The British Empire in fiction

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Main article: The British Empire

The British Empire has often been portrayed in fiction. Originally such works described the Empire because it was a contemporary part of life; nowadays fictional references are also frequently made in a steampunk context.

Contents 1 Historical events 1.1 Prose 1.2 Films 1.3 Television 2 Period fiction 2.1 Prose 2.2 Theatre 2.3 Audio 2.4 Films 2.5 Television 3 Fantastical fiction 3.1 Prose 3.2 Comics 3.3 Audio 3.4 Films 3.5 Television 3.6 Computer games 4 Alternative histories 4.1 Prose 4.2 Comics 4.3 Audio 4.4 Television

[edit] Historical events

This section includes fiction that attempts to re-create historical events.

This is an incomplete list. Please add significant examples in order of date published

[edit] Prose

• "The Diamond Rock" (1950) by Geoffrey Bennett is set around the garrisoning of Diamond Rock in the Caribbean during the Napoleonic Wars.
• "Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian" (1972) by Richard Hough is a novel describing the events on the Bounty in 1789.
• "Dark Eagle : A Novel of Benedict Arnold and the American Revolution" (1999) by John Ensor Harr is a historical account of Benedict Arnold.
• "Rise to Rebellion" (2001) and "The Glorious Cause" (2002) Are a duology by Jeff Shaara retelling the American Revolution.
• "Benedict Arnold: A Drama of the American Revolution in Five Acts" (2005) by Robert Zubrin is another historical account of Benedict Arnold, attempting to humanize him and show his multiple dimensions.
• "Young Bloods" (2006) by Simon Scarrow narrates mostly in alternate chapters, the story of a young Anglo-Irish nobleman Arthur Wesley and the Corsican cadet Naboleone Buonaparte.
• "The Generals" (2007) by Simon Scarrow sequal to "Young Bloods".

[edit] Films

• "The Mutiny of the Bounty" (1916), "In the Wake of the Bounty" (1933), "The Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935), "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1962) and "The Bounty" (1984) are all film versions of the story of the mutiny on the Bounty in 1789.
• "Allegheny Uprising" (1939) John Wayne plays real-life James Smith, an American coping with British rule in colonial America. The film is loosely based on a historical event known as the Black Boy Uprising during the 1760s.
• "The Scarlet Coat" (1955) Film directed by John Sturges, focused on Benedict Arnold.
• "John Paul Jones" (1959) a biographical epic film about John Paul Jones, the US Navy Officer during the American Revolution.
• "La Fayette" (1961) Biography of the Marquis de La Fayette, a French diplomat during the American Revolution.
• "Zulu" (1964) is set during the British defence of Rorke's Drift during the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879. Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded in the action, the most ever awarded to a regiment in a single battle, thus ensuring its place in British military history.
• "Zulu Dawn" (1979) is a prequel to the film Zulu set during the Battle of Isandlwana in 1879 during the Anglo-Zulu War.
• "Gandhi" (1982) about the life of Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the non-violent resistance movement against British colonial rule in India during the first half of the 20th century.
• "Sardar" (1993) a biopic of Vallabhbhai Patel, a political and social leader of India who played a major role in the country's struggle for independence.
• "The Making of the Mahatma" (1996) about Gandhi's experiences in South Africa.
• "Jinnah" (1998) about the life of the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
• "The Crossing" (2000) about George Washington crossing the Delaware River and the Battle of Trenton in 1776.
• "Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar " (2000) about the life of B. R. Ambedkar, an instrumental figure in the Indian Independence movement.
• "Veer Savarkar" (2000) about the life of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, an instrumental figure in the Indian Independence movement.
• "The Legend of Bhagat Singh" (2002) is a Bollywood dramatization of the life of Bhagat Singh.
• "Mangal Pandey: The Rising" (2005) is based on the life of Mangal Pandey and details his role as a leader in the Indian rebellion of 1857 which led to the downfall of the British East India Company.

[edit] Television

• "George Washington" (1983) TV miniseries starring Barry Bostwick.
• "Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor" (2003) is a dramatization of the life of Benedict Arnold who plotted to surrender the American fort at West Point, New York to the British during the American Revolution in 1780.

[edit] Period fiction

This section deals with fictional characters set within the wider backdrop of the British Empire.

