Readers become confused by the essential differences between dominions and colonies and protectorates. The British Empire, when it existed, embraced all three. ‘Dominions’ was the name used for…
Category: Commonwealth History
The army of British India
Also known as the ‘Indian Army’, this was a British – officered military force in India; the other ranks, corporals, sergeants and warrant officers were recruited from the…
Who were ‘the Free French?’
Germany attacked France in May, 1940. 136 German divisions faced 125 British, French and Belgian ones. The Germans had over two thousand tanks, but even their commander admitted…
The Campaign in Normandy, June & August, 1944
This was the real turning point in the Second World War, although it came much later than it should have done, due mainly to inappropriate weather conditions for…
The Canadian Pacific Railway
The name of the longest railway in the world may confuse. It is transcontinental, not a railroad running along the western or Pacific coast of Canada. Work began…
Transportation & the penal Settlements
At the end of the sixteenth century English prisons were showing signs of collapse. Thanks to absolute monarchs like Henry VIII, plus the warring sections of the Church,…
The struggle for independence: Rhodesia
It would seem clear that Cataluña will, by one means or another, free herself from Spain, of which she has always been an integral part. All the signs…
Curious Anglo-German Agreements
Why ‘curious’? Because the first was agreed between Britain and Germany only fourteen years before the outbreak of a world war, the first of its kind. And the…
The father of Winston
Lord Randolph H.S. Churchill was born in 1849, the third son of the then Duke of Marlborough. In character more similar to his grandson Randolph than his son…