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BRITANNIA: Review/Essay of The Rise & Fall of the British Empire (L. James)

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 1
tAnnia : A Critical Review/Essay of
b ri

“THE RISE and FALL of the BRITISH EMPIRE"

by Lawrence James (1994)
© H. J. Spencer [05June2020] <14,000 words; 20 pages>

ABSTRACT
This book is the definitive history of the Rise and Fall of the British Empire - by one of England's most
admired historians. Although this book does cover the Fall in its final 19 chapters, its emphasis is on the
Rise (1600 to 1914: 23 chapters); so, initially, I thought I might supplement the Empire's decline with
another fine history: "After the Victorians: the Decline of Britain" by A. N. Wilson (2005). However, I
discovered that Wilson's book focused more on England than its empire, so I restricted myself to the
principal book that actually does do a better job on the positive Rise than the negative Fall, as readers might
have guessed. This book presents a very interesting story. This is the tale of the world's greatest empire
between those of Rome and the United States of America. This is a fascinating blend of risk-taking
merchants and aristocratic militarists that developed an Empire, (with minimal design) that evolved into a
spread of people (colonies) and culture (laws and language). As will be shown, this is the Rise and Fall of
one of the most violent groups (Vikings) in European history. The Vikings have a well-deserved reputation
for violence but before seizing England they had also demonstrated a talent for trading, reaching both
Constantinople and the Ukraine. The story of the British Empire illustrates the dramatic merger of these
two talents that have characterized much of humanity's recent history. This essay will quickly alert readers
to the major social movement of the last 400 years, still effecting today, all over the world.
INTRODUCTION
This book has been well received but tragically its 700 pages present a high wall for too many readers
today, so I have attempted to produce a shorter summary of this important topic that was a major factor
ruling half the globe and defining the modern world. Perhaps, this essay might encourage (I hope) a few
brave readers to read the original. None-the-less, this essay deliberately avoids a scholarly approach by
omitting both footnotes and indexes that are present in the original. The British Empire began to emerge
around 1600, after the death of Elizabeth I. It followed 500 years of violence; English history has been
one of almost continuous warfare. The British Empire reached its peak in the mid-1880s in the Age of
Victoria (Empress of India) but the two world wars destroyed the Empire: without Britain being defeated
in war. By 1960, in the reign of Elizabeth II, many Britons had colonized North America, Australasia
and South Africa. Although this was an Empire managed by a strong central government, it was also an
adventure supported by millions of ordinary citizens, some of whom took great personal risks and are still
widely admired as national heroes. As I shall show, this imperial adventure was motivated by greed and
ruined by pride. This essay gives more of British history than might be needed for most readers who are
English but it is hoped that many others with little detailed knowledge of the history of this specific nation
will also read this essay, as the British Empire has had a major impact on the world. As an Englishman,
who emigrated to a far corner of this vast empire, I must confess my shame at this horrific story and
apologize for my nation's greed and terror, as I will show. This essay attempts a synthesis over history,
not simply a sequence of events; so there is a rich analysis here showing the deep currents of history.
BOOK AUTHOR'S BIOGRAPHY
Lawrence James (1943) first gained a B.A. in history and English at York University before taking a
research degree at Merton College, Oxford. After a few years as teacher, he became a full-time writer in
1985; before this best-seller, he wrote seven other popular history books on the period after 1800.

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1. PROLOGUE
1.1 THE ROMAN EMPIRE
With the triumph of Augustus, Rome launched its Empire on the Mediterranean world. Its legions were a
professional army (well-equipped and trained) that usually defeated its armed, peasant enemies as it
spread its successful Gangsterism across Europe; even conquering Britannia (the Roman name for
Britain) in its endless search for minerals, food and slaves. Like most empires, it justified its conquests by
claiming to spread peace and civilization. Eventually, this imperial venture began to cost more than was
gained from conquest. Rome's internal rivalries, high taxation and threats from migrating 'Barbarians' led
to its final fall by about 500 AD. It took about another 500 years of chaos and violence before the feudal
(knightly/monarchial) era emerged to restore any form of centralized governance across Europe.
1.1.1 THE INSPIRATION
English education, for the last 500 years, has studied the languages, cultures and history of Ancient
Greece and Rome, especially at (and for) England's two leading universities: Oxford and Cambridge.
1.1.2 GREEK HEROES
The study of Greece emphasized individualism and the heroism of warriors (Achilles) and talkers (Plato).
1.1.3 ROMAN ORGANIZATION
The study of Rome focused on language (Latin), politics (Cicero) and military tactics and heroes (Caesar).
1.2 ANGLO-SAXON CONSOLIDATION
After the legions were withdrawn to better defend Rome, England was then invaded by various Germanic
tribes, who eventually divided up the country into seven warring kingdoms, including the North-East
(York) controlled by the Danish Vikings. Finally Alfred, king of the West Saxons (Wessex), was able to
consolidate by 886 the whole country into one nation: England.
1.3 NORMAN CONQUEST
The Scandinavian Vikings were the most aggressive fighters in Northern Europe, raiding the region for
treasure and slaves. Some of these people decided to seize an area in northern France; the North-Men
became the Normans; the area became Normandy. A legitimacy dispute over the Wessex dynasty led to
the last successful invasion in 1066 of England by William of Normandy. This imposed control over
England ever since by a small aristocracy of greedy killers creating a thousand years of violence.
1.3.1 LOCAL EMPIRES (WALES/IRELAND/SCOTLAND)
The new Norman rulers of England first moved on their western neighbors in Wales, consolidating their
conquest by building many strong stone castles. Inspired by this success, the Normans attacked North
against Scotland. This aggression encouraged a successful invasion and conquest of Ireland further West.
1.4 THE ISLAND NATION
Unlike most countries, especially in Europe, England had the natural advantage of being an island; this
reduced the threat of invasions by large land armies; this has been its most important national advantage.
This fact has been acknowledged for over 500 years by England's Rulers, so they invested more in their
(Royal) Navy than in their land armies, with the best and brightest young men following a naval career.
1.5 EUROPEAN RIVALS
By 1337, these recent Viking invaders from France were back across the channel trying to claim the
whole of France as well; so was born the infamous Hundred Years War that set the stage for the
centuries-long rivalry between England and France. Even when the Black Death impacted that conflict,
fighting still raged in England, as different aristocratic families fought to establish their claim for the
English throne. Henry VIII, disrupted Europe by declaring his loyalty to the recent Protestant religious
schism and set Catholic Spain against England. This united England behind his daughter Elizabeth to
resist the threatened invasion that was being transported by the many ships of the Spanish Armada.

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1.5.1 PORTUGESE EXPLORATIONS
The importance of naval fighting stimulated better ship design, with larger vessels able to sail further
from the coast on longer voyages. The first European nation to sail to Africa and beyond was Portugal.
1.5.2 SPANISH EMPIRE
It was Portugal's larger neighbor, Spain that used this new marine technology to ship its soldiers across
the oceans to Asia and South America. Combined with gunpowder weapons, this enabled Spain to
quickly defeat the local rulers and create a global empire funded by the vast quantities of gold and silver
mined (and stolen) in South America. Portugal was not sleeping; they had reached India and Brazil. So,
in 1494, Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas (confirmed by the Pope) to divide the globe
between them.
1.5.3 HOLLAND
The First Anglo-Dutch War (1652-1654) was a naval war between England and the United Provinces of
the Netherlands. It began as a trade dispute with the English trying to ban the Dutch from English sea
trade. Although the English won the major battles, the Dutch were able to capture many merchant ships.
So, Oliver Cromwell (England's leader) offered a deal, if Holland stopped trading with the English
colonies across the Atlantic, eventually there were three other inconclusive wars between these two sharp
trading rivals until Holland set its sights on Indonesia and started its own empire.
2. VIOLENT BEGINNINGS
2.1 NORTH AMERICA
2.1.1 FIRST COLONIES
Pirates, like Francis Drake, made their fortune, with a percentage for the English crown, by preying on
Spanish galleons (bringing gold and silver back to Spain). These easy pickings ended in 1604 with the
end of the war between England and Spain. The new opportunity was the East Coast of North America,
first attracting trans-ocean fishermen to the vast quantities of cod on the Grand Banks in 1520. It was
further south, on Chesapeake Bay that the entrepreneurial Virginia Company wished to develop under the
illusion that this whole coast lay in a temperate zone with excellent agricultural prospects: the malarial
swamps soon set them straight, with its bankrupt settlements being taken over by the crown. It was
tobacco that rescued Virginia after 1617; at that time, tobacco was a luxury limited to the rich. With mass
imports from the Virginia plantations, the price dropped by a factor of 40, making smoking a universal
popular habit (and an addiction) all over Europe. Taxes on this new drug increased English government
revenues quickly, becoming the major (20%) source of cash. This also helped Virginia overtake the other
two colonies of Newfoundland and the Massachusetts Bay Company that had hosted the Puritan settlers to
New England as they fled from systematic persecution by the state-sponsored Church of England. More
religious dissidents (Catholics) were being encouraged to leave protestant England but not for Anglican
Virginia but the nearby Maryland. Virginia was losing its charm to legitimate colonists, but many
beggars, criminals and rebels were shipped as laborers to become 'indentured' servants, who could be
freed, after 7 years if under 20 or after 4 years if older. Tragically, the best land was already being well-
farmed by the original inhabitants (the Amerindians, like the Cherokee); this was greedily desired by the
new arrivals, who thus disparaged the rights and qualities of this "inferior species". Warfare and
massacres soon broke out. This became the norm as the British Imperialists expanded to Australia, New
Zealand and southern Africa. A very similar process had occurred in Northern Ireland as Cromwell
earlier had imported over 100,000 Scottish protestants to displace the local Catholic Irish people.
2.1.2 ANGLO-FRENCH RIVALRIES
Fortunately, for England at this time, Spain was pre-occupied trying the suppress the rebellion of many
Dutch Protestants in Holland (until 1581 when the Dutch Republic was created) but France also had their
imperial eyes on the western side of the Atlantic.

