1939 AD–1945 AD
The empire enters war and accelerates its own crisis
British Empire · War & conquest
Britain declared war on behalf of colonies—including India without consulting elected leaders—while dominions decided separately. Millions served in armed forces and war economies; Japanese invasion, the Atlantic battle, African and Asian campaigns, and wartime promises of freedom intensified anti-colonial demands
Precision, calendar, and review
- Start
- year · no uncertainty qualifier in this record
- End
- year · no uncertainty qualifier in this record
- Calendar and convention
- Historical-era years; the source calendar is not identified. No conversion of days is assumed.
- Year zero
- The scale goes from 1 BCE to 1 CE without year zero. Changing era names changes labels only.
- Documentary review
- Date not recorded
Reading the date: duration of a process.
Sources
- www.nationalarchives.gov.uk (opens in a new tab)
Source provenance and scope
- Publication date
- Not identified in metadata; document review pending
- Bibliographic date checked
- 2026-09-23
The correspondence between this reference and individual claims has not yet been itemized.
This record is an editorial synthesis. Consult the sources to check claims and their limits. Chronological relationships alone do not establish causation.