winston churchill germany is becoming too strong

But the controversy is misplaced, says Warren Dockter, a research fellow at the University of Cambridge and the author of Winston Churchill and the Islamic World.

He is regarded by many as the greatest Briton ever, but for some he remains an intensely controversial figure.

During Britains darkest hours in World War Two, Churchills leadership was vital in maintaining morale and leading the country to eventual victory over Nazi Germany.

In 2002 Churchill saw off the likes of Shakespeare, Darwin and Brunel to be voted the greatest ever Briton.

But in a career spanning some 70 years, he had more than a few moments of controversy.

Theres a danger in Churchill gaining a purely iconic status because that actually takes away from his humanity, says Allen Packwood, director of the Churchill Archives Centre.

He is this incredibly complex, contradictory and larger-than-life human being and he wrestled with these contradictions during his lifetime.

Here are 10 of the most common debates that have raged about Churchills legacy.

Views on race In April last year, Labour candidate Benjamin Whittingham tweeted that Churchill was a racist and white supremacist.

And Whittinghams Conservative opponent Ben Wallace labelled the comments ignorant and incredibly insulting.

The tweet was deleted and the Labour Party said: It does not represent the view of the Labour Party.

But there have previously been suggestions that Churchill held racist beliefs.

Churchill certainly believed in racial hierarchies and eugenics, says John Charmley, author of Churchill: The End of Glory.

In Churchills view, white protestant Christians were at the top, above white Catholics, while Indians were higher than Africans, he adds.

Churchill saw himself and Britain as being the winners in a social Darwinian hierarchy.

The mitigation would be that he wasnt particularly unique in having these views, says Richard Toye, author of Churchills Empire, even though there were many others who didnt hold them.

Youre talking about one of the greatest men the world has ever seen, who was a child of the Edwardian age and spoke the language of it.

And Churchills views on race were incomparable to Hitlers murderous interpretation of racial hierarchy, Toye says.

Although Churchill did think that white people were superior, that didnt mean he necessarily thought it was OK to treat non-white people in an inhumane way.

Poison gas Churchill has been criticised for advocating the use of chemical weapons - primarily against Kurds and Afghans.

I cannot understand this squeamishness about the use of gas, he wrote in a memo during his role as minister for war and air in 1919.

I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes, he continued.

These quotes have been used by critics such as Noam Chomsky to attack Churchill.

Winston Churchill Germany Is Becoming Too Strong