an empire is a group of countries or provinces ruled from the centre by another person or group of people

gunboat diplomacy is foreign policy that is supported by the threat of military force

supremacy is the state or condition of being superior

an exhibition is a public display of works of art or items of interest

The Great Exhibition and the British Empire

History

Imperial anxiety and celebration of Empire

Imperial decline

Decolonisation and contesting empire

New imperial history

Commemoration and contestation of the British Empire

In this unit, pupils analyse how the British Empire has been commemorated and challenged over time. This leads into the next unit, ‘Decolonisation: how similar was decolonisation throughout the British Empire?’, where pupils will study the varied processes of decolonisation and their impact on former colonies.

In ‘The British Empire: how far was it transformed in the mid-nineteenth century?’, pupils studied the changes within the British Empire during its height. This unit shifts focus to how the Empire is interpreted today, looking at different perspectives on how it has been commemorated and contested.

In this unit, pupils learn about how the British Empire was viewed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They analyse how imperial anxiety, decline, and decolonisation have all led to changes in its historiography.

Interpreting the British Empire: how has it been commemorated and contested?

a group of countries or provinces ruled from the centre by another person or group of people is called an empire

something relating to empire is known as imperial

imperial anxiety is the sense of unease within an empire due to potential threats to its power

in this lesson, nationalism is support for the political independence of a country

the 'two-power standard' was the British policy of maintaining a navy which was larger than the next two largest navies combined

'national efficiency' was the argument that British society needed to become more productive to maintain imperial dominance

decline is a gradual and continuous loss of strength

nationalism is the support for the political independence of a country

to decolonise is to withdraw from a colony, leaving it independent

the Commonwealth is an international organisation consisting of states which once belonged to the British Empire

historiography is the study of the writing of history and of written history

postcolonialism is a theoretical approach that is concerned with the impact of colonisation in colonies and former colonies

a metropole is the parent state of a colony

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Interpreting the British Empire: how has it been commemorated and contested?

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