Original subtitles

Narrator: This is the story of the british empire,

Seen in color for the first time.

It's history's biggest empire.

[neighing]

At its peak in 1919,

The british empire controls a quarter of the earth's land

And almost 500 million people--

In africa, the far east,

And india, the jewel in the crown.

On this empire, it's said, the sun never sets.

Imperial trade brings prosperity to britain.

But while british colonialists

Enjoy the fruits of british rule,

The colonized often suffer.

And with world war ii come demands for self-determination.

Gandhi challenges britain's grip on india,

And world war exhausts britain, leaving her bankrupt.

British dominance fades.

Revolts and insurgencies tear at the empire.

But a young new queen helps reinvent it.

This is the british empire as you've never seen it before.

♪

♪

Princess elizabeth: ...Shall be devoted to your service...

♪

[bugle call]

Narrator: It's 1899.

In this rare film, queen victoria,

Seated in the left corner,

Reviews the british army's senior regiment,

The life guards, at windsor.

Her empire is growing.

Britain is embarking on another war of expansion,

This time in south africa.

They'll be fighting the boers, descendants of dutch settlers,

For land, gold, and diamond mines.

[ship horn blows]

The troopship roslin castle leaves southampton.

Cameramen from the warwick trading company

Will follow the action.

At port elizabeth in the eastern cape,

Crowds greet imperial forces.

For this campaign, the empire musters 400,000 men

From across the globe.

These indian soldiers are serving in the medical corps.

Others are australian,

Like these mounted riflemen in cape town.

The british draft local zulu herders

To deliver army supplies by ox train.

A victory will give the crown

Complete control of south africa.

This film, of british infantrymen digging trenches

On the edge of boer territory,

Is some of the earliest surviving footage

From a war zone.

The empire expects a rapid victory.

But just after british lancers cross the modder river,

A boer attack kicks off a string of bloody battles.

♪

The war turns ugly,

Costing 22,000 imperial troops

And 6,000 boer soldiers their lives.

Outnumbered and outgunned,

The boers resort to guerrilla tactics.

To crush their resistance,

Imperial forces destroy land and farms.

Boer men, women, and children

Are held in prototype concentration camps,

Which are overcrowded and filthy.

26,000 boer civilians die in them,

And 12,000 local africans in boer territory

Suffer the same fate.

But the public at home never sees images like these.

♪

In 1902, troops leave south africa

As the boers surrender their land to the british.

It's the final colony

That the empire will secure through conflict.

Crowds in london welcome the city volunteers home.

[applause]

South africa brings new wealth

To an empire already enjoying the riches of india.

♪

It's known as the raj, sanskrit for "ruler."

Britain has run things here since the mid 18th century,

First through the east india company

And, since the 1850s, by direct crown rule.

Home to 250 million people and rich in natural resources,

India is called britain's jewel in the crown.

In 1911, new british king george v and queen mary

Visit delhi.

[cheering]

In a durbar,

Persian for grand meeting,

The king becomes emperor of india.

No expense is spared.

It's described as the grandest extravaganza of the raj.

50,000 troops and platoons of bejeweled elephants

Dazzle a quarter of a million spectators.

♪

Britain's top dozen cameramen film the event,

With orders to keep a respectful distance.

It's a landmark in cinematic news coverage.

The king accepts expressions of fealty

From nearly every indian noble

And thousands of the country's gentry.

♪

In deference, each bows three times,

Taking care not to give offense

By turning their backs as they walk away.

But the wealthy maharaja of baroda bows only once.

He then turns his back on his emperor, swings his cane,

And, it is said, laughs.

♪

The incident makes headlines at home.

♪

The prince apologizes, pleading nervous confusion.

As a powerful ally of the raj, he is not rebuked by george v,

And a few years later, the king gives sayajirao iii,

Maharaja of baroda, a knighthood.

♪

The empire needs to keep india onside.

Britain recruits thousands of indian soldiers,

Who do battle in europe, starting in 1914,

When britain goes to war with germany.

♪

They have a reputation as tough, professional fighters.

♪

In November 1915, newsmen,

Including geoffrey malins, shown here,

Spend two weeks filming these indian soldiers

For cinema audiences back home.

