The British Empire Didn't Go Quietly

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The dissolution of the British Empire is actually a story of subterfuge and tremendous violence. It’s a lot of different stories happening all over the world all at once with centuries of context, so for my own convenience I’m going to commit a cardinal sin and oversimplify all of this through the lens of one of the imperialists who watched over it all. A man beloved by many as a national hero, and seen by many others as the embodiment of imperialism’s sins. Please welcome, Mr. Winston Churchill.
Music (in order of appearance):
Rule, Britannia (Instrumental)
Camille Saint Saens - Danse Macabre
The Coldstream Guards - Colonel Bogey March
Kevin Macleod - Malicioius
The Coldstream Guards - Heroes of the Sea
Metropolitan Opera - Verdi's Dies Irae
Manrique de Lara - Bach Cello Suite no. 1 in G Major

[@JackRackam]

Check out armchairhistory.tv today and get 50% off your first month at checkout with the code JACKRACKAM

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

You're amazing man! How are You?🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@brokenbridge6316]

Merry Christmas Jack. I hope it's a good one for you. And you made a great video.

[@JackRackam]

@@brokenbridge6316 Thanks! Happy holidays!

[@sd-ch2cq]

tbh, i feel it's a tad expensive, and I'm already subscribed to Nebula and weary of there eventually being dozens of paid KZbin-spinoffs

[@johnathonwelch4425]

Same I’m not $$$$$ when I can get it for free

[@aaronTGP_3756]

Rather than go quietly, the British Empire came crashing down. Just slightly less loudly than France.

[@sanneoi6323]

Well at least the sun still doesn't set on the French Empire

[@jamesbrit5533]

@@sanneoi6323 Same for Britain actually. We still have the odd island that together mean the sun has still technically not set on the British Empire. Sadly we've sat in the sun so long we're utterly baked and half senile.

[@johnnotrealname8168]

@@jamesbrit5533 Not an Empire in the sense understood here. Most of these areas have their own assemblies.

[@johnnotrealname8168]

@@sanneoi6323New Caledonia having three failed referenda!

[@Wimple-zn1lz]

I think Portugal ranks as country whose colonial empire came crashing down in the most tortous prolonged way.

[@kate2create738]

“When Dwight D Eisenhower is chewing you out for intervening in another country’s affairs, and Communist Russia AGREES with him, you’ve done goofed!” Perhaps the best line in ALL of your series 😂

[@TheRezro]

And it is not weirdest thing what happen. Once there was pro-British communist rebellion, crushed by joint forces of US and USSR. Don't ask my how. British were equally confused.

[@collincaperton6718]

​@TheRezro name of this because this sounds stupid as hell and I want to know everything about it?

[@Paperbatvgchampion]

@@TheRezro You can't just drop this info without at least a Wikipedia link for us to look into.

[@just_a_casual_viewer]

​@@TheRezrowhen was this? That's complete new info I have never heard of, let alone expect

[@JoelJames2]

They forgot to add that Russia was so committed to agreeing that they threatened to nuke both the UK and France.

[@richeybaumann1755]

14:00 It went even further than that. By 1956, the UK's economy was so tiny compared to the USA that the debt of the USA to the UK was $3.75 billion ( £1.34 billion), whereas the *_entire foreign currency reserve of Britain_* was equal to $2.2 billion (£785 million). Britain also owed around $39.2 billion (£14 billion) to creditors including India, Argentina, and Egypt. In total, Eisenhower blocked $1.161 billion (£414 million) to Britain, $561 million (£200 million) from the IMF and $600 million (£214 million) from the US Export-Import bank. This credit blockade quite literally started to bankrupt Britain, as it completely blocked all foreign credit lines and forced them back solely onto their negative income to survive, which was unsustainable. They had to freeze the principal of their debt to avoid total collapse. Had Eisenhower actually followed through with his third threat, which was to have the USA sell all of its pound-sterling bonds, the British economy, the pound sterling, and the national standard of living would have dropped to near zero. It would've been the Great Depression combined with the South Sea Bubble, all on top of the still-devestated economy due to the war and the collapsing Empire.

[@crimsonbaron4418]

Eisenhower sounds like one scary wizard

[@theemirofjaffa2266]

​@@crimsonbaron4418 and rightly so in this context

[@richeybaumann1755]

@crimsonbaron4418 He was known to be a very good and helpful friend but a terrible and dangerous enemy. He also didn't back down for anything, so he would never have made threats he wouldn't follow through on.

[@Tinil0]

That had to be utterly humiliating for the UK. Quite literally put in their place like a naughty child, all on the world stage. The ultimate proof that the era of Empire was truly over to have a former colony just say "No. We won't allow you to do it" and they have no possible way to resist that. I have to imagine it led to a period of frosty relations afterwards, though obviously they got over it eventually.

[@mattmichael2441]

@@theemirofjaffa2266how? For doing the right thing?

[@CollinMcLean]

Ahhh the British Empire. A government that viewed foreign diplomacy with the same subtlety and nuance as the seagulls from Finding Nemo... Running up to countries and going "Mine!"

[@Alusnovalotus]

Quite!!! Jolly good shew, old bean! 🫖

[@connorperrett9559]

Yes, that is essentially the definition of an imperial state.

[@tisFrancesfault]

Quite the opposite, really. Much if not all of the expansion was overseen by private individuals or businesses, typically agaisnt the express wishes of governments. That is to say, the British empire grew to such size effectively by accident.

[@AlejandroFlores-vi8tl]

Was it "mine"? I thought it was "mate" cus you now Australia.

[@julianshepherd2038]

It was complex than that in India.

