THE LION AT DAWN: Forging British Strategy in the Age of the French Revolution, 1783-1797

1-236960

Offers a new perspective on the emergence of modern Britain and its empire and on its early effort to create a stable and peaceful international system. Examining Prime Minister Pitt's foreign policy from 1783 to 1797 -- the years before and during the War of the First Coalition against Revolutionary France. Discusses whether his policy imagined a globe-trotting navy or favored engagement nearer to shore and on the European Continent.

Argues that the prime minister consistently subordinated colonial to continental concerns and pursued a new vision rather than merely honoring past glories. Deliberately, not simply in reaction to the French Revolution, Pitt developed and pursued a grand strategy that sought British security through a novel collective European system-one ultimately realized by his successors in 1815. Includes eight maps.