A full-scale new and revised edition of a pioneering work of synthesis, this book provides a comprehensive chronological narrative of the history of the British empire between 1815 and 1914, together with a more theoretical and reflective concluding chapter, thus giving an overview of British policy and action which takes account of strategic, diplomatic, economic and religious factors, and of the racial attitudes, underlying British expansion in all parts of the world. The imperial significance of a wide range of other topics is also considered, including relations with the USA, sport, sex and freemasonry.