[@harrisonc985]

You really killed it with that ending. it is super crazy to think that france and britain could get eisenhower and kruschev to unilaterally oppose them. That would be like if Japan for some reason today, thought it a good idea to invade korea again and Biden and Xi jingping both say no.

[@joshwenn989]

I mean, they probably would - not for any _moral_ reason but because they both see Korea as _theirs_.

[@dizzydean2767]

@@joshwenn989 That and Ping supposedly stated that if North Korea started a war they would not back them.

[@wildfire9280]

@@dizzydean2767 WW1 Italy in the triple “alliance”:

[@jamesking1585]

Sorry, no. The British Newspapers were calling it a 'Bore War' and 'Sitzkrieg' but meanwhile merchant and navy ships were being torn apart and whole communities felt the impact. People got into bar fights over the fact that 'nothing was happening' because in reality the merchant marine and navy were fighting for their lives on a daily basis.

[@Finnbobjimbob]

Thank you

[@jonathanwebster7091]

Yep. My grandfather was in the Merchant Navy (not the merchant marine, that’s not what we call our merchant shipping in the UK) and was part of the Atlantic convoys, including others, and I remember him telling me that irked people-including him-at the time, because he was feeling the brunt of it, and saw people he knew and worked with die or get injured on a regular basis. I remember him telling me about the time he was part of a convoy of ships in the Mediterranean in that period, and the ship at the rear got torpedoed by a u-boat. Being the ship directly ahead, they couldn’t stop. He remembered listening to the cries of the men in the water, knowing that they couldn’t do anything or they’d be next.

[@CiarnaK]

Thank you for mentioning this. My great-grandfather was a merchant marine from Canada (but only during winter because the government wanted him to continue farming), and my mom made sure we grew up knowing the odds of his survival and how many merchant marines never made it home.

[@sriharshacv7760]

The Suez crisis makes me respect all 3 of them: Egypt, for having the balls to defy the 'powers'. USA, USSR to threaten the 'powers' with action. Special mention on Israel for failing to reach Suez in time and spoiling the plot even without wanting to.

[@Mrpersonman0]

'Powers' applies to all except Egypt here. 'Powers' like the US(SR) are still with us today. No polity _looses_ its capacity to be a powerful empire just because of an excuse like "we were part of another empire before, doesn't apply to us so-there". The US wrote its laws on some animal skin and then everyone living in the area they judged to be inside its borders (who in turn were considered to be people in the first place) agreed to pretend that those laws were real and binding. That's all. The country's founding was wholly unremarkable in terms of the physical changes it made to the people living there and it could have happened to any culture in history. Lots of rump states and secessions and insurrections and so on have happened. None of them modify the psychology or anthropology of the citizens as if by magic. The legal fiction of a crown was replaced simply by a new and slightly flatter/more accessible hierarchy (both geographically and politically) that was still mostly a change in name only. Now the fiction was in the hands of the "people" nearby. And then they spread westward for a few generations until they ran out of land to be doing that. So then they engineered the world economy to spread again until we had our "unipolar world order" of the 21st century. They did this because upholding a loose sense of rebellion against a distant monarch doesn't stunt the potential of human industry, apathy or brutality. That's how America built itself into a Power-ful empire USSR/Russia is the same poison, they make a big show of how class struggle pisses them of and suddenly they could justify anything. The Soviets could never be 'imperialists' so we can ignore the legacy of Tsarist spreading they propped up _and_ expanded.

[@QuantumShock1]

I find it a sweet irony the USA more or less forced Britain and France to decononise only to themselves try (and fail, multiple times) to invade and supress many of those former colonies.

[@CMitchell808]

Because the U.S. hasn’t seen itself as a colonizing force since the Philippines. If the casus belli was as simple as “break shit,” it would be much less popular but much more honest.

[@jonathanwebster7091]

Ironically given America’s own imp…I mean, manifest destiny.

[@GwainSagaFanChannel]

The same could be said with the Russians (Soviet Union) and their manifest destiny in the Far East (Sibera) and North Caucasus

[@jonathanwebster7091]

@@GwainSagaFanChannel which of course…is still going on today, with present-day Russia trying to reclaim the territories of the Russian Empire. CoughUkrainecough

[@sd-ch2cq]

I'm pretty sure they only supported decolonization because they thought they could just swoop in and take over.

[@westthebest3910]

It is true, when the US and the Soviet Union are both in agreement, you done goof.

[@julianshepherd2038]

Not in 1919

[@DogeickBateman]

Guess the Nigerian war really was the exception 😆 For those of you not in the know, basically the Nigerian Civil War was the usual home state fighting against a separatist movement. The Nigerian army used starvation tactics to force the Biafran separatists to surrender. A million or two died from it. However it is most known for the fact that due to a bunch of geopolitical shenanigans, the most convoluted support network grew from it as a result. Nigeria was supported by the UK, the US, the USSR, along with various Arab countries, Israel somehow, and various Soviet states. Biafra was supported by France, West Germany, China, Rhodesia, South Africa, and others. By the way, the Vatican and Israel began to support Biafra after news of the humanitarian crisis caused by the blockade. Also there were tons of mercenaries fighting for Biafra, including a Jamaican nicknamed Johnny Korea.

[@wildfire9280]

@@DogeickBateman 1960s Israel going so far to militarily switch sides over a humanitarian crisis? Man, 21st century Israel could never.

[@randombritishperson.]

Nah, that's just them saying telling us that we aren’t the big boy's anymore. They had no interest for good.

[@Mrpersonman0]

What if they're both united in evil? Why can't that explain their hypothetical agreement?

[@brokenbridge6316]

Fun Fact: During WWII Churchill had to help dismantle the economic system that made the British Empire work. Because it was quite unfair to many who resided in the empire itself. Which had the effect of hastening the end of the British Empire.

