the Most successful country in human history didn't get there without making many mistakes. Britain did a lot of "bad" things when looking at it through a modern lens but when Britain held the reigns of world power she lifted humanity out of the dark ages that should be praised and commended in the same way atrocities shouldn't be forgotten.
I'm German and I'm a big UK fan, having lived in the UK myself for over a decade. Britain undoubtedly contributed a huge amount of knowledge to humanity, probably more than any other country ever. But don't forget that there was also a huge cost. Ask the countries you invaded and exploited, taking their resources and also people (slave trade). All of that contributed to Britain's rise. But invading and exploiting countries is wrong and the human cost to those countries was huge. That's not to take anything away from Britain's contributions to human culture and knowledge. But the empire wasn't as benevolent as many might think. IMO, Britain, Germany and Russia all played huge roles. And some inventions listed here are disputed, for example the bicycle and computers. Konrad Zuse patented the first electronic programmable computer in 1936 (the Zuse V1, later renamed to Z1). But then the Americans came along and invented the transistor, which was a quantum leap forward. If memory serves, the transistor is, by far, the most produced item in human history. Not surprising considering the CPU in your mobile phone has several billion of them. Of course all that is based upon quantum mechanics, discovered by Werner Heisenberg et al. So most things are based on previous inventions or discoveries, often made by someone else.
The British did not abolish slavery. It’s not been legal in England for 1,000 years. What they did was to stop the slave trade from African countries across the seas. They also tried and failed to stop Arab countries from trading in African slaves. Slavery is still going on all over the place, particularly - and more than anywhere else - in Africa today.
the most British thing I ever did was in a train station in France where I queued for about 5 minutes behind a family only to discover they were chatting with one of the staff and not queuing
@@vaseline69 Ha! I just know I’ve done that too. I recently walked into a post office and stood waiting to be served in an area that was not serving. I created a queue behind, only to abandon it after I realised I wasn’t going to get served.
You mean the world had no common sense before the English introduced it??????? BTW Slavery is still a thing in many places - also I recommend to look up Timeline of abolition of slavery and serfdom to get full picture
30 trillion dollar economy, dominates the world's investments, employees tens of millions of people around the world, has the world's most powerful military, has the world's most technology advanced military, practically created electronic industry we have today... including your mobile phones and microprocessors but at least Britain still has Stratus clouds... And honestly this video was utter nonsense, a sycophantic Rose tinted glasses view on English history and innovations, of which there are many but just as many in France and Germany and Italy and many other contributions by many other individuals living in those countries. So stop feeling proud of something you didn't actually achieve.
@@digidol52 I'll vote for the senile old fart, and who exactly are you going to be voting for?.. the Hindu! The barrister who defends terrorists....perhaps Nigel Farage the guy who supports the Wannabe dictator.
@@Michael_from_EU_Germany BETTER THAN THE 20000 DIFFERENT RACES THAT FERTILISED AMERICANS. BRIT ANGLO-SAXON AND PROUD OF IT - BETTER THAN THE WORLDWIDE DROSS OF FAILURES THAT MOVED TO THE USA TO CREATE THE "PURE" AMERICAN. 🤣🤣🤣
@@Michael_from_EU_GermanyNormans , Saxons. Vikings, Celts all melded their northern European dna and cultures over hundreds of years into something new and unique called the British.
@@mogznwaznew haha totally agree with you, But aren't we all descendants from other civilisations in Europe? Or the planet? The vikings inspired the benevolent culture did they? There are massive arguments it was and huge ones ot wasn't. But It sounds like you agree, as you're trying to take it away from the UK. By suggesting it was from the influence of the likes of the Norman's. Haha so thankyou for the compliment.
The nuclear bomb invented by the British in 1940 but the first bomb was built by America with British help,but the atom was first split by the British in 1932 at the Cavendish laboratory in Cambridge.
Earnest Rutherford was a New Zealander, spliting the atom or the theory was thought of by John Dalton, who was from Cockermouth in Cumberland. But Rutherford did not invent the atomic bomb
@@Valant-t9p Not a problem. A lot of information is apocryphal about inventions or discoveries . There are lots of theories about whom invented what. Sir Ernest Rutherford was a New Zealander of course, as andirutherthord below rightly states.
We also invented the floating harbour. I believe a Welshman from Conwy invented that for the D Day landings. It was developed off Anglesey I believe for practice before the big day. Plus we invented the bouncing bomb.
@@xx6489 The Indians where the conquered subjects of Muslim invaders and where under active genocide when the British arrived, The Maori was a warlike people that enslaved and genocided many other local tribes including but not limited to The Moriori, Native Americans where either militant tribes that conquered and enslaved everyone they could or peaceful tribes living in fear of the former (same with the Australian ones from my understanding) and you can pretty much blame Oliver Cromwell and Christian sectarianism for Ireland.
It's a Scottish invention there are two Scots responsible for its invention James Goodfellow born in Paisley Scotland and John Shepherd Barron was born to Scottish parents in India.
Colonisation has many sides to it, good and bad. Also, Britain still has the best designers,engineers, and scientists per capita of anywhere else in the world. Still, about 50% of all new innovations come out of Britain, well, at least partly.
@@aidencox790 what am I using???what’s that got to do with an invading bunch of savages coming into your country and killing, plundering, raping the native population??? Have you ever heard of Cromwell or the Black and Tans???
Britain didn't conquer other countries, we started trading with them and then took over governing them, in some cases providing a government that hadn't existed before.
You make it sound like a good thing but Britain imposed governments over groups of people not already formed into countries. We didn't provide a governement we imposed our rule over groups of different people and in effect economically forced them to contribute to ultimately Britain. Yes there were some benefits perhaps but the fact is peoples, tribes, cultures were imposed upon, and they were economically exploited.
@@user-pp9yk3tu4z Imagine for a moment that the British, nor any other European country, had made contact with the people of those places. What situation do you think they would be in today?
@@RogersRamblings well perhaps they would still be living in tribes or as they were or perhaps they would eventually develop at their own pace. I'm not saying they shouldn't have interacted but I'm just saying that the interaction that took place was not nessecerily beneficial to those being colonised.
@@user-pp9yk3tu4zStrange that those countries retained so many British institutions and ways when they became independent - and voluntarily joined the greatest family of nations in the world today. . . The Commonwealth. Some of the greatest countries in the world were settled and thrived thanks to the British; Australia, Canada, New Zealand etc etc etc. Every African country was left much richer thanks to the Brits - although local corruption has made many hold out the begging bowl again! Even America got it's kickstart thanks to England.
Which one is that? I know that they have The Manchester Small Scale Experimental Machine which is arguably the oldest computer able to store and run a program from memory but it's not the first computer by a long shot.
@@JamesLMasonI think the oldest (what I think is considered) computer I’ve heard of, is the “Antikythera Mechanism” and is 2000 years old. Was found on a Greek shipwreck. Not too clued up on what it actually is just remember reading about it a while ago. Going to give it a Google.
@@JohnBanana935 The Antikythera mechanism is a device that can predict the movement of planets, can predict solar and lunar eclipses (also whether theiy are total or partial) and is an absolute masterpiece of antique mathematics and mechanics. I think the BBC has a documentary about it called, The 2000 year old computer. It truly is a masterpiece. But when it comes to computers, it really depends on what you call a computer. The first computers were people who did calculations with pen and paper.
Sorry to disappoint, but George Stephenson invented nothing. He was a good engineer but not an inventor. Rail borne vehicles had been in use for a great many years before the first locomotive was developed. It was Richard Trevithick who developed the first railway locomotive in 1803/4 after steam road vehicles had been used for several years before.
@@RogersRamblings - Correct Trevithick developed the first steam locomotive, then Mathew Murray invented the Salamanca steam locomotive, this was the first rack and pinion locomotive and the track is still in use to this day - Middleton light railway (Leeds, U.K.)
@@RogersRamblings stephenson is only famous because of winning a race, at the Rainhill trials 1829 his locomotive called Rocket was the only locomotive to complete the course. My 3x great grandfather Taylor Swainson, constructed a steam locomotive for transporting coal, in Lord Lowther's mines in Whitehaven, Cumberland now Cumbria in 1812, unfortunately due to the poor quality of the cast iron rails the engine was too heavy and eventually broke the rails. It has been said that Taylor was one of the true inventors of the Steam locomotive.This is referenced in the history of the locomotives
Yes, we have not eliminated famine because we have not eliminated greed. There are enough resources in the world for everyone to be properly housed, clothed and fed.
@@copferthat Prefer to say they are not educating them (still) how many of these starving families have many children. It is still so very wrong. Curtail the kids and you won't starve!
@@nicksykes4575 Yes but no one had tanks until the Brits built the foundations and then everyone could use the foundations to create their own machines and so on into the modern day. I had no idea they basically helped build the foundations of the modern world today and as we know it.
They are still using the sewer system we built along with the train lines, roads, buildings, water and electric supplies. Infact we practically built India into what it is today.
