从山穷水尽到柳暗花明——浅论美国独立后英帝国的瓦解与重建

美国独立是英帝国历史上十分重要的事件,以此为界,英帝国历史可分为第一英帝国和第二英帝国。本文详细论述了第一英帝国及其瓦解的原因,并探求了在崩溃之后的第一帝国基础上,第二英帝国建立的内在原因、采用的统治政策及其发展壮大。而英国政府对殖民地统治理论的调整是这一切发生转变的关键所在。

From Darkness to Brightness An Analysis of the Collapsing and Reconstruction of British Empire after American Independence

American independence is the very significant event in the history of British Empire development.According to this milestone,British Empire’s history can be divided into the first British Empire and the second British Empire.This essay elaborates on the first British Empire and the reason of its collapsing.It also probes into the internal motivation,adopted governing policy and development process of the second British Empire,which was based on the collapse of the first British Empire.Among them,American Independence was the historic opportunity which facilitated British government’s reflection and total transformation on old colonial theory.