Which conflict is being remembered?
The conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries, including WW1, WW2, colonial struggles for independence and more recent conflicts, all involved British forces and subjects. This includes those of Black, Asian and Multi Ethnic heritage from within Britain. This evidence is documented in a range of archives. The links below contain information about the extent of the colonial contribution to the British Empires 20th and 21st Century conflicts along with short videos from The Imperial War Museums archives and Youtube channel.
First World War
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Second World War
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Post 1945
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The additional links below to the Imperial War Museum archives and stories, British Pathe News archives, Colonial Film Catalogue and Commonwealth War Graves Commission draw attention to elements of this sacrifice. The links are to thematic collections concerning a particular conflict and teachers will need to select from within them. This will enable them to draw attention to appropriate narratives which may better reflect the range of communities engaged in any Acts of Remembrance.
Imperial War Museum Film Archives
The IWM has managed a Film Archive from its very beginnings as an institution, and the film collection now covers all aspects of conflicts in which British, Commonwealth or former Empire countries have been involved since the start of the twentieth century. Their constantly growing collection now extends to over 23,000 hours of moving images, representing a wide and diverse range of material from public and service information films, documentaries and unedited combat film, through to official newsreels and amateur films.
Imperial War Museum Stories
Read about the photographs, artwork and histories of war and conflict from WW1 to the present day in this vast collection of stories put together by the Imperial War Museum. These stories provide evidence of the contributions of the peoples of the Empire from the West Indies, Africa, India and the Far East in the First and Second World Wars. Stories of the Cold War and contemporary conflicts around the world are also documented.
British Pathe News
British Pathé is considered to be the finest newsreel archive in the world and is a treasure trove of 85,000 films unrivalled in their historical and cultural significance. Spanning the years from 1896 to 1978, the collection includes footage from around the globe of major events, famous faces, fashion trends, travel, science and culture. The entire archive is available to view online and includes footage of colonial contributions to the British war effort.
Colonial Film Catalogue
The Colonial Film project united universities (Birkbeck and University College London) and archives (British Film Institute, Imperial War Museum and the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum) to create a new catalogue of films relating to the British Empire. The ambition of this website is to allow both colonisers and colonised to understand better the truths of Empire and their relationship through the developing conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) honours the 1.7 million men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the First and Second World Wars, and ensures they will never be forgotten. During the 20th Century the British Empire ruled over territory on all seven continents and around a quarter of the world’s population, and all made contributions to those conflicts.