All humans are colonisers, because none remain in the original homeland of the species. Colonisation is just the natural expansion of successful populations, along with normal curiosity & the yearning for exploration. The British were fortunate in their islands, in a temperate zone, with all the necessary resources quite close together to produce what was needed to spur innovation. But it was the British peoples attitude of a spirit of independence, a reluctance to accept authority, born of the long struggle to defend & maintain themselves in the islands, that gave them the spark of invention & innovation. This accorded with the Protestant work ethic, breaking the stultifying traditions of the Catholic Church, & the advance toward the Enlightenment, which promoted the new sciences & technological advances. As far as the British Empire, & it's 'evils' are concerned, the rule & actions of the British were certainly no worse, & often much better, than those of other nations. The Spaniards & French for instance which much more brutal than the British, while independent USA continued to ride roughshod over the indigenous peoples rights in North America. Add to this the British drive to end slavery around the world, & to reform many savage practices, & ending tribal wars, in the lands they controlled, & the introduction of a system of laws based on English Common Law, & the idea of Parliamentary democracy, with the spread of technology etc to all these places, then I think you will find that the British have done quite well. You must remember that what became the USA was British for some 150 years or more before independence, & that was a group of Brits asserting their independence over a Government that they had problems with, a long standing British tradition, not something newly created among 'Americans', but also remember that many colonists remained loyal to Britain, & were made to suffer for this by the revolutionaries.
@@lynn69jackson The North West and Lancashire in particular is instrumental in so many firsts. From the Industrial Revolution to the First Test Tube Baby in Oldham in 1978.
I hate it when people say just ‘colonialism was bad’ - it’s not as simple as that and a LOT of good things came out of it which people just seem to deny. And people pretend that before the British colonised a country, that said country was an idyllic place to live which is just not true. I think it’s just fashionable at the moment to hate on the British and to be quite frank, I think a lot of people are deeply resentful that such a small island has contributed SO much to the world. Have you noticed - the best countries in the world always receive the harshest criticisms? So I think, as an English woman, criticise all you like, whatever helps you sleep at night. I don’t need you to give my country and praise or appreciation, I have a quiet pride in my country, as I know so many others do.
The British were nowhere near as brutal as most Empires. The Spanish, Portuguese, Ottomans, etc etc. The British were the first to oppose slavery & many other evil practices in around the world. The British were not just land hungry, but their Empire was based on trade, & they advanced many areas of the world into modern systems of production, law etc . They didn't enslave or conquer the world, but dragged most of it into modern times.
the Empire was mostly about trade which morphed into a soft protection racket of administration to stop in-fighting, Law and a legal system, eduction, transport with railways and infrastructure etc which benefitted the locals. The most important aspect was that religions/belief systems were never interfered with.
You say it benefitted the locals, but the average life expectancies and GDP per capita for imperial subjects doesn't barely flicker upwards in a century of colonial government. The courts, railways and factories etc. were built with the protection of imperial productivity and profit in mind, not the enrichment of the locals. If anything, imperial governments tended to keep the lives of native farmers and villagers as unchanged as possible for the same reason they didn't like interfering in religious affairs - making changes caused restlessness and revolt. The strategy was at the time likened to being an iron fist in a velvet glove. Sure, the British colonial authorities could be nice as ninepence when the natives played the game. When they didn't, out came the machine guns. There were certainly worse imperial regimes to end up ruled by, but its still the boot of colonial expansion. Lets not pretend that being punched in the face rather than kicked in the face is so much better that someone ought to be thankful for it!
@@CountScarlioniSo what? Empires have been the norm of history not the exception. If not Britain then it would have been someone else - far far worse and without the benefit of British civilisation that we all take so for granted.
Of those Brits many were Scots. The British Empire could never have been without educated Scots.. Engineers, Scientists, Doctors, etc. As a side note, early US education system was very much based on the Scottish model. Princeton was founded by a Scot. So, the British gave the US Princeton too
It is so much more than that though. Probably the biggest factor at play here, other than pure chance ;), is that of the historical cultural Narrative(s) that are told and passed down through the generations. In Scotlands case that was of the supremacy of the church. Historically, the working class of Scotland were only taught to read so that they could read the Bible by themselves (and be good protestants). This was in stark contrast to the working class of England. So, Scotland as a nation was probably the most literate of that era, and the Scots contributed back then greatly to non religious (enlightened) thinking. John Knox surely would not have approved.
st helens was also the place trains got standardised, the rocket trails from railhill down what is now the m62. where "modern" canals were born with what is known as the sankey canal. it started at pilks in st helens town center. 1st train viaduct with the 9 arches, over the sankey valley. 1st train bridge where 1 line went over another. lanacashire was the real heart of the industrial revolution. the brummies mostly just copied/bought the tech.
@@blackcountryme brummies did it well in the black country dude. not saying you guys dont know canals too :D just that sunny sin tellins is far too northern and unfashionable to get the credit it was due.
The alternative to anything less was to see the possible annihilation, submission, or surpassing of your civilisation. Ultimately, Empire building, though often perceived as an offensive measure, is in actuality a defence mechanism. We often forget in our more comfortable modern lives that the world is not black and white but a place of extreme competition and brutality where the strongest, smartest and fittest survive. If you didn't have a strong kingdom or Empire, then you would be conquered and subdued or risk such by those that do, this mentality still persists today the world over, albeit in different capacities, so those that could, from the very first, did and still do. Since before Rome to Britain this rings true, lest we forget that the first European colonial Empires of Spain and Portugal were born out of 800 years of Islamic occupation. They built their Empires so that they would never be subjugated again, the same goes for pretty much all advanced civilisations throughout time. The British, simply made sure that no Nations or Empires, in a world of Empires, could threaten them, and they were very motivated and good at it, but such is the harsh and sobering reality of the world, life feeds off life, if you are not the predator then you are prey.
The USA is definitely based on English and Scottish precedents. The laws established in the United States Constitution, and its Bill of Rights specifically, are rooted in England's very old, and very important, legal documents. Two of the documents that were critical in developing the U.S. Bill of Rights were the Magna Carta of 1215 and the English Bill of Rights of 1688. Fun fact; Einstein had pictures of his three heroes on his study wall, all three were British.
Joel I don't know how you find the material that you present to us but please don't stop. I am over seventy but I suspect if I don't learn something new in most presentations I am reminded of something I did know but had slipped into the background. I don't know what plans you have for the future but I hope you will continue with this important work. Keep well and please keep reacting. Thank you from a proud Aussie with UK forebears.
Just because he asked, the first computer was built by Charles Babbage in 1822. It’s a mechanical device and I think it’s in the British Museum. He was a Londoner.
The Fella with the accent mentioned, Cats Eyes. I’m from Halifax, where they were invented!! They were invented by a chap called Percy Shaw, his factory was up Boothtown. It’s still there…!
Came to this late so not sure you will read this, but you asked where the computer originated from. It was a mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer called Charles Babbage. He originated the concept of a digital programmable computer, and yes, he was a Brit born in London on 26th December 1791 and is also called the Farther of Computing. It was from this Alan Turin created the Turin Machine. From that, all modern day computers was born.
The prism on the cover of Pink Floyd’s album is a piece of well-known science. We experimented with light and prisms in Primary School, before Pink Floyd was a band.
I live in Shrewsbury which is the Birthplace of Charles Darwin, when your next in the UK I’d be happy to show you round his old home and school, and places that supposedly influenced his love of nature and biology. Also I’m just 12 miles down the road from the Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution- Ironbridge. I’d be happy to show you round there too, including the first Iron Bridge, the first Iron framed building (the forerunner of the skyscraper) and also the Blists Hill Victorian town museum.
Joel , a man called Polland invented the first mechanical computer . There was the Harrier jump jet , the first vertical take off jet , the touch screen TV invented by British Telecom, the Hovercraft invented in 1955 by Sir Christopher Cockrell .🇬🇧 😊
First mechanical computer by Thomas Babbage in the early 19thC - the Analytical Engine and Lord Byron's daughter, Ada Countess of Lovelace (a mathematical genius) wrote the first computer programme for this machine.
regarding military, it doesnt stop at the tank either, the aircraft carrier, the flight deck, steam catapult, the battleship, the dreadnaught, turreted ship, the tank, the fighter aircraft, the airbourne radar, the jet engine, the first design of a submarine, the torpedo, the SPG artillery, the bullpup, the stun grenade, shrapnel shell, special forces and the sniper rifle and were the first to split the atom, like, jesus christ we basically just didnt invent war itself
The first Bengal famine was first recorded around 1688 and recurred every 100 years or so until the 19th century and beyond at a more regular rate of recurrence.
India had plenty famines after independence too. The wartime Bengal famine was a civil matter under Indian authority jurisdiction. The British did ask if they needed help but were told no help was needed as they probably were trying to prove they could do without British help. The narrative taught in India by its nationalist govts now is that this was a deliberate act by the British who took the food for its own soldiers.
@theotherside8258 kinda true, but they lobbied the US to help with the famine. It was either feeding the people or letting Japan charge through India. It was caused by a cyclone so nothing to do with eradication.
@@MickRiley Both Australia and i believe Iraq had the grain to relieve the famine in Bengal.The Problem being there was no way of getting the grain to Bengal. Indeed Churchill asked Roosevelt on couple occasions to send ships ,but there were no ships to be had
Everyone who was anyone had a " Teasmade " on their bedside cabinet. The trouble was it was so loud for 30 mins whilst it started brewing the tea it woke the whole house up if not the whole street lollllll. The trend of an alarm clock which made you a cup of tea didn't last long.
@lesleycarney88 I was given a teasmade for a wedding present in 1985. It's made by Swan and is still going strong!😂 However, I'm divorced and enjoy my morning cuppa a bit later than 4.30 am. More like 9am. It's fun to be woken up by the radio and a soundtrack in the background that sounds like Darth Vader, "I am your father Luke"! 😂✌
As a retired professor I can elevate your final thoughts and validate them with a phrase I often used whenever or wherever I lectured around the world: "Every plan will work, until you involve other human beings." As a philosopher, when I watched your very enjoyable video, I reminded myself that all these scientific inventions initially started in philosophy. And that, as an analogy, philosophy is the bottle from which the wine of all human achievements flow. Whether it be education, entertainment, trade, health, organisation (structures), and of course, science. Keep curious ;)
Discovered in Oldham. Along with the Scots the North West has been extremely prolific in this country’s development and status, from the machines which powered the industrial Revolution to the Lancaster Bomber. Manchester has won more Nobel prizes than many European countries. It is truly astonishing how many Nobel prizes Britain has won, the second most in the entire world but per capita it is in another stratosphere.