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However, France had begun trading for furs along the St. Lawrence river and established the colony of
New France between the towns of Montreal and Quebec. Both the New French and the local natives
were equally disturbed by the land-hunger of the coastal British; this made them natural allies against the
English. This was compounded by the failed French attempt to establish a monopoly in furs and beaver
pelts across the whole of North America. The French tried to block westward expansion by building a
series of large, strategic forts in the Ohio Valley. The British colonists' war efforts were ineffectual as it
reflected the rivalries of the various regions; this led to an appeal to the British government for military
help against the combined military threat from the French and the Iroquois; this implied an obligation.
The sending of regular British troops in 1755 reflected England's fear of being limited to the coast of
North America by Europe's greatest military power. Luckily, at that time, England's prime-minister (PM)
was the visionary William Pitt whose strategic goal was the invasion and conquest of Canada and the total
expulsion of France from North America. Pitt promoted the 32-year old James Wolfe to lead the invasion
up the St. Lawrence river against Quebec in 1759. In the final battle on the Plains of Abraham, both the
French leader (Montcalm) and Wolfe were killed; this transformed Wolfe into the first imperial hero, that
inspired many to later follow his fatal example. This defeat meant the end of French power in Canada but
this created a long-term problem for the English: how to manage the large number of angry Catholic
Canadians and how to limit the English colonists' Land-Theft beyond the Appalachians from the native
peoples that was being greatly fueled by unrestrictive land-speculators, encouraging growing emigration
from much of the UK?

In fact, the multiple wars between England and France between 1750 and 1815, illustrate the strategic
inherent rivalries engendered between imperial nations; in effect, this was a rehearsal of the 20th century
bitter feud between England and Germany. During both confrontations, it was the Royal Navy that played
the crucial role. In the Franco-English wars of the 18th century, it was central to British strategy to keep
the French fleet away from the western side of the Atlantic. The English were fortunate to have a series
of aggressive and smart admirals commanding their battle fleets. This produced an important sequence of
dramatic naval victories at Cape Finisterre (Anson: 1747), Quiberon Bay (Hawke: 1759), Les Saintes
(Rodney, 1782). These victories guaranteed that Britain would also dominate the lucrative area of the
Caribbean.

2.2 THE SWEET CARIBBEAN

Englishmen had been drawn to the Caribbean (known as the Spanish Main) by the 1550s when John
Hawkins was selling African slaves to the Spanish in Haiti, until banned: the Spanish wanting their own
monopoly; so Hawkins along with Francis Drake, started preying on Spanish shipping. They got easily
distracted with the discovery of Barbados (a fertile, well-watered and uninhabited island) that offered the
promise of a second Virginia, so Charles I in 1627 granted a royal charter to the newly formed Barbados
Company. Both tobacco and cotton failed commercially here but sugar was its salvation as molasses,
rum and refined sugar were in great demand in England and Europe, enabling some plantation owners to
become millionaires. This success story was replicated on several other islands, including the larger
Jamaica (that had been seized from Spain in 1655). Deadly infections, like malaria, and extremes of heat
and humidity made even living on these islands difficult for Europeans, so soon the workers were all
African slaves. The British, following the Spanish example and driven by greed, covered their sin with
very selective and self-serving interpretations of the Christian Bible to justify slavery: only white-men
deserved liberty and freedom. The slave trade was so profitable that the restored king, Charles II granted
a monopoly to the Company of Royal Adventurers giving it the right to sell profitable licenses to British
slave traders on the West African Coast; this was re-organized in 1672 as the Royal African Company to
build and control a string of fortified and garrisoned trading 'stations' on what today are Gambia, Ghana
and Nigeria. It lasted until 1698, when renegade traders became too active without applying for licenses.

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2.3 RICH PLANTATIONS
By 1650, British foreign trade had irreversibly changed: fine woolen cloth was losing its premier place to
tobacco, sugar, fish and beaver pelts. American colonists needed British-manufactured goods. All this
was clear to the London ministers and civil servants, so that protection of the new colonies became a top
priority of the growing Royal Navy, viewed as an instrument of commercial and colonial policy, to ensure
the overthrow of Spanish power in the New World and the defeat of the French rivals in five wars. It was
this strategic merger of the two powerful groups in England - the traditional militaristic aristocracy and
the expanding class of rich merchants that was the key ingredient in the burgeoning British Empire. This
merger also helped to overcome the religious and political divisions in England that had overthrown the
monarchy and created the Commonwealth of Cromwell. This class Coup d'État was completed when the
Catholic Stuart, James II was replaced by the protestant and constitutional monarchy of William III and
Mary in 1689 (the "Glorious Revolution").
2.4 REBELLION (USA)
Colonial passions were first inflamed in 1765 with the UK passage of a heavy tax on all new legal
documents (the Stamp Act) - a measure designed to pay for the Seven Years War to evict the French from
the western hemisphere. The new king (George III), his PM (Grenville) and his party all defended the
right to rule and tax their subjects in the colonies that were seen (by them) as only existing to generate
wealth for the mother country, since the colonies were being defended by the Royal Navy and the
Redcoats of the English Army. The PM, Lord North was desperate to raise government income but he
was not a man of vision or compromise, but a master manipulator of the New Westminster parliament.
So, he had forced through the Tea Act in 1773 to help his friends (and investment) in the monopoly East
India Company, provoking the notorious Boston Tea Party. The actual match that ignited the flame of
colonial rebellion was the passing of the Quebec Act by parliament in 1774; this extended the southern
frontiers of Canada, removing this land from North American colonists and the easy money to be made
from land speculation. A Continental Congress was convened directly in Philadelphia to consider
retaliatory actions against London, such as a trade boycott. The irony here was that over 90% of the
colonists were of British descent and were proud of their British heritage. The reality was the England
was still ruled by the traditional landed aristocracy (Norman families) while the colonists were merchants,
small farmers and artisans, with very different political and social loyalties to the patricians of England: a
rebellion would be a civil war. War became inevitable after a British regiment was ambushed in
Massachusetts in 1775; the English government anticipated a short war, as they believed there were many
Loyalists. England's major problem was getting enough Englishmen to volunteer for the army with its
terrible reputation; so they went to Germany and hired 20,000 German mercenaries - most stolid
Hessians. Rebel leader, General George Washington usually avoided classic European-style battles (that
the English desired), so it was a stalemate for over a year until Washington defeated two Hessian units in
New Jersey. This inspired the American radicals to obtain a Declaration of Independence from Congress
in July 1776; this severed all links with England and ruled out any future compromise of British
sovereignty over America. The British made two successful attacks in 1781 in South Carolina, capturing
Savannah and Charleston. The confident British army, led by General Sir Charles Cornwallis continued
north to Yorktown in Virginia; there he was told to await a seaborne evacuation to help British forces in
New York. However, France's West Indian fleet arrived in Chesapeake Bay after joining the Americans
against the long-time rivals in 1778. The British naval squadron retired to New York, leaving Cornwallis
with no supplies or reinforcements, so he then surrendered on 17 October. Both sides were war-weary but
the British were coming to the realization that the war was costing them more than the perceived value of
staying, so that a peace-treaty was agreed by 1783, with Britain ceding the lands to the west of the
Mississippi that had been incorporated into Canada under the Quebec Act. Everyone was hugely surprised
to see that trade between the two sides increased, specifically exports of raw cotton which was needed to
satisfy the demands of the new, machine-operated Lancashire weaving mills.

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2.5 WAR AGAINST NAPOLEON
Until 1914, the twelve year war (1793-1815) against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France was often
called the 'Great War'. It was quite different than the earlier wars between these traditional rivals being
larger in scale and with widely different aims. From 1795 to 1805 Britain was threatened by invasion,
whose success would have eliminated the aristocracy and changed control of government by the
privileged few. This altered in 1803 when Napoleon crowned himself emperor, making France a
'monarchial' style nation, like all the others in Europe. British political unity was brittle with many
Englishmen supporting the democratic ideals of the Revolution and there was always the threat of Irish
rebellion. This became the first Total War; with over 10% of Britain's adult males being drafted into the
armed services. This war was very expensive - costing Britain almost £1000 million: some of this was
covered by taxes on foreign trade but also a personal income tax was introduced for the first time in 1798,
producing about £150 million in the next 15 years. The Royal Navy once again proved its value, helping
seize five West Indian islands from the French, three from Holland and Trinidad from Spain, plus the
Dutch colonies in the East Indies and Cape Town. It also won victories in sea battles (even when
outnumbered); in 1797 Jervis defeated the Spanish fleet at Cape St. Vincent, while Duncan severely
mauled the Dutch at Camperdown. Horatio Nelson was the naval hero of the war: first destroying
Napoleon's fleet in Egypt at Abukir Bay in 1797 and then destroying the combined Franco-Spanish fleets
off Cape Trafalgar in October 1805 (when Nelson was killed by a sharp-shooter). England's naval Coup
de Grâce in this war was the pre-emptive seizure of the Danish fleet in 1807.

