If the Punjabis and Annamese and Sioux and Bantu were the “l
Citations (1)
- The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers whole source · open book
If the Punjabis and Annamese and Sioux and Bantu were the “losers” (to use Eric Hobsbawm’s term)17 in this early-nineteenth-century expansion, the British were undoubtedly the “winners.” As noted in the previous chapter, they had already achieved a remarkable degree of global preeminence by 1815, thanks to their adroit combination of naval mastery, financial credit, commercial expertise, and alliance diplomacy. What the Industrial Revolution did was to enhance the position of a country already made supremely successful in the preindustrial, mercantilist struggles of the eighteenth century, and then to transform it into a different sort of power.
chapter: Britain as Hegemon?