Gave the Americans the jet engine, radar, internet, steam locomotive, piston rings, the list goes on and on, and although the Americans had the first powered aeroplane the first man to fly in a non-powered aeroplane was in 1853 at Brompton Dale in Yorkshire.
Except to people from mid North America. What is the true name of these people? Even they don't know What to call themselves. Remember America is not just the US.
When Isaac Newton observed an apple falling from a tree, and realised that the force that caused the apple to fall to the ground was the same force that governed the motion of celestial bodies, to describe the motion of objects under the influence of gravity and other forces, he needed a new mathematical framework. Existing mathematical tools were inadequate for the task, so Newton invented calculus! Newton's invention of calculus was crucial for his formulation of the laws of motion and universal gravitation, which describe the forces acting on objects and their resulting motions. These laws enabled him to explain the orbits of planets and moons, among other phenomena.Not mention what he did for our understanding of light and colour. Here are the key discoveries Newton made about light and optics: Nature of White Light and Spectrum: Newton discovered that white light is composed of a spectrum of colours. He demonstrated this through a series of experiments using a glass prism. When he passed a beam of sunlight through the prism, it split into a spectrum of colours, ranging from red to violet. This experiment showed that white light is not a single colour but a mixture of all the colours of the visible spectrum. Refraction and Dispersion: Newton studied the phenomenon of refraction, the bending of light as it passes from one medium to another (e.g., from air to glass). He discovered that different colours of light are refracted by different amounts. This dispersion of light explained why a prism could separate white light into its constituent colours and why lenses could cause chromatic aberration (colour fringing). Recombination of Light: Newton also demonstrated that the colours produced by a prism could be recombined to form white light. He did this by passing the separated spectrum through a second prism, which merged the colours back into a single white beam. This experiment confirmed that the colours were inherent properties of light and not a result of the prism itself. Particle Theory of Light: Newton proposed a particle theory of light, suggesting that light is composed of tiny particles, or "corpuscles." This theory was based on his observations of how light behaved when it reflected off surfaces and refracted through media. Although the wave theory of light (proposed by Christiaan Huygens and later supported by experiments like Thomas Young's double-slit experiment) eventually became the dominant theory, Newton's corpuscular theory was influential and contributed to the development of modern physics. Optical Instruments: Newton applied his discoveries in optics to improve optical instruments. He designed and built the first successful reflecting telescope, known as the Newtonian telescope, which used a curved mirror instead of lenses to avoid chromatic aberration. This design significantly improved the quality of astronomical observations and is still widely used in telescopes today. Newton's work on light and optics was published in his book "Opticks" in 1704, which became a seminal text in the field and influenced generations of scientists. His experiments and theories about light and colour were revolutionary, demonstrating his genius and his ability to uncover the fundamental principles of nature through careful observation and experimentation. He is by far my favourite of a long list of British geniuses. Charles Darwin is not far behind.
We also invented Cricket, Golf, Tennis, rounders which gave you Americans Baseball, and Rugby which gave Americans the idea of American Football, Field Hockey, Squash, Badminton,Curling, Darts, Table tennis,Netball,Cue sports ( Snooker),Nine pin bowling,and many others!
The washing machine had many, many iterative steps until it got where it was today, and plenty of them were not British. This is not a thing any nation can claim.
I am immensely proud of being British. We all have things we can be ashamed of in our past, but as the guy so rightly says look how many lives worldwide have benefited from our inventions. Unfortunately people like to take advantage of our decent natures and are trying to desecrate our identity, with the rich stupid elites egging them on. This time in our history will be one to be really ashamed of in time to come. It’s utterly sickening.
Bang on. Our schoolkids aren't taught British history anymore, instead the lefties that now run the country and its "ejookayshun sistim" when they're not busy fecking up young impressionable minds with their BS then teach kids to hate Britain and feel ashamed of it.
The 1st modern computer was built by Tommy Flowers who worked the post office along with the father of modern coding Cambridge professor Alan Turing. But nearly 100 years before a mechanical computer was built by Charles Babbage before he ran out of money but the machine was tested about 10 years ago from plans and it worked. What a missed opportunity.
What people don’t realise is the hardships that working class people went through, children having to work down coal mines and in the cotton mills some as young as five. Pay and conditions were abysmal.
"The Water-Babies", A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby is a children's novel by Charles Kingsley. A child chimney sweep. It was written as part satire in support of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species.
Interesting video on Frank Whittle. Can from a very humble background to invent the jet engine. The technology was given away to GE in the U.S. and Rolls Royce he was forced to work with both still the leading manufacturers today. If the government had listened earlier there could have been a jet fighter at the start of WW2. He also spotted the flaw in the first pressurised passenger jet airliner but again wasn’t listened to. So unfortunately Britain also invented air crash investigation 🙈. I actually flew on a comment in the days of Dan Dare Airlines. An experience I will never forget.
“Charles Babbage KH FRS was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer. Babbage is considered by some to be "father of the computer".
Some one brought us a teas made for a wedding present it was great being woken up to a freshly made cuppa tea ☕️ It was on our bedside table. But the steam from it started to steam the wall paper off 🤣🤣🤣
Off the top of my head, if you're gay, or an atheist, or a woman, Israel is a more pleasant, safer and tolerant place to live than anywhere else in the middle east. Am I wrong?
The SS Great Britain (first iron hulled steam ship) was built at the great western dockyard in Bristol. The SS Great Britain was actually rescued and returned to the same dock in which she was built.
The British had all kinds of advantages : its an island, not constantly warding off invasions by neighbours Its an island , so seafaring gets you everywhere cheaply Education was always pretty good, even in 17th century most people could read. Although there was a ruling class, they somehow managed to avoid being beheaded ( as in France) partly by playing cricket with the proles Coal and iron ore are quite close to one another - relatively easy to make and transport steel The financial services needed to set up stocks and shares were established early, and were run effectively due to stable government - which fostered entrepreneurship, and eventually a trading empire . The national character is often cited, hard to know why the British just got on with stuff, and generally did it well.
Have you any idea of history? Being an island did not stop us being invaded and conquered. Vikings, Angles, saxons, Roman’s, French…I don’t think there is an original person left on our shores, except for in the Highlands.
@@mataformAdrian Targett who lives in Cheddar is a direct descendant of Cheddar Man, a skeleton found in the caves of Cheddar. The skeleton is thought to be around 10,000yrs old and DNA testing found a direct descendant still living there. So if Adrian is one, there must be others despite all the invasions.
He missed out George Cayley who sorted out the principles of aerodynmics, a hundred years before the Wright brothers. All he lacked was a useable motor to drive his gliders, & he was looking!
I'm sure the Romans were credited with vast improvements in their time too. The same can probably be said for most empires and the areas they control, conflict or exploration is often a trigger or source of motivation towards growth and understanding, if your not exposed to it you can't do either. Innovation is not unique to one place, recognising it and encouraging it is the key. Imagine the Renaissance with a repressive government, it wouldn't have happened. The trick is to allow it to happen and benefit from it.
There are numerous inventions he couldn't get through. Hydraulics, the next time you press your brakes and stop, thank the British. Pneumatics, the next time you corner in your car and don't crash thank the British, What about electrolysis? There would be no chromium plating, anodising etc. etc. What about the friction match, not that important now but at one time it was in the top ten of inventions of all time. Honestly, it's endless.
Winston Churchill - "Of all the small nations of this earth, perhaps only the ancient Greeks surpass the Scots in their contribution to mankind." Maxwell's equations (Scot James Clerk Maxwell ) did more for mankind than any ten presidents Carl Sagan. Einstein said he stood on Maxwell's shoulders. etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc
The vertical take-off and landing aircraft was developed in my home town of Hucknall, Nottinghamshire. Look up “The Flying Bedstead”, there is a sculpture on one of the bypass roundabouts, and there used to a pub.
Hello Joel. As well as other museums and institutions that other commenters suggested very astutely, I reckon you would love the Industrial Museum in Bradford. Some have suggested the whole city is like an industrial museum. You can tell what it was like because it had it's canal banned by law to stop polution, even before the "modern" era. A trip up the road would take you to Five Rise Locks on the Leeds Liverpool Canal, then another couple of miles to the Worth Valley Railway, with steam locomotives.
Thank you! Fascinating. As a Brit its good to be told about all those things that we can be proud of. I believe we also invented Wellington boots and sandwiches.
Bletchley Park, which served as the government’s code-breaking HQ during WW2, is worth a visit. It’s about an hour from London by train. Aside from the original buildings and artefacts used during the war, you can see a modern build of the Colossus computer used to decode the German Enigma code.
@krisjonesuk WRONG. Alan Turing cracked the Enigma code, which is on display at Bletchley Park. Colossus was built by Tommy Flowers and that cracked the LORENZ code used by Hitler to communicate with his Generals. The first signal decoded by Colossus was in February 1944. Eisenhower asked the engineers to build a second one BEFORE D-day, which they did.
Did you guys in the usa never use a prism to seperate wavelengths of light ? that was like standard in british science rooms. The dark side of the moon album art is just depicting that, you can take white light and shine it through a specially made prism that will seperate each wavelength giving a rainbow of colours, this is to explain to kids how light works, white light is comprised of all the other colours and changing the wavelength results in a different visable light. Thats how anything is coloured, if youre wearing a blue shirt your shirt is changing the wavelength of light by absorbing light and only reflecting the blue light wavelength to our eyes.
