are many, thats because it is. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce to you Candice Mallard. [applause] thank you very much. Im so sorry. Sorry about that. So thank you, first of all, mary jo for that intro duckduction. I wanted to say thank you to lee pollock, who has been a tremendous help to me, a source of encouragement and incredibly gracious and generous over the past five years while ive been working on this book. Its a tremendous honor to be here, very humbling to have a chance to meet some renowned historians, some of my personal heroes, including especially sir david cannondyne. Hes a very difficult act to follow, but i will try my best. As i sat in this room last night, having a beautiful dinner, great conversation, i suddenly realized that i had been here before, but it was for a very different event. I was here for a memorial for two coworkers from National Geographic just across the street, who had been killed just a few days earlier on 9 11. They had been on the plane that had been flown into the pentagon. And i remember feeling at the time, as so many people did, that what we needed as a nation, as a world, was someone who cannot only lead us but someone who understood history and who understood the power of words, and could harness those words. What we needed was someone who could stir our hearts. What we needed in essence was a Winston Churchill. But as we all know there was and will always be only one Winston Churchill. So as you might imagine, it was incredibly daunting to me years later to attempt to write about him, to understand even a small part of his life. But i have to say the more i studied him, especially his years in south africa, the more fascinated i became, and i was hooked. And like so many other writers and historians before and after me, i found him absolutely irresistible. But i think that when most of us think of Winston Churchill, we think of the man during world war ii. He has become virtually a synonym for great leadership. He was, as we all know, a master politician, a savior of his country during world war ii, winner of the nobel prize for literature, and one of the most famous human beings in history. But the problem with trying to understand a leader at the height of his career is that we often end up talking about the results of that persons character instead of the forces that created it. What i am trying to understand is where that man came from. What gave him the courage, the insight, and the will to become such a towering figure . So today, im going to talk about a young man. Hes just 24 years old. He has just left the military. The only job hes ever had, the only job for which hes been trained, he has no money. Hes already tried to run for office but lost. He is like so many other children of privilege, then and now, who amount to nothing. So how do we connect this young man to the legend he later became . What made the Winston Churchill we all know . How did he become one of the most powerful and effective leaders mankind has ever produced . I believe that an important part of the answer lies in an exceptional series of events, which took place in 1899 when young Winston Churchill went to the bora war in south africa. Chim didnt play on this story, and he couldnt have predicted it. But in every sense, he prepared for it, he understood its significance, he seized control of it. He risked everything to succeed in it, and he turned that opportunity into a lifechanging moment that was directly responsible for his later path to power. There is a saying that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity, and that is exactly what happened here. Churchill was in africa for only a matter of months. But what happened there put the spark to the combustible mixture of intelligence, ambition, courage, and resourcefulness that defined him from his earliest years. It transformed this young man into a world famous hero, setting him firmly on the path to greatness. And in doing so, it also transformed the world we live in today. To me, one of the most striking aspects of churchills personality, one that sets him apart from the many other young men who believe that they are destined for greatness, who was dreams of glory, is that they did not wait for things to happen to him. He made them happen. He took life by the reigns, or the collar, or the scruff of the neck, whatever it took, whatever he could grab. In fact, he was so openly ambitious, so incredibly driven, that by the time he was 24 years old, he had already written three books, including his first and only novel, run for parliament, and taken part in three different wars on three different continents. Churchill had been fascinated with war from a very early age. But as he grew into a young man, it became more than just the legacy of his ancestor, john churchill, the first duke of marlboro and one of the greatest generals in british history. More than his 1500 toy soldiers or the war games, war for churchill became the fastest and most reliable route to everything he dreamed of, recognition, fame, and eventually political power. It was, he said, the glittering gateway to distinction. And he was willing to not only fight, but to take any risk to be noticed. He had nearly been killed many times. Bullets whistling by his head once killing the horse that had been standing right next to him. He had killed men himself, once coming so close to his victim that his pistol struck the man as churchill galloped by. And he had seen his friends not just killed but mutilated, sliced to ribbons by their enemies. But he did not believe that he himself would die. He wrote that he did not believe the gods would create so potent a being himself for such a posaic ending. He considered to seek out the most brutal battles the