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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... remained strictly non - combatant and , after a little over six months of war , the ally on which Britain had based all of its pre - war defence plans , France , was out for the count and its Vichy government and empire added to the ...
... remained a powerful imperial politician , particularly in the 1930s when he was the most vocal critic of the National Government's India policy . Churchill's war - time administrations contained other men with significant imperial ...
... the struggle . Russia , unexpectedly and shock- ingly , entered into a pact with Germany and later with Japan , and America remained in military isolation , although it supported the British 14 THE BRITISH EMPIRE AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR.
... remained in the minds of people in Britain and throughout the world . Britain was the inter - war superpower on which the world , not just the Empire , depended for its general security . France helped in this undertaking , as the two ...
... remained isolationist . Only New Zealand seemed happy to follow Britain's lead , even if this might mean war . The conference reinforced Neville Chamberlain's determination to pursue peace in Europe at almost any cost . ' Appeasement ...
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 |