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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... sent in anticipation of any such move , it would be at the cost of weakening Britain's defences against possible Luftwaffe attack and making even more likely the utter devastation of British cities that experts thought would be the ...
... sent warships to protect its claims in Antarctica and obliterate sovereignty markers left by Nazi ships . Though they were nowhere near as powerful as America or Russia , the Empire and Commonwealth's contribution to the British war ...
... sent to Russia . ) America's stake in the bankrolling of the war , and its superiority in certain areas of war production , enhanced the weight of its voice in the higher councils of Allied war planning . ( For example , America's ...
... sent to twenty - eight colonies each week and the Colonial Film Unit made fortnightly African news films . ( Typical titles were Barbados Day in Portsmouth , These are London Firemen , English and African Life , Our Indian Soldiers and ...
... sent money to swell the coffers in London ( $ 2.5m on the Rajah's part by November 1941 , the month before his domains were lost to the Japanese ) . Gymkhanas were held in Bechuanaland to raise funds for the Royal Navy's ' Sponsor - a ...
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 |