British Empire had to offer. He was the first to sign up, and the first to show off, however he could. He even, to the astonishing and horror of the men around him, rode a white pony on the battlefield in british india, just to be noticed. He said, given an audience, there is no act too noble. Without the gallery, things are different. Churchill was impatient to succeed and excel, to make his mark on the world. But no matter what he did, he couldnt get a foothold. The military was too slow for him, so he quit. He ran for his first seat in parliament but was rejected by voters. So frustrated and burning with ambition, he feverishly looked for his next opportunity, knowing that it was his destiny to lead. Just a few months later, war broke out in Southern Africa. To the british, this was just another colonial war. One that they expected to be over in a matter of months, certainly by christmas. Unfortunately, they had forgotten who they were fighting. The boras had been living in Southern Africa for centuries and had transferred from rogue splinter groups of largely duck, hugenot and german immigrants into an entirely different ethnic group. A journalist for the london times wrote, in their manner of life, their habits, even in their character, they had undergone a profound change. They had even developed their own language, africaans. They were highly religious, racist, and independent. Most of all, they just wanted to get away. In an attempt to get away from the British Empire two years after the british abolished slavery, they moved into the african interior and established three republics of their own. Their independence, however, had lasted only as long as their poverty. In the mid 1800s, diamonds and gold were discovered in one of the bora publics. Transforming the region from one of the poorest in the world to one of the wealthiest. Paul krueger, who would become president , predicted this gold will cause our country to be soaked in blood. And he was right. By 1877, britain had annexed them, a move that led to the first bora war in 1880. Nearly 20 years later in the fall of 1899, little had changed. The british still wanted the land, and the boras still insisted on their independence. The British Empire began amassing troops, and the at atmosphere, churchill wrote, became tense, laden with the prestige of storm. Finally, the boras said stand down or prepare for war. The british, thrilled to have an excuse to go to war, allowed the deadline for the ultimatum to pass with little more than a sneer. Three days after the war began, Winston Churchill, seeing his opportunity, was on a ship to south africa, hired to cover the war as a correspondent. On the same ship was the commander and chief of her majestys army in out africa. So confident were the british that bowler would make quick work of the boras, they had already nicknamed him the steam roller. But buller was more cow shouseautious. More cautious. He knew the boras. He knew that although they did not have an empire, a navy or a standing army, the boras were masters of modern warfare. Unlike most of britains colonial enemies, they had incredibly sophisticated weapons, some of which were better than what buller could give to his own men. They were extraordinary marksman, having spent two centuries doing little else other than hunting and fighting. They knew every nook and cranny of the territory, and could disappear without a trace, making them an invisible and very dangerous enemy. The boras had learned from one of their first and fiercest enemies, the bandtum, a linguistic family with hundreds of different ethnic groups, including Nelson Mandelas tribe and the zulu. They had fought for more than a century, and in that time, the boras had done their best not only to take the bantus land and subjugate their people, they learned a new kind of warfare, one that most europeans did not yet understand. Not only did they know the South African area inside and out, but when this was no place to hide, they made one. They built small shelters out of piles of stone, they dug deep and long trenches, some stretching for as many as 30 miles. They didnt wear uniforms, and they moved quickly and quietly. Their enemies often didnt see them at all, even after the battle had begun. In stark contrast, the british had only recently and very reluctantly begun dragging the military into the modern world. In fact, this was known as the khaki war, because it was one of the first times the british army did not wear their dashing red coats. They hated their new uniforms. They complained it made them look like bus drivers. But they continued to fight in perfect, precise lines, spreading themselves across the flat, south africa felt like a picture in a story book, served up for slaughter. Even in the midst of a brutal attack, they refused to find cover. British officers were expected to not only be brave, but to show complete disregard for their safety. Solomon planky, a native South African intellectual, journalist, and statesman, who had become the first secretary of the anc, carefully observed the british army during the war, marveling at what he saw. These experienced soldiers never care how fast bullets may whiz about them. They stroll about in a heavy volley far more recklessly than we walk through a shower of rain. Although he was now only a journalist himself, churchill had a lot on his mind as he made his way to south africa. His mother, the beautiful, charismatic, and wicked smart jenny jerome, had just told him she was in love and was likely going to marry a young man named george west, who was only two weeks older than winston. Churchill also for the first time had his own love life to consider. He had met a dazzling young woman named pamela plowden. But she didnt believe he was passionate