It is sad that we in the UK actually recognise India as a close relative, our joint history had nothing to do with the British people, just like I don't care one bit about the centuries of the roman occupation, I don't hate the Scandinavian people for what the vikings did,we are all nations who at some time in our history of building a nation were both the master and the slave. Iam very disappointed in what iam hearing in India and the fact that as soon as you won your independence that you killed Gandi and basically split into two nations that hate each other (India and Pakistan), with the exception of kashmir. So please I am not your enemy and I had nothing to do with what history has dealt you. What I am is a person trying to survive in this absolute hell of a world were all this hate is more important than the fact we are alive...
One thing he didn't have time to go into detail about is that it was the British who ended slavery from Africa. They spent ships, money and lives capturing slave ships and setting the slaves free at the same time as fighting Napoleon. All nations have done terrible things in the past for various reasons, but the most important thing is to learn from past mistakes and move forward. Great reaction you very loud people. Lot's of love from England ✌️♥️🇬🇧
@@sainttrinian4570 that was only to free the slaves already taken before 1807, slavery would have ended with or without the payment to the slave owners. It just happened paying was more convenient than going to war with some of your own wealthy citizens on top of being at war with pretty much any nation that wasn’t an ally
India maintains that it was originally stolen. Certainly a large diamond was stolen from southern India in the 14th century; and that probably was the Koh-I-Noor diamond The Punjab (Sikh) empire acquired the diamond from Afghanistan who acquired it from Iran (Persia) these acquisitions were part of treaties and were not thefts. Iran may have stole the diamond from the Mughals. They stole the Peacock throne which was affixed with many great gem stones. The Mughal's predecessors (the Delhi Sultanate) raided many large diamonds from southern India. India wouldn't have a claim to the Punjab empires ownership of the Diamond as most of the Punjab empire including its capital ended up in Pakistan, and Pakistan ended up the successor state; but they do have a claim to the thefts that occurred in India. But really its Iran they should be asking for financial compensation; the Gems on the Peacock throne (whether or not they included the Koh-I-Noor) would be worth a fortune today
18:55 'How we indians suffered' - you suffered the same as you had done under your previous rulers, the mongol-turkic Mughals. However the UK also left you with trial by jury, independent courts, democracy, and the concepts of equality and human rights. Under the Mughals the indians had none of those things, and were divided by caste and gender. Tens of thousands of british people went to india to try and improve the lives of indians and even gave their lives in that pursuit. If you would rather still be ruled by the turks or mongols then I'm sure they would be happy to take you back.
@@BikersDoItSittingDown “Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs.[To Hindu priests complaining to him about the prohibition of Sati religious funeral practice of burning widows alive on her husband’s funeral pyre.]” - Charles James Napier. Bloody Legend!
Exactly. By the time we got there, Muhammed Ghor The Great had already ran over the place and just stomped the people down and down, when he came in he almost obliterated Sanskrit, we are very lucky that language survived. Lucky for all, the Old Books are very interesting to read. They were almost taken away but the Gujurat and the Punjab couldn't be stolen.
@@BikersDoItSittingDown The widow burning was practiced by the aristocracy and not the common indians. It would not have affected the general Indian population.
For all our Island's faults and mistakes, the British Empire is still the only Empire throughout the history of time to ever devote itself to the abolishment of slavery all over the world. Up until Britain made it so, slavery was acceptable in every corner of the globe. From abolishing slavery to the exporting of women's right to vote, our Island can hold it's head high....
I agree with you, but this video seems to be made to show Britain at its worst with none of the good it did. Also, this is going to appeal to many Indians because of the hatred they are taught in schools towards the British. I did not see anything mentioned about the industrial revolution too. There was little said about us fighting wars to guarantee the liberty of many countries, particularly from Napoleon and Hitler. On a positive side, we must remember that Indians also had no slavery until the Muslim invasion.
@Hiram Abiff your comments says it all. Fact the Irish economy is far stronger that the UK. Looking forward to Scotland and the 6 Counties leaving your union.
@@Donabate2 Fact ! You economy is subsidised by the EU to keep it a float and your not even in the top 100 of world economy's. Britain is at 5. Fact ! Your country is crippled by uncontrolled mass immigration and national identity is lost forever. Fact ! You must be listening to your EU controlled media to be that ignorant on the Union's constitution. Fact ! My parents are from Clare...😁
It was also resented as a gift to Queen Victoria so where the British are aybe guilty of receiving stolen goods, it was the Indian rulers who stole it from the temple in the first place. You are also correct about who to return it to. The only documented owners were the Muslim rulers, so maybe it should go to Pakistan and not India
India suffered by gaining a legal system, rule of law, trial by jury, parliamentary democracy, railway system, infrastructure, trade, defence, telegraph, telephone, cinema, prohibition of burning the living wife on the husband's funeral pyre amongst other things.
@@theminutepaq5010 They've always done it to themselves as well and still do today with the caste system and the level of corruption contributing to this. External incursions made little additional difference and in fact improved things to a degree. At independence you could have been left as you were found 200 odd years before and having to start from scratch. It's only in recent years that things have started to really improve in the country and hopefully things will continue to improve for all the people not just the usual characters.
@@theminutepaq5010 Following the Civil War, the Restoration and the 1689 Bill of Rights it was. No Colony was forced to just trade with Britain, they chose to have privileged monopoly access to the British market for their goods.
As you can see , Britain was invaded and conquered repeatedly so were a product of their own history. Unlike a lot of conquering nations they did bring benefits as well as obvious problems. It's weird that so many nations still hold a grudge against Britain when Britain holds no such animosity towards it's conquering nations or recent opponents in World War 2 like Germany, Italy and Japan.
You should watch 'The British Crusade Against Slavery' This guy was a little bit vague about this, slavery was outlawed and policed around the globe by the British at great expense to Britain in both British lives lost and money, the cost for which was only finally paid up in 2015.
As a british person from northern ireland i am VERY proud of our Empire, we were the only Hyperpower in the world and still are, we developed ALOT of nations, gave ALOT of people Magna-carta (innocent until proven guilty), created parliamentary democracies where ever we went, yes there we bad things that happened but over all i think the good outweighs the bad, like slavery doesnt exist anymore BECAUSE of the UK
And before the British took your diamonds and other treasures, they belonged to the rich Indian elite who no doubt profited at the expense of the common people. Ordinary Indians would never have seen or got their hands on those diamonds, anyway, so what did you really lose? In the same way, ordinary Britons wouldn’t have benefitted from or seen the “loot” either. Also, the British brought enormous infrastructure to the country, among other things. Young people today buy into a version of history they’ve been told, without doing any proper research into the facts, and then act as if they have experienced the pain themselves- when they don’t even know that their ancestors found the situation painful. It’s all projection. I’ve heard many elderly Indians lamenting the British leaving, saying the country has gone into decline ever since.
I think India became a much better and richer country when the English were there and I believe the English gives money to India still but I'm not sure about that I also believed that India is such a strong country now and there is tension between India and China which the UK would defend India if a war broke out. The diamond is a small price to pay dont you think Thank You.
You didn't suffer on aggregate. For the first time Indians had advanced jobs, a middle class, world class education, democratic norms imposed where there were none. Common law, contract law, infrastructure, mining, modern global connections, without which India could never compete today (just as the British could not have risen without previous influence of being a colony ourselves and having been invaded). The world isn't perfect. It is impossible to be. Indians were under a brutal regime with the Moguls but this isn't taught in Indian schools. The Indians had no benefit. India traded with the East india Company and was not independent under Mogul rule - whom the British paid to trade. Remember, these were not people of the British state, they were traders. The Empire was an accident. There was no plan. The industrial revolution and the institutions that led to it bettered the world for all peoples despite atrocities also happening under a British watch. That said, the entire world was up to atrocities and the world was full of violent empires. The question therefore was (in the context of the time) would people prefer a British Empire or one of the others with their record? It is a difficult question that has only one answer in reality. We all live with the wealth we do today because of the British. I am grateful to those whom went before and made mistakes, so we didn't have to.
