Why did trade with the United States prolong Spanish colonial rule during the Venezuelan independence struggles? From 1790 to 1815, much of the Atlantic World was roiled by European imperial wars. While the citizens of the United States profited from the waste of blood and treasure, Spanish American colonists struggled to preserve their prosperity on an imperial periphery. Along the Caribbean coast of South America, colonial elites and officials fought to secure Venezuela from threats of foreign invasion, slave rebellion, and revolution. For these elites, trading with the United States and other neutral nations was not a way to subvert colonial rule but to safeguard the prosperity and happiness of loyal subjects of the Spanish Crown. Food insecurity, deprivation, and political uncertainty left Venezuela vulnerable to revolution, however. In Sustaining Empire, Edward P. Pompeian lets readers see liberal free trade just as colonial Venezuelans did. From the vantage point of the slave-holding elite to which revolutionary figures like Simón Bolívar belonged, neutral commerce was a valuable and effectual way to conserve the colonial status quo. But after Spain's crisis of sovereignty in 1808, it proved an impediment to Venezuelan independence. Analyzing the diplomatic and economic linkages between the new US republic and revolutionary Latin American governments, Pompeian reminds us that the United States did not, and does not, exist in a vacuum, and that the historic relationships between nations mattered then and matters now. Examining an overlooked region, Pompeian offers a novel interpretation of early United States relations with Latin America, showing how US merchants executed government contracts and established flour, tobacco, and slave trading monopolies that facilitated the maintenance of colonial rule and the Spanish Empire. Trading with the United States, Pompeian argues, kept both colony and empire under a tenuous hold despite revolutionary circumstances. A fascinating revisionist history, Sustaining Empire challenges long-standing assertions that this commerce served primarily as a vector for the one-way transmission of revolutionary, liberal ideas from the North to South Atlantic.

This book aims to shed light on the roots of sustainability in the Iberian Peninsula that lie in the interrelations between shipbuilding and forestry from the 14th to the 19th centuries, combining various geographical scales (local, regional and national) and different timespans (short-term and long-term studies). Three main themes are discussed in depth here: firstly, the roots of current conservationism in the Iberian Peninsula; the evolution of the forest policies set in motion at the local, regional and national levels to meet the demand for wood and timber; and the long-standing impact of naval empirical forestry on the conservation and transformation of the forest landscape. Therefore, the book attempts, on the one hand, to unravel the forest policies and empirical forestry implemented in the Iberian Peninsula as the roots or origins of what we refer to nowadays as "sustainability", and to assess the contribution of imperial forestry to landscape planning and the conservation of forest resources, on the other, and, finally, to break away from the prevailing theological narrative that shipbuilding was the main agent of forest destruction in the Early Modern Iberian Peninsula, for which both quantitative and qualitative analyses will be conducted. This book could be of maximum interest to environmental and social historians and researchers, and anyone devoted to conducting research on the emergence and evolution of the concept of "sustainability" with respect to the governance and the historical transformation of woodlands around the world.

In Forms of Empire, Nathan K. Hensley shows how the modern state's anguished relationship to violence pushed writers to expand the capacities of literary form. The Victorian era is often imagined as an "age of equipoise," but the period between 1837 and 1901 included more than two hundred separate wars. What is the difference, though, between peace and war? Forms of Empire unpacks the seeming paradoxes of the Pax Britannica's endless conflict, showing that the much vaunted equipoise of the nineteenth-century state depended on physical force to guarantee it. But the violence hidden in the shadows of all law —the violence of sovereign power itself—shuddered most visibly into being at the edges of law's reach, in the Empire, where emergency was the rule and death perversely routinized. This book follows some of the nineteenth century's most astute literary thinkers—George Eliot, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, A.C. Swinburne, H. Rider Haggard, and Robert Louis Stevenson among them—as they wrestled with the sometimes sickening interplay between order and force, and generated new formal techniques to account for fact that an Empire built on freedom had death coiled at its very heart. In contrast to the progressive idealism we have inherited from the Victorians, the writers at the core of Forms of Empire moved beyond embarrassment and denial in the face of modernity's uncanny relation to killing. Instead they sought effects—free indirect discourse, lyric tension, and the idea of literary "character" itself—that might render thinkable the conceptual vertigoes of liberal violence. In the process, they touched up to the dark core of our post-Victorian modernity. Drawing on archival work, literary analyses, and a theoretical framework that troubles the distinction between "historicist" and "formalist" approaches, Forms of Empire links the Victorian period to the present and articulates a forceful vision of why literary thinking matters now.

