HistoriaSG:

Uncle Sam to the Rescue? Coalition Strategy and the Defense of Singapore in World War Two

The history of Singapore during World War Two remains a subject of significant interest, not least because it continues to offer insightful historical perspectives and lessons on administration, alliance politics, imperial rule, leadership, and military strategy. This talk will examine the coalition strategy and defense of Singapore during World War Two, as well as the role that British strategists envisaged US forces playing in the Singapore strategy, and the American responses to these ideas. It concludes with thoughts about the longer-term impact of Singapore’s fall on Anglo-American strategic thinking.

About the Speaker

S. R. Joey Long is Associate Professor of History at the National University of Singapore. His main fields of interest are the cold and hot wars in post-World War Two Southeast Asia, the history of American foreign relations with Asia, the history of Singapore, and Asia-Pacific security. He has published on those subjects, and is the author of Safe for Decolonization: The Eisenhower Administration, Britain, and Singapore. The fellowships and awards that he has received include a Fulbright Grant, the Lawrence Gelfand-Armin Rappaport Fellowship from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, and the Holland Rose Trust Award from the University of Cambridge.

This edition of HistoriaSG is produced in collaboration with the Department of History, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore.

About HistoriaSG

HistoriaSG is a lecture series that focuses on important but lesser-known aspects of Singapore’s history. With in-depth presentations by local and international academics on a range of topics viewed through a variety of lens from business to science and technology, the environment and specific communities, the series sheds new light on Singapore’s culture, history and heritage. Organised by the National Museum of Singapore, HistoriaSG is part of the museum’s efforts to promote a deeper understanding and appreciation of Singapore’s history.

This lecture will be recorded for educational purposes.

Image above: Atlantic Charter, 1941. 80-G-26765, courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration (United States).