American Reacts to Why Britain Advanced Before Other European Nations - Thomas Sowell

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In this video I react to why Britain advanced before other European nations. It makes so much sense now how Britain became so powerful. Thomas Sowell does a great job explaining how a few key things led to this power.
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[@frglee]

At school in the UK, we studied the Agricultural revolution in the 1700s where new farming methods, devices and crops provided the capital and environment for inventiveness, improved materials, the factory system, technology, science and education which led to the first true Industrial Revolution on the planet after the 1790s, and was quickly imitated elsewhere. All this in a small island country that, as well as having fertile land and a gentle climate providing a large range of agricultural produce, was resource-rich in coal and iron and other minerals. A powerful navy that developed from the late 1500s to defend the country from foreign invaders ensured security at home whilst facilitating conquest and trade - both with importing raw materials and agricultural produce and exporting manufactured goods around the planet, a most unpleasant part of all this being involvement in the slave trade, but after strong abolitionist campaigning ended up with lengthy British naval efforts after 1830 to end it worldwide. But yes, as this video shows, there were other factors in play, such as an independent and impartial legal system that allowed business and investment to thrive, as well as a tradition of the 'protestant hard work ethic', enterprise and inventiveness.

[@davidsmith8279]

We Are The People.

[@gavin1506]

you have to remember our Navy changed after the Spithead revolt. TO make it a more competent Navy. They removed the Gentleman status from a RN Officer. Which meant you worked for your rank and did not buy it, unlike other Navies and Armies.

[@leightonrud66]

That's why the US ended up massive in just 400 years or so. Our British ancestors colonizing it. Sure, our past relatives squabbled and had a war but America was the result and we have 2 strong allied nations

[@sunway1374]

Not sure I fully agree with the original premise that Britain was more advanced than other European countries. We can examine why Britain became so powerful or advanced. But France and Spain had a large number of colonies too. Even much smaller countries like the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal had valuable colonies. Austria was rich and powerful. Germany although didn't have a large global empire has been very advanced in their engineering and science, some would argue now has long overtaken Britain in their technologies. How advanced a country was cannot be measured solely by the size of its empire. There are also differences between "advanced" and "powerful", can't mix up discussions of the two.

[@gavin1506]

@@sunway1374 I think you missed the point. You need to look at the starts of things. UK is ahead at almost every turn. Other countries became large due to their technical advances

[@thecraggrat]

And something that would exist if Britain didn't have its empire - rampant slavery around the world would still exist.

[@silentauditor9513]

Well said mate… a fact always overlooked and understated.

[@jackmason4374]

Slavery Still exists in a lot of countries

[@johnross2924]

​@@jackmason4374 not in the civilised countries though.

[@jackmason4374]

@@johnross2924 you think ?

[@deaconjohn6838]

And black do slavery to there own people to this day

[@neilferguson5940]

We also gave the world rail travel ,George Stevenson. This enabled other countries to catch up. They will never be another empire like it in human history IMO

[@youtubegavemynameawaycuntbags]

i loved learning about the stephensons rocket lol

[@blessingmasawi3616]

There will it just needs another technological or practical advance that is as far or further than competitors this happened routinely throughout human history. From the Egyptians with farming. The Assyrians? (With bronze) then iron. Each time one person discovers something like this. Their country will advance and expand, and an empire has formed every time that a big advance happens. Also modern empires will not be political IMO but economic cause of how much more powerful that is now than the military. (Before counties would spend well over 40%gdp on military cause no economies were that efficient, or that totally capitalist) now economics is literal war cause of how extremely specialist and capitalist we are compared to our ancestors

[@clivehaynes2183]

Yes there will if the globalist get their way as we will be one global imprisoned nation.

[@Dan-kb2oz]

If you didn't see the opening ceremony to the 2012 Olympic Games in London it had a cool theatrical display of Britain going through the industrial revolution.

[@shaggybaggums]

That was my favourite part when they were doing the forging.

[@Dan-kb2oz]

@@shaggybaggums Aye, brilliantly done! Shame how far we've fallen since (I should say how far we've been dragged by bad actors and gullible people.)

[@fayesouthall6604]

@@Dan-kb2ozI often see clips of the opening ceremony and feel so sad.

[@Naptosis]

It was an honour to be a part of it! That year we won the Nobel Peace Prize too (with the rest of the EU). Was a great year!

[@dnyhan]

​@@fayesouthall6604 The last high point before a terminal decline.

[@darrenreslis594]

If you ever go to the UK make sure to visit a place called "Dudley" in the Midlands near Birmingham and go and visit the Black Country Living Museum (Google it, too much to explain here), it explains and showcases the entire Industrial Revolution. I took my American Dad there a few years ago and he was blown away, the comment that made me laugh was "The Brits were riding trains while we were still killing dinner with a stick". My British Mom likes to quote that back to him every so often when he thinks he is being clever. What surprised him was just how much of today’s technology can follow its roots back to that era in the UK where they were just throwing world changing invention after invention after invention out there, neither he or I realised just how much of our tech owes its existence to that tiny island. Oh yeah, minor point, there is a castle next door to it of which the eldest part is 7 centuries older than the USA, or the Priory ruins next to it which are a mere 860 years old. If you have watched Peaky Blinders, pretty much all of the canal and forge scenes were filmed at the Black Country Museum.

[@dee2251]

I’m from Dudley. We also have Dudley castle and did you know, that Abraham Darby is the Father of the Industrial Revolution? He was born at Wrens Nest in Dudley, then moved to Telford in Shropshire (not far). It was he who perfected casting iron which led to the first iron bridge ever built in Telford where it still stands today at a place that was re-named ‘IronBridge’ in honour of the achievement. The rest, as they say, is history and it changed the entire world.

[@Si_Mondo]

​​@@dee2251 Ironbridge was a staple destination for school trips, back when I was a kid and still is today. Americans who swoop over pictures of English countryside (I know you're out there,though it can't be much different from the countryside of the Eastern Seaboard 😅) really should check out Ironbridge, either through photos or visiting anytime through Spring, Summer to early Autumn (Fall). The place is gorgeous when the weather is good.

[@youtubegavemynameawaycuntbags]

dudlye

[@byrospyro4432]

@@Si_Mondo I live next to the Ironbridge its crazy seeing this comment, if you want to see a really good museum here go to Blists Hill, its like a big Victorian age town its really awesome, another cool place to check out is the Coalbrookdale museum there's a big blast furnace in there and it was how we became superior at making iron and steel.