Did the British treat the Indian people worse than the Indian people treated their own Dalits? The “Untouchables” who lives were totally controlled by other Indians Castes. Forced to do the worst jobs with no chance of improvement. I think not. In fact India was largely self-governing and British only interfered in times of trouble between Indians. Also the British did much good. The lives of millions (yes millions) improved by British know-how. For example the colossal irrigation schemes that allowed many millions of Indian people to move to what was semi-arid land to what became fertile land. The list is endless. We won’t mention how it was possible for a tiny island nation about 15,000 miles away (having to travel around South Africa) in tiny wooden boats driven only by the wind and take control of a nation about 50 times greater in size.
The powers that be smashed the thumbs of the weaver's, losing an entire trade, skill and craft. They did this so that Briton could profit instead. Thank god the Northern workers in England went on strike and refused to work with India silk. The British Government has always been in conflict with the people.
Britain did not take India by force but by trade and exploiting the rivalries between the various states, The British would support rulers that were favorable to Britain and support them against those who were opposed. Britain did not loot the largest diamond, it was given as part of a trading agreement, and then passed on to Queen Victoria as a gift. There was no unified India until The British united it into one country and introduced Law and order. Before the British stopped it, it was customary for the wives to be burned alive when their husbands died, Slavery was rife between the various state until Britain stopped it, so not all of British rule was as ban as it is now made out.
As a Brit, I hope our two countries can move forward in the future as friends. I know that we have a complicated past with Britain's colonisation of India, but hopefully we can have good relations moving forward. Much love from the UK 🇬🇧❤️🇮🇳
If you look into the history of this very small island, it is bonkers how complicated it gets...every inch of land is contested, every line of law is questioned....we have, I would say, a "strange purpose in common when needed, but strangely uncommon amongst the daily purpose"
Just to add to the slave trade issue. The trade was not established by Britain or the Europeans. The slave trade had already been established by black African chieftains at the time. African chieftains had captured their enemies during African tribal wars and sold their captors to Islamic and wider states. This had been happening for 1000 years before Europeans arrived. British businessman were involved in the slave trade from Africa to America. In fact, black African kings were those who had secured the greatest wealth from the slave trade and they themselves did not want the British to end it. It would do well for black Americans to look to the facts of how their ancestors were transferred to the United States and hold Africa responsible. It may help in enabling them to live their lives today rather than capture them selves in psychological slavery based on false narratives they are sold by exploitative activists. Slavery was made illegal in England in 1086 by William the Conqueror. Effectively, slavery has been illegal in England for almost 1000 years. This was the reason why an anti-slave trade movement occurred in Britain and nowhere else in the world. Everywhere else, including India, slavery was normal. It was the historical position of all people being free in England that lead to Britain mobilising its military and political power to liberate black slaves and slaves everywhere; forcing all other nations into the liberation of slaves. It can even be said at Abraham Lincoln Moved towards slave liberation because he knew Britain was coming back to the United States to force the liberation of slaves there. Britain has only just finished paying for the cost of freeing slaves in other countries around 2014. Britain spent 40% of its national wealth and thousands of British lives to 3 slaves. Just on the English history side and the Battle of Hastings, the storylines always seem to say that William the Conqueror took the English crown after the Battle of Hastings. This is not the full story. In reality, the battle continued after Harold fell where Normans wanted to retreat but William Forced him to continue to push forward and this led to the victory on the day. However, England did not surrender at this stage. The Normans retired to Dover where they were sick and ill. Many thousands of warriors came down from the north and other parts of England waiting for the next king to be chosen and to be lead into battle.. About six weeks later, a King was Joseph in the mix of disagreement amongst the nobility. Once that king was chosen, the nobility decided that they would hand the crown to William if he agreed to rule justly over the English. The mistake they made was that Norman expectations of allegiance Was more linked to subjugation. William murdered thousands of English people to impose his rule. One such episode is the "Harrying Of The North" where the North of England was laid waste.
Before Indian independence the British Indian army at its hight was 1,750,000 strong, but there were never any more than 30,000 british soldiers in India at any one time, you can't Colonize a country without the ruling classes of that country being complicit. you want to point a finger at the root of all your problems, take a long hard look in your mirrior first.
Stop Victimizing yourselves in history , am English with four Irish Grandparents I understand how easy it is to do, the British have done way more good the evidence is there, look at all those Counties that Briton left are now regional powers . Egypt, America, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Israel, etc. Ive come to see it as a fair exchange and if your still bitter about the looting come visit and see it for yourself God know's whats happened our Looted stuff over the years.
The Koh-i-Noor was taken from the Mughals by the Persian Empire, then went to Afganistan and was then traded to the Sikh Empire before the British acquired it after the defeat of the Sikhs. The Mughals were invaders themselves so it begs the question who should the diamond be held by as nearly all owners previous to the British also acquired it by force and all previous owners were themselves Empires of conquest so if any of them have claim due to the use of force then so do the British who just happened to able to exert the most force. It's like the story of Native Americans who would slaughter each other, including children, without mercy to obtain land etc and now cry injustice because the white man came along and proved better at slaughtering than the Natives. The West is accused of not respecting other cultures but it always did, by using the same method of armed force to take land from locals that the locals had used to obtain the land in the first place. By the way when did "India" exist prior to the British establishing the concept of an Indian nation so why should a country that didn't exist at the time of the diamond arriving in Britain have any claim to it now. The Mughal Empire covered today's Pakistan more than it did today's India so why isn't a Pakistani claim more important?
Were basically modern day Romans we have Roman DNA cause we were conquered by Romans for 400 years they left there knowledge of warfare with us and their DNA
As far as I'm aware the Diamond in question was given as a gift for the help that Britain provided in the Sikh Wars, as for many of the other beliefs that many have today I am aware that many things were done that were unacceptable but you have to put it into the context of the beliefs and norms of the time all over the world. Ps Without British influence a lot of Indian Widows would have gone up in flames so maybe that deserves a thankyou, infact asking what have the British ever done for us is a bit like that sketch in the Life of Brian .
A warts and all history lesson... No nation is all good or all evil over a thousand years there's good and bad in everything... Having a crazy monarch Henry VIII wasn't the only one, or a megalomaniac at the reigns doesn't help, historically I'm sure the Irish would rather Cromwell was never born - a religious zealot with little tolerance... As I said a thousand years is a long time... It will be interesting to see how India through BRICS actually handles being top dog as the wheel turns and a new world leader take over... It's not what you say it's what you do when you make the decisions that defines a culture. Britain did some pretty awful stuff but at the time I'm sure it wasn't seen as bad but necessary, we also helped allies and stopped the global slave trade, on the whole I see a positive contribution in perpetuity. You can't deny the bad things done throughout history, but then every nation has blood on its ledger, focus on that and you fail to see or seek the good...
This is not quite true. What is documented is that it spent time in the peacock throne of the Muslim rulers for hundreds of years before it was gifted to Queen Victoria, and the rumour is that it was stolen by Indian rulers from a temple.
India didn't exist before the British. It was under despotic Muslim rule, much worse than the British, who eventually united India. It was the British who introduced the rule of law, democracy, railways e=tc, and ended the obscene practices of sutte and thuggi. No human institution is perfect, but by and large the British Empire was one of the best forces for good in history.
If the English looted so much, why are the treasure chambers of your temples still filled with billions of dollars worth of treasures. The story about English looting have to be exaggerated. No looting army would let the temples keep all that wealth. In 1949 8 out of 10 people on the Forbes list of richest people in the world were Indian maharajah. Your elite stole your money, not the English.
The millions of indigenous British people in The UK today are the descendants of the Celts and the Anglo Saxons, these are The Welsh, Irish, Scottish and English people, our ancestors go back thousands of years on these British isles so we do have a long history.
Well as people of the world , every citizen has suffered in their own countries so the future is up to all to make the world a more farer place to live in . Have a great New Year every one .
Because of the fast delivery of this information he neglected to go into the reasons why Britain ended up in so many countries. Basically when Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church the Pope basically instructed both France and Spain to cut off trading routes and starve Britain back into submission. This is one of the reasons Britain ended up in India (though India as a unified country didn’t exist then), they were securing trade supplies and routes from India a China. They used the “carrot and stick” approach, which saw the British allying with some Indian rulers and assisting them against rival Indian rulers. The Romans used similar tactics during their invasion of Britain 1000 years earlier!
