It is something of a miracle that a major war did not engulf Europe in the 1770s. The continent had already been wracked by several large-scale conflicts that century—the Wars of the Spanish and Austrian Succession, the Great Northern War, the Seven Years’ War—and was yet again poised on the brink. The French, Spanish, and Dutch were providing covert support to the colonial revolt in North America, while tensions mounted in the German states over the succession to the Electorate of Bavaria; Russia eyed these developments from the sidelines, eager to jump in at an opportune moment.
I have a Grand Theory about Britain in the 1700s and 1800s: they had a lot of colonial mass outside the tropics, while the other great power were almost entirely in the tropics. Slavery can be very profitable in the tropics, but not so much outside it, for various logistical reasons around keeping slaves from escaping. By banning slavery, and enforcing it with their navy, the Brits applied a lot of pain to their competitors, and to the new USA, without undergoing much pain themselves.
Ah! My grandfather was a beneficiary of the Factory Acts (or their successors). Born mid 1870s near Glasgow, free "compulsory education" for a whole four years, went down the coal mines at age 10, came to the US alone at 16 shoveling coal in the bowels of a steamer. Very smart guy, taught himself completely, ended up managing oil drilling platforms for BP in the 30s in Southeast Asia. When the Japanese invaded from the North, coming downriver, he was ordered to destroy the platforms. He and his crews then bolted downstream ahead of them, destroying oil well infrastructure on the way. I never met him, or my other old grandparents.
I have a Grand Theory about Britain in the 1700s and 1800s: they had a lot of colonial mass outside the tropics, while the other great power were almost entirely in the tropics. Slavery can be very profitable in the tropics, but not so much outside it, for various logistical reasons around keeping slaves from escaping. By banning slavery, and enforcing it with their navy, the Brits applied a lot of pain to their competitors, and to the new USA, without undergoing much pain themselves.
Similar to the Factory Acts in that way.
Ah! My grandfather was a beneficiary of the Factory Acts (or their successors). Born mid 1870s near Glasgow, free "compulsory education" for a whole four years, went down the coal mines at age 10, came to the US alone at 16 shoveling coal in the bowels of a steamer. Very smart guy, taught himself completely, ended up managing oil drilling platforms for BP in the 30s in Southeast Asia. When the Japanese invaded from the North, coming downriver, he was ordered to destroy the platforms. He and his crews then bolted downstream ahead of them, destroying oil well infrastructure on the way. I never met him, or my other old grandparents.
Fascinating!