Pax Britannica
The Pax Britannica was a principle of world and colonial rule in the 19th century .
The idea was, based on the Pax Romana of ancient Rome , to rule the world or at least the British Empire with the help of the ideas and concepts of the Elizabethan age, the Christian religion and an ethic of free trade in a pacified world under English law.
The leading role should be taken over by the developed society of Great Britain . Cultures and nations that refused to bow to this rule had to reckon with the use of institutionalized, economic and possibly military force.
The first approaches to the Pax Britannica emerged from the Elizabethan period , when the Royal Navy and British colonial possessions grew steadily in the world compared to Spain , Portugal and the Netherlands . The prerequisite for their establishment was the economic lead of the United Kingdom at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution , France's loss of power after the Napoleonic wars, control of the most important sea routes and naval bases, and unrestricted maritime domination .
According to Protestant ethics, this increase in size seemed suitable as proof and justification that this course of the world corresponded to the divine will.