Britain buys most of its tea from India. India did not grow tea until the English took tea shrubs from China and started plantations in India. Now India grows fantastic tea and dominates the British market.
What bullshit. Chinese tea varieties did not grow in India. English found native tea in Assam, Northeast India. That is why Assamese Tea is a different variety than Chinese tea.
Thank you for your reaction, I love following you both and seeing your journey. My Father was born in Sri Lanka and went to school in India. He loved your country deeply and it makes me feel close to him when I watch your reviews.
Britain was unusually aggressive in its claim over India. Britain chose India over defending the colonies in the New World. India was always the favoured nation. History, Intelligence and Religion at the time were more important to the British than a few rogue Englishmen running the New World. Most people in Britain had no appetite for military dominance in India. (Britain had been invaded often enough to ensure the people didn't wish it on anyone else). And while politicians did resist there was no resistance from the British people when it came to independence for any of the former Empire nations, which is probably why 54 nations are still voluntary members of the 'Commonwealth of Nations' (rather than the Empire) As for the diamond in question...do you think you would ever have seen the benefit of such a diamond personally? It doesn't improve my life in any way that the stone is in a crown worn by the Monarchy and I live in Britain.
Indian Independence brought more bloodshed in quick succession than all the imperial atrocities combined. Our legacy is still an improvement over what we found.
Old Victorian term for a British gentleman, that seems to have been adopted by modern-day Indians as a somewhat negatively-connotated nickname for us, it's often just shortened to "Brit" or "Brits"
You need to look at the bigger picture. The reason why you saw the Indian artefacts in the museum was only because they were in a BRITISH museum. I have read articles that some artefacts were sent back to India but they were never seen again. The Indian government in power at the time made excuses that the items were too expensive to insure and so they were put into storage. The Indian people never got to see these artefacts. There were also suspicions that due to high levels of corruption in the country, these artefacts were sold. As for the Kohinoor, there are 4 countries (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran (Persia)) that are claiming that it belongs to them. I am Indian living in the UK. I say, send it back and let the 4 countries fight it out between yourselves. Let’s hope it doesn’t take as long as the fight for Ayodhya!!! Or you guys will be waiting a long…long time! There were many things that the British bought to India. One was the abolishment, not just of slavery in India itself, but also that of sati burning of widows. They got rid of the Mughals and the Princely kingdoms and united India into the single country it now currently is. If that hadn’t happened, India might today be an made up of 10-12 separate countries. The only reason it is becoming a powerhouse now, is because of its unity and large population.
What most people forget is that for the 200 years of the Raj the actual ordinary people of Britain also suffered from poverty, starvation, poor housing and hard work for little pay. They died young and had a high child mortality rate. All nations under British rule suffered under greedy business and uncaring governments. Thus now, as a Brit, I see Indian people as friends.
The English weren't the only ones to loot India. I visited a town in France which had a column (like the one in Trafalgar Square - but smaller) commemorating an incident in the towns history. In the 1700's the countryside was broke, so the local Lord scratched together a raiding party, hired a ship and sailed to a large Indian city which they sacked! Sailed back to France and revived their local economy. Ta-Da.....!
5:42 The map at this point displays why the people who would become known as the English and the French were fighting for so long. At this point they were fighting for control of the entirety of the territory, only after each side failed to conquer the other did the nations of England and France emerge.
Looted ? That damn Koh-i-Noor diamond was gifted to the Crown in 1850. So who retroactively can claim it ? Persia, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan or Indian authorities all had possession at some point before war or misfortune passed it along . Solicitor general of India, Ranjit Kumar said, "It was given voluntarily by Ranjit Singh to the British as compensation for help in the Sikh Wars. The Koh-i-Noor is not a stolen object."
Before 1857 the East India Company was infamously corrupt, but the system less racist. After the Great Mutiny the system was more based on the rule of law, but very racist. The Raj could not have survived without the Princely states and the Empire made a great art of the principle of divide and rule. Great tribute must be given to the armies of India, and all the empire of all peoples for fighting with Britain in the 2 world wars. In this great struggle nations were forged. Great regret the Raj was split by religion and vilonce post 1948.
Ireland is also part of Britain, which is a geographic term; as are Man and some other islands. The UK is essentially the island of Great Britain plus the Northern part of Ireland
India is a big place and my experience is varied. When I visited Kerala, the people were lovely and welcoming. When I visited Maharashtra, the reception was positively hostile. The Indians I have met in the UK are also a delight. I think the ideals of the countries such as democracy and rule of common law, are what we really have in common.
THe massive Diamond was NOT stolen, it was a GIFT and you CAN'T expect gifts to be taken back. This is what the WHOLE British expression 'INDIAN GIVER' comes from. When you give a gift you CANT ask for it back you, Indian Givers
The British looted the sultans? Weren’t a lot of the sultans Turkic, Persian, Pashtun and maybe even mongol? Couldn’t you equally say all those peoples also looted India? Are you even sure you don’t have any ancestors that might be from these looters? I never complain about the British/English looting and oppressing my Irish ancestors or complain about the highland clearances or oppression of my Scottish ancestors. Just like I wouldn’t complain about the vikings raiding and settling or the Romans. The English were still the worst, obviously. 😂 Only a small percentage of a country’s people benefited from the empire to any considerable extent. Look at even recent history like Ghandi and his boycott of imperial cotton and how it harmed working class British cotton workers. Ghandi visited them and many of them bore him no ill will.
As a British person I’m always sad when people from former colonies blanket the history with you use your words “looting” or “using” if you actually look at what happened we didn’t loot or take without giving back we gave security in times that other places like Spain France America etc would have attacked and potentially treated you a lot worse we gave technology like railways and telecommunications and your prince’s made lots of money from us “but didn’t share it with the common people” we brought hospitals and work we helped give you national laws yes I totally agree there was some bad but we was not the horned monsters we are made to look like and you mentioned the slavery “that you have covered in another video” any British person who was doing this was as a private company it wasn’t for the British people or government we as the other video shows was “the people” against it wile there was African slaves still in India… when we left you we did so with India being more advanced than most places around you that Britain hadn’t been involved with also your government and royalty was richer than it probably would have been without our involvement and we left the investments we made technology wise with you it was yours but the common people was not cared for by your government or royalty or rich business owners but was fed ideas that we looted you and took it all with us this didn’t just happen in India but most of our past colonies and now we get abused for it when non of you or us was even alive India is one of the most rich places on earth but has a very high majority of people living in poverty or only just above poverty why is that ? Where is all the wealth we left you? Ask your government the descendants of your royalty and your business owners who have very old businesses and something that baffles me is if you gave someone a gift for their birthday let’s say would you expect your great grandchildren to ask their great grandchildren for it back?… I’d guess no? So why keep asking for the diamond back when it was a gift it was given freely not looted I had grown some respect for your channel when I saw the Britain against slavery video but after watching this one and seeing how you really feel I don’t know if I could watch more again I know and understand that not every thing we did was good but the mark we left gave most of the world what they have today and what thanks do we get for it …?
As something of a balance to the mental gymnastics in the comments by Empire apologists I’d recommend the book Inglorious Empire; What The British Did To India, by Dr Shashi Tharoor.
The history of British involvement in India is generally not known or taught in Britain. That's why you will get a lot of Brits who have a rosey view of our time as rulers of India. All the stuff about railways, and law and the English language. So things like the Bengal famine in the Second World War aren't known about or understood. Another example is what happened to Bengal (then one of the richest parts of the World) in the late 18th century after Britain developed industrial scale cotton manufacturing and forced Indians to accept these mass produced cheap goods, undermining the local cotton manufacturing forcing millions into poverty and starvation. But we tend not to know all this stuff so get defensive when Britain is criticised. What's also not generally known is that India wasn't a unified country at the time, and other countries like France and Portugal had colonies in India (Goa only gaining independence in the 1960s). The British were just the most 'successful', gradually replacing most of the others. 'British power' in India was actually a private business (the East India Company) until the late 1850s when the UK government finally took control after the 1857 Rebellion. A few people in the East India Company grew fabulously rich in Britain because of the looted wealth and from running what were effectively protection rackets.
