As a Bengali person this story has been told to me many times by my elders especially since I lost family members to the famine and atrocities commited by the British
Their stories need to be told in Britain. As a British-Australian, one thing I admire about present-day Germany is it's a nation which unflinchingly looks on its past actions and says "never again" (by and large). The UK and Australia would be much healthier places if we did the same.
How about the internecine violence in India during partition, where Hindu butchered Muslim and vice versa. You going to blame the British for that too you oaf?
@@davidcolley7714 The British "partition" of India was meant to cause ethnic conflict, just as the Balfour declaration did in Palestine. The British were also the main supporters of the Confederacy in the American Civil War. Divide and conquer is always the strategy in their geopolitical "great game".
Man i remember watching some British documentary on Stalin. The scene that stuck with me most, was when they discussed Churchill meeting with Stalin and how Churchill bravely chastised Stalin about the Holodomor. They didn't acknowledge the irony of it at all.
@@elliotyourarobot this is all too common in Western propaganda. Stalin is painted as a psychopath who was power hungry even though he was elected and died with less than ₽4.00 in his bank account while Churchill was arguably using India as with other colonies as little different than "Lebensraum". When the people living in the West learn about history it is through the medium of the white Western property owner. This is why people like Lenin, Stalin, ,Mao, Castro, etc... are demonized as there is nothing more terrifying than the liberation of the working class. Muh private properties!1!11!
@@tokarev3094 Well in my opinion Stalin was not a socyopath who make damage out of pity, rather a paranoid madhouse that ultimately create and enviorement where most of the people on power will be too afraid or to petty to question his actions. Said system create an snowball where no one in power will have the balls to announce a disaster until it was too late. Said thing cause things like the Holodomor (where to fund the industry they stock pile as much grain as possible until shit went too hell) or the Operation Barbarosa (where any spy in power told Stalin those plans but he dismissed them as too ilogical to be truth) Ultimately i don't think that most of the awful actions could be pointed to someone being evil rather than being overly cautions and borderline irresponsible. In many ways it remind me in parto to the PRN of my country.
@Sterling Crowne Considering people use the "legacy of communism" to excuse all problems in Central Asia and Eastern Europe (pay no attention to neo-liberalism) I could just say the "legacy of imperialism". To actually address the issue (aka not adopting neo-liberal talking points) their hasn't been a major famine in India since 1943. Their has been hunger and droughts but with the Brits gone they aren't dying by the millions.
You're taught to respect a lot of monsters. I'm American and a lot of our national heroes owned slaves and genocided native people. It's all fucking propaganda.
Luddlow Vert Britain is really not that great, it's just got great military power, we have to convince ourselves we are great somehow I.e. People like Churchill are heroes
@@jacksonduruy4303 Yeah I'm American too and I totally agree. With Churchill, all I was ever taught about him in public school is that he fought the Nazis and made the "never surrender" speech.
@Bill Pollock Ridiculous. That's like calling Barack Obama a 'Bigoted Trump Supporter'. Shashi Tharoor's political party which is called the Congress use to be the Biggest Party in Indian History who lost the power in 2014 National Elections to a 'Hindu Nationalist Party' called BJP and never came back to Power. Lost again in the recent 2019 Elections to the same 'Hindu Nationalist Party'. He's literally one of the Secular Liberal Voices in India whose people are also getting death threats from Right Wing Hindu Nationalist Fascists.
Not just Churchill, the British in general were complicit in the evil things their government did abroad for the purpose of building wealth. Colonialism created the world around us today with it's rich colonizer nations and poor nations of the colonized
As far as I know this is the first and most extensive video essay about Bengal famine and Churchill's role in it. I am an Indian and I never knew this much information about this often ignored historical event. I sincerely thank BadEmpanada for his effort and for making this excellent video. I am currently living in Europe and I have argued few times with my friends here by saying that Churchill was a racist and he was evil towards Indians since his actions/inactions caused 2 million deaths during Bengal famine. I get a sense that they still believe that Churchill was a great and a noble leader, since the allied forces won the World War 2. Many in the west don't know that around 2.5 million Indians fought in the war for the British empire and the allied forces.
@@kimbo99 Yes many Indian people are racist. You had me until tou dismissed this racism and that of Churchill as "not a crime." Racism is undeniably evil. And racism in India really has nothing to do with Churhill. Two wrongs don't make a right.
That was a tough one to watch. Knew nothing of this to be frank. Not a surprise Churchill was a Mussolini fascism fervent admirer and Hitler's method supporter until well, they became a menace for his sacred British Empire. Tremendous amount of work. Cheers!
@@mariomingoia3177 My deepest apologies for the delay but my "notifications system" is kinda fucked up-. My best advice is this article simply because it's a great link- many sources here- to things Churchill has said/ thought/ shared in that disturbing period. spartacus-educational.com/spartacus-blogURL118.htm
@@redjem6918that's not true the Turks try to send more than three but the British blockade forced the Turks to sneak past the blockade they only sneak three ships past the blockade and yes it was famine relief it wasn't for sale.
@@Michael-zi3kk Sorry but it is false. Christine Kinealy in her 'Charity and the Great Hunger in Ireland: The Kindness of Strangers' has done the research. There was no naval blockade of Ireland. In fact in the South-West the Royal Navy mounted probably the most effective relief campaign of all, a strange thing to do if elsewhere you are stopping supplies coming in. "Operating from its base at Cork and receiving provisions from Plymouth and Portsmouth, the navy battled against Atlantic storms throughout the winter of 1846-7, and for months thereafter, to supply coastal food depots." ('Famine on the Coast: The Royal Navy and the Relief of Ireland, 1846-1847', David McLean in The English Historical Review, Volume 134, Issue 566, February 2019, Pages 92-120,
@@oscarstrokosz2986 yeah I completely agree, libs of all countries at that time was unambiguously racist sometimes, contemporaries include France and US libs.
In Canadian history class, we learned how Churchill was a great hero and defender of democracy. As I got older I learned he was big time imperialist and pro democracy but only for other European, well other than the scots, Irish and Welsh. I was surprised to learn that Irish and Scotts hate too, And the Welsh have not forgotten the Tonypandy riots.
Eastern Europeans hate him, too (see Yalta). I've known he was repugnant or a ling time, just not on what level. It's not surprising. It's interesting, though, how prevalent fascist ideas were in that period. It's easy to blame the Germans yet it seems the "problem" was they applied these ideas in Europe, rather than the colonies.
@@bogdiworksV2Seriously. History’s greatest monster is the one guy who applied European colonial tactics to Europeans. (I mean the industrial killing machine went beyond standard colonialism, but it’s still clearly the same general idea, just faster and more efficient)
Ah yes Tonypandy. The myth that won’t die. There were no soldiers at Tonypandy it was the police who dealt with it, nobody died, and Churchill had nothing to do with the situation
@@charliereader3462 Samuel Rhys died. The soldiers didn't kill him - the police may have done so before the army was ordered in, but it was ordered in, and Churchill was Home secretary. It was a complicated situation, which haunted W.C. for many years - not least during the 1950 G. E., but I fear your remarks are not entirely accurate. However, his part in the Bengal Famine was undeniably worthy of criticism, as were some other aspects of the conduct of WW2, including the hypocrisy of going to war with Hitler - as Sashi Tharoor suggests, though he puts it more mildly than I when he writes {on p.128 of "Inglorious Empire"} that... "when Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 led Britain to declare war on it, Indians noted the irony of the English fighting to defend the sovereignty of a weak country resisting the brute force of foreign conquest - precisely what Indians were doing against British Imperialism"; something which is more relevant to the comment section of this particular video.
What you don't hear about in Bengal during this time, when workers went on strike for rations,they were gunned down and massacred, one such massacre happened in the Birla Cotton Mill.
You should cover the Politicide of the PKI in Indonesia in which upwards to 3 million people are killed and tortured. Of which supported by the US, UK and Australia. Also fun fact, Churchill tried to nuke the USSR and rearm Nazi germany immediately after ww2 in a plan dubbed Operation Unthinkable. Most of the British government (even as imperialist as they were) thought that was batshit insane and kick his ass out of Downing Street.
Thank you for mentioning politicide of pki in 65 , almost socialist kinda forgot about although pki is one of the largest if not the largest communist party outside of USSR and maoist china
He planned Operation Unthinkable. He was right in naming it because an allied victory was unthinkable. Stalin would've kicked the Allies' ass off of Europe and turn it Communist.