[@wrightmf]

I read a comment in another forum when Britain stopped being the world's policeman, the standard of living for the average bloke went up.

[@ingni123456]

Did he intentionally help, or did he drunkenly fumble things like he did at Gallipoli? I can't help but doubt Churchill had anything to do with making India more independent, given his comments.

[@j4genius961]

@@ingni123456 Churchill was a staunch imperialist so it was DEFINITELY unintentional

[@brokenbridge6316]

Another thing to note. Churchill dismantled the economic system that made the British Empire what it was because President Roosevelt and those in his government asked him too. Or they might not help Britain out of it's troubles with Germany. So to some extent his actions did unintentionally help lead to the end of the British Empire.

[@leaveme3559]

​@@j4genius961no it was one of the terms for getting American aid...British have to open there markets.....and were forced to do so

[@ianyork2655]

Yeah tbh as someone who took British imperial history for grad school the cracks were starting to show during the boer wars in South Africa and got exasperated by WW1 and between the wars signs of possible India independence were growing a final conclusion wasn’t quite there but WW2 was kind of the flare that signaled the empire was shaking. By the time the war was over the Suez crisis was happening and any compromise that the commonwealth was supposed to be just wasn’t ever going be enough. Read the rise and fall of the British empire

[@bfure1]

Yep, the same happened with the other European countries as well, by the time the war was over they had effectively abandoned their colonies for the length of the war and then tried to return to normal. Turns out it's a lot harder to re-establish a colony than it is to just maintain one. And it turns out a population is much more willing to fight for independence when they have had a taste of it

[@johnlavery3433]

Plus you know, Ireland, Britain’s oldest colony. If Michael Collins had survived his plan was to make Northern Ireland ungovernable to force the British to concede it

[@ianyork2655]

@@johnlavery3433 yeah Ireland and Afghanistan and the early rule of the Middle East mandates during the between the war periods really did show how much everything changed. The reason the boer war is the point where people like to say the British empire is at its limit is more to do with foreign policy because at this Germany exists and the post napoleonic war foreign policies that allowed them an almost complete monopoly and peace needed to rule was over.

[@OscarOSullivan]

@@johnlavery3433Stay behind army

[@tinglestingles]

I'm no expert, apart from being British - for me, the two world wars were certainly totally crippling economically and socially. Post-WW2 when Churchill lost the election and summoned in the Attlee Labour Government, the world become a very different place. I'm currently sitting in our new home in Portugal - they had a completely different colonial situation up until the mid-1970s. Young men dying all over Africa, defending Portuguese interests, the effects are still felt today, in the high numbers of Portuguese widows still grieving. Glad the British Empire finished when it did.

[@senyasalonge]

America doesn't like colonialism except when it does it.

[@maseoembry4165]

Old World Colonialism is bad for new world business

[@inqy8339]

It might be more accurate to say that America had a different idea of what colonialism meant. But yeah they certainly had no problem intervening in other countries and imposing puppet governments for America’s benefit.

[@jonathanwebster7091]

Don’t you mean ‘manifest destiny’? It’s totally not the same thing at all. Really.

[@GwainSagaFanChannel]

​@@jonathanwebster7091 do not forget the Soviet Union or modernday Russia with denying its own colonialism and manifest destiny in the Far East (Siberia) and North Caucasus

[@jonathanwebster7091]

@@GwainSagaFanChannel I’m not! It’s essentially the same.

[@afaircomparison]

So your first sentence begins, "India was the crown in the jewel..." and I hope you can see the problem there.

[@Alusnovalotus]

it was a pun on the wording.

[@julianshepherd2038]

Pedent

[@Tirocoa]

Pretty sure it's intentional.

[@JackRackam]

😆

[@marinemarcusbradley]

Glad I 'ctrl F'd' this before poppin off at that gums like a smart guy jajaja.

[@archsteel7]

Egypt: “What?” Britain and France: “Now, I know that _sounds_ bad-“

[@occam7382]

And then Britain and France immediately try to bum-rush Cairo after recognizing their mistake.

[@minestar2247]

This is another reason to hate israel but pitty the jews, like, those guys let themselfs be used as pawns by empires, there is no more cowardly than that

[@erikbjorke5851]

The USA isn’t all that anti-imperialist; it just has its own way of going about it.

[@CollinMcLean]

We didn't so much have an Empire as we did client kingdoms... Yeah you're totally autonomous we're just giving you a dictato- I mean President who'll make sure our interests are protected...

[@powerthirst1478]

Literally called for the decolonization of European empires but go off

[@CollinMcLean]

@@powerthirst1478 Yeah we called for it... but we were still doing our own version of it throughout the Cold War... A lot of nations weren't flying American flags but we made sure that people were put in place who'd make our interests a high priority... like in Cuba or Guatemala or when we annexed Hawaii...

[@ismaelismael8543]

To quote Les Luthiers in The Commission "We can't insult the US in our National Anthem, they've been the most fervent promoters of our current democracy... and our previous dictatorships"

[@britfox7766]

"Churchill was lucky to find in Hitler someone more villainous than himself" So true, and Jack Rackham is based.

[@Adam-326]

Churchill’s only mistake was mismanaging the Empire.

[@kittycatwithinternetaccess2356]

what about stalin

[@britfox7766]

@@kittycatwithinternetaccess2356 Yeah, stalin too. So many bastards.

[@chrisrubin6445]

@@kittycatwithinternetaccess2356 what about him?

[@boarfaceswinejaw4516]

@@kittycatwithinternetaccess2356 winston never directly fought stalin however.