I’m not sure if anyone answered this already but the picture with Newton holding the prism? He used it to demonstrate that light was not pure white but is made up of all the colours of the rainbow. By scientifically establishing our visible spectrum, Newton laid the path for others to experiment with color in a scientific manner. His work led to breakthroughs in optics, physics, chemistry, perception, and the study of colour in nature.
Yep, you can chalk that up to us Brits. The FIRST computer. Charles Babbage (1791-1871) was an English mechanical engineer and polymath who originated the concept of a programmable computer. Considered the "father of the computer", he conceptualized and invented the first mechanical computer in the early 19th century.
And Sir Tim Berners-Lee For many of us, the web is a huge part of our lives, enabling us to communicate and access knowledge that would have been unobtainable just a few decades ago. And it all started with one man - Sir Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist born in London. And those two are the most recent. History has many examples.
Dr. Ridd (sp. ?) excellently presented this coherent video. He took a large topic, trimmed and refined it: slimming down without dumbing down, which I think is no easy task. Sometimes it takes a short, but well summarized account to make us realize how far we have come in such a relatively short historical span.. You can not help wondering though what the future has waiting for us in science, as there are going to be global challenges ahead.🤞
One missed is 19th century Lord Kelvin for all things temperature and thermal physics. And its use in the mechanical ice maker/fridge using the triple point phase diagram of certain materials. Solid/liquid/gas. Early fridges and aircon, units where called Kelvinators
The Bengal famine wasn’t caused by the Brits. There is often famines in that region whether we were there or not we did however give India the railways and modern infrastructure which has made them a modern day world power so you’re welcome India.
Well pointed out. Another liberal whinge, that the British are not responsible for. It was bad weather, and poor agricultural methods that caused the famine. Britain built the modern world. No wonder everyone is jealous of us.
“Time” was invented in Scotland! Some “bumps” were spotted in an arial photo of a field near Crathes Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 2005. It took experts about 10 years that the bumps were where wooden posts were stuck in the ground to create the world’s first calendar, used by farmers to plant their crops at the right time of year. Materials from the survey done at the time were carbon dated to 8,000 BC. The previous oldest calendar was from Mesopotamia which was almost 4,000 years younger.
The British Empire's disproportionate level of global success, given its relatively small population, can be attributed in part to its excellence in administration and education. Advances in science, engineering, and technology flow from both of these factors. An interesting thought experiment is to imagine Britain and Europe staying at home, not exploring the globe, and observing the "Star Trek principle of non-interference" in other cultures." What would the world look like now had this alternative history happened, e.g. a giant Green Belt/No Go Zones around various other continents? Fascinating video, Joel. Thanks for posting it today. Cheers, John in Canada (oh, calculus, a very bad joke played on us!! I'd join you Joel in having words its creator). Let's not forget the contemporaneous histories of the Dutch, French, German, etc, empires and colonies. Also, the trap of presentism is a very real risk when analysing historical events and attitudes.
Ahhh, us pesky Brits, going around inventing stuff and trying to improve things, you'll never get any thanks for that. On Sir Issac Newton, many years ago there was a safety campaign which included this poem Sir Isaac Newton told us why, an apple falls down from the sky; and from this fact it's very plain, all other objects do the same, A brick, a bar, a bolt, a cup, invariably fall down not up; and every common working tool is governed by the self-same rule. I live not too far from St. Helens where the float glass technique he mentioned was invented, there's a musem there to the town's glass industry. Charles Darwin was a Shropshire lad, Shrewsbury I believe, a town well worth a visit. We Britis are far from perfect but we're a bit less imperfect than some of out critics
Lets also remember what britain did for slavery. I.e. basically stopping it globally. Britain used its navy to blocade the transatlantic slave trade, and also spent a huge amount of it's aquired wealth to buy, then free slaves. Britains contributions to the modern world are gigatic.
the Most successful country in human history didn't get there without making many mistakes. Britain did a lot of "bad" things when looking at it through a modern lens but when Britain held the reigns of world power she lifted humanity out of the dark ages that should be praised and commended in the same way atrocities shouldn't be forgotten.
Yeap and they were the first to go to war against the African slave trade.
Well said
What a complete load of bullocks
I'm German and I'm a big UK fan, having lived in the UK myself for over a decade. Britain undoubtedly contributed a huge amount of knowledge to humanity, probably more than any other country ever. But don't forget that there was also a huge cost. Ask the countries you invaded and exploited, taking their resources and also people (slave trade). All of that contributed to Britain's rise. But invading and exploiting countries is wrong and the human cost to those countries was huge. That's not to take anything away from Britain's contributions to human culture and knowledge. But the empire wasn't as benevolent as many might think.
IMO, Britain, Germany and Russia all played huge roles. And some inventions listed here are disputed, for example the bicycle and computers. Konrad Zuse patented the first electronic programmable computer in 1936 (the Zuse V1, later renamed to Z1). But then the Americans came along and invented the transistor, which was a quantum leap forward. If memory serves, the transistor is, by far, the most produced item in human history. Not surprising considering the CPU in your mobile phone has several billion of them. Of course all that is based upon quantum mechanics, discovered by Werner Heisenberg et al. So most things are based on previous inventions or discoveries, often made by someone else.
@@Arsenic71 Bloody rich coming from someone that's German 😅
We did abolish slavery too!
You abolished slavery in 1833 and then 15 years later starved over one million Irish to death in the name of capitalism.
Nonsense!!!
The British did not abolish slavery. It’s not been legal in England for 1,000 years.
What they did was to stop the slave trade from African countries across the seas. They also tried and failed to stop Arab countries from trading in African slaves. Slavery is still going on all over the place, particularly - and more than anywhere else - in Africa today.
I'm a Livingstone and bloody proud of it.
😂😂😂😂😂 the ignorance here is palpable
We invented orderly, efficient, respectful queuing too. Nobody forms a queue as well as we do! 😂
the most British thing I ever did was in a train station in France where I queued for about 5 minutes behind a family only to discover they were chatting with one of the staff and not queuing
@@vaseline69 Ha! I just know I’ve done that too. I recently walked into a post office and stood waiting to be served in an area that was not serving. I created a queue behind, only to abandon it after I realised I wasn’t going to get served.
@@Michael_from_EU_Germany They’re a different species! 😂
And don’t we get cross with those who attempt to jump that queue.
They call it “standing in line” in America just to be different 😂.
The greatest gift was not ending slavery but introducing English common law to the world.
Sorry NOT ending slavery are you sure ?????
Slavery was legal in the UK until 2010...
Slave trade however wasn't
@Snaakie83, although technically correct, that was only because it was thought that it was so obvious it didn't need a specific law.
You mean the world had no common sense before the English introduced it??????? BTW Slavery is still a thing in many places - also I recommend to look up Timeline of abolition of slavery and serfdom to get full picture
@@Snaakie83 didn't William the Conqueror make it illegal for anyone in England to own a slave?
"Women and Children First" is a British created standard of decency. Amazing story behind this too.
As much as I like that story it's hogwash. This was commonly accepted decency as far back as the Romans and far before that.
What if everyone identifies as a woman?
@@polaris7122then they’re mentally ill
@@polaris7122then they’re mentally ill
The most important invention ever is the Venetian Blind. Without those it would be curtains for us all !
Very good.
😂😂😂
Im like 73
This my friend is the closest to perfect of any joke .
Well done😂
@@jasonfearnley1744 Glad you liked it. Someone had to one day 🙄
@@Andrew_Fernie ... and really easy to make!
Not bad for a little island.🇬🇧
"Little Britain"... :)
Don't despair, Americans. You gave us the nacho cheese pump and reverse baseball cap.
30 trillion dollar economy, dominates the world's investments, employees tens of millions of people around the world, has the world's most powerful military, has the world's most technology advanced military, practically created electronic industry we have today... including your mobile phones and microprocessors but at least Britain still has Stratus clouds...
And honestly this video was utter nonsense, a sycophantic Rose tinted glasses view on English history and innovations, of which there are many but just as many in France and Germany and Italy and many other contributions by many other individuals living in those countries. So stop feeling proud of something you didn't actually achieve.
@@digidol52 I'll vote for the senile old fart, and who exactly are you going to be voting for?.. the Hindu! The barrister who defends terrorists....perhaps Nigel Farage the guy who supports the Wannabe dictator.
And we dont drive on the reich side of the road ...
And Sovereign Citizens!
Oh, and butchering the English language since 1776.
😂😂
Us Brits created the modern world!! 😁😁👍🏻👍🏻🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
@@Michael_from_EU_Germany BETTER THAN THE 20000 DIFFERENT RACES THAT FERTILISED AMERICANS. BRIT ANGLO-SAXON AND PROUD OF IT - BETTER THAN THE WORLDWIDE DROSS OF FAILURES THAT MOVED TO THE USA TO CREATE THE "PURE" AMERICAN. 🤣🤣🤣
@@Michael_from_EU_GermanyNormans , Saxons. Vikings, Celts all melded their northern European dna and cultures over hundreds of years into something new and unique called the British.
@@mogznwaznew haha totally agree with you, But aren't we all descendants from other civilisations in Europe? Or the planet?
The vikings inspired the benevolent culture did they? There are massive arguments it was and huge ones ot wasn't. But It sounds like you agree, as you're trying to take it away from the UK. By suggesting it was from the influence of the likes of the Norman's. Haha so thankyou for the compliment.
