The Student Room Group

The British Empire was a force for good, stop blaming the problems of today on it!

People still seem to blame the British Empire for everything that goes wrong in the badly run corrupt countries. This guy Awate says he doesn't feel British or English because he's a African Muslim. Because of what the British empire did 65 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8SZpv3jROo

The left’s view of Empire is that it was just pure exploitation and suppression. This is a complete lie. The British Empire did more to advance civilisation than any other force in history. Let’s look at some of what was achieved.

Rule of Law. Most places we arrived had no rule of law. Might was right. We put in the British legal system which gave the vast majority of people far more human rights than they had ever had before

Trade. The left spout that Empire was exploitative and merely extracted the wealth of other nations. This is a lie. Empire was all about trade, creating markets for British goods around the world whilst creating markets for global goods in Britain. And huge trade between all the different parts of Empire. This massively advanced the economy of the whole world.

Infrastructure. We established and maintained the world’s shipping routes, road systems everywhere we went, and railways including the world’s biggest system, in India. Our plumbing was famous and on the Mediterranean islands we ran, Cyprus, Malta, Rhodes, Corfu, Menorca etc it is safe to drink the tap water!

Education. In many nations we brought literacy for the first time and created widespread educational reform. When we found intellectual superstars we often brought them back to Britain to receive the world’s best education. Look up Srinivasa Ramanujan.

Slavery. The British led the world in trying to get rid of this. The Slave Trade Act of 1807 made the slave trade illegal throughout the British Empire, the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 made slavery totally illegal. Between 1808 and 1860, the Royal Navy’s West Africa Squadron seized approximately 1,600 slave ships and freed 150,000 Africans who were aboard.

When Empire ended it was often not replaced by liberal democracy, instead a venal, avaricious ruling class took over and treated whole countries as personal fiefdoms. Very many countries went backwards and lots of people in the world would have preferred to have the Empire back.

So far from something to be ashamed of, the British Empire was one of mankind’s greatest ever achievements. It created the modern world that we all live in and everyone owes it a huge debt for the huge advance in civilisation that it brought. The left are very wrong about this, just as they are wrong about most things.

Look at Hong Kong since leaving Britain, they have suffered an oppressive regime culminating in the population asking Britain to re-colonise them! If British colonial rule was so bad, why would they do that?

I think it’s easy to rubbish the achievements of Britain, nothing in life is perfect. The mere notion of perfection is idiosyncratic. The world is an imperfect place.

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Depends - I cannot see how the East India companies did much good for India as it suppressed trade and kept development of industry low in favour of book balance for the metropolis and its industrial development - whereas Indo-China colonies were disposal markets for these commodities and unfavourable terms of trade.

The metropolis imposed monopolies and dictated the terms of trade, and tarrifs. So those under the governance of Dutch East India Companies were restricted to trade with Netherlands and British East India Companies with Britain etc, that was tarrif-free, whereas import of industrial goods from metropolis was much more expensive than export of raw materials / cheap labour goods
(edited 7 years ago)
The motivation for it was less than 'good'.
Please don't pretend like the British thought of the people in the colonies as anything more than dirty savages that needed amazing whitey to save them.
If it was such a force for good why did they have to kill so many people and treat the natives like they were dogs on their own land? Why did they draw lines on maps without regard for the different tribes and whether or not they could coexist? It's lead to a lot of wars.
Granted some good came of it and no one serious thinks every modern problem of colonised places is the fault of the empire but please do not parade it as some well intentioned amazing idea because it trivialises the suffering of my grandparents.

It's not like they did bad things to non whites only. The Irish also suffered
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 3
Ultimately, the Empire did what they did for their own gain, stop talking as if they did what they did because they wanted to help out.
Reply 4
Original post by HANNAHBENLOLO
Depends - I cannot see how the East India companies did much good for India as it suppressed trade and kept development of industry low in favour of book balance for the metropolis and its industrial development - whereas Indo-China colonies were disposal markets for these commodities and unfavourable terms of trade.

The metropolis imposed monopolies and dictated the terms of trade, and tarrifs. So those under the governance of Dutch East India Companies were restricted to trade with Netherlands and British East India Companies with Britain etc, that was tarrif-free, whereas import of industrial goods from metropolis was much more expensive than export of raw materials / cheap labour goods