Its nice to see indian tragedies being talked about outside of our country. I see a lot of ancient Indian history and not enough recent history from like 2 centuries ago. The bengal famine wasn't an unavoidable tragedy like i have heard been said, it was an easily avoidable murder of our people
A very interesting and enlightening video. I am a Bengali (Bangladeshi to be exact) and whilst I was very much aware of this famine and the fact that Churchill and the Empire were very much responsible for it (despite repeated blatant whitewashing campaigns of his legacy over the decades) much of this detail is new to me. My parents mainly speak of the Independence War, the cyclone, the famine, the genocide etc. that Bangladesh experienced in the 1970s, all itself one final twist of the knife of the Empire's legacy in Bengal, as this was before their time. I did also know of the many, many famines India experienced under British rule (making this and their culpability in it wholly unsurprising), including the one that was prevented by extensive measures put into place by various ministers, but I was not aware of them being reprimanded for it. Especially in the name of everyone's favourite 'free market'. For many years I've considered this era of new imperialism (itself the ramping up of the previous Age of Exploration) one of the single darkest periods of all of human history. Here's one of millions of reasons why. The Empire is dead. May it stay dead forever.
Being a bengali myself, living in Kolkata, whose 9/10 of ancestral family was wiped out during the famine; this is one of the best info on RUclips covering this topic. Heck, our school books don't cover this topic. The most insulting thing we we were taught against Churchill in our school books was that he called Gandhi a half naked fakir. No mention of this genocide and the Tebhaga Movement that spinned off because of this!
thats really interesting, I guess exposure to this side of anglo-american imperialism really has jaded me, it was a bit unexpected how intense it was but it wasnt surprising at all
ItchySnazzy I have personally asked questions to ruling upper caste Bengalees about the feminine and starvation. Very proud of Bengali food culture my fellow Bengalees students in prestigious institutions not only denied existence of feminine in Bengal they were totally oblivious of starvation caused by it in their backyards only in the recent past. And these Bengalee fellow students latter occupied position running not only bengalee affairs but Indian affairs and became great scholars if not icons of the rest of the Indian ruling class. Such is today’s’ India that buries miseries in its lower-classes and castes in its backyards.
@@KuldipSidhu-ro1wl and here I am brahmin sitting here dint got admitted to collage cause a lower caste person got 38% and had reservation where as I got 67%. We are really privilege caste aren't we?
@@KuldipSidhu-ro1wl you didn't meet any Bengali cause the "bangalese" gave you away. And communists and leftists here,who control many University are pro western and pro-british.
3 года назад
@@Abhishek-sr2pu upper caste are more likely to get hired accounting for all factors , less likely to get fired , less likely to be the victim of police assault , more likely to get better grades accounting for all factors
As a Bangladeshi, what I find mind boggling is that how Western Imperialism still continues to proliferate in the South Asian region to this day. Even after all the atrocities our ancestors endured. At least past invades assimilated or were driven off. But the colonists ravaged our lands, siphoned our resources dry, decimated local commerce, kept adding fuel to the flame of communalism to the point where we began to resent fellow countrymen and erased our history to label us savages. Then they have the gall to claim that all of this were a blessing for us, when in fact all of the development was designed to be enjoyed by the white colonists not the native people. They say we ought to thank them for their contribution. The contribution which had led to the creation of corrupt fascist governments run by populist leaders. This was all by design of the colonists. Yet, you'll easily find south asians prasing westerners and western culture and condemning ther own heritage which in shambles due to their meddling. I wonder, what would've happen if all south Asian ended their squabbling and stood for each other instead of standing against each other? How the global power structure would be? It is most unlikely. But one can dream.
Under Chinese and Russian influence you might very well be seeing the beginnings of the change you wish for. Multipolarity/multilateralism is what I think they're calling it. A New World Order.
@@PasscodeAdvance it shows like ideas like socialism are so important. The Soviet Union was a planned socialist state. But it also tells us that one needs to be smart and aware of how to manage food resources when in charge of these aspects of civilian life to prevent the Holomdor. To prevent such needless loss of life. But yeah compared to the British and their many many failings in their colonial states, at least after the Holodmor, the USSR had a better quality of life then the countries nearby despite being an agrarian and undeveloped state and many people who lived during its time especially as adults wished for its return.
So glad you made this video. I'm Indian, and I get pretty annoyed when Churchill is held up as a great hero. Also, that stupid Knowing Better video keeps showing up in my recommendations, which is really annoying.
@Bill Pollock atleast that Nazi collaborator fought for us, unlike that fat weasel named Churchill who starved us just because we were undeserving for relief. You westerners like to target Stalin and Mao for causing famines and starving their own people but you wont acknowledge that your "hero" starved 3 million Indians to death.
He literally used the source from a biased article. Here's a link- winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/did-churchill-cause-the-bengal-famine/#comment-4101 Read the comments.
At least to my knowledge, Knowing Better has gotten better at making more unbiased videos. At least his Jehova Witness and company towns one were pretty good. You could give him another chance.... Or not, it's your choice at the end of the day.
Wasn't this man an admirer of Hitler and Mussolini? “With fascism as such . . . he had no quarrel,” the historian Paul Addison writes. “In February 1933 he praised Mussolini . . . as ‘the greatest lawgiver among men.’” Paul Mason adds that Churchill thanked Mussolini for having “rendered a service to the world” in his war against communism, trade unions, and the Left. Visiting Italy in 1927, he declared: “If I had been an Italian, I am sure I should have been wholeheartedly with you from the start to finish in your triumphant struggle against the bestial appetites and passions of Leninism. In 1935, Churchill expressed his “admiration” for Hitler and “the courage, the perseverance, and the vital force which enabled him to . . . overcome all the . . . resistances which barred his path.” it was the “external ambitions of the Nazis, not their internal policies, that caused Churchill most alarm.”
I'm a getting my bachelors in history this December. Unfortunately, I've completed all my required history classes and now am just filling out hours. Your videos give me a way to still binge historical content thank you badempanada.
I’m English and I hate the fact that most people have been brainwashed into thinking the empire was good. I think the uk education system needs to be reformed and actually teach our kids about the British empire. We must reflect on our history and take responsibility for the crimes we committed. I have both British and Irish citizenship and a large family in Ireland and I have realised that the British government and Westminster both completely misunderstand Ireland still to this day and Brexit is emblematic of this misunderstanding.
Never thought I'd see a political video on my ancestral homeland. I'm a member of the diaspora. From Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Huge South Asian community in my city. Surprised at how many self-proclaimed Leftists aren't aware of our struggles. Bengal continues to be a hub for Marxist thought. The region also has Naxalite activity (Maoist).
British were masters at creating regular famines by exporting locally produced foodgrains,hoarding foodgrains, jacking up their prices so that it was beyond the reach of ordinary indians and then look on shamelessly az if it wasnt their fault or concern.The welfare of even the dumbest animals is your concern when you are in charge, thats the first rule ..To plead ignorance, helplessness and other juvenile excuses only reveals that youre unfit to rule.
I went to see "the darkest hour" with my mom when it came out, and I couldn't communicate to her just how disgusting it seemed to me the way Churchill was portrayed. Not really shocking, but I hope we sometime stop producing so much propaganda about these assholes.
Listening to this was very interesting. Especially the "If we have ever to quit India, we shall quit it in a blaze of glory" The partition of India just after the war and displaced millions and killed between 0.7 million-2 million people. This is often blamed on the rushed ineptitude of Radcliffe when he divided the country. I wonder if it was divided so poorly as a punishment.
Brits were always poor losers and left their colonies in turmoil lasting till today with no sign of any solution in sight (Palestine and Kashmir,to name two)
It's tragic but not surprising how much the Bengal Famine mirrors An Gorta Mór (Great Famine) in Ireland, both times relief was not seriously considered because they thought the market would take care of it - never mind the Brits spreading the lies about the need for the deaths of the poor to keep the population in check i.e An Essay on the Principle of Population (Thomas Malthus).
Our favorite YT character Knowing Better makes an appearance. Seriously though, that guy is a CIA experiment to see how long a person can live without a brain.
Just some other things on churchill's resume, to show how brilliant he was, before the gallipoli campaign Churchill and many other higher leaders had said to attack this position would be silly and sheer folly, but for his own ego in 1915 Churchill decide he could do it, even though the area was even more heavily defended now, in the end there were over 500,000 casualties and the british withdrew.
