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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... East Asia Command was made responsible for the reoccupation of the Dutch East Indies and French Indo - China . Population figures , where given , are taken from the Concise Oxford Atlas ( Oxford , 1958 ) , using figures taken from 1951 ...
... East Indies and French Indo - China . British Empire and Commonwealth forces fought a host of subsidiary military campaigns and obscure operations launched from little - known imperial bases . The names of Alamein and Malta , Singapore ...
... Eastern Fleet . All over the world imperial ports were used to the full by ... East . Thus Addu Atoll in the Maldives was devel- oped as a major fleet base ... Indies for succour in the face of Japanese hostility . Unlike its enemies ...
... eastern Mediterranean , and Emperor Hirohito's military government could not secure Japan's rightful place in the ... East Indies and French Indo - China , as well as a sizeable chunk of Germany . Given the huge importance of imperial ...
... eastern empire would stretch from northern China to South - East Asia and the East Indies , built on the wreckage of centuries of British , Dutch , French , and , latterly , American empire - building . If Britain was lucky and escaped ...
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 |