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 1-3 of 92
... Italian men at arms dwarfed those of the British : there were 450,000 Italians and colonial troops in Italy's African Empire , compared to 88,500 British , Dominion and colonial troops in British Africa . This figure included Britain's ...
... Italian air force's cipher , adding to the information already derived following Bletchley Park's success against the Italian army's high - grade cipher . Therefore intelligence broken in Buckinghamshire , Cairo and its satellite in ...
... Italian colonies , to international trusteeship under whatever body succeeded the League of Nations . The Colonial Office view differed from that of the Foreign Office , the British power centre in Cairo had its own strident views , and ...