Shameful episodes
TO equate the British Empire with Nazi Germany – as “anti-racism” curriculum guidelines for British schools does – is as scurrilous as it is ignorant.
Between the fall of France in June 1940 and Hitler’s invasion of the USSR in June 1941, the British Empire was all that stood between the Axis Powers and their total domination of Europe, Africa and Asia.
The British Empire almost bankrupted itself in its defence of liberty. Had it yielded in 1940/41, the peoples of Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia would have faced an horrific fate.
To compare the British Empire with Nazi Germany dishonours the sacrifices of those soldiers drawn from all parts of the Empire, including the Indian Army – the largest volunteer force in history.
Many Africans and Asians supported the British Empire in the Second World War because they knew the fate that awaited them if Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan succeeded. …
The rest of this article features in our July 2024 print issue, available to subscribers.