Well, he didn’t care all that mush for even the British troops, and cared for the Aussies and Kiwis even less. It’s a foundational myth of Australia now- how we held up in the face of impossible adversity, after being ordered to do something very stupid by the Brits in charge.
@@katherinemorelle7115 there was 7 times as many British Troops than Australians, in fact there were more french at Gallipoli than Australians, please do not forgot them.
An ahistoric take. The Gallipoli as first devised was actually a very good one, it was botched by the Admirals at the original battle and then pride saw it continue despite the loss of the element of surprise. Churchill can be blamed for allowing it to go on but the original plan was actually genius.
@@robfl100 But the British capitalists cared less of who starved to death, they only cared about their own, and cross off any chance of saving a life if it meant not making profit out of it. famines in British controlled colonies were common, wayyy before Japanese imperalism, Japanese imperalism only made it worse.
@Jay Blake They didn't British wealthy capitalist did not care about poor or Middle class British people, but when it came to the life of an Indian to the life of a British soldier, they 100% choose a British soldier
The British atleast provided relief for the Greeks by loosening the blockade and airdropping supplies into the Netherlands, Japan just raped and murdered the territories they occupied.
@@Gamenetreviews This does not excuse their actions though, and this is not a dichotomy. Furthermore, even a broken clock is right twice a day, despite being wrong all day long.
@@poposterous236 At the risk of appearing like a pedant: There's an alternate and humorous interpretation of the words other than the meaning intended by the original author. I dunno if this is an American English vs British English difference but the Cambridge dictionary gives the following definition for irony: "a situation in which something which was intended to have a particular result has the opposite or a very different result: "
Yes and no. If you actually get into the mind of Neo-Liberals, they legitimately believe that their worldview I'd correct and everything that contradicts it is wrong. So them saying "the right understanding" isn't so much a hidden message referencing a mainstream or centre-right talking point as it is how they actually perceive history: "we are good, ignore our past mistakes, everyone else is bad, only focus on their flaws and ignore or deliberately obscure everything good they did".
To my knowledge, Knowing Better has gotten better at making fairly unbiased videos. His video on the Jehova Witness and on the history of company towns are pretty good. You could give him another chance... or not. It's your choice either way.
If you can't tell, I'm conflicted, because his older videos definitely deserve the hate they get, but also because I met his channel through his newer and better videos.
Gonna be honest I'm kind of basking in Churchill's blustering, monocle-popping rage at Gandhi and the people of India not taking the shit of the empire anymore.
As an Indian and a dirty commie, this is one of the first stories I heard about the Independence struggle. Unfortunately, ghouls like Knowing Better lurk around, metaphorically justifying the rapist. But this video inspired me to maybe make videos having come from the only state that democratically elected a communist government. Maybe. Sometime. Thank you Mr. Empanada.
I don't know about that statement towards Knowing Better. His videos on Columbus are worst he ever did, but his most recent videos on company towns and the Jehova Witnesses are pretty good though. Perhaps BadEmpanada should give him a third chance with those... Or not since it is his choice.
@@extrahistory8956 nothing special, already knew what all he said, you can find the same stuff from other ex jw RUclipsrs and better than him. Honestly it's recommended to watch the video of a person who was in and then left the religion rather than an outside throwing his opinion around
i guess the difference is that the Nazis actively tried exterminating people and Churchill did by not doing anything. But if one is really worse than the other, is somethung I can't say
Lot of people do know about churchill's famine, or congo where the belgiums did horrible things, but for some reason the netherlands colonization of indonesia always escapes scrutiny. We the Dutch, even just didn't include the deaths during WW2 (at the hands of the Japanese) in our remembrances of the second world war. And the way we deal with the Indonesian independence is also pretty bad (for example, we still say they were independent in 1949, because that is when we gave up trying to take them back over, and not 1945, when they declared independence. As far as I can tell we never did the massive genocides the brits/belgians did, but it is def something we all should look more into.
well according to new reports the dutch didnt just slaughter 100 thousand indonesians during their colonial war, but the famine, disease and forced relocations cost the lives of millions. So quite a lot.
I didn't have to learn this from history books. It was actually passed down from my ancestors. I'm a Bengali and very very fortunate that my great grandfather was from a well off family.
This is honestly way more horrid then I expected. Like holy shit, this was genuinely hard to watch. Churchill is nothing more then a monster full stop, he doesn't deserve to be celebrated by anyone.
nah what do you mean he is the perfect logos. the perfect rational being. you could call him a prophet. call him a "savior". you could also say. facts don't care about your feelings, and your feelings don't care about facts, so why not care about neither.
"All great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you super-add the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority." Lord Acton, (1834-1902)
As a British person thank you for this video. I think people over here admire him way too much but to be fair we never get educated on his faults. I will say I do have admire him for the whole 'never surrender' thing that got us through the war but besides that he was a disguisting genocidal maniac.
@bbonner422 I've heard that before. I would like people to know that most British people are not very imperial. I doubt most people my age know much about the empire or even know that we were so big. We don't get taught it for some reason.
@@Kobolds_in_a_trenchcoat there's a surprising number of boomer brits over here who understand the horrors of the empire. My grandparents being two of them. This contingent is probably why most of us brits here are on board with Churchill hating
@@nikolamilicevic1040 What I meant was that most British people don't support imperialism. We are not taught about the empire, not even in a positive light, so most people don't think about the British Empire.
This is the most Informative and extensive video essay I have ever seen on this topic. Really as an Indian and Bengali myself I am Much obliged to you making this video. I could not imagine How much effort you have put in this video. I don't possess any hatred toward today's British or Britain But we such individuals are idealized as some hero and messiah it makes me sick. I hope this video reaches to a lot of people Again Thanks for efforts
Recently at uni (mech eng degree) we had to write an essay on a great leader. I was really surprised to see how popular Churchill was but didnt actually no anything about him. Wish I'd watched this first haha
What university was this? I know a lot of first year university courses in the UK are often remedial and casual before engaging in more rigorous study that contributes towards the degree's final grade from the second year onwards. But this feels like a superfluous waste of educational resources, especially when you're paying over £9000 a year for the privilege of becoming employable for someone else's advantage at the end of it.
I'd have been tempted to write an essay on Gandhi just to have the opportunity to passive aggressively point out how shit Churchill was at every point. I also do hold a legitimately high degree of respect for Gandhi in many regards.
Even though I am Australian rather than British, this very uncommon knowledge over here. I only found out it happened at all about a year ago, and until this video thought it was simply a brutality borne of wartime desparation from Churchill rather than genuine malice. Even now it's quite hard for me to reconcile that the man who played such an important role in defeating the Nazis was the same man who inflicted such huge and needless suffering on the Indians, but it's important that history be taught in it's entirety without shallow hero-worship. Thankyou for a fascinating video.
Even then it's important to remember that the war was won due to heaps of different people from many nations. The world is obsessed with acting like '1' man was key to everything when this is rarely the case.
Hello BadEmpanada. First of all, this a great, informative video covering a topic many people never learn about. Not the existance of Chutchill or his role in the war, but his personal views and morals. Secondly, my father is very interested in issues like this, but does not speak english. That is why I ask: may I add hungarian subtitles to your video? I understand if that's not possible, but if it is I can assure you I would do my best to do an accurate and enjoyable translations.
@Sammy that has got to be single handedly the most incorrect thing I have ever heard No matter whitch way you spin it the left is and will always be better than the right
@Sammy what damage has the left "caused"....wha that's what I thaught I bet your one of the idiots that believe communism killed 100M people or some ridiculous number like that But evain if the 100M thing was correct (its not) capitalism alone has killed approximately 300M people so dont try to play the smart guy act with me
India was a very rich country when British came in India they loot every thing.... in bengal many people died because of hunger they eating mud and clothes.....
And Churchill is now plastered all over our five pound notes and romanticised like there's no tomorrow. The UK (well England actually) really needs to take a long hard look at itself and start acknowledging it has a problem with toxic nostalgia.
For anyone who wants time stamps Part 1: Prelude & Empire 4:10 Part 2: The War Begins 11:53 Part 3: Enter Churchill 19:17 Part 4: Indifference & Spite 26:44 Part 5: Damage Control 41:41 Conclusion 47:25 Outro 50:41
@@bigbluebuttonman1137 Kulaks and weather caused Holodomor. Worst weather conditions caused the Great Chinese Famine. Churchill caused the Bengali Famine.
