Home

About Us

Help

Jobs

News

Site Index

OUP Worldwide

My Account

My Wish List

View Basket

Email this to a Friend

Printer-Friendly View

Basket: 0 items | £0.00

The Making and Unmaking of Empires Britain, India, and America c.1750-1783

View Larger

Resources

This book is available in Oxford Scholarship Online - view abstracts and keywords at book and chapter level.

Related Categories

British & Irish History

Modern History to 20th Century - 1700 to 1900

Asian History

The Making and Unmaking of Empires

Britain, India, and America c.1750-1783

P.J. Marshall

408 pages | 2 maps | 234x156mm

978-0-19-922666-5 | Paperback | 27 September 2007

Also available as: Hardback

Price: £28.00

This item is printed to order. Items which are printed to order are normally despatched and charged within 5-10 days.

Add to Wish List

Brings the British Empire in India and America together in a common focus
Questions the conventional divisions into 'first' and 'second' empires
The leading academic imperial historian

In The Making and Unmaking of Empires P. J. Marshall, distinguished author of numerous books on the British Empire and former Rhodes Professor of Imperial History, provides a unified interpretation of British imperial history in the later eighteenth century. He brings together into a common focus Britain's loss of empire in North America and the winning of territorial dominion in parts of India and argues that these developments were part of a single phase of Britain's imperial history, rather than marking the closing of a 'first' Atlantic empire and the rise of a 'second' eastern one.

In both India and North America Britain pursued similar objectives in this period. Fearful of the apparent enmity of France, Britain sought to secure the interests overseas which were thought to contribute so much to her wealth and power. This involved imposing a greater degree of control over colonies in America and over the East India Company and its new possessions in India. Aspirations to greater control also reflected an increasing confidence in Britain's capacity to regulate the affairs of subject peoples, especially through parliament.

If British objectives throughout the world were generally similar, whether they could be achieved depended on the support or at least acquiescence of those they tried to rule. Much of this book is concerned with bringing together the findings of the rich historical writing on both post-Mughal India and late colonial America to assess the strengths and weaknesses of empire in different parts of the world. In North America potential allies who were closely linked to Britain in beliefs, culture and economic interest were ultimately alienated by Britain's political pretensions. Empire was extremely fragile in two out of the three main Indian settlements. In Bengal, however, the British achieved a modus vivendi with important groups which enabled them to build a secure base for the future subjugation of the subcontinent.

Readership: Scholars and students of eighteenth-century British, American, and Indian history; historians of the British Empire and colonialism; specialists in Eighteenth-Century Studies.

The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.

Subscribe to RSS feeds

The Making and Unmaking of Empires

Britain, India, and America c.1750-1783

Share