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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 88
... region , in terms of propaganda , financial largesse ( the proposed Berlin - Baghdad railway had British diplomats quivering ) and diplomatic links , threatened to undermine Britain's position and appeared to offer regional leaders an ...
... region's 100 million people were fed and clothed . Therefore the management of staple foodstuffs became a major MESC task . It was also required to engineer a more efficient regional use of resources , and to cut imports from outside the ...
... region's four colonial governments ( similar in aims to the Middle East Supply Centre founded in Cairo in the same year ) . It was to coordi- nate production and import policy for the whole region and ensure an adequate pool of ...