British empire worse then the Nazis

Juuuust a tad contentious. :lol:
Given their time in history I reckon it's be hard to pick a more insidious ideology.
Maybe and they were horrendous but when you look at the Japenese 'rape of Nanking', Russians starving the Ukraine population and systematically murdering the educated population they weren't that much worse in their brutality.

We probably haven't even scratched the surface of what Stalin had done because he was on the winning side.
 


Maybe and they were horrendous but when you look at the Japenese 'rape of Nanking', Russians starving the Ukraine population and systematically murdering the educated population they weren't that much worse in their brutality.

We probably haven't even scratched the surface of what Stalin had done because he was on the winning side.
Stalin for me is the Nazi's closest rival in those terms but as far as expansionism is concerned, he wasn't trying to build an empire - rather a buffer zone due to paranoia of being invaded. Neighbours under your control don't assist enemy forces.

Noted regarding the Japanese. They were almost medieval with 20th century technology but aye, still.
 
Um

What you mean is we stopped enslaving people. We didn't end slavery.
We didn't free anyone in fact. We just didnt enslave them. Theres nothing commendable in not enslaving people, you dont deserve an award or praise for it. I've never enslaved anyone but no-one gives me credit for that. Never stole from anyone it murdered anyone either. That dosent make mega saint, it just makes me not a perpetrator of slavery, theft or murder.

We also continued to use the labour and resources of subject populations in appaling circumstances for the benefit of the empire. They wernt traded as slaves but they wernt running around freely either.

Also slavery wasn't abolished before the Empire's height, it happened after N America was lost but well into the period in which most of sub continent had been annexed. The subsequent colonisation of Africa and parts of East Asia didn't make up for the loss of what became the wealthiest continent in the world.

I dont think its worthy of praise. Well done, you stopped treating human beings like cattle. What a f***ing achievement. Such Heroes.

You cant compare it at all no. They're all atrocities which thankfully defy comprehension and quantitative values due to how offensive they are to human decency.

What we can do however is condemn them for what they are, rather than try to weasel out of the issue with lame excuses such as "At least we stopped doing it after 400 years".
Please check this link. It shows a map of Africa in 1880 when Britain had hardly began to colonize most of the continent, but long after the end of slavery. The most valuable part of the Empire was India not an American colony.

We ended slavery within our Empire before most other countries.

We emancipated slaves from other nations and virtually put an end to the Atlantic slave trade single handedly. We boarded American, French and Portuguese slave traders and released the captives.

What the fuck are you talking about? Who said the British Empire should be praised? I said Britain was no worse. :rolleyes:
Stalin for me is the Nazi's closest rival in those terms but as far as expansionism is concerned, he wasn't trying to build an empire - rather a buffer zone due to paranoia of being invaded. Neighbours under your control don't assist enemy forces.

Noted regarding the Japanese. They were almost medieval with 20th century technology but aye, still.
I suppose the Soviets already had enough living space :lol:.

Seriously though I reckon other nations were every bit as cruel as the Germans but without their efficiency and superiority complex.
 
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Seriously though I reckon other nations were every bit as cruel as the Germans but without their efficiency and superiority complex.
Of course, while the British were expanding the Empire, and growing sugar on their plantations, they had no superiority complex whatsoever.

They did so out of charity, benevolence and a desire to improve the lot of their common man. And any stuff of value they found lying about that they could ship home was a bit of a bonus.
 
Of course, while the British were expanding the Empire, and growing sugar on their plantations, they had no superiority complex whatsoever.

They did so out of charity, benevolence and a desire to improve the lot of their common man. And any stuff of value they found lying about that they could ship home was a bit of a bonus.
They did it out of a desire for profit. Not because they wanted to eradicate an 'inferior' race. Most white Europeans believed they were superior to people of colour, just as the aristocracy believed they were superior to the working class and probably still do.
 
They did it out of a desire for profit. Not because they wanted to eradicate an 'inferior' race. Most white Europeans believed they were superior to people of colour, just as the aristocracy believed they were superior to the working class and probably still do.
It wasn't just a feeling of superiority though. By the height of the empire we were claiming to be nearing the end point of civilization. That's how arrogant we were...which probably surpassed even that of the third Reich. Earlier when we had those sugar plantations we had men of reason telling us that slaves didn't feel pain in the way we do. We thought we were culturally enriching the world.

But I suppose yes, successful imperialism will breed that kind of arrogance wherever it rises. Not just us. Bullies tend to be naturally arrogant.
 
