The diagram above shows Churchill’s adversaries’ life spans in relation to his own. Nine of them came to untimely ends for reasons other than health: four by assassination (Gandhi, Trotsky, Mussolini and Aung San); two by judicial execution (Tojo and Yamashita); two by suicide (Hitler and Goebbels); and one from an aircraft crash (Bose). The youngest died at age 35 (Aung San); the oldest at 95 (Pétain).

Some of Churchill’s adversaries had posthumous adventures. Mussolini was exhumed by an admirer and spent 11 years in a monastery cupboard. Pétain’s coffin was removed from his tomb but was soon recovered by the police and returned. Hitler and Goebbels were dug up, moved and reburied three times before being disinterred one last time in 1970 and cremated. Reza Shah’s body travelled from South Africa to Egypt for embalming, then made a visit to Saudi Arabia before ending up in a mausoleum in Iran, from where it has gone missing. Mao’s corpse ballooned when his amateur embalmers botched the job. Bose’s death after an aircraft crash was disbelieved by many followers and various legends arose about his post-crash life.

One of Churchill’s friends, Charlie Chaplin, also had an after-death escapade when his corpse was stolen for ransom. Even Churchill encountered a posthumous problem when his coffin failed to fit into his grave, despite all the planning, and had to be turned in the other direction (see Elizabeth II).

See also

• Introduction to adversaries.
• Selected adversaries.