However, on land, the French seemed unbeatable, defeating the armies of Britain's allies: Austria, Prussia
and Russia in five major victories between 1805 and 1807, helped by the Revolutionary principle of
making talent (not birth as elsewhere) the sole criterion for promotion; encouraging the emergence of a
group of highly able and intelligent army commanders (marshals). Britain's army contribution was
pitiable, limited to financing the armies of its allies until Arthur Wellesley was appointed commander-in-
chief. He repeatedly beat French armies between 1808 and 1812 on the Iberian peninsula destroying the
myth of Napoleonic invincibility. Desperate, Napoleon decided to defeat Russia by attacking Moscow in
1812 but he was rebuffed outside the Russian capital and his army collapsed in the Winter retreat. With
Wellesley, now promoted to the Duke of Wellington, leading an Anglo-Portuguese army into southern
France and the revived allies attacking from the North, Napoleon abdicated in April 1814, being exiled to
Elba. However, within a year, he escaped and raised a new army. The end came at Waterloo, where he
suffered a decisive defeat at the hands of Wellington's English army and Blücher's Prussians. Napoleon
surrendered to the British and was sent into permanent exile on the small island of St. Helena, in the
middle of the south Atlantic.
3. LOYAL COLONIES
3.1 FAR NORTH
Canada was the immediate beneficiary of the US revolt, as thousands of Loyalist refugees and former
soldiers fled to Canada to take advantage of generous land grants. Furthermore, Canada was to be treated
more generously in future to forestall a repetition of the 1776 American fiasco. The strategic need was to
populate these vast 'empty' lands before the ever-expanding Americans began to move north. There had
long been the dream of the North-West Passage, the widely held belief that there must be a sea channel
around the edge of northern Canada linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. However, it was the radical
invention of the steam railway that ultimately linked Canada "from sea to sea". This eventually enabled
many European emigrants to start farming the vast lands of Canada. The other competition was to get lots
of British on the Canadian West Coast (British Columbia) before too many Chinese and Japanese moved
in.

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3.2 FAR SOUTH
James Cook (1728-1779) is under-appreciated (outside Australia) as a God-Father of the British Empire.
Our author (James) calls him the 'Pathfinder of Empire' and devotes five pages to his life and
explorations. The son of a Scottish farm laborer, who had moved to a small village in Yorkshire. With
only 5 years of school, Cook became self-taught in mathematics, astronomy and map-making. At 19, he
first became a merchant-navy apprentice on small coal ships. Within a month of being offered his first
command, he volunteered for the Royal Navy in 1755 as first-mate on a 58-gun warship. He soon
qualified as a Ship's Master and commanded his first naval ship in the Canadian invasion; here he played
a key role, charting the St. Lawrence River leading to the attack on Quebec. His maps were so admired
that in 1768 he was promoted to lieutenant and given the command of scientific voyage to the Pacific
Ocean on the ship HMS Endeavour. After landing at Tahiti he opened sealed orders that instructed him to
search the south Pacific for the mythic continent of Terra Australis. He reached the east coast of Australia
in 1770 (naming it New South Wales and annexing it for England), near present-day Sydney that he
named Botany Bay for the unique specimens retrieved by the ship's botanist. Later, he circumnavigated
New Zealand before returning to England. His pacific charts were still in use in 1940. Sadly, he was
killed in a brawl with natives on Hawaii on his third voyage to the Pacific when he was on the way to
explore the west coast of Canada; later charted by Royal Navy Captain George Vancouver in 1790.
3.2.1 AUSTRALIA
With the expulsion from the United States, England no longer had a dumping ground for its growing
number of unemployed and criminals, while its private jails were filled and prison hulks were too
expensive to staff. It was Cook's colleague, Joseph Banks who suggested Australia as solution to this
problem with the added benefit of launching a new colony; transportation was also viewed as a more
humane punishment than shipping them to the diseased coasts of Africa. So, in 1788 the first flotilla of
ships discharged their convoy of young urban recidivist convicts, soldiers, free settlers and officials at
Sydney after a harrowing eight month voyage from England. Officials had naively assumed that convicts
would rapidly carve out a self-supporting agrarian colony. Six years later, sixty women convicts (all of
them under 40) arrived in Sydney as officials had thought this would encourage the rough men to settle
down to a quieter married life. Soon political prisoners, including Irish rebels and pro-French radicals,
were added to the mix. The result was a rebellious form of feudalism, with the large mass of disgruntled
being managed by a tiny elite of officials and the officers of the New South Wales Corps, formed in 1791
as part garrison and part police force. These corrupt men were more interested in becoming rich through
the accumulation of land grants and liquor licenses. It was not until Major-General Lachlan Macquarie
became governor in 1810 and disbanded them did some real Law and Order finally emerge. He also
introduced a local currency and is also credited with introducing sheep into Australia; their number grew
to almost 300,000 within twenty years with raw wool exports reaching an annual value of £10 million.
Luckily, sheep did for the new colony what tobacco had done for Virginia and sugar for the West Indies.
3.2.2 NEW ZEALAND
The northern colony in Canada seemed too cold while the southern colony in Australia appeared too far
away (and only fit for criminals), so in the first half of the 19th Century neither was too attractive for new
immigrants. But to government accountants, it was cheaper to subsidize the emigration with a one-time
grant than to keep them from starving in Britain. So, in 1819 and 1825, £95,000 was budgeted just for
subsidies to encourage pauper emigration. Some local authorities (as in Kent) paid £15 each to 27 men,
women and children for their passage to New York. Private charities, like the Salvation Army and Dr.
Barnado's Foundling Homes paid for passage of orphans to the colonies. It is estimated that 16 million
emigrants sailed from Britain between 1815 and 1914 with 25% going to the United States alone.
Luckily, in 1841 a fresh colony was being opened up in a temperate land by the Royal Chartered New
Zealand Company. It is now believed that eastern Polynesians first settled there around 1300; these new
arrivals evolved the local Maori culture centered on several tribes and sub-tribes, speaking one language.

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In 1835, the United Tribes of New Zealand sent a declaration of independence to king William IV asking
for England's protection. The UK Colonial Office sent a naval officer to claim sovereignty and negotiate
the treaty of Waitangi with the Maoris. Although declared a separate colony from Australia in 1841 there
was an armed uprising in 1843. The defeated Maoris had to cede large amounts of land in compensation
but their strong struggle was well-recognized by their British opponents, so that when the colony
established its own representative government in the 1850s, then 10% of the positions in parliament were
reserved for Maoris, who today continue to play a major role in the nation's sports.
4. GLOBAL EMPIRE
4.1 INDIA
This is one of the most disappointing chapters here, with too many small fragments about corrupt officers
- perhaps this story is too big to be fitted into a single chapter; if so, I will assign it to another essay.
4.1.1 EAST INDIA COMPANY
The story of the British in India cannot be separated from that of the East India Company, chartered by
king Charles I in 1600 granting a group of 200 men a monopoly for all trade (east of the Cape of Good
Hope for 15 years); a few months after its larger rival in Holland: the first voyages returned 20% profit to
the initial investors. Driven out of the highly profitable 'Spice Islands' (Indonesia) by the Dutch, in 1610
the company opened some factories in southern India near Madras. By 1675, the company was importing
textiles (valued at £900,000) in exchange for £150,000 worth of British manufactured goods and almost
£400,000 in silver bullion; also, tiny amounts of tea were being imported from China (for the Directors).
At this time, India was controlled by the Mughals (descendants of the Mongols). The Company impressed
local princes by arming and training the local troops (sepoys) and then made deals with the local rulers to
takeover administration in exchange for tax-collection. This lucrative cash-flow, along with local trade
monopoly opportunities, produced highly profitable corruption that diverted Company officers into just
focusing on filling their own pockets. A further opportunity was presented by a local war in Bengal that
started with an attack on Calcutta. The English commander of the Madras Army, Robert Clive led the
recapture of this fortified city in 1757 and then the final victory at Plassey against a much larger enemy.
Clive then replaced the defeated prince with the 'losing' general (who had been bribed to back off). This
made Clive the Indian kingmaker, appointing local rulers and negotiating favorable deals (for himself).
This encouraged the Company's soldiers to focus on the profits of war than efforts in trade. By 1800,
placing a son in the Company's army had become a valuable source of additional income to many middle-
class families in Britain (Scotland had joined England to form Great Britain in 1707). All of this violence
led to major sales of armaments in India. Over the next 50 years the Company (and its army) expanded to
Bombay, Delhi and the Punjab; also there were nearly 20 wars fought on India's North-West Frontier
(Afghanistan). In 1857, an unexpected mutiny broke out in the Indian Army as false rumors of pork fat
being used with the new Enfield rifles sparked fears of a secret conversion to Christianity; this was also
fueled by England recruiting more Sikhs and Gurkhas, displacing once local sepoys. Fortunately for the
British, the mutiny was poorly led and failed to spread beyond the Ganges valley; unluckily many white
women and children were massacred in Cawnpore; this triggered brutal retaliation by the English soldiers.
This was actually a civil war as many Indians supported the English against the mutineers. British army
regiments had to be called in to win and this then led to the British Government taking over the running of
India from the East India Company (that moved on). In 1877, Queen Victoria was declared Empress of
India.
4.1.2 COTTON
The story of the British Raj ('Rule') would not be complete without introducing the central importance of
cotton: the largest component of world trade for a long time. This fueled the dominance of the machine-
operated Lancashire cotton mills that displaced India's village-based cotton business [this tale has been
told in another of my essays Divergence]. This was one of England's real industrial advantages.

