William B. Willcox

For my purposes, this was a good refresher on British history for the specified timeframe 1688-1830. This is high-level political and military history. You get the names of kings, prime ministers, important generals, big battles, treaties, religious factions and the most important acts of parliament. You do not examine the bathroom habits of the common folk (nor even the aristocrats).

The best insights in the book do have to do with the whig domination of the 18th-century political stage and show more how the political structure of rotten boroughs and patronage supported this long-standing dominance. I also liked the sense Willcox conveyed of the ever-changing alliances between the English and the powers on the continent, how the wars were fought and the very low expectations of what war would accomplish. This was all about maintaining the balance of power. After a while it is almost dizzying and depressing: a bunch of warring tribes who just cannot escape from the game of alliance making and breaking and much of it fueled by the requirements of monarchies and how things would be sliced and diced when the monarchs died.

During all this 'maintaining the balance' of power, the British managed to develop a magnificent navy and that very much threw things out of balance and in their favor; it was a game changer for how 19th century world history would play out as the British century.

Finally, I enjoyed the parts on the America Revolution leading into the Napoleonic wars. For the British, the American uprising was almost a peripheral conflict, one of many diversions from the wars on the continent that spilled out into the colonial holdings of the European powers. But the role of finance and fatigue have a very modern and familiar feel to them given the last couple decades of American wars in the middle east and Afghanistan. The British, finally came to understand the character of Napoleon and settled in for the long haul that was required to bring his reign to and end and, yet again, to an end. show less

Very good history of this age. Takes away the romance associated with it due to the novels that make it seem the Golden Age.

Rated: F