From 1870 to 1930 Britain took about 1% of India's wealth per year. This was much less than the French, Dutch and Germans took from their lands. The British invested about £400 million in the same period. They brought in an irrigation programme, which increased the amount of land available for farming by 8 times. They developed a coal industry, which had not existed before. Public health and life expectancy increased under British rule, mainly due to improved water supplies and the introduction of quinine treatment against malaria.
The British Empire was worse than Nazi Germany!
They taxed poor farmers after stripping the farmers off their land in India
Caused many families to starve and die leading to the deaths of 29m indians!!!
Ths figure increases elsewhere in india to a staggering total of 60m deaths
if you dont believe me! Google "Bengal Famine"
Before befriending and backstabbing India, the British were representative of 2% of the World's economy
in comparison to India's 25% at the time
Jalianwala Bagh disaster was the biggest disgrace of them all
Shaheed Udham Singh is one of the most renowned martyrs in history for avenging his parents death from the disaster
You gave Ramunjan an education ARE YOU KIDDING ME he was already smart and was applying his knowledge at Cambridge not to mention the amount of hate attacks he faced in the UK
MRNO you are seriously uneducated on this topic to even question and comment about it
What the British empire did is simply no different to the Nazi's, even the Nazi's though built up and grew the German economy
British decreased the Indian economy by 95% killed off so many of its people, stole almost every resource they had

In conclusion, the British empire were full of backstabbing snakes who are no different to modern day rebels in the middle east

PERIOD
Reply 6
Original post by .paak
Ultimately, the Empire did what they did for their own gain, stop talking as if they did what they did because they wanted to help out.


Of course the rich got even richer for it, that is the way of the world. Even today it's the same. But that doesn't take away from all the good it done. Money makes the world go round.
Reply 7
Concerning India, I believe this is a good watch: https://youtube.com/watch?v=f7CW7S0zxv4
Reply 8
Original post by MRNO
Of course the rich got even richer for it, that is the way of the world. Even today it's the same. But that doesn't take away from all the good it done. Money makes the world go round.


Rather defeatist of you. Besides, it wasn't all positive anyway. You talk as if all the empire did was good but it wasnt. The "good" it did had very complex ramifications.

The british empire exploited countries for its own self gain. For the british, it was good but overall for the country, it was terrible.

Why dont you reply to @Taran001's comment eh? :wink:
Original post by Taran001
The British Empire was worse than Nazi Germany!
They taxed poor farmers after stripping the farmers off their land in India
Caused many families to starve and die leading to the deaths of 29m indians!!!
Ths figure increases elsewhere in india to a staggering total of 60m deaths
if you dont believe me! Google "Bengal Famine"
Before befriending and backstabbing India, the British were representative of 2% of the World's economy
in comparison to India's 25% at the time
Jalianwala Bagh disaster was the biggest disgrace of them all
Shaheed Udham Singh is one of the most renowned martyrs in history for avenging his parents death from the disaster
You gave Ramunjan an education ARE YOU KIDDING ME he was already smart and was applying his knowledge at Cambridge not to mention the amount of hate attacks he faced in the UK
MRNO you are seriously uneducated on this topic to even question and comment about it
What the British empire did is simply no different to the Nazi's, even the Nazi's though built up and grew the German economy
British decreased the Indian economy by 95% killed off so many of its people, stole almost every resource they had

In conclusion, the British empire were full of backstabbing snakes who are no different to modern day rebels in the middle east

PERIOD



I like how you made them worse than the nazi's. I would rep you just for that ....
Reply 10
Original post by Taran001
The British Empire was worse than Nazi Germany!
They taxed poor farmers after stripping the farmers off their land in India
Caused many families to starve and die leading to the deaths of 29m indians!!!
Ths figure increases elsewhere in india to a staggering total of 60m deaths
if you dont believe me! Google "Bengal Famine"
Before befriending and backstabbing India, the British were representative of 2% of the World's economy
in comparison to India's 25% at the time
Jalianwala Bagh disaster was the biggest disgrace of them all
Shaheed Udham Singh is one of the most renowned martyrs in history for avenging his parents death from the disaster
You gave Ramunjan an education ARE YOU KIDDING ME he was already smart and was applying his knowledge at Cambridge not to mention the amount of hate attacks he faced in the UK
MRNO you are seriously uneducated on this topic to even question and comment about it
What the British empire did is simply no different to the Nazi's, even the Nazi's though built up and grew the German economy
British decreased the Indian economy by 95% killed off so many of its people, stole almost every resource they had

In conclusion, the British empire were full of backstabbing snakes who are no different to modern day rebels in the middle east

PERIOD


Yes and India's population quadrupled during that time. Your rant is full of fallacies, prevarication, equivocation and falsehoods, all of which are perpetuated by proselytising leftie “academics”. For instance you really do not understand the growth in world trade and the opening up of sea routes that Empire achieved. Between 1815 and 1914, the huge Royal Navy (c 1,000 ships) saw little in the way of major engagements. Its job, instead, was policing the world’s sea routes. It pretty much eradicated piracy worldwide, which was a huge enabler for the advancement of civilisation and trade. Prior to this putting any cargo to sea was fraught with dangers from banditry.

It is really sad that obviously well meaning and intelligent people, such as yourself, have had their heads stuffed with so much lefty propaganda and so many lies in our failed “education” institutions. I can only hope that it is a phase you are going through and that one day you learn critical thinking and how to balance arguments, so as to derive the truth.
Original post by MRNO
Of course the rich got even richer for it, that is the way of the world. Even today it's the same. But that doesn't take away from all the good it done. Money makes the world go round.


