released 20 jun 04 / last mod 01 jun 07 / greg goebel / public domain
* Niall Ferguson's EMPIRE, subtitled "The Rise & Demise Of The British World Order & The Lessons For Global Power", was published in 2002 as a companion to a BBC TV series. EMPIRE traces the rise of British global domination from the year 1600 to its abrupt end after World War II, describing how the British rose to power, how they maintained it, and why they ultimately gave it up.
As Ferguson writes, in the year 1600, England seemed like an also-ran in the colonization game, totally outclassed by the Spaniards, Portugese, and even the Dutch. Failing to obtain rich colonies of their own, the English were still able to obtain riches by simple piracy and by obtaining a trading toehold in India, a vastly profitable source of spice and cloth.
A century later, with the formation of "Great Britain" by the union of England and Scotland in 1707, and major military victories against Spain, Britain was clearly jockeying for the top spot in world domination. Britain got the upper hand during a global war with the French in midcentury, with a crude thug named Robert Clive laying the foundation of what would become British domination over India, originally through the East India Company.
Britain also set up colonies in the New World and Australia. The Americans rebelled, but the Australians and Canadians remained loyal to the Crown, with the government in London learning from the American fiasco that it was better to devolve authority and let the colonies become self-governing. There was no such devolution of authority in India, though British rule over the country was loose: they were just a new ruling caste in a land always ruled by caste.
Originally the British Empire had been pure imperialism, but in the 19th century it became a vehicle for mass movements, first the fight for the abolition of slavery and the slave trade, and then a zealous missionary crusade. The missionary movement went too far in India, however, antagonizing native troops to provoke an uprising in 1857, and British leadership sensibly decided to reign in the missionaries there lest they cause further trouble. India remained the "Jewel In The Crown" of the Empire, though frictions began to arise when attempts by London to grant the locals more authority were furiously blocked by the Indian colonial white elite.
The British Empire continued to grow, with Britain becoming the big winner in a scramble for Africa late in the 19th century. Frictions with other imperial rivals did lead to a global conflict, World War I, but Britain and her allies won, with the British Empire growing again. However, the war had been disastrous for Britain, and imperialism was now proving unprofitable less appealing.
Britain remained powerful enough to defy Hitler's aggressions until reinforcements arrived. If crushing the Axis was Britain's "finest hour", however, it was still the hour past midnight for the British Empire, and in the postwar period the colonies were effectively abandoned. In 1956, Britain, France, and Israel seized the Suez canal; the US and the USSR told them to get out, and they did. It was the last major British imperialist venture.
* Ferguson tells this story very well and in an entertaining fashion. He makes a number of interesting points -- for example: the average Briton didn't get much benefit from the Empire; the end of the Empire was less due to local insurrections than British disinterest and the pressure from the uglier Axis empires; and that Britain could have been said to have sacrificed her own empire to help save the world from those uglier empires. Of course there will be readers who will differ with these ideas, as well as Ferguson's conclusions on the relevance of the British Empire on the modern American empire-of-sorts; but even so this remains a highly readable and stimulating book.
Very much recommended. Those who want to know more may read the set of outline notes that I put together.