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4 answers

Oddly worded question...

To believe that it was only the English that could be deemed cruel is short sighted. That's like saying the British Empire was the 'cruelest' when evidence proves that the Belgians and French could be seen as crueler.

It's all relative. What occured at the time was probably justifiable but seen through 'modern' eyes it was cruel. All history is cruel

American intended eradication of the Native Americans using small pox infected blankets...
The Spanish Inquisition...
Mongolian invasion of China...
World Wars I and II
The Vietnamese War...

The list is virtually endless - it is perhaps because England was the world power for so long and had such a strong and lasting effect on more areas of the globe than any country ever has or ever will.

2007-03-27 06:52:05 · answer #1 · answered by Kik 2 · 0 0

The history of all countries can be seen as cruel. Think serfdom, the Spanish Inquisition, the pogroms in the USSR. The most depressing thing about it is that cruelty is not confined to the distant past. What about Mugabe?

In my lifetime we have had Hitler, Mau, Idi Amin, Stalin and Pol Pot who were the leaders of vicious regimes. Now we have the insane cruelty of Al Qu'eda to deal with. While human beings exist there will be cruelty. Depressing thought.

2007-03-27 14:59:17 · answer #2 · answered by Beau Brummell 6 · 0 0

Cruelty existed throughout history and exists today.

History is also the story of exploration, art, writing, beliefs and cultures, technology.

There are many dreadful things happening in the world today that, if we had lived in the past we would never have known about. We can see more widespread cruelty today because we have communication technology bringing us the information.

Without the great achievements throughout history we would not now be so aware of what is going on or be able to do anything about it. It is up to us.

2007-03-27 17:20:52 · answer #3 · answered by LadyOok 3 · 0 0

You only hear about the gruesome stuff because it makes good reading in the history books. History can only ever provide a fraction of understanding about how life was in any nation at any time. People of all nations are, in general, becoming less and less tolerant of cruelty, so in that respect the present is better. However, we are constantly inventing ways of screwing each over and I personally think the culture and pursuit of money wealth and money will be the death of us all.

2007-03-27 13:58:20 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

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