This is an incomplete list. Please add significant examples in order of date published

[edit] Prose

• The Leatherstocking Tales (1823 onwards) by James Fenimore Cooper are a series of novels set in colonial North America between 1744 and 1804 featuring the hero Natty Bumppo. The most famous of the series is "The Last of the Mohicans" set during the French and Indian War.
• "Peter Simple" (1834) by Frederick Marryat is about a young British midshipman during the Napoleonic wars. It was originally released in a serialized form in 1833.
• Jules Verne's "Around the World in Eighty Days" (1873) is in many ways a travelogue of the British Empire as it was at the time of writing - as symbolised by the act that the protagonists travel halfway around the world and still remain within British territory where British law runs, (and then they go to Japan which at the time of writing was under strong British influence, and from there to the Unites States, a country created by breakaway British colonists).
• "King Solomon's Mines" (1885) introduces Alan Quatermain - a British explorer, but who displays a remarkably modern attitude to de-colonialization, and shows a great respect for the African cultures. Nevertheless he is a patriot.
• The exploits of Sherlock Holmes (1887 onwards) often involve the Empire. He is asked to save it from treachery in The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans and His Last Bow, where it is revealed that his brother does work for the Foreign Office.
• "The Man Who Would Be King" (1888) two deserters from the British Army discover a hidden kingdom in the mountains and pretend to be gods to control (and rob) the natives.
• "The Sandokan novels" (1888 onwards) by Emilio Salgari portray the eponymous fictional pirate in his struggles against the British and The Netherlands Empires.
• "The Light that Failed" (1890) by Rudyard Kipling. Most of the novel is set in London, but many important events throughout the story occur in Sudan or India.
• "The White Man's Burden" (1899) a poem describing empire as the duty and burden of white men.
• "Heart of Darkness (1899) a reflection on the savage Belgian empire compared to Britain's and the many kinds of evil perceived to be in Africa.
• "Kim" (1901) by Rudyard Kipling portrays an orphan of British descent becoming a spy for Britain. A commentary on how 'British' you can be when you are born overseas.
• "The Four Feathers" (1902) by A.E.W. Mason tells the story of British officer Harry Faversham, who resigns his commission from his regiment just prior to the Battle of Omdurman, in the Sudan, in 1898. He questions his own true motives, and resolves to redeem himself in combat, traveling on his own to the Sudan.
• "The Tree of Liberty" (1905) by Elizabeth Page set during the American Revolution.
• Sanders of the River (1911) by Edgar Wallace, highly popular at the time, and its various sequels - The People of the River (1911), Bosambo of the River (1914), Bones of the River (1923), Sanders (1926), Again Sanders (1928) - focus on the adventures of a British governor in a fictional African colony loosely modeled on Nigeria, where British power in maintained by gunboats sailing up and down a major river. The protagonist is not gratuitously cruel, and by the standards of his time is open-minded towards the culture of the African tribes under his rule. Nevertheless, he (like the author and the general British public at the time) takes for granted the right of Britain to rule over the natives and the necessity of using brute force against any attempt at rebellion.
• "King of the Khyber Rifles" (1916) by Talbot Mundy. Athelstan King is a secret agent for the British Raj at the beginning of the First World War.
• "A Passage to India" (1924) by E M Forster set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement in the 1920s.
• Death to the French (1932) by C. S. Forester is set during the Peninsula War about a British rifleman behind the French lines.
• "Arundel" (1933) and its sequel "Rabble in Arms" (1945) by Kenneth Roberts take place during the campaign to capture Quebec early in the American Revolution.