[@thomasweir2834]

The Black Country living museum is excellent. I’ve been a couple of times. It’s really interesting . The other good one is Beamish Museum in Durham, that’s fascinating too.

[@fishfingers8441]

Thomas Sowell is a legend :D

[@t.a.k.palfrey3882]

Your comparisons were interesting as to sizes of famous empires. At its largest extent, the Roman Empire encompassed about 5 million sq kms. The Persian Empire's maximum was 5.5 million sq kms. At its greatest extent, in 1920, the British Empire covered 35.5 million sq kms, or 25 percent of the world's land area.

[@stevebarnes1857]

this overlooked the canal building erea just prior to the industrial revolution, canals enabled the industrial revolution to really take off by opening up the interior of the country so, for example, coal could be taken to areas that didn't have coal but had large amounts of other material for manufacturing and raw materials could be taken to the mills such as raw cotton form the US. They essentially fed off each other then leading to railways and motor transport.

[@betawan3195]

wow i hadnt realised it was that big in comparison .in global economy terms, the persian salt industry is nothing compared to resources the uk pulled ,also worth noting that at the end of this era Winston Churchil put the uk in with europe to keep it all going

[@gbulmer]

@@betawan3195 You wrote _"also worth noting that at the end of this era Winston Churchill put the uk in with Europe to keep it all going."_ What were you siting as the event or organisation? Winston Churchill certainly gave speeches about creating European institutions. However, Winston Churchill was no longer Prime Minister for several years before the Council of Europe was established. A Labour government turned down an invitation to join a precursor of the EEC (European Coal and Steel Community - ECSC). France's president, Charles De Gaul, vetoed the UK joining the EEC twice, first in 1963, and Winston Churchill died in 1965. The British Tory Prime Minister, Edward Heath, AFAIK building on progress by the previous Labour government, was eventually able to take the UK into the EEC. So, I really don't understand what your are comment about Winston Churchill relates to. Best Wishes. ☮

[@Anglo_Saxon1]

Canada alone is nearly the size of the Roman and Persian Empires put together.

[@betawan3195]

@@gbulmer i guess he sprang to mind given the latter dates were around the great wars ,i believe he was only continuing an older plan set out around the end of 19th century great game ,you are spot on tho we joined later but he was the last of that old empire that saw value in uniting europe

[@annemariefleming]

Technology was one of the major advances. So many inventions came out of Britain. Trains, the seed drill, cotton manufacturing tools, and many maritime innovations all played their parts too.

[@2opler]

I don`t think the agricultural revolutions get as much credit as they should. You have to feed people. Not as sexy as the industrial revolution though, no sparks or steam engines😄

[@PanglossDr]

No, relatively few inventions came from Britain. What Britain did was exploit inventions from all over using the wealth from slavery.

[@mariajones8995]

True, learning british history will answer all the Whys of other countries.

[@janolaful]

Manchester were the biggest in cotton industry till the cotton famine they refused to use cotton picked by slaves. Abe Lincoln and the 'sublime heroism' of British workers his letter thanking them.

[@PanglossDr]

@@janolaful You should educate yourself on how Manchester's wealth was built on exploitation of other countries, particularly India.

[@Kari_B61ex]

I love my countries history - I live in Exeter, which was founded way back in 55AD, then it was Isca Dumnoniorum. My City (Exeter) still retains 60% of the old Roman walls, it was back in Roman times classed as the capital of the Dumnonii. I research my family history and my Ancestors originated from Devon, Birmingham and the French Huguenots. I just love history and family history.

[@Neil-pv8pw]

yes the longest roman rd starts in exeter and goes to the fossewat in the cotwolds up to birmingham

[@reactingtomyroots]

Sounds like an interesting place. I'll have to check it out sometime soon.

[@rachelpenny5165]

I grew up near the village of Winkleigh. Halfway between Exeter and Barnstaple. Did my GCSEs in Chulmleigh and my A levels in Barnstaple. If I lived 1/4 mile down the road, I would have done both exams in Okehampton. I liked the Roman roads. Even though I live in SW Hampshire now, down there is still home to me. I especially miss Dartmoor. Best wishes

[@Kari_B61ex]

@@reactingtomyroots It is steeped in history. It's a modern city today but still has lots of ancient buildings to visit. Exeter Cathedral for one - it's amazing. I visit often.

[@TheTyke]

Dumnonii/Dumnon is the source of the name Devon, too. As it would be pronounced Dove-known-E-eye/Dove-known-ee (Duvnonii/Duvnon) and then later Devon. Out of interest, what sides of your family are Devonian and which are Brummy and French Hugenot?

[@jonathanashbrook5083]

A lot of people miss the fact that Great Britain was the first true capitalistic country and its growth into an empire has more to do with making money at all costs than actually invading other countries directly. As my history teacher told the class... money is more powerful than guns.

[@petebennett3733]

The east India company was in away the precursor to the empire in the roundabout sort of way

[@jonathanashbrook5083]

Exactly 💯

[@mehitabel6564]

Yes, Britain's growth of empire was first and foremost based on trading, not conquest.

[@DoomsdayR3sistance]

The Dutch got more into investment earlier than Britain did. Britain was more well placed however for immigrants seeking passage to America and for trade with the new American colonies, additionally Britain economically focused more on the waterways and seas than any other nation since geographically Britain is an Island nation with many rivers and great locations for docklands. Britain was more success because Britain was more maritime, and the Netherlands itself did do well in the maritime field, but England/Britain could just beat the Dutch to the punch in the maritime trade and was better located geographically in the end. However this and the Video missed an important aspect of what actually led to the Industrial revolution, that being the Second Agricultural Revolution, Interestingly enough, the countries involved in that again were primarily Netherlands and Great Britain. The Agricultural Revolution led to a reduction in the amount of population that worked in Agriculture which increased the amount of people working in other fields and opened a significant amount of possibilities for both the Netherlands and Great Britain. It's easily overlooked how closely competitive Great Britain and Netherlands were around this period of history.

[@Neil-pv8pw]

we used peoples desires and wants and greed and monetized it but ultimately people had free will and enslaved themselves and are still doing it today. status and class is what drives horny young people to work hard

[@permets2apollox453]

Gotta love Mr Sowell

[@watchtheskies]

My Father's ancestors lived and worked on the canals during the industrial revolution, transporting materials and goods between Liverpool docks and the factorys in Birmingham, one of the biggest manufacturing cities in England at that time.

