American Reacts to How did The British Empire rule the World?
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- Опубликовано: 26 сен 2024
- Thank you for watching me, a humble American, react to How did The British Empire rule the World? This was very interesting! I hope you enjoyed. Thanks for subscribing for more UK content
I am Canadian and we had to learn all this in school. I can't believe Americans didn't learn any of this. Did you guys just start your history lessons at 1776?
He forgot to mention the horrible British towards first nations and the deportation of the french Canadian to Louisiana imposing english to the frnech acnadian ( no respect). Also, the burnt down of the Canadian parliament by anglophones ( colonists, extremist) in Montreal , the Capital and then moved to Toronto .
@@jeanbolduc5818 Ah still butt hurt, you do realise that the British hardly ever think about the Canadians?
I'm from Central/Eastern Europe and we covered this at both history and English classes. I take it as basic knowledge of world history.
@@solatiumz we do your still part of the commonwealth did you not see the com.wealth games in Britain Birmingham you were cheered on by many brits
@@jeanbolduc5818 because the french canadians are french and so deserved to be bullied
"who knew?" everyone who had history classes in europe.....
It's literally frightening about how little so many Americans know about the world. Even the vast impact of great countries and empires on their own history.
Americans learn about woke politics now. Americans used to learn Latin in school. That was stopped.
@@plumeria66 Explain the 40 and 50+ year old ignorant ones for me, please
Esp this guy!
So are canadians . Most of Canadians ( engligh and immigrants ) do not know anything about the real story of Canada for the past 500 years ( deportation of the french canadians, burnt down of the Canadian parliament in Montreal by terrorist anglophones now living in Toronto , imposing english langiage , desptroying forst nations etc ). The French worked with the first nations and get married ( metis ) the british were businessmen , all about money like mehtionned in the video, no repsect . British did the same in Australia destroying the first nations.
@@dineroukThis guy looks smart,but never judge a book by its cover.
I know Americans don’t know much about the world, but how can you not know about Canada? You share both a language and a border?!
Well, can't blame him, blame the U.S educational system
@@johnlanderglea6120 Do Americans not have access to the internet? Or even the tiniest amount of curiosity?
@@ffotograffydd they do, but probably busy doing other stuff like we all do
Oui
@@johnlanderglea6120 Poor excuse, Americans aren’t the only ones with busy lives. But you appear to be telling me they have no natural curiosity what so ever. 🤦🏻♂️
Canada still has the Queen/King as head of state. How did you miss that?
Basically the end of Empire came about because of WW2. The USA only joined part way through the conflict as did the Soviet Union, so for the first 2-3 years of WW2 Britain was fighting the combined forces of Germany, Italy, Japan and their allies alone, as countries across Europe and Asia fell like dominoes. This proved very costly for Britain financially and essentially wrecked the economy. By the time the war concluded it was no longer financially affordable to run an Empire, and also the US which was anti-colonialist put lots of pressure on Britain to end imperialism. It is quite ironic though as for instance shortly after WW2, the Americans asked Britain to remain as the colonial power in Malaysia for longer because they feared it may otherwise go over to communism as Vietnam had. Also though, Britain saw its empire project as a civilising mission and so gave more and more autonomy to colonies as they developed with the aim that they would become independent when applicable. So by the 1930s Ireland, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand had already achieved this.
No; Ireland and India wanted to leave before WW2.
@@neuralwarp they wanted to leave before WW2 but it was only the expense of WW2 which meant Britain couldn’t afford to keep them anymore
@@neuralwarp well Ireland was partitioned in 1921. there were movements in some countries, especially India .. seeing as there were at a maximum 200 000 Britons in India - a country then with about 400 million ppl, clearly it was not the mass movement we are now led to believe.
For some reason everyone seems to forget about the Australian and New Zealand soldiers. Who fought along side you. We always rallied to Englands cries for help. But our soldiers die and are then simply passed over and forgotten.
@@lindasweeney969 we haven’t forgotten them. The remembrance services held at the cenotaph each year in November are for British and Commonwealth Soldiers, and the wearing of the poppies is the same. When I state that Britain was fighting alone in Europe for the first 2/3 years of the War that includes the areas that were in the Empire as they were still viewed as Britain by the British at the time, so saying Britain is interchangeable with saying the British Empire or Britain and her Empire.