[@soulman4292]

Man, you really are a great creator, and I’m so happy that I live in a time where history is not just the domain of stodgy old men with their iron on elbow patches, and dusty crumbling books. Thank you for all your content, your humor, and your dedication to truth. Happy New Year! Here’s to many many more.

[@eliannafreely5725]

Thanks for that tidbit about the Suez canal, I didn't know that. How awkward for France and Britain! As I understood the situation with India, their liberation was not merely the result of a different PM, but the end product of years of negotiation, whereby Indian resistance could have hamstrung the British war effort by mounting another revolt while Britain was taking such a beating from Germany and using Indian manpower to help the fight, and to hold other areas of the empire together while they fought. So Britain basically begged them to not sabotage the war in return for concrete steps toward an independence scheduled to begin as soon as hostilities ended. Steps for this began even under Churchill, and he was against, so certainly the change in PMs carried it over the finish line, but the plan was already rolling. The alternative was an India that could have not only denied or impeded British access to their resources at the critical moment, but even helped Hitler, as to some Indian independence fighters the idea of a program national socialism, which in their minds would promote India as its own nation and provide for social welfare, seemed like just what they needed right then.

[@mvalthegamer2450]

India absolutely revolted during the war. In fact, the revolt during the war is one of the major reasons for the partition of India, as the pro Pakistan Muslim League was one of the only parties supporting the war effort, and this, it's newspapers weren't censored to non existence. As a result, the Muslim League went from 30% of the Muslim vote in the 1940 election to 80% in 1946

[@kekero540]

Ngl I have a theory that Israel’s creation was a ploy for European powers to have control over the Suez by supporting Israel in taking it over. Israel having no real Ally’s in the region would be a perfect puppet and still is.

[@minestar2247]

Well, socialism would help the Indian population, and nationalism speaks for itself. So it's only inspired by Germany on principle. But it's still insane to think that India has the power to make England lose ww2

[@bethoniewaring]

A lot of people criticise the British history curriculum but I think generally we do a good job at touching on most of the bad stuff we did. But, at least in my experience, it definitely feels like "by WW2 we got most of the bad stuff out our system and let everyone be free, now let's talk about the Beatles".

[@m.c.schock2933]

It didn’t go quietly, but it did die in a little over half a century

[@OscarOSullivan]

And often quite violent

[@jj591]

​​empires are violent in nature genius.

[@AudieHolland]

Churchill watching the sun set on the British Empire. That's like Hell actually freezing over! Imagine the elves being like the British Empire

[@randombritishperson.]

I mean...we still have some territories so.....THE SUN NEVER SETS ON THE UNITED KINGDOM

[@minestar2247]

Well, because the author was British and the main character of the hobbit had a similar experience to him, it probably means that hobbits are the closest to the british

[@Mattdewit]

I mean the Americans and Soviets only disapproved of the whole Egypt debacle because in their eyes they were the only states allowed to interfere in such matters

[@ErikPT]

That's the Cold War now we're in Cold War 2.0 with a new ISIS who lurks behind the shadows

[@SmallRoundDuck]

Tbf Churchill himself essentially stated that as the queen’s prime minister it was not his job to oversee the collapse of the British empire but to make sure it wouldn’t. Which in a way stayed true to his oath as prime minister to the crown but also is understandable why many others in the world would view him in a bad light

[@jonathanwebster7091]

“If this long island story of ours is to end at last, let it end only when each of us lies choking in his own blood upon the ground.” Say what you like about Churchill; and I would probably agree. But damn was he the right man for the job in 1940.

[@JenniferinIllinois]

:An Everest of unpleasantness' - now that's a description.

[@gus-vanover]

As someone who once bullshitted together "Winston Churchill as an Epic hero" Essay for an English assignment, then learned later how much of a tool he was, it makes me so happy to know that he had live to see the Suez Crisis go down.

[@alanpennie]

Eden!!!!!!!

[@travisemerson933]

I'm sorry I had to pause after "this man is literally Hitler" i was laughing too hard and missed the next part. 🤣

[@travisemerson933]

and the bg3 "[so and so] disapproves" ahahahahaahah

[@Zarastro54]

The Suez Crisis was essentially the last shot of the Old World imperial powers to use their old tricks for empire. Inciting neighboring powers to war to use as a pretense to invade yourself would have been business as usual in the 1880’s, but not in the new world order. After that they had to rely on more subtle methods like coups and influence peddling, rather than the hard power of conquest.

[@patrickblanchette4337]

14:32 Again, I love my people (USA), but we have had are own, “desires”, as a global superpower, so I would say we didn’t like British Colonialism (aka, them getting in our way). It’s poetic in a way, the child taking the place (no entirely) of the parent.

[@johnnotrealname8168]

This is not true. America pushed for decolonisation at least partly to make communism less appealing.

[@Adam-326]

Yeah yeah, that would apply to most nations with the ability to manage such an operation.

[@DarthFhenix55]

I don't get what you're trying to say.

[@Adam-326]

@@DarthFhenix55 He’s basically saying that America’s opposition to colonialism was based not on moral grounds, but on the fact they they didn’t want Britain to disrupt their affairs.

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

​@@Adam-326It's called free trade.

[@waltonsmith7210]

America doesnt like colonialism? Tell that to Puerto Rico.

[@jonathanwebster7091]

And erm, Mexico.

[@TheKalihiMan]

The hostile coup and ongoing military occupation of my country was just for the banter. Definitely not colonialism or imperialism at all.

