Historical Dictionary of the British Empire

摘要

At its territorial zenith immediately after the First World War, the British Empire extended across almost a quarter of the world's land surface and encompassed one-fifth of its population. Circling the globe, geographically, this was the empire on which the "sun never set", but politically and economically, the empire was already entering its twilight years. The Great War had exhausted Britain, so it was no longer the world's leading power. Furthermore, the Empire was loosening. The "old" dominions were already effectively independent, a status formally confirmed by the Statute of Westminster in 1931, and other colonial peoples were growing restive, especially in that "jewel in the British crown", India. Within 50 years, most of the empire had been shed. Today all that remains are some scattered islands, a chunk of Antarctica, a rock on the southern tip of Spain and two military bases on Cyprus. An empire which took around 400 years to accumulate was gone within a fraction of this time.