Day Course Details

Back to List Make Booking Enquiry
Course: The Empire Builders - Mid-Victorian Crises: The Crimean War & Indian Mutiny
Tutor: Mike Shaw
Date: Saturday 31 March
Fee: £46
Book 5 or more of Mike Shaw’s day courses in this programme and save £4 on each

The British Empire post the Battle of Waterloo was an essentially Georgian affair run at arm’s length by Government. In mid-century, in the early days of Queen Victoria’s reign, it received two shocks: Russian incursion into the Eastern Mediterranean and Revolt in India. This day course considers how these crises developed, the deficiencies they exposed in the old way of ‘doing things’ and the resultant changes they brought about in how the British defended their interests and administered their empire. All-comers welcome.

The Age of Discovery & The Empire Builders
Through the current programme military historian Mike Shaw will present two series of standalone day courses. The first series will consider The Age of Discovery when navigators from Western Europe explored routes to the Indian Ocean and co-incidentally discovered the new world of the Americas. The series will see how superior technology helped to establish trading and, latterly, colonial empires. The series ends with the search for the northern passages and the race for the Poles. Presentations at roughly two months’ frequency with titles including: The Early Navigators, The Mercantile Empires, John Company and India, Europe and the New World, and finally, The Northern Passages and Conquest of the Poles. A separate but related series starts on Saturday 3 December entitled The Empire Builders in which he will consider Britain’s expeditionary wars and accidental empire. Studies will include: America and the Loss of the Colonies, The British Army in the Napoleonic Wars, Mid-Victorian Crises: the Crimea and Indian Mutiny, All the Queen’s Men: Policing the Empire and, finally, The Troublesome Frontier: Zulu and Boer

Tutor Information

Mike Shaw

Mike Shaw was a regular soldier for over 30 years and has been a keen historian all his life. As an ex-senior officer he has an insider=s view on how both Whitehall and the military make their decisions. He is an expert on how technology and tactics interact - more importantly however, is the way he tells the story!

Back to List Make Booking Enquiry
Telephone Bookings 01460 258613 Click the link below to view our residential courses.

Residential Courses