ABSTRACT
By 1885 Britain’s position as a European power had changed dramatically from what it had been in 1815 or even in Palmerston’s heyday. His critics insist that Britain’s influence in European affairs was, in any event, never as great as Palmerston liked to pretend, as in the case of Italian unification. The seventy years that followed the battle of Waterloo saw so many changes both in Britain and in much of Europe that the world of 1885 scarcely resembled that of 1815. Not only had Britain defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, seemingly without regard to the military successes of the allied armies from 1812 onwards, but she had also destroyed the fleets of her main rivals. The decline of the Concert inevitably reduced Britain’s influence in continental affairs.