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4.2 FAR EAST
4.2.1 CHINA
As the British Government began in India taking over from the East India Company, the traders looked
for new opportunities; the rising consumption of tea in England led them to think about China. The
problem was that China wanted little from the West except silver bullion: this was a poor trade for the
British who knew that there was tradition of smoking opium in China and this was available from India,
so it became another opportunity for these Master Drug Pushers to encourage this Chinese addiction
through Canton, the main port that China had allowed open-to-foreign commerce. This led to the First
Opium War in 1839 when the Chinese discovered the power of western military technology. The fighting
was mainly at the mouths of the Canton and Yangtze rivers and dragged on until 1842, when the Treaty of
Nanking was signed, awarding the island of Hong Kong to Britain and opened four large ports to British
commerce. France and the USA quickly followed Britain's example and were granted similar commercial
privileges. In 1853, American Admiral Perry used the threat of Britain's Opium War to gain concessions
from Japan. Peace only lasted three years until the Second Opium War was declared against China by
England and France; again it took 3 years to reach Chinese agreement with the Treaty of Tientsin that
granted fresh concessions to foreign business interests and legalized the opium trade. A third short war
involved a direct attack (with extensive looting) of Peking. So, in only twenty years China had been
humiliated by Britain with the reward of dominating (2/3) China's foreign trade and opium at the top of
China's imports, accounting for an average of £10 million a year during the 1880s and Lancashire cotton-
ware at £3 million a year. By 1900, a new Anti-Foreign movement (the 'Boxers') arose that aligned with
the unpopular Dowager Empress, leading to an attack on the walled foreign-legation quarter of Peking.
Within months, an 18,000 man international army entered Peking and relieved the legations and looting
many locals. This also provided an excuse for Russia to invade Manchuria that induced an Anglo-
Japanese naval alliance in 1902, allowing Britain to withdraw from the Far Eastern naval race. Two years
later, Japan defeated the Russian navy at Port Arthur; making the key point that European military forces
were not invincible to Asians.
4.2.2 SINGAPORE and MALAYA
Elsewhere in the Far East and the Pacific, there was a gradual replacement of informal by formal empire.
Stamford Raffles acquired Singapore Island in 1819: this was a strategic location at the tip of the Malacca
Straits on the route between India and China; this new port soon became a major free-trade distribution
center for the region. Another buccaneering Englishman, James Brookes bought himself an armed
schooner, assisting the regent of Brunei win a local dispute, who gratefully made him Rajah of Sarawak.
The local disputes also led to the British being invited in as peace-keepers. The introduction of rubber-
plantations and tin-mining in Malaya certainly provided strong economic arguments for bringing the
region into the Empire that was increasingly being seen as a commercial investment.
4.3 AFRICA
It is ironic that the large land-mass closest to Europe was the last to suffer from European Imperialism but
this reflects the easier access to other areas by wind-borne ships and the difficulties of moving within
Africa (the 'Dark Continent'). The 19th Century was when England set its sights on Africa, motivated
probably by the growing rise of competitive imperialism in Europe (especially in Italy and Germany) as
there was little left in other parts of the world, so "steal Africa while you can" spread across Europe.
4.3.1 EGYPT
The key to England's global position after 1800 was India and critical to the English/India connection was
the short strip of land across Egypt linking the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf. This recognition led to
French investors joining with a few rich Egyptians, forming the Suez Canal Company to finance the
construction of the Suez canal that was begun in 1859 and completed in 1869. Adroitly, the Conservative
PM, Benjamin Disraeli secured a controlling interest in this company in 1875, adding the canal to
Britain's unofficial empire, increasingly with it being seen as The Lynch Pin.
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By 1880, Egypt was rapidly modernizing by using £100 million of English and French capital; the money
was mainly invested in roads, railways and irrigation for the extensive cotton plantations; mostly being
exported to England. In order to secure their debt (shades of today's Economic Hitman ?) Egypt had
agreed to the Anglo-French control of its treasury, customs, post offices, telegraphs, railways, ports and
even museums. This take-over of Egyptian sovereignty provoked a nationalistic backlash in 1881 by
unpaid army officers, who allied themselves with the fellahin (small land-holders) and the educated
effendiya (officials and large land-holders). This provoked a military response from the (anti-imperialist)
Liberal PM William Gladstone: occupying the country by force in 1882. Control of the canal became a
key feature in British Imperial policy thereafter; readily supported by the public's "Jingoism".

However, possession of Egypt gave Britain responsibility for the Egyptian empire in the Sudan that was
still in turmoil after the invasion 60 years earlier. In 1881, there was a new revolt by a Muslim messianic
holy man, calling himself the Mahdi, who inspired his fanatical 'Dervishes'. The British Government then
appointed General Charles Gordon to supervise the evacuation of all Egyptian forces out of the Sudan.
But once Gordon arrived in the capital of Khartoum he personally reversed this decision, based on his
extreme Christian faith, vowing to defend the beleaguered city. Encouraged by the English newspapers,
this generated huge support from the British public, who demanded that he be rescued by the British
Army. A few days before the relief column reached Khartoum, the Mahdi's army made one final attack
that ended with the fighting death of Gordon, whose loss was used by Imperial supporters to encourage
the conquest of Sudan as a suitable act of vengeance. Gladstone was reprieved by recalling the army to
repel a Russian incursion across the Afghan border. The Mahdi soon died, likely from endemic typhus.
4.3.2 SOUTH AFRICA
The Cape of Good Hope has long attracted shipping between Europe and Asia as a key location for a port.
Indeed, it was one of the five strategic ports identified by the British Admiralty as vital to their Empire,
along with Dover, Gibraltar, Alexandria and Singapore. So, Cape Town was seized by the British in 1806
from the Dutch settlers, who called themselves Boers or Afrikaners, since their original landing in 1652.
These Calvinists were convinced that this land had been given to them by God to reward their superiority.
Under the minimalist administration of the Dutch East India Company, the Boers had been given a free
hand with the natives ('Kaffirs'). This ended under the British Colonial administration who claimed that
all British subjects had the same legal rights. Relations between the British authorities and the Boers
swiftly deteriorated up to 1834 when thousands of Boers withdrew in the Great Trek across the Vaal river
to form two new republics they called the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. Until 1854, Britain
legally tolerated these Boer republics, as long as they acknowledged British Sovereignty. Many of the
new British settlers, seeking land, agreed with the Boers that the blacks had to submit or die (boosted by
smallpox). The country was transformed overnight by the discovery of diamonds in Kimberley in 1873,
leading to an explosion of immigrants and capital investments. This vast find multiplied global diamond
production by a factor of 10 in the next ten years. English businessman, Cecil Rhodes made his fortune
by creating the De Beers mining company in 1888 with an effective monopoly on new diamonds. Digging
for diamonds and laying railway tracks needed vast, unskilled workforces that attracted natives from all
over Africa. Progress to a single federation of all the southern colonies stopped in 1879 that required the
overthrow of the warrior Zulu nation. The British Army suffered a major defeat at Isandlwana when 1200
troops were wiped out by 20,000 natives; this defeat was minimized by the immediate successful defense
at the nearby Rorke's Drift by 140 men of the 24th Regiment, when 11 were awarded the Victoria Cross.
The Zulus were crushed in a second invasion by a more heavily armed force, using Gatling machine guns.
The region's problems were multiplied by the discovery of large quantities of gold in the Rand mines of
the Transvaal, making it the focus of economic power, although it was funded by London capital. All
these instant riches attracted Cecil Rhodes and his British South Africa Company that wanted to take the
Transvaal away from the Dutch.