More should see this. It’s a shame that this kind of video has only been created after years of bs about the topic on RUclips, but it’s great that it’s now out. Your hard work and effort is incredibly evident in this video. Fantastic job.
1:45 John Hickman who wrote a lot of churchil biographies never mentioned the Bengal famine. Living and teaching in a state with segregation (Georgia) he did not bother to mention the starved brown people. Funny that.
@@bigbluebuttonman1137 no, I would argue neither stalin or mao were racists, they were only obbsessed with enforcing their theory. but this guy was racist as fuck he let all those people starve out of pure hatred.
@Bill Pollock didn't you wazch the video? He was a racist and did anboslutely nothing to avoid the famine, the only thing he did was make a bunch of racist excuses, you churchill simps are no better than any nazi, holocoust denier.
just look at some images of the bengal famine; it looks like auswitz; then again photographs of the starvation of bengal should probably be the face of the british empire.
Britain exported approximately over 20 million tonnes of food from Ireland to England, per year, every year, from 1830s to 1880s. Enough to feed 18 million people per year. Population of Ireland in 1842 was 8.1 million, and the loss of lives was well over double the official number, which about 3 million people died and 2 million emigrated
Thank you so much for doing this video and highlighting this atrocity on my people. The famine left indelible mark on the psyche of our people, especially the generation who bore the worst of it. I remember as a child getting scolded by my grandparents if I ever wasted rice, only to grow up and learn about what they saw and experienced, how the starchy water from boiling rice was the only food available to so many and I understood why even a single grain meant so much to them.
There are many things Russia, China, North Korea should learn from the West. Among them the high priority one is definitely how to media-package yourself as a "good guy"
Thank you for doing this. Very well researched and put together. I knew Churchill was a piece of shit but this really plumbs the depths of his monstrous nature. It makes me sick that they put his face on our £5 notes.
Im so happy they are now considering teaching this in school. If germans must learn about the holocaust, we british must learn and accept responsibility for the horrors of colonialism in Ireland, Africa, South Asia and the white settler colonies that displaced and removed native tribes through genocide and forced intigration. It is as much British history as the world war. Britain never stood alone, it stood with the largest manpower pool and hostage nations at its side. While it is true 7/10 deaths in the war were British, it is also true britain couldnt have won without empire in the first place.
Lovely chap, that Winston. It's so infuriating that British media still portrays him as a somewhat quirky guy who nevertheless had his heart in the right place, such as Doctor Who and The Crown. Ugh.
As a Bengali, my parents still remember the famine & its utmost devastation. They say the independence of India came in 1947, but it was NOT a happy time for Bengal, because of the riots & the famine. Also, Nice documentary!
As a Bengali person this story has been told to me many times by my elders especially since I lost family members to the famine and atrocities commited by the British
Their stories need to be told in Britain.
As a British-Australian, one thing I admire about present-day Germany is it's a nation which unflinchingly looks on its past actions and says "never again" (by and large). The UK and Australia would be much healthier places if we did the same.
“The Allies” are still sniffing their own propagandist farts. (Kiwi-Brit living in Germany)
How about the internecine violence in India during partition, where Hindu butchered Muslim and vice versa. You going to blame the British for that too you oaf?
David Colley triggered.
@@davidcolley7714 The British "partition" of India was meant to cause ethnic conflict, just as the Balfour declaration did in Palestine. The British were also the main supporters of the Confederacy in the American Civil War. Divide and conquer is always the strategy in their geopolitical "great game".
Man i remember watching some British documentary on Stalin. The scene that stuck with me most, was when they discussed Churchill meeting with Stalin and how Churchill bravely chastised Stalin about the Holodomor. They didn't acknowledge the irony of it at all.
@@elliotyourarobot this is all too common in Western propaganda. Stalin is painted as a psychopath who was power hungry even though he was elected and died with less than ₽4.00 in his bank account while Churchill was arguably using India as with other colonies as little different than "Lebensraum".
When the people living in the West learn about history it is through the medium of the white Western property owner. This is why people like Lenin, Stalin, ,Mao, Castro, etc... are demonized as there is nothing more terrifying than the liberation of the working class.
Muh private properties!1!11!
@@tokarev3094 Well in my opinion Stalin was not a socyopath who make damage out of pity, rather a paranoid madhouse that ultimately create and enviorement where most of the people on power will be too afraid or to petty to question his actions.
Said system create an snowball where no one in power will have the balls to announce a disaster until it was too late.
Said thing cause things like the Holodomor (where to fund the industry they stock pile as much grain as possible until shit went too hell) or the Operation Barbarosa (where any spy in power told Stalin those plans but he dismissed them as too ilogical to be truth)
Ultimately i don't think that most of the awful actions could be pointed to someone being evil rather than being overly cautions and borderline irresponsible. In many ways it remind me in parto to the PRN of my country.
Lando Calrissian it’s true
Lando Calrissian There were no genocide u dumbass
@@elliotyourarobot
A Stalin apologist in the comment section of a video picking apart Churchill apologists, the irony is with you as well.
"Indifference and Spite" should be the motto of the UK government and its ruling class.
Sterling Crowne Capitalism
@Sterling Crowne Considering people use the "legacy of communism" to excuse all problems in Central Asia and Eastern Europe (pay no attention to neo-liberalism) I could just say the "legacy of imperialism".
To actually address the issue (aka not adopting neo-liberal talking points) their hasn't been a major famine in India since 1943. Their has been hunger and droughts but with the Brits gone they aren't dying by the millions.
@Sterling Crowne Care to provide some documentation for your magical thinking. One of the droughts I alluded to occurred in the 1970s.
@Sterling Crowne Shove your American exceptionalism up your ass. No patriot mindlessly follows his country.
@Sterling Crowne Your so clueless about the world its laughable
In my city there’s a Holodomor Memorial in Churchill Square, within spitting distance of a statue of the man.
Cos communists are bad, whilst imperialists are good
Ironic, but no memorial for bengalis
sinthoras oh yeah imperialism killing millions more than communism throughout history is awesome.
@@jaydengray4015 as long as the ruling class profits it's good
@@jaydengray4015 I'm pretty sure they meant that in jest
“Whoopsiedaisie, looks like we’ve gone and done a bloody genocide lads. Sorry about that there gov, pish posh, cheerio.” - Winston Churchill, probably
Definitely believable but only without the last sentence (specifically the sorry part ;P).
I seriously doubt he'd sound apologetic at all .. given his refusal to apologise for the Palestinian situation
that's not far off
Cringe
@@sorrysorry1877 Oh I know
Holy hell, I can't believe I was taught to respect this monster.
You're taught to respect a lot of monsters. I'm American and a lot of our national heroes owned slaves and genocided native people. It's all fucking propaganda.
Luddlow Vert Britain is really not that great, it's just got great military power, we have to convince ourselves we are great somehow I.e. People like Churchill are heroes
@@jacksonduruy4303 Yeah I'm American too and I totally agree. With Churchill, all I was ever taught about him in public school is that he fought the Nazis and made the "never surrender" speech.
@@McRaeGBR A massive empire created through genocide and colonialism is by no means great.
@@McRaeGBR
Tell that to the Tasmanians... if you can find any, that is.
a little algorithm boost from Ireland, where we know a thing or two about the brits doing famines. also about Churchill being a baddie.
Well, Shashi Tharoor did mention Ireland in his book.
@Bill Pollock Ridiculous. That's like calling Barack Obama a 'Bigoted Trump Supporter'.
Shashi Tharoor's political party which is called the Congress use to be the Biggest Party in Indian History who lost the power in 2014 National Elections to a 'Hindu Nationalist Party' called BJP and never came back to Power.
Lost again in the recent 2019 Elections to the same 'Hindu Nationalist Party'.
He's literally one of the Secular Liberal Voices in India whose people are also getting death threats from Right Wing Hindu Nationalist Fascists.
Not just Churchill, the British in general were complicit in the evil things their government did abroad for the purpose of building wealth. Colonialism created the world around us today with it's rich colonizer nations and poor nations of the colonized
Churchill is pig.
@@Flyingkitty1234 Don't insult pigs like that!
As far as I know this is the first and most extensive video essay about Bengal famine and Churchill's role in it. I am an Indian and I never knew this much information about this often ignored historical event. I sincerely thank BadEmpanada for his effort and for making this excellent video. I am currently living in Europe and I have argued few times with my friends here by saying that Churchill was a racist and he was evil towards Indians since his actions/inactions caused 2 million deaths during Bengal famine. I get a sense that they still believe that Churchill was a great and a noble leader, since the allied forces won the World War 2. Many in the west don't know that around 2.5 million Indians fought in the war for the British empire and the allied forces.
