The greatness of Great Britain from 1750 to 1915 has been debated for generations, but it’s important to define greatness, the main themes are political, Imperial and Economic. I will explore the positives and negatives of the British empire, and will end with a rounded conclusion. I think Britain was a great during this period because they helped many people get used to the modern world.
One of the benefits of the British Empire, was that it made certain countries very rich. In Africa, the world’s poorest continent, the British Empire colonized 5 of the top 10 richest countries: Egypt, Sudan, South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria. In fact they even managed to colonize 7 of the top 10 richest countries in the world: Brunei, Qatar, Singapore, Kuwait,
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the UAE, Hong Kong and America. Five of those countries are in Asia, which goes to show that the British Empire did not only benefit from its North American colonies, but also its Asian colonies. The British also set up infrastructure in its colonies, allowing people to go to different countries and travel quickly without walking or riding a horse everywhere. They did this by setting up a railway network in different colonies, not only allowing the indigenous people, but also the colonial leaders to travel quickly. Without this, the British wouldn’t have been able to transport goods effectively, and causing not only Britain, but also the colonies economies to struggle. The local economy improved as it meant they could trade with more people, because of better infrastructure. This goes to show that Britain could be argued great at this time, because it helped certain countries adapt to the modern world. In addition to this, Great Britain spread the English Language worldwide, it is now a universal language, and the 3rd most spoken worldwide. The British also set up a telegraph system underneath the sea to allow them to communicate to their colonies from over 2,000 miles away. Not only this but the British Empire brought different cultures, and different sports to the various colonies of the Empire. The British brought cricket to India and Australia, because of this cricket has become really popular in both countries. This means that Great Britain could be argued great because it united the world through sport and language. However the British Empire destroyed many different cultures, they killed many Maoris and Aborigines for their land, and transported slaves to and from different countries. The British made Muslims and Hindus hate each other to gain even more control, which lead to India splitting up into 2 main parts: India and Pakistan. However Pakistan’s independence brought tragedy to India. In the weeks afterwards, genocides and mass expulsions occurred. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Hindus were slaughtered including Gandhi, and an estimated 5 million became refugees. Therefore, Britain was not at its greatest at this time, as it caused a mass genocide. Another way downside of the British Empire was the first Opium War (1839-1860).
Britain had found a drug that the Chinese would buy, opium. Opium was legally grown in British India and then smuggled into China, but after a while, its use and sale became illegal due to the damaging effects on the Chinese people. This made Britain angry, and as they had control over the seas, the British easily shut down some of China’s key ports and forced the Chinese to negotiate. However, the British were not satisfied with the agreement, and sent a second, much larger, force to take over more coastal cities. This shows that Britain wasn’t that great during this period as they killed many Chinese People, and ruined many of their …show more content…
lives. Britain created concentration camps, and this idea was used by Hitler to kill over 6 million Jews during the second world war. The camps were created in South Africa, during the Boer War (1899-1902) to kill the Boers, and this method of torture was used to kill over 26,000 people. However, it was originally meant as well-meaning refugee camps, but after a while, there was too many people in the camps, and the British couldn’t feed all of them, so people started dying of starvation and disease. Therefore, Britain was not that great during this period because they came up with the idea of concentration camps, which have been used to kill millions of people ever since. Also to add to this, the British Empire didn’t help with the Irish famine, and because of this over a million Irish people died.
