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Britain’s Encounter with Revolutionary China, 1949–54
by James Tuck-Hong TangThis book examines Britain's recognition of the newly established Peoples' Republic of China in 1950 and the developments leading to the establishment of formal Anglo-Chinese diplomatic relations in 1954. The importance of the USA in Anglo-Chinese relations is also highlighted by this study. Based on archival materials and interviews, this is an attempt to apply a decision-making framework to study the formulation and implementation of Britain's China policy and to explore revolutionary China's conduct in international relations.
Britain's Entry into the European Community: Report on the Negotiations of 1970 - 1972 by Sir Con O'Neill (Whitehall Histories)
by Sir David HannayIn January 1972 Britain signed the Treaty of Acccession to the European Community. Sir Con O'Neill, a key figure in the negotiations, gives an analysis of negotiations which had an impact on Britain's relations with Europe, and insights into the processes of multilateral diplomacy.
Britain's Entry into the European Community: Report on the Negotiations of 1970 - 1972 by Sir Con O'Neill (Whitehall Histories)
by Sir David HannayIn January 1972 Britain signed the Treaty of Acccession to the European Community. Sir Con O'Neill, a key figure in the negotiations, gives an analysis of negotiations which had an impact on Britain's relations with Europe, and insights into the processes of multilateral diplomacy.
Britain's Europe: A Thousand Years of Conflict and Cooperation
by Brendan Simms'A dazzling perspective on the current EU referendum debate' Prospect MagazineBritain has always had a tangled, complex, paradoxical role in Europe's history. It has invaded and been invaded, changed sides, stood aloof, acted with both brazen cynicism and the cloudiest idealism. Every century troops from the British isles have marched across the mainland in pursuit of a great complex of different goals, foremost among them the intertwined defence of parliamentary liberty in Britain and the 'Liberties of Europe'. Dynastically Britain has been closely linked to countries as varied as Spain, the Netherlands, Germany and France.In this bracing and highly enjoyable book, Brendan Simms describes the highlights and low-points in the Euro-British encounter, from the Dark Ages to the present. The critical importance of understanding this history is shown in the final chapter, which dramatizes the issues around British relations with the European Union and the how, far from being a narrowly legalistic or financial concern, a referendum on continued membership raises all kinds of fascinating questions about both the United Kingdom's own horizons and what it can offer to the Union's vision of itself.Britain's Europe is a vital intervention at a moment of both great danger and great opportunity.
Britain's Experience of Empire in the Twentieth Century (Oxford History of the British Empire Companion Series)
by Andrew ThompsonWritten by specialists from various fields, this edited volume is the first systematic investigation of the impact of imperialism on twentieth-century Britain. The contributors explore different aspects of Britain's imperial experience as the empire weathered the storms of the two world wars, was subsequently dismantled, and then apparently was gone. How widely was the empire's presence felt in British culture and society? What was the place of imperial questions in British party politics? Was Britain's status as a global power enhanced or underpinned by the existence of its empire? What was the relation of Britain's empire to national identities within the United Kingdom? The chapters range widely from social attitudes to empire and the place of the colonies in the public imagination, to the implications of imperialism for demography, trade, party politics and political culture, government and foreign policy, the churches and civil society, and the armed forces. The volume also addresses the fascinating yet complex question of how, after the formal end of empire, the colonial past has continued to impinge upon our post-colonial present, as contributors reflect upon the diverse ways in which the legacies of empire are interpreted and debated in Britain today.
Britain's Experience of Empire in the Twentieth Century (Oxford History of the British Empire Companion Series)
Written by specialists from various fields, this edited volume is the first systematic investigation of the impact of imperialism on twentieth-century Britain. The contributors explore different aspects of Britain's imperial experience as the empire weathered the storms of the two world wars, was subsequently dismantled, and then apparently was gone. How widely was the empire's presence felt in British culture and society? What was the place of imperial questions in British party politics? Was Britain's status as a global power enhanced or underpinned by the existence of its empire? What was the relation of Britain's empire to national identities within the United Kingdom? The chapters range widely from social attitudes to empire and the place of the colonies in the public imagination, to the implications of imperialism for demography, trade, party politics and political culture, government and foreign policy, the churches and civil society, and the armed forces. The volume also addresses the fascinating yet complex question of how, after the formal end of empire, the colonial past has continued to impinge upon our post-colonial present, as contributors reflect upon the diverse ways in which the legacies of empire are interpreted and debated in Britain today.
