Atrocities in the Jolly Old British Empire

[tattuchu]

The British Empire was largely based on a massive bluff. A District Officer would move into the middle of nowhere in some forsaken place in central Africa with a couple of hundred locally recruited 'police' and announce Britain now was everyone's boss. The bluff was called a few times, but really not that many. When it was retribution was usually very tough and very brutal - and imposed from the 'real' army force marching and meeting out self righteous s retribution!

I know this as my parents in 1951 were part of the last generation to go out to the Empire to 'serve' (for which read 'guard British interests')

If only the U.S. were still ruled by Britain

[tattuchu]

Out of curiosity, why did you give up so easily on your American colony? Or was it a rough fight? I've really no idea. In History class, we learned that we were angry at the English for all the taxes we had to pay. That was the thrust of it. Just taxes. So we dumped a whole lot of tea in the Boston harbor in protest, and then things got unpleasant. But not too unpleasant, as we beat your old-fashioned quaint little army (so helpfully standing in big groups, easy to pick off, while we hid behind trees) rather easily, and with no help from the French at all. Though the French gave us that nice statue at the end of it all, just because they liked us for some reason. Not sure exactly why. You know how queer the French are.

What's your take on The American Revolution? What do you even call the war? Or do you just ignore that it ever happened? For us, of course, it's a huge deal. For you English...maybe not? Not sure. Do you even learn about it in school? Funny thing is, when I made friends with an English boy some years back on the Playstation forum, he really had no idea what I was on about. The conversation went something like this:
Me: "Yeah so sorry about the tea."
Ash: "The tea?"
Me: "In the harbor."
Ash: "What are you talking about?"
Me: "You know, the whole tea-in-the-harbor thing."
Ash: "Dave, I really have no idea what you're talking about."
Me: "In the war!"
Ash: "What war?"
Me: "The American Revolution! Where we dumped all your tea in the harbor! It was a huge deal. Don't you remember?"
Ash: "Dave, I really have no idea what you're talking about."
Me: "Well what do you call the war?"
Ash: "Which war?"
Me: "The one where we fought you for our independence! And dumped all your tea in the harbor!"
Ash: "I really don't know anything about that."
Me: "Didn't you learn about it in school? It was really kind of a big deal."
Ash: "No I don't think so. Not to us, I guess."

[Rum]

We did seem to have a particularly inept government at the time.

Then there were those damned silly red coats!

[mistermack]

The British Empire was largely based on a massive bluff. A District Officer would move into the middle of nowhere in some forsaken place in central Africa with a couple of hundred locally recruited 'police' and announce Britain now was everyone's boss. The bluff was called a few times, but really not that many. When it was retribution was usually very tough and very brutal - and imposed from the 'real' army force marching and meeting out self righteous s retribution!

I know this as my parents in 1951 were part of the last generation to go out to the Empire to 'serve' (for which read 'guard British interests')

If only the U.S. were still ruled by Britain

Wot, like Canada, and Australia, and New Zealand?

If the US had been in the commonwealth, there would be a lot more Jews and Russians alive today.
Millions. In fact, the Nazis might not have got the nerve up to start a war.
In which case the Japs certainly wouldn't.