In it's heyday, how did Britain get so rich and powerful considering it's small size?

Question

I am British but was never taught this in school- very un-PC, you know!

Answer 1

(1) coal - made the industrial revolution and the age of steam possible

(2) island with a long coastline - made us maritime, allowed us to dominate the world in the days before aviation

(3) that thing called the "protestant work ethic" - we willingly enslaved ourselves to our "betters"

(4) the methodists - they took the sting out of items 1-3 and stopped us destroying ourselves by having too much of a good thing (slaves, world domination, etc; i use the term "good thing" loosely you understand)

Answer 2

This is an abridged version of 1066 and all that (my compliments to the author):
England's “World Fortune” started off with Elisabeth I, who invested in the best Freebooting sailors on the market and made a pile. From then on England became Britain through Scottish Intervention (it imported whisky and strong beer, which made the locals less restive), and, of course by the export of oranges to Ireland. The Brits, henceforth kept sending their dissenter, traders, jailbirds and overpopulated Irish and Scots overseas, where they made friends with the natives and thrived. At the same time they invested their money on the winning side in European wars and won Canada and India as a compensation. Australia came free, because the Dutch didn’t want it. Being so rich the Brits decided to teach the Africans how to play cricket and rugby and they welcomed Brit Missionaries in droves. In the meantime Boston decided to change it’s habits from tea to American coffee, because the Italian espresso was too strong and they left the Club to join the US of A, a sort of YMCA. In the end the Brits were tired of feeding the World with Wisdom, gave up the Empire and created the Commonwealth, which is another name for the City, where everybody banks. Nowadays few people realise they are living “the British way of life” (stiff upper lip and Tea and biscuits at four or five if you like it strong) and continue to think they are independent (India, Pakistan and half of Africa, not counting Australia, Canada and New Zealand, who haven't even bothered to declare after a fantastic innings). Which is why a small island made it good for/over (you choose) the rest of the World

Answer 3

From the time of Queen Elizabeth first, the English [British - English plus the Welsh] went flat out to grab their share of the action.

The English defeated the Spanish Armada and thus the English fleet [lead by the Pirates Drake and Raleigh] were able to put to sea at will and raid the Spanish Main whenever the opportunity presented itself.

The English established the first English colony in America at Jamestown VA in 1607 [400 years ago] - the rest is history.

Put it like this. The British people are a warlike mob made up of an assortment of Germanic and Celtic tribal groups and are potentially among the most cunning and warlike of folk. Quite simply the British just smashed up what they did not like and stole the rest. Total ruthless bastards we are.

Answer 4

Niall Furgeson (Harvard University Professor of HIstory) wrote a very interesting book on this subject ... Britain really is insignificant geographically and demographically when set against the larger tapestry of the world as a whole, yet they managed to dominate one-third of the world for over 100 years, and one-fourth of the people on it.


This is a very brief summation of the book, but Furgerson asserted the British were able to achieve so much because they; 1) Plundered money from the Spanish, 2) Copied the Dutch Economic System, 3) Beat the French, and 4) Controlled India (i.e. vast natural resources). This might not make very much sense taken in this context, but if you read the book he makes some very good (and convincing) points. I encourage you to read it if you are interested in this subject ...

Answer 5

1. Superior technology
2. Superior adminstration and organisation
3. Superior internal political manipulations (divide and conquer)
4. Superior innovation
5. Superior non-traditional feudal societies- which most nations/peoples were upon their invasion/colonialisation.

An interesting side note- and a good exampleof the fortune of some colonials is that Java- former Dutch East Indies had just suffered a major internal civil succession war immediately prior to the Dutch. The Dutch skillfully allied with a local Muslim prince and waged war against the already severely weakened Hindu Central Javanese kingdom- and picked up another alliance along the way to terminally weaken the central authority. Fait accompli- they then set up shop.

Similar story for India- but it is a nation many times bigger with hundreds of princes- remember it include some of Myanmar, and all of Pakistan and Bangladesh. That's a huge nation.

Answer 6

The key was British naval power. Sir Walter Raleigh (I think) said that "He who controls the the seas of the world, controls the trade of the world, and he who controls the trade of the world, controls the wealth of the world, and hence the world itself." As an island, Britain was in a perfect position to acquire an maintain a large maritime empire while protecting itself from foreign invasion. Elizabeth I understood that, and it became English (later British) policy from the Dutch Wars on.

Answer 7

Whatever you are taught will be biased.Depending on who is telling the story.
Problem is how can we make our own minds up on any subject?
We have so many 'facts' to choose from.
All you can do is think it out for your self .
A lot of your answers so far have had me curled up laughing "We all worked hard"!! That was a classic!
Along time ago I read a book called the iron heel, it was based on the theory of the strongest will survive, all you need to do is trample every one else into the ground.
Size is not really relevant , all you need is the will and determination to rule at any cost, Romans did it, many others did it well before Britain joined in the race.
How did they do it?
First the English started with the Scots , Welsh, Irish, took over their lands, subjugated their people.
They then thought, 'Tha worked well, lets go further afield and try that'!
They sent out ships to have a look at the opposition, these ships were manned by folk that happened to be taking a walk along the sea front, they were recruited by giving them a quick club on the head.
That also turned out well, cheap labour on tap.
So they set off to explore for the glory of the crown.
They found many spots where they could club and kill many folk, they could bring these folk back and sell them as slaves, thy could sell them quite cheap, there were lots of them.
This went on for many years, they exploited, robbed, raped, throughout the world, the rich of the land became richer, it didnt do the rest of the Brits a lot of good.
In recent years these ungrateful overseas folk wanted the Brits out of their countries, unheard of cheek!!! How dare they after all we have done for them??
But out we had to go, tail between legs!
Now we Scots will soon go, and the tiny bit of Ireland that the English stole, soon to be followed by Wales.
Britian no more, it will be the United Kingdom of England, Londoners, and a few Brummies!! The rest of us will be citizens, no longer subjects!!
Yipeeeee! Yipeeeee!
Hope I dont seem to have oversimplfied the situation as I see it?

Answer 8

The political system encouraged innovation and enterprise. The Brits made things other people wanted to buy. The story isn't unique to Britain - in the past, Holland and Venice rose from even smaller beginnings, and Hong Kong is similar today.

Answer 9

From the time of Elizabeth 1 the British were welded into one nation with a unshakable believe in itself and that nothing or nobody could stand in our way . Thanks to her we ruled the seas and our armies and navies were highly disciplined with a pride and arrogance that no other nation on earth had at the time. The only time that had happened in history on such a grand scale was the Roman Empire , and all know what happened to anybody that stood in there way

Answer 10

By choosing allies well, of course... Take the colonization of India, for example; the British recruited large numbers of Indians to serve as Sepoy (infantrymen) and Sowar (cavalry troopers). They also sought collaborators among rajas; for example, Gulab Singh, the maharaja of Jammu and Ladakh, collaborated with the East Indian Company and thus was able to become the Maharaja of Kashmir.

Answer 11

Search the British Empire on Google and have a look at the websites!