They were not pirate ships, Royal Navy vessels. Samuel Pepys and others, changed how the Royal Navy was governed which led it to be a force to be reckoned with. (During the reign of Charles II). You don't get it, post WW2 some nations were given independence, the Empire became the Commonwealth, many nations stayed within it, by choice. The Queen remains the head of state of many, that includes Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It's an international club, for want of a better word, some nations who were not part of the Empire are members of the Commonwealth.
So many Americans are quite ignorant they get there news these days from woke or face book look up Jay Leno asking them questions about there own history 😂
Remember that there is a difference between the Commonwealth Realm (same Head of State) and the Commonwealth of Nations (The "club" focused on diplomacy and economics)
I think he described it accurately as pirate ships because that's what our navy were.
They did some good stuff such as ending widespread human slavery for the first time in humanity but they also did a lot of bad piratety things, so to speak.
@@dicem8977 Can you give some examples of where, after Pepys' time, the Royal Navy attacked ships belonging to powers with which we were not at war? Were there many?
@@MrBulky992 I'm waiting on this as well.
The empire changed from the "empire" to the commonwealth of nations to which most of these countries are still a part
and others joined too
@@itwoznotme ... other countries which had previously been part of and gained independence from other European empires e.g. Gabon, Togo (France), Mozambique (Portugal), Rwanda (Belgium)
there are now countries in the Commonwealth that were not British possessions... 56 nations i think its up to now. about 2.5 billion people
Not really a continuation though, more a club for ex-British colonies and their neighbours (Rwanda, Togo, Gabon)
The largest single group of peoples in the world
as a Canadian I'm proud to be part of the Commonwealth and will always revere Her Gracious Majesty. We'll see what happens next I guess
Her Most Gracious Majesty is the title (style) used by a Queen Consort. A Queen Regnant is styled Her Most Excellent Majesty.
Well, that comment didn't age well. However as an Australian I/we celebrate the King's birthday now.
Actually it is Her Royal Majesty.
I understand how limited the public education is in the U.S. BUT am very surprised(you didn't know about British colonies in your own country's history 🤦♀️) that as an adult you still know so little about the rest of the world. You can learn in an informative & entertaining way through documentaries and even some historically correct movies based on true events. RUclips & Google search are at your fingertips, literally to find them
A rather sad side-effect of the internet is the disappearance of printed world atlases from people's homes. Nowadays, we just look on-line for the specific location we're momentarily interested in. I'm actually grateful to have been born so long before the internet that as a kid and young adult I used to spend hours staring at atlases. It didn't teach me any history, but at least it gave me an idea of where things are relative to one another. Not tooting my own horn - it's an experience many people my age (and older, as well as some younger) had. I'm just grateful for it.
Having been to the USA dozens of times, my experience has been that most Americans are incredibly insular and generally know very little about most things beyond the borders of their own states, much less their own country and even less about the rest of the world.
This is why I always cringe when hearing Americans self-describe their President as 'the Leader of the Free World'. The POTUS may have served in that role temporarily during the Cold War, but the rest of the world moved past it a long time ago.
Spain had bigger ships!
Remember that in the USA they teach a doctored version of history to make the USA look better than it actually was.
They don't teach the truth or at least the full truth about both the Slave Trade and the US Civil War or how the rest of the world is able to operate without intervention from the USA
@@susanletissier9729 As I recall weren't those larger ship more prone to sinking in storms due to the lack of maneuverability and heavier cargo loads?
The British East India Company mentioned a few times in this video, was the main trade for the new world. For the British that lived in the 13 colonies a long the east coast of what is now America. When those British subjects wanted independence & fought for it, the flag of the British East India Company was used to design the American stars & stripes flag. The 13 red/white stripes, just like on that company flag was copied onto the US national flag. Keeping the red/white/blue of the British Union flag too. The American war of independence was fought between British subjects, an 'American' did not exist until the declaration was signed. And many didn't want to break away from the mother nation. The stars & stripes flag shows the heritage of those that made a new nation. 🇬🇧🇺🇸
It didn't break up as such, it became the Commonwealth, but the sheer cost of two vicious world wars made the upkeep of the empire too expensive to maintain.
This lad is a very nice person. He cheerfully admits his ignorance of the continent he is from. He, for me, exemplifies American's lack of an enquiring mind when it comes to history and geography. Canada is on your northern border and you don't know anything about the place. Although this lad is as thick as a plank...he is at least willing to learn.
