Losing America, Conquering India: Lord Cornwallis and the Remaking of the British Empire

This title is printed to order. This book may have been self-published. If so, we cannot guarantee the quality of the content. In the main most books will have gone through the editing process however some may not. We therefore suggest that you be aware of this before ordering this book. If in doubt check either the author or publisher’s details as we are unable to accept any returns unless they are faulty. Please contact us if you have any questions.

On October 19, 1781, British general Charles Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army at Yorktown, effectively ending the Revolutionary War and conceding the independence of the United States of America. Britain soon overcame the humiliation of defeat by expanding its empire elsewhere. Five years after Yorktown, Cornwallis was installed as governor and commander of the army in India, determined to make the subcontinent the brightest jewel in the British crown.

Officers who served under him during the War rose to high positions in the British army and navy. Emulating Cornwallis’s deep sense of duty to king and country, they vigorously pursued the conquest of India, put down the 1798 Irish Rebellion, defended Canada, defeated the Dutch at the Cape of Good Hope, occupied Ceylon and battled Napoleon. Prominent among them was General Sir James Henry Craig, governor of Canada, whose clumsy attempt to spy on the U.S. was a factor in setting off the War of 1812.