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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Ashley Jackson. forged by the demands of war , facilitated by the existence of a web of imperial networks . Though the territories of the British Empire had been involved in world wars before , the Second World War was to demand a ...
... demand for their produce . Africa's dependence upon imports was underlined as British production was geared towards war - meaning that the imperial centre was far less able to satisfy overseas demand for manufactured goods - and ship ...
... demand for Tanganyika's sisal became limitless and its production soared to meet this demand , to such an extent that shortly after the war it was producing nearly half of the world's total crop . This , and demand for other ' war ...