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. |
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... enemy soldiers . Britain's historic dependence upon its Empire for imports and exports inevitably also decided the way in which Britain's enemies sought to defeat it , most notably by seeking to cut the sea routes on which Britain ...
... enemy territory being conquered and held by British forces , or of the territory of allies or friendly governments being used as military bases from which better to prosecute the war . These occupations could last for years . Conquered ...
... enemy lines . Familiar features of the British war effort , such as the intelligence - gathering operations centred on Bletchley and the activities of the Special Operations Executive ( SOE ) , also depended on base facilities in the ...
... enemies . At the start of the war Russia was in a pact with Nazi Germany , and from April 1941 with Japan . An unlikely set of allies , one might ... enemy attention , whether in the form of 6 THE BRITISH EMPIRE AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR.
... enemy occupation . The use of colonies as bases for Allied military operations was a form of transformational ' friendly ' occupation in itself , affecting people's lives on many levels . And of course , had Britain been defeated ...
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 |