Modern Empires 1: Britian

[Boboulas]

I will be making some threads about different empires to have existed in the modern era (1600+) First of which will be the british empire.

Britian was an empire for a long time, it was the biggest ever to exist and had control of much the worlds wealth for a long time.

The War of Spanish Succession was the founding of the british empire and england benefited from the war greatly whilst stopping a union between spain and france which would have upset the balance of poswer in europe. The war was a bloody one and many europeans were killed, by this time, europes favorite sport of mercilessly killing each other had been perfected, and would continue unti ww2.
As a result of the war, england captured gibraltar from spain and would hold it until 1713 when it became part of the empire officaly.

The war of succession ended with the Utrecht treaty(1713) giving Britain Newfoundland, St. Kitts and Hudson bay. which also Left Britain the dominant force in America.

The next step in forming an empire took shape in the union of scotland and england in 1707, 2 regional powers combining to become a dominant european one.
The 2 nations (although having shared a king for a long time) had different motives for crating such a union. To the english it would make sure that soctland wouldnt become fully independant and alline itself with enemies of england. It would also bring some financial benefits but scotland was alot poorer than england.

The scotish motives for joining such a union were different, mostly financial. The Darien scheme was a huge failure and had lost the country alot of money, many of the investors hoped the would recive compensation from england if they joined the union and so big buisness in scotland supported it. Many public officals were bribed in scotland by english nobels. It should be noted that most of the common folk in scotland were aggainst it, an english spy in scotland (Daniel Defoe) said "for every Scot in favour there is 99 against".

Over the next few decades, britian and france become involved in economic rivalries in east india, with both companys vieing for economic control of the region, something britian would later win.

In 1756 began what some would call, the real World War 1, Seven years' war. It involved all of the european powers and spread to the americans to asia and africa. The sides were as followed: Prussia, britian, portugal, Iroquois Confederacy VS France, Holy roman empire, sweden, spain and russia. It changed little in europe but affirmed the world britian was the worlds super power. In the americas, france was force to give up all of new france to spain and britian. The war also ended up giving ALL of canada to britian, a huge blow to france.

In india, it was not hard to defeat the french there. Britian had allready dominated the region for a long time and it was only natural that they beat the smaller french power there.

1775, a day all americans will remember. The day subjects became citizens (unless you were black) and red and white crosses became stars and stripes.
As a result of the higher taxes put on the americans by the british and having no representation in parliment, the colonists of the 13 colonies revolted and took back what they belived to be theirs by birth right. The revolution evolved into and international war (again could be called a world war) which involved europe, asia-minor and africa. France and spain had helped the revolutionaries to reduce british power in the region, their help was critical to the states winning. The war having become international required britian to use most of its naval power in europe where it was critical to keeping the other powers at bay, this gave the french navy in the americas the chance to fight the british navy there fairly and with the combined support of the small US navy, they won the naval war.
Britian also had a small land army, it is agued if britian would ever be able to squash the rebelion on land because of this factor.

The revolution ended with the united states sovereignty bieng recognized globaly, although the USA wouldnt become a power for a few decades.

1793, the first british settlers arrive in australia.

1798 is when one of the major irish rebbelions was supressed, many more would come. One day there may be freedom, but this day..there is occupation.

1790s. Napoleon Bonaparte is begining to get france back on track in europe, he conquors italy and france becomes a power again. This worries britian, the balance of power had been preserved for such a long time, war is on the horrizon.

the 1800 Act of Union with Ireland unites Parliaments of England and Ireland together, and ireland becomes a british dominan. Britian still the world super power, unmatched on the seas and the deepest coffers in europe.

in 1803 the war of the third coalition began between: Austria, russia, Britian, portugal and sweden VS France, italy, spain and a few german states.

In 1805, napoleon massed 180,000 men to invade england, he would need to distract the british navy by threatening their possesions in the east indies. This however failed and napoleon never again would have a chance to invade england.
The Battle of Austerlitz was the major defeat for the coalition, and signaled a major win politicaly,moraly and strategicly for the french.

This war ended with the Treaty of Pressburg with the french coalition as the winner. Land was given to france as well as reparations.