Having fought alongside british troops,

They're now at the rear.

♪

[sawing]

But duty still calls--

Making trench periscopes,

Sharpening blades,

Digging trenches,

And deploying barbed wire.

Despite the winter chill,

There's still time to think of home.

A field becomes a venue

For a performance of a southern indian dance

Where soldiers swirl their traditional swords.

And the freezing mud doesn't deter them

From staging a wrestling match.

These soldiers continue the tradition

Of the once-famous sikh army, the khalsa.

Here the 47th sikh regiment

Present their bayonets to british command to touch

As a symbol of loyalty.

And the 58th vaughan's rifles March by

While officers take the salute.

In world war I, 75,000 indian soldiers

Will die for the empire.

As the war in europe spreads,

The border of a german colony in africa becomes a new front.

Far south of european battlefields,

Royal flying corps pilots patrol the line

Between british east africa, now kenya,

And german east africa, modern-day tanzania.

Imperial troops are here

Because germany has attacked the british colony

To divert resources from europe.

These locally recruited askaris, arabic for "policemen,"

Make up the king's african rifles.

♪

Their officers are mostly british and white.

♪

A newsreel films military exercises,

An askari drill and british artillery bombardment.

[boom]

Fighting continues until the armistice in 1918.

10,000 soldiers and 100,000 local africans are killed.

[shouting]

Britain and the allies win the war.

In 1919, at the palace of versailles,

Cavalry line the route

As delegates arrive to negotiate a lasting peace.

On may the 27th, lieutenant victor kubes of the u.S. Army

Films an appearance

By british prime minister lloyd george, on the left,

Italian prime minister orlando, french premier clemenceau,

And american president woodrow wilson, on the right.

♪

The german delegates are taken to sign the surrender documents

Inside the palace's great hall of mirrors.

The versailles treaty

Does not resolve the conflicts that caused the war,

But it does strip germany of its colonies

And hands them to the allies.

The pact reframes the world

And expands british territory to its greatest ever size.

♪

Britain now has control

Of people, land, business, and trade

On a scale that brings it enormous wealth and power.

The empire is at its peak.

♪

In the 1920s, london, as ever, is the bustling commercial hub

Of the british empire.

♪

In northwest london, workmen break ground for a huge project.

They're building a complex

Of pavilions, gardens, and an immense stadium

For an exhibition to show off the fruits of empire.

[cheering]

A year later, on the 23rd of April, 1924,

King george v and queen mary

Arrive at the brand-new empire stadium.

Later it will be renamed wembley stadium.

For the first time ever,

The bbc's fledgling radio service

Broadcasts the king speaking.

Narrator: He has encouraging words for the empire's future.

Narrator: Visitors can tour thousands of exhibits.

Plus, there's an amusement park for children.

On one June day,

A record-breaking 300,000 visitors

Enjoy this display of the empire's assets.

The king and queen tour a replica of an african village.

Ashanti nobles from the gold coast

Demonstrate carving and weaving.

The royal couple amaze onlookers

By taking a ride on a miniature railway.

♪

[children cheering]

[whistle blows]

♪

[thunder]

Six months later, in a downpour, sodden crowds listen

As the prince of wales, later king edward viii,

Closes the exhibition, proclaiming it a huge success.

The exhibition brings the glory of the empire home to britain,

And along with that glory comes substantial wealth.

[whistle blows]

The river thames in london is the center of british trade

With the empire.

In July 1921, king george v sails on the royal yacht rover

To open a new multimillion-pound dock.

Nine years in the building, it bears the king's name

And is to be the centerpiece of imperial trade,

Suiting an empire built on sea power.

♪

[bell tolling]

In 1925, this power is projected

By heir to the throne, the prince of wales,

As he begins a journey aboard hms repulse

To the gambia, a colony in west africa.

♪

He's part of an imperial pr mission

To the farthest part of the empire.

Boyishly handsome in his naval uniform,

The prince is the first royal pinup

And the most photographed celebrity of his era.

Cameras roll as he pauses to inspect

The royal navy's atlantic fleet in the bay of biscay.

