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The british empire

Hi there,

I'm doing research on the british empire for an up and coming art project. "The British Empire" may sound very broad but I need to learn as much about it as possible. The rise and fall, timeline, interaction with other nations/colonies. The aim is to have a pretty good grasp of the framework of whole period, in order to understand how that might influence the present. However my current understanding is absolutely basic. No, I would say my knowledge is practically non existent and the moment.

I was wondering if anyone knew of any good online resources? The BBC had a whole radio series but it has been taken down. I've been google searching but thought I should check and see if there are any historians who know of some really good resources. I'm not a history student so I'm not great with journals and all these very intense resources I have come across so far. Some pointers to resources that can ease me into the nitty, gritty stuff would be great!

Thanks so much,
Emma
Reply 1
Youtube 'history of the british empire' any you'll find everything you need :smile:
Reply 2
Oh just make it up and guess. That's what most people do when it comes to history on this site.

But seriously. Lawrence James, a very good book; a few inches thick but it'll give you a great overview. And if you really want to understand it's importance to us today, there's a book called something like Politically Incorrect: The British Empire.
Research the industrial revolution, the scramble for Africa, the two world wars, the occupation of india for starters. You may want to also research imperialism in Europe during the reign.

This is too huge a subject to outline in one post tbh.
Reply 4
Original post by KingStannis
Research the industrial revolution, the scramble for Africa, the two world wars, the occupation of india for starters. You may want to also research imperialism in Europe during the reign.

This is too huge a subject to outline in one post tbh.


"The scramble for Africa"?

I suppose it does sound more palatable then what actually happened.
Yes the scramble...sounds like a fun game took place,not for many of the indigenous I reckon:-)
Original post by Retro Soul
"The scramble for Africa"?

I suppose it does sound more palatable then what actually happened.
Yes the scramble...sounds like a fun game took place,not for many of the indigenous I reckon:-)


I've been reading a book on the subject.

To be honest I think it's too complex an issue to just dismiss in a few lines laden with 21 century morality...
Reply 6
Well briefly:

- The English under the Tudors (more so Elizabeth I) saw how the Spanish and Portuguese Empires prospered and wanted their piece. So this is why Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir John Hawkins made their voyages and why the Spanish wanted to invade England. Under Elizabeth I, there weren't many colonies, but then England had become a major global trading country. The first official colony was Jamestown, under James I/VI.

- The English then had wars with the Dutch in the Stuart/Cromwell times, over colonial rights, and gained what was to become the American colonies from them. They also got Jamaica and other islands, and started slave trading in Africa.

- In the 18th century, Great Britain (post-1707 of course) had many wars with Spain and France, and gained what is now Canada from France in the Seven Years War. Of course there was the US Revolution, war with France and then the John Company in India. After Waterloo, the UK's Empire was able to expand in Asia, Africa, and after WWI it gained the Ottoman colonies which are now places like Yemen and Oman.

The British Empire declined (IMO though I'm not a historian) because the USA was able to industralise after its Civil War and as it's a large country had lots of available resources like timber, gold, etc. Germany also started to rival it, and colonist in India more so became disgruntled with rule (leading eventually to Gandhi of course).
How much time do you have?

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