Reportedly the largest Empire that has ever existed throughout human history, at its height the British Empire was reported to have ruled over some four hundred and fifty millions subjects, a quarter of the world's population at the beginning of the 20th century and controlled an estimated thirteen million square miles of territory, around 25%% of the world's total land surface. This five hundred page project, tries to take a balanced view of Britain's vast imperial possessions, how they were acquired, how they were lost and their histories, since they gained independence. The publication attempts to take a specific look at some of the more troubling aspects of the Empires past, including those dealing with the Troubles in Ireland, the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the Indian Subcontinent, the European Scramble for Africa, as well as the numerous wars and battles that such imperial expansionism created.