enough in his devotion. Churchill was indignant, insisting he was no fickle gallant. By the time he landed, the war had already taken a startling turn. The british army had been humiliated by the boras, losing several battles, and leaving its commanders stuned and scrambling to adjust to this new war mare. As soon as churchill arrived, with his valerie, of course with 18 bottles of whisky, he went as far to the front as he could. By the time he arrived, however, the boras had completely cut off lady smith. No one could get in or out. I was too late, churchill wrote. The door was shut. So he was forced to make camp 40 miles south of lady smith in a little town called escort. Nine days later, as a heavy rain fell on the morning of november 15th, churchill climbed aboard the british armys armored train. His old friend from his days in the military had been ordered to take the train out for reconnaissances. Both men knew it was a foolish, potentially disastrous decision. Not only was a train an easy target on the best of days, but the boras had within sported just outside escort the day before. Halden had no choice but to go. Churchill, on the other hand, did. But frustrated, restless, and he would later admit, eager for trouble, he did not hesitate when he was invited to go along. Before the sun came up, churchill had climbed into the first train car, an open truck from which he would have the best advantage. One of 13 children on an isolated farm about 100 miles west of durbin. He had received only a couple of years of formal education. But while he would never speak much english, he was fluent in several languages, and had fought with the zulu when he was just 22 years old. Leading a group of boras to help the zula defeat his rival for the throne. On the day that churchill boarded the armored train, bota and his men were watching. Long, loud, blowing a blast of he had a quintessentially poor onldhood, one of 13 children an isolated farm about 100 miles west of durbin. He had received only a couple of years of formal education. But while he would never speak much english, he was fluent in several languages, and had fought with the zulu when he was just 22 years old. Leading a group of boras to help the zula defeat his rival for the throne. On the day that churchill boarded the armored train, bota and his men were watching. Long, loud, blowing a blast of smoke into the air, an absurdly easy target. Not only did boten know where the train was going, he knew it would have to come back on the same tracks. As soon as the train passed, he ordered his men to move to the bottom of a hill and began piling rocks. When the train, on its way back appeared at the top of the hill, the boras opened fire, until it crashed into the stones, catapulting the first two cars off the tracks, killing several men, horribly wounding others, and trapping them all in a hailstorm of bullets and shells. Although he was only a journalist, one of the few civilians on the train, and again, 24 years old, Winston Churchill immediately took charge of the defense, shouting orders as he ran back and forth from the engine to the last track, organizing the men in a desperate attempt to free the train. In the end, he succeeded, and every man who made it out alive credited Winston Churchills bravery and resourcefulness for saving their lives. Unfortunately, churchill wasnt there to accept their gratitude or hear their praise. He had been captured and was taken as a prisoner of war. For churchill, captivity was unbearable, and he would never forget how it felt. Many years later, he wrote you feel a sense of constant humiliation and being confined to a narrow space, fenced in by railings and wire, watched by armed men. I certainly hated every minute of my captivity, more than i have ever hated any other period my whole life. From the moment he became a prisoner, churchill resolved to escape. Finally, with two other men, he had a plan. A 6 1 2 foot tall iron pailing surrounded their prison, which was constantly patrolled by guards. When the electric lights came on at night, however, one corner of the yard remained dark. If one of the guards turned his back at the right moment, they could make their move. After much discussion, and careful planning, they chose their night. But when the time came, churchills coconspirators found themselves trapped inside in the glare of the lights. Churchill, who had already scaled the fence, suddenly realized he was alone. Facing the prospect of crossing nearly 300 miles of Enemy Territory with no map, no compass, no food, no weapon, no ability to speak the language, and with the boras, who were humiliated humiliated, enraged and in hot pursuit. What churchill did have was an absolute faith in his destiny, and a cleareyed understanding is this is the opportunity he had been waiting for. The story of churchills escape is an epic adventure by any standard. For those of you who dont know exactly how survived it, i wont tell you. Youll have to read the book. But by the time it was over, churchill was not only a free man, he rode back to victoria, took over the prison, released the men who had been his fellow prisoners, captured the jailers, and watched as a bora flag was torn down and the british flag hoisted in its place. But more important than the story itself is what it meant to churchill as a person, as a leader, and as an architect of the world we now live in. After he returned home from south africa, he was what he had always dreamed of being a hero of the empire. A famous man now, churchill ran for parliament again, and this time he won. His life and british politics would never be the same. If churchill had previously dreamed about the power of his will and his destiny, now he had proof. He was unstoppable. He had not only been pare