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
Results 6-10 of 88
... Britain's alliance with its fellow white Commonwealth countries , India and the Colonial Empire . This is not surprising , given the lengthy delay before Britain's great power allies came onto the scene . For nearly two years the ...
... Britain's senior soldiers , sailors and airmen all tended to be old Empire hands in one respect or another , or to be themselves citizens of the Dominions . All of Britain's wartime Chiefs of Staff , for example , had exten- sive ...
... Britain was so poorly placed to meet the challenges presented by Germany , Italy and Japan . It was just that , as a sated power , recovering from the First World War and the effects of the depres- sion , with a population that would ...
... Britain sought to return to the world of 1914 and to shed its military surfeit as soon as possible . Rapid army ... Britain's strategic heritage and the role allotted to its army in times of war , its standing expeditionary force was ...
... Britain's major ports and cities , though it had of course shed most of the squadrons that in 1918 had given it a front - line strength of over 1500 machines . The money afforded the RAF in the 1930s did not mean , however , that there ...
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 |