@@mogznwaz The aggression comes from the Vikings.
And then gave it to israel!
The nuclear bomb invented by the British in 1940 but the first bomb was built by America with British help,but the atom was first split by the British in 1932 at the Cavendish laboratory in Cambridge.
The atom was split in Manchester.
@@paulwild3676 My apologises you are right,Ernest Rutherford split the atom in 1917.
Earnest Rutherford was a New Zealander, spliting the atom or the theory was thought of by John Dalton, who was from Cockermouth in Cumberland. But Rutherford did not invent the atomic bomb
@@Valant-t9p Not a problem. A lot of information is apocryphal about inventions or discoveries . There are lots of theories about whom invented what. Sir Ernest Rutherford was a New Zealander of course, as andirutherthord below rightly states.
We also invented the floating harbour. I believe a Welshman from Conwy invented that for the D Day landings. It was developed off Anglesey I believe for practice before the big day. Plus we invented the bouncing bomb.
Measured against the time and times before the British empire was probably the most benevolent empire in human history.
There's no probably about it, it was, full stop.
A VERY benevolent empire
Not sure that Indians, Aborigines, Maori's. Native Americans, Irish etc would agree (Tasmanian's ! Where are they ?)
@@rayg4360 I wonder who they conquered or eradicated on their journey?
@@xx6489 The Indians where the conquered subjects of Muslim invaders and where under active genocide when the British arrived, The Maori was a warlike people that enslaved and genocided many other local tribes including but not limited to The Moriori, Native Americans where either militant tribes that conquered and enslaved everyone they could or peaceful tribes living in fear of the former (same with the Australian ones from my understanding) and you can pretty much blame Oliver Cromwell and Christian sectarianism for Ireland.
He forgot ATMs this was an English invention in 1967 , Barclays Bank had the first one.
I've heard a different version of this video ,where he does mention light bulb and atms
It's a Scottish invention there are two Scots responsible for its invention James Goodfellow born in Paisley Scotland and John Shepherd Barron was born to Scottish parents in India.
And Reg Varney the first to use it
And a hell of alot creations in finance, insurance and banking.
Colonisation has many sides to it, good and bad. Also, Britain still has the best designers,engineers, and scientists per capita of anywhere else in the world. Still, about 50% of all new innovations come out of Britain, well, at least partly.
Good for the coloniser bad for the colonised🇮🇪
Good and bad. We ended slavery for instance.
@@DerryK67 SO WHAT ARE YOU USING TO POST YOUR COMMENT?
@@aidencox790 what am I using???what’s that got to do with an invading bunch of savages coming into your country and killing, plundering, raping the native population??? Have you ever heard of Cromwell or the Black and Tans???
@@aidencox790 really that’s what you’re response to my comment is!!!
It's rather rainy in England so we have to keep busy tinkering and doing things....if it was hot here, I think we wouldn't have done so much!
It's why we invented garden sheds, so we don't upset the Mrs while we're tinkering and leaving oily hand prints on the tea towels. :)
@@uncoolmartin460 "Men in Sheds", handing down the inherited tools.
Britain didn't conquer other countries, we started trading with them and then took over governing them, in some cases providing a government that hadn't existed before.
You make it sound like a good thing but Britain imposed governments over groups of people not already formed into countries. We didn't provide a governement we imposed our rule over groups of different people and in effect economically forced them to contribute to ultimately Britain. Yes there were some benefits perhaps but the fact is peoples, tribes, cultures were imposed upon, and they were economically exploited.
@@user-pp9yk3tu4z Imagine for a moment that the British, nor any other European country, had made contact with the people of those places. What situation do you think they would be in today?
@@RogersRamblings well perhaps they would still be living in tribes or as they were or perhaps they would eventually develop at their own pace. I'm not saying they shouldn't have interacted but I'm just saying that the interaction that took place was not nessecerily beneficial to those being colonised.
@@user-pp9yk3tu4z Similar to the Romans and Normans taking us over, and enforcing rules, whilst improving things for our future?
@@user-pp9yk3tu4zStrange that those countries retained so many British institutions and ways when they became independent - and voluntarily joined the greatest family of nations in the world today. . . The Commonwealth. Some of the greatest countries in the world were settled and thrived thanks to the British; Australia, Canada, New Zealand etc etc etc. Every African country was left much richer thanks to the Brits - although local corruption has made many hold out the begging bowl again! Even America got it's kickstart thanks to England.
When you come back to the U.K. you need to go back to Manchester and go to the Science and Industry Museum, and you can see the FIRST computer.
Which one is that? I know that they have The Manchester Small Scale Experimental Machine which is arguably the oldest computer able to store and run a program from memory but it's not the first computer by a long shot.
@@JamesLMasonI think the oldest (what I think is considered) computer I’ve heard of, is the “Antikythera Mechanism” and is 2000 years old. Was found on a Greek shipwreck. Not too clued up on what it actually is just remember reading about it a while ago. Going to give it a Google.
It's one of my favourite museums plus its only a 40 minute drive from where I live.
@@JohnBanana935 The Antikythera mechanism is a device that can predict the movement of planets, can predict solar and lunar eclipses (also whether theiy are total or partial) and is an absolute masterpiece of antique mathematics and mechanics. I think the BBC has a documentary about it called, The 2000 year old computer. It truly is a masterpiece.
But when it comes to computers, it really depends on what you call a computer. The first computers were people who did calculations with pen and paper.
@@lynn69jacksonThe machinery in that is astonishing.
Yes we did invent life the first “ Test Tube” baby was formed in the UK 1978 Manchester😊
Oldham actually. The Boundary Park hospital, now called the Royal Oldham.
Louise Brown was the first test tube baby.
and produced the 1st succesful clone of a mammal (dolly the sheep at the Roslin institute in Scotland)
@@MmostlyRandom oh yes Dolly the sheep
I walk my dog past Stephenson’s cottage every week. A humble little house in the North East of England. He invented the railways!
Sorry to disappoint, but George Stephenson invented nothing. He was a good engineer but not an inventor. Rail borne vehicles had been in use for a great many years before the first locomotive was developed. It was Richard Trevithick who developed the first railway locomotive in 1803/4 after steam road vehicles had been used for several years before.
@@RogersRamblingsit’s always some other fucker in another country… 😂 No historical person agrees with it but let’s go with it.
@@RogersRamblings - Correct Trevithick developed the first steam locomotive, then Mathew Murray invented the Salamanca steam locomotive, this was the first rack and pinion locomotive and the track is still in use to this day - Middleton light railway (Leeds, U.K.)
@@RogersRamblingsActually, it was boiler improvements to allow more efficient steam generation.
@@RogersRamblings stephenson is only famous because of winning a race, at the Rainhill trials 1829 his locomotive called Rocket was the only locomotive to complete the course. My 3x great grandfather Taylor Swainson, constructed a steam locomotive for transporting coal, in Lord Lowther's mines in Whitehaven, Cumberland now Cumbria in 1812, unfortunately due to the poor quality of the cast iron rails the engine was too heavy and eventually broke the rails. It has been said that Taylor was one of the true inventors of the Steam locomotive.This is referenced in the history of the locomotives
Yes, we have not eliminated famine because we have not eliminated greed. There are enough resources in the world for everyone to be properly housed, clothed and fed.
Yet the governments of the starving are not feeding them?
Add in corruption, that is why people are going without socialism=poverty.
@@copferthat Prefer to say they are not educating them (still) how many of these starving families have many children. It is still so very wrong. Curtail the kids and you won't starve!
British Inventions were genius. Britain invented the WWI tank, only allied force who had tanks, and the agile tanks called "whippets"
The French also built tanks, and were the first to have a traversable turret.
The French had tanks too. The FT17 for example.
The French also had their own tanks in WW1. Once they'd seen the British tanks, they used the USA produced Holt Tractor as the basis for theirs.
@@nicksykes4575 Yes but no one had tanks until the Brits built the foundations and then everyone could use the foundations to create their own machines and so on into the modern day. I had no idea they basically helped build the foundations of the modern world today and as we know it.
The population of India after the Brits left was 4x that at the start, due to better nutrition and sanitaiton.
That got out of hand quickly.
Amazing.
They are still using the sewer system we built along with the train lines, roads, buildings, water and electric supplies. Infact we practically built India into what it is today.
@@stpfs9281it’s surprising how many Indians in India still LOVE the Brits. And humbling. Having visited.
Great video! The Brits really did achieve one hell of a lot.
All humans are colonisers, because none remain in the original homeland of the species.
Colonisation is just the natural expansion of successful populations, along with normal curiosity & the yearning for exploration. The British were fortunate in their islands, in a temperate zone, with all the necessary resources quite close together to produce what was needed to spur innovation. But it was the British peoples attitude of a spirit of independence, a reluctance to accept authority, born of the long struggle to defend & maintain themselves in the islands, that gave them the spark of invention & innovation.
This accorded with the Protestant work ethic, breaking the stultifying traditions of the Catholic Church, & the advance toward the Enlightenment, which promoted the new sciences & technological advances. As far as the British Empire, & it's 'evils' are concerned, the rule & actions of the British were certainly no worse, & often much better, than those of other nations. The Spaniards & French for instance which much more brutal than the British, while independent USA continued to ride roughshod over the indigenous peoples rights in North America. Add to this the British drive to end slavery around the world, & to reform many savage practices, & ending tribal wars, in the lands they controlled, & the introduction of a system of laws based on English Common Law, & the idea of Parliamentary democracy, with the spread of technology etc to all these places, then I think you will find that the British have done quite well. You must remember that what became the USA was British for some 150 years or more before independence, & that was a group of Brits asserting their independence over a Government that they had problems with, a long standing British tradition, not something newly created among 'Americans', but also remember that many colonists remained loyal to Britain, & were made to suffer for this by the revolutionaries.
