
The Modern Scholar
World's First Superpower: The Rise of the British Empire, 1497 to 1901
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Narrated by:
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Denis Judd
About this listen
By the beginning of the 20th century, there were very few countries or people who had not been affected, one way or another, by the impact of the British. The Empire itself by then covered over a quarter of the world's land surface, the Royal Navy dominated the oceans, and one in every four human beings lived under British rule.
Yet despite all of this global power and the emergence of Britain by the beginning of the nineteenth century as the world's first true superpower, the British Empire had very humble, small-scale origins.
In the course, we shall proceed chronologically, but also look more closely at particular themes and countries. The course will not provide a fully comprehensive survey, an enormous task anyway; rather, we shall seek to uncover and understand the essential historical truths about this mightiest of empires.
Download the accompanying reference guide.©2004 Denis Judd (P)2004 Recorded BooksPeople who viewed this also viewed...
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Overall
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Performance
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Despite the stylish shortcomings
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Judd is smart and articulate.
Flawless
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This is an opinion one will not hear from an Indian, African, Chinese or any other historian whose country found itself on the receiving end of British Imperial doing good. I wonder why?
Judd should listen to his own teaching, forget that he is British and hence has to vindicate British history, and call the empire what it was; a racist and cruel tool for exploitation and domination. (That's what he teaches anyway.)
British Empire a force for good?
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