Episode 3 | Empire with David Olusoga

Duration: 59'30''

Synopsis

David Olusoga reveals how the Empire reached its maximum size after the First World War but within a generation had begun to collapse, as he uncovers the story of decolonisation.

Further Information

More clips from Empire with David Olusoga

Episode 1 | Empire with David Olusoga

Episode 1 | Empire with David Olusoga

BBC Two | 2025 | 59'35''

David Olusoga tells the story of the British Empire, from its origins under Elizabeth I to the establishment of colonies in America, th...

Episode 2 | Empire with David Olusoga

Episode 2 | Empire with David Olusoga

BBC Two | 2025 | 59'27''

David Olusoga reveals how the loss of the American colonies led to the colonisation of Australia and how the Indian indenture system wa...

Jamestown colony | Empire with David Olusoga

Jamestown colony | Empire with David Olusoga

BBC Two | 2025 | 8'42''

In Jamestown, David looks at evidence of the first English colonies in the Americas and their tobacco plantations.

Joint-Stock Companies | Empire with David Olusoga

Joint-Stock Companies | Empire with David Olusoga

BBC Two | 2025 | 5'00''

This clip discusses the joint-stock companies set up under Elizabeth I.

Transportation of Convicts to Australia | Empire with David Olusoga

Transportation of Convicts to Australia | Empire with David Olusoga

BBC Two | 2025 | 9'41''

David explains how Britian sent their problem convicts abroad to the colonies for cheap labour, and many ...

Treatment of Aboriginals in Australia | Empire with David Olusoga

Treatment of Aboriginals in Australia | Empire with David Olusoga

BBC Two | 2025 | 15'35''

David explains the horrendous treatment of the Aboriginal peoples of Tasmania by the British.

More resources about History

S01E02: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand | Days That Shook the World

S01E02: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand | Days That Shook the World

BBC Two | 2004 | 28'56''

How the duke's death led to the start of the First World War.

01: Medieval London | Filthy Cities

01: Medieval London | Filthy Cities

BBC Two | 2011 | 58'59''

Dan Snow gets down and dirty in medieval grime to discover how the London of today was forged in the filth of the 14th century.

04: The Battle Against the Spanish Armada | Battlefield Britain

04: The Battle Against the Spanish Armada | Battlefield Britain

BBC Two | 2004 | 58'48''

Peter and Dan Snow take a look at the battles that shaped our nation. Drake's unlikely sea victory against th...

Suffragettes with Lucy Worsley

Suffragettes with Lucy Worsley

BBC One | 2018 | 1'28'57''

Documentary, presented by Lucy Worsley, which uses dramatised testimony to tell the story of a group of working-class women conducting a dange...

S01E04: Hiroshima | Days That Shook the World

S01E04: Hiroshima | Days That Shook the World

BBC Four | 2003 | 59'15''

Documentary recalling 6 August 1945, when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, with testimony from American colonel Paul Tib...

04: Revolution | Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain

04: Revolution | Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain

BBC Two | 2007 | 59'20''

Andrew Marr revisits the Britain of Margaret Thatcher and comes to some surprising conclusions about the British nat...

Clare Balding's Secrets of a Suffragette

Clare Balding's Secrets of a Suffragette

Channel 4 | 2013 | 46'51''

In 1913 Suffragette Emily Davison stepped into the path of the King's horse at the Derby. Clare Balding examines the story of Emily,...

S01E06: Kristallnacht | Days That Shook the World

S01E06: Kristallnacht | Days That Shook the World

BBC Two | 2003 | 29'28''

Two days defined the fortunes of 20th-century Jews: Kristallnacht on September 9, 1938, a turning point in Nazi persecution...

02: The Land of Lost Content | Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain

02: The Land of Lost Content | Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain

BBC Two | 2007 | 58'44''

The 1950s were a period of apparent calm, order and prosperity for Britain, but much of the populace w...

03: Paradise Lost | Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain

03: Paradise Lost | Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain

BBC Two | 2007 | 58'34''

As the 1960s progress, Harold Wilson takes centre stage in a rapidly changing Britain as the country looks to a f...

01: Advance Britannia | Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain

01: Advance Britannia | Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain

BBC Two | 2007 | 59'10''

Andrew Marr revisits Britain in 1945 and finds the country victorious but nearly bankrupt, beginning a battle...

