In this final volume, the century from the downfall of Napoleon in 1815 to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 is covered. The British Empire is at its peak, the Dominions are created and the first steps towards the British Commonwealth of Nations are established. Together with the industrial revolutuion and the startling expansion of the United States, and their rise to world power, made the nineteenth century one of the most decisive in the history of mankind. Volume I: The Birth of Britain Volume II: The New World Volume III: The Age of Revolution Volume IV: The Great Democracies

Volume I tells the story of Britain from pre-history to the Battle of Bosworth - the last of the battles of the Wars of the Roses in 1485 - and describes the strife and turmoil in the making of a nation. When this volume begins, tribal law was supreme; when it ends, Brtiain had become a nation and stood on the threshold of those adventures overseas which were to make an empire. Along the way we encounter a plethora of closely observed characters - William the Conqueror, Alfred the Great, Richard the Lionheart, Joan of Arc - and Churchill analyses the beginnings of Parliament, the Church and the monarchy with an eye as sharp as his legendary wit. Volume I: The Birth of Britain Volume II: The New World Volume III: The Age of Revolution Volume IV: The Great Democracies