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British Empire in World War II
When the United Kingdom (UK) declared war on Nazi Germany at the outset of World War II, it controlled, to varying degrees, many crown colonies, protectorates across the world and the Indian Empire. It also maintained unique political ties to five independent dominions as part of the British Commonwealth (a name popularised during World War I, which became official after the Balfour Declaration of 1926),:〔(W. David McIntyre, 1999, "The Commonwealth"; in Robin Winks (ed.), ''The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume V: Historiography'', Oxford University Press, p. 558. )〕 Australia, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, and Ireland. While Ireland remained neutral, the remaining Commonwealth nations joined the war on Britain's side.
The contribution of the British Empire and Commonwealth in terms of manpower and materiel was critical to the Allied war effort. However, it also proved difficult to co-ordinate the defence of far-flung colonies and Commonwealth countries from simultaneous attacks by the Axis Powers. In part this was exacerbated by disagreements between over priorities and objectives, as well as the deployment and control of joint forces. The governments of Britain and Australia, in particular, turned to the United States for support. Although the British Empire and the Commonwealth countries all emerged from the war as victors, and the conquered territories were returned to British rule, the costs of the war and the nationalist fervour that it had stoked became a catalyst for the decolonisation which took place in the following decades as the formation of the Commonwealth realm.
== Pre-war plans for defence ==
From 1923, defence of British colonies and protectorates in East Asia was centred on the "Singapore strategy". This made the assumption that Britain could send a fleet to its naval base in Singapore within two or three days of a Japanese attack, while relying on France to provide assistance in Asia via its colony in Indochina and, in the event of war with Italy, to help defend British territories in the Mediterranean.〔Louis, p. 315〕
During the 1930s, a triple threat emerged for the British Commonwealth in the form of right-wing, militaristic governments in Germany, Italy and Japan.〔Brown, p. 284〕 Germany threatened the British mainland itself, while Italy and Japan's imperial ambitions looked set to clash with British imperial presence in the Mediterranean and Far East respectively. However, there were differences of opinion within the UK and the Dominions as to which posed the most serious threat, and whether any attack would come from more than one power at the same time.
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