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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... Japan and Italy allies , and became a cover for fundamental British weakness in a period when imperial overstretch was being challenged by aggressive powers seeking imperial spoils . Worst still , the Singapore strategy had been talked ...
... Japanese , Chinese and Indian nationalist voices arose . Japan's invasion of China in 1937 drew the British territories of South - East Asia and the Far East into a growing regional conflict long before the British Empire became ...
... Japanese forces were fought in all these areas , it was in the Pacific that Japan had to be fought , and its forces exterminated or pushed back to the home islands , if Japan was forced to capitulate . The Pacific campaign developed in ...