The British Empire - was it worth it?

Can I just say, your profile picture is absolutely 100% sexy

What do you think?

Do you think it was worth it for Britain to have had it? Or not?

Thoughts, people!

From who's perspective? A Briton, or the natives that they ruled over?

Firstly, thanks.

Secondly, I can see why there is reason to be ashamed of that aspect of the British Empire, for the reasons as you pointed out. But literally EVERY country has done bad things. We shouldn't erase any part of history due to it being bad because literally all of history is bad. All feeling sorry ourselves does is make us weaker and people poorer and miserable.

As for the British Empire oppressing other countries, well, at first yes. But if, by the end of it, we were truly oppressing them we wouldn't have even let them get anywhere near independence let alone hand it out to them. The United Nations and European Union are just examples of attempts to unify countries, yet if Britain does it suddenly "oh no, we're oppressing them" and I think that's due to the shame people feel towards the British Empire. For most of the history of the British Empire you are spot on that we oppressed countries, etc, but by the end of it we were probably the most democratic country in the world and I think we and the whole world would've been a lot stronger had we remained some sort of, as someone said above, Imperial Federation. We'd learnt the lessons of our past and sorted everything out, we could've helped bring peace and true democracy to everywhere but instead we decided to just let them have a go at it themselves. It's a bit like someone going to University, training to become a Doctor and then deciding to not become a Doctor, wasting all the skills they spents years learning even though they could've done good things had they used them.

And I meant English is the most widely used langauge in terms of countries.

I don't see what's wrong in having pride in something. If no one felt pride for their country or wanted their country to win, Sid Meier's Civilisation series would be out of business.

What do you think?

Do you think it was worth it for Britain to have had it? Or not?

Thoughts, people!

simply in your opinion.

Having ancestory from a non British background, which was subject to rule by the British, the empire was terrible.

It completely changed our heritage and traditions, and ended the prosperous local empire which in place before it.

However had it not been for the British empire, I probably wouldn't be here in Britain today.

But perhaps I wouldn't want to be here, and my motherland would be in a much better state had it not been for the British interviening and changing the system.

Lets be honest here.. if it was one or two countries that were still impoverished post-independence then you can make a fair claim that we robbed your chance in life but actually it's the majority, that suggests (especially given how technologically inferior most states were when we arrived) that the British Empire was likely culturally superior in terms of fostering values that support prosperity.

I'm not saying that the British made your place of origin better off, i'm just saying that we are certainly not a constraining force.

Originally we had a nice kingdom, everyone was united and there was no conflict. The arts flourished and education was at a all time high (for both genders) for the area. It was an ideal state.

Along comes the british, overthrows the empire through the use of their advanced artillery and by deceitfulness. My people were treated as second class citizens for over 60 years, our beliefs disrespected, our culture completely disregarded. Of course this lead to a dilution of the original ways, and everything became more 'modernised' and has been so ever since.

We do not know of our original heritage anymore. One may presume that if the british had not invaded, then we would still be the flourishing nation we were before they came into the picture.

Where's this?

Sikh Empire of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Punjab, India. 1799-1840.

Britain was smart to disband the empire. If they didn't, it won't be long till violent revolution and British blood will be spilled.

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Rebellion is irrelevant if you win. We'd have had air and naval superiority.

How did 1775 went?

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We only pulled back because expending resources on a fight for about a third of the modern US seemed pointless at the time (plus we had no planes back then). The people of India and Africa were also not advanced like the whites that had come to the US, Australia and Canada. How would your rebellion have coped with being carpet bombed from above.

We only pulled back because expending resources on a fight for about a third of the modern US seemed pointless at the time (plus we had no planes back then). The people of India and Africa were also not advanced like the whites that had come to the US, Australia and Canada. How would your rebellion have coped with being carpet bombed from above.

While there were certainly some kingdoms that were pretty peaceful and prosperous, a fair amount of modern day India had waring states just like Europe. I'm also far from convinced you'd have been much better off given that you wasted 50 years post independence and had Soviet sympathies.