The book argues that British involvement in the Scramble for Africa occurred largely to secure its empire, specifically routes to India and was a strategic decision.

Ronald Robinson and John Andrew Gallagher worked at the University of Cambridge and shared an interest in the origins of the British Empire.

[5] The book covers British foreign policy as it relates to the Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century,[1] focusing on that nation's expansion.

[4][6] The authors argue that the development of a formal British empire was strategically needed in the face of rising nationalism among inhabitants of regions Britain controlled.

The central argument of the book is that it initially became beneficial for Britain to expand in Africa largely in order to secure their lucrative colony of India through the Anglo-French occupation of Egypt (1882) and the surrounding regions.

British expansion in South Africa, according to Robinson and Gallagher, was motivated by the urging of expansionists such as Cecil Rhodes, and in response to the First Boer War (1880–81).