[@harcourt_hk6530]

and Cuba, Philippines, and all of the Pacific

[@harcourt_hk6530]

@@TheKalihiMan honestly I would respect American anti-colonialism more if not for them literally being an imperial power That's how you end up with Americans simultaneously believing that they stand for freedom around the world, while looking past the horrors of manifest destiny, the trail of tears, and ofcourse the ongoing exploitation of Hawaii

[@babyramses5066]

Thanks for saying this because it's true. The US has no right to lecture anyone about colonialism. But we do and forget that we literally crossed oceans just to overthrow governments and subjugate people.

[@kevinwahl5610]

7:38 The USA in 1940 was a democracy except for Black people in the American South

[@TheofficialSirenheadr]

So for 90% of the population

[@slamwall9057]

By that logic democracy didn’t exist until the 1910s

[@babyramses5066]

​@TheofficialSirenheadr if it's not 100%. it's not a democracy then. Also your figure of 90% is too high since American Indians, European immigrants, Hawaiians Asian-Americans and a bunch of other people were in the "these Americans deserve fewer rights" category too.

[@Asterion_Mol0c]

​@@babyramses5066 still about 90% as the certain Europeans thing was being dropped sometime around then

[@Asterion_Mol0c]

​@@babyramses5066well after WW2

[@timeywimeytardis]

Slightly disappointed that you didn't mention how Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty during WW1 and pushed hard for the Gallipoli landings to happen. He was largely held responsible for the absolute bloodbath that ensued, and this was one of the first major cracks in the British Empire, alienating Australia and New Zealand, both relatively well-developed colonies. ANZAC day, held on the date of the landings, is still the day those countries remember their fallen soldiers, and it's also something of an unnofficial independence day, as it marked the day that proved the British Empire would throw their lives away callously for no gain. (Though we should remember, this was only shocking for those countries because they were majority white. Pretty much every other part of the Empire already knew that)

[@bevanjensen9431]

Didnt help that the anzacs landed in the wrong spots by miles. Mabye it would have ened differently over wise

[@meganegan5992]

Not to mention, of course, the Black and Tans and their operations in Ireland, which was the typical sort of heavy handed """""counter-insurgency""""" tactics that lead to a lot of dead civilians, and a net neutral for the rebels. which leads to the sentence "Irish Republicans hate Black and Tans", which I am plagiarizing in how it means pretty much the exact opposite the average Irish-American imagines hearing that sentence.

[@markgrehan3726]

This whole conspiracy where Britain happily sent the ANZACs to die and treated them worse than their own men is bizarre. The Australians had around 28,150 total casualties, New Zealand had around 7,991 total casualties, while the British casualties were around 73,485 total casualties. I'm not doing this to take away the bravery or skill of the ANZAC forces but just to say that it was a bad plan all around and everybody paid the price rather than it being some evil scheme to use up those troublesome colonials.

[@timeywimeytardis]

@@markgrehan3726 Not trying to conspiracise here, I hardly think Churchill was trying to kill off Australians, but they definitely did just throw them into a terrible plan with not much care or forethought. And for colonial subjects, that's always going to ring a bit differently than for the troops from home, regardless of the intent behind it.

[@NoName-hg6cc]

​@@markgrehan3726"British" you mean Indians

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Merry Christmas jack! Thanks For this! 🎄🎄🎄🎄❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@moustaphahelmy4535]

Fun fact in Egypt we call the Suez Crisis the Tripartite Aggression 😉

[@arieljourdan2375]

A more fitting name

[@JamesHall-hj5hc]

wtf, a bunch of couping traitors in your army just up and stole it - we paid for the damn thing and built it

[@azlanadil3646]

@@JamesHall-hj5hc No they didn’t steal it, they forced investors to sell their shares at a fair market price, which all nations have a right to do.

[@Grim_Sister]

In Israel we call it the Sinai War

[@azlanadil3646]

@@Grim_Sister Haven’t you fought multiple wars in the Sinai?

[@brandonchan4537]

Interesting how you said about the concentration camp in Malaya. If im not wrong you were referring to "kampung baru" or "new village" which is built all across the country to relocate people (mainly chinese) to block the acess to supplies for the Communist which had killed and bombed the country since after ww2. This is how i learnt from the history book here in Malaysia, and its framed as a good thing.

[@vorynrosethorn903]

The Malaysians disliked that the people in them had better living standards than they themselves did. The reason for them was to cut off access to supplies for the insurgents, in this they were successful, in winning hearts and minds they were also successful as the contained and controlled nature also meant they were basically reeducation camps. Americans can talk about morality in war, but ask them who controls Afghanistan.

[@noelharkov9125]

Ironically, Malaya was one of the few time, if not only, a colonial power actually manage to play the hearts and mind game well enough that it served both the colonial and independence goals. The "New Village" was certainly controversial in the way it is a forceful relocation but also a redevelopment policy in a way that it's hard to criticise it as a failed policy when people did benefited from the New Village. You know it is something when many of the supposed "concentration camps" turned into actual villages and even towns without much problems after the Emergency concluded.

[@obamabiden]

yeah it's quite an interesting war, it's essentially one of the big reasons the Americans reckoned they could win in Vietnam, apparently not being able to tell the difference between a guerrilla war against mostly a minority group inside one country, compared to a war against an actual organised state, who also used guerilla tactics, and had the support of a lot of the "friendly" population on top of this

[@ep5019]

​@@vorynrosethorn903boom mic drop.

[@GonnaDieNever]

@@obamabiden you mean defending an independent country from another country invading it? Because that's Vietnam.

[@DDlambchop43]

famous story (possibly untrue) about Churchill: Lady Astor once told him, "if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea" Churchill answered, "If you were my wife, I wouldn't drink it." What a charmer.

[@widyasantoso4910]

The word is "apocryphal"

[@jdb47games]

Would, not wouldn't. Anyway, it never happened.