[@cairistionamacleod3154]

Mine too on my grannies side

[@ironchestnutter]

So did mine. My dad even grew up in a lock house, and my aunt and uncle still do.

[@what-uc]

Britain is a nation built on the very scowling face of adversity, its dauntless spirit unbowed by any crisis. This is Brtain, and in this glittering sea, this perfect fusion of man and mineral, we know that conflict will always perish in the brotherhood of flags. This is Britain, and everything's alright, EVERYTHING'S alright, it's OK, it's FINE.

[@jgmichael2222]

God bless the UK. Yes, we ought to agree with you. God certainly had a great plan for Great Britain; the world has everywhere been by enriched through the influence of Great Britain. In gratitude may we pray that the UK will continue to be an influence for good and her people be abundantly blessed.

[@archiebald4717]

Britain made the modern world.

[@pauldsheppard126]

Yeah, and the whole world is in the process of creating a whole new 'modern' world. 'modern' is a relative world. Try looking to the future, rather than be hung up on the past.

[@pauldsheppard126]

Actually, looking at the so called 'modern world' i'd say is that really something to be proud of anyway? Do you really want to take credit for the mess we now find ourselves in? Modern ≠ Good

[@archiebald4717]

@@pauldsheppard126 What? The world's population lives longer than ever, is better fed than ever, better educated than ever, more mobile than ever, more deomocratic than ever, more just than ever. The numbers of infant and maternal deaths are lower than ever. Slavery has been outlawed everywhere. Industrialisation has lifted billions out of absolute poverty. Life has never been more convenient. Would you rather live a short life of poverty, sickness, slavery and graft, as in the 17th Century, or live a longer healthier freer life now? Britain made the modern world which is much better than the world that was there in the 1600s.

[@archiebald4717]

@@pauldsheppard126 Without the past, the future has nothing to build on mate. Without the past, there would be no computers, nuclear power, telephones, cash machines, jet engines, et al. You cannot predict the future at all!! Everything that comes after today, comes from the developments, inventions and discoveries of the past. Britain made the modern world and made the future possible.

[@pauldsheppard126]

@@archiebald4717 what world are you living in? My guess is a middle class cocooned one. I don't even know where to start correcting you. Basically, you're speaking total shit.

[@Ayns.L14A]

Hadrians' Wall...A World Heritage Site since 1987, Hadrian’s Wall is an astounding feat of engineering. It’s the best known and the best preserved frontier of the Roman Empire. When Hadrian’s men set out to construct it they were faced with a relentlessly challenging and variable landscape to conquer. Not the fierce torrents of fast rivers, the hard rock of the Whin Sill, nor mile upon mile of rolling hills would defeat them. The Wall is Britain’s most impressive and most important Roman monument. Together with the Antonine Wall and the Upper German Raetian Limes, it forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site ‘Frontiers of the Roman Empire. On becoming Roman Emperor in 117AD, Hadrian set about making the Empire more secure, separating Roman and Barbarian territories. The most spectacular example of this is the great Wall he ordered his army to build to define the north-west frontier of the Roman Empire. It was a gargantuan task which he came to inspect in AD122 while work was in progress. The Wall sprawled across 73 miles from Wallsend in the east to the Solway Firth in the west. Although the curtain Wall itself finished at the Solway Firth, its forts, milecastles and turrets continued down the Cumbrian coast to Maryport with further forts marking the miles beyond to Ravenglass. Hadrian visited Britain in AD122 and, according to his biographer, writing two centuries later, was ‘the first to build a Wall 80 miles long from sea to sea to separate the Romans from the barbarians’. In that way, a function, probably the chief function, of the Wall, was frontier control, just like modern frontier barriers. Here, the army enforced the regulations which governed access to the empire. It would appear, from comments about other frontiers, that people could only enter the empire at designated points and travel unarmed and under military escort to specified markets or other places. The Wall would also help to prevent raiding which we know happened on all frontiers. The purpose of the auxilliary units based in the frontier area

[@CeleWolf]

Modern finds and ideas say the wall kept the English in

[@tracy6568]

Thankyou for that very interesting!

[@stephenwhite345]

Have you ever heard of the wall in China?

[@Ayns.L14A]

@@stephenwhite345 Yes but I don't live anywhere near it and I've never hiked it sooo your point???

[@stephenwhite345]

@@Ayns.L14A i too have walked hadrian's wall, swam in crag lough and climbed the cliffs of crag lough. I'm well familiar with the history and location of the wall. The military road I've been along hundreds of times and enjoyed the dips too. Chollerford is absolutely beautiful. My point is as a feat of engineering it's not that big a deal compared with other walls

[@susansmiles2242]

I live in the north west of the UK just a few miles away from Manchester and the town nearest where I live at one time had over 400 cotton mills and produced more than 25% of the cotton cloth manufactured in the UK During the American civil war we were very dependent on raw cotton from the US but I understand that most of the people stood behind Abraham Lincoln and he sent funds to the UK to support struggling communities during this time. There is a statue to him in Manchester close to the town hall

[@samuel10125]

It reminds me on a famous passage of Winston Churchills speech "We Shall fight on the Beachs"he made in the House of Commons" "I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty’s Government-every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength. Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."

[@Rowlph8888]

Sorry, but I have to point out that "all" of Britain's freedoms and industrial achievements and conquest, and infrastructure transfers were achieved in spite of men like Churchill and the Conservative (Tory) party, in particular.If you research the Congress of Vienna (1815) video, it breaks down each European power than their position leading up to this Congress, which shaped the modern world, post the Napoleonic wars. after the English Bill of Rights (1689) every single parliament for over a century was the Whig party, which became so dominant that it split into a liberal and a conservative faction within the party and the party stood for free-market capitalism, investment and the growth of parliamentary power to marginalise the aristocracy.The Tory party was the aristocratic and landowning party, which was marginalised. This effectively means that the growth of the British Empire, industrialisation and freedoms were all won by marginalising the Tories and royalty and aristocrats like Churchill it's a common misconception that considers that the royalty, is associated with the British Empire and aristocracy like churchill are almost the reason for britain's progress, when objectively they were just like the autocratic european powers that were in the shadow of britain for those centuries. likewise, since the whig party disbanded and the liberal party took over along with the labour party, the tory party has continued and has also rejected every single positive thing that the country has achieved since the liberal party took over. The nhs, employment tribunal's, legal aid, et cetera were all won by the Liberals or the Labour Party, despite total opposition from the Conservative party . The Conservative party has achieved nothing for the country ever, and yet people still keep selecting them as if they are the party of business, when in fact they are the opposite - they are the party of anticapitalism and keeping power in the hands of the aristocracy and the rich in general (nothing to do with investment or business)

