Just what the title says.From what I could gather the success of the British was a combination of expanding naval trade and the country's relatively newly founded colonies and territories. That said I still am left wondering how they got in the position to dominate in those areas in the first place? Unless it was something else all together? A quick google search didn't show anything convincing so I thought I'd bring it here. Thanks for the input!
HERE^1 / HERE^2 for a better formatted answer
Introduction
It’s an interesting question. I’m surprised that no one has responded to you. I find the growth and economics of the British Empire truly interesting. It’s quite well known that once Britain established colonies, many became hugely profitable, which in turn fuelled further expansion. But how exactly did Britain, a small island nation, manage to attain world mastery?
Britain after all has little natural resources to speak of. In-fact, when the English merchants began visiting India there was little they could even offer the Indian merchants, so instead they were essentially forced into trading with them using money rather than English goods. The Indians already made the lion’s share of what the English could offer.
It certainly wasn’t an easy position to get into either. There is an extraordinary amount that happened along the way. It would be impossible to talk about everything within a short reddit response. I’m going to focus primarily on some of the key catalysts in allowing for rapid British expansion across the world.
Piracy and Privateering
The start of the British Empire began simply, not out of the aim of colonisation, or any imperial aims, but instead with piracy and privateering in the 16th and 17th century. Piracy was endorsed by the crown and called ‘privateering’ which was essentially licenced organized crime. It was people like Sir Francis Drake and Sir Henry Morgan who led the way in this regard. The aim wasn’t to build and establish colonies, but instead to steal the vast riches of other large empires such as the Spanish. It is summed up fantastically with these quotes describing the Henry Morgan’s raid on the Gran Grenada outpost in 1663, the aim of which was to steal as much Spanish gold and valuables as possible.
They fired a volley, overturned eighteen great guns … took the sergeant-major’s house wherein were all their arms and ammunition, secured in the great Church 300 of the best men prisoners … plundered for 16 hours, discharged the prisoners, sunk all the boats and so came away.’ It was the beginning of one of the seventeenth century’s most extraordinary smash-and-grab sprees.
Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World
It should never be forgotten that this was how the British Empire began: in a maelstrom of seaborne violence and theft. He came back with so much plunder - in all a quarter of a million pieces of eight - that the coins became legal tender in Jamaica. That amounted to £60,000 from just one raid
Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World
Drake was as successful, he was a figure positively despised by the Spanish. Drake’s attack on Cadiz in 1587 and the piracy that followed ended with nearly one hundred Spanish ships sunk or ‘requisitioned’ for use by the English and any Spanish treasure they could get their hands on plundered. The planned Spanish invasion of England was delayed for another year and he later helped defeat the Spanish Armada when they attempted to invade England.
The Geographic Advantage
Firstly, it is worth noting that being an island was hugely beneficial. Britain was able to dedicate considerable resources to her navy when other nations such as France also had to dedicate much more extensive resources to her army. The English, as well as the Scottish, were envious and inspired by the success of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires in the 1600s (See the Darien scheme). It was this and the desire for resources which helped drive the engine of imperial expansion.
Imperial Ambition
There were some critical victories in the 17th century for England. These victories helped establish England as one of the Europe’s foremost naval powers. Here are a few of the key ones for the English:
I’m not going to go in to too much detail on these. However, it is worth noting some of the early wars involving England were over trade and England realised fairly early on how important the navy was in this regard. It was during this period that England acquired colonies such as Jamaica. It was a hugely profitable acquisition. The sugar industry from Jamaica was hugely profitable and was without a doubt one of England and Britain’s most important colonies during the early days of the Empire.
England fought three wars against the Dutch between 1652 and 1674 in an attempt to gain naval supremacy over vital trade routes in Europe. The Dutch came out on top mainly due to their vastly superior financial systems. The second war left King Charles essentially bankrupt, an unmitigated disaster and the Raid on the Medway a national embarrassment.
Perfidious Albion
There was also a huge deal of switching sides so to speak as well. There were many times during the 17th century where we were fighting with the French, against say the Spanish or Dutch, but then we also fought against the French many a time over. The nine years war is quite comical to me, considering England had not that long ago been fighting against the Dutch, Spanish and Holy Romans yet was now part of a grand alliance with them against France.
The Financial Revolution
The English did end up eventually learning from the defeats at the hands of the Dutch and reforms were carried out. It is best known as ‘The Financial Revolution’ today, a period in which economic and financial reforms were carried out in England, based upon the Dutch’s systems. The Financial Revolution was a huge success for England and later Britain, following the acts of union. This was a key catalyst in allowing for rapid British expansion and growth. I cannot stress enough how important the financial revolution was. It gave Britain the edge it needed and was certainly one of the main contributing factors to British imperial success.
There is a strong connection with the financial revolution and Britain’s rise to world mastery in the eighteenth century. The creation of a large national debt enabled Britain to finance its navy and colonial armies.
The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain: Volume 1
‘The principal advantage which England hath over France’. The French economist Isaac de Pinto agreed: ‘It was the failure of credit in time of need that did the mischief, and probably was the chief cause of the late disasters.’ Behind every British naval victory stood the National Debt; its growth – from £ 74 million to £ 133 million during the Seven Years War – was the measure of Britain’s financial might.
Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World
World War Zero
Victory in the Seven Years’ war lead to Britain establishing itself undeniably as the dominant power at sea. Britannia certainly ruled the waves which in turn drove further British expansion and Britain really began to go from strength to strength.
It was a victory based on naval superiority. But this in turn was possible only because Britain had one crucial advantage over France: the ability to borrow money.
Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World
The war itself is sometimes referred to as the first true World War. It was fought in many parts of the world, and in my mind it is that significant, and certainly warrants that tag.
When one door closes, another opens
Losing the thirteen colonies was a hiccup. Yet, not as major a hiccup as one might believe. I’d emphasize by talking about how Jamaica was still much more profitable for Britain than the thirteen colonies. Not only that, but the loss helped Britain to focus its attention to other parts of the world, such as Asia and Africa.
There is so much to talk about when it comes to the history of the British Empire. I considered going into greater detail in specific areas, but covering the key bases and giving a good overview is far more important. If you have any further questions, I would be more than happy to attempt to answer those for you.
Source Material
If you’re interested the following books are really good reads and these were my main sources for this post:
There is also a fantastic four part series – focused mainly on the royal navy - which you can watch created by Dan Snow which is an absolutely fantastic overview and entertaining watch too. HERE is a link to the start of the series. I would also share a link skipping ahead one episode where he is talking about the finical revolution in England HERE – I strongly recommend watching this one if you are interested in the topic.
