When 9Gem chose to show The Darkest Hour a week ago, they programmed well. Churchill became prime minister on May 10, 1940 - in those critical days leading up to the Dunkirk evacuation.

He replaced the weak Neville Chamberlain, who had tried to appease Hitler. Lord Halifax wanted to negotiate a "peace". Churchill growled: "You cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth."

This was Britain's darkest hour, as the film's title suggests. Hitler's forces had overrun Europe. Civilian volunteers in small boats miraculously evacuated Dunkirk under gunfire. The new British Air Force sprang into action.

What sort of a world would we now have if Hitler had "negotiated" a peace deal?

History now tells of atrocities like the Holocaust, but could a "free" world have survived dominance by a Nazi dictator?

Churchill refused to deal with Hitler, because he could foresee the costs of not winning.

"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last," he said.

Chamberlain, as prime minister before the war, had talked with Hitler.

"Peace in our time," he called, as he tried to convince the British public that those military parades and displays of armaments did not pose a threat.

Britain was unprepared for the World War II battles ahead. The Battle of Britain was won mainly with somewhat outdated Hawker Hurricanes, a 1934 design with wood and metal framework covered in fabric.

Only as war clouds gathered was the Spitfire approved for limited production in 1938. The new, purpose-built Castle Bromwich Spitfire factory had only produced 10 Spitfires by June 1940.

With Britain being so unready to face Hitler's armies, it is not surprising that after his famous speech to parliament, the International Churchill Society website adds: "Allegedly, in the immediate aftermath of his speech, Churchill turned and whispered to a colleague: 'And we'll fight them with the butt ends of broken beer bottles because that's bloody well all we've got!' "

In 1948, Churchill paraphrased George Santayana's famous saying "those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it." Too many young Australians are unaware of historical events that shaped the modern world. We are fighting the coronavirus battle with all we've got.

Worldwide, there have been more than five million infections, and deaths in the hundred thousands.

"Wars are not won by evacuations," Churchill said in his famous speech, referring to Dunkirk.

"How long it will be, how long it will last, depends upon the exertions which we make in this island."

Were Australians prepared for the COVID-19 war? Shortages of masks, protective clothing, ventilators, even toilet paper! Australia's evacuation (isolation) has been successful in limiting casualties.

How long it will last depends on whether Australians in general are prepared to keep us socially distanced and safe until a vaccine brings victory.

Our history lessons may have given us the impression that Churchill's rousing speech was broadcast live on radio to rally the British people. The speech was aimed at waverers in parliament, and was reported later on radio and in the press.

Each night, we have seen our leaders giving Churchillian rallying speeches on television. The statistics are in the morning's papers. But as Churchill also said: "It is no use saying, 'we are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary."

Another Churchill quote was "attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference."

COVID-19 is a war which has claimed 350,000 lives worldwide.

Australia's few fatalities to date are because we have had Churchill's "we will never surrender" attitude.

Unlike undisciplined places like the US, we have co-operated to control the spread.

COVID-19 has not been destroyed, but we are winning this battle in Australia.

The final victory will be ours if we patiently defeat the disease by getting back to our normal lives while not neglecting hand washing, distancing and plain old common sense.