[@Carroty_Peg]

now our parliament is destroying it allowing the boat people in

[@JJfromPhilly67]

​@Xar I don't know where you learn your history, but it's wrong. The NHS was agreed in principle before Labour came to power. Perhaps you don't remember that Lloyd George and Churchill as Liberals were the great movers of the foundation of the welfare state. The Conservatives under Benjamin Disraeli pushed forward a great reform that broadened the right to vote more than any other party in the 19th century. With the exception of the current fake Conservatives, every time Labour gets in, Britain's finances suffer and a Conservative government has to come in and make the hard choices. 1931, 1951, 1970, 1979, 2010. If the current crowd would pursue sound and responsible finances and policies, things would be better. The nationalization of industries by Labour 1945-1951 using loans by the USA for rebuilding and retooling led directly to the problems of the 1970s. But you continue to believe that Labour has done everything great and good.

[@Rowlph8888]

@@rachaelstanton5789 All true, Until you said "God save the King". British people need to understand their real history and the fact that every achievement of Britain and anything that has ever been adapted around the world e.g. our legacy on the modern world, was achieved IN SPITE, of royalty. Britain's most important contributions to world history were free market structures and Separation and freedom within Powergroups, political, legal and economic structures, for the 1st time in history, which were then exported, but which were all resisted by the "Tory" party and royalty, and 50% of the aristocracy and landed gentry. There is absolutely no justification for us to continue to have a monarchy.Thhe reasoons people give are all completely inaccurate because they haven't done any real research and are easy to propagandise by the media. People supporting the King are so idiotic, considering it was the British rising up and beheading the King and marginalising the following Kings and bringing in the English Bill of Rights (1689), which built on the Magna Carta and other English human rights documents, which have achieved EVERYTHING for this country and the world as a whole. *Without these documents, it is unlikely that we would be emancipated in any country in the world and we would still be working 17 hours a day for a pittance, simply creating value for a small, rich group of elites and life expectancy would be about 35(for anybody not of noble birth)- ironically, we are right now going in that direction, unless we can stop it again

[@ianmclaughlin4043]

I'm scottish I live in Scotland and proud we love friends mwahs to friends always💙🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💙🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💙💙🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@marcuswardle3180]

Sowell misses out one factor which caused the U.K. to rise to the top. That is the formation and existence of the middle class. You no longer had the rich and the poor but another level of society with its own values and mindset. They were the ones who would invest in strange manufacturing systems because they had been educated and realised the potential of these technologies. An upper class would just want a return on its money.

[@JJfromPhilly67]

That was a tremendous difference. Napoleon tried to sneer at Britain as a "Nation of shop keepers." But he missed the point that the middle classes and even the limited mobility between classes at the time spelled his doom. Only Holland had anything approaching the middle classes of Britain.

[@cubeaceuk9034]

As with anything that is only part of the story. You should also look up British naval history and advancement. Solving the latitude problem and accurate navigation as well as better dietary conditions of ships crews meant longer voyages and blockades of other ports were possible. That also lead to better navigation and accuracy of maps. Education within the navy was paramount. Drill practice within crews made them far faster and dependable than most other nations crews. We had many more shipbuilding dry docks than any other country and had reliable powder of given strengths for firearms. Ships could go back and forth to replenish supplies to fleets. Crews could stay out for months rather than weeks and pensions were introduced for those injured during the line of duty if no longer capable of productive work.

[@paulcrowley8587]

The Royal Navy required officers to pass exams on things that mattered. A commision was not bought and sold, as in the Army

[@em0_tion]

That narration voice was better than any bed time story. 😆

[@reactingtomyroots]

LOL I thought the same thing. :)

[@Masterofparsnips]

Thomas Sowell .. Based !!

[@simonkirk3067]

Gives you an idea why we are 21st in the world by population, but 5th by GDP, and our history goes back well over 2000 years.

[@BarbaraGrosvenor]

The "industrial revolution" has a lot to do with advancements in the world and I'm fortunate to live very near to where it first started Ironbridge Shropshire. Britain is responsible for the steam engine in the 18th century, the telephone, penicillin, the jet engine, ATM, television, WWW, the Compact disc, the MRI scanner, Raspberry Pi and the list goes on.

[@mannidennis1031]

Lol dude the first TV was in San Francisco…..far far from the Britain. Do a lil more research

[@mannidennis1031]

The telephone was NOT invented in Britain…dude where u getting your information from? I guess it makes you feel better about being English 😂😂😂

[@mikespike007]

Deez. The first demonstration of television was by John logic Baird in London in 1926. However his system was not fully electronic. You may be referring to philo farnsworth’s fully electronic tv that came later and was the precursor to all modern tv’s. Li’l more research dude and don’t always believe what you are taught in school there are at least five countries claim the invention of tv, even Japan is one.. As for the telephone, Bell is credited with that, he did that in America but was British so both countries claim bragging rights although he actually stole the idea from an Italian Antonio meucci. Whatever you are taught in school is always worth a little more research, particularly history, countries are very selective in what they teach.

[@tonyblakemore2355]

@@mannidennis1031 What year? John Logie Baird may disagree with you.

[@tonyblakemore2355]

@@mannidennis1031 True. American invention by a native of Scotland in the UK.

[@suevialania]

🇵🇹👍💚❤️🇬🇧 Greetings from Portugal to Britain, oldest Alliance!

[@mikeh020011]

One of the main reasons Britain was able able to advance was the political stability in Britain. We got our civil wars over early in our history and with a stable system of government allowed us to move forward even with our class system as people knew there place in society. Coton in the Elms is a village in Derbyshire is at 70 miles (110 km) from the coast, it is the one of the furthest places in the UK from the sea.

[@philiphudgens4726]

Love Thomas Sowell - a public intellectual without an agenda!

[@cameronjones964]

British empire was largest and most powerful to ever exist which led to Britain to hold world power and abolish slavery among many other great conquests

[@lilacfiddler1]

That 70 miles to the sea thing seems about right - I’m in England, and both coasts east and west are about 70 miles away.

[@Ayns.L14A]

this is why we have so many canals.............

[@yedead1]

More specifically why our canal network is so large.

[@narendra62]

I would put the Enlightenment at the heart of the explosion in knowledge.

