HISTORY.

The End Of The British Empire Is Often Contrasted Favourably To That Of The French. Is This A Fair Verdict? Discuss.

The End Of The British Empire Is Often Contrasted Favourably To That Of The French. Is This A Fair Verdict? Discuss.

Introduction

Nearly all European nations at one point in the history had been engaged in pursuits be it colonial or imperial. Two countries, which are a source of comparison in this essay, are the British Empire and the French Empire.

British Empire Background

The British Empire is said to be a worldwide system of dependencies, which after the time span of three whole centuries was said to be placed in the sovereignty of the British Government administration as well as the Great Britain. The framework of the British Empire was set the Scotland as well as England were said to be different entities (Former, 2008, pp. 12). In the year of 1946, Henry VII who was the king at that time had success in the exploration, which entailed Portugal as well as Spain which was said to be commissioned by John Cabot to head a voyage which was set to come up with a route that could open gates to the Asian region through the North Atlantic. Britain retains its sovereignty in fourteen territories in totality, which were later renamed as overseas territory in the year of 2002. It was the attitude of self-dependence that the British government had towards the acquired geographic regions that was widely acknowledged and at the same time aided the British to have increased sovereignty. The British were equally strong as the French and acquired many colonies (Ferguson, 2002, pp.56).

French Empire Background

It is also termed as Greater French Empire. It is termed as being great based on the premise that they had a perception that their people are inferior then people around the world. Napoleon was the first who became the emperor of the French empire. It was under his leadership that France was able to win many military battles. Mainly against allied nations and the prominent ones being Battle of Fried land along with the Battle of Austerlitz. The countries that it included were Portugal, Austria, Russia, as well as Prussia. The wars which were conducted in the era of Napoleon is termed as the Napoleonic war which also aided in spreading the desired influence across the Europe in the Western side as well as in Poland. In the year of 1812, the French empire was said to have 130 departments, which were said to rule over subjects, which were 44 million in number, and at the same time had a deep military presence in Spain, Germany, as well as Italy (Monique, 1989, pp.101). It is also said that the historians analyzed the movements made by the French and it aided them in estimating that the death toll that resulted because of the wars was six and a half million in totality, which constituted fifteen percent of the subjects in the French ...