Pax Britannica (Latin for "the British Peace", modelled after Pax Romana) was the period of relative peace in Europe and the world (1815–1914) during which the British Empire controlled most of the key maritime trade routes and enjoyed unchallenged sea power.

History[link]

From the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 until World War I in 1914, the United Kingdom played the role of hegemon, where the balance of power was the main aim. It is also in this time that the British Empire became the largest empire of all time^[1]. Imposition of a "British Peace" on key maritime trade routes began in 1815 with the annexation of British Ceylon^{[2]:pp.191 – 192}. The global superiority of British military and commerce was guaranteed by dominance of a Europe lacking in strong nation-states, and the presence of the Royal Navy on all of the world's oceans and seas. Following the Congress of Vienna the British Empire's economic strength continued to develop through naval dominance ^[3]. and diplomatic efforts to maintain the balance of power within a Europe that lacked a pre-eminent nation state^[4].

In this era of peace, it provided services such as suppression of piracy and slavery. Sea power, however, did not project on land. Land wars fought between the major powers include the Crimean War, the Franco-Austrian War, the Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War, as well as numerous conflicts between lesser powers. The Royal Navy enabled rather than prevented the Opium wars (1839 – 1842 and 1856 – 1860) against Imperial China, and had no influence on the Russo-Japanese War (1904 – 05.) In 1905, the Royal Navy was superior to any other two navies in the world, combined. In 1906, it was considered that Britain's only likely naval enemy was Germany^[5].

The Pax Britannica was weakened by the breakdown of the continental order which had been established by the Congress of Vienna.^[3] Relations between the Great Powers of Europe were strained to breaking point by issues such as the decline of the Ottoman Empire, which led to the Crimean War, and later the emergence of new nation states in the form of Italy and Germany after the Franco-Prussian War. Both of these two wars involved Europe's largest states and armies. The industrialisation of Germany, the Empire of Japan, and the United States of America further contributed to the decline of British industrial supremacy following the late 19th century. See also the rise of the New Imperialism and the Pax Americana.

See also[link]

• British Empire
• Imperial Federation
• Pax Americana
• Pax Europaea
• Pax Mongolica
• Pax Romana
• Pax Sinica

References[link]

Footnotes[link]

Bibliography[link]

See also[link]

v t e Periods of relative peace Contemporary Pax Americana · Pax Europaea · Pax Praetoriana Historical Pax Sumerica · Pax Minoica · Pax Assyriaca · Pax Romana · Pax Islamica · Pax Khazarica · Pax Dei · Pax Mongolica · Pax Hispanica · Pax Germanica · Pax Ottomana · Pax Sinica · Pax Britannica · Pax Syriana

Jan Morris CBE (b. 2 October 1926, Clevedon, Somerset, England) is a Welsh historian, author and travel writer. She is known particularly for the Pax Britannica trilogy, a history of the British Empire, and for portraits of cities, notably Oxford, Venice, Trieste, Hong Kong, and New York City.

Born in England of an English mother and Welsh father, Morris was educated at Lancing College, West Sussex, and Christ Church, Oxford, but now considers herself Welsh. A gender re-assigned woman, she was published under her former name, James Morris, until the 1970s.

Career[link]

Morris served in World War II in the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers, and later wrote for The Times. As a correspondent for The Times, Morris scored a notable scoop in 1953 when accompanying the British expedition which was first to scale Mount Everest. Morris reported the success of Hillary and Tenzing in a coded message to the newspaper, "Snow conditions bad stop advanced base abandoned yesterday stop awaiting improvement", and by happy coincidence the news was released on the morning of Queen Elizabeth's coronation.^[1]

Reporting from Cyprus on the Suez Crisis for The Manchester Guardian in 1956, Morris produced the first "irrefutable proof" of collusion between France and Israel in the invasion of Egyptian territory, interviewing French Air Force pilots who confirmed that they had been in action in support of Israeli forces.^[2]

As a soldier, Morris was posted in the Free Territory of Trieste in 1945 during the joint Anglo-American occupation.

Personal life[link]

In 1949, Morris married Elizabeth Tuckniss, the daughter of a tea planter; they had five children together, including the poet and musician Twm Morys. One of their children died in infancy.

