After the American Revolution, the British Empire appeared doomed. But over the next 150 years it grew to become the greatest and most diverse empire the world has ever seen--from Canada to Australia to China, India, and Egypt--seven times larger than the Roman Empire at its apogee. Yet it was also fundamentally weak, as Piers Brendon shows in this panoramic chronicle. Run from a tiny island base, it operated on a shoestring with the help of local elites. It enshrined a belief in freedom that would fatally undermine its authority. Spread too thin, and facing wars, economic crises, and domestic discord, the empire would vanish almost as quickly as it appeared. Within a generation, it collapsed, sometimes amid bloodshed, leaving unfinished business in Rhodesia, the Falklands, and Hong Kong. Above all, it left a contested legacy: at best, a sporting spirit, a legal code, and a near-universal language; at worst, failed states and internecine strife.--From publisher description.

Maps on endpapers. "Originally published in Great Britain by Jonathan Cape, London"--T.p. verso.

The American Revolution and slave trade -- Britannia's Indian Empire -- Australia, Canada, and New Zealand -- The Far East and Afghanistan -- Irish famine and Indian mutiny -- Towards conquest in Africa -- Cape to Cairo -- The Boer War and the Indian Raj -- Flanders, Iraq, Gallipoli, and Vimy Ridge -- Ireland and the Middle East -- West and East -- Kanya and the Sudan -- India: the route to independence -- Singapore and Burma -- Ceylon and Malaya -- The Holy Land -- Suez invasion and Aden evacuation -- The Gold Coast of Africa and Nigeria -- Uhuru freedom: Kenya and the Mau Mau -- Rhodesia and the Central African Federation -- The West Indies and Cyprus -- The Falklands and Hong Kong.