Deterrence Through Strength: British Naval Power and Foreign Policy Under Pax BritannicaThe notion of a Pax Britannica a concept implying that Britain's overwhelming strength enforced global peace in the era that began with Napoleon's defeat in 1815 largely ended with the British Empire itself. Although most historians still view this period as a departure from the eighteenth century, when lengthy coalition wars were commonplace, critics argue that Britain had only limited means of exercising power in the nineteenth century and that