That includes Pakistanis and Bangladeshis too and technically there was no choice but to aid Britain
Indians are just as racist as Churchill. Its NOT a crime to have preferences.
@@kimbo99 you know what’s racist thinking that a entire race is racist because that what a racist would say
@@ajarofmayonnaise3250 LOL. And I'm married to an Indian woman. So Wacist I am. And she is Muslim. And I am not married to Churchill like so many.
@@kimbo99 Yes many Indian people are racist. You had me until tou dismissed this racism and that of Churchill as "not a crime."
Racism is undeniably evil. And racism in India really has nothing to do with Churhill. Two wrongs don't make a right.
That was a tough one to watch. Knew nothing of this to be frank.
Not a surprise Churchill was a Mussolini fascism fervent admirer and Hitler's method supporter until well, they became a menace for his sacred British Empire.
Tremendous amount of work. Cheers!
Can I have source for being an admirer of fascism just to show my older brother (he is a big fan/ apologist of Churchill)
@@mariomingoia3177 My deepest apologies for the delay but my "notifications system" is kinda fucked up-.
My best advice is this article simply because it's a great link- many sources here- to things Churchill has said/ thought/ shared in that disturbing period.
spartacus-educational.com/spartacus-blogURL118.htm
@@antivalidisme5669 cheers
Sorry for late response - i didn't receive the notification
yeah fuck churshill and britan as a whole. The nation deserves to be nuked
u need to read more instead of just accepting stuff, try martin gilbert a proper historian
26:30 Even worse than indifference- Turkish aid to Ireland was blockaded by the Brits
And American aid shipments of corn were turned away
Fake. Only 3 Turkish ships are known to have landed (at Drogheda) goods which were for sale and not for famine relief (c.f. Kinealy).
No taxed couldn't be unloaded without tax@@redjem6918
@@redjem6918that's not true the Turks try to send more than three but the British blockade forced the Turks to sneak past the blockade they only sneak three ships past the blockade and yes it was famine relief it wasn't for sale.
@@Michael-zi3kk Sorry but it is false. Christine Kinealy in her 'Charity and the Great Hunger in Ireland: The Kindness of Strangers' has done the research. There was no naval blockade of Ireland. In fact in the South-West the Royal Navy mounted probably the most effective relief campaign of all, a strange thing to do if elsewhere you are stopping supplies coming in. "Operating from its base at Cork and receiving provisions from Plymouth and Portsmouth, the navy battled against Atlantic storms throughout the winter of 1846-7, and for months thereafter, to supply coastal food depots." ('Famine on the Coast: The Royal Navy and the Relief of Ireland, 1846-1847', David McLean in The English Historical Review, Volume 134, Issue 566, February 2019, Pages 92-120,
Not sure why Churchill didn't give up on fighting Nazis when they share a lot of their views
I would argue that it was the nationalist part in both systems. Neither could afford to be subject to the other country.
He was horrible, but also complex. Many libs sincerely believe in their values, surprisingly
@@acutechicken5798 which ones? I know one is the Indians but what's the other one you're talking about?
@@oscarstrokosz2986 yeah I completely agree, libs of all countries at that time was unambiguously racist sometimes, contemporaries include France and US libs.
Churchill was driven by the interests of his country and of the British Empire only.
In Canadian history class, we learned how Churchill was a great hero and defender of democracy. As I got older I learned he was big time imperialist and pro democracy but only for other European, well other than the scots, Irish and Welsh. I was surprised to learn that Irish and Scotts hate too,
And the Welsh have not forgotten the Tonypandy riots.
democracy is shit
Eastern Europeans hate him, too (see Yalta). I've known he was repugnant or a ling time, just not on what level. It's not surprising. It's interesting, though, how prevalent fascist ideas were in that period. It's easy to blame the Germans yet it seems the "problem" was they applied these ideas in Europe, rather than the colonies.
@@bogdiworksV2Seriously. History’s greatest monster is the one guy who applied European colonial tactics to Europeans. (I mean the industrial killing machine went beyond standard colonialism, but it’s still clearly the same general idea, just faster and more efficient)
Ah yes Tonypandy. The myth that won’t die. There were no soldiers at Tonypandy it was the police who dealt with it, nobody died, and Churchill had nothing to do with the situation
@@charliereader3462 Samuel Rhys died. The soldiers didn't kill him - the police may have done so before the army was ordered in, but it was ordered in, and Churchill was Home secretary. It was a complicated situation, which haunted W.C. for many years - not least during the 1950 G. E., but I fear your remarks are not entirely accurate.
However, his part in the Bengal Famine was undeniably worthy of criticism, as were some other aspects of the conduct of WW2, including the hypocrisy of going to war with Hitler - as Sashi Tharoor suggests, though he puts it more mildly than I when he writes {on p.128 of "Inglorious Empire"} that... "when Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 led Britain to declare war on it, Indians noted the irony of the English fighting to defend the sovereignty of a weak country resisting the brute force of foreign conquest - precisely what Indians were doing against British Imperialism"; something which is more relevant to the comment section of this particular video.
What you don't hear about in Bengal during this time, when workers went on strike for rations,they were gunned down and massacred, one such massacre happened in the Birla Cotton Mill.
You should cover the Politicide of the PKI in Indonesia in which upwards to 3 million people are killed and tortured. Of which supported by the US, UK and Australia.
Also fun fact, Churchill tried to nuke the USSR and rearm Nazi germany immediately after ww2 in a plan dubbed Operation Unthinkable. Most of the British government (even as imperialist as they were) thought that was batshit insane and kick his ass out of Downing Street.
Thank you for mentioning politicide of pki in 65 , almost socialist kinda forgot about although pki is one of the largest if not the largest communist party outside of USSR and maoist china
He planned Operation Unthinkable. He was right in naming it because an allied victory was unthinkable. Stalin would've kicked the Allies' ass off of Europe and turn it Communist.
@MikeYm98875 absolutely false
Thanks! This is probably the only video I saw on RUclips that explains the Bengal Famine in any detail. Great work.
Looks like we have Indian MrBeast over here💀
@@XS-03_Apolloit's like 18 dollars haha
@@tokyotwice8810 Isn't that a lot in India?
@@XS-03_Apollodefinitely
@@XS-03_Apollo not a lot but not too little either.
Its nice to see indian tragedies being talked about outside of our country. I see a lot of ancient Indian history and not enough recent history from like 2 centuries ago. The bengal famine wasn't an unavoidable tragedy like i have heard been said, it was an easily avoidable murder of our people
A very interesting and enlightening video. I am a Bengali (Bangladeshi to be exact) and whilst I was very much aware of this famine and the fact that Churchill and the Empire were very much responsible for it (despite repeated blatant whitewashing campaigns of his legacy over the decades) much of this detail is new to me. My parents mainly speak of the Independence War, the cyclone, the famine, the genocide etc. that Bangladesh experienced in the 1970s, all itself one final twist of the knife of the Empire's legacy in Bengal, as this was before their time. I did also know of the many, many famines India experienced under British rule (making this and their culpability in it wholly unsurprising), including the one that was prevented by extensive measures put into place by various ministers, but I was not aware of them being reprimanded for it. Especially in the name of everyone's favourite 'free market'.
For many years I've considered this era of new imperialism (itself the ramping up of the previous Age of Exploration) one of the single darkest periods of all of human history. Here's one of millions of reasons why.
The Empire is dead. May it stay dead forever.
Nwastik ho, tor valo hobe. Noile tor puro family moruk, asha kori.
Being a bengali myself, living in Kolkata, whose 9/10 of ancestral family was wiped out during the famine; this is one of the best info on RUclips covering this topic. Heck, our school books don't cover this topic. The most insulting thing we we were taught against Churchill in our school books was that he called Gandhi a half naked fakir. No mention of this genocide and the Tebhaga Movement that spinned off because of this!
Marwadi der jonnyo morechhilo
This was a tough video to watch. I already knew that this stuff happened but the amount of hateful quotes from Churchill was just gut-wrenching.
Yea it's crazy. Like there's really no difference in his believes to those of Nazi German politicians describing 'Untermenschen'
thats really interesting, I guess exposure to this side of anglo-american imperialism really has jaded me, it was a bit unexpected how intense it was but it wasnt surprising at all
Imagine what he might have said when he knew the "mic" was off, and he was with his chums.
