Sport in the concept and practice of the “civilizing mission” of Great Britain in the second half of the XIX century

Introduction. The article analyzes the role of sport as a tool for the British to implement soft power policy in the British Empire in the second half of the 19th century. The author draws attention to the sports component in the concept of the “civilizational mission” of the British, as well as to sports education in the English educational system of future colonialists, provides examples of the spread of such British sports as cricket, rugby and boxing in the colonies of the empire with an emphasis on their local specifics.

Materials and methods. The methodological basis includes the principles of objectivity and historicism, historical research methods: historical-systematic and synchronous historical-comparative, involving the study of simultaneous historical events, as well as the historical-genetic method, which made it possible to identify the vectors of the spread of English sports in the colonies of the British Empire.

Analysis. The problems of British imperial policy in the 19th century are one of the most debated in foreign and domestic historical scholarship. Currently, the ideas of the “civilizing mission” of the British are sometimes viewed in correlation with the policy of soft power. An analysis of the research literature indicates that the British ruling circles used various violent and peaceful methods to maintain their power and authority in the colonies. Among the latter are the aspirations of the colonialists to spread British cultural values and traditions among the local population. The English language became the most important tool for the manifestation of soft power in the empire. But a special place in the cultural unity of the British Empire can be given to sports and games, which served as a cementing link between the metropolis and the colonies.

Results. Studying the role of sport as a manifestation of soft power in the implementation of the UK civilizing mission allows examining the history of the British Empire and the specifics of the colonial system of governance in a more diverse way, identifying those factors that contributed to strengthening its unity, and laid the foundations for the future Commonwealth of Nations.

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