The Five Worst Atrocities Of The British Empire - Alternative View

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The Five Worst Atrocities Of The British Empire - Alternative View
The Five Worst Atrocities Of The British Empire - Alternative View

Video: The Five Worst Atrocities Of The British Empire - Alternative View

Video: The Five Worst Atrocities Of The British Empire - Alternative View
Video: 5 Of The Worst Atrocities By The British Empire 2024, July
Anonim

British polls tend to be proud of the British Empire and its colonial past, according to a UK poll.

44 percent are proud of the history of British colonialism, 21 percent regret the past and

23 percent - do not adhere to a certain point of view.

The same poll found that 43 percent think the British Empire is good, 19 percent think it's bad, and 25 percent don't care.

By 1922, the British Empire ruled over a fifth of the world's population and had one-fourth of the land.

And while supporters of the empire believe it brought economic development to controlled regions of the world, critics point to the massacre, famine and the use of concentration camps by the British Empire.

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1. Concentration camps for the Boers

During the Second Boer War (1899-1902), the British captured a sixth of the population (Boers) - mostly women and children - and imprisoned them in overcrowded concentration camps, with massive diseases and poor food.

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Of the 107,000 prisoners in the camps, 27,927 Boers died. The death toll of black Africans has not been counted and remains unknown.

2. Massacre in Amritsar

On April 13, 1919, peaceful demonstrators challenging British colonial rule in Amritsar, India, were blocked and shot by soldiers.

On orders from Brigadier General Reginald Dyer, the soldiers opened fire and continued firing until they ran out of ammunition. During the 10-minute massacre, between 379 and 1,000 demonstrators were killed and over 1,100 were injured.

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For this operation, General Dyer was recognized as a hero and even received a £ 26,000 prize in gratitude.

3. Partition of India

In 1947, Sir Radcliffe drew the border between India and the newly created Pakistan during his lunch.

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After Radcliffe divided the subcontinent, uprooted more than 10 million people by religion. Hindus in Pakistan and Muslims in India were forced to flee their homes as the situation quickly escalated into violence.

It is estimated that up to one million people have died in sectarian killings.

4. The Mau Mau uprising

Thousands of Kenyans claim that British colonial forces raped and tortured them during the suppression of the Mau Mau Uprising (1951-1960). They are suing £ 200 million against the UK government for damages.

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Members of the Kikuyu tribe were imprisoned in concentration camps known as the "British Gulag", where they were systematically subjected to torture and sexual assault.

Estimates of mortality vary widely: Historian David Anderson estimates that 20,000 people were killed, while Caroline Elkins estimates that up to 100,000 could have died.

5. Holodomors in India

Between 12 and 29 million Indians starved to death during the famine, while at the same time millions of tons of wheat were exported to the UK.

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In 1943, a deadly famine swept Bengal and nearly four million Bengalis starved to death. But Winston Churchill ferried supplies to British soldiers in countries like Greece.

Speaking of the Bengal famine in 1943, Churchill said: “I hate Hindus. They are animals with a religion for animals. Breeding like rabbits, they themselves are to blame for the hunger. (“I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion. The famine was their own fault for breeding like rabbits.”)