Download The British EmpireMARCH OF THE TITANS

The British EmpireMARCH OF THE TITANS A HISTORY OF THE WHITE RACE
Chapter 46 : The Sun Never Sets - The British Empire
When the British Empire was at its height in the early 1900s, it included over
20 percent of the world's land area and more than 400 million people - the
single largest empire in the history of the world since time began. This
remarkable achievement by a country half the size of France, was a tribute to
the superb organizational skills of the White empire builders of that nation:
the saying that the "sun never set on the British Empire" was very close to the
truth: because of its geographic spread, some territory, somewhere, was always
in the daylight hours.
This astonishing empire was never undone in the way that the Roman Empire was:
instead it dissolved peacefully, by mutual consent, and the British, apart from
creating the world's largest empire, also had the privilege of being the only
empire builders not to be destroyed in their far flung empire itself.
Origins UNDER ELIZABETH I
The first moves by the British to establish an empire came during the reign of
Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603). Elizabeth was a far-sighted sovereign who
financially supported the voyages of exploration, mainly through her favorite,
Sir Francis Drake, who in 1580, became the first Englishman to sail around the
world, following a Spanish expedition a few years previously.
The English East India Company ESTABLISHED IN 1600
The British were, like the Dutch and Spanish, quick to realize the potential of
trade with the newly discovered lands. In 1600, the English East India Company
was established to facilitate the trade, but because of the then continuing war
with Spain, the British overseas interests were limited to mainly raiding
Spanish fleets.
Sir Walter Raleigh'S FAILED ATTEMPT TO COLONIZE AMERICA
The very first attempt at creating a British colony in the Americas was launched
by the English adventurer, Sir Walter Raleigh, in 1585. This settlement did not
survive, and the English did not attempt further exploration and colonization in
the Americas until 1604, after peace had been made with Spain. Raleigh himself
gained fame in the war with Spain, but fell out of favor with the English
monarch and was later imprisoned in the Tower of London, finally being executed
in 1618.
North America COLONIZED in 17th CENTURY
During the 17th Century, Britain established its first permanent colonies in
North America, first in Virginia, and then in the Caribbean, with tobacco
plantations in the West Indies and religious colonies along the Atlantic coast
of North America.
FIRST SLAVES IN AMERICA WERE WHITE
The first British foothold in the West Indies was Saint Christopher (later Saint
Kitts), acquired in 1623. A little known fact about the first English
plantations established in the West Indies was that the laborers who were first
used to work these were initially white indentured slaves from England.
Jamaica - FIRST COLONY SEIZED BY FORCE
In 1655, the English conquered the Spanish colony of Jamaica, the first ever
British colony to be seized by force of arms. The English invasion was only
formally acknowledged by Spain in 1670.
Black Slaves IMPORTED TO CARIBBEAN
The continuing acquisition of Caribbean Islands by the British saw the
establishment of sugarcane plantations, which were labor intensive industries.
The British then set up the Royal Africa Company in 1672, to import Black slaves
to the Caribbean. Before this time there were no Blacks in the Caribbean at all
- but by 1680, the annual rate of Black importation had reached over 70,000 each
year - this policy resulted in the majority of the population, in Jamaica
especially, being Black, something that would later determine the future of
these islands.
The Mayflower BRINGS RELIGIOUS REFUGEES TO NORTH AMERICA
The great English religious settlements in North America started in 1620 with
the arrival of the Pilgrims, who sailed from the English city of Plymouth in the
ship, the Mayflower, landing in Massachusetts Bay in 1620.
These White Protestant extremists - Puritans who held that the Anglican Church
of England was still too close to the Catholic Church - set up a Puritan
community, forming the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1628. Other religious
colonies were established in Rhode Island (1636), where the colony was based on
the principle of religious toleration; Connecticut (1639), based on
Congregationalist religious beliefs; and Maryland (1634), a haven for Roman
Catholics.
DUTCH CITY OF NEW AMSTERDAM SEIZED - RENAMED New York
Slowly the English penetrated further down the eastern coastline. In 1664, New
Amsterdam was seized from the Netherlands and renamed New York. The Dutch
inhabitants were the first large established White settlement to be subdued by
force into the then growing British Empire. By 1681, an English adventurer,
William Penn, had, under Royal permission, established a new colony which was
called Pennsylvania.
Further North American Expansion
After Pennsylvania had been established, British colonies in North America were
strengthened by two developments:
• the Hudson's Bay Company was established near Hudson Bay to participate
in the
fur trade by 1688; and
• in 1714, as a result of an European war which the French lost, the
British
captured the French colonies of Acadia and Newfoundland.
BRITISH Penal Settlements IN NORTH AMERICA
The British then hit upon a novel use for its North American colonies; they
presented ideal dumping grounds for convicted felons from England, and in 1718,
the Transportation Act became law which subsidized the moving of convicted
criminals from Britain to North America. Georgia, originally a refuge for
debtors, became the 13th American colony in 1732, and the colony of New England
then began to fill out and extend further into the interior.
