SLIDE 1 - World War II was an international conflict between the Axis powers—Germany, Italy, and

Japan—and the Allied powers—France, Britain, the U.S., the Soviet Union, and China.

SLIDE 2 - On 3 September, the UK declared war on Germany as obliged by the Anglo-Polish military
alliance. The declaration was made 24 hours after the UK had issued an ultimatum to Germany to
withdraw all German forces from Poland.

SLIDE 3 – After Hitler conquered France and other western European, he could finally possibly turn
his forces on Germany’s remaining enemy, which was Great Britain. The reason why Great Britain
was the only remaining enemy of Hitler was that it was protected by the waters of the English
Channel. On July 16, 1940, Hitler issued a directive ordering the preparation of a plan for the invasion
of Great Britain. But to be able to invade Britain, given Britain’s large navy, Germany had to establish
control of the air in the battle zone. The Luftwaffe chief, Göring, on August 2 issued the “Eagle Day”
directive, laying down a plan of attack in which a few massive blows from the air were to destroy
British air power and so open the way for the invasion, termed Operation “Sea Lion.” in the air battle
for the Luftwaffe would indeed have exposed Great Britain to invasion and occupation. The victory by
the Royal Air Force (RAF) Fighter Command blocked this possibility and, in fact, created the
conditions for Great Britain’s survival, for the extension of the war, and for the eventual defeat of
Nazi Germany. Interestingly, this was the first battle in history fought solely in the air. Victory

SLIDE 4 – There is a myth that the UK was alone in the fight against Nazi Germany and the map that
you can currently see is showing that it truly was the only European country left.

SLIDE 5 -But if we look at a whole world map, we can see that the ones left in the war were also the
British colonies. Now let’s have a look at how these colonies basically helped Britain survive. First
manpower. As an island, Britain didn’t have the manpower to be able to fight across so many fronts.
And here comes the colonies. For example, the Indian army provided 2.5 million soldiers for Britain
across the world. But help was also coming from New Zealand, Canada, Australia, South Africa, India,
and many more. Apart from manpower, Britain also needed to arm those people. And as America
wasn’t involved yet, Britain relied on its colonies. For example, 150 factories were opened in Canada
in 1940 to support the war effort and their annual output was 800 million pounds worth of goods.
But Canada wasn’t the only one. Australia turned from agriculture to building heavy guns, South
Africans developed a steel industry, which produced armored cars, and of course, India, which
supplied not only soldiers but also factory workers to Britain.

SLIDE 6 – And the production leads to a need for raw materials. For example, Trinidad and Tobago
were the largest producers of oil for the allies, Srí Lanka produced 60% of rubber, Naura exported
huge amounts of phosphate, Nigeria was the producer of tin and the Gold coast sent manganese. It is
safe to say that without the colonies British would be defeated.

SLIDE 7 – Now the last thing I would like to share with you isn’t really a military history. It is the story
of Nicholas Winston, who was a British humanitarian who helped to rescue Jewish children who were
at risk of being murdered by Nazi Germany. Winston rescued 669 children from Czechoslovakia and
found new and safe homes in Britain. His humanitarian accomplishments went unnoticed by the
world for nearly 50 years until 1988 when he was invited to the BBC television program That's Life!,
where he was reunited with dozens of the children he had helped come to Britain. In 2003, Winton
was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for "services to humanity, in saving Jewish Children from Nazi-
occupied Czechoslovakia".[3] On 28 October 2014, he was awarded the highest honor of the Czech
Republic, the Order of the White Lion, by Czech President Miloš Zeman. Winton died on 1 July 2015,
at the age of 106.