The British Empire

Daniele Manin proclaiming the Republic of Venice, 22 March 1848. (Photo by De Agostini Picture Library/A. Dagli Orti/Bridgeman Images)

1848: the year of revolutions

Chris Patten, the last governor of colonial Hong Kong, is pictured here receiving the Union Jack flag shortly before Hong Kong was returned to China, ending over a century of British rule. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images)

The British empire: 10 big questions

English historian Edward Gibbon (1737-94), author of 'The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

The decline and fall of the British Empire

The repulse of a sortie during the Siege of Delhi, a conflict of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The rebels advance on a British battery, who repel them with swords, bayonets and rifles. A lithograph by E. Walker, after a drawing by Captain G. F. Atkinson. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The myth of native-bashing

Scout Troop

Baden-Powell, Scouting and the British empire