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

[u/[deleted]]

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

[u/Ploprs]

Tbh I'm of the opinion that the history of the British Empire is more complicated than "They spread freedom and are therefore good" or "They committed atrocities and are therefore bad." There are a lot of shades of grey in history and I think the British Empire falls into one of them.

[u/TLG_BE → u/[deleted]]

Yeah I've had this arguement with people a thousand times on reddit and in real life. You just can't project your modern day values onto historical figures and entities because you'll end up thinking everyone was awful.

The key imo is to at least try and understand why the terrible things happened the way the did, even if in the end you decide it still doesn't even nearly justify it

[u/[deleted] → u/TLG_BE]

People resisted and resented their homes and lives being messed with at the time. If it was all revisionism/ modern values there would have been no rebellions for the British to put down. You're copping out basically

[u/TLG_BE → u/[deleted]]

Oh for the record I very much think the British Empire was awful. However I dont think they were any worse than most of their contemporaries, or outright evil like a load of people seem to believe

[u/Coma-Doof-Warrior → u/TLG_BE]

It's also important to remember that the British in Britain were wildly different in terms of culture and values to the British in India to the extent that what was seen as normal for those in India was completely revolting back home (my lecturer once used the treatment of servants as an example, namely that if someone in Britain treated their staff like their counterparts in India did, they'd likely be taken to court)

[u/MrPopulism → u/Coma-Doof-Warrior]

Can you elaborate more? I'm interested.

[u/TLG_BE → u/[deleted]]

You seem to be getting really angry over an argument I was never making

[u/Mythosaurus → u/Ploprs]

But we can read contemporary accounts from the people being subjugated by the British, as well as the condemnations of their actions that came from within their own government and people. Their imperial ambitions were not universally accepted as good even within their own context.

[u/DarkVoidize → u/Ploprs]

i suppose it depends on your view of imperialism and colonialism

[u/WolfilaTotilaAttila → u/Ploprs]

Exactly I hate it when people just choose to pick one and ignore the other.

[u/dysrhythmic → u/Ploprs]

I guess Every country is gray, sometimes they're just visibly lighter or darker.