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Rhodes got his Company doctor (Jameson) to recruit support from the large community of British miners,
engineers and fortune-hunters to attack Johannesburg (the capital) at the end of December 1895. This so-
called Jameson Raid was a mess and was intercepted within days of crossing the border. The Transvaal
president (Kruger) had the ringleaders sent back to Britain for trial but not Rhodes, withdrawing from
public life, as his political integrity was compromised. Kruger lost credibility in Britain when he
acknowledged a congratulatory telegram from the German Kaiser. Both sides wanted a war, they each felt
they could win, as God was on their side. Joseph Chamberlain (the Colonial Secretary) used the excuse
that the Dutch banned the large number of foreigners from voting within the Transvaal, while beating the
anti-German drum. War broke out in October 1899, with the Boers besieging Ladysmith, Kimberley and
Mafeking: the latter was relieved in a few months but the British Army suffered defeats with the other
two. This was a dark forewarning of the future in 1914, when the British had to face Europeans with
similar weapons. The British quickly adopted the Boers' tactics of rapid mobility to trap the static Bohr
army that surrendered in February, 1900; the other major cities were soon captured. However, the war
was not then over as many young Boers turned to ceaseless guerrilla warfare that made South Africa
ungovernable. The war-weary British negotiated a peace in 1902 that restored Boer rule over the
Transvaal. The British also lost much global credibility, when its anti-civilian tactics were exposed: not
only were farms burned down but women and children were concentrated in poorly run camps - a model
the Nazis later used to justify their own camps. This was to become Britain's largest and most expensive
imperial war costing £200 million and needing the mobilization of almost 300,000 soldiers.
4.3.3 EAST AFRICA
It was a surprise for me to read about Frederick Lugard, who played a major role in securing mid-Africa
for Britain (being made a Baron in 1928) but whose fame has since disappeared. He was an adventurer: a
soldier, mercenary, explorer and a colonial administrator. Between 1889 and 1893, he was employed by
the British Imperial East Africa Company to construct a series of forts and making several treaties with
local chiefs. He acted as a peace-maker in Uganda. East Africa was in turmoil at that time with no stable
government: this inspired Lugard to impose a Pax Britannica, as he shouldered what Kipling called 'the
white man's burden'. In 1890, a deal was made with imperial Germany that they would get the southern
half: German East Africa (later Tanganyika) while Britain got the northern half: British East Africa
(Kenya and Uganda), with Lake Victoria becoming a shared boundary; both regions being bounded on
the East by the vast Belgian Congo. However, the East Africa Company was about to go bankrupt, so
these lands moved under Colonial Office control. A railway was constructed in 1903 from Uganda to the
port of Mombasa in Kenya and this helped to bring in white settlers to the best farmland, to grow cash
crops like cotton and coffee that could be exported to Europe. The railway had been built by indentured
laborers imported from India who afterwards settled as shopkeepers and clerks. So, by 1920 the region
was multi-ethnic: 23,000 Indians, 10,000 whites and 3 million Africans. This mix worried many white
settlers who anticipated that they would become an out-voted minority, so a potential declaration of
independence was being talked about but never came to fruition - as it did later in nearby Rhodesia.
4.3.4 WEST AFRICA
West Africa was a black man's country as the combination of heat, humidity and disease gave it the ill-
famed reputation as 'the white man's grave'. For most of the 19th century, Britain's West African colonies
of Gambia and the Gold Coast settlements were relics of the slave-trading era and not seen as having any
economic value. Sierra Leone became a coaling station for the Navy and was seen as one exceptional
example of what freed black men could do with a Christian education. Lagos, acquired in 1861 as port
for anti-slaving operations, was a toehold in Nigeria, being the only part that attracted British commerce.
The one key commodity for Britain was palm oil, used as a lubricant and the basis for Lever Brothers'
soap. A deal made in 1885 in Berlin defined Britain's right to northern Nigeria in exchange for German
control of the Cameroons. So, the Royal Niger Company was chartered in 1886 to trade and govern along
the mid and upper Niger, where treaties were written by Lugard, who was appointed commander of an all
black army (2,000 troops) and Britain's commissioner; only slavery was to be abolished.
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5. CAPITALISM
5.1 INDUSTRIALISM - STEAM POWER
Surprisingly, although Britain was the first country to industrialize, advanced technology did not play a
major role in the expansion of the British Empire that was based on the Royal Navy transporting well-
armed soldiers around the world. Thus, Armaments was the basic technology; this included naval ships,
cannon and muskets/rifles. Britain deliberately used oak for its warships as this resists cannonballs better
than almost all other tree wood. Cannon relied first on iron technology but then steel that was also used
to replace its warships around 1900. Obviously, gunpowder was the vital chemical technology; this
needed saltpeter that was readily found in India and South America. This primitive explosive was critical
until unlimited quantities of high-explosives (like dynamite) were invented by the new chemical industry.

English self-taught inventors and mechanics ('engineering' was a military speciality) created machines to
improve the efficiency of business activity; new pumps were needed to extract the water from deep mines,
especially those near the sea-coast. The expansive force of steam (made from water over-heated by coal
fires) was used to drive the first water pumps but it was soon realized that these engines could be installed
on carriages to power transport and the far-reaching revolution of the railway was born. This process
began in England, with it ready access to coal and water, around 1750 and proceeded rapidly for over one
hundred years. It was grasped that a whole factory could be powered by one centralized steam engine.
This steam-powered activity was multiplied when the scientific studies of electricity and magnetism
showed the linkage of motion to electricity could transmit energy first through copper wires and then
through empty space. These radical transformations quickly replaced traditional human muscle power.
5.2 FINANCE
Holland and England were the first two nations to merge finance and mercantilism. Early voyages to the
Spice Islands were too risky and expensive to be financed by a single, rich family. So, legal agreements
were drawn up to fund the venture, amongst a few rich people; with the profits allocated based on the
amounts first invested. Soon, this was expanded to hundreds of moneyed people. Finally, one's paper
share became a tradable asset on the first Stock Exchanges. Borrowing savings from the enriched
merchants at fixed interest rates (bonds) was a flexible method for funding wars; also pioneered by the
two leading trading nations in Europe; France lagged behind - still relying on squeezing taxes from the
impoverished peasantry. England could then hire foreign mercenaries (like the Hessians) as well as pay
its own soldiers and sailors. Bankers, like the Rothschilds, could be hired to move money around Europe
to pay the overseas military and useful allies; they also proved invaluable sources of additional loans. By
1870, London was exporting capital (at least £50 million annually) around the world but careful British
investors were simply buying safe UK government bonds with guaranteed interest rates.
6. IMPERIAL SUICIDE-PHASE.1 (WORLD-WAR 1)
The fundamental problem facing Britain, as it reached 1900, was that its techniques for building its
economy (industrialism) and empire (military technology) could be readily copied by its European rivals.
Worse, like Rome, the rewards of empire were diminishing as the costs were climbing. Meanwhile, the
'New Barbarians' (from Britain's viewpoint: Germany, Russia and Japan) were threatening to become the
new imperial enemies with modern weapons as good (if not better) than theirs.
6.1 PRELUDE
By 1870, the Global Economy was failing with regular world-wide recessions; most powerful countries
reacted by dropping free trade in favor of protection but Britain's ruling Liberal party clung to their old
belief in free trade although Britain's portion shrank to 17%, lagging behind in developing new industrial
technologies (even the Gatling machine gun was made in America). This was the era of the popular press
that was cultivated by the imperialists to maintain support for the nation's aggressive policies.

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British school maps proudly colored the Empire's countries as "the Pink Bits". Lead soldiers were a
favorite toy with middle-class boys. This propaganda movement began in the nursery with this 1899
example from a British ABC book:
C is for Colonies
Rightly we boast,
That of all the great nations
Great Britain has the most.

The leading imperial nations were in an international naval arms race. In 1904, the UK's First Sea Lord,
Admiral Jack Fisher initiated radical naval reforms by pushing a new type of all steel battleship, HMS
Dreadnought with 10 twelve-inch guns, steaming at over 20 knots: it made every other naval ship, in the
world, obsolete. This forced all the naval nations to follow suit. All Britain's new battleships were for the
Home fleet as Germany was anticipated to be the major rival. Britain's problem was that it needed firm
commitments from its Commonwealth 'partners' who were reluctant to fight Germany. Unfortunately, all
the nations were making alliances so they could conduct major land wars in Europe. France was allied
with England and Russia (all fearing Germany); Russia allied with Serbia ('all Slavs'); Germany was
allied with Austro-Hungary.
6.2 WESTERN FRONT
Although many Europeans in 1914 believed that a major war was imminent, most were astonished when
Britain declared war on Germany on August 4 after a series of tightly related events beginning with the
assassination in Sarajevo of Austria's Crown-Prince by Serbian terrorists on June 28. Austria-Hungary
declared war on Serbia on July 28; immediately, Germany mobilized to assist Austria while Russia
declared for Serbia. France then mobilized to assist Russia. Germany planned to attack Russia and also
France within days (through neutral Belgium). This gave the British government the excuse it needed to
announce its secret 1906 pact to defend France against Germany. Enthusiasm for the expected short war
exploded in the European countries, with many young men volunteering immediately. By September 6,
German forces had reached the Marne River, only 30 miles from Paris. The Allies counter-attacked,
driving the Germans back into Belgium, where both sides dug in, constructing miles of trenches fronted
by barbed-wire. This 'Western Front' became the principal killing ground of the war for the next 4 years.
These battles were medieval in their tactic of mass attrition, produced by industrial killing technologies of
artillery, machine-guns and (eventually) poison gas: all generating many casualties. Britain lost more
men on July 1, 1916 at the Somme than in all their prior imperial wars. Even with some American help,
the killing lasted until the final armistice on November 11, 1918. Britain lost 700,000 men dead, mostly
on the Western front: "lions led by donkeys".
6.3 EASTERN FRONT
Russia surprised Germany by mobilizing its huge army faster than expected; invading East Prussia but
this army was defeated in late August at Tannenberg but Germany failed to convert this to a quick victory
in the East. Massive casualties combined with food shortages led in 1917 to the Revolution in Russia, led
by the communist (Bolshevik) Lenin, who signed an armistice with Germany in weeks, freeing up large
numbers of German soldiers for the Western Front, where they would face fresh soldiers from America.
6.4 MIDDLE-EAST
The failure of the British in the West led to fighting in Turkey (the Dardanelles/Gallipoli defeat in 1915)
and Mesopotamia (Iraq) / Palestine (1917), where T. E. Lawrence guided Arab forces in a successful
revolt, but was compromised by contradictory promises about Palestine made to the Arabs and Jews
(Balfour); these were further confounded by Woodrow Wilson's promises of post-war self-determination.
This made a difficult predicament for Britain in the 1930's where they were awarded the mandate to
govern Palestine, while a civil war erupted between the Arabs and the Jewish Zionists.