Male at birth, Morris began medical transition in 1964.^[3] In 1972, Morris traveled to Morocco to undergo sex reassignment surgery, performed by surgeon Georges Burou, because doctors in Britain refused to allow the procedure unless Morris and Tuckniss divorced, something Morris was not prepared to do at the time.^[4] They divorced later, but remained together and on 14 May 2008 were legally reunited when they formally entered into a civil partnership.^[5] Morris lives mostly in Wales, the land of her father.

Awards[link]

Morris has received honorary doctorates from the University of Wales and the University of Glamorgan, is an honorary fellow of Christ Church Oxford and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She received the Glyndŵr Award in 1996.^{[citation needed]}

She accepted her CBE in the 1999 Queen's Birthday Honours "out of polite respect", but is a Welsh nationalist republican at heart.^[6] In January 2008 The Times named her the 15th greatest British writer since the War.^[5]

Partial bibliography[link]

Non-fiction[link]

Travel[link]

• Coast to Coast (published in the U.S. as As I Saw the U.S.A; 1956: winner of the 1957 Cafe Royal Prize)
• Sultan in Oman (1957)
• The Market in Seleukia (1957)
• South African Winter (1958)
• The Hashemite Kings (1959)
• Venice (1960: winner of the 1961 Heinemann Award)
• The Presence of Spain (1964)
• Oxford (1965)
• The Great Port: A Passage through New York (1969)
• The Venetian Empire (1980)
• A Venetian Bestiary (1982)
• The Matter of Wales (1984)
• Spain (1988)
• Hong Kong (1988)
• Sydney (1992)
• Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere (2001)
• The World: Life and Travel 1950-2000 (2003)
• Contact! A Book of Encounters (2010)
  • Excerpts from Contact! are frequently featured on a Jan Morris blog.

Spain (1964)

Essays[link]

• The Road to Huddersfield: A Journey to Five Continents (1963)
• The Outriders: A Liberal View of Britain (1963)
• Cities (1963)
• Places (1972)
• Travels (1976)
• Destinations (1980)
• Wales; The First Place (1982, reprinted 1998)
• Journeys (1984)
• Among the Cities (1985)
• Locations (1992)
• O Canada! (1992)
• Contact! A Book of Glimpses (2009)

Other[link]

• Coronation Everest (1958)

History

The Pax Britannica Trilogy:

• Heaven’s Command: An Imperial Progress (1973)
• Pax Britannica: The Climax of Empire (1968)
• Farewell the Trumpets: An Imperial Retreat (1978)

• Stones of Empire: Buildings of the Raj (1983) (by Jan Morris with photographs by Simon Winchester)

Biography

• Fisher's Face (1995)

Memoir

• Conundrum, US: Harcourt Brace (1974) (personal narrative of transsexualism)
• Wales, The First Place (1982)
• Pleasures of a Tangled Life (1989)
• Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere (2001)
• A Writer's House in Wales (2002)
• "Herstory" (1999)

Fiction[link]

Novels[link]

• Last Letters from Hav (1985: shortlisted for the 1985 Booker Prize for Fiction)
• Hav (2006; shortlisted for the 2007 Arthur C Clarke Award)

Short stories[link]

• The Upstairs Donkey, and Other Stolen Stories (1961)

Miscellaneous (publisher's dates not checked)[link]

• Manhattan '45 (hardcover 1987, paperback 1998)
• Fifty Years of Europe: An Album (1997) - published in 2006 as Europe - An Intimate Journey
• The Oxford Book of Oxford (editor)
• The Matter of Wales: Epic Views of a Small Country
• Lincoln: A Foreigner's Quest (2001)
• Our First Leader
• Thrilling Cities written by Ian Fleming. Jan Morris provided the introduction for the 2009 edition published by Ian Fleming Publications.

See also[link]

• Sustrans

References[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2010)

External links[link]

• BBC Profile
• Salon.com Profile
• Leo Lerman (Summer 1997). "Jan Morris, The Art of the Essay No. 2". The Paris Review. http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/1251/the-art-of-the-essay-no-2-jan-morris. 
• Contact! Blog
• Open Library. Works by Morris