THIS should be the plot of the Winston Churchill film... from the Bengali perspective with Churchill as the villain
Where are all the starvation memes for the british empire? That seems to be a big portion of its history.
Starvation memes for imperialist teens
ItchySnazzy I have personally asked questions to ruling upper caste Bengalees about the feminine and starvation. Very proud of Bengali food culture my fellow Bengalees students in prestigious institutions not only denied existence of feminine in Bengal they were totally oblivious of starvation caused by it in their backyards only in the recent past. And these Bengalee fellow students latter occupied position running not only bengalee affairs but Indian affairs and became great scholars if not icons of the rest of the Indian ruling class. Such is today’s’ India that buries miseries in its lower-classes and castes in its backyards.
@@KuldipSidhu-ro1wl and here I am brahmin sitting here dint got admitted to collage cause a lower caste person got 38% and had reservation where as I got 67%. We are really privilege caste aren't we?
@@KuldipSidhu-ro1wl you didn't meet any Bengali cause the "bangalese" gave you away. And communists and leftists here,who control many University are pro western and pro-british.
@@Abhishek-sr2pu upper caste are more likely to get hired accounting for all factors , less likely to get fired , less likely to be the victim of police assault , more likely to get better grades accounting for all factors
As a Bangladeshi, what I find mind boggling is that how Western Imperialism still continues to proliferate in the South Asian region to this day. Even after all the atrocities our ancestors endured. At least past invades assimilated or were driven off. But the colonists ravaged our lands, siphoned our resources dry, decimated local commerce, kept adding fuel to the flame of communalism to the point where we began to resent fellow countrymen and erased our history to label us savages. Then they have the gall to claim that all of this were a blessing for us, when in fact all of the development was designed to be enjoyed by the white colonists not the native people. They say we ought to thank them for their contribution. The contribution which had led to the creation of corrupt fascist governments run by populist leaders. This was all by design of the colonists. Yet, you'll easily find south asians prasing westerners and western culture and condemning ther own heritage which in shambles due to their meddling. I wonder, what would've happen if all south Asian ended their squabbling and stood for each other instead of standing against each other? How the global power structure would be? It is most unlikely. But one can dream.
Under Chinese and Russian influence you might very well be seeing the beginnings of the change you wish for. Multipolarity/multilateralism is what I think they're calling it. A New World Order.
I live in India and this makes me feel really weird. This makes me want justice. The world is fucked up.
You know how that works? We need to work to fixing our county. Bottom to top.
I share your feeling here man
I feel the same way
The world is way more fu*ed up than you think it is. Colonialism isn't dead, it just has a new face.
As an Indian i knew he was a monster. But i didn't know he was considered a hero when i moved to Europe. That was a shocking revelation to me.
Welcome to the United Kingdom 🇬🇧
@@mrcocoloco7200 I'm not in the UK
@fieryfirevivin Oh, so what other European 🇪🇺 Country sees him as a hero too, good sir?
@@mrcocoloco7200 France for example
@fieryfirevivin France 🇫🇷 loves that guy! Damn, I shouldn't be surprised, though.
Jesus, Winston was literally evil. like a complete spiteful sociopath.
jojo jaylo not much different from Hitler.
He had a silver tongue.
@@inkarn8915 True but Stalin was a god of liberation and peace compared to them, actually this itself is why communism is soo important
@Hydra Oooh
@@PasscodeAdvance it shows like ideas like socialism are so important. The Soviet Union was a planned socialist state. But it also tells us that one needs to be smart and aware of how to manage food resources when in charge of these aspects of civilian life to prevent the Holomdor. To prevent such needless loss of life.
But yeah compared to the British and their many many failings in their colonial states, at least after the Holodmor, the USSR had a better quality of life then the countries nearby despite being an agrarian and undeveloped state and many people who lived during its time especially as adults wished for its return.
So glad you made this video. I'm Indian, and I get pretty annoyed when Churchill is held up as a great hero. Also, that stupid Knowing Better video keeps showing up in my recommendations, which is really annoying.
Agreed. 😂
@Bill Pollock atleast that Nazi collaborator fought for us, unlike that fat weasel named Churchill who starved us just because we were undeserving for relief. You westerners like to target Stalin and Mao for causing famines and starving their own people but you wont acknowledge that your "hero" starved 3 million Indians to death.
He literally used the source from a biased article. Here's a link- winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/did-churchill-cause-the-bengal-famine/#comment-4101
Read the comments.
At least to my knowledge, Knowing Better has gotten better at making more unbiased videos. At least his Jehova Witness and company towns one were pretty good. You could give him another chance.... Or not, it's your choice at the end of the day.
@@extrahistory8956Sure, I'm always happy to give people another chance
I'm guessing this is "not-exactly-but-pretty-much" a response to Knowing Better.
Link, please.
@@Diego-zz1df ruclips.net/video/M4m_BwYeIRo/видео.html
that knowing better video is a fucking mess oh god
Loser
That’s not at all what Knowing Better said. You’re just making crap up.
@@zachariahwade8482 yeah, it's not like he was clearly being hyperbolic or some shit
Wasn't this man an admirer of Hitler and Mussolini?
“With fascism as such . . . he had no quarrel,” the historian Paul Addison writes. “In February 1933 he praised Mussolini . . . as ‘the greatest lawgiver among men.’” Paul Mason adds that Churchill thanked Mussolini for having “rendered a service to the world” in his war against communism, trade unions, and the Left. Visiting Italy in 1927, he declared: “If I had been an Italian, I am sure I should have been wholeheartedly with you from the start to finish in your triumphant struggle against the bestial appetites and passions of Leninism.
In 1935, Churchill expressed his “admiration” for Hitler and “the courage, the perseverance, and the vital force which enabled him to . . . overcome all the . . . resistances which barred his path.” it was the “external ambitions of the Nazis, not their internal policies, that caused Churchill most alarm.”
I'm a getting my bachelors in history this December. Unfortunately, I've completed all my required history classes and now am just filling out hours. Your videos give me a way to still binge historical content thank you badempanada.
I’m English and I hate the fact that most people have been brainwashed into thinking the empire was good. I think the uk education system needs to be reformed and actually teach our kids about the British empire. We must reflect on our history and take responsibility for the crimes we committed. I have both British and Irish citizenship and a large family in Ireland and I have realised that the British government and Westminster both completely misunderstand Ireland still to this day and Brexit is emblematic of this misunderstanding.
The only brainwashed people are the ones who thought the empire did more bad than good. Quit listening to biased channels and think for yourself.
Never thought I'd see a political video on my ancestral homeland. I'm a member of the diaspora. From Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Huge South Asian community in my city. Surprised at how many self-proclaimed Leftists aren't aware of our struggles. Bengal continues to be a hub for Marxist thought. The region also has Naxalite activity (Maoist).
I was literally just arguing about Churchill two days ago
If you had waited long enough you could have just linked the video and let Empanada argue on your behalf. Terrible planning on your part!
Cassian it comes up on political servers more than you would believe
Hell yea, a BadEmpanada upload on my birthday. Good video man
Happy Birthday bud. Stay safe!
This just but one famine.
The British caused like 31 famines in 120 years.
British were masters at creating regular famines by exporting locally produced foodgrains,hoarding foodgrains, jacking up their prices so that it was beyond the reach of ordinary indians and then look on shamelessly az if it wasnt their fault or concern.The welfare of even the dumbest animals is your concern when you are in charge, thats the first rule ..To plead ignorance, helplessness and other juvenile excuses only reveals that youre unfit to rule.
I went to see "the darkest hour" with my mom when it came out, and I couldn't communicate to her just how disgusting it seemed to me the way Churchill was portrayed. Not really shocking, but I hope we sometime stop producing so much propaganda about these assholes.
Listening to this was very interesting. Especially the "If we have ever to quit India, we shall quit it in a blaze of glory" The partition of India just after the war and displaced millions and killed between 0.7 million-2 million people. This is often blamed on the rushed ineptitude of Radcliffe when he divided the country. I wonder if it was divided so poorly as a punishment.
Brits were always poor losers and left their colonies in turmoil lasting till today with no sign of any solution in sight (Palestine and Kashmir,to name two)
Thank You for covering this, As an Indian I feel like This topic is virtually unknown to the western public
It's tragic but not surprising how much the Bengal Famine mirrors An Gorta Mór (Great Famine) in Ireland, both times relief was not seriously considered because they thought the market would take care of it - never mind the Brits spreading the lies about the need for the deaths of the poor to keep the population in check i.e An Essay on the Principle of Population
(Thomas Malthus).
