Prepared for THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES by THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION This pamphlet is one of a series made available by the War Department under the series title GI Roundtable. As the general title indicates, GI Roundtable pamphlets provide material which informationeducation officers may use in conducting group discussions or forums as part of an off-duty education program, and which operators of Armed Forces Radio Service outlets may use in preparing GI Radio Roundtable discussion broadcasts. The content of this pamphlet has been prepared by the Historical Service Board of the American Historical Association. Each pamphlet in the series has only one purpose: to provide factual information and balanced arguments as a basis for discussion of all sides of the question. It is not to be inferred that the War Department endorses any one of the particular views presented. Specific suggestions for the discussion or forum leader who plans to use this pamphlet will be found on page 51. WAR DEPARTMENT WASHINGTON 25, D. C., 18 Jan 1946. EM 16, GI Roundtable: What Makes the British Commonwealth Hold Together? Current War Department instructions authorize the requisition of additional copies of this pamphlet on the basis of one copy for each 25 military personnel, within limits of the available supply. Additional copies should be requisitioned from the United States Armed Forces Institute, Madison 3, Wisconsin, or the nearest Oversea Branch. Distributed for use in the educational and informational programs of the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. This distribution is not to be construed as an endorsement by the Navy Department of the statements contained therein. EDUCATIONAL SERVICES SECTION, STANDARDS AND CURRICULUM DIVISION, TRAINING, BUREAU OF NAVAL PERSONNEL, WASHINGTON 25, D. C. (Copies for Navy personnel are to be requisitioned from Educational Services Section.) EDUCATION SECTION, WELFARE DIVISION, SPECIAL SERVICES BRANCH, UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS, WASHINGTON 25, D. C. (Distributed to Marine Corps personnel by Special Services Branch. Additional copies, or information, may be obtained from unit Special Services Officers.) TRAINING DIVISION, OFFICE OF PERSONNEL, COAST GUARD HEADQUARTERS, WASHINGTON 25, D. C.) (Copies for Coast Guard personnel should be requisitioned from the Commandant (PT), U. S. Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington 25, D. C.) WHAT'S INCLUDED IN THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH? "WHAT MAKES the British Commonwealth hold together?" is a question we Americans often ask each other. The fact that it does hold together no one can doubt or deny-and we may all be truly grateful that it does. If it hadn't in those fateful twelve months between the fall of France in mid1940 and Hitler's attack on Russia in mid-1941, the Axis powers would have ridden roughshod over the world. It might have been easy in those days for any disaffected parts of the Commonwealth to break away and for the structure to fall apart. But little of the sort happened. True, Eire had declared itself neutral, but tens of thousands of Irishmen enlisted in the British forces. The rest of the Commonwealth stood solitary but solid. Britons, Canadians, South Africans, Australians, New Zealanders, and West Indians smashed the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain. Britains, Anzacs, Indians, and West or South Africans clung grimly to North Africa and prevented Germany and Italy from pushing east of Suez to join hands with Japan. It was lucky for us that the Commonwealth did hang together through that terrible year when it stood alone. Why do we ask? When Americans ask what makes the British Commonwealth hang together, we may be simply asking for infor mation. Or the question may reveal our surprise at a political fact that seems to us unnatural. Most of us have paid little attention, in school or later, to what has been happening since 1783 in the British Empire, as it used to be called, or the British Commonwealth of Nations, as it is being called nowadays. Visitors from Australia and Canada have often been distressed to find how many of us, even in high places, believe that their countries pay taxes to Great Britain or have to do as the government in London says. "Don't you Americans know," said one such guest, "that if Churchill told us to do something, we'd be likely to do just the opposite?" If there is a note of surprise in our voice as we ask why the Commonwealth has survived, perhaps it is because we are really saying, "This Empire fell apart once; why doesn't, or hasn't, or shouldn't it go to pieces again?" Such a reaction may be based on what we learned in school about British policies before the American Revolution and on the assumption that nothing has changed since then. Probably we have heard stories about wrongs committed against Irishmen, Indians, or Africans, and hence we may feel that on moral grounds the Commonwealth ought not to live any longer. Or we may even feel that empires are wrong in principle, that the control of one people by another is bad, and that imperialism-British, French, Dutch, Japanese, or American-should be ended once and for all. Is there an Englishman in the house? If you approach the question in this frame of mind, it might be useful to get a well-informed Briton (or a citizen of one of the dominions) to sit in on your discussion, provided one is around. Try the question on him, but don't be surprised if he replies, "Why shouldn't it hold together?" If your mind runs to ideas of what British colonial policies were before 1776, don't be afraid of mentioning the |