Empire Lost

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.