French COLONIES Seized AFTER EUROPEAN WAR
As a result of the Seven Years' War in Europe (1756-1763), Britain was able to
seize further French colonies in North America: in 1758, the French fortress of
Louisburg fell, giving the British access to the Saint Lawrence Valley. In 1759,
the city of Quebec was captured, marking the end of the French colonial presence
in Canada.
BRITAIN LOSES NORTH AMERICAN DOMINANCE WITH The American Revolution
Just as the British colonies in North America seemed to be reaching a peak, the
colonists themselves broke out in revolt against British rule, resulting in the
American Revolution and War of Independence which occurred from 1776 to 1779.
This momentous event, detailed in another chapter, saw the British lose all
their North American possessions except for Canada, which subsequently became
known as British North America and remained a loyal colony and later a member of
the British Commonwealth.
The history of Canada is also remarkable in itself, and is therefore the subject
of a further separate study, suffice to say here that over 30,000 loyalist
colonists emigrated from the United States of America to Canada at the time of
the American War of Independence.
BRITISH EXPANSION IN THE FAR EAST
Stung by the loss of what clearly was turning into the most important colony of
all, Britain then turned its attention to the east, following up on the initial
trading settlements established by the English East India Company.
India: the British Establish the City of Calcutta
Although the story of the British involvement in India is dramatic and is
studied in detail in the next chapter, it is still necessary to here review the
major developments. By 1700, the English East India Company had set up three
major trading posts in India, being careful at the time to engage in trade only
and making no attempt to colonize or rule the locals.
In fact, through co-operation with a local prince, the British succeeded in
building a factory on a site on the Hooghly river, a development which
eventually became the city of Calcutta. A conflict with a French mission in
Bengal, which culminated in a British force defeating a combined French and
Indian army at the Battle of Plessey in 1757, saw the British establish their
first major area of jurisdiction on the Indian subcontinent in Bengal. Other
large parts of India were only to come under British rule after 1858.
Race war with Burma
Although the British did not initially have any intention of expanding further
in Southeast Asia, aggression from the Burmese Konbaung dynasty resulted in
several cross border attacks against India and the scattered British outposts:
this led to the First Anglo-Burmese War of 1824 to 1826, which saw the Burmese
suffer the fate of most Second World powers attempting to take on the First
World with its technological advantage: the Burmese were destroyed and forced to
cede several large coastal areas to the Whites.
Above: A Burmese position, overrun by British troops, 1885. Note that by
this time the Burmese had been able to capture and use White technology,
namely the cannon, visible bottom left.
Further conflicts resulted in the Second and Third Anglo-Burmese Wars (1852 and
1885) which eventually saw Britain occupying all of Burma, with the country
being officially made a province of India in 1886.
WARS IN Afghanistan SEE THAT Land's INDEPENDENCE
By the middle of the 19th Century, the British, who had established themselves
in India, started eyeing Afghanistan as a potential area for further expansion mainly motivated by a desire to stop the Russians encroaching from the north of
that country. The Afghans however rebelled: thereafter the British, using White
troops and Indian recruits, fought three major race wars against the Afghans:
the First Anglo-Afghan War (1838-1842); the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-1880);
and the Third Anglo-Afghan War (1919).
The third war was the last: after it a peace treaty recognized the independence
of the by then thoroughly mixed race country.
The First Anglo-Afghan war resulted in the famous battle of Khyber Pass (1842),
where nearly 16000 White British troops and their non-White Indian recruits were
trapped and killed by the Afghans.
During the second Anglo-Afghan war, three divisions of the British army invaded
Afghanistan from India. Kabul, the capital, was taken in 1879, and in 1880, the
Afghans were defeated at the battle of Kandahar, which saw an end to that war.
Australia NEW FOCUS FOR PENAL COLONIES
Although the Australian subcontinent had been explored in the 1600s, it was only
after the loss of the North American penal colonies, that the British started
sending the first significant numbers of White settlers to that country. The
history of Australia, which became an important part of the British Empire, is
recounted in a separate chapter.
Gibraltar SEIZED FROM SPAIN in 1714
As a result of the end of the Spanish War of Succession in 1714, Britain
obtained the Spanish islands of Gibraltar and Minorca, giving the British their
first physical presence in the Mediterranean Sea.
The Napoleonic Wars GIVE BRITAIN MASTERY OF THE SEAS
The outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe saw Britain's land empire expand
once again through a series of conquests of French or French allied territories.
This expansion was linked to the great British naval victory over the French
fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805: the destruction of the French fleet
led to the British navy establishing its mastery of the seas, a situation which
would remain unchanged until the early 20th Century. A British naval fleet,
operating out of the new British bases in the Mediterranean, were instrumental
in chasing the French out of Egypt after Napoleon invaded that country in 1798.
