Pax Britannica was the period of relative peace in Europe and the world
during which the British Empire became the global hegemon and adopted the role
of global policeman. Between 1815 and 1914, a period referred
to as Britain's "imperial century," around 10,000,000 square miles of
territory and roughly 400 million people were added to the British Empire.
Victory over Napoleonic France left the British without any serious
international rival, other than perhaps Russia in central Asia. When Russia
acted aggressively in the 1850s, the British and French defeated it in the
Crimean War, thereby protecting the by then feeble Ottoman Empire.
Britain's Royal Navy controlled most of the key maritime trade routes and
enjoyed unchallenged sea power. Alongside the formal control it exerted
over its own colonies, Britain's dominant position in world trade meant
that it effectively controlled access to many regions, such as Asia and Latin
America. British merchants, shippers and bankers had such an overwhelming
advantage over everyone else that in addition to its colonies it had an
"informal empire". History
After losing the American colonies in the American Revolution, Britain turned
towards Asia, the Pacific and later Africa with subsequent exploration
leading to the rise of the Second British Empire. The industrial
revolution began in Great Britain in the late 1700s and new ideas emerged about
free markets, such as Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations. Free trade became a
central principle that Britain practiced by the 1840s. It played a key role in
Britain's economic growth and financial dominance.
From the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 until World War I in 1914, the
United Kingdom played the role of global hegemon. Imposition of a "British Peace"
on key maritime trade routes began in 1815 with the annexation of British
Ceylon. Under the British Residency of the Persian Gulf, local Arab rulers
agreed to a number of treaties that formalised Britain’s protection of the
region. Britain imposed an anti-piracy treaty, known as the General Treaty of
1820, on all Arab rulers in the region. By signing the Perpetual Maritime Truce
of 1853, Arab rulers gave up their right to wage war at sea in return for British
protection against external threats. The global superiority of British military
and commerce was aided by a divided and relatively weak continental Europe, and
the presence of the Royal Navy on all of the world's oceans and seas. Even
outside its formal empire, Britain controlled trade with many countries
such as China, Siam, and Argentina. Following the Congress of Vienna the
British Empire's economic strength continued to develop through naval
dominance and diplomatic efforts to maintain a balance of power in
continental Europe. In this era, the Royal Navy provided
services around the world that benefited other nations, such as the suppression
of piracy and blocking the slave trade. The Slave Trade Act 1807 had banned the
trade across the British Empire, after which the Royal Navy established the
West Africa Squadron and the government negotiated international treaties under
which they could enforce the ban. Sea power, however, did not project on land.
Land wars fought between the major powers include the Crimean War, the
Franco-Austrian War, the Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War, as well
as numerous conflicts between lesser powers. The Royal Navy prosecuted the
First Opium War and Second Opium War against Imperial China. The Royal Navy
was superior to any other two navies in the world, combined. Only Germany was a
potential naval threat. Britain traded goods and capital
extensively with countries around the world, adopting a free trade policy
after 1840. The growth of British imperial strength was further
underpinned by the steamship and the telegraph, new technologies invented in
the second half of the 19th century, allowing it to control and defend the
empire. By 1902, the British Empire was linked together by a network of
telegraph cables, the so-called All Red Line.
The Pax Britannica was weakened by the breakdown of the continental order which
had been established by the Congress of Vienna. Relations between the Great
Powers of Europe were strained to breaking point by issues such as the
decline of the Ottoman Empire, which led to the Crimean War, and later the
emergence of new nation states in the form of Italy and Germany after the
Franco-Prussian War. Both of these two wars involved Europe's largest states
and armies. The industrialisation of Germany, the Empire of Japan, and the
United States of America contributed to the relative decline of British
industrial supremacy in the early 20th century.
See also Historiography of the British Empire
Imperial Federation Pax Americana
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