Course Description

Instructor: Michael McDavid

In 1911 King George V of the United Kingdom was crowned Emperor of India at an elaborate ceremony in Delhi. This enthronement was the culmination of 400 years of British involvement in Indian affairs. By the middle of the 19th century the private British East India Company had gained nearly complete control over all of today’s India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Following a revolt against the company in 1857, the British government assumed control of India and established a regime known as the “Raj”. India became the “crown jewel” of the far-flung British empire for over 80 years. In this course we will examine the process of how the British gradually gained control of India beginning in 1608, some of the colorful characters involved, the reactions of the Indians to the British, and how the Indian empire unraveled in the 20th century.

Instructor Bio:

Michael McDavid has been interested in history since the second grade. Over the years his primary focus settled on European history, although if it happened in the past it was of potential interest. Michael majored in history as an undergrad at Furman University, then received master’s degrees in European history and library science from Emory University. To earn money, he was a library manager at Equifax Inc and Georgia State University. During this same time to satisfy his historical itch Michael taught history at Georgia Perimeter College as an adjunct faculty member. Now after retiring from the Boston Consulting Group, he is privileged to offer courses at OLLI on favorite topics such 19^th century Europe and his favorite “sub-specialty”, the role of monarchy past and present.