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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... Labour Committees in Kenya , enacted by the Defence ( African Labour for Essential Undertakings ) Regu- lation . Thereby farms producing coffee , pyrethrum , rubber and certain foodstuffs were deemed to be ' essential ' and therefore ...
... labour from Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland , people over whom they had no jurisdiction . Many Africans were able to choose not to work for settlers , as they were not dependent on wage labour and could in many cases subsist from the ...
... labour units in Nyasaland during the war . In 1939 the governor had promised the people that there would be no new Carrier Corps , the First World War military labour unit of ill repute , and this promise was adhered to . Despite ...