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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... fighting over Britain and France . By 1939 there was an alarming lack of armed force to protect what was still the ... fight Germany and Italy , could wage the Battle of Britain , the Battle of the Atlantic and the Battle of the Middle ...
... fighting in Libya , Italy or Burma , rode into battle not just in British tanks but in American Honeys , Grants ... fighting fronts , a large supply organization - ' an overseas Whitehall ' - was established in Washington , alongside one ...
... fighting duties , when , in the summer of 1941 , they took over an increased share of the running of the Iranian transport network following the Anglo - Soviet invasion . The men who ... fight , and the Empire was rarely IMPERIAL WAR 25.
... fight without Singapore , and even , God forbid , without Australia , but it would die if Britain was overrun or the lifeline of the Atlantic bridge was severed . Hitler also appreciated the significance of the British Empire , at least ...
... fight and to shuttle supplies from Gibraltar to Alexandria . From September 1939 convoys began to sail homeward from Gibraltar and Sierra Leone , outward and homeward to and from Bergen in Norway , and outward into the Atlantic by the ...
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 |