Victoria's Broken Promise: Class, Race, and Empire, 1858-1947
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In the 1850s, Great Britain was at the height of her powers. Britain was the first nation to dismantle the old corruption. It was the first to replace networks with systems — meritocratic selection for the civil service, the postal service, the railways, the steamships, the market-based credit system centered on the Bill on London. The Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in 1851 showcased her unchallenged leadership in industry — based on cotton, steam, iron and coal. The world’s trade and finance was organized from the Square Mile. The Crown could raise more money than the rest of the sovereigns of Europe combined. She had the command of the seas and held ‘the five keys that locked up the world’ [Admiral Fisher]. British steamships ruled the waves — the two power standard would not be necessary until much later. The French had given up competing in 1815. The American Civil War and the founding of the Second American Republic in 1865 that would mark the beginnings of the near-unipolar world with the century of American growth was still in the future. As was German unification, which would obtain in 1871. After the violent midcentury passage and the onset of ‘the global condition’ [Gyer and Bright], other, bigger powers would rise up and put Britain in her place. But for now, she reigned supreme.
Victoria's Broken Promise: Class, Race, and Empire, 1858-1947
Victoria's Broken Promise: Class, Race, and…
Victoria's Broken Promise: Class, Race, and Empire, 1858-1947
In the 1850s, Great Britain was at the height of her powers. Britain was the first nation to dismantle the old corruption. It was the first to replace networks with systems — meritocratic selection for the civil service, the postal service, the railways, the steamships, the market-based credit system centered on the Bill on London. The Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in 1851 showcased her unchallenged leadership in industry — based on cotton, steam, iron and coal. The world’s trade and finance was organized from the Square Mile. The Crown could raise more money than the rest of the sovereigns of Europe combined. She had the command of the seas and held ‘the five keys that locked up the world’ [Admiral Fisher]. British steamships ruled the waves — the two power standard would not be necessary until much later. The French had given up competing in 1815. The American Civil War and the founding of the Second American Republic in 1865 that would mark the beginnings of the near-unipolar world with the century of American growth was still in the future. As was German unification, which would obtain in 1871. After the violent midcentury passage and the onset of ‘the global condition’ [Gyer and Bright], other, bigger powers would rise up and put Britain in her place. But for now, she reigned supreme.