[@enemde3025]

Hadrian's wall was built by the Roman emperor Hadrian in 122 AD across Northern Britain from the East coast to the West coast. It stretches for 73 miles and was built to keep the barbarians from ALBA (now SCOTLAND) out of England . It was a stone wall with deep ditches either side and had forts along it's length. It also had "mile castles" every mile . It was originally 8 feet thick and 12 feet high. It is a UNESCO WORLD HEROTAGE SITE and you can visit it or walk the entire length of it.

[@Thurgosh_OG]

That's mostly a myth about keeping the barbarians out. It was really to keep control of the flow of people and trade north and south of the wall. 'What They Don't Say About Hadrian's Wall' is a good video by Scotland History Tours - Bruce Fummey for the real history.

[@bretonbros]

Some believe the wall wasn’t to keep the Scottish out but to keep the English in. It was esencially a massive border post to stop the English tribe’s people committing raids and general mayhem from being able to just run off and hide in the highlands. It’s probably one of the reasons the Scott’s are so hard all the deadliest Brit’s on the island after giving the Roman’s a damn good kicking legged it up into the hills where the bastards couldn’t or wouldn’t follow😁

[@lazarusxtc]

@@Thurgosh_OG I read that it was built to keep the Roman soldiers busy.

[@annoyingarchie7344]

@@Thurgosh_OG its a mix of all these things . The picts were conducting raids into northern England after a lot the romans had to be pulled to fight elsewhere in the world

[@grahambarlow1308]

Even to this day , inventions and brilliant ideas come out of the people of these Islands./ Ask the Japanese and the Chinese who are constantly on the alert and researching British inventions to day.. I have a Japanese friend who tells me that it is common knowledge in Japan that Britain is still the leading inventor. and they the British have forgotten more than they ever knew.

[@Thurgosh_OG]

The Science and Technology Agency of Japan launched a massive project to list every item currently used by humans. When the project finished they discovered that 54% of all things used by mankind today across the entire world, were invented or designed by the British, the rest of the world combined made up the other 46% (Japan's share - 5%)

[@dnyhan]

That sounds like romanticism - UK industry is decaying rapidly thanks to years of incompetent governance.

[@Sidistic_Atheist]

Necessity is indeed the mother of invention. And we thrived at it, better than most.

[@johnward5102]

You are a true Brit, and an American. Sowell is right; many factors but freedom and justice is key. Your country carries the torch now. Good luck, God be with you.

[@davidknowles3459]

You really think the US now leads the World with Freedom and Justice?

[@keithbenfield9238]

it is true, nowhere in the UK is more than 75 miles from the sea.

[@errolmills2192]

Great presentation thank you to Thomas Sowell.

[@suzieq70s44]

Hi Steve, along with all that was mentioned we had some very ingenious people that revolutionised farming then industry

[@grahamsangster1042]

You should give Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland a wee sketch,the secrets and history 👍

[@whitecompany18]

Thomas Sowells vid , how the British ended slavery 👌

[@maskellmaolseachlainn6347]

BUSHCRAFT AND FISHING WITH THE PIKEY - why do some Brits (and their apologists) leave out the part where they were one of the worst - if not the worst - slave trader nations in human history? British history is skin crawling and replete with depravity. Yet, despite easily accessible evidence, some Brits (and their apologists) continue to lie and spin British history. Tellingly, they always omit well-documented events such as the 1,000,000+ Irish who starved to death (1845-1852), during the centuries-long British occupation of Ireland, while Brit occupiers exported Ireland's abundant food (under armed guard) to Britain; the 3,000,000 who died during the Bengali famine (1943-1944) under British 'rule'; the genocide of 'Tasmania's' First Nations as the Brits viciously and methodically slaughtered Indigenous peoples in yet another of their rapacious orgies of greed, rape, land theft and murder (1820s-1832). These are but a few examples (of countless hundreds across the globe) that exposes the Brits ... Ignorant, stupid Brits (and their apologists) can no longer get away with their spin and lies ... the world is awake to Britain's sick sick sick history.

[@jonntischnabel]

The sun never set on the British empire. The Roman, Persian, and Mongolian empires can put that in their pipes and smoke it 😂 the Greenwich meridian is ZERO degrees, and the industrial revolution started here. Our railways, started before anyone else's, as did the steam engine. 💪🇬🇧

[@lizmacleod8903]

Yes,the Steam engine James Watt 1766 Scottish 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

[@TenggisKhan]

​@@lizmacleod8903 God bless Scotland for all its contributions to making Britain great

[@lizmacleod8903]

@@TenggisKhan We make a fabulous team the United Kingdom 👍🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

[@dianeunderhill8506]

@@lizmacleod8903 Thomas Newcomen.

[@nevbarnes1034]

Hadrian's Wall was a major inspiration for _Game of Thrones._

[@stuartxxxxx3392]

you summed that perfectly

[@melrispin6429]

The fact that the UK is surrounded by water and has so many connecting internal waterways means that travelling by water is so simple and natural for us. Back in 1940 the Nazis had us cornered at Dunkirk and our army (around 300K men) should have been annihilated. A call went out to “anyone with a boat small enough to land near a beach and big enough to take passengers” to go and collect the soldiers from Dunkirk… almost the entire army (and French soldiers too) was picked up and brought home to safety. If the UK didn’t have so many boats, we couldn’t have done it.

[@louisimission2153]

10:44 - My hometown, Scarborough 🇬🇧

[@somniumisdreaming]

Mate I live within walking distance of some fabulous parts of Hadrian's Wall, we would welcome you round here with open arms as our brother.

[@85stace85]

I live pretty much smack in the middle of england, and it's 70 miles each way to get to the East and west coasts. Just measured it on Google maps 😂😂😂

[@joymortiboys7805]

You must be in or near Meriden then!

[@michaelharvey75]

Hello from 70 miles away. .

[@85stace85]

@@joymortiboys7805 no, Derbyshire, nr morton which is supposed to be the centre of england. Just looked meriden up as never heard of it, and it says that's the middle of england too? Who knows 🤷🏼‍♀️😂

[@terrythomas3755]

Pardon me if you know this already, but there is, or was, another Roman wall to the north of Hadrian's Wall built twenty years after Hadrian's wall, the Antonine wall.