The Royal Navy were not pirates. Watch "How Britain stopped slavery" to get an idea of what their role was
There were privateers, but not in the 1700s.
Yes please watch how Britain stopped slavery.
Canada, Australia and New Zealand all have the same sovereign as the UK - for now.
What you have to realise is that although the British Army was very well organised it was never very large. Britain coopted local rulers and recruited local soldiers in India. In Australia local army and police units were appointed. In the 13 American colonies Britain had loyalist volunteers as well as Native American allies and escaped slaves forming black regiments. Canada had local militias. The British Army would only be sent in force if there was conflict. Also a large number of these territories had the largest population centres on the coast or major rivers and the Royal Navy ships were floating fortresses with artillary and marines and could often trigger surrender or negatiation with a blockade.
It was the Merchant Navy (unarmed) that established the Empire.
The Royal Navy was there to defend the merchant ships.
most merchant ships up to 20th century were often armed.. until the 19th century merchant ships were often involved in combat at sea. it simply was not safe to go sailing around the world with guns - big guns..
Its not like an island it is an island..... i've visited U.S. a few times, one time in Fort Bragg, NC, in a bar, four of us, me from Greater Manchester (AKA Shaun Ryder), Marv (North East, Gordie), Vince (Scouser) and Geezer (Cocknie) - bless the waitress, when she got to Vince, after struggling with me and Marv, she Said 'hey, do you guys speak english'....marv said 'Speak it pet i am it'....she had no idea, omg how we all laughed, oh fuck hahahahhhaa,
I love to see you marvelling at these new notions ! It must be exhilarating.
The tonnage of British ships doubled in the 20 years after Charles II was restored to the throne. We also invented standardisation of daily required ship parts before that every ship was a total one-off. So, forget your Henry Ford, we got there first for ship bits and bobs and repairs.
the simpsons already did that...and by simpsons i of course mean carthage.
They’re just ships… all ships had sails back in the day, not just pirates…
The Royal Navy were not pirate ships!!
yes they were, thats why they had slaves
@@peteryokahui You do realise the Royal Navy went and sunk over 1600 hundred slaving ships under moral grounds during the abolition of slavery. They single handily shut down the Atlantic slave trade, the costs of which where still felt on the British economy till 2015.
You need to watch "Every Country England Has Invaded :Visualised" by Real Life Lore, it'll give you a better idea of how and when England got its Empire. I know you've already watched The Difference Between The UK, Great Britain and England so you know that the Commonwealth is run by the Crown and Queen Elizabeth is its head, its basically all former nations and some that still are part of the Empire consisting of 54 countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. England and the UK are still a huge influence on the world with many overseas territories, that's why so many countries still have the Union Flag on their flag, even Hawiai which as you know is a US state has the Union Flag on its flag.
It's rubbish. By England they mean GB, and by GB they mean UK. Much of the British Empire was built under Irish prime ministers of the UK, and usually countries were queuing up to join.
@@neuralwarp Great Britain is a geographical term, it just refers to the main island and within that island are the 3 countries of England, Scotland and Wales. England was its own country back in the day and the UK is a relatively new entity, so England was conquering countries before that, on its own accord. Just watch the video or even learn some history. Ireland didn't have anything to do with it, Ireland was ONE of the countries that England colonised as early as 1169. England wasn't working for Ireland, it was the other way round. So don't talk rubbish. Ireland was subservient to England. The UK was only formed in the 1700's so England was conquering way before that as a country on its own. And where do you get off sprouting crap like the British Empire was built under Irish Prime Ministers, no it wasn't. Absolute lies. Learn some history.
Canada has the biggest land area after Russia.
You do realise there's still a commonwealth?!
When those early ships were going around the world there was no Suez Canal shortcut like we use today. They had to go right round the bottom of Africa to reach Australia or India. Voyages of 6 months. Often longer.
If I was able to speak to a Sea Captain ,Naval or Merchant of the sailing ship era, and explain to him how different navigation of the seas is today , I would start by showing him the Suez and Panama canals .
It used to take at least six months for a sailing ship to sail from Britain to India in the 1800's. Crazy huh??
