The American Revolution is seen as a colossal defeat of the powerful British Empire by colonial rebels. Yet the British emerged from the conflict in better shape than the newly independent United States. After the revolution became a global conflict with the entry of France, Spain and later the Netherlands on the American side, Britain's desire to maintain prestige in Europe through dominance of her many colonies--particularly the West Indies and India--was the driving force behind British strategy. Military victories late in the war, along with retention of the rest of the empire, allowed Britain to remain a significant power. This history explores the view that Great Britain did not really "lose" the Revolutionary War.

From the author of ‘Edge of Empire’ comes a fascinating, thought-provoking and alternative history of the American Revolution – that of those Americans who remained loyal to the British Empire.

Argues that William Pitt's decision to send convicts to Australia was based on Britain's need to secure a base in the Pacific for trade with the East.

In the second half of the eighteenth century, Britain sought to establish genuinely global trade for the first time in human history. Alan Frost explores seaborne discovery, strategy in wartime, and the infrastructure necessary to support far-flung maritime activity, colonisation and trade. Author is at La Trobe University, Melbourne.

This first volume of a projected four-volume set details the impressive record of eight hundred years of English (later British) imperial rule. The editors have assembled the earliest documentary evidence necessary for a fundamental understanding of the priorities, devices, and frustrations in the British imperial experience. The documents balance the ideas, policies, and actions emanating from England with those evolving in the various colonies. This juxtaposition emphasizes the similarity of the problems experienced by the individual colonies. The documents also illustrate the relationship between constitutional developments and ideas in Britain, in individual colonies, and in the empire as a whole.