The decline and fall of the British Empire, 1781-1997 / Piers Brendon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brendon, Piers.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Commonwealth (Organization).

History.

Great Britain--Colonies--History.

Great Britain.

Colonies.

Commonwealth countries--History.

Commonwealth countries.

Commonwealth (Organization)--History.

Imperialism--History.

Imperialism.

Great Britain--Civilization.

Civilization.

Physical Description:

xxii, 786 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, color maps ; 25 cm

Edition:

First American edition.

Place of Publication:

Alfred A. Knopf : New York, 2008.

Summary:

After the American Revolution, the British Empire appeared doomed. But over the next 150 years it grew to become the greatest and most diverse empire the world has ever seen--from Canada to Australia to China, India, and Egypt--seven times larger than the Roman Empire at its apogee. Yet it was also fundamentally weak, as Piers Brendon shows in this panoramic chronicle. Run from a tiny island base, it operated on a shoestring with the help of local elites. It enshrined a belief in freedom that would fatally undermine its authority. Spread too thin, and facing wars, economic crises, and domestic discord, the empire would vanish almost as quickly as it appeared. Within a generation, it collapsed, sometimes amid bloodshed, leaving unfinished business in Rhodesia, the Falklands, and Hong Kong. Above all, it left a contested legacy: at best, a sporting spirit, a legal code, and a near-universal language; at worst, failed states and internecine strife.--From publisher description.

Contents:

1 The World Turned Upside Down: The American Revolution and the Slave Trade 3

2 An English Barrack in the Oriental Seas: Britannia's Indian Empire 32

3 Exempt from the Disaster of Caste: Australia, Canada and New Zealand 63

4 To Stop Is Dangerous, to Recede, Ruin: The Far East and Afghanistan 97

5 Sacred Wrath: Irish Famine and Indian Mutiny 119

6 Spread the Peaceful Gospel-with the Maxim Gun: Towards Conquest in Africa 141

7 A Magnificent Empire Under the British Flag: Cape to Cairo 184

8 Barbarians Thundering at the Frontiers: The Boer War and the Indian Raj 219

9 The Empire, Right or Wrong: Flanders, Iraq, Gallipoli and Vimy Ridge 254

10 Aflame with the Hope of Liberation: Ireland and the Middle East 294

11 Englishmen Like Posing as Gods: West and East 334

12 White Mates Black in a Very Few Moves: Kenya and the Sudan 356

13 Spinning the Destiny of India: The Route to Independence 379

14 That Is the End of the British Empire: Singapore and Burma 421

15 The Aim of Labour Is to Save the Empire: Ceylon and Malaya 444

16 A Golden Bowl Full of Scorpions: The Holy Land 466

17 The Destruction of National Will: Suez Invasion and Aden Evacuation 487

18 Renascent Africa: The Gold Coast and Nigeria 516

19 Uhuru-Freedom: Kenya and the Mau Mau 551

20 Kith and Kin: Rhodesia and the Central African Federation 575

21 Rocks and Islands: The West Indies and Cyprus 605

22 All Our Pomp of Yesterday: The Falklands and Hong Kong 633.

Notes:

Maps on endpapers.

"Originally published in Great Britain by Jonathan Cape, London"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [665]-759) and index.

ISBN:

9780307268297

0307268292

OCLC:

215177421