The British Empire

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

The British Empire was famously described by contemporaries as ‘the empire on which the sun never sets’. At its height, in the early twentieth century, Great Britain’s global imperial project had established its hegemony over 25% of the world’s landmass and 20% of the world’s population. By the end of the Second World War Britain had lost its global superpower status. This course charts the rise and fall of the British Empire, from the ‘Scramble for Africa’ over the ‘long’ nineteenth century to the loss of India (the ‘Jewel in the Crown’) in the post-war era of decolonization. Exploring themes such as civilisation, culture, power, race, resistance, and violence, the course will interrogate the inequalities of British imperial experience, from the white dominions of Australia, Canada, and Ireland to the settler colonies of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Engaging with a wide-range of historiographical debates – from official ‘British World’ histories to the postcolonial approaches of the ‘new imperial’ history - students will evaluate the historical, cultural, and societal legacies of the Empire in post-Brexit Britain.