Formation of the Commonwealth of Nations and the build-up for this formation is a history of interest for most historians, and it happened in early half of the twentieth century as Britain and her dominions searched for a reconciliation of whole independence incorporating some kind of formal links during and after the world wars. To clearly understand this, the primary source chosen for this historiography is William McIntyre’s book “The Britannic Vision – Historians and the Making of the British Commonwealth of Nation, 1907-48”. The author describes this period as amongst the striking dramas of modern-day history owing to the events within the period ranging from the end of League of Nations, the formation of the United Nations and ending of Britain’s empire and subsequent change into Commonwealth of Nations (McIntyre, 10)This paper aims at giving a historiography of this period and attempts to answer various questions on historiography.
The author, David McIntyre, is amongst the topnotch authority on Commonwealth’s history and has written a myriad of books on the Commonwealth. In addition, he has individually made reports on meetings of Commonwealth head of states for a period of over 20 years. He gives detailed insights into the period which he claims is neglected and asserts that the formation of the Commonwealth was a plot to maintain the British Empire by Britain and some of its main dominions. McIntyre concise exploration elucidates that the English Settlers meant to create enduring unity albeit failing complexities amongst dominions and colonies within the Commonwealth of Nations persisted (McIntyre, 29). The book views one of the successes during the period as unification for the World Wars.
The book is a collection of the contribution of 17 authors, and the first part highlights main sections they made contributions in during the formation (McIntyre, x). This is some kind of backtracking, use of terms which were prevalent during formation of the Commonwealth of Nations and summarization permits examination of various perspectives and deciphers subtleties of this dramatic history. The second part of the book gives the chronological events leading to the dissolution of the British Empire. The interweaving of contributors into history gives a glimpse of the flow of actors, politics, and war of the period. This is a period characterized by a Britannic vision which the book focuses on particularly in 1947, where it is noted that this vision became a diminishing dream(McIntyre, 288).
Britannic vision played a vital role in political adoptions shaping the Commonwealth of Nations. Britain history and structures of government and lessons Britain learned as well as the independence of colonies, which meant the crown was no longer legally controlling the other states but rather just a symbol of unity, an aspect McIntyre claims was very complex (McIntyre,295). The book appeals to historians who view Commonwealth of Nations as a form of continued exploitation, such as Irish wish for full autonomy from Great Britain. McIntyre’s historical accounts give us a clear look back of this history given that he is one of the insiders of the Commonwealth. His method of using first-hand witnesses further adds credibility to the account. It is both prescriptive and descriptive since it tells of what the settlers wished happened as well as what really happened. This book can be used as a reliable source to modify or challenge any available material on this history since there is a connection between the accounts and other historical records available.