Three Victories and a Defeat: The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire PDF
Preview Three Victories and a Defeat: The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire
THREE VICTORIES AND A DEFEAT ‘ApowerfulnewbookaboutBritain’srisetoimperialpower... [challenges]ourdeepestpreconceptioinsaboutBritishidentity’ EdSmith,TheTimes ‘Aboldandconvincingaccount’ BenWilson,Spectator ‘Aninsightfulbookthatwillmakeevenjadedreadersthink differentlyaboutanentirecentury’ IndependentonSunday, BooksoftheYear ‘Thereisnoarguingwithhisscholarship,andthereisnobetter historyofBritishforeignpolicyinthiscrucialperiod’ DailyTelegraph,BooksoftheYear ‘BrendanSimmsisanextraordinaryhistorianandhis reinterpretationofBritishhistoryintheeighteenthcenturyis oneofthosesleeperideasthat,alongwithothers,isgradually challengingknow-nothingEuro-scepticism’ Observer,‘Fivebrightideasthatilluminated2007’ ‘Animpressivepieceofscholarship...I’msurethiswillbe requiredreadingforstudentsoftheperiod’ GeoffreyMoorhouse,Guardian ‘Shrewdandinsightful...Simms’sbookisamonumentto scholarshipanderuditionandiscontinuallyabsorbing’ FrankMcLynn,BBCHistory about the author BrendanSimmsisaFellowofPeterhouse,Cambridge,Readerin International Relations at the Centre for International Studies, University of Cambridge, and the author of The Struggle for MasteryinGermanyandUnfinestHour:BritainandtheDestruc- tion of Bosnia, which was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize. brendan simms Three Victories and a Defeat The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire, 1714–1783 A MEMBER OF THE PERSEUS BOOKS GROUP NEW YORK Copyright © 2007 by Brendan Simms First published in the United States in 2009 by Basic Books, A Member of the Perseus Books Group Published in Great Britain in 2007 by Allen Lane, A Subsidiary of the Penguin Group All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address Basic Books, 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016-8810. Books published by Basic Books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call (800) 819-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail [email protected]. A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN-13: 978-0-465-01332-6 LCCN: 2008930854 British Hardback ISBN: 978-0-713-99426-1 British Paperback ISBN: 978-0-140-28984-8 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ForAnita This page intentio. nally left blank Contents ListofIllustrations ix ListofMaps xiii NoteonDatingandQuotations xiv Acknowledgements xv Introduction 1 I ImperialApprenticeship 1 APartoftheMain:EnglandinEurope,1558–1697 9 2 MarlboroughCountry:BritainandtheEmpire, 1697–1714 44 II ImperialOpportunities 3 ImperialRestoration,1714–1715 79 4 Britain’sNewEuropeanEmpire,1716–1717 107 5 PreventiveWarintheMediterraneanandtheBaltic, 1718–1719 135 III ImperialChallenges 6 AProtestantEmpire,1721–1724 159 7 TheReturnofCharlesV,1725–1726 183 8 TheResurgenceofFrance,1727–1732 204 vii contents IV ImperialVisions 9 ImperialRetreat,1733–1736 227 10 TheColonialMirage,1737–1739 247 11 ImperialIsolation,1740–1742 274 V ImperialRecovery 12 TheEmpiresStrikeBack,1742–1745 307 13 TheAmericanEmpireRestorestheBalanceinthe GermanEmpire,1745–1748 333 14 ImperialPre-emptions,1748–1752 355 VI ImperialTriumph 15 TransferringtheSeatofEmpire?1753–1756 387 16 TheImperialMissionsofWilliamPitt,1757–1759 422 17 AnIslandOnceAgain,1760–1763 463 VII ImperialHubris 18 ImperialRetrenchments,1763–1765 501 19 ImperialPre-emptions,1765–1767 532 20 EmpireAdrift,1768–1772 555 VIII ImperialNemesis 21 FightingforEuropeinAmerica,1773–1777 579 22 LosingAmericainEurope,1778–1779 615 23 ThePartitionofBritain,1780–1783 636 Conclusion 662 Bibliography 685 Notes 726 Index 783 viii List of Illustrations 1 FrederickVElectorPalatinatewithhiswifeElisabethStuart andtheirchildrenbyafollowerofGerhardvanHonthorst, c.1630(Photo:Sotheby’s/akg-images) 21 2 JohnChurchill,1stDukeofMarlboroughbyGodfrey Kneller,c.1706(copyright©NationalPortraitGallery, London) 51 3 PlayingcarddepictingthevictoryattheBattleofHo¨chsta¨dt (Blenheim),EnglishSchool(18thcentury)(Privatecollection. Photo:TheBridgemanArtLibrary) 55 4 JohannCasparvonBothmerbyJohnFaber(Photocopyright ©Queen’sPrinterandControllerofHMSO,1998.UK GovernmentArtCollection) 81 5 TheflagoftheKing-ElectorGeorgeI(CourtesyHistorisches Museum,Hanover) 91 6 CountAndreasGottliebvonBernstorff(Privatecollection) 119 7 CharlesTownshend,2ndViscountTownshend,anon,after GodfreyKneller,c.1715–20(copyright©NationalPortrait Gallery,London) 121 8 TheBattleofCapePassaro,11August1718byRichard Paton,1767(copyright©NationalMaritimeMuseum, London) 140 9 AnallegoryofthepowerofGreatBritainbyland,design foradecorativepanelforGeorgeI’sceremonialcoach, attributedtoSirJamesThornhill,c.1718(YaleCenterfor ix
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