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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... remember , was in 1939 the world's only genuinely global power , and therefore it naturally had interests far beyond the Empire and Commonwealth , large though these were . Since countries like Argentina , Brazil and Chile had gained ...
... Remember ( London , n.d. ) , and ' Studies in War - Time Organization 1 , The UKCC ' , African Affairs ( July 1944 ) . 8. See Saul Kelly , Cold War in the Desert : Britain , the United States , and the Italian Colonies , 1945–52 ...
... Remember , p . 192 . 28. Shuckburgh , ' Colonial Civil History of the War ' . 29. See Arthur Marder , Operation Menace : The Dakar Expedition and the Dudley North Affair ( London , 1976 ) . 30. See Peter Clarke , West Africans at War ...