An Imperial Commonwealth

Excerpt from An Imperial Commonwealth: Being a Discussion of the Conditions and Possibilities Underlying the Unity of the British Empire The word Empire is much on the lips Of the people Of British race to-day; and the time has come to inquire into its real meaning. The Empire is a noble conception, but in some respects its great heart lies in doubtful health. It is the purpose of this book, first, to draw up an arraign ment against it, and second, to venture to indicate the way in which its healthy development might lie. All thoughtful men have marked how the impatient century is shaking the fetters that society has home, and how it is obsessed by the cry of developing humanity for a fuller life and they believe that the true value of Empire is in the measure of its approach to such a fulfilment for its people. The coming Imperialists hold that a new departure, unselfish planning, verte brate action, are, under heaven, the proper remedy to apply to this imperial case, and among these, impatient of the selfish ills, and hopeful Of their cure, there inscribes himself, the author. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

In the wake of Brexit, the Commonwealth has been identified as an important body for future British trade and diplomacy, but few know what it actually does. How is it organized and what has held it together for so long? How important is the Queen's role as Head of the Commonwealth? Most importantly, why has it had such a troubled recent past, and is it realistic to imagine that its fortunes might be reversed?In The Empire's New Clothes,? Murphy strips away the gilded self-image of the Commonwealth to reveal an irrelevant institution afflicted by imperial amnesia. He offers a personal perspective on this complex and poorly understood institution, and asks if it can ever escape from the shadow of the British Empire to become an organization based on shared values, rather than a shared history.

This Book Is By All Standards One Of The Best One-Volume History Of The Rise And Fall Of The British Empire.

From its modest to its recent disappearance, the British Empire was an extraordinary and paradoxical entity. North America, Africa, South and Southeast Asia and Australasia and innumerable small islands and territories have been fundamentally shaped - economically, socially and politically - by a nation whose imperial drive came from a bewildering mixture of rapacity and moral zeal, of high-mindedness and viciousness, of strategic cunning and feckless neglect. Martin Kitchen has written a fascinating, crisp, informative account of the rise and fall of the British Empire, concentrating on the 19th and 20th centuries but giving the background of the 'First British Empire', which was lost with the creating of the United States of America. His book is of particular value in relating the importance of the Empire to Britain's success as the only genuinely world power in the Victorian era and to Britain's ability to win the two great wars of the 20th century.

An account of the British Empire, this study examines its transition into the Commonwealth, its policies towards defence, the effect of the world depression, the moves towards trusteeship and indirect rule, its part in World War II and the prospects for the future.