America and the Decline of the British Empire: A Comparison

What lessons does this hold for America in terms of the British decline experience?

The accompanying article points out that the American nation is largely descended from one of the sons of the biblical patriarch Joseph, Manasseh. But Joseph had a second son, Ephraim, whose descendants spread the British Empire around the world.

Notice these remarkable words from Newsweek International 'seditor Fareed Zakaria about the role of the once-great British Empire: "In fact, Britain has arguably been the most successful exporter of its culture in human history. Before the American dream, there was an 'English way of life'—one that was watched, admired and copied throughout the world. And also thanks to the British Empire, English spread as a global language, spoken from the Caribbean to Cape Town to Calcutta" ("The Future of American Power," Foreign Affairs, May-June 2008, p. 20).

This year marks the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth, 60 years on the British throne. It is a far cry from June 22, 1897, which marked Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee—when one fourth of humanity around the globe, 400 million people, celebrated a holiday to mark the occasion throughout the world in an empire "on which the sun never set."

At the time, many believed the British Empire would last forever. It did not.

Bled dry economically by two enormously costly world wars in the first half of the 20th century, Britain had little choice but to gradually surrender its empire without a fight.

What lessons does this hold for America in terms of the British experience? Zakaria further stated, "No analogy is exact, but the British Empire in its heyday is the closest any nation in the modern age has come to the United States' position today."

Kwasi Kwarteng, Conservative Party member of the British Parliament, made this comparison: "America's position today reminds me of Britain's situation in 1945. Deep in debt and committed to building the National Health Service and other accoutrements of the welfare state, Britain could no longer afford to run an empire . . . Deficits and debts have been more damaging to dreams of empire than any genuine shift in ideology" ("As Britain Ceased to Rule, So Will America," International Herald Tribune, April 18, 2012).

Britain's Boer War in South Africa (1899-1902) conjures up parallels with Iraq and Afghanistan today. The British won out in the end, but sustained heavy losses in both manpower and prestige. America has gotten by in an overall sense, but being bogged down in these two Middle Eastern nations for such a long time with no clear victory, plus the massive costs in money and manpower, have been highly damaging.

Following the British example will be no easy task.

During the last 60 years or so, Britain has played a fairly good hand in overseeing its own decline. The country has cooperated with the sudden rise of America to world leadership and become a reliable ally the United States could really count on. With little protest, Washington quietly took over many British naval bases in the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.

But it will not be an easy task for Americans to follow suit in their hearts and minds. Decline will not sit well, and accommodation to other nations will prove very difficult. America has been so strong for so long, and its people holding such a pampered position, that inevitable decline in their standard of living will be an ugly, messy and dangerous affair.

It also doesn't help that, as former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski pointed out in his 2012 book Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power, "The uncomfortable truth is that the United States public has an alarmingly limited knowledge of global geography, current events and even pivotal moments in world history" (p. 52). The Good News magazine strives to help fill this critical knowledge gap to help readers understand where the world—and this nation in particular—is going.