I disagree. Most of us accept the bad side of the empire but also balance it with the good. It is people like you who look only for the bad side and give an unbalanced view. As for your claim of looking through rosey glasses, I am sure many uneducated British may see this, but most making comments here do not seem to fit in this category. I can probably name as many attrocities from the empire as you but can you name the good of the British in the same way?
Honestly, the history of my country doesn’t always make me proud, but I hope we have all learnt since. We are mainly a different crowd now, have matured and grown up as a community. Obviously not completely there. Some really bad eggs out there too. But our potential for more growth is continuous. We will continue to grow and change for the better towards everyone and also ourselves. Peace and light to you.
You also have to remember, mojority of this country has been poor forever, people had to pay to get an income from the army, or into any career that was valued. Wages extremely low. The propaganda of the day manipulating them. It’s leadership, being the majority getting the wealth from all these atrocities. Majority also could not get better if I’ll because they couldn’t afford a doctor let alone a nutritious diet to start with. From a social prospect, we had little power, as regular poor people. Our own country failed us as well as everyone else in some ways. This is no longer an empire. That’s actually great. All that wage theft to pay for wars done to invade other countries. People would have starved. It’s not really just about what they have done elsewhere. It’s changed a lot socially,
The Bengal famine was not mitigated enough especially given the Irish famine lesson previously. However I am not sure that Hindus would have been free of mostly Islamic rulers without intervention, and if the 2nd world war had been lost then the German ideology was to exterminate everybody who is not related to them. On the other hand the peaceful resistance campaign also taught Brits a lesson as well. Perhaps the Empire was like bad medicine but without enduring it there would have been no India, and possibly no Indians.
Hi, the diamond that the East India Company took from India, was already stolen by Indians from Iran. As for what Britain did in India and such places. Britain was the only Empire/Nation to ban slavery world wide (slaves had always been in India, enslaved by other Indians) and today India has the cast system which is one of the worst examples of how a society should live. Finally most people who live in the ex British Empire don't realise that 99.999% of the British people never got a penny from the British Empire. The King/Queen never said to the people of Yorkshire (for example) here is your share of the profits from India. The East India company shared its profits with the half dozen super rich families who had shares in the company, and some super rich Indians. Most Britains for most of their lives have been very poor. The Empire was not like the Roman Empire which sent it's citizens money from its overseas territories, instead it gave the British public zero money, but did send them away to fight in foreign wars :( x
I always liked the story of one of the governors in India he made widow burning illegal and when the elders complained about it being part of their culture they were told that he respected culture and our culture was that we hang murders of women so by all means practice your culture but we will practice ours. Widow burning died off 😊
Please do some serious research into your country's history, not just fall for a biased nationalist twist on history. If not, I'm afraid wars will never end. Hate the game, not the player, luckily for some countries the British were the best players at the time.
Invaded India LOL. There was no "INDIA" Before the British Empire. The Landmass called "INDIA" today was a collection of feudal kingdoms bound together by very corrupt and dodgy alliances. Most of (not all) of the invasion you speak of was by invitation. Yes, you read that correctly. The Rulers of those kingdoms used the British Empire to take out their enemies. In the end the British did just take advantage of the situation and take control of the job lot Forming the precursor to the nation we know to be India today. India's history in this respect is not that far removed from the formation of the United Kingdom. If you do not believe me just take a look for yourself. Do not take my word for it.
The animation reference you use touches on some points but in no way can be used as an accurate history of Britain or indeed India, amateur internet productions usually seem to delete some points in order to give a picture more in tune with their own beliefs. Both nations were never without fault. It would be interesting to see reactions on a history of India before trade began with the British or of course some of the atrocities commited in the Indian Pakistani wars after 1947.
Great video, it's sad that some can't realise that wrongs have been done and how we can try and make things better as people. So glad to have your views broadcast. One love
I think you miss the point. Most British accept the bad side of the Empire, but we are also fed up of people selecting just the bad and trying to make us feel guilty over our past. I have also been on many forums and mentioned the massacre at the Cawnpore Bibighar (Ladies' House) where 140 children and 60 women hostages were butchered by meat cleavers and thrown down a well. I have had no response from any Indians over this. Where the British accept the good and bad of our nation, it seems Indians cannot do the same!
That was a really bad, distorted and in some places out right false history of the Britain. I am not British, but I would be insulted. Just as I am sure an Indian would be insulted thinking that a 20 minute video of the history of India would do it justice.
Thanks for your observations. I feel the great problem with post-imperial 'metropole' countries is in not acknowledging the enormous human suffering and subjugation empires are inevitably built upon. The education systems in post-imperial states are very slow to acknowledge this and still tend to characterise imperial gains as positive contributions, 'bringing civilization' (and Christianity). This is true of the current Russian view of its imperial past. However, British, French, the Spanish ... and, indeed, the Americans, all retain a narcissistic view that mainly good came from imperial projects. For example, below someone suggests that Britain exported a parliamentary democracy ... There was no democracy exported to colonial states. This is why immediately post-independence, many states struggled to establish this as a completely new idea of governance to the populations that had lived under colonial rule for so long. Nevertheless, empires happened (as, indeed, they did in India before the British arrived ... the Mauryan Empire was not about bringing peace and flowers to the people of an expanding empire either). The importance is to acknowledge and expose them as a bad and self-serving way of expanding national interests for the 1%, as someone noted below, for the 21st century ... otherwise we will repeat histories of imperial misery.
I agree with most of your comment, but I would like to make two points. Firstly, you are confusing democracy with universal suffrage. One of the problems with the British Empire was that planters had a democratic government in the colonies ('republican' in form) with the ability to self-regulate and the governors required their consent. Secondly, history is built on the conflict between empires' imposing peace and government by warlords. Each have advantages and disadvantages.
It is sad that we in the UK actually recognise India as a close relative, our joint history had nothing to do with the British people, just like I don't care one bit about the centuries of the roman occupation, I don't hate the Scandinavian people for what the vikings did,we are all nations who at some time in our history of building a nation were both the master and the slave.
Iam very disappointed in what iam hearing in India and the fact that as soon as you won your independence that you killed Gandi and basically split into two nations that hate each other (India and Pakistan), with the exception of kashmir.
So please I am not your enemy and I had nothing to do with what history has dealt you.
What I am is a person trying to survive in this absolute hell of a world were all this hate is more important than the fact we are alive...
One thing he didn't have time to go into detail about is that it was the British who ended slavery from Africa. They spent ships, money and lives capturing slave ships and setting the slaves free at the same time as fighting Napoleon. All nations have done terrible things in the past for various reasons, but the most important thing is to learn from past mistakes and move forward. Great reaction you very loud people. Lot's of love from England ✌️♥️🇬🇧
Please do not forget that ending the slave trade was only possible by paying reparations to the slave owners. A debt that was only paid off in 2015.
@@sainttrinian4570 yer, those slave owners lived a long time.
@@sainttrinian4570 that was only to free the slaves already taken before 1807, slavery would have ended with or without the payment to the slave owners. It just happened paying was more convenient than going to war with some of your own wealthy citizens on top of being at war with pretty much any nation that wasn’t an ally
The Koh-i-Noor Diamond is not a stolen object. It was given voluntarily by Ranjit Singh to the British as compensation for help in the Sikh Wars.
India maintains that it was originally stolen. Certainly a large diamond was stolen from southern India in the 14th century; and that probably was the Koh-I-Noor diamond
The Punjab (Sikh) empire acquired the diamond from Afghanistan who acquired it from Iran (Persia) these acquisitions were part of treaties and were not thefts. Iran may have stole the diamond from the Mughals. They stole the Peacock throne which was affixed with many great gem stones. The Mughal's predecessors (the Delhi Sultanate) raided many large diamonds from southern India. India wouldn't have a claim to the Punjab empires ownership of the Diamond as most of the Punjab empire including its capital ended up in Pakistan, and Pakistan ended up the successor state; but they do have a claim to the thefts that occurred in India. But really its Iran they should be asking for financial compensation; the Gems on the Peacock throne (whether or not they included the Koh-I-Noor) would be worth a fortune today
She said "Most importantly ...." Really ? Did the average Indian citizen depend so much on having a large diamond in their country ?
