The British Imperial Establishment, Post Imperial Era, and the ‘Churchillian’ World View, 1945-2016. (Adjustments & Challenges in Contemporary British Diplomatic Strategy)

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went
to Newfoundland. In the Battle of Britain in August-September 1940 a few
Empire volunteers flew with the
Royal Air Force.”39

But
from June 1940 there were two successful offensives in which the
empire played a significant part.
“First in Libya, the Eighth Army (which included
Australian and Indian divisions and a New Zealand
reserve brigade) won a series
of victories which took them to Beda Fomm, almost on the borders of
Tripolitania
by February 7, 1941. Second, in Ethiopia the Empire forces entered Italian
Somaliland
from Kenya in February 1941, crossed into Ethiopia in March, and
entered Addis Ababa, the capital, on
April 6, South African, Indian and East
African units fought alongside the British.”40

As
for the Far East, “the Japanese air attack on the American naval base of
Pearl Harbour in December
1941 effectively won the war for the British Empire.
The immense military potential of the United States
was now thrown into the
balance against Germany, Italy and Japan. The Grand Alliance between
Britain,
Russia and the United States seemed assured of ultimate victory.”41

A
month after Pearl Harbour, however, saw the collapse of much of the
British imperial structure in the Far
East. Malaya was invaded (via Indo-China),
and the sinking of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse
destroyed the confidence
of the navy. Hong Kong fell on Christmas Day 1941. As a result of the fall
of
Singapore in February, 1942, 100,000 British, Australian and New Zealand
troops were captured.
This shook the empire to its foundations. The Japanese
swept through Burma and reached the frontiers of
India; they took British, Dutch,
American and French possessions in the Pacific, and thus extended their
power
uncomfortably close to Australia and New Zealand.

The
success of the Japanese in the Far East, as was seen in the previous
chapter, marked the start of the
decolonisation process. Victory of the yellow man
brought reverberations in the British empire. To the
nationalist leaders in Asia

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