King George VI’s Empire Day Address

May 24, 1940

00:00

King George Sees Hitler Aim To Dominate All the World Empire Day Broadcast Calls on People to Fight for Lives – Recalls Britain’s Efforts and Hopes for Peace

By Raymond Daniell

Special Cable to The New York Times, May 25, 1940.

London, May 24 – On this grimmest Empire Day of his reign, King George VI told his people – and anxious neutrals as well – that they are fighting for their lives against an neemy seeking world domination by brute force. From Buckingham Palace his words carried around the world to Australians listening before their radios in the dim light of dawn, to Canadians around their loudspeakers in the late afternoon. Before he began speaking in a tired, but sure tone, his subjects from all over he world had presented pledges of Empire solidarity in a radio round-up. The monarch who spoke tonight was the same King who only a year ago at Winnipeg, in the midst of is tour through Canada and the United States with his Queen, broadcast a message in which he expressed the hope that world peace night be preserved. That he had not forgotten that occasion or the words he uttered in that transition time between war and peace was clear from his opening words to-night, when he said:
“One year ago today I spoke to he peoples of the empire from Winnipeg in the heart of Canada. We were at peace.

“On that Empire Day I spoke of the ideals of freedom, justice and peace upon which our commonwealth of free peoples is founded. Clouds were gathering, but I held fast to the hope that those ideals might yet achieve fuller, richer development without suffering the grievous onslaught of war.

“But it was not to be. The evil which we strove unceasingly and with all honesty of purpose to avert, fell upon us.”
As the King spoke to the people of his empire, on which the sun never sets, his armies were battling the Germans for control of Channel ports in France, from which it is expected the Reich will attempt to launch an invasion against this country, a country that has been free from that disaster, so common in Europe, for nearly nine centuries. To this threat the King referred when he spoke of “a long-planned scheme to subjugate by force the nations of the world, against which all our efforts for peace were doomed to break.” In his most solemn tone the King added: “It is no mere territorial conquest that our enemies are seeking. It is the overthrow, complete and final, of this empire and of everything for which it stands, and after that the conquest of the world.”

Should the present German drive prove successful, he continued, this country and its people will be subjected to “all the hatred and cruel- which they have already displayed.” Defeat, he warned, would not mean a temporary “eclipse” from which the nation could rise Phoenix-like, but it would mean “destruction of our world as we have known it and the descent of darkness upon its ruins.” The Nazis, the King said, have taunted the British peoples with the word “Imperialism,” but said he would cast the word back in their teeth, for it was they who had “these evil aspirations.” When they used the word, he said, they meant “the spirit of domination and the lust of conquest,” while empire to Britishers meant peace in which democratic institutions could develop, the condition of the people improved and problems of government solved.

In this darkest hour of the British Empire since the Spring of 1918, the King called his people and those of friendly nations to participate in the day of prayer he as head of the church has ordered for next Sun-day. He concluded his address with these words:

“Keep your hearts proud and your resolve unshaken. Let us go forward to that task as one man, a smile on our lips and our heads held high, and with God’s help we shall not fail.”

Transcript

At this time the Columbia Broadcasting System takes you to London for the special Empire Day address of King George VI.

I’m part of the world of fighting this war along with my brothers in arms.

Ahead of us is a job of work.

We’re going to do that job of work and nothing in life or death can stop us.

We’ve come of our own free will.

Seamen, soldiers, airmen.

We’ve come from the cities, from the plains, from the islands, even from the edge of the Arctic.

We’ve come from all parts of the British world.

We’ve all of us come by sea, that great highway which will forever be used by the sons and daughters of free men and women.

We are brothers in arms with one faith, one cause, one King.

Ladies and gentlemen, what you are hearing now is a special news program coming to you from London.

We return you to that point for the special Empire Day address of King George VI.

[Music] On Empire Day, His Majesty the King speaks to his people at home and overseas.

His Majesty the King.

On Empire Day last year, I spoke to you, the people of the Empire, from Winnipeg in the heart of Canada.

We were at peace.

On that Empire Day, I spoke of the ideals of freedom, justice, and peace upon which our commonwealth of three peoples is founded.

The clouds were gathering, but I held fast the hope that those ideals might yet achieve a fuller and richer development without suffering the grievous onslaught of war, but it was not to be.

The evil which we strove unceasingly and with all honesty of purpose to avert fell upon us.

In this, our conscience is clear, for there is now revealed without possibility of mistake a long planned scheme to subjugate by force the nations of the world against which all our efforts for peace were doomed to break.

The decisive struggle is now upon us.

I am going to speak plainly to you, for in this hour of trial, I know that you would not have me do otherwise.

Let no one be mistaken.

It is no mere territorial conquest that our enemies are seeking.

It is the overthrow, complete and final, of this Empire and of everything for which it stands, and after that, the conquest of the world.

And if their will prevails, they will bring to its accomplishment all the hatred and other cruelty which they have already displayed.

It was not easy for us to believe that designs so evil could find a place in the human mind, but the time for doubt is long past.

To all of us in this Empire, to all men of vision and goodwill throughout the world, the issue is now a plain.

It is life or death for us all.

Defeat will not mean some brief eclipse from which we shall emerge with strength renewed.

It will mean destruction of our world as we have known it, and the descent of darkness upon its ruins.

I speak to you today with a new vision of this Empire before my eyes.

Now that it has come into conflict and sharp comparison with the evil system which is attempting its destruction, its full significance appears in a brighter and more certain light.

There is a word which our enemies use against us, imperialism.

By it they mean the spirit of domination and the lust of conquest.

We three peoples of the Empire cast that word back in their teeth.

It is they who have these evil aspirations.

Our one object has always been peace, a peace in which our institutions may be developed, the condition of our peoples improved, and the problems of government solved in a spirit of goodwill.

This peace they have taken from us, and they are seeking to destroy all that we have striven to maintain.

Against our honesty is set dishonor.

Against our faithfulness is set treachery.

Against our justice a brute force.

There in clear and unmistakable opposition lie the forces that now confront one another.

The great uprising of the peoples throughout the Empire shows without a doubt which will prevail.

They have risen in just war against a thing which they detest and despise.

Nothing can shake their resolution.

In perfect unity of purpose they will defend their lives and all that makes life worth living.

Let no one think that my confidence is dimmed when I tell you how perilous is the ordeal which we are facing.

On the contrary, it shines in my heart as brightly as it shines in yours, but confidence alone is not enough.

It must be armed with courage and resolution, with endurance and self-sacrifice.

These are the high qualities that the men of the homeland and the men from overseas in an unending stream are bringing to the struggle on land and sea and in the air.

At this moment our thoughts return to our fighting men and to those who love them, mothers, wives, and sweethearts at home.

Beside them stand the soldiers of our old allies, France, and with them Poland and Norway, Belgium and Holland, of peoples upon whose peaceful land has fallen all the horror of treacherous and unprovoked aggression.

At this fateful hour we turn as our fathers before us have turned in all times of trial to God the Most High.

Here in the old country I have asked that Sunday next should be observed as a day of national prayer.

It may be possible for many of our brothers and sisters to join their prayers with ours.

Let us with one heart and soul, comely but confidently, commit our cause to God and ask His aid that we may valiantly defend the right as it is given to us to see it.

So now, the peoples of the empire, the men and women, in all quarters of the globe, I say to you, put into your task whatever it may be all the courage and purpose of which you are capable.

Keep your hearts proud and your resolve unshaken.

Let us go forward to that task as one man, with smiles on our lips and our heads held high.

And with God’s help we shall not fail.

[Music] [Music] We just heard an address by King George VI of Great Britain speaking in London.

[Music]