British Empire Theory

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When studying the British Empire it is important to look at the different phases and period of the Empire. Many Historians take the view that the British Empire can be split into two ‘Empires’: the ‘First Empire’ and the ‘Second Empire’. The credibility and legitimacy of this theory is often debated. The theory involves the belief that the British Empire can split into a ‘first and second empire’ following the American Revolutionary War, the main factors being the change of politic and economic policies, with a change of focus in British colonial expansion, from North America to Africa and Asia, the main changes in polices being the economic change and free trade, and the rise of the imperialism empire.

There is a lot of evidence to suggest that the theory of two empires is justified.
Many historians, such as Nicholas Canny , see the end of the American Revolutionary War as the end of the ‘First Empire’ and the start of the ‘Second Empire’. The loss of the 13 colonies came as a surprise to the Britain Empire. The war had shown the limits of the British Empire 's colonial empire which relied on mercantilism to keep the empire financially and economically secure. The British government feared a similar revolution to happen not just in other parts of the Empire, but also Britain itself. …show more content…

As the developed economic power, economic historian Martin Daunton believed that the British Empire undersoldlocally produced goods in foreign markets due to the fact that the Empire could make similar tradable goods so cheaply and

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