Entanglements and disentanglements: Thinking historiographically about Britain, empire, and Europe in the context of brexit

Abstract

The connections between British empire building and its relationships with Europe have been often been overlooked, in part because they have been conceived of as two entirely distinct analytical problems. Using Brexit as its departure point, this article considers some of the key linkages between British engagements with Europe and the construction of its modern empire. While it reflects on the changing significance of relations with Europe in moulding British empire-building from the late eighteenth century, the article is particularly concerned with how Europe and empire figure in British historical writing from the early 1970s and suggests some ways in which “entanglement” might reshape understandings of Britain’s shifting place in the world, necessitating mobile and multi-sited readings of the British past.