Editing Winston Churchill (section)

===Secretary of State for War and Air: 1919–1921===
[[File:War Industry in Britain during the First World War Q84077.jpg|thumb|Churchill meets female workers at Georgetown's filling works near [[Glasgow]] in October 1918.]]
Lloyd George called a [[1918 United Kingdom general election|general election]] for 14 December 1918.{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=91|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=403}} During the campaign, Churchill called for nationalisation of the railways, a control on monopolies, tax reform, and the creation of a [[League of Nations]] to prevent wars.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=404}} He was returned as MP for Dundee and, though the Conservatives won a majority, Lloyd George was retained as prime minister.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=404}} In January 1919, Lloyd George moved Churchill to the [[War Office]] as both [[Secretary of State for War]] and [[Secretary of State for Air]].{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=100|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2pp=404–405}}

Churchill was responsible for demobilising the army,{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=101|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=406}} though he convinced Lloyd George to keep a million men conscripted for the [[British Army of the Rhine]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=406–407}} Churchill was one of the few government figures who opposed harsh measures against Germany,{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=403}} and he cautioned against demobilising the German Army, warning they might be needed as a bulwark against [[Soviet Russia]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=401}} He was outspoken against [[Vladimir Lenin]]'s [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]] government in Russia.{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1pp=105–106|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=411}} He initially supported using British troops to assist the anti-Communist [[White forces]] in the [[Russian Civil War]],{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1pp=102, 104|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=405}} but soon recognised the people's desire to bring them home.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=411–412}} After the Soviets won the civil war, Churchill proposed a ''[[Cordon sanitaire (politics)|cordon sanitaire]]'' around the country.{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=123|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=420}}

In the [[Irish War of Independence]], he supported the use of the paramilitary [[Black and Tans]] to combat Irish revolutionaries.{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1pp=126–127|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2pp=422, 425|3a1=Jordan|3y=1995|3pp=70–75}} After British troops in Iraq clashed with [[Kurds|Kurdish]] rebels, Churchill authorised two squadrons to the area, proposing they be equipped with "poison gas" to [[Gas in Mesopotamia|be used]] to "inflict punishment upon recalcitrant natives without inflicting grave injury upon them", although this was never implemented.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=424–425|2a1=Douglas|2y=2009|2p=861}} He saw the [[Mandatory Iraq|occupation of Iraq]] as a drain on Britain and proposed, unsuccessfully, that the government should hand control back to Turkey.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=428}}