The Making and Unmaking of Empires: Britain, India, and America c. 1750-1783

by Peter James Marshall

In The Making and Unmaking of Empires P. J. Marshall deals with a crucial period in the history of the British Empire in trying to explain how the British at the same time lost an empire in North America, while winning one in parts of India. He shows that British objectives were much the same all over the world and examines the conditions in America that frustrated these objectives and those in India that facilitated them.

Genres: History, India, 18th Century, United States

410 pages, Hardcover

First published April 28, 2005

About the author

Peter James Marshall CBE, FBA (1933-2025) was a British historian known for his work on the British empire, particularly the activities of British East India Company servants in 18th-century Bengal, and also the history of British involvement in North America during the same period.

Reviews

[Robert Y. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marshall merges two historiographies of the British Empire, one of North America and one of India, into a compelling singular narrative. His focus on the parliamentary systems of governance and the economic impetus behind colonial trade lays the foundation for an analysis on how the British viewed their empire. It seems that two distinct years—1773, the passing of the Regulating Acts, and 1783, the signing of the Treaty of Paris, represented the pivot of British imperial endeavors from the American colonies to the Indian subcontinent. British policies and regulation, fueled by the financial burden of the Seven Years’ War, sought to assert greater control over the colonies in both parts of the world. Yet the results were entirely different, as the regulation of political and economic affairs pushed people to revolution in North America, while the newly implemented revenue systems of post-Mughal India benefited the tax-collecting class of the Indian states.

[Fresno Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

American leaves and India is brought into the British Empire at roughly the same time, who knew?