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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... officially on behalf of that international body . These included Palestine and Trans - Jordan . Others , like Iraq , were officially independent nation states , though accommodating significant British military bases and by treaty ...
... officials were summoned to meetings by their respective Governors . There they were told of the war and of its likely local manifestations , and were invited to reaffirm their allegiance to an imperial monarch in whose name they and ...
... officially part of the Empire also supplied major military resources . Iraq and Iran were inde- pendent countries that Britain invaded in order to strengthen its position against the Germans , to defend essential oilfields and ...
... officially at war with no one . In the Western Desert campaign , often seen as the last great single - handed British victory , American military hardware was important in achieving the famed victory of Alamein , and large American ...
... officials in Berlin . The Empire and Commonwealth was the world's largest political , economic and military unit , and it went to war as one . In 1939 it was Britain's responsibility to defend every inch of the Empire and Commonwealth ...
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 |