This one-off lesson is intended to give students a snapshot of empire, focusing on India while it was still under the control of the East India Company. It could lead to an investigation as to whether life for Indians really improved under the Raj. Or it could be used to complement our Victorian plate lesson. It also could work alongside our lesson on the Opium Wars as an example of the darker side of British imperial power.
Students raise questions about a visual source, they are then armed with contextual knowledge to help them unlock the image’s message. After this they find out a number of reasons behind ‘the Indian Mutiny’ and classify them. Next they are shown an extract from one of our history heroes, John D Clare. Does he get it right about the causes of the Indian Mutiny? Can the class improve on John’s work? And, can they work out why he missed certain key points out?
Download lesson
- Lesson presentation: PowerPoint
- Lesson write-up: PDF
- Resource 1: PDF
- Worksheet 1-4: PDF