The Indian Mutiny of the Sepoy soldiers was the result of their religious opposition to the animal fat used in the production of cartridges. When India gained independence in 1948 it was the 12th largest economy in the world. The railway infrastructure alone was larger than most countries. Most rail lines in the US go East to West, the Brits on the other hand built the railway infrastructure on a greater scale throughout the Empire. The Commonwealth shares similar rule of law and government as that in the U.K. this plus a common language is a major factor in international trade. That’s why English is the language of trade and communication on a world wide scale. Most air traffic controllers use English to communicate with aircrew.
Why did you call them pirate ships, they weren't.. Again I learnt a lot of this in primary school in Australia but I don't think it's been taught anymore.
it is, just not in the us
How did the British Empire end in 1938? The clue is in the date. In 1939 Britain refused the offer of neutrality by Nazi Germany and declared war, very soon going it alone, while other nations, mostly the US, stood back and made a very handsome profit, not entering the war until their hand was forced at the very end of 1941. The war debt to the US and Canada was not paid, with interest, until 2007 by which time the US shared world leadership with the Soviet Union, and when the Soviet Union collapsed at the very end of 1991, did the US become world leader, soon to lose out to the enormity of China, which brings concern to all democratic loving countries.
Britain linked its colonies by telegraph cable so was able to communicate with them well before telephone was invented.
Great reaction thanks 😀is Americas motto 'i don't understand" ? Surely the whole point of you watching videos is so that you then do understand ? Though watching poorly made cartoons do not help 😀
Love your reactions and absolute shock at the fact that Great Britain is basically the Daddy of modern humanity. That's why we are so hard to impress. Along with committing numerous atrocities on half the planet, the Brits were also experienced in war for a thousand plus years before the U.S existed. You won that because we were too busy fighting the French on our doorstep. It really is worth learning pre-America history and how Europe became united as it is now. We were all at war with each other at one time or another. The British also acted as mediators between countries and brought Christianity and education to some far flung communities who wouldn't have survived into the last century, let alone the 21st century.
You need to check out the commonwealth. Do a search for ' the queen's 54 countries'
The empire didn’t break up, each country was given its independence although most became part of what became the Commonwealth of nations; 54 countries from which its citizens can join the UK military.
While Britain is indeed a small island, our Queen and now King is head of state to over a billion people. This is why it was such a force during the world wars and continues to be today.
The UK can thank WW2 for the break up of the British Empire.
At the end of the war Britain was stretched to capacity, financially fook’d, and incapable of administering its colonies.
The British navy was worn out and a lot of colonies starting with India sued for the right to independence and ability to govern without British interference.
India divided in 1947 to become Pakistan and India (which was the jewel in the crown of the British empire) and once India was gone, all the other colonies decided they wanted to be free of Great Britain.
And so the rot set in and without it’s ability to exert its influence, one by one over the course of 50 years the colonies gained their independence.
However, even those countries who have gone for "independence
" have chosen to remain IN the Commonwealth.
The football World Cup is being held it Qatar. Isrealis were unhappy trying to buy tickets because they couldn't find isreal on the list of countries, only to find they were under the name "occupied territories of Palestine" 😂😂 class from Qatar
Please tell me Wuzer/Ryan Was/Ryan Wass if you're related to Tyler Bucket/Tyler Walker and the other Tyler (whose name temporarily escapes me)
@@pamelacole2756 Yes, Tyler is "average American" and Wuzer/Ryan is "humble American". It seems like only the British have noticed they're taking the piss and not the Norwegians/Australians etc. Still want to know if they're related and having a competition though!
One our major exports thru the empire was our convicts (yeah free labour), many were sent to the US up to independence at which time we started exporting to Australia
The British are ultimately descended from Vikings - we just re-branded ourselves but the message is still the same - we come in peace, we want to trade, if you don't want to trade that cool because we also love a good fight and as were here it would be a shame to miss an opportunity :) After WWII we re-branded again and became the Commonwealth - you should check out the Commonwealth as it's got bigger recently. Sadly the USA opted out of the Empire and the Commonwealth in preference for keeping Slavery going.
17:55 short answer, World War 2. Britain no longer had the resources to hold on to it after that. There were resistance movements for years but after the war, they picked up momentum. India went first then various African nations and once a few got independence, wasn’t long before the rest followed. The Empire was largely gone by the 1970s. Also the US was taking over as a global superpower by then, it was more than happy for colonies to get political independence but economically end up dependent on the US, particularly once the Cold War got going.