@@grahamtravers4522 And we obviously thinks it's massively important too otherwise we'd just give it back.
@@faithpearlgenied-a5517 It's partr of the Crown jewels. Do you want us to prise it from the crown?
No it wasn't can't even admit your sins
18:55 'How we indians suffered' - you suffered the same as you had done under your previous rulers, the mongol-turkic Mughals. However the UK also left you with trial by jury, independent courts, democracy, and the concepts of equality and human rights. Under the Mughals the indians had none of those things, and were divided by caste and gender. Tens of thousands of british people went to india to try and improve the lives of indians and even gave their lives in that pursuit. If you would rather still be ruled by the turks or mongols then I'm sure they would be happy to take you back.
You would have to be a complete dickhead to try and justify Britain’s actions back then.
also remember the practice of child marriage and widow burning before the British abolished it.
@@BikersDoItSittingDown “Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs.[To Hindu priests complaining to him about the prohibition of Sati religious funeral practice of burning widows alive on her husband’s funeral pyre.]” - Charles James Napier. Bloody Legend!
Exactly. By the time we got there, Muhammed Ghor The Great had already ran over the place and just stomped the people down and down, when he came in he almost obliterated Sanskrit, we are very lucky that language survived. Lucky for all, the Old Books are very interesting to read. They were almost taken away but the Gujurat and the Punjab couldn't be stolen.
@@BikersDoItSittingDown The widow burning was practiced by the aristocracy and not the common indians. It would not have affected the general Indian population.
For all our Island's faults and mistakes, the British Empire is still the only Empire throughout the history of time to ever devote itself to the abolishment of slavery all over the world. Up until Britain made it so, slavery was acceptable in every corner of the globe. From abolishing slavery to the exporting of women's right to vote, our Island can hold it's head high....
I agree with you, but this video seems to be made to show Britain at its worst with none of the good it did.
Also, this is going to appeal to many Indians because of the hatred they are taught in schools towards the British.
I did not see anything mentioned about the industrial revolution too.
There was little said about us fighting wars to guarantee the liberty of many countries, particularly from Napoleon and Hitler.
On a positive side, we must remember that Indians also had no slavery until the Muslim invasion.
The British empire was evil. That an Irish perspective
@@Donabate2 But the British had an Empire. Unlike the peat burning backwards Irish republic. That is from a Irishman's perspective. 😉
@Hiram Abiff your comments says it all. Fact the Irish economy is far stronger that the UK. Looking forward to Scotland and the 6 Counties leaving your union.
@@Donabate2 Fact ! You economy is subsidised by the EU to keep it a float and your not even in the top 100 of world economy's. Britain is at 5. Fact ! Your country is crippled by uncontrolled mass immigration and national identity is lost forever. Fact ! You must be listening to your EU controlled media to be that ignorant on the Union's constitution. Fact ! My parents are from Clare...😁
The 'diamond' is claimed by about 4 different countries, so who do we give it back to? Pakistan?
It was also resented as a gift to Queen Victoria so where the British are aybe guilty of receiving stolen goods, it was the Indian rulers who stole it from the temple in the first place.
You are also correct about who to return it to. The only documented owners were the Muslim rulers, so maybe it should go to Pakistan and not India
India suffered by gaining a legal system, rule of law, trial by jury, parliamentary democracy, railway system, infrastructure, trade, defence, telegraph, telephone, cinema, prohibition of burning the living wife on the husband's funeral pyre amongst other things.
@@theminutepaq5010 They've always done it to themselves as well and still do today with the caste system and the level of corruption contributing to this. External incursions made little additional difference and in fact improved things to a degree.
At independence you could have been left as you were found 200 odd years before and having to start from scratch. It's only in recent years that things have started to really improve in the country and hopefully things will continue to improve for all the people not just the usual characters.
@@theminutepaq5010 There was more than one and it was not applied to all equally.
@@theminutepaq5010 Following the Civil War, the Restoration and the 1689 Bill of Rights it was. No Colony was forced to just trade with Britain, they chose to have privileged monopoly access to the British market for their goods.
@@theminutepaq5010 If they had they'd never have been colonised.
@@theminutepaq5010 Not railways, bridges, proper roads, ports, telegraph and much more.
As you can see , Britain was invaded and conquered repeatedly so were a product of their own history. Unlike a lot of conquering nations they did bring benefits as well as obvious problems. It's weird that so many nations still hold a grudge against Britain when Britain holds no such animosity towards it's conquering nations or recent opponents in World War 2 like Germany, Italy and Japan.
Well said!
They hold a grudge against White people... it's that simple.
Celts certainly hold a grudge against the anglo synthesized celts. Aka the English
You should watch 'The British Crusade Against Slavery' This guy was a little bit vague about this, slavery was outlawed and policed around the globe by the British at great expense to Britain in both British lives lost and money, the cost for which was only finally paid up in 2015.
As a british person from northern ireland i am VERY proud of our Empire, we were the only Hyperpower in the world and still are, we developed ALOT of nations, gave ALOT of people Magna-carta (innocent until proven guilty), created parliamentary democracies where ever we went, yes there we bad things that happened but over all i think the good outweighs the bad, like slavery doesnt exist anymore BECAUSE of the UK
And before the British took your diamonds and other treasures, they belonged to the rich Indian elite who no doubt profited at the expense of the common people. Ordinary Indians would never have seen or got their hands on those diamonds, anyway, so what did you really lose? In the same way, ordinary Britons wouldn’t have benefitted from or seen the “loot” either. Also, the British brought enormous infrastructure to the country, among other things. Young people today buy into a version of history they’ve been told, without doing any proper research into the facts, and then act as if they have experienced the pain themselves- when they don’t even know that their ancestors found the situation painful. It’s all projection. I’ve heard many elderly Indians lamenting the British leaving, saying the country has gone into decline ever since.
I think India became a much better and richer country when the English were there and I believe the English gives money to India still but I'm not sure about that I also believed that India is such a strong country now and there is tension between India and China which the UK would defend India if a war broke out. The diamond is a small price to pay dont you think Thank You.
India never owned the kohinoor your own supreme court ruled that.
You didn't suffer on aggregate. For the first time Indians had advanced jobs, a middle class, world class education, democratic norms imposed where there were none. Common law, contract law, infrastructure, mining, modern global connections, without which India could never compete today (just as the British could not have risen without previous influence of being a colony ourselves and having been invaded). The world isn't perfect. It is impossible to be. Indians were under a brutal regime with the Moguls but this isn't taught in Indian schools. The Indians had no benefit. India traded with the East india Company and was not independent under Mogul rule - whom the British paid to trade. Remember, these were not people of the British state, they were traders. The Empire was an accident. There was no plan. The industrial revolution and the institutions that led to it bettered the world for all peoples despite atrocities also happening under a British watch. That said, the entire world was up to atrocities and the world was full of violent empires. The question therefore was (in the context of the time) would people prefer a British Empire or one of the others with their record? It is a difficult question that has only one answer in reality. We all live with the wealth we do today because of the British. I am grateful to those whom went before and made mistakes, so we didn't have to.
Did the British treat the Indian people worse than the Indian people treated their own Dalits? The “Untouchables” who lives were totally controlled by other Indians Castes. Forced to do the worst jobs with no chance of improvement. I think not. In fact India was largely self-governing and British only interfered in times of trouble between Indians.
Also the British did much good. The lives of millions (yes millions) improved by British know-how. For example the colossal irrigation schemes that allowed many millions of Indian people to move to what was semi-arid land to what became fertile land. The list is endless.
We won’t mention how it was possible for a tiny island nation about 15,000 miles away (having to travel around South Africa) in tiny wooden boats driven only by the wind and take control of a nation about 50 times greater in size.
The powers that be smashed the thumbs of the weaver's, losing an entire trade, skill and craft.
They did this so that Briton could profit instead. Thank god the Northern workers in England went on strike and refused to work with India silk.
The British Government has always been in conflict with the people.
Britain did not take India by force but by trade and exploiting the rivalries between the various states, The British would support rulers that were favorable to Britain and support them against those who were opposed. Britain did not loot the largest diamond, it was given as part of a trading agreement, and then passed on to Queen Victoria as a gift. There was no unified India until The British united it into one country and introduced Law and order. Before the British stopped it, it was customary for the wives to be burned alive when their husbands died, Slavery was rife between the various state until Britain stopped it, so not all of British rule was as ban as it is now made out.
