To cut a long story short.......

[fat old seagull]

My uncle before going to India in the 1920'S

'Light Infantry' I presume ?

 

[W.C.]

Your post makes little sense, I am not claiming credit for anything I am just spelling out a legacy, which in part includes a global language, and you are wrong about the imposition. IT was spread through the colonies true but it is America and Technology that made it so. Why do you think the French moan about "Anglo-Saxon economics?" ITs because in any University in the World Economics is taught in English.

The importance of language is that it communicates information, the language of numbers communicates the same. Height, weight, distances etc. The same for spoken language, so the one important thing is that it is mutually understood to transmit information. Hence it will in time promote understanding. The fact it is English is a historical quirk, our empire followed by Technology, America etc. But thats what this thread is about.

BTW It also helped unify India into a function democracy as well. As I said history can be good or bad depending on what sop you talk to, it is the legacy that will last.

Apologies, I was drunk when I wrote that and it doesn't make much sense I agree. Ironic really.

 

[spring hall convert]

Does the history of the British Empire make you feel proud of being British?
Just watching the fictional " The Patriot" doesn't help.
Having spent a good while travelling the beautiful shores of Africa didn't really help either for me.

Just curious like.........

I don't really get what the big fuss about countries and flags is anyway. It's a bit of fun when we play sport and that, I can't wait for the day we identify as a human race rather than all this national identity nonsense. Unfortunately I suspect it will take an alien invasion before that happens.

To answer you original question, there's worse places to have been born I suspect. There's achievements this nation should be proud of and things we should be ashamed of historically. It does appear to me that at present we are in a period where the rights of the little man, gained over the last 100 to 200 years or so are being perniciously eroded by the money men.

 

[Brighton Mod]

One of my favourite books as it goes, (and biggest and heaviest!).
Indeed, it amazes me how Leopold got away with what he did, eventually being not much to do with Belgium, Hasn't he gone down in history as the biggest mass murderer of all time
Also the story of Ian Smith, another non associated madman
Indeed, as history portrays, we were probably one of the more favoured empires to be conquered by.

Also read 'Fishing in Africa', can't remember the author, predicted the outcome between Tutsi s and Hutu s years before it kicked off. Yes the Scramble was a big book, but a great read.

 

[father_and_son]

Ah the great debate on how great the British Empire. Yes we did bad things but we also done some great things. Recently I worked with a guy from Sudan and a girl from Sierra Leone. So I got right to the point and asked what their feelings were on the British empire and British rule. Both actually said that their families actually preferred life under British rule as it kept their countries fairly stable.

After all let's look at how wrong things have gone in many African countries and some Asian countries after independence. Pretty much dictatorships, civil wars and tribal infighting.

You can see why some preferred British rule to what they have now.

Was talking to a bloke in sri Lanka who said exactly the same thing

Likewise in Malaysia.

 

[father_and_son]

Does the history of the British Empire make you feel proud of being British?
Just watching the fictional " The Patriot" doesn't help.
Having spent a good while travelling the beautiful shores of Africa didn't really help either for me.

Just curious like.........

Taking your history lesson from Hollywood is probably not a good plan... they have a bit of a track record of making stuff up!


In general, yes I am very proud of this country. We have punched well above our weight for a few centuries now and have a track record of introducing considerably more good than bad to the world (IMO). But like the bright but shy kid at school I feel we are being easily led astray by the bullies over recent years.


As for African and Asian nations being riddled with dictatorships, civil wars and infighting.... most of that is the result of what we left behind by design when we left. We could/should have done a lot more in a lot of places to help them instead of creating dictatorships and backing puppets and then being "surprised" when it all went wrong. Still think we have been net contributors to mankind in general - not perfect, but pretty damn good.

 

[pauli cee]

Indeed, a gallon of red wine and a Mel Gibson movie is not a good reason to start a thread on NSC, let alone learn about history!

Agree, (with some African nations in particular), that the way we handed back some of these colonies, is probably the main issue,, we must've seen what would be coming in a few of these instances, but I guess we had washed our hands with a lot of it by then.

But yes, in general a lot of good was achieved, (I won't go into the contraception issue, tho' was that in fact the Germans)