Actually, they remain within the Commonwealth, but 15 of the nations chose to elect their own Head of State
in place of the Queen, but to remain in all other respects !
The US actively worked to break up the British Empire.
Being an Island Britain had a large navy that conquered large parts of the world. Many of those countries are still part of the British commonwealth. Many others were given independence without a fight.
there is a saying "There is no sunset over British Empire"
Pretty impressive considering we survived the Roman's, the Norman's, the Vikings and such. In retrospect they contributed to what we became.
well we didn't survive the normans, they integrated into our society, they had no plans of proper conquest
There was more to the American Revolution than the issue of taxation without representation.The Americans didn't want a central bank bleeding them dry. But that issue is hushed up because it still has huge relevance today.
Sean Smith. There is a lot more. But you don’t know about it.
Have you heard of the Seven Year War? It was when the British who lived in Britain (as opposed to the British who lived in America) fought and PAID FOR the war to protect the colonies from French invasion.
After that war the British who lived in Britain had an idea. They would source tea from new suppliers at a cheaper price, then add a small amount of tax. The tea would still be cheaper than before, but would compensate the British who lived in Britain for the cost of the war.
But various smugglers of tea realised that cheaper tea could put them out of business. And it was those criminals who staged the “Boston Tea Party”.
The small amount of tax (though the tea was cheaper) was just the excuse certain ambitious people used to start the war of independence.
However, the American Constitution is British to its core. All the things Americans think are some how American are British.
Free speech, elections etc etc. The only thing the Americans didn’t copy was the British attitude to slavery. Slavery hadn’t existed in England since the late ten hundreds. It did continue to exist in some British colonies until 1833. But then banned. Much of British colonial policies was about ending slavery.
@@oldman1734 The American constitution is likely inspired from the Magna Carta.
@@seansmith445. Yes that in 1215, plus a lot more. First Parliament 1265, elections every three years 1688, which included everything you might think of as American.
don't forget americans wanting to expand west of the appalachians to destroy native way of life and settle, which was forbidden by the british
Should be remembered it was British settlers themselves that withdrew, at the time they WERE the Americans !
Yeap as has been said the Empire is still kinda there as the Commonwealth but that is also voluntary. After the Second world war the UK was broke and started to willingly give counties their independence. Funny some didn’t want it 🤷♂️. So now we have a mixed bag of commonwealth. Commonwealth realms. Crown colonies. British over seas territories etc.
Yeah some countries preferred to stay within the empire for economic reasons and for protection and some just enjoyed belonging to something "greater"
Great videos! Keep them coming 😊
The breakup was pretty peaceful. Basically it got too big to manage and they started giving more and more power to the locals. Then one by one they just became fully independent.
Not quite, they inflicted so much cruelty on the people, they got fed up and fought back. South Africa, india and Ireland are good examples
@@conallmclaughlin4545 haha not exactly. Ireland was settled in 1921 - and they immediately started fighting eachother. by South Africa you prob means the Boers - who discriminated against English settlers ( let alone black Africans ) and caused the Boer Wars. it was not the British who created Apartheid.
@@coling3957 Ireland was definitely not settled then 😂😂 that's hilarious
@@conallmclaughlin4545 south africa wasn't treated too badly, india yeah but most british on indian deaths were during big rebellions and the irish yes but that's because of continuous resistance
@@Crimsrn here is an example of that continuous resistance, my parents (and am not old lol I'm 42) had to go on protest marches. The reason? They were not allowed to vote.
Now imagine that situation in England... Then imagine there's a protest in your town or city. The army is sent in and shoots 26 people.. Including children. Oh but yeah sorry for resisting
France for example under Napoleon Bonaparte didn’t do anything like Britain did he was a dictator and went conquering, we defeated the French in 1814 sent him to the Island of Elba he escaped and after thrashing him at The Battle of Waterloo sent the little Corsican to the Island of St Helena he died six years later. Britain 🇬🇧 took Egypt 🇪🇬 from the French.
yes it paved the way for the British century. it guaranteed the British would be unrivalled for a century as a world leading great power
which is mostly accurate until Germany and the U.S started to catch up back end of the 19th century
We had a close economic empire. Then the Commonwealth. Then we had our heads turned because General De Gaulle wouldn’t let us join his European club. So, we dropped Canada, Australia and New Zealand and co in favour of people who’d snubbed us or tried to kill us. It took us a while to rediscover why we’d fought with them so many years.
the eu continues to stab us in the back
Because ships sink… that will stay with me.
