Empire

2012
4.4
29 reviews
Eligible
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Season 1 episodes (5)

1 A Taste for Power
2/27/12
Season-only
In India, the British learn the art of imperialism, using local rulers and troops to maintain power. But it is little more than a confidence trick, an enormous bluff—and as the mutiny of 1857 shows, it’s only a matter of time before that bluff is called. Suez becomes a vital link to the empire in the East, and in the years after World War I the British find themselves embroiled in the intractable problems of Palestine.
2 Making Ourselves at Home
3/5/12
Season-only
While early British traders adopt local Indian customs, later arrivals impose Victorian values and try to mold the country into a version of England. In the cultural melting pot of Singapore, the British keep themselves separate, but in Canada they come as settlers, determined to make a home for themselves. To build Kenya’s railways, the British import Indians, many of whom are later expelled by Kenyan nationalists.
3 Playing the Game
3/12/12
Season-only
The empire gives rise to a peculiarly British type of hero—the gentleman adventurer whose values are honed on the sports fields of England’s public schools, where how you play the game is more important than winning. For men like General Charles Gordon, this would mean a determination to hold out at all costs, as at the siege of Khartoum. In the end, the spirit of fair play and the interests of empire clash head on.
4 Making a Fortune
3/19/12
Season-only
British privateers prey on Spanish wealth in the Caribbean, but theft is soon replaced by trade, including the slave trade of Africans to work the islands’ sugar plantations. Trade brings great wealth to Britain—spices from India, gold from South Africa, rubber from Malaya—while in China it sparks the opium wars. Gandhi takes a different approach to imperialism and so-called free trade by boycotting Lancashire cloth.
5 Doing Good
3/26/12
Season-only
The drive for conquest also becomes a mission to help the rest of mankind, especially in “the dark continent” of Africa, where David Livingstone sets out to save souls for Christ and the people from Arab and Portuguese slavers. Cecil Rhodes indulges a different vision for the continent, one based on white domination and rule. In Kenya, the Mau Mau launch a conflict that shatters the empire’s claims to moral authority.

About this show

Empire tells the story of Britain’s grand imperial venture, from the arrival of the earliest explorers through colonization and to the final lowering of the Union Jack. Hosted by veteran BBC broadcaster Jeremy Paxman (The Victorians), this five-part series examines the impact of the empire and how it continues to exert an influence today. What drove the British to leave the security of their island home for parts unknown? How did they take and then hold on to power? In what ways did they change the lands they conquered, and how did those lands and their peoples change them? To help answer those questions, Paxman travels to India, the Middle East, Canada, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Far East—the outposts of an empire four times larger than ancient Rome’s and on which the sun famously never set. There, he finds extraordinary individuals and an enduring legacy that, for good or ill, continues to shape the behaviors and beliefs of peoples all around the globe, as well as in Britain itself.

Ratings and reviews

4.4
29 reviews
Sonja Smith
December 28, 2019
I like.the strong bond its about protecting family keepingthemtogether fighting for youbuilt togther thatsfacebook brothers and sisters goodnight
Ann Homes
June 1, 2017
Luscious is the man for me every time I see him my heart skips a beat
6 people found this review helpful
Wanda Hicks
December 27, 2016
When they met Lola
5 people found this review helpful