• "Drums Along the Mohawk" (1936) by Walter D. Edmonds is set in the Mohawk River Valley during the American Revolution and includes a fictitious representation of the siege of Fort Stanwix.
• The Hornblower Series (1937 onwards) by C. S. Forester chronicle the life of Horatio Hornblower, an officer in the Royal Navy, during the Napoleonic Wars.
• "Northwest Passage " (1937) by Kenneth Roberts centres on the exploits and character of Robert Rogers, the leader of Rogers' Rangers, who were a colonial force fighting with the British during the French and Indian War.
• "Oliver Wiswell" (1940) by Kenneth Roberts shows American Revolution from a loyalist's perspective.
• "Johnny Tremain" (1943) Children's novel by Esther Forbes, retells in narrative form the final years in Boston, Massachusetts, prior to the outbreak of the American Revolution.
• "Nightrunners of Bengal" (1951) by John Masters is set at the time of the The Indian Rebellion of 1857. The central character, Captain Rodney Savage, is an officer in a Bengal Native Infantry regiment.
• "Bhowani Junction" (1952) by John Masters set amidst the turbulence of the British withdrawal from India.
• "The Deceivers" (1952) by John Masters on the Thuggee movement in India during British imperial rule.
• "April Morning" (1961) by Howard Fast depicting the Battle of Lexington and Concord from the perspective of a fictional teenager, Adam Cooper.
• Raj Quartet (1965 onwards) is a four-volume novel sequence by Paul Scott about the concluding years of the British Raj in India.
• "Tai-Pan" (1966) by James Clavell is the second book in Clavell's Asian Saga. It concerns European and American traders who move into Hong Kong in 1841 following the end of the first Opium War.
• "Bring Larks and Heroes" (1988) by Thomas Keneally winner of the Miles Franklin Award, set in an unidentified British penal colony.
• The Flashman Series (1969 onwards) by George MacDonald Fraser shows the British Empire between 1839 and 1891 and from the eyes of the dastardly Flashman - the bully from Tom Brown's Schooldays. Many famous people from the time are mentioned usually in a bad light, or with flaws (e.g. Lord Cardigan, in Flashman and Flashman at the Charge)
• "The Ravi Lancers" (1972) by John Masters concerns an Indian regiment which is sent to Western Front of the First World War.
• "Botany Bay" (1973) by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall concerning the colonization of Australia in the 18th century.
• "The Siege of Krishnapur" (1973) by J.G. Farrell is a satirical novel set during the siege of an Indian town during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 from three perspectives: the British, the Indian sepoys and the Indian princes. Its point of view is very much of the early 1970s and, in its dealings with the Empire.
• The Kent Family Chronicles (also known as The Bicentennial Series) (1974-1979) Are a series of eight novels by John Jakes written to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. The first two novels, "The Bastard" (1974) and "The Rebels" (1975) are set during the American Revolution.
• "A Flight of Pigeons" by Ruskin Bond (1975) set against the backdrop of the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny.
• "The Thorn Birds" by Colleen McCullough (1977) Set in various places including New Zealand at the end of 18th century.
• "The Far Pavilions" (1978) by M. M. Kaye is the story of an English officer during the Great Game. Based partly on biographical writings of the author's grandfather.
• "Noble House" (1981) by James Clavell is an epic novel set in Hong Kong in 1963.
• The Sharpe Series (1981 onwards) A series of books which follow the career of Richard Sharpe from India, through the Napoleonic Wars and beyond.
• "The Playmaker" (1988) by Thomas Keneally set in Australia in 1789 and details a croup of convicts staging a play.
• "Cracking India" (1991) by Bapsi Sidhwa details the Indian Independence movement through the eyes of young Lenny Sethna.
• "Water" (2006) by Bapsi Sidhwa set in 1938 India.
• "The Mutiny" (2007) by Julian Rathbone set during the 1857 mutiny.

