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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... felt impossibly cut off from the action , despite the colony's war effort and the service of some of its 20,000 strong European community in the armed forces and the local volunteer force . They were subject to the feeling that they ...
... felt . As elsewhere in tropical Africa , British rule in the High Commission Territo- ries rested firmly upon an alliance with these traditional rulers , who were far more than puppets of the British and were possessed of real power vis ...
... felt at the time and have felt since that their war effort had not been properly acknowledged or incorporated into the story of Australian mobi- lization . Here it is featured as an example of Australia's war experience that illustrates ...