This book is a major reassessment of a key aspect of British strategy and defence policy in the first half of the twentieth century. Its main theme is an investigation of the role of Malta in British military strategy, as planned and as it actually developed, in the period between the mid 1920s and the end of the war in North Africa in May 1943. It demonstrates that the now widely accepted belief that Malta was ''written off as indefensible'' before the war was mistaken, and focuses on Malta''s actual wartime role in the Mediterranean war, assessing the numerous advantages, many often ignored, that the British derived from retention of the island. The conclusions made challenge recent assertions that Malta''s contribution was of limited value.