The British Empire, once the largest empire in the world, was the staple of trade and innovation in the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. But what made this empire so powerful? What made it fall? To answer these questions, it is important to start at the very beginning of the British Empire.
The British Empire formed in the early 1600s with one goal: to expand maritime trade. While England had been strong previous to this, the start of colonization and imperialism is what made Britain an empire rather than a state (a country, not a province). Over time, Britain’s maritime ambitions increased, primarily due to competition with France, leading to the establishment of both the American and Indian settlements. After this, Britain started to expand into territories in Africa as well.
The Empire’s interest in their overseas settlements only began to grow once the Industrial Revolution came in the 19th century. Britain was the center of attention and innovation for most of the start of the Industrial Revolution due to its exceptional location for trade and its abundance of coal, which could be used to power steam engines, and therefore machines. However, Britain could not industrialize on its own, it relied on the imports of raw materials from its territories to keep providing resources which it would turn into manufactured goods and sell right back to their territories, as well as to other states.
Some of Britain's territories were more beneficial than others. For example, the North American colonies were quite a small contributor to the British economy when compared against India, the “crown jewel” of the British Empire. Due to this, Britain tended to ignore or neglect their American colonies, so much so that they rebelled and formed “a more perfect union”, the United States. Other colonies however, received much more attention. As the British Empire became the empire where “the Sun never sets”, there was an increasing demand for the abolishment of slavery in the territories it possessed. After much debate, the slave trade was abolished in the Empire in 1807, long before the United States, and by 1833, there were no more slaves allowed in British territories.
As both World Wars passed, the economies of the world shook, but so did the people. In places around the globe, a large part of which were British territories, people started to cry songs of nationalism on a scale never seen before. Starting with India in 1947, Britain’s colonies started to break away to form their own independent states, whether it be through war or diplomacy. One of the largest reasons Britain allowed this to happen in many places was due to the pressure put upon them by the United Nations and other countries around the world. The last territory held by the British Empire, Hong Kong, was returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, marking the official end of the worldwide empire.
While the British Empire may have only ended 25 years ago, a lot can be learned from its history. The British Empire was the first world power to recognize and show that industrialization and technology was the future, and that a worldwide economy was not only essential to progress, it was inevitable. The Empire was also the first to show that nationalist ideals can not be ignored as the world progressed technologically and ideologically. This was expressed best by Winston Churchill who stated, “If the British Empire is fated to pass from life into history, we must hope it will not be by the slow process of dispersion and decay, but in some supreme exertion for freedom, for right and for truth.”