The British Colonies in the Second World War

The Second World War was, in its scale, the largest single military undertaking in the history of the British Empire. By the end of the war in August 1945, more than 4.5 million men from across the empire had served in the British forces, of whom perhaps 200,000 had been killed. India, the African colonies, the Caribbean, and the Pacific territories had all contributed substantial forces, and the empire’s war effort was central to the British victory. The war, in this respect, was an imperial war. It was also a war that, like the First World War, transformed the empire. The post-war settlement, embodied in the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, the recognition of African and Asian independence in the 1950s and 1960s, and the decolonisation of the Caribbean in the 1960s, marked the end of the British Empire as a single, centralised imperial system. The war, in that sense, both created and destroyed the British Empire of the mid-twentieth century.

India

India was the largest single contributor to the British war effort in the Second World War. The Indian Army, which had numbered some 200,000 men at the outbreak of war, was expanded to more than 2.5 million by the end of the war, and Indian troops served in every theatre of the war — in France, in East Africa, in the Middle East, in Italy, in North Africa, and above all in Burma, where the Indian Army played the central role in the defeat of the Japanese.

The Indian contribution to the war effort was substantial. The Indian Army suffered perhaps 90,000 dead, including 30,000 in the Burma campaign alone. The Indian economy was mobilised to support the war effort: the Indian railways carried perhaps 50 million tons of military supplies during the war, the Indian textile industry produced perhaps 9 billion yards of cloth for military use, and the Indian food supply contributed substantially to the Allied war effort. The Indian navy and merchant marine also contributed to the war effort, with the Royal Indian Navy serving in the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian merchant marine carrying some 7 million tons of cargo during the war.

The political consequences of the Indian war effort were substantial. The British declaration of war on Germany in September 1939, on behalf of British India without Indian consultation, produced a serious political crisis, and the British attempts to secure Indian cooperation in the war effort — the Cripps Mission of 1942, the offer of dominion status — were rejected by the Indian National Congress. The Quit India Movement of August 1942 was the most serious political crisis of the war, and the British response — the immediate arrest of the Congress leaders and the suppression of the movement — was a major political reversal. The end of the war, in August 1945, produced a new political crisis, and the British withdrawal from India in 1947 was the most important political consequence of the war.

Africa

The African colonies were the second largest contributor to the British war effort. The African colonies — Nigeria, the Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, the Gambia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika, Nyasaland, Northern and Southern Rhodesia, and the other British African possessions — provided some 500,000 men for the British forces, of whom perhaps 15,000 were killed. The African troops served in the East African campaign, the North African campaign, the Burma campaign, and in the defence of the British African territories against the Axis threat.

The African contribution to the war effort was substantial, but it was also controversial. The African troops were, in many respects, conscripted: the British colonial administrations used a variety of methods, including taxation and the threat of imprisonment, to recruit the necessary manpower. The African troops were paid substantially less than the British troops, and they were subject to a strict military discipline. The most famous case of African wartime service was the Burma campaign, in which the West African divisions — the 81st and 82nd (West Africa) Divisions — served with distinction in the campaign to recapture Burma from the Japanese. The West African divisions, in particular, were deployed in the most difficult terrain of the Burma campaign, and they suffered heavy casualties. The most famous single engagement was the Battle of Kohima in April–May 1944, in which the British and Indian forces held off a Japanese attempt to invade India, and in which the West African divisions played an important role.

The African contribution to the war effort had significant political consequences. The African troops, who had fought for the British in the war, returned to a colonial system that denied them the rights of British citizens. The political pressure for African independence, which had been building before the war, accelerated after the war, and the British government, recognising the political impossibility of maintaining the colonial system, began the process of African decolonisation in the late 1950s.

The Caribbean

The Caribbean colonies were the third largest contributor to the British war effort. The Caribbean colonies — Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, the Bahamas, British Guiana, British Honduras, and the smaller islands — provided some 15,000 men for the British forces, of whom perhaps 1,000 were killed. The Caribbean troops served in the Royal Air Force, the Royal Navy, and the British Army, and they were integrated into the British military system on the same basis as the British troops.

