For better or worse, the British Empire was the largest empire in human history. Find out how the British cultivated their empire and raised it to magnificent heights.
In the Age of Exploration, the British began building an enormous and highly profitable foreign empire. While the British Empire initially lagged behind other European powers such as Spain and Portugal, it still managed to colonize the New World and discover highly-lucrative trade routes.
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In the Age of Exploration, the British began building an enormous and highly profitable foreign empire. While the British Empire initially lagged behind other European powers such as Spain and Portugal, it still managed to colonize the New World and discover highly-lucrative trade routes.
#movie #Netflix #viral #hollywood #Avatar2 #CinemaMagic #SciFiAdventure #FilmMagic #BlueWorld #BeyondTheHorizon
#fypシ #foryou #movieclips #movie #movies #netflix #viral
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Short filmTranscript
00:00At its peak, the British Empire ruled over nearly a quarter of the world's population,
00:05about 458 million people, and stretched across 13 million square miles of territory.
00:11That's more land than the moon's visible surface. They controlled everything from Canada to India,
00:17Australia to Kenya, and the oceans in between. The empire was so vast that it was said the sun
00:23never sets on the British Empire. But how did an island in the North Atlantic manage to dominate
00:28the world? And more importantly, how did it all fall apart? This is the story of daring adventurers,
00:35brutal colonizers, enlightened reformers, and freedom fighters. It's a tale of steamships and
00:41sugar, railways and revolts. The British Empire changed the world, but it couldn't hold it
00:46forever. Join us as we uncover how a global titan rose to unmatched heights and how, step by step,
00:53it crumbled into history. How a tiny island ruled the world
00:57To understand Britain's rise, you need to picture Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries.
01:03Spain and Portugal were the big dogs, sailing around the world, colonizing the Americas,
01:08and hoarding gold. Britain? A rainy island with shaky politics and a powerful navy in the making.
01:15It all began with trade. In 1600, Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter to the East India Company,
01:21which started as a merchant group trading in spices. It would become a private army with over
01:27250,000 troops by the 18th century, twice the size of the British army itself at times.
01:33The company conquered, governed, and taxed much of India long before Britain officially did.
01:39Then came the colonies. The 13 American colonies, parts of the Caribbean, and coastal Africa.
01:45Sugar plantations in Jamaica and Barbados churned out wealth using enslaved Africans,
01:50laying the foundation for Britain's vast global economy. London banks became rich. Liverpool and
01:56Bristol thrived. Ships brought goods and slaves across the Atlantic in what became the triangular
02:01trade. The 18th century brought wars, and Britain kept winning. In the Seven Years' War, 1756-1763,
02:10Britain defeated France, gaining Canada and establishing dominance over French territories
02:14in India. It became the world's dominant naval power, a title it would hold for over a century.
02:21The American Revolution in 1776 was a loss, yes, but the empire pivoted. Instead of just the Atlantic,
02:28Britain turned toward Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. By the 1800s, it ruled India, controlled Australia,
02:35and carved out huge swathes of Africa. Entered the Industrial Revolution, coal, steam engines,
02:41and factories turned Britain into a global production powerhouse. Textiles, steel, and weapons were made
02:47cheaply and exported across the globe. Railroads and telegraphs followed the empire like the roots
02:52of a tree. Colonies weren't just subjects, they were markets and mines. By 1913, the British Empire
03:00reached its maximum size – 26% of the world's population and 24% of Earth's land area. It had over
03:07400 million people under its rule. It built schools, railways, ports, and parliaments, but also
03:13exploited land, erased cultures, and imposed English control over ancient civilizations. Some called it
03:20a civilizing mission. Others saw it as oppression in uniform. Still, the empire seemed unstoppable,
03:27until the cracks began to show.
03:29The Cracks Beneath the Surface
03:31The British Empire was a marvel of control, but control always comes at a cost. Beneath the
03:37grandeur of red-coated governors and sunlit colonies lay cracks, fractures formed by resistance,
03:43resentment, and rebellion. And those cracks were growing wider. Even in the 18th and 19th centuries,
03:49long before decolonization took center stage, people under British rule were beginning to push back.
03:55They resisted not just with swords and muskets, but with memory, language, and quiet refusal.
04:01Take India in 1857. Known in Britain as the Zapoy Mutiny, but in India rightfully remembered as the
04:07First War of Independence, it wasn't just about cartridges greased with animal fat.
04:12Indian soldiers and the British East India Company Army rose up against a system that disrespected their
04:17culture, their faith, and their people. The rebellion spread like wildfire. Cities were taken.
04:23British families fled or were killed. Eventually, the empire crushed the revolt with brutal force.
