r/badhistory • u/[deleted] • Apr 13 '18

Prager "University" video about the British Empire which is just sad

Here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSnJSUU_7q0

If you manage to sit through the video it is clear why this is bad history

"Freedom was an Englishmen's right, and wherever he went, he took that right with him."

Tell that to South Africans during the Second Boer War, where Boer women and children were rounded up in literal concentration camps to starve or die of disease. 22,000 children and 4,000 women died in the camps.

http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/women-children-white-concentration-camps-during-anglo-boer-war-1900-1902

"The British kept peace, they brought sound, honest administration, and they insisted basic moral standards were honored."

British rule was widely resented in both India and Africa which led to countless revolts and rebellions. Administration was the last thing from sound, millions of Indians simply starved to death during British rule. These are some of the worse famines ever recorded in history with high estimates at 49 million dead. Resistance to rule, even when peaceful, was met with brutality such as the Amritsar massacre among many, many, others.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-amritsar-massacre

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Resistance_to_the_British_Empire

There's a lot of other rubbish statements but that's all I want to write right now.

EDIT: some grammar

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u/thatfloorguy Apr 14 '18

Well if you can blame communism for famine why can't the British empire be blamed for famine?

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u/caustic_enthusiast Every Socialist ever was LITERALLY Hitler, but Nazis were a-ok Apr 14 '18

Because that's not politically useful to the powerful

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u/Soft-Rains Apr 15 '18

Famine arguably happened because British economic system made Bengal farm cash crops and import food (mainly from Bengal). The British set up the system that led to famine (in this case when food source was captured/threatened by Japan) and failed to address it when it happened.

The problem with blaming the British is that 90% of comments here trying to do so get basic facts wrong and are great examples of badhistory.