[@Cheriende]

Another great video !

[@aratasman77]

7:37 "US was a democracy" ... apart for blacks and in many states even indians. @Jack Rackam that was a good opportunity to point out that hypocrisy too.

[@clintonbreeden6970]

At the time, all adult Americans not in prison could vote.

[@aratasman77]

@@clintonbreeden6970 You could have taken 2 seconds to think about the time period under that time stamp (1940s) and it's relation to 1965 Voting Rights Act before making a false statement. Do better next time.

[@clintonbreeden6970]

@@aratasman77 15th Amendment

[@aratasman77]

@@clintonbreeden6970 state infringement

[@clintonbreeden6970]

@@aratasman77 then don’t use the whole US together, like u did in ur og comment

[@Ottertown109]

A little disappointed you didn’t discuss his crimes in Asia during WWII specifically the Bengal Famine

[@morganrees3603]

I don't think Churchill had direct involvement in the situation it was more of the British Raja's fault than west minster's.

[@joshwenn989]

Winston had little to no involvement in the Bengal Famine. The invading Japanese, the weather, and the local government however, did.

[@hedgehog3180]

@@joshwenn989 Churchill personally denied several offers of aid from both allied nations and other parts of the empire and diverted food away from India. The fammine might initially have been caused by British capitalist economic policies but it was maintained and worsened by Churchill. And no the invading Japanese did not play a role because they never invaded India please consult a map, and at this point in the war they were being pushed back on all fronts and the IJN was incredibly weak.

[@randombritishperson.]

​@@hedgehog3180False. We send food to India through Australia.

[@wonderworld7721]

@@randombritishperson. : it was diverted to britain because their food storage after end of war, even from america !!

[@etuc123]

First time on this channel, for a lack of better words what a banger of a vid. Great job man

[@dra-wiz557]

What? How was the partition of india a success literally a million people died and around 15 million displaced. Not to mention all the wars that followed in the partitions wake. The absolute horrors that took place between the Hindu, Sikh and Muslim communities is not to be understated. Not a footnote really. I can understand having a limited production time and a goal for your videos length and everything. But calling it a success strait up. No.

[@moskaumaster1594]

It was less of a success and more of a “Well it wasn’t British soldiers killing people”

[@aAverageFan]

Don't forget the ridiculous idea of making Bangladesh a part of Pakistan which was then subjected to a genocide in 1971

[@hedgehog3180]

It's only a success story insofar that Britain realized that shit was hitting the fan and decided to fuck off so it wouldn't be blamed on them even though they were the cause of it. Which is the exact same thing they did in Palestine except shit got even worse there.

[@aAverageFan]

@jackbucher2049 Indian independence movement was mainly a violent armed struggle

[@dra-wiz557]

​@jackbucher2049 "it was still an exceptional success story" 1:17

[@WolfDragon07]

JRR Tolkien hated the British Empire. As long as there is the Crown, the empire will go on. One Crown to rule them, and in the darkness bind them.

[@JamesHall-hj5hc]

wtf? that wasn't why hated it at all - he was an ardent traditionalist and loved the monarchy, he just wanted the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish to stick to the British isles as their own traditional kingdoms. Stop using one of our best writers to justify your cringe republicanism - there will never be a republic in our kingdom.

[@carwyngriffiths]

Typical Republican, making shit up on the fly….

[@whitegoose2017]

​@@JamesHall-hj5hc It's pretty ludicrous what they write about the man. Some say he was a pious Catholic and that Lord of the Rings is inspired by the Christian faith, which obviously is the most insane nonsense ever devised, if you for but a moment delve into the lore behind it.

[@JamesHall-hj5hc]

@@whitegoose2017 My guy - it is a well known fact that Tolkien was intensely catholic, like he wrote so much about his religious views. He was the reason the famous Christian writer C.S. Lewis converted to Christianity. And your taking the application of Christianity in LOTR too literally, to avoid the full explanation Tolkien simply said LOTR is a "fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision".

[@OscarOSullivan]

⁠​⁠@@JamesHall-hj5hcBritish Isles is quite an imperialistic term. Kingdom of Ireland was a creation of the English.

[@TheShadowChesireCat]

I keep forgetting Kitchener was up there on Historical Evil Dudes with Woodrow Wilson. That'd probably be cause the suburb I grew up on (on the almost literal opposite end of the earth) was named after his successor, and Kitchener had a major street in the suburb named after him. It's really a trip to hear super familiar place names and learn about or more about the people behind them. Especially if they were awful. Interesting fact though. Churchill brought Brutalism to the UK and popularised the architecture style for the world to see. Cause of the returning soldiers, I believe from WW2. It was quick to put up, so they could house "the boys" and their soon to be families.

[@davidelder6028]

This man is literally hitler had me dying of laughter. Ty Mr. Jack Rackam and happy holidays.

[@Nico-dm4np]

True. But add quotation marks to your quote and a time stamp, else this comment is really confusing.

[@descendantofartorias2067]

​@@Nico-dm4nphe never did it. Literally Hitler.

[@janzjenau8400]

8:34 When germans read this they must have been like "I've heard that bs before".

[@williamhenry8914]

I guess it depends what provides the benchmark for 'loudly or quietly'. Compared to final days of basically every other empire in history I think it was remarkably quiet.

[@NoName-hg6cc]

Not really. Ask Sudan or Kenya

[@chucanoris]

Always good to see a new jack rackam video on my feed

[@stevencooper4422]

On Christmas Eve no less!

[@chucanoris]

@@stevencooper4422 true!

[@Ironbanner12]

I don't even know who Churchill even liked. He hated Indians, Irish, Americans, Australians, South Africans and pretty much everyone else.