04:29But something irreversible had happened. The British crown dissolved the East India Company
04:34and took direct control. Empire had become empire in full. Jamaica saw its own reckoning in 1865
04:42with the Morant Bay Rebellion. Former slaves, promised land and equality, found themselves still
04:47stuck in poverty and injustice. When they protested, the governor unleashed a wave of executions,
04:53so ruthlessly that it sparked outrage back in Britain itself. Control was slipping, and the
04:58backlash was louder. In Africa, opposition simmered. In Kenya, early Kikuyu resistance began to stir even
05:06before the famed Mau Mau uprising. In southern Africa, the Zulu resisted wave after wave of British
05:12encroachment. Farther north in Sudan, the Mahdist revolt in the 1880s nearly ousted British forces
05:18entirely. The umpire wasn't rolling over continents. It was stomping, and the earth was starting to stomp
05:25back. Then there was Ireland, a colony hidden in plain sight. Centuries of repression had turned
05:32bitterness into identity. During the Great Famine of 1845-1852, over a million Irish died, and two million
05:39emigrated. British polities, like continued grain exports during the famine, only deepened Irish rage.
05:46Ireland wasn't just hungry, it was angry. Meanwhile, back in Britain, cracks were forming in the ideology,
05:53too. Enlightenment thinkers like John Stuart Mill began to ask, could a nation that preached liberty
05:59really justify owning half the globe? The answer was getting harder to stomach. And yet,
06:04the empire kept expanding. In 1884-1885, the Berlin Conference took place. Picture it – European
06:13powers gathered in a gilded room, carving up Africa like a birthday cake – with not a single African
06:18at the table. Although Britain already controlled key regions like Egypt and South Africa before the
06:23Berlin Conference of 1884-85, the agreements established there accelerated British expansion.
06:29In the decades that followed, Britain established control over large swathes of Africa, including
06:34Nigeria, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, and Rhodesia. By the early 20th century, Britain governed more than 30%
06:42of Africa's population, making it the continent's most populous colonial power. In Australia, indigenous
06:48people were pushed to the margins, often killed or displaced under policies of terra nullius, the belief
06:54that no one had truly owned the land before colonists arrived. In New Zealand, the Maori fought to hold
07:00their ground during the brutal land wars of the mid-1800s. The British civilizing mission brought
07:06railroads and schools, yes, but also disease, dispossession, and loss. But colonized people weren't
07:12just resisting with weapons. They were organizing. In India, Dadabai Naoroji became the first Indian elected
07:19the British Parliament. Bal Gangadar Tilak declared, Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it.
07:25These weren't fringe voices. They were the beginning of something enormous.
07:30In West Africa, intellectuals in Ghana and Nigeria began writing in English,
07:34but about African stories. In the Caribbean, poets and preachers reclaimed folklore, spirituality,
07:40and rhythm. Identity was rising as a force of rebellion. It wasn't just about throwing out the
07:46British. It was about finding what it meant to be not British. Cultural resistance mattered,
07:51and it was the start of a storm. The British Empire seemed unstoppable,
07:56its map endlessly red. But in every colony, the seeds of resistance had already been sown.
08:01Quiet at first, but growing louder. The 20th century loomed, and with it, everything would change.
08:08Wars that Broke the Empire If the 19th century was the age of imperial
08:13expansion, the 20th was the age of reckoning. And that reckoning came wrapped in smoke, fire,
08:18and the thunder of global war. World War I, from 1914 to 1918, was a turning point.
08:25Britain called on its empire, and the empire answered. Over 1.3 million Indian soldiers served.
08:31Troops from Nigeria, Kenya, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the Caribbean fought and died in muddy
08:37trenches far from home. It was, for many, their first taste of Mother England. But it wasn't sweet.
08:44Those who returned home brought not just physical scars, but deep questions. What were we fighting
08:49for? Freedom? Whose freedom? They had bled for an empire that wouldn't grant them basic rights.
08:56In India, the nationalist movement gathered speed. Mahatma Gandhi, once a lawyer in South Africa,
09:02emerged as a leader of breathtaking moral force. His tactics of non-violent resistance were new,
09:08powerful, and infuriating to the British. In 1919, a peaceful protest in Amrastar ended
09:14in horror when British troops opened fire on a crowd of unarmed civilians, killing at least 379.
09:21The Jalianwalabagh massacre sent shockwaves across India and across the world. In Ireland,
09:27the Easter Rising of 1916 was crushed in days. But the British overreaction, executing leaders and
09:33imprisoning thousands, backfired. By 1921, Ireland was partitioned. The South became the Irish Free
09:40State. Northern Ireland remained with the UK. The empire, for the first time, had lost a piece of
09:45its own home. And then came World War II. From 1939 to 1945, the empire once again stood on the brink.
