Britain's Colonial Wars 1688-1783. . - Reviews - book review

Britain's Colonial Wars 1688-1783. Bruce Lenman. Longman. [pounds sterling]16.99 p.b. 284 pages. ISBN 0-582-42401-1. In this study, part of Longman's Modern Wars in Perspective series, the author argues that most colonial wars between 1689 and the outbreak of the rebellion in parts of the American colonies were 'peripheral consequences of European conflict'.

This was as true of conflicts in India as in North America. After an introduction the author divides his text into two parts. The first, which covers the years from 1689 to 1760, looks at the 'Atlantic Monarchy' and the colonial wars in North America, at the foreign relations of the new Hanoverian monarchy between 1714 and 1748 and, finally, at the importance of the East India Company. The second part looks at the shorter but more decisive period, 1760-1783 and at the consequences of the British Victory in the Seven Years' War, especially the consequences of this victory on English settlers in the American colonies. It is in this last section that the aut hor makes his most valuable contributions, especially to our understanding of the American war. As he points out, the monarchy's political structures were 'globally incoherent'. (Whether he is correct in saying that George III's 'political structures' were 'ferociously factional' is, however, another question.) (T.B.)

COPYRIGHT 2002 Contemporary Review Company Ltd.
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group