The Naval Defence Act 1889 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It received royal assent on 31 May 1889 and formally adopted the "two-power standard" and increased the United Kingdom's naval strength. The standard called for the Royal Navy to maintain a number of battleships at least equal to the combined strength of the next two largest navies in the world.
Look at the flags of Australia, New Zealand,, Hawaii! They incorporate the British Union flag. Another way of telling British influences is by language. The fact that South America speaks Spanish and Portuguese shows those countries original empires.
Maybe it would be helpful if the States (and I mean the 50 STATES!) think about their curriculum in history....that would help to improve the image that we Europeans have about Americans when it comes to their knowledge in history (and other subjects) and their own history BEFORE 1776...Really. These are things you also learn in Germany in history classes.
Great Britain "ruled" India for 200 years, and even today, especially today, it remains very British.
Fun fact: Britain still controls 14 overseas territories (areas far from the British Isles still under British control). I recently moved to southern Spain from the UK and I happen to live only 20 minutes away from Gibraltar, a British overseas territory
"Controls" is the wrong word. The UK govt doesn't control anyone. All the remaining dependencies have their own parliaments. 15 countries share our same King.
@@neuralwarp the overseas territories aren't directly under British control but they aren't exactly independent either
reason the empire broke up was hugely impacted by both world wars and britain wanting to help other countries rather than to rule and exploit them so most of our colonies were given independence by the british and instead of leaving most colonies in worse positions after colonisation we helped them and made their development much faster, this also included the machinery and infrastructure etc we left behind and gave.
A comment that was made many years ago was "the sun never sets on the British Empire" Think about it! it's a pretty clever saying and is quite true.
Please let us listen to commentary , I have family and friends living in Australia and Canada who we trade with and I have had many happy holidays there.
Wow Ryan !!!!!! Really?????? I do enjoy watching you, but this one threw me totally. Scary that you knew none of this.....we all know the US education system is not the best, but WOW !!!! It does however help us to understand a little better the strange goings on there. Cudos to you for at least being curious enough to want to learn. Love from Oz
On an historical note: A huge part of the "British Empire" was gained after winning the 7 years war against France.
Technically in Britain what happened is that colonisation took place as the crown giving its permission for "companies" to "operate" on behalf of the crown, meaning some military was deployed, but the vast majority of Britton were not directly operating in the military or under the crown. Again, I am not an historian at all so I might have misunderstood things, please feel free to correct me
The colonies of the British empire had viceroys that governed the colonies.
It’s like Amazon with guns
Britain gave a lot of it's wealth to the USA in order to fund the war effort in WW1 and 2. USA was providing ammunition etc.
Regarding the 1812 war between the US and Canada, I have looking into family history through Chelsea Pensioners records. I found one John Brierly was a part of the British Army fighting against the Americans as a part of Canada…….. perhaps you will find your ancestors were fighting all over the world.
What happened was the second world war. Although ultimately victorious, Britain and the then empire countries all suffered great losses. After the war rebuilding the homeland was the priority for most and there was no desire in Britain to fight requests for independence from those who had sacrificed so much to help with the war effort. Many of the countries that wanted independence were given it through peaceful diplomatic agreement. But, as the empire declined, the British commonwealth was established and much of the trade and goodwill with these nations was maintained.
It's like a island? Really I hadn't noticed that I live on a island, I find it frightening how little most Americans know about the rest of the world.
I have a book, called "Britain Overseas" written nearly 100 years ago which clarifies some of the points raised. It focuses on what is often called the second Empire which was unlike the first, which essentially was established to facilitate trade at a great advantage to Britain and, as in the case of America and later Australia, to provide somewhere to dump its undesirables and convicts.
The second Empire placed more emphasis on spreading the British way of life and the Christian religion. Many (sometimes referred to as the "white" colonies, having a population with European majority ) became self governing within the Empire, initially having power only for internal matters and later fully self governing within the Commonwealth. Examples of these are Canada, Australia and New Zealand. New Zealand differs a little from other colonies in that it was not claimed by Britain but power of governance was ceded to Britain by the local Maori and they became British citizens with full rights as such.
As an Englishman I am glad to have ruled over rtheb greatest empire ever known. This small Island has the greatest history in the world.
