The Empire Project : The Rise and Fall of the British World-System, 1830–1970

The British Empire, wrote Adam Smith, 'has hitherto been not an empire, but the project of an empire' and John Darwin offers a magisterial global history of the rise and fall of that great imperial project. The British Empire, he argues, was much more than a group of colonies ruled over by a scattering of British expatriates until eventual independence. It was above all a global phenomenon. Its power derived rather less from the assertion of imperial authority than from the fusing together of three different kinds of empire: the settler empire of the 'white dominions'; the commercial empire of the City of London; and 'Greater India' which contributed markets, manpower and military muscle. This unprecedented history charts how this intricate imperial web was first strengthened, then weakened and finally severed on the rollercoaster of global economic, political and geostrategic upheaval on which it rode from beginning to end. HALF-TITLE 3 TITLE 5 COPYRIGHT 6 CONTENTS 9 DEDICATION 7 MAPS 11 PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 13 INTRODUCTION: THE PROJECT OF AN EMPIRE 17 Part I Towards 'The Sceptre of the World': the elements of Empire in the long nineteenth century 37 1 VICTORIAN ORIGINS 39 After mercantilism 39 The geopolitics of expansion 42 Making Empire at home: domestic sources of British expansion 52 Commerce 52 Migrants and missions 57 Bridgeheads of empire 65 The Victorian pattern established 73 2 THE OCTOPUS POWER 80 The new geopolitics 82 The logic of partition 90 Managing empire 99 The late-Victorians and empire 108 Towards 1900 122 3 THE COMMERCIAL REPUBLIC 128 The mercantile cosmopolis 130 New frontiers of commerce 138 British business in Africa 140 The Middle East and East Asia 146 Latin America: the swing to the West 151 Commerce or empire? 151 4 THE BRITANNIC EXPERIMENT 160 The Britannic idea 161 Canada 164 ‘Britannic’ Australia 175 ‘New Britain’ in the South Pacific: New Zealand 175 Building the British world 193 5 ‘UN-BRITISH RULE’ IN 'ANGLO-INDIA' 196 Imperial India? 197 The Civilian Raj 202 Indian politics 207 The struggle 215 The stalemate 225 The idea of India 228 6 THE WEAKEST LINK: BRITAIN IN SOUTH AFRICA 233 Supremacy or stalemate 236 Kruger versus Rhodes 241 The decision for war, 1896–9 249 A British South Africa? 261 7 THE EDWARDIAN TRANSITION 271 Imperial grand strategy and the South African War 272 Britain in world politics 279 The political economy of Edwardian Empire 288 The dominions, India and Africa 295 The politics of cohesion 302 The dominions 304 India 306 The new empire in Africa 308 Islam 311 Ireland and Empire 313 Part II ‘The great liner is sinking’: the British world-system in the age of war 319 8 THE WAR FOR EMPIRE, 1914–1919 321 The longer war 321 The Imperial Armageddon 324 The price of victory 324 The politics of solidarity 344 War politics in Britain 345 The dominions: Canada, Australia, New Zealand 349 The spectre of revolt: South Africa, India, Ireland 359 South Africa 359 India 362 Ireland 369 War and empire 373 9 MAKING IMPERIAL PEACE, 1919–1926 375 ‘New World’ geopolitics 377 Rebuilding commercial empire 385 West of India: the British in the Middle East 391 The politics of Gandhi 401 Imperial nations? 409 Canada 411 Australia 414 South Africa 418 The dominions and Ireland 422 The Empire at home 426 10 HOLDING THE CENTRE, 1927–1937 434 Imperial defence 437 The new economics of Empire 447 The Empire state 455 In the ‘Newer World’: the dominions 465 The Pacific dominions 466 Canada 469 South Africa 473 Holding India: ‘from power to influence’? 478 Holding the centre 485 Dog days of Empire 490 11 THE STRATEGIC ABYSS, 1937–1942 492 Revolution and Empire 493 Dilemmas of containment 498 The road to Singapore 510 The fall of Singapore 528 12 THE PRICE OF SURVIVAL, 1943–1951 530 Strategy and Empire, 1943–1945 531 Imperial Labour 543 The fourth British Empire 556 Test of Empire, 1951–1952 576 13 THE THIRD WORLD POWER, 1951–1959 582 An empire of influence 582 The sterling economy 595 Descent to Suez 606 No end of a lesson? 621 14 RELUCTANT RETREAT, 1959–1968 626 White hopes in Black Africa 628 Britains African crisis 632 Designs and defeats 648 The status barrier, 1964–1968 654 CONCLUSION 665 NOTES 672 Preface and acknowledgments 672 Introduction 672 Chapter 1 674 Chapter 2 684 Chapter 3 693 Chapter 4 702 Chapter 5 714 Chapter 6 722 Chapter 7 731 Chapter 8 741 Chapter 9 749 Chapter 10 760 Chapter 11 774 Chapter 12 781 Chapter 13 790 Chapter 14 797 Conclusion 804 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 805 Unpublished primary sources 805 Printed sources 807 Secondary works 809 INDEX 811 "The British Empire, wrote Adam Smith, 'has hitherto been not an empire, but the project of an empire' and John Darwin offers a magisterial global history of the rise and fall of that great imperial project. The British Empire, he argues, was much more than a group of colonies ruled over by a scattering of British expatriates until eventaul independence. It was, above all, a global phenomenon. Its power derived rather less from the assertion of imperial authority than from the fusing together of three different kinds of empire: the settler empire of the 'white dominions'; the commercial empire of the City of London; and the 'Greater India' which contributed markets, manpower and military muscle. This unprecedented history charts how this intricate imperial web was first strengthened, then weakened and finally severed on the rollercoaster of global economic, political and geostrategic upheaval on which it rode from beginning to end.' -- page [i] "British Empire, wrote Adam Smith, 'has hitherto been not an empire, but the project of an empire' and John Darwin offers a magisterial global history of the rise and fall of that great imperial project. The British Empire, he argues, was much more than a group of colonies ruled over by a scattering of British expatriates until eventual independence. It was above all a global phenomenon. Its power derived rather less from the assertion of imperial authority than from the fusing together of three different kinds of empire : the settler empire of the 'white dominions'; the commercial empire of the City of London; and 'Greater India' which contributed markets, manpower and military muscle. This unprecedented history charts how this intricate imperial web was first strengthened, then weakened and finally severed on the rollercoaster of global economic, political and geostrategic upheaval on which it rode from beginning to end."-- Site de l'éditeur The British Empire, wrote Adam Smith, 'has hitherto been not an empire, but the project of an empire' and John Darwin offers a magisterial global history of the rise and fall of that great imperial project. The British Empire, he argues, was much more than a group of colonies ruled over by a scattering of British expatriates until eventual independence. It was above all a global phenomenon. Its power derived rather less from the assertion of imperial authority than from the fusing together of three different kinds of empire: the settler empire of the 'white dominions'; the commercial empire of the City of London; and 'Greater India' which contributed markets, manpower and military muscle. This unprecedented history charts how this intricate imperial web was first strengthened, then weakened and finally severed on the rollercoaster of global economic, political and geostrategic upheaval on which it rode from beginning to end. - Publisher. Introduction : the project of an empire Towards 'the sceptre of the world' : the elements of empire in the long nineteenth century Victorian origins The octopus power The commercial republic The Britannic experiment Un-British rule in 'Anglo-India' The weakest link : Britain and South Africa The Edwardian transition 'The great liner is sinking...' the British world-system in the age of war War for empire Making imperial peace Holding the centre The strategic abyss The price of survival The third world power Reluctant retreat.