Britain's Final Defence: Arming the Home Guard 1940-1944
by Dale ClarkeKnown affectionately as ‘Dad’s Army’, the Home Guard was Britain’s very serious attempt to protect our shores from invasion by Nazi Germany in the Second World War. In the ‘Spitfire summer’ of 1940, all that the 16 million unpaid, untrained part-timers of the Local Defence Volunteers (as the organisation was originally called) wanted was a service rifle for each man, but even that was too much for a country threatened by defeat to provide. Britain’s Final Defence is the first book to explore the efforts made to arm the home defence force between 1940 and 1944 and describe the full range of weaponry available for Britain’s last stand against invading Axis forces.
Britain’s First Labour Government
by J. Shepherd K. LaybournThis volume is the first major account for nearly fifty years to critically re-assess Labour's first period in office in terms of domestic, foreign and imperial policy. It draws on a wide range of private papers and official sources and reconstructs the history of this forgotten government in the broader social and political context of the 1920s.
Britain's Food Supplies in Peace and War (Routledge Library Editions: WW2 #3)
by Charles SmithThis book, first published in 1940, is a systematic analysis of Britain’s principal food supplies and the means by which they are distributed to the people. Its calculates the total quantities of food required to feed the whole nation properly, examines pricing structures and the sources of the food stuffs. Both home produced and imported foods are covered in this survey, as are restrictions in the form of the wartime governmental controls.
Britain's Food Supplies in Peace and War (Routledge Library Editions: WW2 #3)
by Charles SmithThis book, first published in 1940, is a systematic analysis of Britain’s principal food supplies and the means by which they are distributed to the people. Its calculates the total quantities of food required to feed the whole nation properly, examines pricing structures and the sources of the food stuffs. Both home produced and imported foods are covered in this survey, as are restrictions in the form of the wartime governmental controls.
Britain's Forgotten Wars: Colonial Campaigns of the 19th Century
by Ian HernonThis is a collection of Ian Heron's three books, "Massacre and Retribution", "The Savage Empire" and "Blood in the Sand". Much has been written about the great British military triumphs of the 19th century, but there are many more astonishing stories which have been largely forgotten. These forgotten wars cannot hope to compete in history with the Crimean War or the Boer War, but for acts of sheer courage and endurance, they deserve to be remembered. Using the actual words of the soldiers themselves, Ian Hernon presents an account which evokes Victorian colonial warfare in all its barbarity and the self-righteous belief of the British in the rectitude of their cause.
Britain's Greatest Generation
by Sue Elliott Steve HumphriesIn association with the flagship BBC2 series.This is the story of the men and women of a truly remarkable generation. Born into a world still reeling from the earth-shattering events of the Great War, they grew up during the appalling economic depression of the 1930s, witnessed the globe tear itself apart again during the Second World War, and emerged from post-war austerity determined to create a new society for their children.It is the story of people who raised their families during the immense social upheaval of the Fifties and Sixties, as the world in which they had grown up changed inexorably. It is the story of the people who shaped the way we live now. Britain's Greatest Generation tells this multi-faceted story through the eye-witness accounts of those who were there, from Japanese prisoner of war Fergus Anckorn to Dame Vera Lynn, from Bletchley Park veteran Jean Valentine to Dad's Army creator Jimmy Perry, and from fighter pilot Tom Neil to the Queen's cousin Margaret Rhodes. Together their testimony creates a vivid, often deeply moving picture of an extraordinary epoch – and the extraordinary people who lived through it.
Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya
by Caroline ElkinsOnly a few years after Britain defeated fascism came the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya - a mass armed rebellion by the Kikuyu people, demanding the return of their land and freedom. The draconian response of Britain's colonial government was to detain nearly the entire Kikuyu population of 1.5 million and to portray them as sub-human savages. Detainees in their thousands - possibly a hundred thousand or more - died from exhaustion, disease, starvation and systemic physical brutality. For decades these events remained untold.Caroline Elkins conducted years of research to piece together this story, unearthing reams of documents and interviewing several hundred Kikuyu survivors. Britain's Gulag reveals, for the first time, the full savagery of the Mau Mau war and the ruthless determination with which Britain sought to control its empire.
Britain’s Heritage Railways: Discover More Than 100 Historic Lines
by Julian HollandThe essential guide to exploring Britain’s last remaining historic lines, Britain’s Heritage Railways is ideal for anyone planning or looking for a nostalgic railway trip. From bestselling railway author Julian Holland.
