In the 1850s, the very moment at which British power climaxed, the author shows how Britain worked alongside its only European rival, France, to exert unprecedented influence throughout the world. Together they went to war in Russia and China, established the world's first free-trade treaty, considered shared measurements for trade and the arts, and initiated the Suez Canal's construction. This was a profound moment of Anglo-French integration and European hegemony, but from 1860 until 1904, the two nations drifted apart. As a result of this growing isolation, Britain's influence in Europe declined, as did France's throughout the world. By the 20th century, the countries were compelled to work together in the face of the growing military threat of Germany, and the world was on the edge of war. Despite its world-leading industry and a colossal empire, British influence was contingent on its ability to compete with its great rival. Chapters cover Britain and France at the Great Exhibition, Catastrophe and Collaboration During the Crimean War, Cultivation and Commerce in China and Suez, Free Trade and the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty, The Metric System, The Fall of Palmerston and Napoleon, and The Drift to Global War. This book radically revises Britain's imperial history at a moment when its place in the modern world has never been more uncertain. 288pp, eight pages of colour photos.
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