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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... 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 and were very much a part of the British world system . Egypt , an unofficial British ...
... British advisers remained in the administration and the army , which was also supplied with British equipment under the terms of the treaty , and British airbases remained at Habbaniya near Baghdad and Shaiba near Basra . These airbases ...
... British Africa , therefore , the High Commission Territories were not territories of British conquest and subjugation , and the British made sure that this fact - that they were there largely upon request and for the good of the African ...