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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... influence in the world , there were other categories . Newfoundland was a lapsed Dominion , under direct British rule at the time of the Second World War , but soon thereafter to become a province of the Dominion of Canada . The Sudan Note.
... influenced , officially on behalf of that international body . These included Palestine and Trans - Jordan . Others , like ... influence and which figured in the British war effort of 1939-45 . To these corners of the earth must be added ...
... influenced much of the rest of it and had historically dominated its oceans . It was only because of Empire that Britain fought Italy and Japan at all ; Pearl Harbor would have had little significance for Britain had it not been for its ...
... influence . We didn't grow up with any Jamaican thing - we grew up as British . " A general awareness of the Empire was common to all Britons , even if it had little direct significance or meaning for many of them . As the war ...
... influences upon British policy . Britain's apparent vacillation and weakness in the face of persistent German , Italian and Japanese aggression and trouble - making were determined by imperial defence concerns and the unwill- ingness 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 |