The exact words
What Churchill meant in August 1940
After the fall of France, Britain expected a German invasion. Before any invasion could be attempted, Germany needed control of the air, and from July 1940 its air force attacked British convoys, radar stations, airfields and aircraft factories. Defending against it were the pilots of RAF Fighter Command, at any time only a few thousand men, flying Spitfires and Hurricanes several times a day.
On August 20, in the middle of the most intense fighting, Churchill gave the House of Commons a long review of the war. Near the middle he paused to praise the airmen, and the famous sentence sums up his point with simple arithmetic: a whole nation, and in Churchill’s view much of the free world, depended on a very small number of young men. He went on to praise bomber crews as well, but it was the fighter pilots who became known as “The Few.”
Where the line came from
Four days earlier, on August 16, Churchill had spent the day at the RAF’s underground operations room at Uxbridge, watching the battle unfold on the plotting table. His military assistant, General Hastings Ismay, later recalled that on the drive back Churchill told him not to speak, then said a version of the line. He refined it into the sentence he delivered in Parliament.
How people use it today
The phrase is now a standard way to thank a small group who carried a heavy load for everyone else, from medical staff to volunteers to a team that pulled off a deadline. It is a generous line to borrow at a send-off or awards evening, and it lands best when, like Churchill, you are specific about who “the few” are and what they did.
What people get wrong
A line about soldiers in general, or about the whole army.
A tribute to RAF airmen, especially Fighter Command pilots, in the middle of the Battle of Britain.
Timeline
- July 1940The Battle of Britain begins as the German air force attacks British shipping, airfields and later cities.
- August 16, 1940Churchill visits the RAF operations room at Uxbridge during heavy fighting and is reported to have used a version of the line on the drive back.
- August 20, 1940Churchill says the line in the House of Commons in a speech reviewing the war.
- LaterThe pilots of the Battle of Britain become known simply as “The Few.”
Use it in a speech
Questions people ask
Who were “the few” in Churchill's speech?
The airmen of the Royal Air Force, above all the fighter pilots who defended Britain against the German air force in the summer of 1940, in what became known as the Battle of Britain.
When did Churchill say it?
In the House of Commons on August 20, 1940.
Is the line often misquoted?
It is often shortened to “so much owed by so many to so few,” which keeps the meaning. The full sentence begins “Never in the field of human conflict.”
Cite this quote
These cite the original source directly, so you can use them in an essay or paper. Always check your teacher's required style.