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6.5 NAVAL WAR
The Royal Navy won the surface naval war against Germany as exemplified by the fleet action off Jutland
in 1916. Although the English lost more ships, the German fleet had to flee rapidly back to their base at
Wilhelmshaven, where they remained until war's end, unable to break the tight naval blockade of German
ports. Germany seized the naval technological advantage with its development of oceanic submarines (or
U-boats: Untersee boats). In particular, unrestricted U-boat warfare after February 1917 sank large
numbers of British merchant ships until the convoy system was introduced (over-riding Royal Navy
skepticism). Civilian starvation was a key tactic by both navies that first cracked German morale in 1918.
6.6 IRELAND
British politics had long been confounded by 'The Irish Question': what to do about the oldest part of the
Empire? Irish MPs had been in parliament since 1801 but this was increasingly being challenged by the
Irish nationalists, especially after the founding of the Irish Home Rule Party in 1870 that was fueled by a
long legacy of hatred for England. A crisis erupted in May 1914 when the Liberal government (wishing
to reward Nationalist support for the recent election victory) introduced the Irish Home Rule Act against
the vociferous opposition of the Conservatives and Belfast Unionists (with their rabid anti-Catholicism).
The Northern Irish Protestants demanded home-rule just for themselves, while they started procuring
weapons. This civil turmoil was put on hold with the Declaration of War. A new Irish political party was
also formed, called Sinn Fein ('Ourselves Alone') that was calling for armed rebellion in southern Ireland.
This resulted in an armed coup in Dublin on Easter Day, 1916. Surrounded by the tough British Army,
this failed but the brutal execution of 15 of its leaders within days made martyrs of them and created an
unexpected wave of support. The crunch came in December 1918, after the War ended with the general
election, when 76 Sinn Fein MPs won seats in Westminster (versus 32 Unionists). The Sinn Fein MPs
formed their own Irish parliament (the Dail Eireann) in Dublin and proclaimed Ireland a republic.
Meanwhile, England's viceroy in Dublin Castle demanded help against the armed uprising by the rebels
IRA (Irish Republican Army). The 'Troubles' really began in June 1919 when the IRA (under their clever
leader, Michael Collins) launched a systematic assassination campaign against the loyal Royal Irish
Constabulary (RIC). Author James writes that "the Irish Revolution marked the beginning of the decline"
(of the Empire), which is why it is so prominent in this essay.
7. IMPERIAL SUICIDE-PHASE.2 (WORLD-WAR 2)
The central thesis, shared here, is that it was the two World Wars that destroyed the British Empire. I call
it suicide because England only fought a land-war against Germany to defend its mythic sense of global
Imperium. It could have stayed out and watched Prussia repeat its 1870 victory over the French, while
keeping its global mastery of the oceans. As it was, England lost many of its next generation of young
leaders, as naive Second Lieutenants with revolvers led stupid, fatal heroic charges against machine guns.
7.1 INTERLUDE
I label this section an interlude because the two world wars were actually one war with a 20-year interval.
The French insisted on blaming the Germans for the war: with an intolerable, imposed 'Treaty' of
Versailles. The massive destruction of real economic value in the war also induced another industrial
slump and the Wall Street stock-market Crash of 1929 that turned into the Great Depression of the
Thirties, made worse by the ideology of Laissez Faire, where governments were expected not to be
actively involved in the economy: a myth that was exposed by both Leader (Fuhrer) Hitler in Germany
and President Roosevelt in the USA. The National Socialists (Nazis) in Germany exploited the fear of
another European war and the verbal posturings of the toothless League of Nations to advance a Revenge
Strategy, based on a vigorous re-armaments programme and a revival of German Nationalism.
Meanwhile, the City of London's contribution to the British budget was dramatically diminished by the
need to pay back huge war loans to the USA and the forced withdrawal of Sterling from the Gold
Standard. It is difficult to remain an empire when it is almost bankrupt.

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7.2 THE KILLING RE-STARTS
Contrary to Revisionist History, Neville Chamberlain never trusted Hitler and had activated a secret re-
armaments programme in 1937. Although condemned for his infamous 'Peace in our Time' flourish at
Munich in 1938 - he really wanted more time to rebuild Britain's defenses - especially the Royal Air
Force (RAF) and its radar warning system, both critical in surviving the attacks on England on 1940.
7.3 DEFENDING BRITAIN
Hitler outsmarted the Europeans by signing a Non-Aggression Pact with the Soviets in August, 1939.
This enabled these two aggressors to attack Poland in September. Britain once again mistimed its
response and immediately declared war on Germany on September 3. The Commonwealth and empire
also went to war in the first week of September; this time there was none of the emotional patriotism of
1914 but a sober mood to "get the job done". The first 7 months of war was so uneventful, it has been
called the 'Phony War' until May 10, 1940 when the German Army launched its Blitzkrieg against France;
the strategy and tactics totally confounded the French and forced the British Army to flee to the town of
Dunkirk on French coast by May 24. Mysteriously, Hitler ordered his panzer tanks to halt and not wipe-
out the English. Over 340,000 troops were evacuated back to England by a few Navy ships and hundreds
of small civilian boats. A further mystery was why Hitler did not immediately invade England as most of
the saved soldiers had to leave their weapons behind. The Germans planned to bomb the Royal Navy if it
tried to block the invasion across the channel but this required them first to control the air by destroying
the RAF fighters. Britain's RADAR provided information on the attacking German aircraft when they
were 100 miles from the coast, allowing the defenders to plan a co-ordinated response. The German
bombers then targeted the RADAR stations and the local RAF airfields. Churchill became so desperate
that he ordered the RAF planes to bomb Berlin (breaking the unspoken agreement to avoid bombing each
other's cities) and, as he hoped, Hitler redirected his planes to bomb London (an attack called the Blitz).
This saved the RAF by September in what became known as the 'Battle of Britain'. Hitler turned his
attention to planning an attack on Russia in June 1941, believing that his western rear was now safe. This
attack was Hitler's biggest mistake, even though many of Hitler's generals opposed it.
7.4 BOMBING GERMANY
Britain's war planners had long intended to bomb German cities (as pinpoint targeting was too difficult).
Using the excuse of German bombing of London and other English cities (like Coventry), in July 1943
RAF planes bombed Hamburg for eight nights killing 35,000 civilians by creating a fire-storm that
destroyed most of the city. These types of attacks continued throughout the war, concluding with the
destruction of the city of Dresden on February 14, 1945 (6 weeks before Germany surrendered), killing a
further 25,000 civilians. Note: Hitler's Blitz on London killed about 20,000 civilians over eight months.
7.5 MEDITERRANEAN
After Hitler's speedy victories in France, Italy's fascist dictator Mussolini joined Germany in the Axis.
This initially worried the British but in November 1940 the Royal Navy sank three Italian battleships.
Hitler decided that seizing Suez would be a major blow against the British Empire, so he ordered General
Erwin Rommel to help the Italians in Libya in 1941. This resulted in the 12 month siege of the fortress of
Tobruk that fell in June 1942; Rommel's Afrika Corps reached the Egyptian frontier by May. This forced
Churchill to make North Africa his army's focus by saving Egypt at the Battle of El Alamein at the end of
1942. Eventually, the Germans withdrew from North Africa, so then the Allies invaded Sicily and Italy.
7.6 THE RUSSIAN FRONT
The war between Russia and Germany did not directly involve the British Empire but did kill 80% of the
Germans in the whole war, concluding with the conquest of Berlin by the Red Army in May, 1945.
7.7 INVADING EUROPE
Under steady pressure from Russia, Europe was invaded on June 6, 1944 by American and Empire forces.
This was the start of the western advance against Germany, involving heavy fighting on both sides.
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7.8 THE PACIFIC WAR
The Japanese desired war but lacked oil as this was embargoed by America, Britain and Holland. The
Australians were getting nervous but Britain could only send the battleship Prince of Wales and the battle-
cruiser Repulse. This encouraged the Australians to seek closer ties with America. Singapore itself was
described as 'the City of Blimps' reflecting the low quality of the British officers, alluding to the English
cartoonish Colonel Blimp. On December 7, 1941 Japanese carrier-borne aircraft attacked the US navy's
pacific fleet anchorage at Pearl Harbor, sinking some battleships but missing the vital aircraft carriers that
were out at sea. Britain's Far Eastern empire fell so swiftly after the two Royal Navy warships were sunk
on December 10 by Japanese bombers from Saigon. Hong Kong capitulated on Christmas Day after a
local mutiny. Singapore yielded on February 15, 1942 to a smaller Japanese army with the largest
surrender (80,000 men) in British history. Germany and Italy declared war on America on December 11,
1941 sparing Roosevelt the awkward necessity of having to seek Congress's approval for entering the
European conflict. He and Churchill agreed that Germany was to be defeated first and then Japan. This
left the Pacific fighting to the Americans and the Australians, with the US Navy winning major victories
at Midway and the Coral Sea. A little known fact was the defection of over 35,000 Indian, Ghurka and
Tamil troops to the Japanese and forming the India National Army (INA). The INA was part of a wider,
Japanese-supervised organization for nationalist subversion in India and anti-European propaganda across
Asia. In contrast, British propaganda had to be careful of excessive vilification of the Germans to avoid
fear of a backlash against the white race in general, while references to a war being waged for freedom
and democracy were deliberately circumspect. A substantial part of the final bill for equipment, services
and commodities was paid by Britain, who had borrowed $400 billion from the USA. Great Britain had
also lost 233,000 men dead with another 275,000 wounded. This war too was a Pyrrhic victory for the
British Empire, shattering 300 years of militaristic arrogance.
8. DECLINE
Like in 1918 [§6.6], Britain's post-war General Election in 1945 produced an amazing result: Churchill
and his traditional Conservatives were defeated by Clement Atlee and the Labor Party. Many common
servicemen were disgusted with the snobbish class attitudes of the English officers and wanted a better
world than the one that had been promised but not delivered after the end of the first world war.
8.1 THE COLD WAR
I was convinced by the post-war analysis of author, James that it was the Cold War that had the largest
impact on the evolution of the British Empire after 1945. American strategists were obsessed with the
size of the Red Army and its expansionist ideology. In fact, many suspect that the war-ending atomic
bombs were more a warning to Moscow than Tokyo; indeed, some even suspect, this was the motivation
behind the Dresden raids by the RAF. The Red Scare explains why the Americans changed their attitude
to the British Empire: from an Old Colonial power to a useful European ally. This became critical in
1949 when the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb, destroying the American nuclear monopoly.
Anglo-American solidarity became public policy after Churchill gave his 'Iron Curtain' speech in 1946.
This distracted the UK's new government from delivering on its election manifesto that promised a costly
social and economic revolution through a mixture of public ownership, Whitehall regulations and private
enterprise. Instead, Britain began its own expensive atomic bomb development program (in case the US
left the UK to face the Soviets alone): the atom bomb soon became the entry-card to global significance.
The Americans initiated the mutual self-defense agreement: the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) in 1949, one year after Marshall Aid began flowing into Europe to prevent many impoverished
countries (even Germany) falling to Communism. The National Service Act of 1947 compelled, even in
peace time, almost all 18 year old males to 18 months of military service (extended to two years in 1949
at the onset of the Korean War). All these fears helped Churchill's Conservative win the next General
election in 1951.

