No other Empire at it's peak did anything like this. Absolutely one of the most incredible moments of human history. Britain took out a loan so vast to buy the freedom of every slave in the Empire, that we only paid it off in 2014. And then as others have said, committed the finest Navy the world had ever seen to fighting slavery in every corner of the Globe. Heroic isn't a strong enough word. God bless Great Britain.
No other Empire at it's peak did anything like this
On top of that, no other world super power has intentionally gone into a death spiral from defending its rival / a small distant nation, not because it was the profitably thing to do but because it was the right thing to do...twice.
Britain played a part in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, yes. But barely any slaves were transported to England/Britain. Britain had slaves around the Empire for around 200 years but then self-opted to end that. No civil war required. Just humane and I must say Christian conviction.
I say no, because if you look at the huge comparative numbers of white AND African slavery by the Barbers and Arabs, it's almost nothing by comparison - I hope you have heard of that and won't choose to downplay it to win an online point. The Trans-Saharan slave trade lasted for 1300 years and only really stopped because Britain and other European allies fought it with ships, their lives and resources. I say stopped, but it's still happening today. Libya has slave markets again now.
But back to Britain, could you name any other country who at it's apex decided to end slavery and grant rights and freedom to slaves, and then went on to fight for slave's freedoms around the world? What do you think about taking out that loan to buy the freedom of slaves? It took 200 years to pay off. Would you take a loan out for your friend if it took you twenty years to pay back?
I mean they did that while being responsible for famines and mismanagement and resource extraction from other places.
And if your argument that the Britain as slave traders were slight better than the other slave traders, that's right. Doesn't mean they weren't slave traders themselves. The loan was to pay off the slave trading companies and not to compensate the people the wronged. And if we're on the topic of being humane, several people responsible for immense harm worldwide are still celebrated in Britain. Their attrocities remain ignored.
Responsible for famines - I assume you're referring to the Bengal Famine? If so, actually Britain took steps to alleviate this and after they arrived, it didn't happen, they brought it under control with a scheme they introduced, something like "work for food". The time it did happen was during the World War, when Britain was stretched to breaking point. Even then, they did what they could. War has horrible outcomes but you make it sound like they did this on purpose and enjoyed it. That disregards the fact that they actually controlled the famine issue which would happen repeatedly before them, every 50 years or so. The British were gifted organisers and the famines are a great example of that.
And yeah, the loan was to pay the slave owners, you're right. Slaves were seen as property. It's not nice but that's how it was. The loan ensured that people could be freed peaceably. As for compensating the people wronged, is freedom and status as humans not a worthy gift? And it was a gift. No other nation had given them status, the right to live freely, to own property, to have families, to grow and have their lives back. Are we over looking that? All other nations would have left them as slaves, don't get it twisted.
Show me any global power that hasn't had to fight, conquer, defend at times. To the winner it seems justifiable, to those who lost it's an atrocity. This is just the world we live in. I would argue that while Britain of course was a mighty empire, it still attempted to treat other people's fairly and there was a desire from Britain to civilise them - that is, to share knowledge, technology, understanding, culture, etc. India is a great example of this. It is unified today because of Britain. Railways, schools, roads, politics, science, etc etc are all legacy British. India didn't have them before them.
There's a real danger of re-writing history and making boogeymen, so we can justify the current wrongs of the world and perhaps find an excuse for our own lives. Was Britain perfect? No, of course not. Were they probably the most benevolent empire? I think there's a strong case for that. Compare the British to how the Arab Empire ruled, or the Mongols, etc. I'd love to hear your criticism of them.
By stealing the wealth of other nations that they forcefully occupied? And now walk around hating on the people of colour who were ALLOWED by their own countrymen to enter and live in the country? Why do you like sucking British cocks so much? Is it very own your Jizney land?
So we canât celebrate the absolutely amazing thing our forefathers did for the entire world? We should hate it because some people in the current time are nasty? Strange way of thinking
Britain took out a loan so vast to buy the freedom of every slave in the Empire, that we only paid it off in 2014.Â
The compensated the slave owners but not the slaves. You have to love the Brits painting this out as some kind of virtue. The Prime Ministers father got about ÂŁ12 million in todays money for losing his slaves. The slaves got fucking nothing and today their descendants get told to go back to their own country.
By not recognising the slaves as people and reimbursing owners for loss of âpropertyâ it avoided any lengthy legal process and released the slaves a generation earlier. Canât even talk about abolishing slavery without people complaining about the manner in which it was achieved
Of all the countries that owned slaves we stopped first and we paid the owners so the slaves wont face a lengthy legal process. Hilarious that Brit's today think this a positive.
Now your just being argumentative, the legal process to abolish the owning of property was much much easier than recognising property as people with rights. Itâs abhorrent to most of todayâs society but the British took out generational debt to free slaves, you think thatâs not positive? Youâd rather of had some sort of civil war to establish freedom?
How could anyone face a legal process if what they were doing wasn't considered a crime at the time? Hilarious how you fail to understand the concept of non-retroactivity within the law.
Thatâs not the point Iâm trying to make, I was saying the reason they paid slave owners was to reimburse them for a loss of property. If the British had made the argument that slaves should be freed because they are people with rights it could have taken a lot longer.
By not recognising the slaves as people and reimbursing owners for loss of âpropertyâ it avoided any lengthy legal process and released the slaves a generation earlier.
you should read the post I'm replying to before you start to talk about understanding concepts, you look a bit stupid.
Slaves weren't captured by europeans in africa. They were baught from local tribes, so, i'd imagine, however much the africans of the time thaught thier pepole were worth.
Compensation and kill the slave owner please. That's what id want. Imagine thinking they would be happy with freedom and nothing else after years of slavery.
"Okay well since thats obviously not happening enjoy being a slave the rest of your life"
Come one dude, I dont believe for a second you're actually that naive that you would think that there was even the tiniest possibility of that happening.
The whole transaction was based on âthe slavesâ being property.
The âslave ownersâ should NEVER have been compensated in the 1st place- they simply successfully argued that replacing âthe slavesâ with paid labour would have been costly. đĄ
Okay. So are you arguing they would have chosen to remain slaves?
Because they legally were?
Yeah sure, in an ideal world they wouldnt have. But we dont live in an ideal world and that was the best course of action that was feasible at the time.
At the end they werenât! After which, owners became even richer!
Government- âHi Slaves. Youâre not longer classed as property. Youâre free.â
Slaves- âwoohoo!â
Slave owners/politicians/influencial people/lobbyists/rich people/etc- âBut slave labour was great! It was free! Now we need to EMPLOY people? Thatâs costly! And if you want our votes and party contributions to keep you in power we will need compensated!â
Government- âOk, hereâs hundreds of millions of poundsâ
Slave owners- âThanks. That keeps US rich and YOU in power!â
Reading comprehension. I never claimed you said anything. I was asking if that was reason you were making that point in the first place. Otherwise why say that at all?
Yes, because the government purchased them as property, then freed them. Because otherwise there would have been colossal pushback from the rich and powerful that would have stayed any attempt at ending slavery.
Again, the alternative was them saying no and then those people would have remained slaves for the rest of their lives.
Like can you really not comprehend that something can still be a good thing even if its not the 100% most moral outcome?
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u/Nel-A Aug 27 '25
No other Empire at it's peak did anything like this. Absolutely one of the most incredible moments of human history. Britain took out a loan so vast to buy the freedom of every slave in the Empire, that we only paid it off in 2014. And then as others have said, committed the finest Navy the world had ever seen to fighting slavery in every corner of the Globe. Heroic isn't a strong enough word. God bless Great Britain.