British Empire (Cinco De Mayo)

The British Empire is the term referring to the full dominions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, from its formation in 1707 until its complete dissolution in 1991 following the collapse of the British Bloc and British Commonwealth in 1989 and 1990. After defeating France in the Napoleonic Wars and establishing a reliable ally in the German states, Britain set about embarking on a previously unheard-of expansion of industrial and military might across the world during the Victorian Era. At its zenith at the beginning of the 20th century, the British Empire covered about a quarter of the world's land mass and ruled over a quarter of its people. World War I left Britain wounded but not beaten, and it set about on an ambitious path to recovery under the leadership of Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, who would reign throughout the 1920's and early 1930's. The Great Depression only minorly damaged Britain, which saw a vast expansion of its armaments throughout the 1930's as it awaited another war with France.

Following World War II, a rejuvenated British Empire set about competing with Germany - its former ally - for global supremacy, but by the late 1970's found that its policy of "policing the world" was no longer competitive and that such a large empire was unmanageable in a modern state, unlike the Germans who focused on economic inclusiveness with ally states and centralizing their own government on the European continent. Despite competing throughout the latter half of the 20th century for global supremacy, unrest abroad and weak economic conditions at home in the 1980's eventually caused the collapse of the British Empire "under its own gargantuan weight" - resulting in the withdrawal from the British Crown of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa under peaceful means and more violent uprisings in Ireland, India, East Africa and the Middle East. Today, the successor state of the British Empire is the United Kingdom of Great Britain, which includes England, Scotland and Wales.