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8.2 THE COMMONWEALTH
The Dominions were reluctant to accept a share of Britain's Cold War burden, except for Canada that
gladly joined NATO , as its economy rapidly became integrated with America's. However, both India and
Ceylon declared themselves neutral (the 'Third Way') in the struggle between Russia and the West; Burma
left the Commonwealth in 1948 having become a republic (as did Eire in 1949). South Africa was secretly
isolating itself from the multi-racial Commonwealth, as it implemented its Apartheid policy. The rising
Communist threat expanded into the Far East after 1948; this encouraged both Australia and New Zealand
to join with the US in 1950 to form the ANZUS pact. The term 'Commonwealth' was being used to cover
both the colonies as well as the dominions to counter the sustained Communist propaganda campaign
against 'colonialism' that was equated with 'slavery'. Both the British and American governments were
very nervous about subversion; knowing that the social and economic conditions were nearly perfect for
Communist agitation. This was the situation in Kenya in 1952, when a Black Rebellion (the Mau-Mau)
started a Freedom crusade that was met with equal measures of brutality during two years of 'Emergency'.
A similar situation had occurred in Malaya in 1948 when national servicemen were used to defeat local
Communist guerrillas.
8.3 INDIAN BREAKUP
If the British Empire began with the takeover of India by the Crown in 1877 [§4.1] then the Empire ended
when India achieved its independence on August 15, 1947. Religious diversity in India had resulted in
the rise of two national parties based on religion: Congress (under Nehru) for the Hindus and the Muslim
League (under Jinnah) for the Muslims. It was Atlee who fulfilled his pre-war promise to free India but it
was Louis Mountbatten, as viceroy, who had the challenge to make it happen. Deep mutual suspicions
between the two major parties blocked agreement on a unified India, so Jinnah demanded an independent
Pakistan. Civil rioting broke out immediately between fanatics of each group, killing hundreds of people.
In order to avoid civil war, Mountbatten agreed to the partition of the country; sadly, there are always
some communities left on the 'wrong' side of the dividing line and many people in these villages ended up
being massacred until they migrated to the safe side of the new frontier. This was worst in the Punjab,
home to India's 6 million Sikhs, who rejected Muslim domination. British forces were to be evacuated as
quickly as possible, ruling them out as an impartial police force. The huge blood-letting across northern
India was horrific: many estimates talk about half a million being killed; one massacre was used to justify
another in an endless series. Some saw the loss of the Indian Army as a sign that Britain was a second-rate
power; Britain's strategic planners were betting on long-range bombers and atomic bombs. After 1950,
the virtues and values of the Commonwealth became part of the centrist British political consensus which
accepted a mixed economy and the welfare state. Author James concludes that with hindsight to see that
the Commonwealth enabled Britain to accept the loss of India (and Empire) without too much heartache.
8.4 SUEZ FIASCO
Author James, using newly available documents, informs us that the Suez crisis in 1956 had a secret
agenda that was kept hidden for many years. This reflected the Anglo-American nuclear war plans to
drop atomic bombs on the Caucasus and the Don Basin. Our bombers needed to use airfields in the Suez
Zone (120 miles long, by 30 miles wide) to reach these targets. The notion of keeping the canal open for
shipping was the 19th century argument for the canal that seemed plausible to everyone. This became
critical after Britain tested its own A-bombs off north-west Australia in 1952. These super-clever military
strategists believed that Britain could win a nuclear war (madness knows no limits!). So, after describing
the CIA/MI6 machinations when Iran in May 1951 nationalized the assets of the Anglo-Iranian Oil
Company (supplying 85% of the Royal Navy's fuel); the chapter on post-war Middle-East crises describes
the secret deal being made between Anthony Eden and the French to get Israel to attack the canal that
would then be 'saved' by their intervention: to "preserve" the international waterway.

