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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... ( population 61,000 ) , St Lucia ( population 82,000 ) , St Vincent ( popula- tion 73,000 ) , Barbados ( population 221,000 ) and Grenada ( population 85,000 ) . The Leeward Islands included the British islands of Montserrat ( population ...
... ( population 39,000 ) , not really a Caribbean island at all , was marooned in the Atlantic , hence its significance as a naval stronghold over the centuries . In Central America Britain held the colony of British Honduras ( population ...
... ( population two million ) and Nigeria ( population 31 million , including the former German territory of Southern Cameroons ) . In North - East Africa was British Somaliland ( population 640,000 ) and the Sudan ( population ten million ) ...