Examines the relationship between the British government, the Palace, and the modern Commonwealth since 1945 and argues that the monarchy's relationship with the Commonwealth, which was initially promoted by the UK as a means of strengthening imperial ties, increasingly became an impediment to British foreign policy.

How did empires rule different peoples across vast expanses of space and time? And how did small numbers of imperial bureaucrats govern large numbers of subordinated peoples? Empires and Bureaucracy in World History seeks answers to these fundamental problems in imperial studies by exploring the power and limits of bureaucracy. The book is pioneering in bringing together historians of antiquity and the Middle Ages with scholars of post-medieval European empires, while a genuinely world-historical perspective is provided by chapters on China, the Incas and the Ottomans. The editors identify a paradox in how bureaucracy operated on the scale of empires and so help explain why some empires endured for centuries while, in the contemporary world, empires fail almost before they begin. By adopting a cross-chronological and world-historical approach, the book challenges the abiding association of bureaucratic rationality with 'modernity' and the so-called 'Rise of the West'.

Paris between 1814 and 1852 was the capital of Europe, a city of power and pleasure, a magnet for people of all nationalities that exerted an influence far beyond the reaches of France. Paris was the stage where the great conflicts of the age, between nationalism and cosmopolitanism, revolution and royalism, socialism and capitalism, atheism and Catholicism, were fought out before the audience of Europe. As Prince Metternich said: When Paris sneezes, Europe catches cold. Not since imperial Rome has one city so dominated European life. Paris Between Empires tells the story of this golden age, from the entry of the allies into Paris on March 31, 1814, after the defeat of Napoleon I, to the proclamation of his nephew Louis-Napoleon, as Napoleon III in the Hôtel de Ville on December 2, 1852. During those years, Paris, the seat of a new parliamentary government, was a truly cosmopolitan capital, home to Rossini, Heine, and Princess Lieven, as well as Berlioz, Chateaubriand, and Madame Recamier. Its salons were crowded with artisans and aristocrats from across Europe, attracted by the freedom from the political, social, and sexual restrictions that they endured at home. This was a time, too, of political turbulence and dynastic intrigue, of violence on the streets, and women manipulating men and events from their salons. In describing it Philip Mansel draws on the unpublished letters and diaries of some of the city's leading figures and of the foreigners who flocked there, among them Lady Holland, two British ambassadors, Lords Stuart de Rothesay and Normanby, and Charles de Flahaut, lover of Napoleon's step-daughter Queen Hortense. This fascinating book shows that the European ideal was as alive in the nineteenth century as it is today.

With original case studies of a more than a dozen countries, Monarchies and decolonisation in Asia offers new perspectives on how both European monarchs who reigned over Asian colonies and Asian royal houses adapted to decolonisation. As colonies became independent states (and European countries, and other colonial powers, lost their overseas empires), monarchies faced the challenges of decolonisation, republicanism and radicalism. These studies place dynasties – both European and ‘native’ – at the centre of debate about decolonisation and the form of government of new states, from the sovereigns of Britain, the Netherlands and Japan to the maharajas of India, the sultans of the East Indies and the ‘white rajahs’ of Sarawak. It provides new understanding of the history of decolonisation and of the history of modern monarchy.

The origins of World War I were different and varied. But it was Austria-Hungary which unleashed the war. After more than four years the Habsburg Monarchy was defeated and ended as a failed state.

This open access book analyses Iberian expansion by using knowledge accumulated in recent years to test some of the most important theories regarding Europe’s economic development. Adopting a comparative perspective, it considers the impact of early globalization on Iberian and Western European institutions, social development and political economies. In spite of globalization’s minor importance from the commercial perspective before 1750, this book finds its impact decisive for institutional development, political economies, and processes of state-building in Iberia and Europe. The book engages current historiographies and revindicates the need to take the concept of composite monarchies as a point of departure in order to understand the period’s economic and social developments, analysing the institutions and societies resulting from contact with Iberian peoples in America and Asia. The outcome is a study that nuances and contests an excessively-negative yet prevalent image of the Iberian societies, explores the difficult relationship between empires and globalization and opens paths for comparisons to other imperial formations.

The Oxford Handbook of the Ends of Empire offers the most comprehensive treatment of the causes, course, and consequences of the collapse of empires in the twentieth century. The volume's contributors convey the global reach of decolonization, analysing the ways in which European, Asian, and African empires disintegrated over the past century.

Does the House of Windsor face imminent extinction? Has the time come for the United Kingdom to become the Republic of Britain? The royal scandals involving Princess Diana, Prince Charles and the other Royals have opened the flood gates to a torrent of criticism of the monarchy, the like of which has never been seen. Stephen Haseler argues that the royal drama has brought into sharp focus a central reality: that the British royal family, far from playing a positive role in the country's twentieth-century history, has been one of the principal reasons for Britain's relentless decline. He shows that the monarchy has been a monumental impediment to Britain becoming a fully functioning modern state and has perpetuated a culture that is socially backward and economically debilitated. The by-products of monarchy - an overly strong government and a weak Parliament, hereditary power through the House of Lords, the numbing honours system, the lack of a written constitution and a Bill of Rights, the self-deluding array of pomp and ceremony, the craving for acceptance within an establishment quite devoid of the Standards and criteria which inform other Western societies, the acquiescence to mediocrity and the enshrining of studied amateurism - have created a degenerate social, political and economic environment while encouraging the illusions and myths of a fantasy-land, historical theme-park Britain. The British must now think the unthinkable: the abolition of the monarchy and the rapid transition to a republic. Haseler argues that the planning for this change should begin now, during the present Queen's lifetime, allowing for sufficient time for considered debate on the alternativeconstitutional structures. This is the first book of its kind. No other study of the monarchy or British institutions has advocated the abolition of the monarchy and the founding of a British Republic. The End of the House of Windsor raises issues of enormous significance to Britain's future.

This title examines monarchies in world history from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, to North America. Different types of monarchies such as elected, absolute, constitutional, and nominal are discussed, as are the different forms of government and economic systems in monarchies. Historical monarchies such as those of ancient Egypt, Israel, Greece, and Rome are examined as are more modern monarchies such as those that rule the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and Japan. How monarchies are created is explained, as well as how they derive power and how they end. Historic monarchs such as Cleopatra, David, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, King John, Peter the Great, Louis XVI, Hirohito, and Abdul Aziz al-Saud are introduced. Important events in the history of monarchies such as the Magna Carta, Act of Settlement 1701, and World Wars I and II are covered. The citizen's role, rights, and responsibilities in a monarchy such as paying taxes and exercising political rights are also covered. Exploring World Governments is a series in Essential Library, an imprint of ABDO Publishing Company.