In September 1939, four of the five dominions took the decision to support Neville Chamberlain's London-based government and declare war on Nazi Germany. This was to be the last great outpouring of British imperial unity. Entering the fray as 'self-autonomous' they finished it as fledgling states whose long-held political, military, economic and cultural ties with the Mother Country were now uncertain. The Second World War brought military triumphs and catastrophes for the Imperial Coalition. More importantly, it also brought political awareness and a weakening of central power. The war that d