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p. 11820. Reluctant Imperialists?locked

  • Christopher Harvie
  •  and H. C. G. Matthew


‘Reluctant Imperialists?’ outlines British imperial policy in the late nineteenth century. Britain did not, as a whole, look for increased direct imperial authority, nor did public opinion demand it, but informal imperialism usually followed trade interests and missionary activity. The need to safeguard India and the route to the subcontinent informed imperial policy, leading Britain to control Egypt, South Africa and others. Turkey's influence on the route also led to British involvement in the Crimean War. Expansion into Egypt followed Turkish decline. Mineral wealth in South Africa led Britain to try to extend its control over the Boers, resulting in the embarrassment of the Boer War.


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