[edit] Theatre

• "H.M.S. Pinafore" (1878) by Gilbert and Sullivan is a comic opera and satire set aboard the (fictional) eponymous Royal Navy vessel.
• "The Devil's Disciple" (1901) by George Bernard Shaw is the fictional story of Richard Dudgeon, a Patriot in the Revolutionary War.
• "1776" (1969) Broadway musical set during the American Revolution.
• "Our Country's Good" (1988) by British playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker telling the story of Convictism in Australia in the late 1780s.

[edit] Audio

• "Revolting People" (2000-2006) is a BBC Radio 4 situation comedy set in colonial Baltimore, Maryland, just before the American Revolutionary War.
• "The Jewel in the Crown" (2005) is a BBC Radio 4 adaptation of the first book of The Raj Quartet.

[edit] Films

• "The Last of the Mohicans" (1909 and onwards) is one of many a dramatizations of the second of the Leatherstocking Tales series.
• 1776, or The Hessian Renegades (1909) film by D.W. Griffith set during the American Revolution.
• "The Four Feathers" (1915 onwards) Seven film adaptations have been made of the M. M. Kaye novel.
• "Scouting for Washington" (1917) Film set during the American Revolution made by Edison Studios.
• "The Spirit of '76" (1917) Film set during the American Revolution.
• "Cardigan" (1922) Film set during the American Revolution.
• "The Green Goddess" (1923 and 1930) are two films depicting a group of British citizens who crash in India and are threatened with execution by the local Raja.
• "America" (1924) D W Griffith's unsuccessful film set during the American Revolution.
• "Bonnie Scotland" (1935) A comedy which sees Laurel and Hardy join a Scottish regiment and sent to India.
• "Gunga Din" (1939) loosely based on the poem by Rudyard Kipling combined with elements of his novel "Soldiers Three". The film is about three British sergeants and their native water bearer who fight the Thuggee, a religious cult of ritualistic stranglers in colonial India.
• "The Buccaneer" (1938 and 1958) Two fictionalized films of the pirate Jean Lafitte during the War of 1812.
• "Drums Along the Mohawk" (1939) An adaptation of the novel.
• "Sons of Liberty" (1939) Film set during the American Revolution staring Claude Rains and Gale Sondergaard, directed by Michael Curtiz.
• "The Howards of Virginia" (1940) An adaptation of "The Tree of Liberty".
• "The Black Swan" (1942) a fictionalized account of Henry Morgan after he was made Governor of Jamaica, loosely based on the novel of the same name.
• "Kim" (1950) An adaptation of the Kipling novel starring Errol Flynn.
• "The Planter's Wife" (1952) about a family living in British Malaya.
• "King of the Khyber Rifles" (1952) A half-caste British officer in 19th-century India battles the prejudices of both his Army colleagues and the local populace while trying to help put down a rebellion led by a greedy local ruler. Adapted from the Talbot Mundy novel.
• "Bhowani Junction" (1956) is an adaptation of the novel set amidst the turbulence of the British withdrawal from India.
• "Johnny Tremain" (1957) Film adaptation of the novel starring Hal Stalmaster and directed by Robert Stevenson.
• "The Devil's Disciple" (1959) An adaptation of the play.
• "John Paul Jones" (1959) Film directed by John Farrow, starring Robert Stack and Charles Coburn. Set during the American Revolution.
• "HMS Defiant" (1962) about a mutiny aboard the fictitious ship of the title during the Napoleonic Wars.
• "Guns at Batasi" (1964) set in Africa during the last days of the Empire.
• "Chingachgook the Great Serpent" (1967) is an East German adaptation of one of the Leatherstocking Tales.
• "1776" (1969) Film adaptation of the Broadway musical.
• "The Man Who Would Be King" (1975) A film of the novel.
• "Junoon" (1978) chronicles the period of 1857 to 1858 when the soldiers of the East India Company mutinied and many smaller kingdoms joined the soldiers in the hope of regaining their territories from the British.
• "Gallipoli" (1981) Australian film, directed by Peter Weir and starring Mel Gibson, about several young men from rural Western Australia who enlist in the Australian Imperial Force during the First World War. They are sent to Turkey, where they take part in the Battle of Gallipoli.
• "Kranti" (1981) A film taking place in 19th century British India and is the story of the fight for independence from the British in the years spanning from 1825 to 1875. It tells the story of two men who led the war against British Rule, Sanga (Dilip Kumar) and Bharat (Manoj Kumar) both of whom call themselves Kranti.
• "A Passage to India" (1984) film of the book of the same name.
• "Kim" (1984) A second adaptation of the Kipling novel.
• "Revolution" (1985) stars Al Pacino as a New York fur trapper during the American Revolutionary War.
• "Tai-Pan" (1986) is an adaptation of the novel.
• "April Morning" (1987) Adaptation of the novel starring Chad Lowe, Tommy Lee Jones, and Robert Urich.
• "The Deceivers" (1988) a film of the novel by John Masters on the Thuggee movement in India during British imperial rule.
• "Earth" (1998) is set in Lahore before and during the partition of India.
• "The Patriot" (2000) is a fictional film about a farmer who fights against the British during the American Revolution based very loosely on Francis Marion.
• "Hey Ram" (2000) a film set against the backdrop of the Indian Independence movement.
• "Lagaan" (2001) set in late 19th century India follows a cricket game between British officers and Indian locals.
• "Kisna: The Warrior Poet" (2005) set during the last days of the British in India.
• "Water" (2005) a film set in 1938 India and a sequel to the 1998 film "Earth".

