British Empire, Good Or Bad?

Question

or both! Seems that its unfashionable to say anything positive about the British Empire these days. However modern India (incl. Pakistan, Bangladesh & Nepal) were basically created by britain. Civil Service, Industry, Rail & Road systems, Legal framework, the nation state etc. Likewise Sub Saharan Africa, which had basically been a total backwater prior to British involvement. Sure there were some bad things, my own people the Assyrians were misused and duped by Britain, but on the whole the empire advanced its subject regions in almost every way, creating industry, an economy, education system, healthcare, govornment, transport systems, legal systems, as well as imparting the very useful english language.

AND We should surely judge it in a historical context, as a product of its time, and not by 21ST Century standards!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

Bad things may have happened, but on the whole I think more people gained in the long run than lost, I personally believe that Britain should be encouraged to improve ties amongst the Commonwealth, and dissolve ties with the EU.

Answer 2

RE:
British Empire, Good Or Bad?
or both! Seems that its unfashionable to say anything positive about the British Empire these days. However modern India (incl. Pakistan, Bangladesh & Nepal) were basically created by britain. Civil Service, Industry, Rail & Road systems, Legal framework, the nation state etc. Likewise Sub Saharan...

Answer 3

The Empire, despite the bad publicity and the bad attitudes of the ruling classes, was, on the whole benevolent and mostly allowed freedom of personal religion. Like the Roman Empire, it brought culture, learning and civilisation to many of its subjects. We were the first country to abolish slavery and built railways in all colonies, dominions and protectorates where possible. If you look at other empires such as the French North African empire on a map, you can see the marked difference in rail and road communications. Although there has been a lot of inter-fighting from various opposed factions, even on our own doorstep in N.I., due to the divide and rule policies of the previous ruling classes, there is less of this in the old British countries than there are in countries ran by other European states. Also, what the colonists didn't realise is that the ruling classes were treating their underlings in Britain exactly the same, if not worse in some cases. I have a theory that India was planned to have became the home of the ruling class of the Empire and the main command post whereas Great Britain would have just been home to the workers (if you notice, the pre-1948 Indian flag was a Union Flag with a decorative emblem in the centre).

Answer 4

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OK, another question that needs clarification and a good answer: The Empire did many things that were good for the world and many things that were oppressive and imperialistic. But, let's make a list of the good things the empire did: 1 The British brought their legal system that retracted many archaic and brutal tribal legal systems. Local justice often started with death sentences or enslaving of an accused person and sometimes resulted in horrific torture and mutilations in the name of justice. The British common law is still in use in former colonies and is a system of governance that is only now seeing reversion to tribal tactics. In Pakistan the British never practiced beheading which is now making a comeback in that war torn nations as Muslim fanatics take control of the country and behead their enemies in the name of Allah. 2 The British brought in their medical systems and today people the world over are being treated with medical knowledge that would never have made its way to places in Africa or Asia. Other European nations did not extend their knowledge of the healing arts to the natives, but England did and the practices of medicine are still in place and working. Native practices have been replaced by modern medicine and those scientific treatments are keeping million alive that might have otherwise died in remote parts of the world. Thank God for modern medicine and the British spread of it to the poorer regions of the world. 3 Infrastructure was built with the idea of enriching the English, but the Indian or Kenyan who rides the railroads today built by British engineers doesn't know or likely care who built them. He or she only knows that they didn't have to walk down a dirt path for six days to reach their relatives or town or a doctor. The same applies to the dockworker, the factory worker or the person making his living in a business llike insurance or a law practice. 4 Education was the only real way out of colonial status and when Kenyans and Indians began to educate their children, they guaranteed their place in the modern world as equals to their former masters. If we see Pakistan slip backwards into only educating males, for instance, we have taken a step in reverse and those countries will slide backwards into tribal and regional ignorance and abuse of all their people. Colonialism wasn't all bad. It just did not allow locals the option to run their own lives and was obviously governed by racist notions that only a white man could run these matters. To help locals there was a need for direction and when these former colonies became free of their masters, they have become good trade partners for the former colonial holders. Those are the major areas that come immediately to mind. If I think of others, I will edit, so don't close your question too soon. If you need more ideas, email me perhaps.

Answer 5

It is a bit of both, depends on what side of the fence you are like if you are Indian or English.... the English got a lot out of it with spices and silks so its not just us English who just gave everything. But is it one of those scenarios where you could sit hear and put down the British Empire saying it was bad... it might be a fair point but how far do you have to go back in time, William the conqueror, Genghis Khan, the Romans or the vikings before we can stop apologising for an empire or acts of war we cant do anything about.... we should learn from history and evolve with the knowledge

Answer 6

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Answer 7

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Answer 8

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Answer 9

I agree with you here, the British Empire was good, but it also did some horrenous thngs that if we tried today, we would be condemned for. I'll give you an example, The Slave trade and the extermination of the Zulus. If anyone tried that these days, the whole world would turn against you. Of course, we did some wonderful things, such as build up a political systems that wors, a trial by jury, railways and the road network (although we weren't the first to do that, the Romans were, we just updated and improved it)

The English language is very important, and is useful (and essential) if you wish to get somewhere in your life. Pilots, word stock exchange and industries all speak English, Imagine if Great Britain, the United States, the English speaking parts of Canada Australia and New Zealnd spoke French as their first language? oh that doesn't bare thinking about.

Answer 10

Based on the old British say " do not change unless it is broken " , there must be something not quite right about the British Empire , otherwise we would still be running it and expanding it to a even bigger scale , showing it off proudly to the rest of the world.
I suggest you should read the book called " the rise and fall of the British Empire " before you draw your conclusion about the good and evil of the British Empire.
I personally think the slavey trade and the total wipe-out / genocide of Aborginies in Tasmania was inexcusable.
Overall , I would say most British people would feel ashamed to be associated with the British Empire.

Answer 11

Both. In terms of trade, the British Empire was based on the foundations of the East India Trading Company, which to be fair was run by a lot of rather unscrupulous gentlemen, however through trade many great things, scientific, political, sparkly and spicy were passed around the world. Ah, Rhodesia, where would we be without blood Diamands - no wait that's going on today as well. Would curry be Britain's favourite dish? The heyday of the British Empire is was during the reign of Queen Victoria, and possibly Edward, so post slave trade and Opiate wars. Maybe if it had been 50 years earlier everyone would have been wearing less clothing - got to love Empire line dresses (French) - and therefore less grumpy and sweaty, and less inclined to shoot all those pesky foreigners with their clever mathmatical ideas and tendency to sit down in the middle of roads.