09:54Again, the colonies stepped up. India sent 2.5 million soldiers, the largest voluntary army in
10:01world history. African, Caribbean, and Canadian troops fought bravely. Britain was never alone,
10:07but it was becoming increasingly indebted. By the war's end, London was bombed, rationing was still in
10:13place, and Britain owed billions to the United States. The empire, once self-funding, now ran on
10:19loans and American goodwill. Something had shifted. The moral high ground Britain once claimed,
10:25the great civilizer, the world's school teacher, was eroding. Colonized people had seen white men
10:31bleed and die, just like anyone else. They had seen hypocrisy and British ideals, and they had seen
10:37opportunity. The United Nations was formed in 1945, promoting self-determination. American President
10:44Franklin D. Roosevelt had made it clear, colonialism had to go. Even Britain's closest allies were now
10:50quietly urging decolonization. And then came India. On August 15, 1947, Britain granted independence to
10:58India and Pakistan. The subcontinent was split along religious lines. It was a moment of triumph and
11:05tragedy. Between 12 and 20 million people were displaced. More than one million died in ethnic
11:10violence. Train cars arrived at stations filled with corpses. The price of freedom had never been
11:16higher. India's independence was the symbolic collapse of the empire. If the crown jewel could
11:22leave, so could everyone else. In the next two decades, Britain's colonies began slipping away like sand
11:28through fingers. Ghana in 1957, Nigeria in 1960, Kenya in 1963. The Caribbean began gaining independence
11:37island by island. And this wasn't just retreat. It was reckoning. In places like Kenya, the Mau Mau
11:44uprising revealed dark truths. British colonial forces used detention camps, torture, and executions
11:50to repress rebellion. Years later, survivors would win lawsuits against the British government, forcing
11:56the empire to finally confront its past. Even back home, the British public began to shift. War fatigue,
12:03economic strain, and changing values led to a growing sense that the empire was no longer glorious.
12:08It was outdated. The empire wasn't just crumbling. It was being questioned, examined, and finally let go.
12:15But the journey wasn't over yet. The winds of change. Decolonization and collapse.
12:22After India, the dominoes fell quickly. Ghana became independent in 1957, led by Kwame Nkrumah,
12:29sparking a wave across Africa. Nigeria followed in 1960 and Kenya in 1963, though Kenya's path
12:36involved the bloody Mau Mau uprising, where atrocities were committed on both sides.
12:41The 1960s were the death knell of the empire. The wind of change, a phrase coined by British
12:46Prime Minister Harold MacMillan, summed it up. He told parliament that colonial independence was no
12:52longer a question of if, but when. The Caribbean followed suit. Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago gained
12:58independence in 1962. Smaller islands would follow in the decades ahead. In Asia, Malaysia declared
13:05independence in 1957. Hong Kong, held by Britain since 1842, was handed back to China in 1997,
13:12marking one of the final symbolic ends of British colonialism.
13:16The Suez Crisis of 1956 had shown just how weak Britain had become. When Egypt nationalized the Suez
13:22Canal, Britain tried to seize control, but was forced to back down by pressure from the US and USSR.
13:29The message was clear. Britain was no longer a global superpower.
13:33The empire was replaced by the Commonwealth, a voluntary association of independent nations
13:38with historic ties to Britain. Today, 56 countries belong to it, including India, Canada, Australia,
13:45South Africa, and many Caribbean nations. But it's symbolic. The days of British imperial rule are
13:51over. In 2022, Queen Elizabeth II's death marked another chapter's end. Her reign had begun when
13:58Britain still held vast colonies. By the time she passed, those colonies had become sovereign nations
14:04with their own destinies. Conclusion
14:07The British Empire didn't fall in a single moment. It withered, slowly, steadily, through resistance,
14:13reform, and reinvention. From trading posts, to global supremacy, to post-colonial reckoning,
14:19it shaped the modern world in profound ways. Yes, it built railways and institutions, but it also
14:25conquered, extracted, and dominated. Some nations emerged stronger, and some still struggle with the
14:30scars of colonialism. Languages, borders, and governments across the world still bear the
14:35fingerprints of empire. But here's what matters. The empire that once believed it could control the
14:41world learned, in the end, that people always want to be free, and they will rise, again and again,
14:47until they are. How would you like to get a deeper understanding of history? Impress your friends,
14:53and predict the future more accurately based on past events. If this sounds like something you might be
14:59into, then check out the brand new Captivating History Book Club by clicking the first link in the
15:04description. To learn more about the British Empire, check out our book, The British Empire,
15:09A Captivating Guide to the Largest Empire in History and Its Impact on the Age of Discovery,
15:14Transatlantic Slave Trade, The Americas, India, World War I, and more. It's available as an e-book,
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