Well said.
What he said.
The American war of independence was effectively the English Civil War Part Deux
Thanks Henry VIII, and his daughter Elizabeth I. The Royal Navy.
@@mogznwaz MORE LIKE A RAINY WEDNESDAY. THE YANKS NEVER HAVE WON ANY WAR BY THEMSELVES EEXCEPT THE CIVIL WAR 🤣
We also invented the hip replacement in Wrightington hospital Appley Bridge which is 19 miles away from me.
They still specialise in hip replacements.
And plastic surgery during ww1.
@@samsprrr3548 The "Peanut" Club.
@@lynn69jackson The North West and Lancashire in particular is instrumental in so many firsts. From the Industrial Revolution to the First Test Tube Baby in Oldham in 1978.
Really ? I had a new hip at Yorkshire Clinic, Bingley !
@@paulwild3676 I never understood why they called early IVF babies ' Test tube ' babies when the embryos were created in a Petri dish!
Yes, we are small but as the old saying goes (regarding something else), "It's not the size that matters, it's what you do with(in) it".✌
😂😂
If that’s the case then we must have invented Porn films too.
Nah, i think porn was invented by either the Greeks or Romans. Proper deviants the Romans were 😂
refrigeration- another Scot. invented out of necessity as he was pioneering the process of liquifying air and other gasses.
And the bottle to keep it in, The Dewar bottle aka vacuum flask.
@@VeritySnatchBut his invention of the universal solvent was less successful for obvious reasons! 😮
Congratulations on 100k , well deserved
I hate it when people say just ‘colonialism was bad’ - it’s not as simple as that and a LOT of good things came out of it which people just seem to deny. And people pretend that before the British colonised a country, that said country was an idyllic place to live which is just not true. I think it’s just fashionable at the moment to hate on the British and to be quite frank, I think a lot of people are deeply resentful that such a small island has contributed SO much to the world. Have you noticed - the best countries in the world always receive the harshest criticisms? So I think, as an English woman, criticise all you like, whatever helps you sleep at night. I don’t need you to give my country and praise or appreciation, I have a quiet pride in my country, as I know so many others do.
The British were nowhere near as brutal as most Empires. The Spanish, Portuguese, Ottomans, etc etc. The British were the first to oppose slavery & many other evil practices in around the world. The British were not just land hungry, but their Empire was based on trade, & they advanced many areas of the world into modern systems of production, law etc . They didn't enslave or conquer the world, but dragged most of it into modern times.
The punch cards used in the weaving machines evolved to become an important part of the first computers.
There is another one, the first computer colossus used to crack the enigma code.
@@JonathanReynolds1 I didn’t know that.
the Empire was mostly about trade which morphed into a soft protection racket of administration to stop in-fighting, Law and a legal system, eduction, transport with railways and infrastructure etc which benefitted the locals. The most important aspect was that religions/belief systems were never interfered with.
You say it benefitted the locals, but the average life expectancies and GDP per capita for imperial subjects doesn't barely flicker upwards in a century of colonial government.
The courts, railways and factories etc. were built with the protection of imperial productivity and profit in mind, not the enrichment of the locals. If anything, imperial governments tended to keep the lives of native farmers and villagers as unchanged as possible for the same reason they didn't like interfering in religious affairs - making changes caused restlessness and revolt. The strategy was at the time likened to being an iron fist in a velvet glove. Sure, the British colonial authorities could be nice as ninepence when the natives played the game. When they didn't, out came the machine guns.
There were certainly worse imperial regimes to end up ruled by, but its still the boot of colonial expansion. Lets not pretend that being punched in the face rather than kicked in the face is so much better that someone ought to be thankful for it!
I wish they had interfered - a world without batshit crazy Islam would be a better one
@@CountScarlioniYou can’t benefit locals if you leave them to their backward unsanitary traditions instead of interfering.
@@CountScarlioniSo what? Empires have been the norm of history not the exception. If not Britain then it would have been someone else - far far worse and without the benefit of British civilisation that we all take so for granted.
@@CountScarlioni "I didn't get where I am today, by being nice", CJ, The Fall and Rise of Reggie Perrin.
Of those Brits many were Scots. The British Empire could never have been without educated Scots.. Engineers, Scientists, Doctors, etc. As a side note, early US education system was very much based on the Scottish model. Princeton was founded by a Scot. So, the British gave the US Princeton too
It is so much more than that though. Probably the biggest factor at play here, other than pure chance ;), is that of the historical cultural Narrative(s) that are told and passed down through the generations. In Scotlands case that was of the supremacy of the church. Historically, the working class of Scotland were only taught to read so that they could read the Bible by themselves (and be good protestants). This was in stark contrast to the working class of England. So, Scotland as a nation was probably the most literate of that era, and the Scots contributed back then greatly to non religious (enlightened) thinking. John Knox surely would not have approved.
Hence the video is titled 'What did the British ever do for us' and not 'What did the English ever do for us'
The invention of modern float glass was invented in Pilkington's glass in Saint Helens which is 5 miles from where I live.
👍
st helens was also the place trains got standardised, the rocket trails from railhill down what is now the m62. where "modern" canals were born with what is known as the sankey canal. it started at pilks in st helens town center. 1st train viaduct with the 9 arches, over the sankey valley. 1st train bridge where 1 line went over another.
lanacashire was the real heart of the industrial revolution. the brummies mostly just copied/bought the tech.
@@philmarsden9594that's funny that...
@@blackcountryme brummies did it well in the black country dude. not saying you guys dont know canals too :D
just that sunny sin tellins is far too northern and unfashionable to get the credit it was due.
Im from st helens lol
That picture of the computer was the first electrical computer which you can still see at Bletchley in UK.
I think we’re just stubborn and keep going no matter what
The alternative to anything less was to see the possible annihilation, submission, or surpassing of your civilisation. Ultimately, Empire building, though often perceived as an offensive measure, is in actuality a defence mechanism. We often forget in our more comfortable modern lives that the world is not black and white but a place of extreme competition and brutality where the strongest, smartest and fittest survive. If you didn't have a strong kingdom or Empire, then you would be conquered and subdued or risk such by those that do, this mentality still persists today the world over, albeit in different capacities, so those that could, from the very first, did and still do. Since before Rome to Britain this rings true, lest we forget that the first European colonial Empires of Spain and Portugal were born out of 800 years of Islamic occupation. They built their Empires so that they would never be subjugated again, the same goes for pretty much all advanced civilisations throughout time. The British, simply made sure that no Nations or Empires, in a world of Empires, could threaten them, and they were very motivated and good at it, but such is the harsh and sobering reality of the world, life feeds off life, if you are not the predator then you are prey.
@@LookHereMarsWell said 👏👏👏
And we don`t mind making mistakes ,which can lead to innovation
The USA is definitely based on English and Scottish precedents. The laws established in the United States Constitution, and its Bill of Rights specifically, are rooted in England's very old, and very important, legal documents. Two of the documents that were critical in developing the U.S. Bill of Rights were the Magna Carta of 1215 and the English Bill of Rights of 1688. Fun fact; Einstein had pictures of his three heroes on his study wall, all three were British.
Faraday, newton?
Maxwell. @@tomhandle
Joel I don't know how you find the material that you present to us but please don't stop. I am over seventy but I suspect if I don't learn something new in most presentations I am reminded of something I did know but had slipped into the background. I don't know what plans you have for the future but I hope you will continue with this important work. Keep well and please keep reacting. Thank you from a proud Aussie with UK forebears.
Just because he asked, the first computer was built by Charles Babbage in 1822. It’s a mechanical device and I think it’s in the British Museum. He was a Londoner.
He forgot the light bulb and powered flight.
@@phild5454 that was my point.
Ada Lovelace was the inventor of the first programming language. As a computer programmer I really appreciate her.
Her Sister Lynda invented something entirely different.
The Fella with the accent mentioned, Cats Eyes. I’m from Halifax, where they were invented!! They were invented by a chap called Percy Shaw, his factory was up Boothtown. It’s still there…!
Came to this late so not sure you will read this, but you asked where the computer originated from. It was a mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer called Charles Babbage. He originated the concept of a digital programmable computer, and yes, he was a Brit born in London on 26th December 1791 and is also called the Farther of Computing. It was from this Alan Turin created the Turin Machine. From that, all modern day computers was born.
British invented just about every sport in the World 🌎
e.g. Scotland v England (1872) first ever international soccer match!
Thomas Crapper deserves a mention .😇
Thank you Britain
The prism on the cover of Pink Floyd’s album is a piece of well-known science. We experimented with light and prisms in Primary School, before Pink Floyd was a band.
I live in Shrewsbury which is the Birthplace of Charles Darwin, when your next in the UK I’d be happy to show you round his old home and school, and places that supposedly influenced his love of nature and biology. Also I’m just 12 miles down the road from the Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution- Ironbridge. I’d be happy to show you round there too, including the first Iron Bridge, the first Iron framed building (the forerunner of the skyscraper) and also the Blists Hill Victorian town museum.
Joel , a man called Polland invented the first mechanical computer . There was the Harrier jump jet , the first vertical take off jet , the touch screen TV invented by British Telecom, the Hovercraft invented in 1955 by Sir Christopher Cockrell .🇬🇧 😊
Surely it was babbage.....they teach you that as lesson one on a compsci degree....
@@ddguitars1969 Apologies , I was thinking of the first mechanical computer for warships .