[edit] Television

• "The Buccaneers" (1956) A series about a reformed pirate in the early 18th century.
• "Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans" (1957) one of several dramatizations loosely based the Leatherstocking Tales series. Another well known adaptation is the 1971 BBC version.
• "The Swamp Fox" (1959–1960) TV series produced by Walt Disney and starring Leslie Nielsen. Nielsen played the role of American Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion.
• "Daniel Boone" (1964–1970) TV series loosely depicting the life of Daniel Boone.
• "The Recruiting Officer" (1965 and 1973) Two adaptations of the play.
• "The Young Rebels" (1970–1971) Television Series about a group of youthful guerrillas fighting on the Patriot side in the American Revolutionary War.
• "Sandokan" (1976) is a loose adaptations of the novel series, with the hero a prince fighting for independence for his island from the British.
• "The Far Pavilions" (1983) a three part television adaptation of the book.
• "The Jewel in the Crown" (1984) is a reflection on Indian independence and the post imperial feelings in Britain when the series was produced. Based on the first book of The Raj Quartet.
• "Noble House" (1988) is an adaptation of the novel set in the late 80s.
• "Sharpe" (1993 onwards) Adventure TV series starring the dashing Richard Sharpe, played by Sean Bean. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, the series regularly attracted high profile guest stars.
• "The American Revolution" (1994), TV miniseries starring Kelsey Grammer and Charles Durning; directed by Lisa Bourgoujian.
• "Hornblower" (1998 onwards) is a series of loose adaptations of the novels.
• "All the King's Men" (1999) BBC dramatization of the disappearance in action of the Sandringham Company at Gallipoli in 1915.
• "Liberty's Kids" (2002 onwards) A 40-part children's animated television series produced by DiC Entertainment set during the American Revolution.

[edit] Fantastical fiction

This section also has works with fictional characters set in the Empire, but also include supernatural or fantastical elements.

This is an incomplete list. Please add significant examples in order of date published

[edit] Prose

• "The War of the Worlds" (1898) by H.G. Wells is a classic novel in which Martian invaders land in the early years of the 20th century, occupy London and much of England for several months and use the inhabitants as food animals.
• "The Anubis Gates" (1983) by Tim Powers shows the exploits of the empire in Egypt lead to a magical revenge plotted by Egyptian natives, but their failure to destroy the Empire leaves gates in time, which are exploited by businessmen in the twentieth century.
• "Great Work of Time" (1991) by John Crowley, a secret society created by the will of Cecil Rhodes attains time travel, enabling it to prevent the two World Wars and preserve the British Empire until the end of the twentieth century - though creating difficult new problems.
• "Anno Dracula" (1992) by Kim Newman takes place in a world where Count Dracula was not killed by van Helsing and has gone on to court and marry Queen Victoria, ushering in a new age of vampirism in the world.
• "Soldier of the Queen" (1996) by Barbara Hambly is a spin-off from the Wells classic The War of the Worlds included in the "War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches" anthology. It depicts the Martian invasion of India and ends with Gandhi using the situation to gain Indian Independence nearly fifty years ahead of our timeline.
• "Dowager Empress of China" (1996) by Walter Jon Williams Another story in the War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches collection. It ends with the Chinese using the same situation to successfully shake off British and other European colonial tutelage, and become a major world power already in the early 1900s.
• In "Darwinia" (1998), by Robert Charles Wilson, Europe (including Britain) suddenly disappears in 1912 and is replaced by a strange land, of roughly the same shape but without humans and with very strange flora and fauna. In the resulting world, Lord Kitchener manages to hold together the British Empire despite the loss of its centre and despite revolts in Egypt and other colonies, and embarks on the re-colonization of Britain (the rebuilt London is mentioned as "a wild frontier town of several tens of thousands' population").
• "The Witches of Chiswick" (2003) by Robert Rankin is a time-travelling adventure story taking place primarily in the 19th and 23rd centuries.
• The Bartimaeus Trilogy (2003, 2004, and 2005) by Jonathan Stroud is set in an alternate present in which magicians are the ruling-class of Britain and its Empire. Open rebellion at home and in the American colonies takes place in "Ptolemy's Gate", the third book of the trilogy.
• "Larklight" (2006) by Philip Reeve is set in a Victorian era universe, where mankind has been exploring the solar system since the time of Isaac Newton.
• The Temeraire (series) (2006 onwards) by Naomi Novik is set during an alternate history version of the Napoleonic Wars, in which dragons not only exist but are used as a staple of aerial warfare in Asia and Europe.

[edit] Comics

• Heart of Empire (1999) by Bryan Talbot is the sequel to "The Adventures of Luther Arkwright" and is set mostly in a parallel world where due to an extension of the English Civil War, Britain did not gain an Empire until the early 21st century.
• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (1999) by Alan Moore depicts an empire protected by Dr. Jekyll, Alan Quartermain and other fictional characters from Victorian fiction.
• Scarlet Traces (2002) and its sequel Scarlet Traces: The Great Game (2006) by Ian Edginton and D'Israeli are Steampunk sequels to H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds in which Martian technology has been exploited by Britain.
• Ministry of Space (2004) by Warren Ellis envisions a post-World War II Britain which uses captured German men and assets to start a space program that spreads the British Empire throughout the solar system by the end of the century.

