Pax Britannica (by analogy with the Latin Pax Romana ) - the period of the British Empire's dominance at sea and in international relations, starting from the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and ending with the First World War (1914-1918). The pinnacle of British power came in the Victorian era (1837-1901).
It was characterized by the proclamation of a course on freedom of trade and the abolition of slavery , the control of the British fleet over strategic sea lanes and the "two-armed standard", the worldwide spread of the English language , parliamentarism, technology, legislation, the British system of measures and weights , etc.
After the reunification of Germany in 1871, the German Empire posed a challenge to British hegemony in the world, which allows individual authors to talk about the impending transition to Pax Germanica . British hegemony finally became a thing of the past with the outbreak of world wars and the transition of the status of a leading world industrial, commercial and military power from Great Britain to the USA (see Pax Americana ).
Literature
- Pugh, Martin. Britain since 1789: a concise history . - Macmillan, 1999. - ISBN 0-312-22359-5 .
- Thackeray, Frank. Events that changed Great Britain since 1689 . - Greenwood Publishing Group , 2002. - ISBN 0-313-31686-4 .
- The Federal Union Harper's Magazine Volume 70 . - University of Michigan , 1885.