The 19th century "a brutal age"? Relative to the centuries that preceded it? Don't think so and neither does Margaret MacMillan. The dark ages, medieval and renaissance times were far more brutal. Are you seriously attempting to tell us that the root cause of all the brutality in the world during the 19th century was "imperialism" - utterly ridiculous.

But I suppose as an American to you the dark ages, medieval and renaissance times are abstracts and don't really count much in the scheme of things - so Joe if I am to you a "pith helmet, shorts and gaiter" wearing defender of empire, you are a hair-shirt wearing, self-flagellating failed?wannabe priest.

But if I look at Thompson's list of treaties broken by the US Government from 1778 onward and look at just what happened in the USA and elsewhere in the Americas I can see your point. And in all fairness to Thompson he probably does not know that the US Government had no intention at all in honouring, or enforcing any of the Treaties it signed with the native North Americans - hells teeth your War of Independence was fought specifically to break a treaty made between the five nations and the British Government in 1754 - a treaty that the British Government not only kept but enforced - and that Joe did not suit the greedy ambitions of the colonists who wanted to expand westward - your war of independence had absolutely S.F.A. to do with taxation or representation, they were just the excuses latched onto. Same opportunistic attempt at a land grab was made in 1812, fortunately for those who call themselves Canadians it didn't come off. Elsewhere in the Americas you had the Spanish who DID established their empire through ruthless and brutal conquest where whole races were destroyed in the name of Holy Mother Church - the main point of difference between the Spanish and the British Empires that you as an American reader of historical fiction can't seem to grasp is that the British Empire was founded on trade NOT conquest - and the plain fact of the matter is that you cannot trade with dead people.

Throughout the 19th century the British fought hard to abolish slavery and eradicate the slave trade - the Americans did little or nothing about it until the century was almost three-quarters past and even then freedom didn't mean freedom did it? That took almost another hundred years - true? You wear your hair-shirt if you like, I will continue to explode ill-informed and inaccurate myths whenever they are trotted out on this forum by those who are clearly biased.