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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... forces , tens of thousands more pioneers were needed , and recruitment in 1941-42 shifted to all parts of British ... forces commanded by Wavell enjoyed some remarkable successes against numerically superior Italian forces , in tandem ...
... forces in retaliation for the British impe- rial invasion of Syria . Finishing off the Italians in Abyssinia was accomplished in two stages . Between April and July 1941 operations by Cunningham's forces in Gallo - Sidamo were supported ...
... forces in the way that America , peerlessly , was able to do . From this high - water mark , the Allies started to stem - if not quite turn back – the tide , and began effectively to deploy forces in the region . Australian forces were ...