[@edwardbrownlee6746]

One factor you cover in your analysis that proves the adaptability of the British is how British people adapted to those who attempted to conquer them. This shows when you look at the Irish. When Ireland was conquered they refused to adapt to the Normans who conquered them. Yet England and Wales did. The Irish refused to learn Norman farming methods, since they practised Transhumance before the Norman conquest. Norman lords had to use colonisation to force the Irish to learn how to farm. This was also true later when the colonisation of Ulster by Ulster Scots descendents returned to take control of the Provence of Ulster during the reign of James I of England VI Scotland. It was the revolt of the Earls of Ulster that resulted in their lands being seized and sold off so the King could recoup the costs of the military actions to control the country. The Earls had practised scorched earth warfare, so their opponents both Irish and Royalist, could not profit from gaining the lands they conquered. The lowland Scots, of Ulster decent, knew farming methods that allowed them to bring the scorched land into use quickly. However the Irish people hated the new Scots landowners, even though they were actually the descendants of the Ulster kingdom of Delraida, that conquered Western Scotland 400 years before the Normans conquered Ireland. The main point is that the Irish refused to learn the Scottish farming methods and refused to learn the English language. Thus the Irish did not learn the adaptability the British did, so they remained a stubborn people who harmed themselves by mouldering as a peasant people. Even the concept of urban living was an idea foreign to the Irish who refused to adapt to it. Towns and cities were almost non existent in Ireland until firstly Norman lords and eventually English and Scottish colonisation forced it upon the island in the 17th century. The Irish locked themselves into the position of being bad farmers unable to communicate with the rest of the United Kingdom. They were treated as stupid because they refused to learn to speak English and refused to learn much better farming methods. They depended upon the foreign Roman Catholic church, (that destroyed the Christian church in Ireland, because it refused to bow down to the demand that they submit to the view of Papal supremacy). The Norman conquest of Ireland was ordered by the pope, in order to bring the Christian church in Ireland under the control of the pope in Rome. The Irish church created many abbey's in Europe and taught the principle that no man stands above another before God. Something the papal supremacy acts contrary to. So the Roman Catholic religion turned the Irish against the beliefs of their native Christian scholars. And left them with a loyalty to the pope above all things. Since the reformation and separation of the Christian churches in England, Wales and Scotland from Papal influence, the Roman church convinced the Catholic Irish peasants that their souls would be condemned if they converted to Protestantism. The usual actions of the Roman Catholic church on finding a Protestant in Europe was to torture them until they recanted their faith and swore to obey the pope. Obviously a priesthood able to torture peasants and nobility alike into swearing obedience to a false 'voice of God on Earth' were very good at convincing a stubborn group of peasants that their souls were at risk if they even listened to arguments against Jesus having never stated St Peter would have a successor. So Catholic priests led Irish resistance against conforming to the protestant religion, and language. This includes the reading of the gospel in English as opposed to Latin. Thus the Irish were not even aware of what the Bible actually said, since they did not speak Latin. It beggars belief how anyone could believe a God of love would deny a faithful follower the right to read holy scripture, as if it were some secret mystery to be kept secret. Roman Catholic priests and sheer stubborn refusal to change resulted in Irish locking themselves into being a neche farming class, from which they were unable to progress like the other people of Britain. Listen to how Irish descendants talk of how their ancestors were abused by the English. Now imagine how you would consider people who refuse to speak the language of their landlords and government, who refuse to learn new and better ways of working, who persist in growing a food plant that has proven to be prone to disease; such that 27 famines occured in 100 years, and who, despite the famines and refusal to use better methods, increased their population three fold in 100 years. Yes the British did consider the Irish to be dull witted even stupid and lazy. They ended up with charity fatigue, look at how people get sick of calls for charity, for yet another African famine. Now think what it was like when there were calls almost every 4 years, for charity donations to support a people who refused to learn to farm better, to speak your language and whose population kept growing despite the frequency of them reaching starvation conditions. Of course there was not a lot of sympathy for the Irish when the Northern European potato famine hit. People in Scotland were also badly hit, but they were sensible and sought work in other parts of the UK and the Empire. Without significant urban development, what charities and government initiatives, that were implemented, found it very difficult to provide food where it was needed. With no towns the Irish peasants had to walk for days to get to places were food was being distributed. Many Republican sources point out that food was still taken from Ireland during the famine. This is true, but the food taken was far too small an amount to meet the demand in any case. If the Irish present during the famine had been educated enough, they would have realised such a simple fact, yet resentment against the English leads to such a simple fact being read as "the Irish would not have starved if the English were not taking food out of Ireland". Another "fact" often stated is 'let Ireland pay for Irish problems', the change of treasury practices that led to taxes paid in Ireland being used in Ireland, rather than going to the treasury in London then needing to be reassigned by parliament for use in Ireland. There was a principle in practice by the government, at the time, called laissez-faire, the idea of leaving things to sort themselves out without interference. Considering the overpopulation in Ireland, persistent calls for charity to support yet another potato famine starvation situation and the refusal of Irish farmers to improve their farming methods, it is easy to see why the political viewpoint of the time was so harsh. If the population was too high, the crops too prone to disease and farmers too stubborn to change, then getting the people to learn from the tragedy is actually a viable concept. Governments aren't in the business of telling landowners when they are growing unprofitable produce, they expect the landowners to learn when profits take a nose dive. Modern views on morality leave us shocked by the idea of leaving children to starve. But when a government has to pay out money, earned by hard working tax payers, to feed the children of people, who refuse to do good work and don't care that they can't produce enough to feed the family they have, a government has to draw the line somewhere. Consider how Irish Americans talk of resenting how the English treated them. Now look at what happened when the famine refugees reached America. They were unskilled, they spoke a foreign language and they were of a papist religion. They were hated by the Americans, and unwanted. Being unskilled meant they were unsuited to most jobs and took up the jobs of itinerant workers already working in US cities and towns, and at a lower wage than the itinerant workers would accept. They were forced to learn to speak English because they were a minority people, yet they had refused to learn English in Ireland because "the English were doing it to take away their culture'. Obviously a very biased way of looking at facts. Americans believed the Irish could not be trusted since their loyality to the pope meant they could not truly give their loyality to the USA. Interestingly the Irish soldiers employed in the American Mexican war actually deserted to support their Roman Catholic opponents against the USA, proving the point their first loyality was to the pope. The American 'Irish problem' dried up when the Irish joined the Union army, en masse to fight in the American civil war, as being unskilled was not a problem for new recruits. Thus the Irish famine refugees became 'respectable' American citizens because they fought in a war because it was the only work they could get. When you consider your Irish ancestry, I hope you are willing to figure out the truth of the self delusion the Irish Americans have been telling themselves from the moment they arrived in America.

