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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... naval anchorages . At the time of the First World War the American navy had identified several British , French and Dutch Caribbean islands that were desirable as part of a defensive outer rim in a future conflict . In June 1939 the ...
... naval forces amounting to seven sloops and gunboats . The Senior Naval Officer Persian Gulf , Commodore Cosmo Moray Graham , had a number of naval units at his disposal . The sloop HMS Shoreham was a veteran of the Indian Ocean region ...
... naval base at Diego Suarez in Madagascar , although , as the British were themselves to discover at Singapore , a great base without its own great fleet presented a tempting hostage to fortune and did little to project power . The ...