r/europe • u/MarktpLatz Lower Saxony (Germany) • Feb 21 '17

What do you know about... the UK?

This is the sixth part of our ongoing weekly series about the countries of Europe. You can find an overview here.

Todays country:

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The UK is the second most populous state in the EU. Famous for once being the worlds leading power, reigning over a large empire, it has recently taken the decision to exit the EU.

So, what do you know about the UK?

106 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

6

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '17

If you're only going to be proud of things that did no harm at all, it's going to be a real short list. The Empire did a lot of good, and fucked up a lot. I can be proud of the UK's role in destroying the global slave trade even if though I know it benefited from that slave trade beforehand.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '17

[deleted]

7

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '17

I'd say the package did more good than harm overall.

2

u/TheHonourableJoJo Great Britain Feb 24 '17

Not really a point worth arguing unless you put an incredibly low price on human life. The number of famines the Empire inflicted due to negligence and meanness alone killed tens if not hundreds of millions.

There were benefits to British rule but lets not pretend a railway is worth millions dead.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 24 '17

How many millions would have died or never lived without the advances the empire made though?

1

u/TheHonourableJoJo Great Britain Feb 24 '17

Honestly things like medicinal advances were rarely exported to the colonies. The French were honestly much better at that, much though it pains me to admit it. Most of the infrastructure Britain built was for military use and not for general use. There were some boons like outlawing Thugee in India but in terms of body count as with most empires Britain was decidedly in the red.