[edit] Audio

• Jubilee, a 2003 Doctor Who audio play, is set in an alternate world in which a new "English Empire" emerged after the Doctor defeated a Dalek invasion in 1903.
• The "Space 1889" audio dramas (2005 onwards) are based on the roleplaying game where Thomas Edison invented a means of traveling between planets and the major European powers have each established colonies in space.

[edit] Films

• "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (1984) is set in India in 1935.
• The Pirates of the Caribbean films (2003, 2005, 2007) feature the British Empire in all three. In the first film the Royal Navy and the character of Commodore Norrington feature a minor role in helping the heroes, in the second and third the British East India Company takes the place of side villains of the film, with the West Indies chairman Lord Cutler Beckett as the main antagonist.
• "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" (2003), a film adaptation of the Alan Moore comic.
• "Steamboy" (2004) - An anime film which features the British government and Robert Stephenson developing Steampunk machinery to use against a large arm-dealing empire in the heart of London.

[edit] Television

• "The Time Tunnel" episodes "The Last Patrol" (1966), "The Night Of The Long Knives" (1966) and "Raiders From Outer Space" (1967) all feature the protagonists travelling to periods involving the Empire.
• "Dr Who" episode "Pyramids of Mars" (1975) is set in Egypt in 1911.
• "Sandokan" (1992 and 1998) are two children’s animated versions of the novel series, with the hero a prince fighting for independence for his island from the British.
• "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" (1992-1993) features several episodes set in the British Empire.
• "The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne" (2000) a science fiction television series depicting the revelation that Jules Verne did not merely write the stories behind his famous science fiction classic books, but actually experienced these adventures personally.

[edit] Computer games

• "Age of Empires III" (2005) and its expansions feature campaigns set at various stages of British history including the Seven Years' War, American Revolution and Indian Mutiny.

[edit] Alternative histories

This section details books that examine what would have happened if history had unfolded differently. The most common difference is the supposition that the British won the American War of Independence. It also includes Invasion literature, a genre that was popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that speculated on a (then) future invasion of the Empire by another world power.

This is an incomplete list. Please add significant examples in order of date published

[edit] Prose

• "The Battle of Dorking" (1871) by George Tomkyns Chesney established a new genre of fiction relating to the Empire - invasion literature, in which various powers attempt (or succeed) to invade Britain or the Empire. In The Battle of Dorking this is an unnamed power that happens to speak German, catches Britain off guard and leaves Dorking devastated for fifty years.
• "The Great War in England in 1897" (1894) by William Le Queux is another invasion literature novel depicting the invasion of Britain by the French with their Cossack allies, with the invading forces penetrating into London - but the British saved in the nick of time by the intervention of their staunch German allies led by the Kaiser...
• "Last and First Men" (1930) by Olaf Stapledon, a vast vision of humanity's future, mentions the British Empire surviving well into the twenty-first century but becoming increasingly loose, until a cataclysmic war with the United States in which Britain (and the whole of Europe) are destroyed by poison gas. In this war Canada sides with the US; South Africa, India and Australia declare neutrality; while New Zealand remains loyal to Britain and wages a year-long hopeless resistance.
• "The Shape of Things to Come" (1934) by H. G. Wells, is a future history at the time, The Second World War ends in 1950 with a stalemate and a general collapse of all warring sides. The British Empire retains a shadowy existence (an explicit comparison is made to the last years of the Roman Empire), and until the end of the 1970s sends occasional "Imperial Envoys" to what it still claims as its colonies and protectorates - but exercises little actual power, and is eventually swept away by an emerging world state.
• "He Walked Around the Horses" (1948) by H. Beam Piper features alternate history timeline where the American War of Independence and the French Revolution were both suppressed and there were no Napoleonic Wars.
• "The Warlord of the Air" (1971) by Michael Moorcock concerns the adventures of Oswald Bastable, an Edwardian-era soldier stationed in India, and his adventures in an alternate universe wherein the First World War never happened and the British Empire, knit together by airships, still dominates the world and acquires new territory. (Ecuador is mentioned as a British colony.)
• "A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!" (1972) by Harry Harrison. The American War of Independence fails and mainland America and Britain are joined by a tunnel.
• "For Want of a Nail: If Burgoyne Had Won at Saratoga" (1973) by Robert Sobel depicts an alternate history in which John Burgoyne emerged victorious from the Battle of Saratoga, ultimately defeating the American rebels.
• "The Difference Engine" (1990) by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling posits an Empire that developed digital computers a century earlier, and where America split into several other countries rendering it vastly less powerful than Britain.
• "The Two Georges" (1995) by Harry Turtledove & Richard Dreyfuss depicts an alternate history world in which the American War of Independence did not take place thanks to a constitutional settlement worked out in the early 1770s.
• "The Peshawar Lancers" (2002) by S. M. Stirling, has a timeline where a heavy meteor falls in 1878 devastating the northern hemisphere, with survivors degenerating into savagery and cannibalism, but the British Empire succeeded in moving its centre to India. With its capital in Delhi, what is now known as The Angrezi Raj is still the dominant world power in the 21st century, with its ruling classes increasingly tending to adopt Indian cultural traits such as the taboo on eating beef.
• "The Year of the Hangman" (2002) by Gary Blackwood, an alternative history in which Washington was killed and the rebels lost the War of Independence.
• The Code Geass anime series (see below) contains the novel "Our Days" (2006).
• Pax Britannia (2007 onwards) by Jonathan Green and Al Ewing is a novel series published by Abaddon Books set in a modern steampunk world where the British Empire, and Queen Victoria, still rule the world.

