After the fall of France, Great Britain stood alone against Germany

Emphasis is placed on the British fighting alone against the power of Germany and their Italian allies in film after film depicting the surrender of France and the start of the Battle of Britain. With his remarks to Parliament and the British people at the time, Churchill started the myth of Britain's lone resistance to what he called Nazi tyranny. He was actually addressing the American people in many of them, intending to capitalise on the nation's long-standing compassion for the underdog through his speech.

But once the French surrendered and they withdrew from Dunkirk and other Channel ports, Britain did not remain the only power. More over 25% of the world was covered by the British Empire in 1940. Britain had access to manpower and resources from places like Canada, India, Asia, South Africa, Rhodesia, Australia, New Zealand, and its Caribbean island possessions, among other places. The empire had enormous stores of food from all over the world, rubber, coal, iron ore, and oil.

The idea that Britain stood alone was developed as a result of Churchill's rhetoric and the jingoistic recording of history in the immediate post-World War II period. Simple fact-checking indicates that the tale is romantic nonsense. Even the rightly revered RAF pilots weren't just British men fighting Hitler all by themselves. During Britain's "Darkest Hour," pilots from South Africa, Rhodesia, the Netherlands, Poland, France, Belgium, Canada, and even volunteers from the United States all flew with the Royal Air Force.