[@eliannafreely5725]

English people.

[@stevencooper4422]

Jewish people

[@widyasantoso4910]

@@eliannafreely5725 To be precise, the upper class English gentry. The working class he didn't care for, and the middle class he expected them to vote for him.

[@vorynrosethorn903]

He loved Americans, to a delusional extent, other than that he like Anglos and Jews.

[@CollinMcLean]

He also hated women

[@NicoBabyman1]

Therapist: “Boss Baby Churchill is not real, he can’t hurt you.” Boss Baby Churchill: 3:15

[@kaysimpson]

"Ya done goofed" new subscriber

[@foolsfolly3476]

Now release occupied, Ireland, Wales and Scotland to!

[@jonathanwebster7091]

Scotland? 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@Kaiser_Polaris]

Dude they are a core part of the Uk

[@vorynrosethorn903]

Only after America releases all of the states.

[@Kaiser_Polaris]

@@vorynrosethorn903 yeah saying Ireland, Wales, and Scotland are occupied is like saying the US states are occupied by D.C

[@jonathanwebster7091]

Ah yes; because Scotland didn’t have anything to do with British imperialism. Oh no wait…it totally did.

[@state_song_xprt]

Yeah, the reverence with which the anglophone world holds Churchill seems absolutely insane once you bring up his name to an Indian person

[@vorynrosethorn903]

He wrote his own history, meanwhile the Indian history was written by nationalists wishing to scapegoat the colonial forces for basically everything that ever went wrong (especially as they had major economic turmoil post-independence after instituting a number of 4d intergalactic chess moves, also the older generation were unhappy about the rise in corruption and lowering in reliability of the civil service and justice system, as such a narrative in education was important for the state to retain legitimacy). Churchill meanwhile basically just made excuses for everything he ever did and created his own myth, very much like all the German Generals who totally had no clue about the holocaust and never made a strategic mistake in the whole war despite losing, due to the opening of archives they are completely delegitimized but it is still in the process of happening with the Churchill was a Saint, and the Colonisation was Satan narratives.

[@greenveilgaming1149]

You're trying to imply that Indian historians don't also have biases?

[@aAverageFan]

​@@vorynrosethorn903 Indian history was written by Marxist Nehruvian historians

[@psychospeech6189]

​@@greenveilgaming1149.. i don't think he ment that.. like at all

[@hedgehog3180]

@@greenveilgaming1149 Why in the world would Indians ever have any reason to be biased against Churchill if he was supposedly a good man?

[@BorderWise12]

Churchill has a rap sheet longer than a nautical mile, and it's unfortunate that a detailed description of all the atrocities he was responsible would make this video much too long. Notable omissions include the WW1 disaster at Gallipoli, the starving of Bengal in WW2. He did accomplish some good things, sure, and WW2 might've gone much worse for the Allies had he not led Britain. But it's important to remember him as he was: an imperialist to the bone, who (as said in the video) only looks anything like an angel when compared next to the absolute devil that was Hitler. 😈

[@markgrehan3726]

Whilst he was willing to starve Imperial subjects to death and to use chemical weapons I think he gets too much blame for Gallipoli, he had the initial idea but it takes a lot of people to mess up that badly.

[@NoName-hg6cc]

​@@markgrehan3726Lol, how was his idea of attacking an highly fortified beach good?

[@markgrehan3726]

@@NoName-hg6cc That wasn't his original idea.

[@Ravi9A]

The relative quietness of the dismantling of the colonies is indicative of the superiority of the people in the colonies, not the disgusting empire itself.

[@tanker00v25]

When I'm in a bad take competition but my opponent is Ravi

[@britfox7766]

Third, and I'm so glad this video exists. So. Goddam. Glad this was talked about. Merry Christmas everyone!

[@Kumimono]

To be fair to Chamberlain, he was, unknowingly, dying of cancer. Did not live to see 1941. Probably wasn't as energetic in office as needed as a result.

[@reillycurran8508]

Worth noting that the tories lost the election immediately post WWII because they weren't the sole governing party, they were the coalition head in an "all hands on deck" government formed with the labour party, who in this coalition agreement were more or less given total reign over domestic affairs within the british isles. The British Public recognized that while the Tories won the war abroad, Labour were the ones who saw them specifically through it all at home.

[@julianshepherd2038]

Britains phoney war or sitzkreig was because we had almost no proper tanks. To be prcise, 2 in September 1939. Even in the Battle of France, Spitfires were in too short supply and were held back to defend the home island. We had a good navy and air force because we controlled a lot of the planet but had guessed no one would want to rerun WWII.

[@commisaryarreck3974]

Ah Britain Betraying every "ally" she's even had and somehow people still fall for her promises "yes Poland we shall totally assist you, cease all negotiations" "Ah yes Stalin let us disrespect you so hard Hitler seems like a more capable and honest person" "France we shall totally defend you and not sprint away at the first sign of danger" "Also fuck you France, you're our ally but we're sinking your navy just in case you don't want to obey our empire, also this random general is now being propped up as the totally legit government"

[@markgarrett3647]

Nah Sitzkrieg was because they had Chamberlain.

[@tisFrancesfault]

The British empire was still the most peaceful, rapid and complicity dismantled empires ever.

[@Adam-wg2rf]

Theres probebly some random empire in the past we didn't heard about.

[@generalgrenade6463]

Sir that's a great what if There's also probably a guy who's worse than Hitler from way back in the past

[@Mr.LaughingDuck]

Pity the Brits indifference/carelessness to creating borders of nationalistic adversaries continues to suck to this day: Palestine/Israel The rest of the Middle East India/Pakistan India/China Africa

[@CMitchell808]

@@Mr.LaughingDuckAnd they’ve yet to fix the borders themselves today

[@ApeX-pj4mq]

@@Mr.LaughingDuckThe committee responsible for deciding on a two state solution didn’t even have the UK on it. The UK gave the UN the decision over the border

[@crw662]

“This man is literally Hitler” is such an underrated line.

