Empire Lost


Book Description

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.




British Dominions


Book Description




Great Britain, the Dominions and the Transformation of the British Empire, 1907–1931


Book Description

The relations of Great Britain and its Dominions significantly influenced the development of the British Empire in the late 19th and the first third of the 20th century. The mutual attitude to the constitutional issues that Dominion and British leaders have continually discussed at Colonial and Imperial Conferences respectively was one of the main aspects forming the links between the mother country and the autonomous overseas territories. This volume therefore focuses on the key period when the importance of the Dominions not only increased within the Empire itself, but also in the sphere of the international relations, and the Dominions gained the opportunity to influence the forming of the Imperial foreign policy. During the first third of the 20th century, the British Empire gradually transformed into the British Commonwealth of Nations, in which the importance of Dominions excelled. The work is based on the study of unreleased sources from British archives, a large number of published documents and extensive relevant literature.



















The War and the British Dominions (Classic Reprint)


Book Description

Excerpt from The War and the British Dominions Germany. And, in this state of things, what would be the position of the British Dominions? It is improbable that Germany would desire at once to annex them as portions of her Empire. She would probably, at first, be content to put pressure to hear so that they should sever their political connexion with Great Britain; and then would attempt to obtain the monopoly of their trade by enforcing preferential treatment. Were emigration from Germany again to become necessary or expedient, the emigrants would be encouraged to go to Canada or Australasia; by which means the German element in these communities would be strengthened. Meanwhile, in various directions the emissaries of German 'culture' would be spreading their nets. Elsewhere German action might be more direct. According to the summary of his speech telegraphed to England, General Smuts has recently stated that there is evidence in the hands of the South African Union Government of German intrigues against British South Africa. It is impossible for as here to know the character of such evidence but we all remember the exultant message which the German Kaiser dispatched on receiving the news of the foolish fiasco of the Jameson raid. It showed better than reams of commentary how close was the attention being paid by Queen Victoria's august grandson to the possibilities of trouble for the British Empire. Happily for Great Britain, 'by a certain divine good fortune the members of the German governing classes excel in offending those whom it. Is their interest to conciliate. Thus, after the treaty of Vereeniging, Transvaal farmeis trekked into German south-west Africa to escape the humiliation of British rule. Most of them, however, soon found their way back, recognizing that the whipcords of British dominion were far lighter than the scorpions of German authority. Similarly, if. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.