ABSTRACT
Britain has always been substantially beholden, and still is, to people and forces outside its borders. The very early British settlers travelled from northern and eastern Europe, often in search of good agricultural land or in retreat from hostile invasion of their existing lands. Over time, Britain’s navy proved superior to those of Spain, Holland and France: by the mid-eighteenth century, the British Empire was a relative ‘superpower’. Britain has always been ambivalent about Europe. For centuries it was the source of danger, bloody entanglements and the need for endless diplomacy. During the twentieth century it was the stage on which the bloodiest dramas in history – two world wars – were played out. British ambivalence over Europe has already been noted but the rapid progress of Euro-sceptic views from the 1980s onwards requires some explanation. By the end of the first millennium British connections had been established with the outside world via successive waves of invading European tribal groups.
