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[[File:Bradford Industrial Museum.jpg|thumb|right|Bradford Industrial Museum.]]

Britain's [[industrial revolution]] greatly strengthened its ability to oppose Napoleonic France. By the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, Britain was the foremost European power, and its navy ruled the seas. Peace in Europe allowed the British to focus their interests on more remote parts of the world, and, during this period, the British Empire reached its zenith. British colonial expansion reached its height largely during the reign of [[Queen Victoria]] (1837-1901). [[Victorian era|Queen Victoria's]] reign witnessed the spread of British technology, commerce, language, and government throughout the British Empire, which, at its greatest extent, encompassed roughly one-fifth to one-quarter of the world's area and population. It is controversial whether British colonies accelerated or slowed Britain's economic growth, for its growth rate fell below nations without empires, especially the U.S. and [[Germany]]. Democracy came in fits and starts in a series of reforms that finally, by the 1920s, allowed all adults to vote.

====End of Empire====