Three Victories and a Defeat : The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire, 1714-1783

Simms, Brendan

ISBN 10: 0713994266 / ISBN 13: 9780713994261

Published by Allen Lane, London, 2007

About this Item

Large octavo size [16x24cm approx]. Fine condition in a Near Fine Dustjacket - DJ now protected in our purpose-made clear archival plastic sleeve. An excellent copy. Black & white illustrations. Maps. 802 pages. Robust, professional packaging and tracking provided for all parcels.

Seller Inventory # 316849

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Three Victories and a Defeat : The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire, 1714-1783
• Publisher: Allen Lane, London
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0713994266
• ISBN 13: 9780713994261
• Binding: Hardback
• Illustrator: Illustrated
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • Military-Pre20th

About this title

Synopsis

This highly original, extremely enjoyable book tells the story of Britain’s extraordinary scramble to world power in the 18th century and how, through hubris and incompetence, it lost almost everything it had gained.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Britain was an important European power, but few would have predicted her global pre-eminence by 1760. As Brendan Simms shows with great flair and originality, Britain had a crucial card to play. It was the joining of the British crown to Hanover that gave Britain two empires: one scattered around the world and another – the more important of the two - firmly locked into Germany.

Having created a new empire Britain then spectacularly lost it, this time because of its chaotic failure to maintain its European alliances. This is an epic and often unexpected story, and Simms tells it brilliantly.

About the Author

Brendan Simms is a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge and Reader in the History of International Relations at the Centre for International Studies, University of Cambridge and the author of The Struggle for Mastery in Germany and Unfinest Hour: Britain and the Destruction of Bosnia.