= British Empire = The '''British Empire''' was an imperial complex centered on the [[UnitedKingdom/Monarchs#United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Ireland|United Kingdom]]. <> ---- == History == Early British colonies were not an empire by modern definitions. * Most of the colonies were chartered companies. The business scheme was a perpetuation of the feudal system: * The rising class of new wealth purchased titles from a higher (i.e., royal) authority... * then organized militia to defend their claims... * and finally bought the services of serfs to work the land. * Among the actual royal colonies, the governorships were not powerful posts. * They did not grant many opportunities to extract wealth. * They did not translate to influence in the [[UnitedKingdom/Parliament|Parliament]]. * not a part of English/Welsh/Scottish/Irish peerages, so no seat in the House of Lords * no representation in the House of Lords meant no amount of wealth could buy a pocket borough * ''Despite the best efforts of the [[UnitedKingdom/GeorgeIII|monarch]]'', royal influence in the colonies was limited. * [[UnitedKingdom/CharlesJamesFox|Influential factions in the Parliament]] suspected that the colonies would be the steppingstone to establishing an absolute monarchy at home. The [[UnitedKingdom/Victoria|Victorian era]] was a turning point. * The UK entered the [[WorldHistory/NapoleonicWars|Napoleonic Wars]] bankrupted by a long series of land wars over continental claims (especially, ''especially'', [[WorldHistory/Hanover|Hanover]]; although [[Spain/Monarchs#Catholic_Monarchy|Spain]] was insistent upon [[WorldHistory/BalearicIslands|Menorca]] and [[UnitedKingdom/OverseasTerritories#Gibraltar|Gibraltar]]) and a colonial rebellion that attracted opportunism from the [[Netherlands/Monarchs#Republic_of_the_Seven_United_Netherlands|Dutch]] and [[France/LouisXVI|French]]. * The UK ''survived'' the Napoleonic Wars and became interested in... * a rules-based international order that could perpetuate a (peaceful) status quo. * ''pax Britannica'' * a reorientation of the empire towards trade. * Gunboat diplomacy emerged as an efficient coercive force that could achieve both of the above goals, and was entirely consistent with the already-dominant [[UnitedKingdom/ArmedForces|Royal Navy]]. TODO: learn more history! Decolonization made the imperial structure inconvenient, even after many of the more self-sufficient colonies established ''de facto'' or actual independence. See the [[UnitedKingdom/OverseasTerritories|British Overseas Territories]] for the modern continuation of the imperial complex. ---- == Structure == The empire rose as England was fast becoming a [[UnitedKingdom/Democratization#Constitutional_Monarchy|constitutional monarchy]]. While the monarchs did claim titles such as '''emperor of India''', they were not the effective head of state. TODO: learn some history of Home Office/Colonial Office ---- CategoryRicottone CategoryTodoLearnHistory CategoryEmpire