Gave them trains too, everyone likes trains. Plenty of video of everyone trying to have a go on one.
As a Brit, I hope our two countries can move forward in the future as friends. I know that we have a complicated past with Britain's colonisation of India, but hopefully we can have good relations moving forward. Much love from the UK 🇬🇧❤️🇮🇳
The UK gave India it's railway system. Like the UK India had a great transport system.
If you look into the history of this very small island, it is bonkers how complicated it gets...every inch of land is contested, every line of law is questioned....we have, I would say, a "strange purpose in common when needed, but strangely uncommon amongst the daily purpose"
Just to add to the slave trade issue. The trade was not established by Britain or the Europeans. The slave trade had already been established by black African chieftains at the time. African chieftains had captured their enemies during African tribal wars and sold their captors to Islamic and wider states. This had been happening for 1000 years before Europeans arrived. British businessman were involved in the slave trade from Africa to America.
In fact, black African kings were those who had secured the greatest wealth from the slave trade and they themselves did not want the British to end it. It would do well for black Americans to look to the facts of how their ancestors were transferred to the United States and hold Africa responsible. It may help in enabling them to live their lives today rather than capture them selves in psychological slavery based on false narratives they are sold by exploitative activists.
Slavery was made illegal in England in 1086 by William the Conqueror. Effectively, slavery has been illegal in England for almost 1000 years. This was the reason why an anti-slave trade movement occurred in Britain and nowhere else in the world. Everywhere else, including India, slavery was normal. It was the historical position of all people being free in England that lead to Britain mobilising its military and political power to liberate black slaves and slaves everywhere; forcing all other nations into the liberation of slaves. It can even be said at Abraham Lincoln Moved towards slave liberation because he knew Britain was coming back to the United States to force the liberation of slaves there.
Britain has only just finished paying for the cost of freeing slaves in other countries around 2014. Britain spent 40% of its national wealth and thousands of British lives to 3 slaves.
Just on the English history side and the Battle of Hastings, the storylines always seem to say that William the Conqueror took the English crown after the Battle of Hastings. This is not the full story. In reality, the battle continued after Harold fell where Normans wanted to retreat but William Forced him to continue to push forward and this led to the victory on the day. However, England did not surrender at this stage. The Normans retired to Dover where they were sick and ill. Many thousands of warriors came down from the north and other parts of England waiting for the next king to be chosen and to be lead into battle.. About six weeks later, a King was Joseph in the mix of disagreement amongst the nobility. Once that king was chosen, the nobility decided that they would hand the crown to William if he agreed to rule justly over the English.
The mistake they made was that Norman expectations of allegiance Was more linked to subjugation. William murdered thousands of English people to impose his rule. One such episode is the "Harrying Of The North" where the North of England was laid waste.
Before Indian independence the British Indian army at its hight was 1,750,000 strong, but there were never any more than 30,000 british soldiers in India at any one time, you can't Colonize a country without the ruling classes of that country being complicit. you want to point a finger at the root of all your problems, take a long hard look in your mirrior first.
Stop Victimizing yourselves in history , am English with four Irish Grandparents I understand how easy it is to do, the British have done way more good the evidence is there, look at all those Counties that Briton left are now regional powers . Egypt, America, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Israel, etc. Ive come to see it as a fair exchange and if your still bitter about the looting come visit and see it for yourself God know's whats happened our Looted stuff over the years.
we spent it fighting Napoleon, the Kaiser and Hitler
@@riadoc7001 lol.. Fair point I was thinking along the lines of lindisfarne etc.
The Koh-i-Noor was taken from the Mughals by the Persian Empire, then went to Afganistan and was then traded to the Sikh Empire before the British acquired it after the defeat of the Sikhs. The Mughals were invaders themselves so it begs the question who should the diamond be held by as nearly all owners previous to the British also acquired it by force and all previous owners were themselves Empires of conquest so if any of them have claim due to the use of force then so do the British who just happened to able to exert the most force. It's like the story of Native Americans who would slaughter each other, including children, without mercy to obtain land etc and now cry injustice because the white man came along and proved better at slaughtering than the Natives. The West is accused of not respecting other cultures but it always did, by using the same method of armed force to take land from locals that the locals had used to obtain the land in the first place. By the way when did "India" exist prior to the British establishing the concept of an Indian nation so why should a country that didn't exist at the time of the diamond arriving in Britain have any claim to it now. The Mughal Empire covered today's Pakistan more than it did today's India so why isn't a Pakistani claim more important?
Is that you way of saying your not giving back. Today we are far stronger then you don't forget thst
@@vedicpride So India won't be requiring the UKs help if China invade?
@Peak District Hillbilly nope, but call us when islamic invaders take over we will save you ass like in ww 1 and 2
@@vedicpride your not lol n didn't save shit you were us
You suffered?
You don't look like you're suffering....
About that diamond that was a gift we did not pinch it like most of you Indians think. How is your railway going that we built for you.
The railway was a gift.
Were basically modern day Romans we have Roman DNA cause we were conquered by Romans for 400 years they left there knowledge of warfare with us and their DNA
India gave us the greatest gift. CURRY!
As far as I'm aware the Diamond in question was given as a gift for the help that Britain provided in the Sikh Wars, as for many of the other beliefs that many have today I am aware that many things were done that were unacceptable but you have to put it into the context of the beliefs and norms of the time all over the world. Ps Without British influence a lot of Indian Widows would have gone up in flames so maybe that deserves a thankyou, infact asking what have the British ever done for us is a bit like that sketch in the Life of Brian .
A warts and all history lesson... No nation is all good or all evil over a thousand years there's good and bad in everything... Having a crazy monarch Henry VIII wasn't the only one, or a megalomaniac at the reigns doesn't help, historically I'm sure the Irish would rather Cromwell was never born - a religious zealot with little tolerance... As I said a thousand years is a long time...
It will be interesting to see how India through BRICS actually handles being top dog as the wheel turns and a new world leader take over... It's not what you say it's what you do when you make the decisions that defines a culture. Britain did some pretty awful stuff but at the time I'm sure it wasn't seen as bad but necessary, we also helped allies and stopped the global slave trade, on the whole I see a positive contribution in perpetuity. You can't deny the bad things done throughout history, but then every nation has blood on its ledger, focus on that and you fail to see or seek the good...
The ‘diamond’ would still be in the ground without the British.
This is not quite true. What is documented is that it spent time in the peacock throne of the Muslim rulers for hundreds of years before it was gifted to Queen Victoria, and the rumour is that it was stolen by Indian rulers from a temple.
India didn't exist before the British. It was under despotic Muslim rule, much worse than the British, who eventually united India. It was the British who introduced the rule of law, democracy, railways e=tc, and ended the obscene practices of sutte and thuggi.
No human institution is perfect, but by and large the British Empire was one of the best forces for good in history.
Britain gave you the modern world, Britain gave india the steam train to name just one!
If the English looted so much, why are the treasure chambers of your temples still filled with billions of dollars worth of treasures. The story about English looting have to be exaggerated. No looting army would let the temples keep all that wealth. In 1949 8 out of 10 people on the Forbes list of richest people in the world were Indian maharajah. Your elite stole your money, not the English.
Interesting reaction
Britisher? I've never heard that before
All nations are guilty of such crimes historically
Some continue today
The millions of indigenous British people in The UK today are the descendants of the Celts and the Anglo Saxons, these are The Welsh, Irish, Scottish and English people, our ancestors go back thousands of years on these British isles so we do have a long history.
Well as people of the world , every citizen has suffered in their own countries so the future is up to all to make the world a more farer place to live in . Have a great New Year every one .
Because of the fast delivery of this information he neglected to go into the reasons why Britain ended up in so many countries. Basically when Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church the Pope basically instructed both France and Spain to cut off trading routes and starve Britain back into submission. This is one of the reasons Britain ended up in India (though India as a unified country didn’t exist then), they were securing trade supplies and routes from India a China. They used the “carrot and stick” approach, which saw the British allying with some Indian rulers and assisting them against rival Indian rulers. The Romans used similar tactics during their invasion of Britain 1000 years earlier!