[@celtspeaksgoth7251]

The English weren't there in the times of the Romans. Those occupying the central & eastern English portion may have been what we now call Welsh or possibly Belgic tribes.

[@bryanhunter2077]

The Reformation, The break from Rome allowed for free thinking and the country was able to do what it thought right rather than the church. When you look at what happen in Italy when the church burnt to death the chap who said the earth goes around the sun rather than the sun goes around the earth. England was given to Philip of Spain when they stopped following the teaching from Rome hence the Armada Then there was the Magna Carter which brought in the rule law which slowly incorporated every one.

[@ItsAWasteOfTime]

The video did show the figure of 'Justice' as a blind-folded woman, and this is true of the United States. However, the figure of 'Justice' that stands above the Old Bailey court on London in the UK does not wear a blind-fold 👍

[@jimratter5561]

Very interesting video. You should also look at the influence of Christianity on the UK and it's emphasis on equality, government, education and science. Look particularly at men like John Knox and how he changed Scotland. He was a slave on a french galley for 19 months but later rebuked a queen face to face!

[@Thurgosh_OG]

The Science and Technology Agency of Japan launched a massive project to list every item currently used by humans. When the project finished they discovered that 54% of all things used by mankind today across the entire world, were invented or designed by the British, the rest of the world combined made up the other 46% (Japan's share - 5%)

[@raimesey]

That’s amazing to know. Thanks!

[@mikefrude9915]

Can you point me to the article

[@mikefrude9915]

Can you point me to the article

[@marktaylor85]

...and probably 90% of the 54% in Scotland...

[@Exor840]

actually britain (alone) accounts for 40% of todays modern inventions including the computer the television the internet the industrial revolution. America accounts for 20% and the other 40% is the rest of the world. (((IM QUOTING THE SAME JAPANESE STUDY AS YOU BTW)))

[@davewarrender2056]

Check out the history of Sheffield, UK , we created..... Stainless steel.....the Bessemer converter....the best Cutlery in the world ...fyi the famous Bowie knife was first designed and manufactured here in Sheffield, UK

[@enkisdaughter4795]

Best steel in the world

[@colinharbinson8284]

Britain's wealth was originally founded on wool, which is why the speaker of the house traditionally sits on a woolsack.

[@jackmac2874]

The Speaker of the House of Lords, you mean.

[@colinharbinson8284]

@@jackmac2874 yup.

[@gmdhargreaves]

Fascinating

[@raljix1566]

Britain shaped and pretty much delivered the world we see and live in today. English is also the universal language of business .

[@helenjarvis7755]

A great video, very clear and logical.

[@dianeking3214]

OK l will except it, we are awesome and truly amazing. You are awesome to Steve your in great company. Big love from, 🇬🇧🙏😘🤗❤️

[@gillcawthorn7572]

Although I have no evidence to support this statement ,I can`t help thinking that British bloody mindedness and stubborness played a crucial part somewhere.

[@northnsouth6813]

73 miles from coast to coast, Hadrian’s Wall was built to guard the wild north-west frontier of the Roman Empire.

[@betawan3195]

it has also been theorised that it was used to aid in capturing fleeing bandits from england going north

[@andreww2098]

It was mostly a tax boder, it was mostly built to allow the taxation of goods going in and out of the Empire, its secondary role was as a physical border to the Empire, to be honest there's no reason the Romans couldn't of conquered Scotland, but the population was too small for its size to tax and the weather too bad to deal with so they didn't bother!

[@ITzDaveXD]

its actually all in england, the wall wasn't to keep people out but to keep bandits in so they couldn't just escape to the north.

[@mickthehead587]

I live in a house in Denton Burn, in Newcastle where hadrians wall is literally 10m in front of my house…

[@bretonbros]

It also helped that we started schools that were for everyone not just the rich.

[@celtspeaksgoth7251]

the first public schools of the 16th century were just that and they still are that in the US. Then in GB they got hijacked by the middle classes who then made them exclusive. So then in the 19th century little churches set up their own schools for the industrial poor.

[@user-en1zl7ii4h]

In the video it shows Scarborough, Yorkshire, England. I live there now. But I was born 70 miles away in Bradford England. Nice.

[@nicolatoomey4882]

I read somewhere that part of the drive to establish the empire was about self-defence. We spent a couple of thousand years being attacked, pillaged, invaded and conquered so once we finally got ourselves together in the 1500s and put together a decent naval force that could secure the country the focus then shifted to dominance over others so they'd never have the chance to attack us again.

[@petevan8942]

Some people only see the bad things Britain did and are blind to the good we did

[@leekew2683]

Very well said insightful view of history

[@lineboss58]

One of the best TV series for understanding how Britain became such an industrial power is to watch a series called " The day the world took off " its in five parts.

[@tonyblakemore2355]

3 Great Brits to dwell on. Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Thomas Telford, Alan Turing (although, Gordon Welchman gets a honourable mention here).

[@celtspeaksgoth7251]

Brunel was half French. Presumably his pa added the middle name Kingdom for that reason. What about George Stephenson, Charles Dickens - the only author who cared about the poor and portrayed them sympathetically, good & bad. Charles Darwin...there are so many

[@pokisweet]

Britains are pioneers by nature.

[@davidrowlands441]

70 miles from the sea is about right. Hence in Britain they built canals from industrial areas to coastal areas which kept transport cost down.

[@PraiseHisname777]

Excellent video, thank you. You seem like a good, intelligent person - I wish you all the very best x

[@reactingtomyroots]

Thank you Shannon. I appreciate the compliment. :)

[@Britonbear]

The canal system played an important part as well.

[@zibbezabba2491]

I think the success of the British empire was down to other countries being mostly willing to adopt it's cultures, language and technology. In other words, they upgraded and assimilated the good bits.

[@chrisholland7367]

The Roman emperor Hadrian had a wall built across the furthest point of the Roman empire, northern England, it was a crossing point into native Scotland. The wall was also dotted with watch towers and barracks and toll gates . I live in the port city of Plymouth I'm at least 45 minutes on foot from the sea.

[@paulwilson2651]

Even more amazing is Scotland's contribution.

