The British Empire during its heyday has reached a truly gigantic size. She became the greatest of all that mankind has known in the entire period of its existence.
British Power
The Empire expanded its territorial possessions for more than two hundred years, until there was not a single continent left on the planet where there were no English-speaking countries. It is generally accepted that the peak of its power came at the beginning of the 20th century - in fact, the period when the territories of the third world were finally divided into colonies. And the English crown was able to profit from very tasty pieces of this pie.
English-speaking countries arose on the lands of relatively free continents like America and Australia. The technologically lagging states of Asia and Africa were also actively involved in the orbit of British influence. Moreover, long before the First World War, it was the British who showed an example of the forcible redistribution of colonial territories, entering the struggle for the “Spanish inheritance” in North America, for territories in India with the Dutch and for rich diamond deposits. South Africa - with the Boers who settled here, the descendants of the Germans and the Dutch.
During its expansion, the British Empire actively spread its own language, legal and administrative structure, and culture in the colonies. If at the end of the 18th century, even in our country, the French language was in vogue in the upper strata of society, then during the 19th century the situation is changing - English is gradually becoming the dominant language throughout the world.
English-speaking countries as legacy of empire
The last stage of the process of decolonization on our planet took place after the Second World War. At this time, France lost most of its colonies. Significant changes have also taken place in the British world. Modern English-speaking countries in the majority either were once inhabited by people from the island, like Canada, Australia or New Zealand, or are former colonies. For example, English is one of the official and widely used languages in Nigeria, India, Jamaica and many other countries. However, the British Empire, like the French, has sunk into oblivion. The subjects that were under her subordination, one by one, left the power of the British, gaining independence.
At the same time, the English-speaking countries, the list of which is very wide today, for the most part wished to maintain warm relations and some connection with the former metropolis. Thus, the British Commonwe alth of Nations appeared in the second half of the 19th century. However, its final formalit was consolidated only in the middle of the 20th century. Today it includes 14 territories, not counting the island itself. Many of these states still consider the Queen of England to be the symbol of their nation. She is the symbolic head of Canada, Trinidad, New Zealand, Australia, Barbados and a number of other states. No less significant is the imperial legacy for the rest of the world. English-speaking countries (an abstract, article or even any note on the topic will confirm this for you) are dominant today, and at the top of their list (after Great Britain) is the United States. The Anglo-Saxon system of law is common in many regions of the world. Such institutional systems as parliamentarism, civil society, and so on owe their prevalence to the British (and, in general, to European) dominance in the world no less. Not to mention the language as the main tool of international communication today.