Britain buys most of its tea from India. India did not grow tea until the English took tea shrubs from China and started plantations in India. Now India grows fantastic tea and dominates the British market.
Annnd oyur point tea does not grow in Europe nor its a european diet. You just confirm you mass looters
What bullshit. Chinese tea varieties did not grow in India. English found native tea in Assam, Northeast India. That is why Assamese Tea is a different variety than Chinese tea.
Thank you for your reaction, I love following you both and seeing your journey. My Father was born in Sri Lanka and went to school in India. He loved your country deeply and it makes me feel close to him when I watch your reviews.
at least now I know India Contributed, I love India people, respect
Britain was unusually aggressive in its claim over India.
Britain chose India over defending the colonies in the New World. India was always the favoured nation. History, Intelligence and Religion at the time were more important to the British than a few rogue Englishmen running the New World.
Most people in Britain had no appetite for military dominance in India. (Britain had been invaded often enough to ensure the people didn't wish it on anyone else).
And while politicians did resist there was no resistance from the British people when it came to independence for any of the former Empire nations, which is probably why 54 nations are still voluntary members of the 'Commonwealth of Nations' (rather than the Empire)
As for the diamond in question...do you think you would ever have seen the benefit of such a diamond personally? It doesn't improve my life in any way that the stone is in a crown worn by the Monarchy and I live in Britain.
Indian Independence brought more bloodshed in quick succession than all the imperial atrocities combined. Our legacy is still an improvement over what we found.
What on earth is a Britisher?
Old Victorian term for a British gentleman, that seems to have been adopted by modern-day Indians as a somewhat negatively-connotated nickname for us, it's often just shortened to "Brit" or "Brits"
Its what NAZI germans in WW II called anyone that was British
You need to look at the bigger picture. The reason why you saw the Indian artefacts in the museum was only because they were in a BRITISH museum. I have read articles that some artefacts were sent back to India but they were never seen again.
The Indian government in power at the time made excuses that the items were too expensive to insure and so they were put into storage. The Indian people never got to see these artefacts. There were also suspicions that due to high levels of corruption in the country, these artefacts were sold.
As for the Kohinoor, there are 4 countries (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran (Persia)) that are claiming that it belongs to them. I am Indian living in the UK. I say, send it back and let the 4 countries fight it out between yourselves. Let’s hope it doesn’t take as long as the fight for Ayodhya!!! Or you guys will be waiting a long…long time!
There were many things that the British bought to India. One was the abolishment, not just of slavery in India itself, but also that of sati burning of widows. They got rid of the Mughals and the Princely kingdoms and united India into the single country it now currently is. If that hadn’t happened, India might today be an made up of 10-12 separate countries. The only reason it is becoming a powerhouse now, is because of its unity and large population.
Why not show us a video of the CAST SYSTEM,
What most people forget is that for the 200 years of the Raj the actual ordinary people of Britain also suffered from poverty, starvation, poor housing and hard work for little pay. They died young and had a high child mortality rate. All nations under British rule suffered under greedy business and uncaring governments. Thus now, as a Brit, I see Indian people as friends.
The English weren't the only ones to loot India. I visited a town in France which had a column (like the one in Trafalgar Square - but smaller) commemorating an incident in the towns history. In the 1700's the countryside was broke, so the local Lord scratched together a raiding party, hired a ship and sailed to a large Indian city which they sacked! Sailed back to France and revived their local economy. Ta-Da.....!
The greatest Empire in history; not passively allowing themselves to be the ones getting colonized. How embarrassing!
5:42 The map at this point displays why the people who would become known as the English and the French were fighting for so long. At this point they were fighting for control of the entirety of the territory, only after each side failed to conquer the other did the nations of England and France emerge.
We are not called Britishers. We are British.
No such thing as Britishers. British is a citizenship. English,Scottish and Welsh are birthrights.
Turin designed and built the first computer ww2
History is messy, battle of the strongest and it just happens to be the English who won that title
Looted ? That damn Koh-i-Noor diamond was gifted to the Crown in 1850. So who retroactively can claim it ? Persia, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan or Indian authorities all had possession at some point before war or misfortune passed it along . Solicitor general of India, Ranjit Kumar said, "It was given voluntarily by Ranjit Singh to the British as compensation for help in the Sikh Wars. The Koh-i-Noor is not a stolen object."
Before 1857 the East India Company was infamously corrupt, but the system less racist. After the Great Mutiny the system was more based on the rule of law, but very racist. The Raj could not have survived without the Princely states and the Empire made a great art of the principle of divide and rule. Great tribute must be given to the armies of India, and all the empire of all peoples for fighting with Britain in the 2 world wars. In this great struggle nations were forged. Great regret the Raj was split by religion and vilonce post 1948.
For me Mahatma Ghandi is one of the greatest personalities of Human History.
Ireland is also part of Britain, which is a geographic term; as are Man and some other islands. The UK is essentially the island of Great Britain plus the Northern part of Ireland
For get the diamond my love you guys stole it before us it came from Asia 👍👍
India is not a communist country and we have a lot in common like cricket for example.
India is a big place and my experience is varied. When I visited Kerala, the people were lovely and welcoming. When I visited Maharashtra, the reception was positively hostile. The Indians I have met in the UK are also a delight.
I think the ideals of the countries such as democracy and rule of common law, are what we really have in common.
Do you have a flag? 🇬🇧🧐
No flag no country... 😆
THe massive Diamond was NOT stolen, it was a GIFT and you CAN'T expect gifts to be taken back. This is what the WHOLE British expression 'INDIAN GIVER' comes from. When you give a gift you CANT ask for it back you, Indian Givers
The British looted the sultans? Weren’t a lot of the sultans Turkic, Persian, Pashtun and maybe even mongol?
Couldn’t you equally say all those peoples also looted India?
Are you even sure you don’t have any ancestors that might be from these looters?
I never complain about the British/English looting and oppressing my Irish ancestors or complain about the highland clearances or oppression of my Scottish ancestors. Just like I wouldn’t complain about the vikings raiding and settling or the Romans.
The English were still the worst, obviously. 😂
Only a small percentage of a country’s people benefited from the empire to any considerable extent.
Look at even recent history like Ghandi and his boycott of imperial cotton and how it harmed working class British cotton workers. Ghandi visited them and many of them bore him no ill will.
they left oe important detail of ww2 the largest volunteer force in the war was the indian volunteer army
There are definitely things that we shouldn’t off done in India but without British empire
The kohinoor diamond is not India’s to claim since it was stolen and changed hands many times before it was gifted to the British as compensation
As a British person I’m always sad when people from former colonies blanket the history with you use your words “looting” or “using” if you actually look at what happened we didn’t loot or take without giving back we gave security in times that other places like Spain France America etc would have attacked and potentially treated you a lot worse we gave technology like railways and telecommunications and your prince’s made lots of money from us “but didn’t share it with the common people” we brought hospitals and work we helped give you national laws yes I totally agree there was some bad but we was not the horned monsters we are made to look like and you mentioned the slavery “that you have covered in another video” any British person who was doing this was as a private company it wasn’t for the British people or government we as the other video shows was “the people” against it wile there was African slaves still in India… when we left you we did so with India being more advanced than most places around you that Britain hadn’t been involved with also your government and royalty was richer than it probably would have been without our involvement and we left the investments we made technology wise with you it was yours but the common people was not cared for by your government or royalty or rich business owners but was fed ideas that we looted you and took it all with us this didn’t just happen in India but most of our past colonies and now we get abused for it when non of you or us was even alive India is one of the most rich places on earth but has a very high majority of people living in poverty or only just above poverty why is that ? Where is all the wealth we left you? Ask your government the descendants of your royalty and your business owners who have very old businesses and something that baffles me is if you gave someone a gift for their birthday let’s say would you expect your great grandchildren to ask their great grandchildren for it back?… I’d guess no? So why keep asking for the diamond back when it was a gift it was given freely not looted I had grown some respect for your channel when I saw the Britain against slavery video but after watching this one and seeing how you really feel I don’t know if I could watch more again I know and understand that not every thing we did was good but the mark we left gave most of the world what they have today and what thanks do we get for it …?