That is an absolutely disgraceful commment!
Rich gets richer because of 150m people dying??
I'd like to see your comment on the Nazi's on what they did to the jews
That kind of thinking is selfish and disgusting, your mindset is patriotic
Original post by MRNO
Yes and India's population quadrupled during that time. Your rant is full of fallacies, prevarication, equivocation and falsehoods, all of which are perpetuated by proselytising leftie “academics”. For instance you really do not understand the growth in world trade and the opening up of sea routes that Empire achieved. Between 1815 and 1914, the huge Royal Navy (c 1,000 ships) saw little in the way of major engagements. Its job, instead, was policing the world’s sea routes. It pretty much eradicated piracy worldwide, which was a huge enabler for the advancement of civilisation and trade. Prior to this putting any cargo to sea was fraught with dangers from banditry.

It is really sad that obviously well meaning and intelligent people, such as yourself, have had their heads stuffed with so much lefty propaganda and so many lies in our failed “education” institutions. I can only hope that it is a phase you are going through and that one day you learn critical thinking and how to balance arguments, so as to derive the truth.


You are so blindsided by your propaganda patriotic thinking!
As well as schools go, I wish they actually studied the cruelty of the British Empire not just the pure evil nonsense you are stating. I asked you to google a few things and since you haven't just goes to show that you are stubborn and you do not want to know the truth
Jallianwala Bagh on Vaisakhi for Sikhs Punjab is the equivalent of thousands of Christian deaths on Christmas
Original post by 999tigger
I like how you made them worse than the nazi's. I would rep you just for that ....


Are you inferring something? or not
Original post by MRNO
From 1870 to 1930 Britain took about 1% of India's wealth per year. This was much less than the French, Dutch and Germans took from their lands. The British invested about £400 million in the same period. They brought in an irrigation programme, which increased the amount of land available for farming by 8 times. They developed a coal industry, which had not existed before. Public health and life expectancy increased under British rule, mainly due to improved water supplies and the introduction of quinine treatment against malaria.


Germans didn't take India's land!
Proves that you are telling lies
Reply 15
Original post by Taran001
That is an absolutely disgraceful commment!
Rich gets richer because of 150m people dying??
I'd like to see your comment on the Nazi's on what they did to the jews
That kind of thinking is selfish and disgusting, your mindset is patriotic


The rich always get rich it's not a moral view just a fact. It happens to day, it happened during Jesus's time and it will happen in the future.

People died, but many lived, India's population was in stagnation way before the British empire got there, due to over population. Are farming technology allowed the population to explode, many more people are alive because of it. Indian agriculture was heavily dependent on climate: a favourable southwest summer monsoon was critical in securing water for irrigating crops. Droughts, combined with policy failures, have periodically led to major Indian famines. We created an irrigation system that largely put and end to many famines. India's population increased.
Reply 16
Original post by Taran001
Germans didn't take India's land!
Proves that you are telling lies


The British Empire was in Africa as well at the time. And Germany was in Africa, France in North Africa. It may seem to you that India is the only country in the world but the Empire brought prosperity to many other parts of the world.
Original post by MRNO
The rich always get rich it's not a moral view just a fact. It happens to day, it happened during Jesus's time and it will happen in the future.

People died, but many lived, India's population was in stagnation way before the British empire got there, due to over population. Are farming technology allowed the population to explode, many more people are alive because of it. Indian agriculture was heavily dependent on climate: a favourable southwest summer monsoon was critical in securing water for irrigating crops. Droughts, combined with policy failures, have periodically led to major Indian famines. We created an irrigation system that largely put and end to many famines. India's population increased.


People died but many lived?????
Can you say the same thing about Paris attacks or 9/11 perhaps NOT
Watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1Ge5RgkSO8
Couldn't give an f about droughts India's economy was 25% of the world's economy before the British arrived, whats weather got to do with it??? Population is not gonna be good with poor income families due to high taxation enforced by the British empire, in africa today is an increase in population making anything better. You buy seeds for crops for 10p usually sell the crops after they are ripe for 50p however British want 35p for every crop that you make. How are you gonna make a family live off farming eh??? GDP will shrink. Per Capita in particular. FAMINE WAS CAUSED BY EXTREMELY HIGH TAXATION!!!
I can promise you on that
Reply 18
Original post by Taran001
You are so blindsided by your propaganda patriotic thinking!
As well as schools go, I wish they actually studied the cruelty of the British Empire not just the pure evil nonsense you are stating. I asked you to google a few things and since you haven't just goes to show that you are stubborn and you do not want to know the truth
Jallianwala Bagh on Vaisakhi for Sikhs Punjab is the equivalent of thousands of Christian deaths on Christmas


India had famines before the British Empire arrived there. The population never grow. The population exploded while the British were running things.
Original post by Taran001
Are you inferring something? or not


I am simply admiring the power of your logic. What else do you like about the Nazi's other than they werent the Brits?

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