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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... example of what today would be called coalition warfare . Bringing shared experiences to people across the world by virtue of the bonds of Empire , the war was one of the most signifi- cant globalizing experiences of the twentieth ...
... example , had exten- sive imperial experience , as did the majority of Britain's senior theatre commanders . * Generals like Alan Brooke , Claude Auchinleck , Bernard Mont- gomery , William Slim and Archibald Wavell had decades of ...
... example in the other direction . It was heads or tails , and Britain's side of the coin happened to land face down . Disarmament and appeasement had not increased world security as had been hoped , and Britain's pursuit of these ...
... example in the French Comoros Islands off the African coast , in Iceland , the Faroe Islands and the Azores . At the end of the war , Britain was responsible for the Dutch East Indies and French Indo - China until the former colonial ...
... example , America's virtual monopoly in the production of landing craft decided when and where they were to be used for large - scale amphibious assaults . ) Like grass coming through concrete , American personnel , money and influence ...
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 |