To Lose an Empire: British Strategy and Foreign Policy, 1758-90

Cover page -- Halftitle page -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Epigraph -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- ABBREVIATIONS -- Introduction -- CHAPTER ONE The Means of Policy -- The Crown -- Ministers -- Parliament -- Diplomats -- Conclusions -- CHAPTER TWO The Context of Debate -- CHAPTER THREE To Win America, 1758-60 -- CHAPTER FOUR Winning a Peace, 1761-3 -- CHAPTER FIVE A Post-war Order? 1763-70 -- CHAPTER SIX Muddling Through? 1771-4 -- CHAPTER SEVEN Strategies Under Pressure, 1775-8 -- CHAPTER EIGHT Strategies Collapse, 1778-82 -- CHAPTER NINE Picking up the Pieces, 1783-90 -- CHAPTER TEN Conclusions -- SELECTED FURTHER READING -- INDEX.

Intro -- Half-Title Page -- Dedication -- Title Page -- Contents -- Preface -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1 The Means of Policy -- 2 The Context of Debate -- 3 To Win America, 1758-60 -- 4 Winning a Peace, 1761-3 -- 5 A Post-war Order? 1763-70 -- 6 Muddling Through? 1771-4 -- 7 Strategies under Pressure, 1775-8 -- 8 Strategies Collapse, 1778-82 -- 9 Picking up the Pieces, 1783-90 -- 10 Conclusions -- Selected Further Reading -- Index -- Copyright.

"Bringing strategy, foreign policy, domestic and imperial politics together, this book challenges the conventional understanding as to why the British Empire, at perhaps the height of its power, lost control of its American colonies. Critiquing the traditional emphasis on the value of alliance during the Seven Years' War, and the consequences of British isolation during the War of American Independence, Jeremy Black shows that this rests on a misleading understanding of the relationship between policy and strategy. Encompassing both the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence and grounded in archival research, this book considers a violent and contentious period which was crucial to the making of modern Britain and its role in the wider world. Offering a reinterpretation of British strategy and foreign policy throughout this time, To Lose an Empire interweaves British domestic policy with diplomatic and colonial developments to show the impact this period and its events had on British strategy and foreign policy for years to come."--

The means of policy -- The context of debate -- To win America, 1758-60 -- Winning a peace, 1761-3 -- A post-war order? 1763-70 -- Muddling through? 1771-4 -- Strategies under pressure, 1775-8 -- Strategies collapse, 1778-82 -- Picking up the pieces, 1783-1790 -- Conclusions.