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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... Canadian Merchant Navy ) were inextricably bound up with the British Empire . This was particularly the case during the Second World War . Previous wars had seen the British attack and be attacked across the world's oceans . Britain ...
... Canadian shipyards . Australia built them as well , and South Africa built minesweepers and converted whalers and trawlers to serve as escort vessels . Like the little boats that saved the British Expeditionary Force at Dunkirk , it was ...
... Canadians were brought to Britain , and Lend- Lease was delivered to Russia via Archangel and the Persian Gulf . This , indeed , was the mobility of manpower and resources conferred by seapower . Upon it depended a complex system of ...
... Canadian bombers dropped one - eighth of Bomber Command's payload , and Canadian fighter pilots served in units such as No. 406 ( Canadian ) Night Fighter Squadron . Overall , Canada provided one quarter 38 THE BRITISH EMPIRE AND THE ...
... Canadian Air Force squadrons , twenty - three Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) squadrons and twenty - eight South African Air Force squadrons served with the RAF . In Britain imperial pilots learned their trade at the Empire Central ...
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 |