First mechanical computer by Thomas Babbage in the early 19thC - the Analytical Engine and Lord Byron's daughter, Ada Countess of Lovelace (a mathematical genius) wrote the first computer programme for this machine.
surely it was polland ....see earlier😂
regarding military, it doesnt stop at the tank either, the aircraft carrier, the flight deck, steam catapult, the battleship, the dreadnaught, turreted ship, the tank, the fighter aircraft, the airbourne radar, the jet engine, the first design of a submarine, the torpedo, the SPG artillery, the bullpup, the stun grenade, shrapnel shell, special forces and the sniper rifle and were the first to split the atom, like, jesus christ we basically just didnt invent war itself
You forgot the Hovercraft.
The first Bengal famine was first recorded around 1688 and recurred every 100 years or so until the 19th century and beyond at a more regular rate of recurrence.
Indians have always bred beyond their means - it’s just Malthus at work
India had plenty famines after independence too. The wartime Bengal famine was a civil matter under Indian authority jurisdiction. The British did ask if they needed help but were told no help was needed as they probably were trying to prove they could do without British help. The narrative taught in India by its nationalist govts now is that this was a deliberate act by the British who took the food for its own soldiers.
@@theotherside8258 Well said - and you are correct. Thick as mince grievance grubbers just make sh** up
@theotherside8258 kinda true, but they lobbied the US to help with the famine. It was either feeding the people or letting Japan charge through India. It was caused by a cyclone so nothing to do with eradication.
@@MickRiley Both Australia and i believe Iraq had the grain to relieve the famine in Bengal.The Problem being there was no way of getting the grain to Bengal. Indeed Churchill asked Roosevelt on couple occasions to send ships ,but there were no ships to be had
The Brits did invent life Joel - just read On the origin of species by Darwin! The most important book ever written! 😮.
Charles Dawin was born in the uk in Shrewsbury England.
@@samsprrr3548 I went to Charles Darwin school in Biggin Hill.
A work of fiction now. Science is moving on.
Air to air refuelling and the jump jet and Concorde in collaboration with the French notable in avionics
Every county has done bad things but not all done as many good things as us
Everyone who was anyone had a " Teasmade " on their bedside cabinet. The trouble was it was so loud for 30 mins whilst it started brewing the tea it woke the whole house up if not the whole street lollllll. The trend of an alarm clock which made you a cup of tea didn't last long.
Yes, they could be loud; but who invented the silent alarm clock?
@@charleshedley4381 lollll yes i see your point but at 4.30 am only my husband needed waking. lollll
@lesleycarney88 I was given a teasmade for a wedding present in 1985. It's made by Swan and is still going strong!😂 However, I'm divorced and enjoy my morning cuppa a bit later than 4.30 am. More like 9am. It's fun to be woken up by the radio and a soundtrack in the background that sounds like Darth Vader, "I am your father Luke"! 😂✌
@@emmafrench7219 😂🤣😅
Can't believe I dumped my Goblin Teasmade years ago.....now becoming iconic
12:07 The Faraday Cage. Invented by Faraday himself…We took care of that one already mate. That’ll stop your wireless connections
Or, a bucket of water will do... :)
As a retired professor I can elevate your final thoughts and validate them with a phrase I often used whenever or wherever I lectured around the world:
"Every plan will work, until you involve other human beings."
As a philosopher, when I watched your very enjoyable video, I reminded myself that all these scientific inventions initially started in philosophy. And that, as an analogy, philosophy is the bottle from which the wine of all human achievements flow. Whether it be education, entertainment, trade, health, organisation (structures), and of course, science.
Keep curious ;)
I never see why the development of IVF is not included in these lists. Brought so much to so many
Discovered in Oldham. Along with the Scots the North West has been extremely prolific in this country’s development and status, from the machines which powered the industrial Revolution to the Lancaster Bomber. Manchester has won more Nobel prizes than many European countries. It is truly astonishing how many Nobel prizes Britain has won, the second most in the entire world but per capita it is in another stratosphere.
Yes, the birth of that was in Britain.
Gave the Americans the jet engine, radar, internet, steam locomotive, piston rings, the list goes on and on, and although the Americans had the first powered aeroplane the first man to fly in a non-powered aeroplane was in 1853 at Brompton Dale in Yorkshire.
The English language is pretty important.
Let us never speak ill of it.
Except to people from mid North America. What is the true name of these people? Even they don't know What to call themselves. Remember America is not just the US.
When Isaac Newton observed an apple falling from a tree, and realised that the force that caused the apple to fall to the ground was the same force that governed the motion of celestial bodies, to describe the motion of objects under the influence of gravity and other forces, he needed a new mathematical framework. Existing mathematical tools were inadequate for the task, so Newton invented calculus!
Newton's invention of calculus was crucial for his formulation of the laws of motion and universal gravitation, which describe the forces acting on objects and their resulting motions. These laws enabled him to explain the orbits of planets and moons, among other phenomena.Not mention what he did for our understanding of light and colour.
Here are the key discoveries Newton made about light and optics:
Nature of White Light and Spectrum:
Newton discovered that white light is composed of a spectrum of colours. He demonstrated this through a series of experiments using a glass prism. When he passed a beam of sunlight through the prism, it split into a spectrum of colours, ranging from red to violet. This experiment showed that white light is not a single colour but a mixture of all the colours of the visible spectrum.
Refraction and Dispersion:
Newton studied the phenomenon of refraction, the bending of light as it passes from one medium to another (e.g., from air to glass). He discovered that different colours of light are refracted by different amounts. This dispersion of light explained why a prism could separate white light into its constituent colours and why lenses could cause chromatic aberration (colour fringing).
Recombination of Light:
Newton also demonstrated that the colours produced by a prism could be recombined to form white light. He did this by passing the separated spectrum through a second prism, which merged the colours back into a single white beam. This experiment confirmed that the colours were inherent properties of light and not a result of the prism itself.
Particle Theory of Light:
Newton proposed a particle theory of light, suggesting that light is composed of tiny particles, or "corpuscles." This theory was based on his observations of how light behaved when it reflected off surfaces and refracted through media. Although the wave theory of light (proposed by Christiaan Huygens and later supported by experiments like Thomas Young's double-slit experiment) eventually became the dominant theory, Newton's corpuscular theory was influential and contributed to the development of modern physics.
Optical Instruments:
Newton applied his discoveries in optics to improve optical instruments. He designed and built the first successful reflecting telescope, known as the Newtonian telescope, which used a curved mirror instead of lenses to avoid chromatic aberration. This design significantly improved the quality of astronomical observations and is still widely used in telescopes today.
Newton's work on light and optics was published in his book "Opticks" in 1704, which became a seminal text in the field and influenced generations of scientists. His experiments and theories about light and colour were revolutionary, demonstrating his genius and his ability to uncover the fundamental principles of nature through careful observation and experimentation.
He is by far my favourite of a long list of British geniuses. Charles Darwin is not far behind.
We also invented Cricket, Golf, Tennis, rounders which gave you Americans Baseball, and Rugby which gave Americans the idea of American Football, Field Hockey, Squash, Badminton,Curling, Darts, Table tennis,Netball,Cue sports ( Snooker),Nine pin bowling,and many others!
and football
Bullshit, where's the proof the Chinese invented association football?@@Michael_from_EU_Germany
Guess who made your washing machine? Yep was is Britain.
Mine says made in China
@@LTDudzek😂😂
The washing machine had many, many iterative steps until it got where it was today, and plenty of them were not British. This is not a thing any nation can claim.
Sheffield the very best cutlery in the world and stainless steel.
I am immensely proud of being British. We all have things we can be ashamed of in our past, but as the guy so rightly says look how many lives worldwide have benefited from our inventions. Unfortunately people like to take advantage of our decent natures and are trying to desecrate our identity, with the rich stupid elites egging them on. This time in our history will be one to be really ashamed of in time to come. It’s utterly sickening.
Bang on. Our schoolkids aren't taught British history anymore, instead the lefties that now run the country and its "ejookayshun sistim" when they're not busy fecking up young impressionable minds with their BS then teach kids to hate Britain and feel ashamed of it.
The 1st modern computer was built by Tommy Flowers who worked the post office along with the father of modern coding Cambridge professor Alan Turing. But nearly 100 years before a mechanical computer was built by Charles Babbage before he ran out of money but the machine was tested about 10 years ago from plans and it worked. What a missed opportunity.
What people don’t realise is the hardships that working class people went through, children having to work down coal mines and in the cotton mills some as young as five. Pay and conditions were abysmal.
That's the reason why trade unions, labour and socialism were born.....
"The Water-Babies", A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby is a children's novel by Charles Kingsley.
A child chimney sweep.
It was written as part satire in support of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species.
The most humbling thing I experienced about standing in Westminster Abbey, was being near the burial locations of Charles Darwin and Issac Newton.
Interesting video on Frank Whittle. Can from a very humble background to invent the jet engine. The technology was given away to GE in the U.S. and Rolls Royce he was forced to work with both still the leading manufacturers today. If the government had listened earlier there could have been a jet fighter at the start of WW2. He also spotted the flaw in the first pressurised passenger jet airliner but again wasn’t listened to. So unfortunately Britain also invented air crash investigation 🙈. I actually flew on a comment in the days of Dan Dare Airlines. An experience I will never forget.
Should have Commet airliner
You flew on a comment? What's that?
@@enricochestri i corrected to Comet en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Comet
“Charles Babbage KH FRS was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer. Babbage is considered by some to be "father of the computer".
