THE ORIGINS OF BRITISH IMPERIAL AMBITIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE CONCEPT OF ANGLO-SAXON EXCLUSIVITY (BASED ON THE STUDY OF BRITISH HISTORIANS OF THE VICTORIAN AGE)

The article is devoted to the study of the historical - medieval - origins of the formation of imperial and hegemonic ambitions of the British in the context of the concept of Anglo-Saxon exclusivity, based on the idea of racial superiority of the ancient Germanic tribes (Angles and Saxons), the predecessors of modern Englishmen. The basic components of this concept are revealed: Germanism, traditionalism, the uniqueness of state, political history and institutions of power, the dominant role of law and the monarch in the history of the country. The sources were the works of outstanding English historians of liberal historiography, which occupied a dominant position in the historical science of Great Britain of the Victorian age. It is shown that the claims to world domination of the British go back to the period of early expansion of the XII-XIII centuries in the British Isles (the conquest of Ireland and Wales), which marked the beginning of the creation of the British Empire.