The Rise And Fall Of The British Empire Influences On British Identity

England has a long and rich history ranging from the Celtics to the Romans and Anglo Saxons, and from there, the feudal system and the beginning of Kings. A course of history spanning over thousands of years, England passing from being the conquered to conquering nearly three quarters of the world’s total population during the Victorian Era. England’s position during the Victorian Era was one of world dominance and power and her path through the era and the years after has shaped the modern British Identity exponentially. The rise of the British Empire was seemingly endless until it’s inevitable peak and speedy downfall leading to one of the world’s largest intercontinental associations, the Commonwealth. The rise and fall of the British Empire

It is true that British dominion was not built according to the principles of the Equal Opportunities Commission and we have to accept, too, that it was interwoven with imperialism and what we now call racism. In this it was not alone among other imperialisms – including republican and socialist imperialisms.” (Colls , 2012). In accordance to the British Identity, history has shaped how one views oneself. If the “British national Identity was not born of a deplorable past” (Colls, 2012) it becomes understandable why there has been a decline in the sense of a national identity in Britain itself. As seen in the Table 1 to the right the percentages of English citizens identifying with a “British Identity” has been slowly declining. A British citizen will “accept a British identity, feel proud of Britain and feel strongly attached to Britain” (Heath, 2005), just as any American can accept an American Identity and feel pride in the American nation as a whole. The Victorian Era was a time where the concepts of ‘White Man’s Burden’ and ‘Colonial Domination’ were mindsets and the concepts were easily and happily accepted without question. Today the world calls these concepts racist and imperialistic and unsurprisingly, as author Jeremy Paxman states “we look back on our imperial history simply as the actions of men and women we cannot identify with; the products of motives we

With a steady climb in military power Britain became an unchallenged world power. Under the reign of Queen Victoria Britain rapidly expanded into the world, eventually possessing one quarter of the Earth’s land and governing over three quarters of the world’s population. The figure to the right depicts the countries under British reign during the time of the British Empire in red. During the Victorian Era people affectionately and proudly used the phrase ‘This vast Empire on which the sun never sets.’ It was also during the distinguished Victorian Era and this vast expansion that British society viewed the rest of the world with the perspective of the ‘White Man’s Burden’. The British culture believed it was a moral responsibly to aid the inferior people in the new realms, it “was not simply the grubby pursuit of profit but rather a commitment to bring light into the darkest corners of the world.” (Judd, Hall, & Bell, 2015). In the 1994 movie version of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, directed by Stephen Sommers, there is a scene early in the film of a young boy, Mowgli, being taught the English translations from his native language. The conversation between a father and son goes as: “‘What is this?’ ‘Baloo’ ‘And in English?’ ‘Bear’” (Sommers,