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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... Aden , Alexandria , Bermuda , Cape Town , Colombo , Gibraltar , Halifax , Hong Kong and Singapore were part of the British world . Britain's enemies were well aware of how important this global network was , hence their attempt to ...
... Aden and the Persian Gulf , Iraq , Turkey and the Balkans . General Sir Archibald Wavell had the mixed blessing of serving in high command in the early stages of the war , when Britain was very much on the back foot , and of winning a ...
... Aden , India , Palestine , Singapore and elsewhere , but early in the war the squadrons there consisted of largely obsolete aircraft . In the inter - war period , the RAF had been seen in some quarters as a cheap way to police parts of ...
... Aden , Bengal , Cyprus or Palestine was similarly affected by the reach of a global conflict . Here , too , colourful posters adorned public walls , exhorting civilians to avoid gossip , to join the women's auxiliary forces or , in East ...
... Aden , Cairo , Calcutta , Colombo , Darwin , George Town ( Penang ) , Gibraltar , Haifa , Hong Kong , Kuala Lumpur , Malta , Mandalay , Nauru , Port Blair ( Andaman Islands ) , Rangoon , Singapore , Townsville , Trincomalee and ...
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 |