If you want to read more on the Napoleonic Wars i suggest you do so, i wont go into too much detail about them cus they were all very big and it would take far too long All you need to know is that britian and prussia eventualy beat napoleon in battle(after several more wars), he went into exile and died. Britian and prussia became the european super powers, prussia united germany into what would become modern germany and you know the rest.
These wars should be counted together in my opinion, they had a huge impact on the plant and defintly are 1 of the most significant earth chaning events of the modern age.

Also during these wars, was the war of 1812 which britian and USA faught a small war, britian focused on napoleon could do too much to the americas but sucsessfuly defended canada. If they hadnt, canada would be in american hands today.

In 1833 the Abolition of Slavery throughout the British Empire. Parliament passes the Factory Act, prohibiting children aged less than nine from working in factories, and reducing the working hours of women and older children.

Britian annexed hong kong from china in the first opium war and held it until 1997 when they handed back to the peoples republic of china.

The Mughal Empire is destroyed by britian in 1857 which would eventualy lead to the british raj and control of the east india company's properties and powers.

In 1882, britian begins its long occupation of egypt.

1914-1918 World war 1 begins and the British Empire remains largely united, though many colonies express desire for independence. For example, the Easter Rebellion in Ireland on April 24, 1916, reflects this discontent by Irish nationalists.

The Treat of Versailles(1919), which essentially ends the First World WarI, gives Britain most of the German Empire in Africa, while the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East had led to the British acquisition of Palestine and Iraq in the previous year. After the war, British government grants independence or constitutional autonomy for many of its colonies.

The Statute of Westminster eliminates control by the British Parliament over dominion governments in 1931, and also establishes the British Commonwealth of Nations (later the Commonwealth of Nations) as an association of equal and independent states united by common allegiance to the British Crown. During this time, however, there is discontent most notably in Ireland's withdraws from the empire, as well as mass discontent in India, resulting in the Amritsar Massacre.

World war 2, 1939-1945, the most devistating war in history with millions of lives lost in 6 years. The worlds changed after this event, for better or worse, is up to you.
Japan conquers some British possessions such as Hong Kong and Burma during the Second World War. In 1941, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill joins with United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt in signing the Atlantic Charter, which declares the right of self-determination for all countries. Afterward, many colonies gain independence such as India and Pakistan in 1947 and Ceylon, Burma and Palestine in 1948. Many African nations gain independence swiftly during the 1950s and 1960s.

On April 18, 1949, on the anniversary of the Easter Rebellion, Eire declares itself the Republic of Ireland, and completely disavows itself from the British Crown and the Commonwealth of Nations. Freedom in ireland, but discontent and violence would continue for decades to come.

Today there are 54 nations included in the Commonwealth.

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That took me a fairly long time to write but its all worth it for the history section

If you want to discuss something or feel i have missed something, tell me and all throw it in. Also if you think something is wrong, ill change it.

Enjoy this timeline of the british empire.
Up next? OTTOMAN EMPIRE

[Chino]

nice, im taking notes already, shit this is better than government LOL

[johnUK]

you left out the bit where throughout british history... the northern english (A.K.A the fogotten sons of england) still to this day wish for independance =))

;)

[Boboulas]

Ty man, if someone is learning something then my mission is acomplished. i hope you guys will enjoy my ottoman empire one.

[hanaaB]

thnx i really enjoyed reading that....

u knw Britain has done amazing things...i know there are things that are/ were not right with it either (i could bring an indian person here who could talk for hours against the actions of the British or a welsh person who would go on and on about the 'occupation' of their land by the English...and ofcourse as John mentionned....the Scotts struggle for independance... the modern-day corrupt government we have today....and so on and so on) but arguments aside...

the time line u outlined has been jogging my memory...i cannot ignore the great contributions of Britain...Britain has had amazing people like John Locke.....Florence Nightingale (her diary is simply amazing)...John Wesley- one of the greatest reformers in western civilisation...who worked with WILLIAM WILBERFORCE!

