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
... vessels , Britain could have destroyed Italy's ability to rein- force and supply its army in Abyssinia . There was , however , the threat of Italian retaliation to any such move , a particular nightmare being an air attack damaging or ...
... vessels in that class by the end of the war . In all America supplied Britain with ninety - nine escort vessels , excluding the fifty old destroyers exchanged in 1941 for Caribbean base facilities . On top of this , 391 major and 2004 ...
... vessels worked alongside British forces before December 1941 , for example in patrolling the Atlantic and in shipping supplies around the Cape to the ports of the Sudan and Egypt . American forces took over the operation of air bases in ...
... vessels . The protection of the British Empire's commerce was the main task of the Royal Navy , along with dealing with enemy battlefleets , transporting military forces and blockading enemy territories . The system of imperial trade ...
... vessels of the Royal Navy and its partners , some converted from civilian working vessels , which protected the mighty convoys upon which the survival of the Empire depended . 17 Beyond corvettes and destroyers , the Admiralty procured ...
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 |