Same tactics used by the british in noth Ireland and india hence the similarities
The "WWII Hero" ladies and gentleman.
He was also the Great War and the Boers War hero
Our favorite YT character Knowing Better makes an appearance. Seriously though, that guy is a CIA experiment to see how long a person can live without a brain.
Just some other things on churchill's resume, to show how brilliant he was, before the gallipoli campaign Churchill and many other higher leaders had said to attack this position would be silly and sheer folly, but for his own ego in 1915 Churchill decide he could do it, even though the area was even more heavily defended now, in the end there were over 500,000 casualties and the british withdrew.
Well, he didn’t care all that mush for even the British troops, and cared for the Aussies and Kiwis even less. It’s a foundational myth of Australia now- how we held up in the face of impossible adversity, after being ordered to do something very stupid by the Brits in charge.
@@katherinemorelle7115 there was 7 times as many British Troops than Australians, in fact there were more french at Gallipoli than Australians, please do not forgot them.
An ahistoric take. The Gallipoli as first devised was actually a very good one, it was botched by the Admirals at the original battle and then pride saw it continue despite the loss of the element of surprise. Churchill can be blamed for allowing it to go on but the original plan was actually genius.
Winston was a certified dimwit but being a member of the british aristocracy his sins were quickly forgiven and forgotten
Dont try to justify that colonial troops were used as cannon fodder by saying this
If Japan is responsible for hunger in the British empire, the British are responsible for the hunger in Europe even more so.
@@robfl100
But the British capitalists cared less of who starved to death, they only cared about their own, and cross off any chance of saving a life if it meant not making profit out of it. famines in British controlled colonies were common, wayyy before Japanese imperalism, Japanese imperalism only made it worse.
@Jay Blake
They didn't
British wealthy capitalist did not care about poor or Middle class British people, but when it came to the life of an Indian to the life of a British soldier, they 100% choose a British soldier
The British atleast provided relief for the Greeks by loosening the blockade and airdropping supplies into the Netherlands, Japan just raped and murdered the territories they occupied.
@@zexal4217 The biggest indictment of British imperialism is that this was also their peacetime policy.
@@Gamenetreviews This does not excuse their actions though, and this is not a dichotomy. Furthermore, even a broken clock is right twice a day, despite being wrong all day long.
"Propagate a right understanding of Churchill's record."
I feel like 'right' is incredibly ironic in this context.
I dunno, it could be an impressive bit of wordplay. "Oh 'right' always meant 'right-wing,' not 'correct.'"
@@poposterous236 At the risk of appearing like a pedant: There's an alternate and humorous interpretation of the words other than the meaning intended by the original author. I dunno if this is an American English vs British English difference but the Cambridge dictionary gives the following definition for irony: "a situation in which something which was intended to have a particular result has the opposite or a very different result:
"
Yes and no. If you actually get into the mind of Neo-Liberals, they legitimately believe that their worldview I'd correct and everything that contradicts it is wrong. So them saying "the right understanding" isn't so much a hidden message referencing a mainstream or centre-right talking point as it is how they actually perceive history: "we are good, ignore our past mistakes, everyone else is bad, only focus on their flaws and ignore or deliberately obscure everything good they did".
Unlike Churchill, I will feed the hungry. Al-gorithm, take my empanada shaped offering inshallah
I can't wait for KnowingBetter's video about how Flat-Earthers are sort of right because the Earth is a cube, actuallly.
To my knowledge, Knowing Better has gotten better at making fairly unbiased videos. His video on the Jehova Witness and on the history of company towns are pretty good. You could give him another chance... or not. It's your choice either way.
If you can't tell, I'm conflicted, because his older videos definitely deserve the hate they get, but also because I met his channel through his newer and better videos.
@@extrahistory8956I'm pretty sure he has made some more bad videos since you wrote that
Gonna be honest I'm kind of basking in Churchill's blustering, monocle-popping rage at Gandhi and the people of India not taking the shit of the empire anymore.
@@Jhhhf4479 ???
@Bill Pollock well they can remove Gandhi statue if they think he was racist. I have no problem.
@Bill Pollock hmm agree his racism was mild considering he was educated on a British school.
As an Indian and a dirty commie, this is one of the first stories I heard about the Independence struggle. Unfortunately, ghouls like Knowing Better lurk around, metaphorically justifying the rapist. But this video inspired me to maybe make videos having come from the only state that democratically elected a communist government. Maybe. Sometime.
Thank you Mr. Empanada.
I don't know about that statement towards Knowing Better. His videos on Columbus are worst he ever did, but his most recent videos on company towns and the Jehova Witnesses are pretty good though. Perhaps BadEmpanada should give him a third chance with those... Or not since it is his choice.
@@extrahistory8956 hey I'm an ex jw and yeah they are a cult but complex one
@@shatzco Just curious, have you seen KB's video on it? If so, what are your thoughts on it? I personally consider them to be pretty good.
@@extrahistory8956 nothing special, already knew what all he said, you can find the same stuff from other ex jw RUclipsrs and better than him. Honestly it's recommended to watch the video of a person who was in and then left the religion rather than an outside throwing his opinion around
I got an ad for a James Bond movie collection watching this.
Ok
He isn't really that different from Hitler.
Thanks for the video. Love from a Bengali
i guess the difference is that the Nazis actively tried exterminating people and Churchill did by not doing anything.
But if one is really worse than the other, is somethung I can't say
Lot of people do know about churchill's famine, or congo where the belgiums did horrible things, but for some reason the netherlands colonization of indonesia always escapes scrutiny. We the Dutch, even just didn't include the deaths during WW2 (at the hands of the Japanese) in our remembrances of the second world war. And the way we deal with the Indonesian independence is also pretty bad (for example, we still say they were independent in 1949, because that is when we gave up trying to take them back over, and not 1945, when they declared independence. As far as I can tell we never did the massive genocides the brits/belgians did, but it is def something we all should look more into.
well according to new reports the dutch didnt just slaughter 100 thousand indonesians during their colonial war, but the famine, disease and forced relocations cost the lives of millions. So quite a lot.
The Dutch (with German assistance) left a lot of sociopaths in Southern Africa.
- to put it very very lightly
As a Bengali, thank you so much for this video.
Thanks for the suport on the world cup ,love from argentina
I didn't have to learn this from history books. It was actually passed down from my ancestors. I'm a Bengali and very very fortunate that my great grandfather was from a well off family.
It’s as if unaccountable control of the means of production doesn’t lead to good results for the people. All power to the workers.
This is honestly way more horrid then I expected. Like holy shit, this was genuinely hard to watch. Churchill is nothing more then a monster full stop, he doesn't deserve to be celebrated by anyone.
nah what do you mean he is the perfect logos. the perfect rational being. you could call him a prophet. call him a "savior".
you could also say. facts don't care about your feelings, and your feelings don't care about facts, so why not care about neither.
For the Indians I guess
British Colonialism was brutal for india and it's economy.
BadEmpanada? More like good empanada.
wow I really appreciate the citations- there are so many history channels out there making baseless or straight up wrong claims. Thanks!
"All great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you super-add the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority." Lord Acton, (1834-1902)
As a British person thank you for this video.
I think people over here admire him way too much but to be fair we never get educated on his faults.
I will say I do have admire him for the whole 'never surrender' thing that got us through the war but besides that he was a disguisting genocidal maniac.
@bbonner422 I've heard that before. I would like people to know that most British people are not very imperial. I doubt most people my age know much about the empire or even know that we were so big. We don't get taught it for some reason.
@@Kobolds_in_a_trenchcoat there's a surprising number of boomer brits over here who understand the horrors of the empire. My grandparents being two of them. This contingent is probably why most of us brits here are on board with Churchill hating
@@Kobolds_in_a_trenchcoat I mean they tend to follow mainstream news so they can both be left wing but hate corbyn; it's wild.
@@nikolamilicevic1040 What I meant was that most British people don't support imperialism. We are not taught about the empire, not even in a positive light, so most people don't think about the British Empire.