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However, Eisenhower was running for re-election and was 'making hay' against the Russian invasion of
Hungary until these two colonial powers diluted his moral outrage against soviet imperial aggression.
Furthermore, Eisenhower linked Britain's request for a $1.3 billion IMF loan to withdrawal from Suez.
Additionally, Turkey had joined NATO and was making its airfields available to the USAAF for their
planned attacks against Russia; this removed the strategic value of the Suez airfields for the Americans.
8.5 AFRICAN SHAMBLES
The book wraps up its story of imperial decline with a rapid review of Britain's exit from Africa. This
reminds us of the problem with having one's settlers forming only a small minority of the local people.
However, they often have influential friends back home in the Mother Country (like the League of Empire
Loyalists) who can readily embarrass the government through friends in the media. This was the case
with both Kenya and Rhodesia, which had the largest number of white settlers (220,000) but these were
still a tiny minority compared to the 3.5 million Africans. Like Alabama, racial segregation was enforced
rigorously everywhere, even in Parliament House. The new Conservative prime minister (1957-1963),
Harold Macmillan was a pragmatist who saw Africa costing more than it was worth to Britain, so he was
blown by the 'wind of change' and began a series of "national liberations": Uganda in 1962, Kenya in
1963, Malawi and Zambia in 1964. This started a strong exodus: Kenya's white population fell in 1965
from 60,000 to 40,000. Luckily, this reduction did not engender in Britain the catastrophe that Algeria
did in France. In Rhodesia, the whites under Ian Smith declared a Unilateral Declaration of Independence
in 1965 causing a huge embarrassment for the new PM, Labor Party leader Harold Wilson, who denied its
legitimacy, as the Blacks were in disagreement. He knew there was little support in Britain for armed
intervention, afraid this might become England's Viet Nam. An armed Black uprising did occur led by
Robert Mugabe and his ZANU party that included the missile destruction of two civilian jetliners. Smith
backed down and allied with three Black moderate parties to form Zimbabwe-Rhodesia in 1979. Within
months, the new Conservative British PM, Margaret Thatcher negotiated a peace deal, a general election
(won by Mugabe) and independence in 1980.
8.6 UK SOCIAL DEVOLUTION
While the overseas empire was in rapid decline, England had turned inwards with a national consensus
that covered the majority of both UK parties and reflected a people that agreed with Macmillan that they
had "Never had it so good" as they bought TVs, automobiles and foreign travel. The government had to
admit that they could not afford to spend 10% of their GNP on defense; so they even phased out national
service in 1959 (I missed it by one year!). The armed services were trimmed to 380,000 as Britain hid
under its first thermo-nuclear bomb (tested on Christmas Island in 1957), while government scientists
tried to develop Britain's own long-range missile ('Blue Streak'). In exchange for hosting America's Thor
missiles, Britain got Polaris submarine missiles from John Kennedy (so they cancelled the expensive
Blue Steak project). This helped the Conservatives win more elections as the Labor party was split over
the policy of Nuclear Disarmament. The 1960s were the Go-Go years for British artists, with the Beetles
rock group smashing export records, while fashion and films were also gaining international audiences, as
many old inhibitions were being shed and values replaced. The image of empire was seen regularly on
TV news, linking Africa to Viet Nam. Military coups were popping up all over: in Ghana and Nigeria and
Idi Amin in Uganda ; the British public just yawned. Academics were analyzing 'The Establishment' - an
exclusive network linking politics, finance, the higher civil service, the senior military, judges and the
universities of Oxford and Cambridge. This elite club was generally held to be responsible for the loss of
the empire that employed many of them. Britain seemed to have been demeaned and corrupted by its
empire (like Rome?) and this view may have made its loss more bearable as the UK moved closer to
Europe, as the USA firmly took-over the direction of the Anglo-American corporate empire, using its
5000 military bases; many almost invisible in countries around the globe that had 'arrangements' with
local military, while owing the USA billions of dollars (often for military "aid").

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9. CONCLUSIONS
9.1 RACISM & SLAVERY
The British character was changed by the Empire. It encouraged a sense of superiority and xenophobia.
It also fostered racial arrogance. This generated an intrinsic tension between the English sense of the Rule
of Law, individual freedom and elected government with the domination of foreigners. One of the most
influential modern philosophers, John Locke, was well-rewarded for creating the Constitution of Carolina
in 1669 that defined black slaves as property that could be owned and traded; legalizing the exploitation
of African people within the future United States that became a blight on that country ever since.
9.2 LETHAL MIX
Although most empires, prior to the British, were based on the militaristic obsessions of their aristocratic
ruling families, the British Empire was the first to illustrate the lethal power of merging this old approach
with the rise of the new class: the Merchants. It is not a coincidence that the British Empire emerged at a
time that the merchant class in England rose to political prominence as the Whig Party, appointing the
next king: William of Orange. The first English imperial ventures were created as corporations under a
royal monopoly (Charter) with a nice fraction of future profits going to the crown. Napoleon, as an
unknown minor Corsican aristocrat and jumped-up militarist, under-estimated the Power of Greed when
he dismissed the English as "a nation of shop-keepers". This mix was 'democratized' by large numbers of
poor people from the United Kingdom who were encouraged to expand the Empire by 'Land-Theft' from
indigenous but technically naive peoples. The British Empire was a unique synthesis of several social
classes. The fact that land and property played such a major role in Roman and English Law reflects the
deeper cultural forces driving the growth of these two broad empires. Imperialism is a despicable form of
social criminality: it is Robbery-at-Gunpoint by one nation against others. It is self-defeating, as the
victims ultimately rebel while the costs eventually exceed the rewards. It also encourages copying by
rivals, so that international warfare becomes endemic: defeating the empty claims of "spreading peace".
9.3 DRUG DEALERS
It is not a coincidence that these merchants made the most money from selling addictive products all
around the world; from tobacco, sugar, tea, to opium: often harvested by slaves on large plantations.
9.4 COLONIES
The long-term success of the British Empire was its establishment of English-speaking colonies around
the world. This is ironic because the English Ruling-Class has never known how to keep large numbers
of its own citizens usefully employed in the UK itself. Many of the colonies were first seen (by them) as
cheap dumping grounds for the unemployed and criminals (the 'White Trash'); this was even true for the
American colonies, until the local rebels closed off that 'Dumping Ground'. Fortunately, for Whitehall
(the location of English government and the Admiralty), Australia had just been discovered so the first
ship loads of criminals, rebels (and a few genuine settlers) could be landed there. Britain's post-war
decline was hidden from many by subsidizing their emigration to Canada and the White Dominions. The
land-owning aristocracy has only needed a few peasants to farm their lands in an age of mechanized
agriculture, while the sons of the successful innovating engineers and merchants only want to join their
new aristocratic friends in a life of idleness. Civilizations age like people, they get lazy with old age.
9.5 SEA POWER
As we have shown here, Great Britain cleverly exploited the fact of being an island nation to protect itself
while it ravished the world using its dominant naval forces promoted by its leading position in pioneering
the industrial revolution that was only used commercially to dominate the lucrative global cotton industry.
In fact, this technological advantage was primarily used to maintain an edge in armaments technology.
It is a suitable irony of history that this technology was used by its major European rival, Germany, to
mutually destroy both leading industrial empires, the two suicidal 'civil' wars between these close cousins.

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The British Empire was only successful when it was primarily a sea-power, often it failed when it relied
on its Army that was usually led by third-rate generals (Wellington was the exception). In contrast, the
Royal Navy has produced many superb leaders, especially Horatio Nelson and Jack Fisher; rarely were
Britain's political leaders up to the task: William Pitt was a notable exception - visionary and intelligent.
9.6 RIVAL POWER
Like Rome's long-standing rivalry with Carthage, England's regular rival was France. It was the many
wars with France that justified the growth of the Royal Navy, the capture of France's colonies and
imperial possessions and often the strategy needed to block future moves by France that expanded the
Empire, as in the Middle East. Ironically, Wellington's defeat of Napoleon led to the mistaken growth of
the British Army that then achieved most of its victories against poorly armed (and led) native foes.
When Britain had to face the superior land army of Germany then its flaws quickly surfaced and the long,
disastrous war of attrition bled both sides white, ultimately destroying both empires.
9.7 CLASS WARFARE
The Victorians knew why they were 'running the world'- because they were members of the superior race:
the Anglo-Saxons [Normans would have been more accurate]. The key idea was 'Anglo-Saxon' manhood,
this was a blend of abstractions such as Patriotism, physical Toughness, Team Games, Sportsmanship,
Self-discipline, Selflessness, Bravery and Daring. Several of these would have been on the list of virtues
of Athenian and Roman warriors. These were the values being inculcated in the middle and upper class
sons when they attended the public schools [actually private]; character was more important than any
emphasis on intellectual prowess - even for those going on to the principal 'finishing' schools of Oxford
and Cambridge [referred to collectively as 'OxBridge'] where useful career contacts were made for life. If
a young man had to earn a living, he chose the military, the senior civil service, the clergy, the law; or
joined a branch of the Indian or Colonial administration. Thus, they were ideally suited to govern the
empire and fight its wars. Even the sons of rich businessmen shunned trade and industry [too 'infradig'];
so it is no surprise to see the nation that pioneered invention and industrialism fall behind its competitors.
The British cult of the warrior hero laid great stress on his Christian faith which (as with Gordon) was the
basis for his superior courage and his commitment to perform his duty to Crown and Country. This was
still the situation in 1950, when (for the first time in its history) the entire British people was directly
involved in the defense of the empire, with its outposts and trouble spots being manned and policed by
peacetime conscripts: national servicemen. Many of them prepped in Major-General Baden-Powell's
Boy Scouts, with their future wives learning their patriotic values through the Girl Guides.
9.8 CONFESSION
This is where I make my personal confession as one who benefitted directly from the wealth of empire
that funded the scholarships implicit in the 1944 Education Act and the expansion of the universities. It
was my direct exposure to the privileged English upper class, after becoming a management consultant,
that drove me to emigrate; but even then, to the furthest part of the empire in British Columbia, Canada.
9.9 RECOMMENDATIONS
There are several good reasons someone may wish to read this book: it contains many good maps,
showing the area at the time of the history being described; the author is obviously a biographer - he
includes many anecdotes and character sketches; the book has an extensive bibliography (reflecting the
massive research done by the author); it also contains a good index - needed to bring diverse topics
together. But it is a difficult book to read as James bounces around the globe, re-introducing themes as
time progresses. I have tried to make this story more coherent by emphasizing the centrality of time for
each of the parts of the empire as they move into prominence. I must say that this book is not a
comprehensive History of England, nor is it a detailed history of the two world wars - by design. The
book does emphasize the difficult relationships between London and the Commonwealth, as well as the
hidden tensions between the UK and the USA, whose leaders can learn useful lessons from this empire.

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