The war in Afghanistan has been a major policy commitment and central undertaking of the Canadian state since 2001: Canada has been a leading force in the war, and has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on aid and reconstruction. After a decade of conflict, however, there is considerable debate about the efficacy of the mission, as well as calls to reassess Canada's role in the conflict. An authoritative and strongly analytical work, Empire's Ally provides a much-needed critical investigation into one of the most polarizing events of our time. This collection draws on new primary evidence – including government documents, think tank and NGO reports, international media files, and interviews in Afghanistan – to provide context for Canadian foreign policy, to offer critical perspectives on the war itself, and to link the conflict to broader issues of political economy, international relations, and Canada's role on the world stage. Spanning academic and public debates, Empire's Ally opens a new line of argument on why the mission has entered a stage of crisis.

Originally published in 1904. The chief object of this pamphlet is to set forth, in a connected form, the main aspects of the great tariff controversy now for some time before the public; to treat the question more deeply and fully than the exigencies of the platform usually allow; and at the same time to treat it, as far as may be, from a scientific and as little as possible from a party point of view. The question is one both of economics and politics, and it raises the most important and delicate and complicated issues in both subjects.

# Empire Down The Rise and Fall of History’s Greatest Empires **Discover the Unfolding Drama of History's Mightiest Powers** Step into a riveting exploration of power, ambition, and the inevitable decline that has shaped our world. "Empire Down" offers a captivating journey through the life cycles of twenty-one of history's most formidable empires. From the towering heights of the Roman Empire to the vast expanses of the Mongol Empire, each chapter meticulously uncovers the triumphs and tragedies that define human civilization. **Unraveling the Fabric of Dominance** What makes an empire rise to unparalleled glory only to succumb to downfall? Dive deep into the intricacies that defined the Roman Empire at its peak, marred by political corruption and barbarian invasions. Witness the consolidation of power in China's Han Dynasty and its eventual disintegration from internal revolts and external threats. **Intrigue and Conflicts** Explore strategic blunders and internal conflicts within empires such as the Byzantine reliance on mercenaries and the Ottoman Empire's military overextension. Analyze the devastating impacts of external pressures, be it the Crusades, nationalist movements, or the Greco-Persian Wars. **Cultural Marvels and Catastrophes** From the architectural marvels of the Incas and the ambitious conquests of the Gupta Empire to the catastrophic impacts of plagues and invasions, this book paints a vivid picture of innovation alongside tragedy. Delve into the golden ages and subsequent falls of empires such as the Gupta and the Spanish Empires, exploring how riches often led to rampant inflation and military overreach. **Economic Exploits and Trade** Understand the economic engines and trade networks that propelled empires forward and the critical missteps that led to their decline. Learn how the British Empire grappled with the costs of world wars and independence movements, while the Dutch Empire faced economic and naval conflicts that signaled its end. **Lessons for Today and Tomorrow** The concluding chapter synthesizes patterns of decline and offers timeless lessons. What preventive measures could modern nations take to avoid similar fates? Explore the implications of historical rises and falls on contemporary governance and strategy, ensuring readers not only understand history but are also prepared for the future. **Immerse Yourself in "Empire Down"** Engage with a rich tapestry of stories that reveal not just the faces of power but the very essence of what it means to build, sustain, and ultimately witness the fall of an empire. This compelling narrative is essential for history enthusiasts, strategic thinkers, and anyone intrigued by the grand arc of civilization. Order your copy now and embark on a journey through the dramatic historical shifts that have sculpted our world.

Salvaging Empire probes the historical roots and current predicaments of a twenty-first century settler colony seeking to control an uncertain future through resource management and environmental science. Four decades after a violent 1982 war between the United Kingdom and Argentina reestablished British authority over the Falkland Islands (Las Malvinas in Spanish), a commercial fishing boom and offshore oil discoveries have intensified the sovereignty dispute over the South Atlantic archipelago. Scholarly literature on the South Atlantic focuses primarily on military history of the 1982 conflict. However, contested claims over natural resources have now made this disputed territory a critical site for examining the wider relationship between imperial sovereignty and environmental governance. James J. A. Blair argues that by claiming self-determination and consenting to British sovereignty, the Falkland Islanders have crafted a settler colonial protectorate to extract resources and extend empire in the South Atlantic. Responding to current debates in environmental anthropology, critical geography, Atlantic history, political ecology, and science and technology studies, Blair describes how settlers have asserted indigeneity in dynamic relation with the environment. Salvaging Empire uncovers the South Atlantic's outsized importance for understanding the broader implications of resource management and environmental science for the geopolitics of empire.