The Caribbean contribution to the war effort was substantial, but it was also controversial. The Caribbean colonies, like the African colonies, were subject to British colonial rule, and the Caribbean troops, who had fought for the British in the war, returned to a colonial system that denied them the rights of British citizens. The most famous Caribbean military unit was the Caribbean Regiment, which served in the Burma campaign and in the occupation of Japan. The Caribbean contribution to the war effort had significant political consequences, and the Caribbean colonies began the process of decolonisation in the 1960s. Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago became independent in 1962; Barbados in 1966; the Bahamas in 1973; Grenada in 1974; and the smaller islands at various dates in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Pacific

The Pacific territories — Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Western Samoa, and the other Pacific islands — were the fourth largest contributor to the British war effort. Australia, which had been a dominion since 1901, provided the largest single Pacific contribution, with some 900,000 men under arms during the war. New Zealand provided some 200,000 men, of whom perhaps 12,000 were killed. Fiji provided some 5,000 men, of whom perhaps 1,000 were killed.

The Australian and New Zealand contribution to the war effort was substantial. The Australian and New Zealand forces served in the Mediterranean, the Middle East, North Africa, and the Pacific. The Australian forces were particularly important in the Pacific war against Japan, and the Australian navy played a significant role in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 and the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944. The Australian troops, in particular, suffered heavy casualties in the New Guinea campaign, where they fought a grinding jungle war against the Japanese across some of the most punishing terrain of the entire Pacific conflict.

The political consequences of the Pacific war effort were substantial. The Australian and New Zealand war effort was a major argument for Australian and New Zealand independence, and the post-war period saw a substantial reduction of the British presence in the Pacific. The ANZUS Treaty of 1951, signed between Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, was a major step in the development of an Australian and New Zealand foreign policy independent of Britain. The ANZAC tradition, established in the First World War and reinforced in the Second, became the central element of Australian and New Zealand national identity.

The Middle East

The Middle Eastern territories — Palestine, Transjordan, Iraq, the Persian Gulf states, and the Aden protectorate — were the fifth largest contributor to the British war effort. The Middle East was a major theatre of the war: the British campaign in Iraq, the British campaign in Syria and Lebanon, the British campaign in Iran, and the British defence of Palestine and Egypt were all major military undertakings. The Middle Eastern territories provided the bases for the British operations in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, and the oil of the Persian Gulf was a major strategic asset for the British.

The political consequences of the Middle Eastern war effort were substantial. The Iraqi coup of 1941, the Lebanese independence movement, and the Palestinian question all had significant political consequences for the British position in the Middle East. The British withdrawal from Palestine in 1948, the Iraqi revolution of 1958, and the Kuwaiti independence of 1961 were major steps in the dismantling of the British position in the Middle East. The Suez Crisis of 1956 was the final major event in the British position in the Middle East, and the failure of the Suez intervention marked the effective end of British power in the region.

Historiographical Note

The historiography of the British colonies in the Second World War has been substantially revised since the 1990s. The older tradition, of which the work of C. E. Callwell and the official histories is representative, treated the war as a British imperial war, in which the empire had made a substantial contribution to the British victory. The more recent scholarship, of which the work of David Reynolds, Ashley Jackson, and the contributors to the Oxford History of the British Empire is the most distinguished representative, has produced a more nuanced picture. The war, on this more recent view, was an imperial war, but it was also a war that transformed the empire. The British imperial forces, in particular, played a major role in every theatre of the war, and the Indian, African, Caribbean, and Pacific forces made substantial contributions. The post-war settlement, in this context, marked the beginning of the end of the British Empire as a single, centralised imperial system. The current generation of historians, of whom the work of David French, Ashley Jackson, and the contributors to The Cambridge History of the Second World War (the relevant volume) are representative, has produced a more integrated picture. The British colonies and the Second World War, on this most recent view, were mutually constitutive: the colonies were major contributors to the war effort, and the war was a major contributor to the end of the empire.

In this Section

Other Sections