Britain's Historic Ships: A Complete Guide to the Ships that Shaped the Nation
by Paul BrownThe British Isles have a long, rich and celebrated seafaring history stretching from the earliest times through the victories of Drake and Nelson, the voyages of discovery of Cabot and Cook and the defence of the realm by vessels of all types in the present century. Much of this history is recorded in literature and in museums but reaches its most tangible form in the large number of historical ships that have been preserved and are continually restored as monuments to a proud past. This lavish book explores 20 of the most celebrated and accessible ships and offers a comprehensive history of each vessel's design, construction, active service and subsequent restoration and preservation. Presented in order of each ship's launch date, each entry is written by the acknowledged expert on a particular vessel, gives full specification details and is sumptuously illustrated with contemporary photographs, historical illustrations and a full set of scale plans. In addition to the featured entries, an appendix presents all of the necessary contact details and opening times where applicable. The appendix also lists (and provides details for) other vessels of historical importance including a small number of working replicas such as the Matthew and the recently commissioned eighteenth-century frigate The Grand Turk, featured in the recent Hornblower television series. Principal vessels include: Mary Rose, HMS Victory, HMS Trincomalee, SS Great Britain, Cutty Sark, RRS Discovery, HMS Warrior, HMS Belfast, HMY Britannia, HMS Alliance, HMS Cavalier, Gypsy Moth IV and HMS Plymouth.
Britain's Historic Ships: A Complete Guide to the Ships that Shaped the Nation
by Paul BrownThe British Isles have a long, rich and celebrated seafaring history stretching from the earliest times through the victories of Drake and Nelson, the voyages of discovery of Cabot and Cook and the defence of the realm by vessels of all types in the present century. Much of this history is recorded in literature and in museums but reaches its most tangible form in the large number of historical ships that have been preserved and are continually restored as monuments to a proud past. This lavish book explores 20 of the most celebrated and accessible ships and offers a comprehensive history of each vessel's design, construction, active service and subsequent restoration and preservation. Presented in order of each ship's launch date, each entry is written by the acknowledged expert on a particular vessel, gives full specification details and is sumptuously illustrated with contemporary photographs, historical illustrations and a full set of scale plans. In addition to the featured entries, an appendix presents all of the necessary contact details and opening times where applicable. The appendix also lists (and provides details for) other vessels of historical importance including a small number of working replicas such as the Matthew and the recently commissioned eighteenth-century frigate The Grand Turk, featured in the recent Hornblower television series. Principal vessels include: Mary Rose, HMS Victory, HMS Trincomalee, SS Great Britain, Cutty Sark, RRS Discovery, HMS Warrior, HMS Belfast, HMY Britannia, HMS Alliance, HMS Cavalier, Gypsy Moth IV and HMS Plymouth.
Britain’s History and Memory of Transatlantic Slavery: Local Nuances of a ‘National Sin’ (Liverpool Studies in International Slavery #11)
by Katie Donington Ryan Hanley Jessica MoodyTransatlantic slavery, just like the abolition movements, affected every space and community in Britain, from Cornwall to the Clyde, from dockyard alehouses to country estates. Today, its financial, architectural and societal legacies remain, scattered across the country in museums and memorials, philanthropic institutions and civic buildings, empty spaces and unmarked graves. Just as they did in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, British people continue to make sense of this ‘national sin’ by looking close to home, drawing on local histories and myths to negotiate their relationship to the distant horrors of the ‘Middle Passage’, and the Caribbean plantation. For the first time, this collection brings together localised case studies of Britain’s history and memory of its involvement in the transatlantic slave trade, and slavery. These essays, ranging in focus from eighteenth-century Liverpool to twenty-first-century rural Cambridgeshire, from racist ideologues to Methodist preachers, examine how transatlantic slavery impacted on, and continues to impact, people and places across Britain.
Britain's Imperial Administrators, 1858-1966 (St Antony's Series)
by A. Kirk-GreeneBritain's famous overseas civil services - the Colonial Administrative Service, the Indian Civil Service and the Sudan Political Service - no longer exist as a major and sought-after career for Britain's graduates. In this detailed study the history of each service is presented within the framework of the need to administer an expanding empire. Close attention is paid to the methods of recruitment and training and to the socio-educational background of the overseas administrators as well as to the nature of their work. The prestigious incumbents of Government House are revealingly examined. The impact of decolonisation on overseas officials and the kinds of 'second careers' which they took up are documented. This authoritative narrative history is enlivened by recourse to Service lore and anecdotes.
