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Imperial obituary: The mysterious death of the British Empire
Imperial The Mysterious Death of the British Empire by Major General Richard Hilton.
160 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1968
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 23, 2025
"Unfortunately Great Britain, or at any rate its present government, acting as usual in the role of ventriloquist's dummy to America, is fighting this battle on the wrong side."
This is an interesting book. Despite views that these days would be considered as loathsome and archaic, and frankly would shock and appall modern audiences, the core of the thesis is well reasoned and eloquently argued. The strongest arguments are on the Americanisation of society, the role of international finance in crafting "world governance," and the unthanked role of the British Empire in creating a sense of international law and order that we completely take for granted these days. Whilst much of the book I would question, the general thesis of a nation that has lost its priorities is even more relevant today...
...I wonder how we will view this thesis in another 50 years...
This is an interesting book. Despite views that these days would be considered as loathsome and archaic, and frankly would shock and appall modern audiences, the core of the thesis is well reasoned and eloquently argued. The strongest arguments are on the Americanisation of society, the role of international finance in crafting "world governance," and the unthanked role of the British Empire in creating a sense of international law and order that we completely take for granted these days. Whilst much of the book I would question, the general thesis of a nation that has lost its priorities is even more relevant today...
...I wonder how we will view this thesis in another 50 years...
December 28, 2025
Wylfings recently returned this book to print. It gained some traction online after being reviewed by Dr Neema Parvini. Evidently someone saw some value in his work and the Hilton family graciously allowed Wylfings to produce a new print run.
On reading this book published in the late 1960's one cannot but help notice the similarities to our modern era in the year of our lord 2025. There have been many dissident voices over the years who have pointed out the principle enemy of Britain was the United States and it has waged an economic war on our nation for a long time.
In our era an "author" like Douglas Murray for example will publish a book called "The Strange Death of Europe" ignoring that it is not in fact strange or a death in the conventional sense but a well planned and deliberate murder by the globalist system. Today we even have the parasitic mediocrities of European politics both at the national and federal level seeming to understand or be completely oblivious to the point that they can no longer play in great power politics. Just so with the British empire - forces in the shadows who control United States were happy to preside over the liquidation of the British empire and leave us prostrate and at the mercy of American power when the empire was likely our only chance at carving out markets and influence enough to hold our own.
Hilton seems to have understood this back in the mid 1960's - indeed his thesis towards the end seemed to have something in common with DeGaulle in his withdrawal from NATO and his use of Frances nuclear arms as "limited" deterrent to maintain a kind of armed neutrality within a sphere of influence.
I also find it equally ironic Hilton talks about the 13 years of Tory betrayal between 1951 and 1964 - oh how things have a habit of staying the same where here in Britain we come off the back of 14 years of betrayal by the party of treason.
He saw Rhodesia's UDI in 1965 as a potential water shed moment for the policy of liquidation of the empire and its constituent parts. He never lived and likely could not imagine the horrors these forces would unleash on Britain and the dominions in the modern era.
On reading this book published in the late 1960's one cannot but help notice the similarities to our modern era in the year of our lord 2025. There have been many dissident voices over the years who have pointed out the principle enemy of Britain was the United States and it has waged an economic war on our nation for a long time.
In our era an "author" like Douglas Murray for example will publish a book called "The Strange Death of Europe" ignoring that it is not in fact strange or a death in the conventional sense but a well planned and deliberate murder by the globalist system. Today we even have the parasitic mediocrities of European politics both at the national and federal level seeming to understand or be completely oblivious to the point that they can no longer play in great power politics. Just so with the British empire - forces in the shadows who control United States were happy to preside over the liquidation of the British empire and leave us prostrate and at the mercy of American power when the empire was likely our only chance at carving out markets and influence enough to hold our own.
Hilton seems to have understood this back in the mid 1960's - indeed his thesis towards the end seemed to have something in common with DeGaulle in his withdrawal from NATO and his use of Frances nuclear arms as "limited" deterrent to maintain a kind of armed neutrality within a sphere of influence.
I also find it equally ironic Hilton talks about the 13 years of Tory betrayal between 1951 and 1964 - oh how things have a habit of staying the same where here in Britain we come off the back of 14 years of betrayal by the party of treason.
He saw Rhodesia's UDI in 1965 as a potential water shed moment for the policy of liquidation of the empire and its constituent parts. He never lived and likely could not imagine the horrors these forces would unleash on Britain and the dominions in the modern era.
January 5, 2026
Excellent book which succinctly captures what has gone wrong with our once great nation and provides solutions to address our current distress and weakness.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews