Synopses & Reviews
Pax Britannica to Pax Americana is the story of the British Empire from its late-nineteenth century flowering to its present extinction. Louis traces the British Empire from the scramble for Africa, the turbulent imperial history of the Second World War in Asia, and the mid-20th century rush to independence to the Suez crisis, the icon of empire's end. It forms the ideal platform from which to examine the aims and outcome of empire. This authoritative and highly engaging history appears at a time when interest in the history of the British Empire has, ironically, never been stronger, making Ends of British Imperialism a must-read item for both scholar and general reader.
Review
"Wm. Roger Louis is preeminent among historians of the British Empire. This volume puts on dazzling display the full range of his accomplishment. It not only shows all that he has taught us in the past; it sets the agenda for a new generation of scholarship." -- Ernest R. May, Harvard University
"Sir John Seeley memorably quipped that the British Empire was acquired in a fit of absence of mind. Now we can thank Wm. Roger Louis for finding another aphorism on the history of the British Empire: 'Decolonization was the mirror image of the Scramble for Colonies'." -- W. David McIntyre, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
"Ends of British Imperialism is to die for! It recognizes the unbelievable continuity of quality and focul of Roger Louis's research over many decades...I am full of admiration for it...wonderful!" -- Stanley Katz, former President, American Council on Learned Societies "The Ends of British Imperialism...provide[s] a scintillating portrait of British decision making in the final stages of imperial rule." --Times Literary Supplement
"A magisterial tour dhorizon…by a writer whose reputation as a historian of the Empire is formidable." -- Journal of the Commonwealth Lawyers' Association
"A consistently stimulating book, with many lessons for today." - The Overseas Pensioner
"It is good to have these various writings gathered together in one volume." -- Contemporary Review
Synopsis
Pax Britannica to Pax Americana is the story of the British Empire from its late-nineteenth century flowering to its present extinction. Louis traces the British Empire from the scramble for Africa, the turbulent imperial history of the Second World War in Asia, and the mid-20th century rush to independence to the Suez crisis, the icon of empire's end. It forms the ideal platform from which to examine the aims and outcome of empire. This authoritative and highly engaging history appears at a time when interest in the history of the British Empire has, ironically, never been stronger, making Ends of British Imperialism a must-read item for both scholar and general reader.
Synopsis
Here is the story of the British Empire from its late-nineteenth century flowering to its present extinction. Louis traces the British Empire from the scramble for Africa, the turbulent imperial history of the Second World War in Asia, and the mid-20th century rush to independence to the Suez crisis, the icon of empire's end. It forms the ideal platform from which to examine the aims and outcome of empire.
About the Author
Wm. Roger Louis is Kerr Professor of English History and Culture at the University of Texas at Austin and Fellow of St. Antony's College, Oxford.
Table of Contents
Preface * Acknowledgements * INTRODUCTION * Suez and Decolonization: Scrambling Out of Africa and Asia * THE LEGACY OF EUROPEAN COLONIALISM * The Colonial Empires in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries * THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA AND THE CONGO * The Scramble for Africa: Sir Percy Anderson's Grand Strategy * The Berlin Congo Conference and the (Non-) Partition of Africa, 1884-5 * Roger Casement and the Congo * E.D.Morel and the Triumph of the Congo Reform Association * THE FIRST WORLD WAR AND THE ORIGINS OF THE MANDATE SYSTEM * Australia and the German Colonies in the Pacific during the First World War * The Repartition of Africa during the First World War * The United States and the Colonial Settlement of 1919 * The Beginning of the Mandates System of the League of Nations * The British and the French Colonial Empire: Trusteeship and Self-Interest * SINGAPORE AND HONG KONG * The Road to the Fall of Singapore, 1943: British Imperialism in East Asia in the 1930s * Hong Kong: The Critical Phase, 1945-9 * INDIA, PALESTINE, AND EGYPT * The Governing Intellect: L.S.Amery, the British Empire, and Indian Independence * The Partitions of India and Palestine * Taking the Plunge into Indian Independence * The End of the Palestine Mandate * DECOLONIZATION * The Imperialism of Decolonization * Libya: The Creation of a Client State * The Coming of Independence in the Sudan * Taxing Transfers of Power in Africa * The Dissolution of the British Empire in the Era of Vietnam * SUEZ * American Anti-Colonialism, Suez, and the Special Relationship * Prelude to Suez: Churchill and Egypt * A Prima Donna with Honour: Eden and Suez * An American Volcano in the Middle East: John Foster Dulles and the Suez Crisis * The United Nations and the Suez Crisis: British Ambivalence towards the Pope on the East River * Public Enemy Number One: Britain and the United Nations in the Aftermath of Suez * THE MIDDLE EAST * Musaddiq, Oil, and the Dilemmas of British Imperialism * The Middle East Crisis of 1958 * The Origins of the Iraqi Revolution * The Withdrawal from the Gulf * HISTORIOGRAPHY * Robinson and Gallagher and Their Critics * The Historiography of the British Empire * The Pax Americana: Sir Keith Hancock, the British Empire, and American Expansion * Index *