Please check this link. It shows a map of Africa in 1880 when Britain had hardly began to colonize most of the continent, but long after the end of slavery. The most valuable part of the Empire was India not an American colony.

We ended slavery within our Empire before most other countries.

We emancipated slaves from other nations and virtually put an end to the Atlantic slave trade single handedly. We boarded American, French and Portuguese slave traders and released the captives.

What the fuck are you talking about? Who said the British Empire should be praised? I said Britain was no worse. :rolleyes:

I suppose the Soviets already had enough living space :lol:.

Seriously though I reckon other nations were every bit as cruel as the Germans but without their efficiency and superiority complex.
I'm fully aware if when Britain began to annex Africa. You wont find a single reputable historian archie that the end of the 19th Century was the Empire at its height. It was falling to pieces at that point and other Imperial powers were catching it at a rate faster than at any point in its history by then.

Britain ending slavery helped end the Trans- Atlantic slave trade to a great degree yes, know why? Because we were its biggest contributors outside of Portugal and Brazil. Just reading up on the British emancipation and my apologies, Britain freed approx 150,000 slaves from other nation's vessels. As a percentage of people involved in the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade which Britain specifically trafficked, approx 4 million, this is about 3%. Forgive me if I think the 97% of people enslaved is considerably more worthy of writing about.[/QUOTE]
 
Of course, while the British were expanding the Empire, and growing sugar on their plantations, they had no superiority complex whatsoever.

They did so out of charity, benevolence and a desire to improve the lot of their common man. And any stuff of value they found lying about that they could ship home was a bit of a bonus.

Did we exploit other nations for our own gain? Absolutely. Were we brutal at times? Yes. Did we have a sense of an overall superiority of white European people? Yes.

What we didn’t do is try to systematically eradicate an entire race of people.
 
It wasn't just a feeling of superiority though. By the height of the empire we were claiming to be nearing the end point of civilization. That's how arrogant we were...which probably surpassed even that of the third Reich. Earlier when we had those sugar plantations we had men of reason telling us that slaves didn't feel pain in the way we do. We thought we were culturally enriching the world.

But I suppose yes, successful imperialism will breed that kind of arrogance wherever it rises. Not just us. Bullies tend to be naturally arrogant.
Fair point. I doubt my ancestors would have been enjoying much of the benefits of Empire though. Probably all stuck down a pit :D
I'm fully aware if when Britain began to annex Africa. You wont find a single reputable historian archie that the end of the 19th Century was the Empire at its height. It was falling to pieces at that point and other Imperial powers were catching it at a rate faster than at any point in its history by then.

Britain ending slavery helped end the Trans- Atlantic slave trade to a great degree yes, know why? Because we were its biggest contributors outside of Portugal and Brazil. Just reading up on the British emancipation and my apologies, Britain freed approx 150,000 slaves from other nation's vessels. As a percentage of people involved in the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade which Britain specifically trafficked, approx 4 million, this is about 3%. Forgive me if I think the 97% of people enslaved is considerably more worthy of writing about.
[/QUOTE]
Like I said I'm not being an apologist for slavery. What I'm saying is this vile practice was happening globally and alway had. We were no better or worse than any other nation in that respect. We controlled the Atlantic slave trade because we controlled the Atlantic at the time. The Portuguese got off lightly because they are England's oldest allies.
 
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You can go on forever with this.
Look at all the old western colonial powers. Us, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Italy, Belgium. Then what about the Soviet Empire and the Japanese?
Then of course good old United States of America.
Germany was also a colonial power in at least Africa. They were late to the table but they were there.
 

Seriously why do these people get given airtime. We’ve also got some stupid tart running for Labour claiming the term ‘empire’ should be scrapped from the honours list.

Give these people an inch and they’ll run a mile with it. Staggering stuff.
"Stupid tart"....😐
Nice bit of misogyny there. Could you not just say you disagree with her opinion?
The empire has done some pretty nasty things like but it was just to keep the local population safe from itself. Like a child those nations we helped by pouring our troops into were only there to make it better. Look at those countries now go.
America Canada India and jock land all just needed the correct guidance that's all.

To compare us to the nazis is a bit shit like.
Such as being indifferent to hundreds of thousands of Indians starving during the Bengal famine.

The empire was definitely not a force for good. Like all the other European powers with empires it was exploitative. Some were worse than the UK. Read about the Congo under the Belgians....it is hideous and cruel beyond belief.
 
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