However, the British Empire tried to help out, but sent the wrong person, Charles Trevelyan, to oversee relief work. He was a proud Christian, and believed that God wanted to punish the ‘lazy’ Irish, and refused to hand out any food to the starving population. Instead, he set up a public works programme, that the Irish had to work at to get fed. But then Trevelyan rapidly increased the prices, so the Irish couldn’t afford to buy any food. Britain was not great during this period due to the fact they killed thousands of Irish people by letting Charles Trevelyan keep his
position. In addition to this, the British Empire made many Africans become slaves, to sell in America and the West Indies . Britain was responsible for 85% of all the African slave trade, they shipped over 10 million slaves to North America, and because of this, the Americans didn’t like African people as much as other countries during this period. Every colony had at least one slave. From Jamaica to India, they all had slaves, for one reason only; to maximise profit. Britain could be argued to not be that great during this time period because, they ruined a lot of people’s lives through the slave trade. To summarise Britain wasn’t that great during this time period because they ruined millions of people’s lives as a result of wanting to have a better economy by being part of the slave trade. It could also be argued that they indirectly killed thousands of Muslims and Hindus, the British did this by making them enemies to have gain more control over India, but not long after Britain gave control to the Indian Government, violence between the Muslim and Hindu populations resulting in the creation of a Brand-new state: Pakistan. However they made certain countries very rich thanks to their investment in infrastructure, such as trains or a telegraph system, allowing countries to trade more easily around the world. The British Empire also significantly spread the English language, it is now the 3rd most spoken language worldwide. It also bought its cultures to different countries, and because of this, cricket has become a major sport in countries such as Australia and India.
Sara Rose begins her story For All the Tea in China by saying, “There was a time when maps of the world were redrawn in the name of plants, when two empires, Britain and China, went to war over two flowers: the poppy and the camellia.”(Prologue). The purpose of this book is to explain the growing tensions between Britain and China and how that tension then shaped the world. Sarah Rose stresses the importance of the opium and tea trade to the British Empire in this story. When the Chinese began the process to stop the sale of the opium to its citizens and closed the port of Canton to the India Tea Company, the British reacted with anger. They then decided it might would be a smart business move to create a source
Allingham,, Philip V. "England and China: The Opium Wars, 1839-60." The Victorian Web: An Overview. 24 June 2006. Web. 06 Apr. 2011.
British Imperialism in China and Africa The treatment of the Chinese by the British, during the takeover of their country, was just like that of the Africans. The British took over the land and the government, took advantage of the people and exploited them for their resources. The English accomplished these things differently in each situation, but each time, the results were the same. One of the most important aspects of imperialism is the takeover of government.
The Opium Wars emerged from China’s attempts to suppress the opium trade, enforced by foreign imperialism. During the late 1700s, foreign merchants traded opium grown in India for Chinese tea, making big profits. China had accepted the trade for brief period until it became addictive and disruptive to the Chinese economy, to which the Chinese government outlawed opium and executed drug dealers. They demanded the trade to stop but by the right of free trade, refused to halt. Infuriated, Chinese warships were sent and clashed with the British fleet, triggering the Opium War. Due to advances in weaponry, the Chinese were easily defeated and forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing, which stated that Britain will receive indemnities from China, the
The Opium Wars between Great Britain and China in 1839 to 1842 and 1856 to 1860 with the French joining forces with Great Britain led to social, economic and political changes in China, specifically the Qing Dynasty. The Opium Wars documented by Lieutenant John Ouchterlony, an Indian Army Officer of Madras Engineers, in “The Chinese Wars: an account of all the operations of the British Forces” gives a first-hand look into many of the events he witnessed before, during and after the wars. The action in the book ranges from Hong Kong, Canton, Shanghai, and later in Nanking where the Chinese are compelled to sign a treaty to end the First Opium War. From an unbiased perspective, which criticizes, yet praises both sides, Ouchterlony is able to portray the events that transpired in vivid detail through his words along with illustrations throughout the book. The details portrayed by Ouchterlony prior to the first war, explains how China could have easily prevented such disaster and embarrassment from occurring and tarnishing their image.
During the mid 1840’s, blight in the potato crops in Ireland caused widespread starvation and migration of Irish citizens to the United States. Yet, the massive loss of life and massive exodus could have been avoided if British taxation upon the working class of Ireland was nullified. Though the struggle for liberation was already taking place, the potato famine furthered the cause and helped spread awareness. Furthermore, the potato famine made the average Irish family more reliant upon the government for subsidies and supports to get by.
During 1488-1914 the world witnessed the rise and fall of the British Empire. Many historians argue that the cause of the collapse of the British Empire was in fact due to the end of the Age of Imperialism and Colonialism. These were the foundations in which the British Empire was built.
