British Empire

Decline And Fall

December 30, 2025 Chris Hedges, Consortium News. Educate! British Empire, History, Poverty, US Empire

At the start of the 20th century, the British Empire was, like our own, in terminal decline. Sixty percent of Englishmen were physically unfit for military service, as are 77 percent of American youth. The Liberal Party, like the Democratic Party, while it acknowledged the need for reform, did little to address the economic and social inequalities that saw the working class condemned to live in substandard housing, breathe polluted air, be denied basic sanitation and health care and forced to work in punishing and poorly paid jobs.

The Empire Never Died

May 23, 2025 Mark Curtis, Consortium News. Educate! British Empire, Decolonization, Foreign Policy, United Kingdom (UK)

There’s long been a debate over whether Britain’s Empire — the largest the world has ever known — was a good or bad thing. There’s another question though – did it really end? In some ways, obviously it did. Some 62 territories have gained independence from the U.K. in recent decades, mainly during the period from India’s fight for independence in 1947 until Zimbabwe’s in 1980. But King Charles is still the head of state of 14 Commonwealth territories, from Australia to Saint Lucia, and the U.K. controls a further 14 “Overseas Territories,” such as Gibraltar and on the island of Cyprus. The United Nations Special Committee on Decolonisation has a list of 17 territories which are “non-self governing,” or colonies in all but name. In 10 of them, the U.K. is the current administering power.

Barbados Has Thrown Off Its Colonial Shackles

December 17, 2021 Kareem Smith, Progressive International. Create! Barbados, British Empire, colonization, Liberation

The island was so central to Britain’s transatlantic slave trade system it was commonly referred to as ‘Little England’. Today, Barbados marks a defining break from 400 years of British rule. While there are still many challenges in overhauling all structures of governance inherited by the colonial system, Barbadians should be proud of this moment. Barbados has completed its transition to a republican system of government. From 30 November, which marks the 55th anniversary of its independence from Britain, Barbados’s head of state is no longer the British Queen. The word ‘royal’ will be removed from the names of its institutions, which will no longer bear the insignia of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. In her place, the tiny Caribbean island has its first elected president, Dame Sandra Mason, who represents the Barbadian struggle for self-determination and whose term won’t last a lifetime.

The Blood Never Dries

August 29, 2021 Richard Gott, Red Pepper. Educate! Britain, British Empire, Genocide, Imperialism

Twenty years ago, when Tony Blair tried to restore something of the old militarism of empire, invading Afghanistan and Iraq with little understanding of what had once happened there, he did so with the words and music of ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ echoing through his speeches. In like manner, the work of Niall Ferguson (Empire: How Britain made the Modern World, 2004) sought to revive the old imperial dream, and, for a moment, it seemed as though what was called ‘humanitarian intervention’ was going to usher in a new imperial era. Other distinguished historians were there to provide support: Lawrence Friedman, Andrew Roberts, Max Hastings – quite a cohort of armchair imperialists enjoyed a spring offensive.

American Suez?: The Costs Of Bombing Iran

March 27, 2020 Maj. Danny Sjursen USA (ret.), Popular Resistance. Educate! British Empire, COVID-19, Suez Canal, US Empire

Decaying empires behave badly. Late-stage imperial states easily fall prey to perilous insecurity and irrationality, and tend to lash out like wounded, cornered animals. Perhaps it must be so: naught but a collective macro-reflection of the human condition. Unfortunately, many thousands - often millions - of innocents tend to die at the denouement of empire. "Dirty wars" usually ensue during the imperial endgame. That time is near, it seems, for the American hegemon. There’s hardly “dirtier,” or nastier, proof of “bad behavior” than recent reports that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (unsuccessfully, thus far) urged President Trump to use this pandemic opportunity to bomb Iran; or of the administration’s persistent devotion to lethal “maximum pressure" sanctions certain to multiply the Corona-mortality of innocents.

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