Global Expansion: Britain and its Empire, 1870-1914

Global Expansion: Britain and Its Empire, 1870-1914 (Pluto Critical History)
In this assessment of British imperialism, the underlying social, economic and political forces that facilitated expansion during the key period of 1870-1914 are examined. The book emphasizes that the British Empire was first and foremost established by predatory methods to fulfil the financial goals of imperial power without regard to the welfare of indigenous people.
This short volume focuses upon the British empire and the development and growth of the country’s imperial system between 1870 and the outbreak of World War I, in the context of historically unprecedented global expansion by certain European powers.The historical meaning of what was taking place is of course only understandable in the context of the parallel activities of these other European powers – resulting from time to time in clashes and confrontations between rival empire-builders – and also, it must be stressed, in the historical novelty of the international imperial framework which emerged during those years.

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