@@bunceman4613
Hitler had the same
'Never give up attitude'
Why don't you worship him too
This is the most Informative and extensive video essay I have ever seen on this topic. Really as an Indian and Bengali myself I am Much obliged to you making this video. I could not imagine How much effort you have put in this video. I don't possess any hatred toward today's British or Britain But we such individuals are idealized as some hero and messiah it makes me sick. I hope this video reaches to a lot of people Again Thanks for efforts
@Bill Slim Can you Explain Sir
Recently at uni (mech eng degree) we had to write an essay on a great leader. I was really surprised to see how popular Churchill was but didnt actually no anything about him.
Wish I'd watched this first haha
wait did u have to do this for your engr degree specifically or just a required course?
What university was this?
I know a lot of first year university courses in the UK are often remedial and casual before engaging in more rigorous study that contributes towards the degree's final grade from the second year onwards.
But this feels like a superfluous waste of educational resources, especially when you're paying over £9000 a year for the privilege of becoming employable for someone else's advantage at the end of it.
I'd have been tempted to write an essay on Gandhi just to have the opportunity to passive aggressively point out how shit Churchill was at every point. I also do hold a legitimately high degree of respect for Gandhi in many regards.
Unfun fact: 25,000 people are still dying every day because of food scarcity even tho more than enough food is grown to feed everyone on earth.
Even though I am Australian rather than British, this very uncommon knowledge over here. I only found out it happened at all about a year ago, and until this video thought it was simply a brutality borne of wartime desparation from Churchill rather than genuine malice. Even now it's quite hard for me to reconcile that the man who played such an important role in defeating the Nazis was the same man who inflicted such huge and needless suffering on the Indians, but it's important that history be taught in it's entirety without shallow hero-worship. Thankyou for a fascinating video.
Even then it's important to remember that the war was won due to heaps of different people from many nations. The world is obsessed with acting like '1' man was key to everything when this is rarely the case.
Hello BadEmpanada.
First of all, this a great, informative video covering a topic many people never learn about. Not the existance of Chutchill or his role in the war, but his personal views and morals.
Secondly, my father is very interested in issues like this, but does not speak english. That is why I ask: may I add hungarian subtitles to your video?
I understand if that's not possible, but if it is I can assure you I would do my best to do an accurate and enjoyable translations.
The last word was not plural obviously, typing on my phone I clicked send too early accidentally.
Thank you. It may take a while though, this is a long video. :)
Thank you very much making this video and putting this much effort on the topic. I hope many will become aware of this tragedy.
We seriously need more leftist videos like these. It’s Something leftist and non political people can watch and relate to. Keep it up ✊
How is this leftist? Did the British do this in India, did Bengal experience this or no? Did Churchill despise the Indians?
@@BadEmpanada what???
@Sammy that has got to be single handedly the most incorrect thing I have ever heard
No matter whitch way you spin it the left is and will always be better than the right
@Sammy what damage has the left "caused"....wha that's what I thaught
I bet your one of the idiots that believe communism killed 100M people or some ridiculous number like that
But evain if the 100M thing was correct (its not) capitalism alone has killed approximately 300M people so dont try to play the smart guy act with me
@@a.n.l.aantineoliberalismas4504 Where and how did capitalism directly kill 300 million people?
India was a very rich country when British came in India they loot every thing.... in bengal many people died because of hunger they eating mud and clothes.....
And Churchill is now plastered all over our five pound notes and romanticised like there's no tomorrow. The UK (well England actually) really needs to take a long hard look at itself and start acknowledging it has a problem with toxic nostalgia.
The same way many Italians have a toxic nostalgia for Christopher Columbus.
What a horrible man Churchill was...
Japanese fault not churchill
No different from Hitler. 😂👍
@@swedenball1237 so the Japanese burned homes of innocent Irishmen and killed their children ?
@@swedenball1237 Japanese were heroes! I'm Indian but Japan saved us and so many people from the evil, horrid Churchill
@People who Will survive really?
There are no words for what Churchill did.
This video is such a breath of fresh air. Thank you.
Bad Empanada thinks south american people are stupid. I'd show you the comment but he deleted it.
For anyone who wants time stamps
Part 1: Prelude & Empire
4:10
Part 2: The War Begins
11:53
Part 3: Enter Churchill
19:17
Part 4: Indifference & Spite
26:44
Part 5: Damage Control
41:41
Conclusion
47:25
Outro
50:41
Needs more likes
Thank you
Dam, love the call out agianst knowing better
and there are STILL people who are proud of the UK's national past. like there are actual real-life people out there who would defend these atrocities
Churchill is a less believable villain than the movie ones
It’s ironic to only blame Stalin and Mao for famines (even they didn’t cause the famines like Churchill)
@@bigbluebuttonman1137 Kulaks and weather caused Holodomor. Worst weather conditions caused the Great Chinese Famine. Churchill caused the Bengali Famine.
as an indian, this video was hard to watch. but thank you for making it
More should see this. It’s a shame that this kind of video has only been created after years of bs about the topic on RUclips, but it’s great that it’s now out. Your hard work and effort is incredibly evident in this video. Fantastic job.
Great video BadEmpanada. The world needs this.
Seems like Wavell was a hero, at least in his capacity to limit the Bengal famine.
Churchill was a HUGE bastard. Every time I see a meme quoting Churchill I puke.
I've been subbed for ages and I was hoping you'd cover this topic, fucking top tier content right here let's go gals and empals
last time I was this early; the British East India Company was still in charge of India
1:45 John Hickman who wrote a lot of churchil biographies never mentioned the Bengal famine. Living and teaching in a state with segregation (Georgia) he did not bother to mention the starved brown people. Funny that.
lol, how is churchill any different than hitler?
Zen not too much of a difference.
@@bigbluebuttonman1137 no, I would argue neither stalin or mao were racists, they were only obbsessed with enforcing their theory. but this guy was racist as fuck he let all those people starve out of pure hatred.
@Bill Pollock didn't you wazch the video? He was a racist and did anboslutely nothing to avoid the famine, the only thing he did was make a bunch of racist excuses, you churchill simps are no better than any nazi, holocoust denier.
hitler killed white people; churchill killed non white people; oh wait a minute; ireland.
Oh God this is so hard to watch, I know Churchill is a terrible person, but he is so much worse than I thought
just look at some images of the bengal famine; it looks like auswitz; then again photographs of the starvation of bengal should probably be the face of the british empire.
Wow. Thank you for putting together such an in-depth look into this, largely ignored, slice of history.
Britain exported approximately over 20 million tonnes of food from Ireland to England, per year, every year, from 1830s to 1880s. Enough to feed 18 million people per year. Population of Ireland in 1842 was 8.1 million, and the loss of lives was well over double the official number, which about 3 million people died and 2 million emigrated
Thank you so much for doing this video and highlighting this atrocity on my people. The famine left indelible mark on the psyche of our people, especially the generation who bore the worst of it. I remember as a child getting scolded by my grandparents if I ever wasted rice, only to grow up and learn about what they saw and experienced, how the starchy water from boiling rice was the only food available to so many and I understood why even a single grain meant so much to them.
There are many things Russia, China, North Korea should learn from the West. Among them the high priority one is definitely how to media-package yourself as a "good guy"
yeah. unfortunately, they uttetely fail at that time and time again. they cant into propaganda
Thank you for doing this. Very well researched and put together. I knew Churchill was a piece of shit but this really plumbs the depths of his monstrous nature. It makes me sick that they put his face on our £5 notes.
A fantastic and damning video. Thank you for your time and effort!
Im so happy they are now considering teaching this in school. If germans must learn about the holocaust, we british must learn and accept responsibility for the horrors of colonialism in Ireland, Africa, South Asia and the white settler colonies that displaced and removed native tribes through genocide and forced intigration.
It is as much British history as the world war. Britain never stood alone, it stood with the largest manpower pool and hostage nations at its side. While it is true 7/10 deaths in the war were British, it is also true britain couldnt have won without empire in the first place.
I was not aware of the details of that famine, just that it happened. It makes all the difference in the world. thank you for enlightening me.
This is some grade A shit. Good job. Didn't realize Churchill was such a fucking psychopath
Weird coincidence that the 1874 famine - the one time the British got it right - happened the year Churchill was born!
Lovely chap, that Winston. It's so infuriating that British media still portrays him as a somewhat quirky guy who nevertheless had his heart in the right place, such as Doctor Who and The Crown. Ugh.
I appreciate your research, thoroughness and honesty.
Holy shit the professor I worked for back in college was referenced in this video!
As a Bengali, my parents still remember the famine & its utmost devastation. They say the independence of India came in 1947, but it was NOT a happy time for Bengal, because of the riots & the famine.
Also, Nice documentary!