[edit] Comics

• "Ministry of Space" (2001) depicts a world where the British benefited from Nazi technological research instead of the US and Russia, winning them the space race and preserving the Empire.
• The Code Geass anime series (see below) contain the manga books "Lelouch of the Rebellion", "Suzaku of the Counterattack" and "Nightmare of Nunnally" all published in 2006.

[edit] Audio

• The Code Geass anime series (see below) contain the radio series' "The Rebellion Diary" and "Lots about the Rebellion" broadcast in 2006.

[edit] Television

• The "Sliders" episode "The Prince of Wails" (1995) takes place on an alternate history world in which the American Revolution was won by the British.
• "Code Geass - Lelouch of the Rebellion" (2006) is an anime depicting a futuristic British Empire based in North America after being driven out of the British Isles that had conquered one-third of the world's landmass including Japan, Greenland, New Zealand, Philippines, the Americas and parts of the Middle East under absolute monarchy.

v • d • e British Empire and Commonwealth of Nations Legend Current territory  ·   Former territory * now a Commonwealth Realm  ·   now a member of the Commonwealth of Nations Europe  18th century 1708-1757  Minorca since 1713  Gibraltar 1782-1802  Minorca 19th century 1800-1964  Malta 1807-1890  Heligoland 1809-1864  Ionian Islands 1878-1960  Cyprus 20th century since 1960  Akrotiri and Dhekelia North America  16th century 1583-1907  Newfoundland 17th century 1607-1776  Thirteen Colonies since 1619  Bermuda 1670-1870  Rupert's Land 18th century Canada (British Imperial)    1763-1791  Quebec    1791-1841  Lower Canada    1791-1841  Upper Canada 19th century Canada (British Imperial)    1841-1867  Province of Canada    1849-1866  Vancouver Island    1858-1871  British Columbia    1859-1870  North-Western Territory    1862-1863  Stikine Territory *Canada (post-Confederation)    1867-1931  Dominion of Canada1 20th century *Canada (post-Confederation)    1907-1934  Dominion of Newfoundland2 1 In 1931, Canada and other British dominions obtained self-government through the Statute of Westminster. 'Dominion' remains Canada's legal title; see Canada's name. 2 Remained a de jure dominion until 1949 (when it became a Canadian province); from 1934 to 1949, Newfoundland was governed by the Commission of Government. Latin America and the Caribbean  17th century 1605-1979  *Saint Lucia 1623-1883  Saint Kitts (*Saint Kitts & Nevis) 1624-1966  *Barbados 1625-1650  Saint Croix 1627-1979  *St. Vincent and the Grenadines 1628-1883  Nevis (*Saint Kitts & Nevis) 1629-1641  St. Andrew and Providence Islands3 since 1632  Montserrat 1632-1860  Antigua(*Antigua & Barbuda) 1643-1860  Bay Islands since 1650  Anguilla 1651-1667  Willoughbyland (Suriname) 1655-1850  Mosquito Coast (protectorate) 1655-1962  *Jamaica since 1666  British Virgin Islands since 1670  Cayman Islands 1670-1973  *Bahamas 1670-1688  St. Andrew and Providence Islands3 1671-1816  Leeward Islands 18th century 1762-1974  *Grenada 1763-1978  Dominica since 1799  Turks and Caicos Islands 19th century 1831-1966  British Guiana (Guyana) 1833-1960  Windward Islands 1833-1960  Leeward Islands 1860-1981  *Antigua and Barbuda 1871-1964  British Honduras (*Belize) 1882-1983  *St. Kitts and Nevis 1889-1962  Trinidad and Tobago 20th century 1958-1962  West Indies Federation 3 Now the San Andrés y Providencia Department of Colombia. Africa  18th century 1792-1961  Sierra Leone 1795-1803  Cape Colony 19th century 1806-1910  Cape Colony 1816-1965  Gambia 1856-1910  Natal 1868-1966  