Great Britain, 1783–1815

Hybrid Regime · Monarchy · Western Europe · Age of Revolutions era

Britain from the loss of America through the wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic France, industrializing and building naval and financial supremacy.

After losing the American colonies, Britain led the coalitions against revolutionary and Napoleonic France through more than two decades of war, financed by an advanced fiscal and credit system and secured by naval supremacy after Trafalgar. Industrialization accelerated at home under a parliamentary monarchy that suspended some liberties in wartime. Victory at Waterloo in 1815 left Britain the dominant global power.

Open Great Britain 1783–1815 in the interactive 3D atlas →

Dominant patterns

  • External Expansion
  • Militarization
  • Democratization
  • Regime Stabilization

Political-science factor profile

Each factor 0–100; higher = stronger authoritarian / crisis pole (except institutional stability, where higher = stronger institutions).

Centralization of Power50
Media Control35
Repression42
Nationalism62
Militarization72
Economic Stress45
External Conflict82
Cult of Personality35
Elite Fragmentation45
Institutions75
Social Polarization50
Corruption & Patrimonialism48
Ideological Mobilization48
External Sovereignty95

Economy & society

GDP per capita$2600 (intl-$)
GDP growth+1.5%/yr
Population12.0M people
Share of world population1.3%
Territory~315k km²
Capital population~1.0M

Closest historical twins

The country-eras whose structural profile most resembles Great Britain 1783–1815, by similarity score (0–100).

  1. United States, 1941–1945 – similarity 93/100 · shared: External Expansion, Militarization, Democratization, Regime Stabilization
  2. United States, 1945–1968 – similarity 92/100 · shared: External Expansion, Militarization, Democratization, Regime Stabilization
  3. Great Britain, 1727–1760 CE – similarity 91/100 · shared: External Expansion, Militarization, Democratization, Regime Stabilization
  4. United States, 1981–1989 – similarity 90/100 · shared: External Expansion, Militarization, Democratization, Regime Stabilization
  5. Great Britain, 1688–1727 CE – similarity 89/100 · shared: External Expansion, Militarization, Democratization, Regime Stabilization
  6. British Empire, 1901–1914 – similarity 89/100 · shared: External Expansion, Militarization, Democratization, Regime Stabilization
  7. France, 1900–1914 – similarity 88/100 · shared: External Expansion, Militarization, Democratization
  8. British Empire, 1868–1901 – similarity 86/100 · shared: External Expansion, Militarization, Democratization, Regime Stabilization

What followed

  • Naval mastery and colonial and commercial dominance.
  • Victory over Napoleon and postwar primacy.