Winston Churchill, speech delivered at the University of Zurich, 19 September 1946
I wish to speak about the tragedy of Europe, this noble continent, the home of all the great
parent races of the Western world, the foundation of Christian faith and ethics, the origin of
most of the culture, arts, philosophy and science both of ancient and modern times. If Europe
were once united in the sharing of its common inheritance there would be no limit to the
happiness, prosperity and glory which its 300 million or 400 million people would enjoy. Yet
it is from Europe that has sprung that series of frightful nationalistic quarrels, originated by
the Teutonic nations in their rise to power, which we have seen in this 20th century and in our
own lifetime wreck the peace and mar the prospects of all mankind.
What is this plight to which Europe has been reduced? Some of the smaller states have indeed
made a good recovery, but over wide areas are a vast, quivering mass of tormented, hungry,
careworn and bewildered human beings, who wait in the ruins of their cities and homes and
scan the dark horizons for the approach of some new form of tyranny or terror. Among the
victors there is a Babel of voices, among the vanquished the sullen silence of despair. That is
all that Europeans, grouped in so many ancient states and nations, and that is all that the
Germanic races have got by tearing each other to pieces and spreading havoc far and wide.
Indeed, but for the fact that the great republic across the Atlantic realised that the ruin or
enslavement of Europe would involve her own fate as well, and stretched out hands of
succour and guidance, the Dark Ages would have returned in all their cruelty and squalor.
They may still return.
Yet all the while there is a remedy which, if it were generally and spontaneously adopted by
the great majority of people in many lands, would as by a miracle transform the whole scene
and would in a few years make all Europe, or the greater part of it, as free and happy as
Switzerland is today. What is this sovereign remedy? It is to recreate the European fabric, or
as much of it as we can, and to provide it with a structure under which it can dwell in peace,
safety and freedom. We must build a kind of United States of Europe. In this way only will
hundreds of millions of toilers be able to regain the simple joys and hopes which make life
worth living. The process is simple. All that is needed is the resolve of hundreds of millions
of men and women to do right instead of wrong and to gain as their reward blessing instead of
cursing.