It takes one week to reach bathurst, capital of the gambia,

Where residents cheer the prince and his entourage.

He meets local judges and dignitaries,

Thanking them for stepping up during the war,

Seven years after it ended.

♪

On his tours,

The prince travels thousands of miles, mainly by sea,

But the empire has a new way to get to its furthest reaches.

[engine starting]

The british government has invested £1 million

Into the imperial airways service.

The new airline crisscrosses the empire at premium prices.

Photographer leon levson, a russian émigré,

Films an imperial airways empire flying boat

Leaving from south africa.

London to cape town is a four-week sailing trip.

By air, the travel time dips to around ten days,

With overnight stops.

The planes offer luxury travel

And a satisfyingly full restaurant service.

[snores]

By 1925, the airline's pilots

Are logging 135,000 miles each month.

Many of its passengers are wealthy businessmen

And top colonial administrators...

♪

Men like sir charles kendall in india,

Who lives the luxurious life of the colonial elite.

Charles, on the right,

Is one of only 1,000 british senior civil servants

Who run the whole of india.

His palatial residence in allahabad

Befits his status as a judge

Presiding over a quarter of a million people.

Wife clare and daughters barbara and nancy,

The family filmmakers, document daily life.

Uniformed servants attend the kendalls

As they take tea and play croquet.

As clare admires the garden,

The staff help to recreate a vision of the mother country

With rolling lawns and rose gardens.

As many colonials here do, the kendalls flee the summer heat.

They relocate 400 miles north to the hill station of nainital

In the himalayan foothills.

There's no roughing it, though.

A china tea service graces a picnic outing.

On their way home, they're followed downhill

By over a dozen servants carrying heavy boxes

With the day's supplies.

The servants are not only there to assist the grown-ups.

The kendalls' granddaughter, lucinda,

Shows off her dolls and her books to the household servants.

♪

And even she travels in style,

Carried uphill in a dandy by two servants and a nurse.

But not everyone is living in such luxury.

The kendall family also take their film camera

Out to the local villages,

Where many communities live in rural poverty.

♪

This is the reality for millions of indian subjects

And fuels a growing resentment and desire for change.

One figure harnesses this resentment

To demand freedom from imperial rule--mahatma gandhi.

♪

In the early 1920s, gandhi, a hindu lawyer,

Is elected leader of the indian national congress

And advocates for self-rule.

♪

He devotes himself to disrupting imperial trade.

♪

In 1930, gandhi embarks

On a non-violent non-cooperation campaign

Defying british controls on production of salt in india.

Gandhi, known as mahatma, or venerable,

Sets out on a 240-mile walk to the sea.

It becomes known as the salt March.

♪

Gandhi and his 80 core followers are joined by thousands

As they March towards the western coast of india.

♪

After a 24-day walk, a crowd of 50,000 greets them

As they reach the sea at dandi.

♪

Jubilant, the protesters make their own salt,

A symbol of self-reliance and self-governance.

[shouting]

In bombay, his followers demonstrate

In favor of boycotting british businesses.

[shouting]

By may 1930, protesters are picketing british-owned shops

In the city.

Britain's indian police force crack down.

[whacking]

Violent repression does not deter gandhi.

He arranges a bigger and more specific boycott

Of imported british fabrics.

Gandhi's goal is to hit britain's textile mills

And the empire's trading profits.

He also urges his countrymen to spin and weave their own cloth,

And he leads by example.

Annual british textile exports are over 1,200 million yards,

But within two years, they fall by over half.

Now gaining a reputation worldwide,

In 1931, gandhi, aged 62, travels to britain.

To the public, he's presented as an exotic indian peasant.

Newscaster: His coming has caused so much comment,

Complete with loincloth, spinning wheel, and goat's milk.

Narrator: He is here to participate

In independence talks with the government.

Britons hope he can be persuaded to end the boycott.

He makes a point of visiting

The mill town of darwen in lancashire

To meet some of the thousands

That his boycott has helped to put out of work.

It's a chilly day

As the laid-off millworkers greet the mahatma.

They hope that seeing their state of distress

Will change gandhi's mind.

