Lord Churchill's Coup: The Anglo-American Empire and the Glorious Revolution Reconsidered

The Governors-General #3

by Stephen Saunders Webb

Stephen Saunders Webb argues that both England and its American social experiments were the underdeveloped elements of an empire emerging on both sides of the Atlantic and that the pivotal moment of that empire, the so-called Glorious Revolution, was in fact a military coup driven by religious fears.

Genres: History

399 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 1995

About the author

Stephen Saunders Webb is the Maxwell Professor of History and Social Science, and Professor of History, Emeritus, in the Maxwell School of Syracuse University.

Reviews

[Lauren Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Webb seems a bit too enamored of his role as revisionist historian. One sees this early on, in the preface, when he quotes from admiring reviews of his previous books which label him as such. This made me a bit skeptical of his arguments though they were well marshaled. His main point seems to be that Lord Churchill's role (and the consequent role of the military) in the revolution shaped later politics. His army officers became the "professional administrators" of empire.

"In America the religious, militant, and exploitative values exemplified by John Churchill in the Restoration Empire were imposed by his subordinates on frontier provinces at war in the age of Anne....Indeed, the first states of the American Revolution recapitulated the coup of 1688. Protestants, professionals, and constitutionalists in the provincial armies conspired against an imperial executive whom they saw as religiously suspect, militarily restrictive, and politically tyrannical....Such anglophile officers as Colonel Alexander Hamilton recognized that the army, the bank, and the executive had been the bases of British dominion. So they would be the foundations of American empire. Marlborough's America was succeeded by Washington's. The imperial foundations of the United States, at least to the close of the second millennium of the Christian era, remained those exemplified by the protagonists of lord Churchill's coup."

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An impressive revisionist history of the "doubly misnamed" Glorious Revolution. Webb's claims and prose are inflated -- was Louis XIV really "the French Hitler"? -- but basically sound. He argues that the Revolution of 1688 was really a military coup arranged by Protestant leaders in James II's restive but modern army and navy, who were moved to treachery by their Protestant loyalty and English patriotism. At the center of the coup was lieutenant general John Churchill, future duke of Marlborough, a lifelong protégé to James and a member of the household of Princess Anne. Just three years after brutally putting down Monmouth's Rebellion, Churchill turned against his Catholic master and carefully defected to the invading army of William, prince of Orange. Webb argues that without his and other defections, the invasion would have collapsed against James's clearly superior numbers. In fact, the invasion was relatively peaceful mainly because the king was utterly demoralized by Churchill's treason and thus chose surrender and flight.

Churchill's goal was to protect Anne's claim to the throne; according to Webb, he believed this to be William's object as well. When William claimed full kingship for himself -- ratified by an "unconstitutional convention" parliament that had no option, since William had already occupied London with foreign troops -- Churchill reluctantly recognized his authority but secretly cultivated the exiled Stuart in case the winds changed. Churchill was not the only Englishman of divided loyalty, Webb points out. Even after his first flight, James was welcomed back to London by cheering crowds before being allowed to flee again by William. So the new Dutch king's rule was possible only because he controlled a professional and foreign military force, and was able to disperse English regiments of dubious loyalty to farflung imperial posts. According to Webb, the real Glorious Revolution occurred in the later years of William's reign. It emerged particularly after Queen Mary's death, when England finally had to face the fatal choice between recognizing the Protestant heir (Anne) or the Catholic heir (the Pretender, James's son). During the same period, Churchill himself became the focus of English Whigs' (and Tories') fear of militarism, opening a new field for ideological development.

Webb is largely persuasive. But above all, once you get past the opening chapters, which are clunky and portentous, this is a rollicking good story.

[Kevin Moynihan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhat interesting. Wide ranging. Will reread at some point.