Carpy wrote: ↑Wed Sep 21, 2022 2:05 pm
Lemons wrote: ↑Wed Sep 21, 2022 12:52 pm
going back further in history you’ll find worse but this time period the British were one of the worst. , the British weren’t alone in their criminality around the world. But they were the biggest culprits during this time period. Germany and Japan followed shortly after.
They don’t get credit for abolishing slavery earlier than other countries. Not after making obscene amounts of money traveling slaves all over the world.
And nobody has even mentioned the evils done to the Irish in the 1800 through the 1900’s.
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Aletheia wrote: ↑Wed Sep 21, 2022 7:45 am
The UK wasn't the top nation for as long as Egypt was. They didn't control as high a percentage of the known world as the Greeks (under Alexander) or the Romans did. They didn't have the massive power imbalances over their neighbours that China and America did in their days.
But the British empire did hit a 'sweet spot' of long duration and world-spanning travel that produced one of the empires with the biggest effect upon people and history, there has ever been. In other words, they were powerful.
A power they used for both good and evil (and, between that, much arrogance and self interest). I think you're correct about the number of invasions. There are been empires that produced more evil per person in the empire (looking at you, Belgium and the Aztec), and empires that produced greater atrocities (yes, Germany, but also Spain and let's not forget the USSR under Stalin). But, just by 'merit' of it having been very powerful, yes, the British did cause immense amounts of harm - and that's just down to the odds, with them being no better nor worse than average.
The British spread their judicial system of 'common law'... but also cause homosexuality of the criminalised in many countries in which it otherwise would not have been.
They spread the industrial revolution (which is a mixed blessing, if ever there was one).
They were at for forefront of abolishing slavery... but also spent a century or so profiting from the triangle trade (which did, indeed, fund many things in Britain that the British still enjoy the benefits of).
An interesting question is: if a different country had been the one with a strong navy and well positioned to benefit from the ideas that sparked the industrial revolution... would they have handled that power better or worse than Britain did?
I'm Irish, I don't go around crying about what The British did to my ancestors before I was born. What is the point? If everyone where going to cry about wrongs of the past the whole world would be crying and at war.
We remember victims of atrocities and suffering created by other countries. Remember the phrase “Never Forget”?
The UN declared March 25th International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. This should never be forgotten.
We have an International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Should Jews stop crying about it because it happened before many of them were born?
In the mid 1800’s Ireland was another one of England’s colonies. The majority Catholic population wasn’t allowed to own land, vote or hold office. They worked for British landowners and paid rent. The Great Hunger began when a virus or something destroyed the potato crops. Potatoes are what the Irish Catholics lived on. Other crops like grain and meats were exported to England to pay England taxes and rent to English land owners. One million Irish people died during the potato famine. Another million left, a lot ending up in Boston, New York and Eastern Canada.
No need to cry but have some respect. What a callous way of thinking.