Surrounded, he speaks warmly to his hosts.

Interviewer: You have!

Narrator: He later tells a reporter

That while lancashire has 30,000 out of work,

India has 30 million.

But independence talks in london achieve little.

Gandhi prepares to leave britain

And emphasizes that he bears no ill will.

♪

[ship horn blows]

[gulls squawking]

Narrator: Despite gandhi's attacks on the empire,

In other parts of india, it is still business as usual.

Owen williams works for his calcutta-based family firm

And builds railways.

An enthusiastic amateur filmmaker,

Owen is married to helen

And drives his imported morris oxford.

His company is extending a rail line in northern india,

Today's pakistan.

The tracks will serve crews

Shifting timber from the chhanga manga forest

To make into rail foundations.

♪

♪

♪

As ever, cheap labor is the backbone of his job.

Simply rolling a log onto a flatcar

Requires dozens of men straining every muscle.

♪

[steam whistle blows]

The train itself is the most automated part of the operation.

♪

The wood will be used on the chhanga manga line...

♪

And across the 24,000 miles of railway

Built under british rule in india.

♪

British rule brings more than infrastructure.

Colonialists also spread faith across its territories.

Cleric george basden is about to leave britain.

He is a christian missionary.

George is also a filmmaker.

He records his luggage being winched aboard ship

At liverpool.

He's traveling to west africa,

Where he is archdeacon of an anglican congregation.

After weeks at sea, george reaches nigeria.

A smaller craft carries him up the bonny river

To port harcourt.

Further inland, a ferry carries him and his ford

Across the river niger.

He's near the end of his 100-mile journey from the coast

To his mission at owerri.

Crowds come out to welcome him back.

He films the missionary dispensary

As nurses treat polio patients.

[applause]

The mission's western-style education drills boys and girls

In sports and music, such as the brass band.

♪

The owerri congregation is thriving,

And today nigerians make up

A quarter of all anglicans in the world.

♪

But by the late thirties, this great empire is threatened

By the prospect of another world war.

Newscaster: News of war as japan's armies

Surge forward across china.

Narrator: The japanese army already controls parts of china.

Its next target--

Britain's far east island colony of singapore.

Always thinking of trade,

Britain reinforces its business center

With a massive naval base and dockyard

Named after king george vi.

[applause]

It's the largest dry dock in the world

And stores enough fuel to supply the british navy for six months.

The new base costs £4 billion in today's money

And is believed to be impregnable.

♪

[shouting]

Gun crews drill constantly, ready for action.

Newscaster: The garrison, which is being continually reinforced,

Is fully capable of maintaining singapore

As a city of the british lion.

Narrator: Readiness is all, but when the shooting starts,

Readiness will not be enough.

[boom]

By December 1941,

The japanese army have advanced through china.

They attack and invade hong kong,

A major trading hub of the british empire in the far east.

Then, only six weeks later, in early '42,

They set their sights

On the impregnable fortress of singapore.

Newscaster: Japanese transports steam ominously

Through asia's troubled waters

As nippon's forces press southward,

Ever closer to singapore.

Narrator: Their aim is to attack the new naval base

And capture this great center of imperial trade.

[ship horn blows]

Newscaster: Into that tropical hothouse, the malay peninsula,

Were being rushed men of nearly a dozen nationalities.

Narrator: British troops are joined by thousands

From across the empire to mount a defense.

Newscaster: Once again, the famous gurkhas

Made their appearance.

These nepalese troops have one of the finest records

In military history.

Narrator: Even with the gurkhas,

The british struggle to stand up to the japanese.

[boom]

The japanese move quickly,

Filming their advance as they cut off the island.

In a skillful bluff, they attack the base

With an army of less than half the size of the british.

80,000 allied troops are outmaneuvered

By a japanese army of 30,000.

Singapore, once thought impregnable,

Falls after seven days of fighting

On February the 15th, 1942.

Few defeats have humiliated the empire more thoroughly.

80,000 imperial soldiers and civilians surrender.

Many prisoners of war are enslaved by the japanese

And sent to burma to build a railway.

Eventually pows make up 60,000 of that slave labor force.

