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
Results 1-5 of 73
... Iraq , Iran and Syria 145 9 Sub - Saharan Africa 171 10 The Indian Ocean 269 11 The Islands of the Indian Ocean 307 12 2 3 4 India and Burma 351 13 South - East Asia and the Far East 405 14 Australia and New Zealand 463 15 The Pacific ...
... Iraq , were officially independent nation states , though accommodating significant British military bases and by treaty obliged to allow British forces access and transit rights in times of war . They were therefore not fully sovereign ...
... Iraq and Malta , the deserts of North Africa , the mountains of Abyssinia and north - east India , or the jungles of Borneo , Burma and Malaya . An imperial perspective helps connect all of these scenes of Second World War action to the ...
... Iraq , Java , Kenya , Mada- gascar , New Guinea , Iran , Somaliland , the Sudan , Sumatra and Syria . The Indian Ocean , as much as the Mediterranean and Atlantic , was the scene of significant naval operations and was a major naval ...
... Iraq , West Africa and the Western Desert , as well as in the 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 ...
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 |