The Fall of the British Empire

[Captain_Party]

The Suez Crisis is widely regarded as the end of Britain's role as a superpower. It makes me upset to think our tiny nation ruled half the world, was respected by nearly all countries, and improved the lives of many around the globe. There are some problems, of course, but we were once a great superpower. Your thoughts?

[EsvDefcon]

I completely agree that it's sad that we no longer have an Empire- I'd love to see it restored (of course this won't be happening any time soon) to what it once was. If you look at any Empires throughout history, you'll notice that they allow people to work together within them, which seems to have resulted in many advances in technology. That would be something very useful today.

[ZedNova]

If you think about it, the British empire lives on through the English Language.

[Kryten]

...improved the lives of many around the globe.

Yeah, I'm sure they all really appreciated that. Just look how far the Tasmanians have come theses days.

[DonLorenzo]

There's a nice XKCD about the sun (never) setting on the British Empire. (here it is: http://what-if.xkcd.com/48/)

I currently live on Malta and got familiar with its history (I sell excursions, after all ). It's the only colony that was incorporated into the commonwealth on request and there's still monuments to great english admirals from the 1800s everywhere. Also the occasional red phone booth and everyone eats English Breakfasts, lovely. I don't think any other territory ever joined any other empire voluntarily, so that's saying something

[Klingon Admiral]

The end of the colonial empires began with the First World War, where they bombed each other into shreds.

and improved the lives of many around the globe.

No.

[Seret]

Yeah, Suez was the shock that made Britain wake up to the new reality, but the actual decline had started decades before. Even in WW2, Britain had proved unable to defend the Empire. It was pretty much inevitable at that point that the former dominions and colonies would call for greater independence. After all, if Britain couldn't protect them, why should they be beholden to it?

[pxi]

It makes me upset to think our tiny nation ruled half the world, was respected by nearly all countries, and improved the lives of many around the globe. There are some problems, of course, but we were once a great superpower. Your thoughts?

You know, when I learned history under the British education system, this was basically what I was taught.

One of the biggest eye-openers I encountered in school was then being taught much the same subject under the Irish System.

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but in general only the British thought things were good under the Empire.

[Tex_NL]

You know, when I learned history under the British education system, this was basically what I was taught.

One of the biggest eye-openers I encountered in school was then being taught much the same subject under the Irish System.

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but in general only the British thought things were good under the Empire.

If history teaches us one thing it is that history is written by the victors.

[kBob]

I never really understood why it's so desirable to want to rule large parts of the world (well unless you put me in charge, of course). You do still have the common wealth though. I wonder what the people whose lives were "improved" thought about it.

[lajoswinkler]

The Suez Crisis is widely regarded as the end of Britain's role as a superpower. It makes me upset to think our tiny nation ruled half the world, was respected by nearly all countries, and improved the lives of many around the globe. There are some problems, of course, but we were once a great superpower. Your thoughts?

It's neither a tiny nation nor did it improve the lives of many around the globe. It was mainly a parasitic country that was sucking away the wealth from its colonies (countries it decided to own because reasons). Some improvement did exist, but it wasn't a 50:50 situation. More like 90:10 or worse.

[Vanamonde]

Look back over the comments in this thread, and you'll see why discussing politics on the forum is forbidden by forum rule 2.2.b.