The British Empire and the Second World WarIn 1939 Hitler went to war not just with Great Britain; he also went to war with the whole of the British Empire, the greatest empire that there had ever been. In the years since 1945 that empire has disappeared, and the crucial fact that the British Empire fought together as a whole during the war has been forgotten. All the parts of the empire joined the struggle and were involved in it from the beginning, undergoing huge changes and sometimes suffering great losses as a result. The war in the desert, the defence of Malta and the Malayan campaign, and the contribution of the empire as a whole in terms of supplies, communications and troops, all reflect the strategic importance of Britain's imperial status. Men and women not only from Australia, New Zealand and India but from many parts of Africa and the Middle East all played their part. Winston Churchill saw the war throughout in imperial terms. The British Empire and the Second World War emphasises a central fact about the Second World War that is often forgotten. |
From inside the book
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... battle fronts . The Empire defined Britain's participation in a global war that was an experi- ence of profound significance for colonial societies and economies the world over . The reason why this was so is not difficult to discern ...
... Battle of the Atlantic . At the end of the war Britain also became responsible for the Dutch East Indies and French Indo - China , as well as a sizeable chunk of Germany . Given the huge importance of imperial forces , resources and ...
... Battle of Britain ; and Free French forces fought with the Eighth Army in the Middle East and the French battleship Richelieu reinforced Britain's Eastern Fleet in Ceylon . Empire escaped enemy attention , whether in the form of 6 THE ...
... Battle of Britain as a pilot in No. 54 Squadron . ' In my generation ' , he explained , ' as schoolboys we always thought of [ Britain ] as the home country , always referred to it as the Mother Country . That was the old colonial tie ...
... Battle of Britain , the Battle of the Atlantic and the Battle of the Middle East - and at the same time stand thoroughly prepared in Burma , the Malay peninsula , and generally in the Far East.3 The first element of bad luck was that it ...
Contents
1 | |
11 | |
21 | |
41 | |
5 The Atlantic | 53 |
6 The Caribbean | 77 |
7 The Mediterranean | 97 |
8 Iraq Iran and Syria | 145 |
11 The Islands of the Indian Ocean | 307 |
12 India and Burma | 351 |
13 SouthEast Asia and the Far East | 405 |
14 Australia and New Zealand | 463 |
15 The Pacific | 513 |
16 Epilogue | 525 |
Notes | 535 |
Bibliography | 561 |