Hiroshima

Hiroshima

BBC Four | 2005 | 1'29'06''

Dramatic reconstruction of the devastating impact of the first atomic bomb to be used against people on the citizens of Hiroshima.

The Children Who Built Victorian Britain

The Children Who Built Victorian Britain

BBC Four | 2011 | 59'13''

Using animation and actual recorded testimony, historian Jane Humphries tells the story of the child workers whose exploitation was ...

Dunkirk (2017)

Dunkirk (2017)

BBC One | 2020 | 1'37'04''

Hundreds of thousands of British and Allied troops find themselves in an impossible situation. Christopher Nolan's epic wartime action thriller.

Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot

Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot

BBC One | 2002 | 27'58''

In a one-off precursor to his Historyonic's series, Nick Knowles gets a behind-the-scenes look at why a Yorkshire-born zealot called Guy Fa...

05: New Britannia | Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain

05: New Britannia | Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain

BBC Two | 2007 | 59'28''

In the final part of Andrew Marr's national saga, Britain enters the post-Thatcher era. Many have done well durin...

05: 1968 Vietnam | Peter and Dan Snow: 20th Century Battlefields

05: 1968 Vietnam | Peter and Dan Snow: 20th Century Battlefields

BBC Two | 2007 | 58'47''

Peter and Dan Snow reveal the techniques use by US marines to flush out Communist fighters who lived in a ne...

05: The Battle of Naseby | Battlefield Britain

05: The Battle of Naseby | Battlefield Britain

BBC Two | 2004 | 58'58''

Peter and Dan Snow take an in-depth look at the battles that shaped our nation using state-of-the-art graphics. They go back t...

The Somme: From Defeat to Victory

The Somme: From Defeat to Victory

BBC One | 2006 | 58'23''

Drama-documentary which offers a new perspective on the most infamous battle of World War I, revealing how it was on the Somme that the Bri...

S01E01: Black Death | Lucy Worsley Investigates

S01E01: Black Death | Lucy Worsley Investigates

BBC Two | 2022 | 59'05''

How did the Black Death change Britain? Lucy Worsley examines the latest science and explores how the huge death toll affecte...

More from David Olusoga

Newcastle Music Hall | A House Through Time

Newcastle Music Hall | A House Through Time

BBC Two | 2019 | 6'23''

David Olusoga investigates a time when 5 Ravensworth Terrace was used as a boarding house for stars of the music hall scene.

Episode 1 | Empire with David Olusoga

Episode 1 | Empire with David Olusoga

BBC Two | 2025 | 59'35''

David Olusoga tells the story of the British Empire, from its origins under Elizabeth I to the establishment of colonies in America, th...

03: The Two Nations | Union with David Olusoga

03: The Two Nations | Union with David Olusoga

BBC Two | 2023 | 59'09''

The 19th-century union appears secure, but beneath the surface run deep divisions, leading to the emergence of a new working-c...

02: Medical Drugs | Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer

02: Medical Drugs | Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer

BBC Four | 2021 | 53'15''

Documentary series about the effect of medicine on life expectancy. How knowledge gained from the discovery ...

The Unwanted: The Secret Windrush Files

The Unwanted: The Secret Windrush Files

BBC Two | 2019 | 58'55''

How black immigrants who made Britain their home came face to face with the government's 'hostile environment'. David Olusoga exposes...

08: The Cult of Progress | Civilisations

08: The Cult of Progress | Civilisations

BBC Two | 2018 | 59'00''

David Olusoga explores the artistic reaction to imperialism in the 19th century.

Shifting historical opinions on the British Empire | A Timewatch Guide

Shifting historical opinions on the British Empire | A Timewatch Guide

BBC Four | 2017 | 5'58''

David Olusoga explains how historical perspectives of the British Empire have shifted through time.

Revolution of African-American slaves | Black and British: A Forgotten History

Revolution of African-American slaves | Black and British: A Forgotten History

BBC Two | 2016 | 5'54''

David Olusoga investigates American Independence and the revolution of the African slaves.

The beginnings of the British slave trade | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners

The beginnings of the British slave trade | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners

BBC Two | 2015 | 3'23''

David Olusoga investigates the beginnings of the British slave trade in Barbados.

02: Foreign Legions | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire

02: Foreign Legions | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire

BBC Two | 2014 | 59'00''

In part two, historian David Olusoga explains how the First World War spread far beyond the mud and trenc...