Robert Holland traces the remarkable experience of British mastery in the Mediterranean from the Battle of the Nile to El Alamein and the end of empire, exploring the unique and often explosive relationships that shaped the region's modern history. For nearly two hundred years the Mediterranean lay at the heart of British power overseas—what Winston Churchill called “Britain's first battlefield.” Robert Holland's sweeping new book tells the story of an extraordinary experience combining the military imposition of British rule with a constant enthusiasm for Mediterranean life enduring today, and which has left many legacies in administration, culture, language, law and architecture. From Nelson's great victories against the French to El Alamein and the Malta convoys of the Second World War, the Mediterranean shaped Britain's own fate as much as Britain shaped the future of the Mediterranean.