Empire Lost: Britain, the Dominions and the Second World War
Andrew Stewart
Language: English
Pages: 256
ISBN: 1847252443
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Using government records, private letters and diaries and contemporary media sources, this book examines the key themes affecting the relationship between Britain and the Dominions during the Second World War, the Empire's last great conflict. It asks why this political and military coalition was ultimately successful in overcoming the challenge of the Axis powers but, in the process, proved unable to preserve itself. Although these changes were inevitable the manner of the evolution was sometimes painful, as Britain's wartime economic decline left its political position exposed in a changing post-war international system.
Remagen 1945: Endgame against the Third Reich (Campaign, Volume 175)
The Crime of My Very Existence: Nazism and the Myth of Jewish Criminality
1001 Things Everyone Should Know About World War II
Germany's Spanish Volunteers 1941-45 (Men-at-Arms, Volume 103)
Church of Spies: The Pope's Secret War Against Hitler
Commonwealth (London, 1960), pp. 10-11. 3 J. D. Latham speaking in the Australian federal parliament in 1931; cited in W. R. Brock, Britain and the Dominions (Cambridge, 1951), pp. 415-16. 4 Viscount Bennett, 'The British Commonwealth of Nations: Its Constitutional Development', United Empire (Vol. 35, No. 2; March-April 1944), p. 43. 5 Lord Blanesburgh, 'The Statute of Westminster', Lecture at Royal United Service Institution, 18 January 1933. 6 Joseph Chamberlain, House of Commons Debate on.
23 December 1941, PREM3/63/3. 7 Dalton Diary, 19 December 1941, p. 337. 8 Attlee to Churchill, 23 December 1941, PREM3/63/3. 9 Edwards, Bruce of Melbourne, pp. 324-5; Coral Bell, Dependent Ally: A Study in Australian Foreign Policy (Melbourne, 1988), pp. 25-6; Eric Baume, 'Australia's Political Trend', The Fortnightly (No. 151; January-June 1942), pp. 97-106. 10 Menzies Radio Broadcast, 26 April 1939 in R. G. Neale (ed.), Documents on Australian Foreign Policy, 1937-1949: Vol. 2, 1939.
War 'none of the Dominions would follow' Britain.29 He had not altered his opinion since and buoyed by his self-perceived value, and with his Canadian counterpart Vincent Massey to support him, he now angrily urged that Germany should be given one more 'chance of saving face'.30 Perhaps as a result of this verbal assault delivered to the unfortunate Inskip, te Water and the other high commissioners were given some degree of advance warning at the end of March that a security guarantee was to be.
Emotional ties still existed between the two countries and Britain, which helped to guarantee that there was significant public support for British policy. Their security—there had been an almost total neglect of defence expenditure during the inter-war period—and economic welfare—neither Dominion held significant gold or foreign currency reserves—also helped safeguard their connection to Britain. This financial aspect was most critical and New Zealand's position was especially dire. The 1938.
Global financial depression had brought with it severe balance of payments constraints and the requirements for borrowing were consequently heavy. On the last day of March 1939 the Dominion's public debt stood at NZ£304 million, of which over half was held in Britain. Despite having pledged publicly not to do so, the socialist New Zealand government turned to London for help and Walter Nash, finance minister, was sent to negotiate directly for an agreement leaving behind him 'a tattered utopia'.