Chinesse tried to explain how bad impact this drug had on their economy but also on their people (moral aspect), but Britain, and rest of the Western world did not understand this and in 1839. Britain proclamed war on China, called First Opium
Melancon, Glenn. "Honour in Opium? The British Declaration of War on China, 1839-1840." The International History Review 21.4 (1999): 855-74. JSTOR. Web. .
middle of paper ... ... n that after nearly seven hundred years of attempted domination, the British oppression of the Irish had deprived them of all but the bare necessities of survival, and caused such destitution that when the potato famine struck, the poor could not avoid the worst privations, given the social and political conditions controlling their lives. The British government’s ineffectual attempts at relieving the situation played a major role in worsening the situation; they allowed prejudice and State and individual self-interest, economic and religious dogma to subjugate even the least consideration for humanity. Ultimately British politicians bear considerable blame because they were not prepared to allocate what was needed to head off mass starvation, and they as the parent government did nothing to protect its subject people.
The opium wars were two wars between China and Britain in the nineteenth century about the trade of opium and taxation of the Chinese by the British. Opium was used heavily by the Chinese during the seventeenth and eighteenth century recreationally. In 1799, the Chinese government outlawed opium trade. The Chinese people still used opium often, estimated at 5 million pounds in 1830. In 1839, large quantities of opium was found on British merchants who were going to market the drug to Chinese people. Britain did not feel that the ban on opium was legit and demanded that the opium be returned to its British owners. China refused and Britain shelled the area of Hong Kong. The war continued until 1842, when China accepted the Treaty of Nanking, which basically changed the framework of foreign trade. The trade also gave Hong Kong and five other cities British rule. In 1856, the second Opium War, or commonly referred to as the “Arrow War,” initiated due to the fact that Britain felt that there were treaty violations by the Chinese. The British ship Arrow was boarded by Chinese officials and its twelve crew members were arrested for the crime of opium smuggling. Britain raided inland to China with the help of France and led to a signing of the Treaty of Tientsin in 1858. Chinese officials refused to accept the treaty and again Britain invaded China and eventually made China sign the treaty in
The year was 1842, and Britain had just finished a successful military campaign in China, a campaign that also signified a rather humiliating defeat for the Chinese army. The first Opium War reestablished Britain's profitable opium trade routes from India to China, and also established a new mode of British-Chinese relations, one that resulted in British control of the new colony of Hong Kong and semicolonial control over various treaty ports. The progressive optimism that this combined political and economic control seemed to herald for the British Empire was reflected in a piece in the newly established Illustrated London News:
That was one really bitter downfall for China. They basically had to pay for their own war for a total of $21 million and opium was still traded, not even stopped. I think Britain making those conditions was an act of karma for China’s part. Once the five new trading ports opened, China was confined to learning how to trade with the rest of the world. That was how China became what it is today, rich, powerful, and large.
Soon after this soup kitchens began breaking out all over Ireland, but they were not run on government funding, instead they were run by Protestants seeking to take advantage of starving Catholics and convert them by offering them all the food they wanted if they would only convert. These Soupers, as they were called, even went so far as to serve meat on Fridays, a day that is forbidden for Catholics to eat meat on.(Bartoletti 78). Not all relief and charity work however was purposed to gain something in return, functions in the US were held to raise money and food for Ireland, and the Queen of England herself donated generous amounts of money.(Bartoletti 83). But even with all these donations form around the world it paled in comparison to
The British Empire’s military prowess and economic fervor since the 1500’s has ultimately had a positive impact on its people. The military power it developed through its navy and technological advances drove it to the forefront of global superpowers, arguably the first superpower (perhaps only behind the Mongols). The industrial revolution that stemmed from the British colonies spurred economic growth never seen before in the world. While the height of its power may have passed since the 19th and early 20th century, it still plays a key component in today’s society. This indicates the British Empire has endured successfully, as no empire can stand so long while its people are weak.