British colonial self-certainty was generated by the Empire’s coordinated resources

Evidence

Reading the official history of the invasion published by the War Office in London, one senses the remarkable self-certainty with which the British prepared and carried out the occupation. This self-certainty was made possible by the enormous resources of the British Empire, including its new weaponry. It was a certainty that seemed to be generated in particular out of the coordination of these resources, by the modern means of transport and communication. — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 411