Territorial Acquisitions as a Result of the Napoleonic Wars
In 1794, Britain captured the French sugar-producing islands around Guadeloupe
in the Caribbean. This resulted in a glut of sugar on the British market and
contributed indirectly to British legislation in 1807 abolishing the slave
trade, by virtue of the fact that production was so high that few new slaves
were needed. (The islands were later returned to France.)
During the war, the Netherlands became aligned with France, and Britain seized
several Dutch possessions, including the Cape Colony in South Africa; Ceylon
(later Sri Lanka) off the Indian coast; and parts of Guiana in South America.
South Africa SEIZED FROM DUTCH
Thousands of British colonists settled in South Africa after 1820, and English
became the official language in that colony in 1822. South Africa developed into
one of the most interesting racial case studies. Due to the large non-British
element of the White population, its relations with Britain were always stormy:
they are reviewed in full in a later chapter.
Rhodesia SEIZED FROM BLACK TRIBES
By 1893, British rule had extended north to Matabeleland in present day
Zimbabwe, leading to the creation of what became known as the Colony of Southern
Rhodesia, later Zimbabwe. The Black Matabele revolted against British rule
almost immediately in 1896, but were put down with a massive show of arms by the
White colonists, sparking off a conflict of that nature which would only finally
end in 1980.
The Gold Coast AND SIERRA LEONE - FREE SLAVE SETTLEMENTS
The establishment of British outposts on the west coast of Africa - initially as
trading posts, then for emancipated slave settlements and then for military base
purposes, led to an ever increasing area of jurisdiction being established.
These territories included Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast.
The Ashanti Wars in NIGERIA
This creeping influence of the British over the Black tribes led to a number of
race wars in West Africa: the longest running being with the Ashanti tribesmen.
These race wars started in 1823 and ran intermittently from that year until
around 1900. In the Niger delta of Nigeria, (from the Latin "niger", for
"black") the British decided to take control of the increasing trade in palm
oil, and in 1852, by sheer military threat, they forced the Blacks in Lagos to
accept British protection. In 1861, Lagos was annexed as a crown colony.
Egypt - THIRD WORLD CHAOS SEES BRITISH INTERVENTION
The construction of the Suez Canal in 1869 (designed by an Austrian, Alois
Negrilli, and built by a Frenchman, Ferdinand de Lesseps), saw Britain being
given a protectorate over the canal region to safeguard it. As the rest of Egypt
had dropped into Third World chaos, the new arrangement effectively meant a
British administration for all of Egypt.
During the First World War, Britain declared Egypt a protectorate as a defensive
measure against the Turks who had entered that war on the side of Germany.
Effective British control of Egypt continued through a series of puppet Egyptian
rulers until 1952.
New Colonies in AFRICA
The creation of British rule over Egypt sparked off a new wave of African
colonization for Britain, this time racing against other European powers for
territory. By 1885, Britain had effectively seized or annexed, through war or
treaty, huge slices of Africa: the Sudan (1881), Bechuanaland (now Botswana) in
1885, Uganda in1894; the first British settlers in Kenya started arriving
towards the end of the 19th century
Gordon of Khartoum - KILLED IN NATIVE UPRISING
In 1877, the British appointed one of their most able generals, Charles Gordon,
as governor of Sudan. Establishing a strict colonial rule based in the capital
city, Karthoum, Gordon established a police force and a court system and
attempted to suppress the slave trade in the region. Muslim militancy was by
then again a growing force: a Muslim uprising against White British rule in both
Egypt and the Sudan started in 1883, and was particularly successful in the
Sudan: by 1885 Gordon and a tiny White British contingent had been surrounded in
Khartoum by a Muslim army drawn up mostly from locals.
Gordon held out against the siege in Khartoum for ten months under the most
appalling conditions, but was killed by the non-White besiegers on 26 January
1886, only two days before a British relief column under general Kitchner was
able to reach Karthoum and suppress the Muslim army.
World War One GIVES BRITAIN MUCH OF FORMER OTTOMAN TERRITORY IN MIDDLE EAST
The outcome of the First World War in 1919, saw the British Empire at its
height: the Treaty of Versailles gave Britain most of the German Empire in
Africa, while the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East led to the
British acquisition of Palestine and Iraq in 1918.
Dissolution of the Empire AFTER WORLD WAR II
The British Empire only finally started dissolving after the First World War,
with the process being speeded up dramatically in the aftermath of the Second
World War. The primary reason for the dissolution of the empire was economic and
political rather than racial: after the Second World War, Britain was simply too
impoverished to continue holding on to an empire created in a previous century,
and it was easier to grant independence to the far flung colonies, especially
when some of these turned violent.
The process of decolonization is reviewed later: suffice to say here that the
dissolution of the British Empire eventually led to waves of Third World
immigrants settling in Britain itself, the consequences thereof being dealt with
later in this book.
Chapter 47
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