12,000 of them lose their lives in horrific conditions

Building 260 miles of track through the jungle

To link up with india.

This story inspires the film "the bridge on the river kwai."

Those who endured the real thing call it the burma death railway.

♪

Fearing neighboring india will be next,

The british start the fight back against the japanese

With the burma campaign.

Newscaster: Raf liberators of eastern air command

Keep up a constant strafe

Against japanese supply lines and stores on the burma front.

♪

[boom]

Narrator: Gurkha troops reinforce the empire's defenses

And again prove themselves on the front line.

Masters of jungle warfare,

They booby-trap enemy positions...

Setting ambushes with nets

And lining pits with razor-sharp punji sticks.

♪

They also have survival skills

Such as boiling river crabs in bamboo tubes.

These gurkha soldiers are from nepalese battalions

And part of the force that fight fiercely

To take a key burmese city.

[boom]

Newscaster: The japanese made use of ancient pagodas

And temples as strongpoints.

Resistance was determined and made the capture of mandalay

The costliest campaign of the whole burma war.

Narrator: In 1943, with a foothold in burma,

Lord louis mountbatten is sent to lead the campaign

To push back against the japanese

And finish the job in the far east.

Announcer: Lord louis has great news from europe

To tell these men of the british 14th army.

Lord louis mountbatten: Southeast asia command

Is re-establishing our far east supply lines.

India is safe. Burma is liberated.

Narrator: In June 1945,

The japanese are defeated in the far east.

[siren]

As world war ii comes to a close,

Victory reveals the darkness of japanese tyranny.

Singapore, September 1945,

Allied troops discover hideous scenes in what was changi jail.

Pows allow camera crews

To document their horrible condition.

♪

After three years of torment, they are going home.

[bell tolling]

The empire has survived the onslaught of world war ii.

Prime minister winston churchill

Gets much of the credit for the victory.

Now he faces re-election,

And the result is shocking.

Man on radio: Conservatives 180.

Labour 364.

Narrator: It's a decisive rejection

Of churchill's conservative party

And his own great support for the empire.

Successor clement attlee and his labour party

Have a radically different vision.

Elected on a radical social welfare manifesto,

Resources are reallocated from the empire to rebuild britain,

But future decolonization will not be so easily achieved.

After years of monitoring distant horizons,

Britons will look homeward.

Attlee's focus will be on housing,

Building a national health service,

And creating a welfare state.

Clement attlee: The labour party's great victory

Shows that the country is ready for a new policy

To face new world conditions.

Narrator: The shift means an abrupt change in policy

Towards india.

Attlee and his government want to get out, and quickly.

Independence is within india's reach.

Gandhi's dream is an independent and united country.

But india's 42 million muslims, led by muhammad ali jinnah,

Want their own state.

Jawaharlal nehru wants to protect the interests

Of 270 million hindus.

The sides cannot agree on a form of united government,

And tensions rise.

♪

In 1946, with india about to come apart at the seams,

British businessman arthur wise films as conditions deteriorate.

Avid cameraman arthur is a manager

For a british conglomerate.

He and his family live comfortably

On harrington street in calcutta.

He shares his home with his wife ivy,

His daughters, and the household servants.

When gandhi forms a commission to work towards peace,

Arthur is asked to join as an intermediary

Between hindus and muslims.

Arthur is the only european member.

And when gandhi takes center stage at a local rally,

Arthur is there with his camera.

But gandhi is unable to keep the peace.

[shouting]

Sectarian violence between hindus and muslims

Breaks out in calcutta.

Arthur's unflinching camera films what comes to be known

As the great calcutta killings.

In three days of riots between hindu and muslim,

5,000 die.

But in the aftermath of a fading empire,

There will be worse to come.

After his success in burma,

The new labour government names lord louis mountbatten

As the viceroy of india in February 1947.

He will be its last.

He's charged with organizing

A rapid british withdrawal from india.

Prime minister attlee advises mountbatten

To keep india united if you can;

If not, save something from the wreck.

In any case, get britain out.

The hindu and muslim factions are increasingly hostile.

Negotiations break down.

