Three Victories and a Defeat: The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire

833 Pages·2008·6.08 MB·English

by  Brendan Simms

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,
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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
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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