Some one brought us a teas made for a wedding present it was great being woken up to a freshly made cuppa tea ☕️ It was on our bedside table. But the steam from it started to steam the wall paper off 🤣🤣🤣
Joel's face when the guy said that Israel is the best country in the Middle East!
I love JPS for that x
Off the top of my head, if you're gay, or an atheist, or a woman, Israel is a more pleasant, safer and tolerant place to live than anywhere else in the middle east. Am I wrong?
Forget Israel being the best country in the Middle East.
Israel is the most *biblically preserved* country in the Middle East
The SS Great Britain (first iron hulled steam ship) was built at the great western dockyard in Bristol. The SS Great Britain was actually rescued and returned to the same dock in which she was built.
The Founding Fathers of the United States were ALMOST ALL of British ancestry !!
The British had all kinds of advantages
: its an island, not constantly warding off invasions by neighbours
Its an island , so seafaring gets you everywhere cheaply
Education was always pretty good, even in 17th century most people could read.
Although there was a ruling class, they somehow managed to avoid being beheaded ( as in France) partly by playing cricket with the proles
Coal and iron ore are quite close to one another - relatively easy to make and transport steel
The financial services needed to set up stocks and shares were established early, and were run effectively due to stable government - which fostered entrepreneurship, and eventually a trading empire .
The national character is often cited, hard to know why the British just got on with stuff, and generally did it well.
Have you any idea of history? Being an island did not stop us being invaded and conquered. Vikings, Angles, saxons, Roman’s, French…I don’t think there is an original person left on our shores, except for in the Highlands.
@@mataformAdrian Targett who lives in Cheddar is a direct descendant of Cheddar Man, a skeleton found in the caves of Cheddar. The skeleton is thought to be around 10,000yrs old and DNA testing found a direct descendant still living there. So if Adrian is one, there must be others despite all the invasions.
@@mataform The Scots are Irish, wiped out or assimilated the native Picts and spoke an Irish dialect.
@@CrazyInWeston Grimes graves. Norfolk.
He missed out George Cayley who sorted out the principles of aerodynmics, a hundred years before the Wright brothers. All he lacked was a useable motor to drive his gliders, & he was looking!
I'm sure the Romans were credited with vast improvements in their time too.
The same can probably be said for most empires and the areas they control, conflict or exploration is often a trigger or source of motivation towards growth and understanding, if your not exposed to it you can't do either. Innovation is not unique to one place, recognising it and encouraging it is the key.
Imagine the Renaissance with a repressive government, it wouldn't have happened. The trick is to allow it to happen and benefit from it.
There are numerous inventions he couldn't get through. Hydraulics, the next time you press your brakes and stop, thank the British. Pneumatics, the next time you corner in your car and don't crash thank the British, What about electrolysis? There would be no chromium plating, anodising etc. etc. What about the friction match, not that important now but at one time it was in the top ten of inventions of all time. Honestly, it's endless.
Winston Churchill - "Of all the small nations of this earth, perhaps only the ancient Greeks surpass the Scots in their contribution to mankind." Maxwell's equations (Scot James Clerk Maxwell ) did more for mankind than any ten presidents Carl Sagan. Einstein said he stood on Maxwell's shoulders. etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc
The vertical take-off and landing aircraft was developed in my home town of Hucknall, Nottinghamshire. Look up “The Flying Bedstead”, there is a sculpture on one of the bypass roundabouts, and there used to a pub.
Hello Joel. As well as other museums and institutions that other commenters suggested very astutely, I reckon you would love the Industrial Museum in Bradford. Some have suggested the whole city is like an industrial museum. You can tell what it was like because it had it's canal banned by law to stop polution, even before the "modern" era. A trip up the road would take you to Five Rise Locks on the Leeds Liverpool Canal, then another couple of miles to the Worth Valley Railway, with steam locomotives.
Thank you! Fascinating. As a Brit its good to be told about all those things that we can be proud of. I believe we also invented Wellington boots and sandwiches.
Bletchley Park, which served as the government’s code-breaking HQ during WW2, is worth a visit. It’s about an hour from London by train. Aside from the original buildings and artefacts used during the war, you can see a modern build of the Colossus computer used to decode the German Enigma code.
@krisjonesuk
WRONG. Alan Turing cracked the Enigma code, which is on display at Bletchley Park. Colossus was built by Tommy Flowers and that cracked the LORENZ code used by Hitler to communicate with his Generals. The first signal decoded by Colossus was in February 1944. Eisenhower asked the engineers to build a second one BEFORE D-day, which they did.
Birmingham a city of a thousand trades .. God i love that place
Did you guys in the usa never use a prism to seperate wavelengths of light ? that was like standard in british science rooms. The dark side of the moon album art is just depicting that, you can take white light and shine it through a specially made prism that will seperate each wavelength giving a rainbow of colours, this is to explain to kids how light works, white light is comprised of all the other colours and changing the wavelength results in a different visable light. Thats how anything is coloured, if youre wearing a blue shirt your shirt is changing the wavelength of light by absorbing light and only reflecting the blue light wavelength to our eyes.
I’m not sure if anyone answered this already but the picture with Newton holding the prism? He used it to demonstrate that light was not pure white but is made up of all the colours of the rainbow. By scientifically establishing our visible spectrum, Newton laid the path for others to experiment with color in a scientific manner. His work led to breakthroughs in optics, physics, chemistry, perception, and the study of colour in nature.
Yep, you can chalk that up to us Brits.
The FIRST computer.
Charles Babbage (1791-1871) was an English mechanical engineer and polymath who originated the concept of a programmable computer. Considered the "father of the computer", he conceptualized and invented the first mechanical computer in the early 19th century.
And Sir Tim Berners-Lee
For many of us, the web is a huge part of our lives, enabling us to communicate and access knowledge that would have been unobtainable just a few decades ago. And it all started with one man - Sir Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist born in London.
And those two are the most recent. History has many examples.
Tim Berners-Lee Lee was born in Oxford.
I enjoyed watcing this video with you JPS as always bud!
Dr. Ridd (sp. ?) excellently presented this coherent video. He took a large topic, trimmed and refined it: slimming down without dumbing down, which I think is no easy task. Sometimes it takes a short, but well summarized account to make us realize how far we have come in such a relatively short historical span.. You can not help wondering though what the future has waiting for us in science, as there are going to be global challenges ahead.🤞
11:52 we already invented the Off Button...
I was just thinking that very thing... I turn notifications off sometimes when I'm busy and I turn my mobile off before I go to bed..
@@stephwaite I think too many people forget the power button is multi function 😂
That was my thought too.
@@stephwaite It is up to us to "Read the manual", adjust the tech to suite and not be governed by it.
One missed is 19th century Lord Kelvin for all things temperature and thermal physics. And its use in the mechanical ice maker/fridge using the triple point phase diagram of certain materials. Solid/liquid/gas. Early fridges and aircon, units where called Kelvinators
The Bengal famine wasn’t caused by the Brits. There is often famines in that region whether we were there or not we did however give India the railways and modern infrastructure which has made them a modern day world power so you’re welcome India.
Well pointed out. Another liberal whinge, that the British are not responsible for. It was bad weather, and poor agricultural methods that caused the famine.
Britain built the modern world. No wonder everyone is jealous of us.
You're welcome 😉
“Time” was invented in Scotland!
Some “bumps” were spotted in an arial photo of a field near Crathes Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 2005. It took experts about 10 years that the bumps were where wooden posts were stuck in the ground to create the world’s first calendar, used by farmers to plant their crops at the right time of year. Materials from the survey done at the time were carbon dated to 8,000 BC. The previous oldest calendar was from Mesopotamia which was almost 4,000 years younger.
this is why we have put our feet up & have been relaxing for decades we have earned a rest
Oh yes…. I’m always doing that. I think I’ve almost made it an art form 🤭🤭
Don’t forget as well GB invented football , cricket , golf , rugby and boxing to name just a few
The British Empire's disproportionate level of global success, given its relatively small population, can be attributed in part to its excellence in administration and education. Advances in science, engineering, and technology flow from both of these factors. An interesting thought experiment is to imagine Britain and Europe staying at home, not exploring the globe, and observing the "Star Trek principle of non-interference" in other cultures." What would the world look like now had this alternative history happened, e.g. a giant Green Belt/No Go Zones around various other continents? Fascinating video, Joel. Thanks for posting it today. Cheers, John in Canada (oh, calculus, a very bad joke played on us!! I'd join you Joel in having words its creator).
Let's not forget the contemporaneous histories of the Dutch, French, German, etc, empires and colonies. Also, the trap of presentism is a very real risk when analysing historical events and attitudes.
Our civilisation comes from Roman and Greek civilisation. They left many positive things and yes were cruel etc. Everyone should be grateful.
Ahhh, us pesky Brits, going around inventing stuff and trying to improve things, you'll never get any thanks for that. On Sir Issac Newton, many years ago there was a safety campaign which included this poem
Sir Isaac Newton told us why, an apple falls down from the sky; and from this fact it's very plain, all other objects do the same, A brick, a bar, a bolt, a cup, invariably fall down not up; and every common working tool is governed by the self-same rule.
I live not too far from St. Helens where the float glass technique he mentioned was invented, there's a musem there to the town's glass industry.
Charles Darwin was a Shropshire lad, Shrewsbury I believe, a town well worth a visit.
We Britis are far from perfect but we're a bit less imperfect than some of out critics
Lets also remember what britain did for slavery. I.e. basically stopping it globally.
Britain used its navy to blocade the transatlantic slave trade, and also spent a huge amount of it's aquired wealth to buy, then free slaves.
Britains contributions to the modern world are gigatic.