The lone solution appears to be partition along religious lines.

At midnight on August the 14th, 1947,

New states are to take form--

Hindu india and muslim pakistan.

As gandhi's dream of a united india collapses,

He spends time in seclusion and prayer.

Throughout the country, the deadline unleashes chaos.

Millions of muslim refugees are forced to flee to pakistan.

Millions of hindus flee the other way.

Enraged, both sides kill each other.

Vengeance is all.

♪

The violence claims up to two million lives

And displaces 14 million people.

Tensions have persisted ever since.

Within two weeks of independence,

Lord and lady mountbatten

Are bidding farewell to british troops,

Thousands of whom begin departing.

With violence ongoing, the british leave.

After almost 200 years,

The jewel is gone from britain's imperial crown.

It's a story of upheaval that will repeat itself

Throughout the empire.

In the future, even former colonies

That maintain their connections to britain

Will do so on an equal footing.

In late 1953, newly crowned queen elizabeth ii

Reaches the pacific on her extensive tour of the world.

[cheering]

The young monarch is on an epic mission

To turn an empire into a commonwealth,

A collection of independent but allied states.

The tiny pacific island of tonga

Is a colonial protectorate, loyal to the crown,

And its financial and foreign affairs

Are run by britain.

Queen salote greets queen elizabeth

And her husband prince philip.

That evening, they sit down on the ground

To eat a traditional tongan roast pork banquet.

[singing]

[ship horn blows]

Six weeks later, the queen arrives in sydney, australia,

One of the seven original commonwealth members.

Again, huge crowds turn out to greet them.

[cheering]

Although tonga and australia are happy to evolve

Their relations with britain peacefully,

Other colonies gain independence through violence,

And no amount of royal visits will prevent them

From descending into bloody battles.

Newscaster: Flames consume the great aik hoe rubber factory

In singapore, marked for sabotage

In recently captured plans of the malayan communist party.

Narrator: Since 1948, a communist uprising in malaya,

Now malaysia, has tried to get the empire out.

This attack is just one in a worldwide chain

Of uprisings against britain.

Malays crave independence.

The communists crave control.

A deployment of 40,000 british troops stops the reds,

Killing 6,000 insurgents.

[cheering]

But a non-communist malaya gains independence in 1957.

Colony upon colony rebels.

Britain has ruled resource-rich kenya, in east africa,

Since 1895.

In the 1950s, an insurgent group called the mau mau

Make vicious and lethal attacks

On white farmers and their families.

To protect the settlers

And its revenues from kenyan coffee and livestock,

The empire strikes back with disproportionate force,

Killing thousands.

Imperial might prevails, for the moment.

But the empire's days are numbered.

[cheering and applause]

In February 1960, prime minister harold macmillan

Acknowledges reality in his now famous appearance at cape town.

Harold macmillan: The wind of change

Is blowing through this continent.

Whether we like it or not,

This growth of national consciousness

Is a political fact.

We must all accept it as a fact,

And our national policies must take account of it.

Narrator: The prime minister's remarks signal a new era.

[cheering]

In the 1960s, starting with nigeria,

The union flag comes down for good

In 24 british colonies.

[applause]

The queen's mission is realized as the former colonies

Voluntarily become members of the commonwealth of nations,

An organization which promotes

Maintaining economic and social links,

Rather than crown rule.

Britain's centuries of imperial ambition and dominance

Have come to an end.

The legacy of those centuries is mixed--

Extensive infrastructure,

Anglicanism as a worldwide faith,

English as a lingua franca,

But also a legacy of subjugated peoples,

Economic exploitation, and cultural repression.

The effects of the empire will be a long time fading.

As the empire's territory dwindles in the sixties,

A vivid cosmopolitan british culture is emerging.

[cheering]

Across the globe, there is a new kind of british invasion.

Bands like the beatles and the rolling stones

Rock the world.

[screaming]

The miniskirt, symbol of swinging london,

Rules high fashion and the street.

Fictional british agent james bond fills movie theaters.

[screaming]

And in 1966, the queen hands England's victorious soccer team

The world cup.

[cheering]

A cooler britannia rules the waves.