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
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... London , the nerve centre of a global Empire , had to coordinate the war effort of over sixty countries . It did so in a stunningly successful example of what today would be called coalition warfare . Bringing shared experiences to ...
Ashley Jackson. Zealand , born in Scotland , had lived in London until his mid - twenties , being typical of the many people in the Dominions who comfortably divided their loyalties between their country and the Empire to which it ...
... London audience that ' the British Commonwealth and Empire stands more united and more effectively powerful than at any time in its long romantic history ' . This was indeed true , though the effort to reach that pitch of power , led ...
... London utilizing the resources of each colony to the greatest extent possible . Events in one theatre affected those in another , particularly in the realm of human and material resource provision . When , for example , the ...
... London Firemen , English and African Life , Our Indian Soldiers and This is an Anti- Aircraft Gun . 140,000 Africans saw the unit's films each week . ) In Britain , with a host of dwellings and facilities developed for the thousands of ...
Contents
1 | |
11 | |
21 | |
41 | |
5 The Atlantic | 53 |
6 The Caribbean | 77 |
7 The Mediterranean | 97 |
8 Iraq Iran and Syria | 145 |
11 The Islands of the Indian Ocean | 307 |
12 India and Burma | 351 |
13 SouthEast Asia and the Far East | 405 |
14 Australia and New Zealand | 463 |
15 The Pacific | 513 |
16 Epilogue | 525 |
Notes | 535 |
Bibliography | 561 |