Britain's Imperial Century, 1815-1914: A Study of Empire and Expansion (Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies)
by R. HyamThe undisputed best introduction to the history of the world-wide pattern of British activity in the nineteenth century, embracing its expansive spirit as well as its formal territorial empire. The dynamics of this extraordinary enterprise are considered broadly: the high-political concerns of strategy and international geopolitics are analyzed, as well as the economic dimension, missionary activity, and racial attitudes, together with a wide range of cultural aspects, including sport and the pursuit of sexual opportunity. Nor is the personal contribution of some of the leading Victorian figures neglected.
Britain’s Imperial Century, 1815–1914: A Study of Empire and Expansion (Cambridge Commonwealth Ser.)
by Ronald HyamProvides a comprehensive chronological narrative of the history of the British Empire between 1815 and 1914, together with a more theoretical and reflective concluding chapter, thus giving an overview of British policy and action which takes account of the many factors underlying British expansion.
Britain's Imperial Muse: The Classics, Imperialism, and the Indian Empire, 1784-1914 (Britain and the World)
by C. HagermanBritain's Imperial Muse explores the classics' contribution to British imperialism and to the experience of empire in India through the long 19th century. It reveals the classics role as a foundational source for positive conceptions of empire and a rhetorical arsenal used by commentators to justify conquest and domination, especially of India.
Britain's Imperial Retreat from China, 1900-1931 (Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia)
by Phoebe ChowBritain’s relationship with China in the nineteenth and early twentieth century is often viewed in terms of gunboat diplomacy, unequal treaties, and the unrelenting pursuit of Britain’s own commercial interests. This book, however, based on extensive original research, demonstrates that in Britain after the First World War a combination of liberal, Labour party, pacifist, missionary and some business opinion began to argue for imperial retreat from China, and that this movement gathered sufficient momentum for a sympathetic attitude to Chinese demands becoming official Foreign Office policy in 1926. The book considers the various strands of this movement, relates developments in Britain to the changing situation in China, especially the rise of nationalism and the Guomindang, and argues that, contrary to what many people think, the reassertion of China’s national rights was begun successfully in this period rather than after the Communist takeover in 1949.
Britain's Imperial Retreat from China, 1900-1931 (Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia)
by Phoebe ChowBritain’s relationship with China in the nineteenth and early twentieth century is often viewed in terms of gunboat diplomacy, unequal treaties, and the unrelenting pursuit of Britain’s own commercial interests. This book, however, based on extensive original research, demonstrates that in Britain after the First World War a combination of liberal, Labour party, pacifist, missionary and some business opinion began to argue for imperial retreat from China, and that this movement gathered sufficient momentum for a sympathetic attitude to Chinese demands becoming official Foreign Office policy in 1926. The book considers the various strands of this movement, relates developments in Britain to the changing situation in China, especially the rise of nationalism and the Guomindang, and argues that, contrary to what many people think, the reassertion of China’s national rights was begun successfully in this period rather than after the Communist takeover in 1949.
Britain’s Informal Empire in Spain, 1830-1950: Free Trade, Protectionism and Military Power (Britain and the World)
by Nick SharmanBased on five years of archival research, this book offers a radical reinterpretation of Britain and Spain’s relationship during the growth, apogee and decline of the British Empire. It shows that from the early nineteenth century Britain turned Spain into an ‘informal’ colony, using its economic and military dominance to achieve its strategic and economic ends. Britain’s free trade campaign, which aimed to tear down the legal barriers to its explosive trade and investment expansion, undermined Spain’s attempts to achieve industrial take-off, demonstrating that the relationship between the two countries was imperial in nature, and not simply one of unequal national power. Exploring five key moments of crisis in their relations, from the First Carlist War in the 1830s to the Second World War, the author analyses Britain’s use of military force in achieving its goals, and the consequences that this had for economic and political policy-making in Spain. Ultimately, the Anglo-Spanish relationship was an early example of the interaction between industrial power and colonies, formal and informal, that characterised the post-World War Two period. An insightful read for anyone researching the British Empire and its colonies, this book offers an innovative perspective by closely examining the volatile relationship between two European powers.
Britain's Informal Empire in the Middle East: A Case Study of Iraq 1929-1941
by Daniel Silverfarb Majid KhadduriThis is a penetrating account of Anglo-Iraqi relations from 1929, when Britain decided to grant independence to Iraq, to 1941, when hostilities between the two nations came to an end. Showing how Britain tried--and failed--to maintain its political influence, economic ascendancy, and strategic position in Iraq after independence, Silverfarb presents a suggestive analysis of the possibilities and limitations of indirect rule by imperial powers in the Third World. The book also tells of the rapid disintegration of Britain's dominance in the Middle East after World War I and portrays the struggle of a recently independent Arab nation to free itself from the lingering grip of a major European power.