After WW1, we couldn't afford the upkeep of monitoring.
Then WW2, and nations wanted independence.
The Queen signed the deals for their independence.
Historically the country Britain invaded took a while to realise, then had to fight them out.
India, Ireland America etc
The Brits also started the Industrial Revolution, for example they had steam power first and invented the steam train (look it up). It all fell apart during WW2 and after when basically Britain got bombed to bits by the Germans and went into HUGE debt to the US for decades. It was way too expensive to maintain such an empire and so bit by bit they either let independence movements have their way or they left asap. Out of the British Empire we now have the Commonwealth of Nations (it used to called the British Commonwealth). You can look that up in Wikipedia if your interested. Cheerio.
At the end of WW2, the labour party was elected partially on the promise that give independence to it's empire, focusing on India in particular. This was also coupled with the fact that Britian was almost bankrupt after the war and didn't want to spend money defending the empire as well as The USA using it's economic control of post war Britian to effectively take control of some of the British empire for itself.
And America ONLY entered the war against the Nazis, when it was, itself, attacked at Pearl Harbour!
All those Hollywood films depicting America as the heroes, when they only came in toward the end
are an insult, not only to the UK, and its Commonwealth, but are a totally false account !
Check out The Commonwealth Games, held every 4 years where the former British Empire members and current ones compete in a similar event to the Olympics. Next one is due to be help in 2026.....just not sure where as yet.
Also, I don't pretend to know how things happened, but the way we learn it in France (which means probably to take with a pinch of salt) but apparently in France, when arriving to a place, we tried to provide citizenship to the people, build schools and "educate" (how terrible as it may be) the populations, for assimilation in the empire. From the videos I have seen around North America, the indian tribes there were pretty happy to deal with the French and were not happy about having to deal with the British after they took over following the 7 years war. But again it does not mean that it went all beautifully and I am pretty sure there are some massive holes in what we learn at school...
The US repeatedly tried to seize Canada - and failed. (Most famously in the War of 1812, where British forces responded to the burning down of the Canadian city of York with the burning of the White House and other public buildings in D.C.) The US was unusual in violently leaving the empire - overwhelmingly other places simply negotiated as Britain grew exhausted and bankrupt after being a primary combatant in two world wars. Even so, to this day the Commonwealth of Nations (the more equitable successor of the empire) and remaining British Overseas Territories (like Gibraltar, Bermuda and the Falkland Islands) remain solid. Fun fact: in the 1920s the US was sufficiently terrified at the prospect of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance resulting in the US getting 'boxed-in' that they used economic blackmail, threatening to call in Britain's WWI debts, to have it dissolved. This played a key role in making the Japanese angry at the West as a whole and helped trigger the war in the Pacific during WWII.
So America winning America alone but won when France and Spain jumped on Britain’s back rather than a straight war.
Most of these countries are still part of the common wealth.
You know that the British lost a few million men fighting the Germans in 2 World Wars. The First World War from 1914 to 1918. Then World War 2 from 1939 to 1945. Britain had to retreat from their World empire to defend the homeland especially in the 2nd World War. Especially in 1940 the Germans were bombing Britain and fighting an air campaign overhead.
Actually, British losses in two World Wars were approximately 1.5 million.
They missed Gibraltar, which gave us eyes and ears over so much trade in the Mediterranean and North Africa.
Of the 22 countries we never got round to invading at some point, I can't understand why we never invaded Sweden.......🤔🇬🇧
The empire ended but the influence is still there, the commonwealth,Britain does recruit soldiers, from the commonwealth.
always makes laugh that people who speak english don,t know why, they speak english
The Royal Navy protected British Trade ships FROM pirates! The British started colonising America in the 1500s and America was known as English America from 1607-1707. After the Union of England and Scotland it was known as the British Empire. America was part of the British Empire till 1783.Also Canada, which was colonised also by British and French. (America was colonised by many different Europeans) And Canada is still part of the British Commonwealth (colonies of The British Empire) It was WW1 & WW2 and the massive cost of both wars which is the reason Britain lost its Empire, it could no longer afford to build infrastructures, like railways, roads, schools and Hospitals in the colonised countries, nor the Armies to run them. And the massive debt Britain acquired to END slavery, many reparations had to be paid to slave owners mainly American slave owners, which Britain only finished paying in 2015! And of course, the 'war debt' we owed America which was finally paid off in 2006!
