A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics
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A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics | |
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October 24, 2007When Did The British Empire Fall?An interesting question asked in a Guardian review of an interesting-looking book. The book is the inevitably-titled, The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, by Piers Brendon. To me, the answer's obvious: the moment it became clearly wrong to have one in the minds of most British voters. Yeah, they didn't choose to lose the United States, but they did choose to lose most of the rest of it. You know, to me, that's the greatest moment of Britain and the Empire. No other Empire has chosen to end like that, until the batch in the last century, a movement I think Britain can reasonably be felt to have lead. They had the choice of defying the inevitable intellectual result of postracist morality to keep their power. But, in the end, after some sad, old-fashioned, British stubbornness, they passed history's test. Posted by Jon Kay at October 24, 2007 01:03 AMComments
I'm not sure that "Fall" is really the right word. Might it not be more accurate to say that Britain climbed down? Because, after and except for the United States, Britain's colonies mostly left under relatively peaceful circumstances. They pushed, of course, sometimes relatively hard. But they didn't have to win a war to get out of the Empire. (And no barbarian peoples came in over the borders and threw the British out by force of arms either.) Which, of course, is part of why the British are held in so much higher regard among their ex-colonies than most others who were colonists. Seen anyone waxing nostalgic for the Netherlands or Portugal in their ex-colonies? Or even the Spanish? Didn't think so. But next time it happens, watch the reaction when the Queen visits one of the ex-colonies. And not just Canada or Australia or New Zealand, with their majorities of European-descended citizens, either. I think a case could actually be made that the British found a way to keep a lot more on-going influence (if not actual power) than those who had to be thrown out by force. Posted by: wj at October 24, 2007 10:06 AMVinci i migliori casino jackpot dei giochi del casinò grazie alle guide gratuite offerte dal nostro sito per insegnarvi a giocare al casinò online . casino jackpot - http://www.quellefromage.com/ Posted by: casino jackpot at November 15, 2007 02:56 PM |
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