Wonder sometimes how prosperous India would have been today if it had stayed a colony longer
Without history we would not be here.
Britain may have looted India but have paid billions back.
As something of a balance to the mental gymnastics in the comments by Empire apologists I’d recommend the book Inglorious Empire; What The British Did To India, by Dr Shashi Tharoor.
Funny how you are speaking English...I hope you do not live in Britain.
India did not exist before Britain.
The history of British involvement in India is generally not known or taught in Britain. That's why you will get a lot of Brits who have a rosey view of our time as rulers of India. All the stuff about railways, and law and the English language. So things like the Bengal famine in the Second World War aren't known about or understood. Another example is what happened to Bengal (then one of the richest parts of the World) in the late 18th century after Britain developed industrial scale cotton manufacturing and forced Indians to accept these mass produced cheap goods, undermining the local cotton manufacturing forcing millions into poverty and starvation. But we tend not to know all this stuff so get defensive when Britain is criticised.
What's also not generally known is that India wasn't a unified country at the time, and other countries like France and Portugal had colonies in India (Goa only gaining independence in the 1960s). The British were just the most 'successful', gradually replacing most of the others. 'British power' in India was actually a private business (the East India Company) until the late 1850s when the UK government finally took control after the 1857 Rebellion. A few people in the East India Company grew fabulously rich in Britain because of the looted wealth and from running what were effectively protection rackets.
I disagree. Most of us accept the bad side of the empire but also balance it with the good. It is people like you who look only for the bad side and give an unbalanced view. As for your claim of looking through rosey glasses, I am sure many uneducated British may see this, but most making comments here do not seem to fit in this category. I can probably name as many attrocities from the empire as you but can you name the good of the British in the same way?
Honestly, the history of my country doesn’t always make me proud, but I hope we have all learnt since. We are mainly a different crowd now, have matured and grown up as a community. Obviously not completely there. Some really bad eggs out there too. But our potential for more growth is continuous. We will continue to grow and change for the better towards everyone and also ourselves. Peace and light to you.
if you want to talk press video pause don't talk over.
No other country has had a bigger influence on the modern world than Great Britain. Rule Britannia
You also have to remember, mojority of this country has been poor forever, people had to pay to get an income from the army, or into any career that was valued. Wages extremely low. The propaganda of the day manipulating them. It’s leadership, being the majority getting the wealth from all these atrocities. Majority also could not get better if I’ll because they couldn’t afford a doctor let alone a nutritious diet to start with. From a social prospect, we had little power, as regular poor people. Our own country failed us as well as everyone else in some ways. This is no longer an empire. That’s actually great. All that wage theft to pay for wars done to invade other countries. People would have starved. It’s not really just about what they have done elsewhere. It’s changed a lot socially,
I love that 'hang on a minute, that King came from Norway/Denmark/France/Holland/Germany/Scotland..' -look that comes with watching this.
yeah we do what ever we want mate...nature said it's just fine..
To the Victor goes the spoils ,so the saying goes
Britishers love it
The notion that a nation is an entity in its own right, seperate and distinct from the people who settle and live there, is an insane concept.
The Bengal famine was not mitigated enough especially given the Irish famine lesson previously. However I am not sure that Hindus would have been free of mostly Islamic rulers without intervention, and if the 2nd world war had been lost then the German ideology was to exterminate everybody who is not related to them. On the other hand the peaceful resistance campaign also taught Brits a lesson as well. Perhaps the Empire was like bad medicine but without enduring it there would have been no India, and possibly no Indians.
Hi, the diamond that the East India Company took from India, was already stolen by Indians from Iran. As for what Britain did in India and such places. Britain was the only Empire/Nation to ban slavery world wide (slaves had always been in India, enslaved by other Indians) and today India has the cast system which is one of the worst examples of how a society should live. Finally most people who live in the ex British Empire don't realise that 99.999% of the British people never got a penny from the British Empire. The King/Queen never said to the people of Yorkshire (for example) here is your share of the profits from India. The East India company shared its profits with the half dozen super rich families who had shares in the company, and some super rich Indians. Most Britains for most of their lives have been very poor. The Empire was not like the Roman Empire which sent it's citizens money from its overseas territories, instead it gave the British public zero money, but did send them away to fight in foreign wars :( x
I always liked the story of one of the governors in India he made widow burning illegal and when the elders complained about it being part of their culture they were told that he respected culture and our culture was that we hang murders of women so by all means practice your culture but we will practice ours. Widow burning died off 😊
2000 years of history ignored for comments on a diamond.
England gave you Industry worth may Koinors
Please do some serious research into your country's history, not just fall for a biased nationalist twist on history. If not, I'm afraid wars will never end. Hate the game, not the player, luckily for some countries the British were the best players at the time.
Invaded India LOL.
There was no "INDIA" Before the British Empire. The Landmass called "INDIA" today was a collection of feudal kingdoms bound together by very corrupt and dodgy alliances.
Most of (not all) of the invasion you speak of was by invitation. Yes, you read that correctly. The Rulers of those kingdoms used the British Empire to take out their enemies. In the end the British did just take advantage of the situation and take control of the job lot Forming the precursor to the nation we know to be India today.
India's history in this respect is not that far removed from the formation of the United Kingdom.
If you do not believe me just take a look for yourself. Do not take my word for it.
Wasn't all suffering with the british let's be real
The animation reference you use touches on some points but in no way can be used as an accurate history of Britain or indeed India, amateur internet productions usually seem to delete some points in order to give a picture more in tune with their own beliefs. Both nations were never without fault. It would be interesting to see reactions on a history of India before trade began with the British or of course some of the atrocities commited in the Indian Pakistani wars after 1947.
It all depends on who you believe
Its all history, learn from it, get over it and move on, no one today should carry any guilt or feel any sense of injustice, you were not alive then.
Great video, it's sad that some can't realise that wrongs have been done and how we can try and make things better as people. So glad to have your views broadcast. One love
I think you miss the point. Most British accept the bad side of the Empire, but we are also fed up of people selecting just the bad and trying to make us feel guilty over our past. I have also been on many forums and mentioned the massacre at the Cawnpore Bibighar (Ladies' House) where 140 children and 60 women hostages were butchered by meat cleavers and thrown down a well. I have had no response from any Indians over this. Where the British accept the good and bad of our nation, it seems Indians cannot do the same!
India wouldn’t have developed as fast as it did #blame America fire poverty in India and Africa
That was a really bad, distorted and in some places out right false history of the Britain. I am not British, but I would be insulted. Just as I am sure an Indian would be insulted thinking that a 20 minute video of the history of India would do it justice.
This is a very specific, and quite in-depth video. Not ideal for beginners.
Your victim mentality is too strong. I get it, but turn it down a bit
You should learn where Hindu and seeks came from you will fins their Persians
Rule britannia
Thanks for your observations. I feel the great problem with post-imperial 'metropole' countries is in not acknowledging the enormous human suffering and subjugation empires are inevitably built upon. The education systems in post-imperial states are very slow to acknowledge this and still tend to characterise imperial gains as positive contributions, 'bringing civilization' (and Christianity). This is true of the current Russian view of its imperial past. However, British, French, the Spanish ... and, indeed, the Americans, all retain a narcissistic view that mainly good came from imperial projects. For example, below someone suggests that Britain exported a parliamentary democracy ... There was no democracy exported to colonial states. This is why immediately post-independence, many states struggled to establish this as a completely new idea of governance to the populations that had lived under colonial rule for so long. Nevertheless, empires happened (as, indeed, they did in India before the British arrived ... the Mauryan Empire was not about bringing peace and flowers to the people of an expanding empire either). The importance is to acknowledge and expose them as a bad and self-serving way of expanding national interests for the 1%, as someone noted below, for the 21st century ... otherwise we will repeat histories of imperial misery.
I agree with most of your comment, but I would like to make two points. Firstly, you are confusing democracy with universal suffrage. One of the problems with the British Empire was that planters had a democratic government in the colonies ('republican' in form) with the ability to self-regulate and the governors required their consent. Secondly, history is built on the conflict between empires' imposing peace and government by warlords. Each have advantages and disadvantages.