I know you pointed out 1833 and the abolition of slavery but i think a mention of this compassionate man is crucial...

i know there were many other amazing people who worked aside him (not fogetting the beautiful Hannah Moore who after her spiritual conversion became the strongest anti-slave spokesperson of Britain) but William Wilberforce was the driving force behind the abolition....

in the early '20s it was considered LEGAL by the laws of Britain to throw 132 black Africans off the slave ship in the middle passage....Willaim Wilberforce was one of the VERY FEW people who recognised how despicable the act was...he was faced with a parliament full of people all in support of this 'slave lobby' and any change was considered virtually impossible but he really must have had a hopeful revolutionary spirit cuz he worked day and night to abolish it...in the end he was successful....

1833 also happened to be the year that he died so i guess his victory was an excellent coda to his life & career...

waiting on the Ottomon Empire timeline...will be interesting to see what info u select...there's mountains of literature on it with differing perspectives depending on who wrote it .....i'm sure u are aware...!

peace!

[Boboulas]

The thing is that before i decided to write these, i didnt think they would take so long. I found out that there are so many points and historical pinpoints that need to be disscused, i will be happy to add some info on Willaim Wilberforce in there. i hope you guys will enjoy the ottoman one, it will be up tomorow (probibly later in the day, im about half way thru)

You made a good point though, britian has contributed alot to the world (not so much these days) it makes you wonder if any of the good things we did would be possible without all the colonialism and war.
A few of my favorite brits are charles darwin and issac newton, they did so much for their respective fields.

[hanaaB]

(10-14-2009 01:53 AM)Boboulas Wrote:  The thing is that before i decided to write these, i didnt think they would take so long. I found out that there are so many points and historical pinpoints that need to be disscused, i will be happy to add some info on Willaim Wilberforce in there. i hope you guys will enjoy the ottoman one, it will be up tomorow (probibly later in the day, im about half way thru)

You made a good point though, britian has contributed alot to the world (not so much these days) it makes you wonder if any of the good things we did would be possible without all the colonialism and war.
A few of my favorite brits are charles darwin and issac newton, they did so much for their respective fields.

thnx...i know...reading over it i figured it must have taken ages....there are so many people to touch upon who are of great significance......u covered most aspects pretty well....

erm i used to be a staunch supporter of darwin...but then my pharmacy and genetic engineering degrees happened and all that changed ...but hey the guy came up with a great theory that worked for a while...and he managed to show up on british paper currency...and ofcourse sir issac newton.....a massive contribution to science indeed....

[El Mono]

BRITAIN, FOR HER MAJESTTYYY

[francisco]

mind putting some sources? just so we can confirm and looks more official and no one thinks "this is just this guys opinion or view of history from his perspective".. .you know?
or maybe just general pieces of information that you drew from...

great thread though.

[Dumbat]

Is it possible you can confirm or disprove what I read on this somewhere, it goes as follows:

Most of the initial things weren't done with the intention of building an empire, that was like a bonus. It wasn't until the 1880's that they started actively persuing the rape and enslavement of other nations.

I somehow find it funny that the long running victorian joke was how they "accidentally stumbled into leading a super-power"

[Boboulas]

I dont know if britian perpusfully persued enslavement of people or even an empire.

It was clear since the beggining of the 18th centry that britian would dominate the world, they were only challenged by napoleon and he didnt last so long.

It seems likely that the real imperialism only came to light in the late 19th/early 20th centry with ww1 and what not.

[Benny]

(10-27-2009 12:59 PM)Boboulas Wrote:  I dont know if britian perpusfully persued enslavement of people or even an empire.

Tell that to the Irish nationalists who were taken to blacksmiths and systematically had every bone in their body broken. Or the Catholics who were subjected to "pitch-capping" (having molten hot pitch poured on their heads which stripped the flesh to the skull) or "half-hangings". Or how about the penal laws which made intermarriage between Protestants and Catholics illegal, made it illegal for a Catholic to have parliamentary representation, or own land, or own a horse worth more than £5. I could go on all day really and that's just taking examples from my own country, it's not even beginning to mention the use of concentration camps during the Boer war or all the other grizzly stuff Britain did internationally.

For the record I'm not a Catholic or a Republican, still I think you should be a bit more careful with your wording there.