Actually in South America Sir Francis Drake is considered to have been a pirate.
@@hannaleppala9630 You mean when he attacked the Spanish pirate colonies in South America in the Anglo/Spanish war, when King Phillip II of Spain and Portugal ordered the invasion of England?
The Balfour conference was when countries such as Canada , South Africa etc decided to break away from the British Empire .. the name was. Hanged to British Commonwealth..
I really don't know anything about it other than what I'm saying right now but I believe that there at some point was a treaty or something like that written that forced all European colonies in Africa to withdraw and hand back control to the African population, which is likely how the British Empire lost its African colonies. It's kinda odd that I've not heard more about this considering that Europe at one point controlled all of Africa with the exception of Ethiopia so whatever forced them to relinquish their colonies must have been a HUGE deal!
Steve, other colonists included Portugal, Spain, France, The Netherlands, Italy and yes, Germany. Namibia was Germany West Aftrica.
It would take more like 2 months to communicate with India not two weeks , back in the days of sailing ships.
I love watching you learn about these things. And, if I have it right, Britain still rules 15 countries and 54 countries are a part of the British Commonwealth, though a few are about to seek independence, I think.
Tere are currently 56 countries in the Commonwealth. Every 4 years, just like the the olimpics , games occur where these countries particapate.
Steve, I forgot to mention Austria. The Austro-Hungarian Empire included part of Ktaly, all of the Balkans and more.
The Royal Navy was once the largest fleet in the world. It is the oldest of the HM forces and so is the senior
How many does HM Forces have?
1
A couple of point sthat didn't get mentioned;
1) During the American War of Independence the British Navy was largely confined to the West Indies by choice. At the time one of the most valuable commodities in the world was sugar. The British believed that if they used their navy to help squash that war that their sugar producing colonies would be at risk. So rather than blockade the Colonies ports they largely left them unguarded.
2) The greatest danger to the Empire's expansion were the powerful European nations. To ensure that they were otherwise occupied Britain regularly stirred up trouble on Continental Europe so that the powerful European nations spent more time fighting each other rather than stopping the Empire from expansion. Occasionally things went wrong and Britain had to help in the fighting for one side or the other but in large the policy worked. It was quite easy to do because those powerful European nations were ruled by monarchs who often had large egos that could be easily manipulated.
It was the losses & cost of two world wars which led to the breakup of the British Empire. Since then many former British Empire states have gained independence, though most joined the Commonwealth. Canada has always been British since the wars against the French there (which prevented France from taking the later US lands from the British colonists/ Americans). Australia & New Zealand are also
British Dominion territories, like Canada, independent but still recognising the Monarch of UK as their Head Of State (with each having a British Governor General representing the Sovereign). India claimed independence in 1947, but negotiations could not stop it splitting into the two states of India & Pakistan, with massive loss of life through Hindu versus Islamic 'ethnic cleansing' as soon as the British left.
Most former Empire territories negotiated for independence amicably with Britain & joined the Commonwealth, a free association of countries for mutual assistance in trade etc. Britain's last Colony was Hong Kong, returned to China in c1992, setting it the bussiness model which is making it prosperous today. 'Made in China' used to be 'Made in Hong Kong'.
Ryan, after the colonies etc had their own goverments they became members of the Commonwealth a very important organisation on TODAY. The Commonwealth includes countries which were never part of the British Empire. The narrator wrong attributed the American war of independance to taxation; the actual event was that the American colonists wanted to abandon the land agreement between Britain and the indigious people.
Our Empire broke up largely because of the Second World War. We had to put all of our resources into it from 1939, not 1941, in order to stand against the whole of Europe.
The Dutch were one of their main competitors, except that the Netherlands had a much smaller population so it couldn't rule as many colonies, preferring trade.
We saw the light and realised that we had to give them independence and set up democracies with the monarch as the head of state ,but had their own governments. Basically we were fair ,yes we exploited ,but we engaged with them so their countries were stable and most became prosperous
Canada still has strong ties to the UK, as an important member of the Commonwealth
the thing with a lot of the independence battles were not with the natives but with descendants of the invaders
Britain granted independence to most countries as it was beneficial to have good ties and trade partners, without the need to poor money into control. Peace, and an internatially recognised diplomacy became more important. WW2 didn't help the finances either so Military Austerity was also inevitable.