[@CorinneDunbar-ls3ej]

In the UK, on the cusp of industrialisation, in the eighteenth century, vast amounts of capital were poured into building canals and turnpike roads by private investors. These facilitated the rapid movement of coal to the new steam-driven factories which sprang up speculatively in every town and city. The factory movement centralised the workforce into towns whereas, prior to industrialisation, the majority of people worked in agriculture, in the countryside. This changed absolutely everything....housing, education, social welfare, utilities infrastructure, technological innovation and so much more....so that Britain became, very early on, a power house of manufacturing and trade. It was often a very painful process for the actual workforce.

[@glennvage]

templars.copper bottom ships.the love of a good punch up...

[@stephenwilliams1824]

It was the navy that wrote British history. Europe as a whole was already spoken for.

[@gibber-lx8he]

Subscribed and liked and being a brit especially loved this video

[@MintyBachem]

Hadrian's Wall: If memory serves, Emperor Hadrian had it built as a defence against the Scots. Not to keep them *out*, but to stop them getting back home when they DID raid England. So they'd raid over the wall, and then get stuck on that same wall that's now on alert due to the raid, and get slaughtered on the way home. "You might burn a village or two, but you're NOT making it out alive" kind of thing.

[@billydonaldson6483]

Two good videos on Hadrian’s Wall that you could blend into one post are ‘What is Hadrian’s Wall’ and ‘What they don’t say about Hadrian’s Wall’. ‘Discover Hadrian’s Wall with Raven Todd Dasilva’ is also an interesting video.

[@joejoejoejoejoejoe4391]

Don't forget the importance of supply chains, to have an industry, you need the nut and bolts suppliers, tools, industrial standards, apprenticeships, machine tool manufacturers, etc, etc - and have them all close together, connect by canals or rail.

[@tonyblakemore2355]

I live roughly 70 miles from the sea in the UK. It is well known amongst Brits that this is the furthest you can be from the sea.

[@johnross2924]

Lichfield?

[@stuarthingston8537]

Yep 85 miles Lichfield.

[@narendra62]

The modern bicycle. Not many people know this!!

[@MrDekasOne]

Hadrian's wall is a wall in Britain built by the romans to separate roman Britain from the unconquered Caledonia aka scotland

[@paulmorris5166]

Interesting, thanks for posting. The UK also had a huge canal network, you should take a look at that. Many of the canals are still used today.

[@Scott_works]

The Spice Trade. The age of exploration (exploitation) came about as the Portuguese sailed around the horn of Africa to get to India and the far east. They wanted to get better prices than the land route that went through the Mediterranean. Before long, all the European nations were sailing the world and "colonizing" territories. They carved up Africa among themselves for exploitation. The Spanish had a huge world empire, and conquered much of Central and South America. At one time Spanish silver coins were the world standard. Some found it easier to pirate the massive shipments of silver from the Spanish and soon everyone was doing so. England and Spain went to war over this but the Spanish lost their fleet in the North Sea when a big storm hit them. They were fixin' to attack England. After that, the British rose to be the primary world power. As far as innovations, the Chinese were hundreds of years ahead of Europeans but chose to remain isolated. Hadrian's wall was the extent of the Roman Empire in England, where the Scots and northern barbarians lived.

[@LookHereMars]

Hadrians Wall is one of two Roman built Walls in Northern Britain, it was created as a border and barrier between Roman Britain and the native Celtic Picts who lived in what today is Scotland. Large sectors of the Wall still remain.

[@dodgywheelsandropeywiring5697]

Hadrian's Wall was built in 122 AD to defend against Scottish raids near the northern border of England by the Roman's and the then conquered English. I was raised right next to this wall though much of it no longer exists due to theft over the past few thousand years. Yes, Britain is so small that you're never more than a few hours drive from the sea, 70 miles sounds about right. As you mentioned we have many waterways and we used the sea to transport, until the North East of England invented the train and the electric turbine generator among other things. The North East is also where we got our coal from hence the birth place of the Industrial Revolution began in the North East of England. Our coal resources are why we invented the train specifically to transport this heavy cargo if my memory serves me correctly. Many other inventions such as mechanised looms for manufacturing clothing began a little earlier I believe but the train was the big game changer for global dominance, bringing "magical" machines to less evolved societies who saw the British as almost god like. Any significant technologically advanced society appeared to be godly or alien to those without it.

[@Oddballkane]

I guess it's also easier as we have a lot of other countries over a bit of water.

[@shazshanaa6425]

"Necessity is the mother of all inventions" I believe is the saying, the canals is a prime example.

[@eardwulf785]

And it came very very close to never existing at all. What would eventually evolve into Empire was once reduced to a newly crowned West Saxon King, after his older brothers were KIA, hiding out in the Swamps of Somerset and his splintered armies scattered in the wake of a Scandinavian blitzkrieg that had conquered all the Anglish kingdoms north of the Thames. Ælfred was worthy of his epitaph.

[@geekexmachina]

The problems some of the other empires had was stagnation, some of them became very comfortable and didnt see the point in improving things so would eventually lag behind technologically before being conquored or becoming irrelivant. The uk in comparasen were always under threat of invasion , and had internal difficulties with health and usable terrain which meant pushing learning and technology was very important. The black death was a big game changeras it spead easier across land than across the sea then forcing changes in workers conditions. As said the islands were very welcoming to refugees and immigrants given the freedoms we offered, We travelled the world bringing back ideas also. A notable point is the French revolution we tok a number of refugees and free thinkers during this time including Brunels family which is why we had the industrial revolution (that and napolean had caused set backs in europe) . You should look up the story of the clipper ship the Cutty Sark.

[@PhattyBolger]

I live at the end of Hadrian's wall, in a place called Wallsend, or Segedunum. Built during the reign of Hadrian in AD 122, Its purpose was to hold back the tide of Pictish raiders from Caledonia (modern day Scotland) and prevent their ravaging of the northern lands of Britannia. It had castles, each stationed with guards, positioned at every mile along the wall. Even today, there are many places called "Milecastle" in Northern England. You can still visit the wall today, and many do, as like many other Roman structures, it has managed to stand the test of time.

[@cosimodemedici1530]

It was also built so the Romans could tax merchants and trade passing from Scotland to England

[@sparkz9803]

Absolutely correct! In the UK you are never more than 75 miles from the sea.

[@KangoV]

Also note that William the Conqueror (or Bastard) passed a law in 1106 which banned slavery within Britain.

[@HENRYGCOLLINS]

This is worth reading Empire How Britain Made the Modern World Niall Ferguson. He also made it into a channel 4 programme.

[@jayturner3397]

Ladies Gentleman and others as an English man, I give you 'The Scots' fantastically inventive people 😊