Listen free for 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
The Rise and Fall of the British Empire cover art

The Rise and Fall of the British Empire

Written by: Patrick N. Allitt, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Patrick N. Allitt
Try for $0.00

$14.95 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $52.57

Buy Now for $52.57

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

What were the forces that thrust the British Empire to its extraordinary position of greatness and then just as powerfully drove it into decline? And why is nearly every nation on earth, in one way or another, the consequence of the British Empire?

In these 36 lectures, Professor Allitt leads you through four centuries of British power, innovation, influence, and, ultimately, diminishment - four profound centuries that literally remade the world and bequeathed the complex global legacy that continues to shape your everyday life. This is a remarkable lecture series; one that will give you fresh insights into world history in a wide range of areas - political, economic, technological, social, and more. And it will also give you a comprehensive overview you won't find offered anywhere else - a context into which you can integrate new knowledge about this country, as well as understand the background of current events in so many other countries that were once part of Britain's empire, from Ireland to China, and in Africa and the Caribbean. Indeed, it seems fair to say that one cannot truly understand the most important aspects of world history without a firm grasp of the history of the British Empire. In giving you that grasp, these lectures draw on a vast range of critical events, riveting personalities, revealing anecdotes, and eloquent quotations.

Compelling, comprehensive, and astonishing in the force of its narrative power, each lecture will give you a refreshing new understanding of what made the British Empire both great in its achievements and vulnerable to its eventual downfall.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2009 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2009 The Great Courses

What listeners say about The Rise and Fall of the British Empire

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    46
  • 4 Stars
    14
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    43
  • 4 Stars
    13
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    36
  • 4 Stars
    16
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    3

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Dr. Allitt is an excellent lecturer!

Partisans are bound to be offended by the balanced approach of this course. Informative history of our complicated past.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • SR
  • 2020-06-23

Good breadth of topics and very interesting

The course is broken down into manageable and coherent chapters that cover a wide variety of colonial histories and also explores important but often overlooked aspects of history like sport and literature. Towards the end the course dates itself slightly with comments about moving towards a united Europe but in the grand scheme of the course this is very minor.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

A bit too glorifying

Informative but very pro empire. he claims to take a middle ground but definitely focuses a lot on "benefits". A bit dated in 2023

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A good overview

Overall, this was an interesting and thorough overview of the British Empire. It’s a wide-ranging subject - a wide geographical scope requiring the professor to deal with the internal issues, politics, events of many countries as well as the ongoing international and regional contexts. It’s presented for an American, or possibly North American, and modern audience - the professor includes analogies that will appeal to this audience. Note that it was recorded in 2008 and so is out of date with respect to more modern sensitivities. As a Canadian, it was a bit unfortunate that some names were mispronounced, like the group of indigenous peoples called Métis, and also that there was no mention of Asian immigration in the Canadian West. But I learned a lot of global history and context that I am very grateful for.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

propaganda

mentions a lot of deeply racist people, and immediately says that they aren't racist because of what was going on in their era.

my dude, people knew slavery was wrong when it was happening.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Bourgeois propaganda

This “course” from the first “lecture” is nothing but bourgeois propaganda. Full of horseshoe theory nonsense and capitalist apologetics.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!