Basutoland (Lesotho) 1874-1957  Gold Coast (Ghana) 1882-1922  Egypt 1884-1966  Bechuanaland (Botswana) 1884-1960  British Somaliland 1887-1897  Zululand 1888-1894  Matabeleland 1890-1980  Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) 1890-1962  Uganda 1890-1963  Zanzibar (Tanzania) 1891-1964  Nyasaland (Malawi) 1891-1907  British Central Africa 1893-1968  Swaziland 1895-1920  British East Africa 1899-1956  Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 20th century 1900-1914  Northern Nigeria 1900-1914  Southern Nigeria 1900-1910  Orange River Colony 1900-1910  Transvaal Colony 1906-1954  Nigeria Colony 1910-1931  South Africa 1911-1964  Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) 1914-1954  Nigeria Protectorate 1915-1931  South West Africa (Namibia) 1919-1960  Cameroons (Cameroon) 4 1920-1963  Kenya 1922-1961  Tanganyika (Tanzania) 4 1954-1960  Nigeria 4 League of Nations mandate. Asia  18th century 1757-1947  Bengal (West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh) 1762-1764  Philippines 1795-1948  Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1796-1965  Maldives 19th century 1819-1826  British Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore) 1826-1946  Straits Settlements 1839-1967  Colony of Aden 1841-1997  Hong Kong 1841-1941  Kingdom of Sarawak (Malaysia) 1858-1947  British India (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Burma) 1882-1963  British North Borneo (Malaysia) 1885-1946  Unfederated Malay States 1891-1971  Muscat and Oman protectorate 1892-1971  Trucial States protectorate 1895-1946  Federated Malay States 1898-1930  Weihai Garrison 20th century 1918-1961  Kuwait protectorate 1920-1932  Iraq4 1921-1946  Transjordan4 1923-1948  Palestine4 1946-1948  Malayan Union 1946-1963  Sarawak (Malaysia) 1948-1957  Federation of Malaya (Malaysia) since 1965  British Indian Ocean Territory 4 League of Nations mandate. Oceania  18th century 1788-1901  New South Wales 19th century 1803-1901  Van Diemen's Land/Tasmania 1807-1863  Auckland Islands6 1824-1980  New Hebrides (Vanuatu) 1824-1901  Queensland 1829-1901  Swan River Colony/Western Australia 1836-1901  South Australia since 1838  Pitcairn Islands 1840-1907  *Colony of New Zealand 1850-1901  Victoria (Australia) 1874-1970  Fiji5 1877-1976  British Western Pacific Territories 1884-1949  Territory of Papua 1888-1965  Cook Islands6 1888-1984  Sultanate of Brunei 1889-1948  Union Islands (Tokelau)6 1892-1979  Gilbert and Ellice Islands7 1893-1978  British Solomon Islands8 20th century 1900-1970  Tonga (protected state) 1900-1974  Niue6 1901-1942  *Commonwealth of Australia 1907-1953  *Dominion of New Zealand 1919-1949  Territory of New Guinea 1949-1975  Territory of Papua and New Guinea9 5 Suspended member. 6 Now part of the *Realm of New Zealand. 7 Now Kiribati and *Tuvalu. 8 Now the *Solomon Islands. 9 Now *Papua New Guinea. Antarctica and South Atlantic  17th century since 1659  St. Helena (On African Continent) 19th century since 1815  Ascension Island9 (On African Continent) since 1816  Tristan da Cunha9 (On African Continent) since 1833  Falkland Islands11 (South America) 20th century since 1908  British Antarctic Territory10 since 1908  South Georgia and                     the South Sandwich Islands10, 11 9 Dependencies of St. Helena since 1922 (Ascension Island) and 1938 (Tristan da Cunha). 10 Both claimed in 1908; territories formed in 1962 (British Antarctic Territory) and 1985 (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands). 11 Occupied by Argentina during the Falklands War of April-June 1982.