[@ComfortingColourlessLight]

The oversimplification really hurt the ending (1956 war) but overall a great video!

[@justinmaitland7335]

Knowing is half the battle, the other half is extreme violence.

[@kantunahau]

"And America wasn't so big in colonialism," are fv

[@jonathanwebster7091]

Unless it does it…

[@kantunahau]

​@@jonathanwebster7091 yes, that line need an addendum.

[@greyfells2829]

The last time america seized a colony was during the Spanish American War. By this time, the US didn't have colonies. If you visit Puerto Rico, you'll notice that it hasn't been Americanized. You people pretend like America is some great evil when in reality it's not that bad by the standards of powerful countries.

[@CollinMcLean]

@@kantunahau We didn't so much have colonies as we did client kingdoms... yeah you're totally autonomous, the guys in the CIA are just going to make sure you use that autonomy to keep our interests in mind!

[@kantunahau]

​@CollinMcLean, you need to learn what colonialism is.

[@fredericksaxton3991]

The irony of the US making Britain stop buggering about in Suez, is that about 6 or 7 years later President Johnson was asking the British to send troops to help the US fighting in Vietnam, to which the British prime minister really did not have a difficult decision to make by saying "No".

[@MalikF15]

Please do a video on the collapse of the French Colonies.

[@ssleeg]

Yes! Indochina, Algeria and the continued French influence in Africa are so interesting

[@Thatmeepgamer]

Funny, I just finished watching “darkest hour” which is a great film

[@petersantos6395]

"The crown in the jewel"

[@JennieKermode]

If Hitler still stands out to you (and not just as a consequence of scale) then check out one of his models, Leopold II of Belgium, sometime.

[@anisoaniso123]

I watched a lot of u videos! It was impressive and funny, it would be great if u could make video about Abdul hamid ii of ottoman empire

[@renagade2715]

More Kenyans served in the King's Royal African Rifles than in the Mau Mau, and the conflict in Malaysia, the communists were a violent minority, not representative of the majority population

[@RichMitch]

Please do a video on Clement Attlee

[@widyasantoso4910]

@RichMitch Biographics did one on Attlee if you can't wait.

[@NicoBabyman1]

10:45 Henrond: “Winsilduuuuuuuur!”

[@meangreenmach0774]

There were still simi legal, slavery in the US during WW2. According to Knowing Better, in his video on Neo Slavery, he sites what he claimed to be the last trial to free such a type of slave in the 1940s. This means that the US was one of, if not the most, hypocritical empire on the world stage. The other empires would at least say the quiet part out loud.

[@zombieoverlord5173]

Depending on how you define slave labor we still have slave labor today in the form of prison labor

[@just_a_casual_viewer]

Us was never an empire. Who said it is?

[@wonderworld7721]

What about those cheap IT labors(human resources) from3worl countries !?.

[@NoName-hg6cc]

There was slavery in British empire during WW2

[@lordjav1320]

Spent 10 minutes talking about Britian in ww2 with the occasional churchel racist joke and then spent 5 minutes actually talking about the Britishes crimes. Not that I'm complaining it's an important topic to talk about glad to see that it is being talked about.

[@ENoob]

Yeah, the crew of the aircraft carrier sunk the same day as the declaration of war might quibble with the idea of the phoney war.

[@JamesHall-hj5hc]

oh damn, which one was it?

[@janwald4157]

Really accurate Map of Europe from at 1939 at 5:53 Jack… Didn‘t knew that Poland owned east Prussia 😂😂

[@LCCWPresents]

Any country with the west African France is still low key a French colony

[@kidgaminggaming5731]

Low-key? They're literally french vassal states 💀

[@albevanhanoy]

No.

[@worldinsights930]

Considering they have better finances than their counterparts (except Nigeria, but only because of the oil profits), they better remain a French "colony" rather than have a shithole monetary policy like Zimbabwe.

[@DisKKJ]

4:53 Oh my god. Mount Hilerest.

[@MatthewCaunsfield]

"This man is literally Hitler" 😂

[@rct3LP]

Never forget, between 1880 and 1920 more than a 100 million people died as a result of the British Empire in India.

[@wonderworld7721]

Dangerous, inhuman !!.

[@Mikebrowski]

Jack thank you for a good laugh the Isildor, Churchill was HILARIOUS

[@Ushio01]

Ah yes the first 8 months called the phoney war because France wasn't interested in launching an offensive and the UK's army was and still is seen as the least important part of the military trifecta. Meanwhile the Royal Navy was very busy forcing the scuttling of the Graf Spee while losing a Battleship and an Aircraft carrier to U-Boats.

[@nerdlingeeksly5192]

5:28 Chamberlain looks like Mat Pat from game theory in his 60's.

[@jj591]

Really love how this video makes it seems as if Britain ( and france) were real baddies and US was kinda of a good guy ,just democracy and FREEDOM 😂😂 While obviously British empire didn't end quite smoothly, the US was no angel either. The reason why America supported freedom of so many nations after ww2 was really just self intrest and less to do with good heart. With Britain and France gone from world politics , the US could focus solely on defeating soviet union and becoming the dominant superpower.

[@Mrtroop-bd3xu]

favorite piture ever 14:24

[@NightRyder19]

Britain cut India loose because the entire subcontinent was ready to revolt this time, not simply some part of it. Read The Red Fort Trials, Naval Mutiny 1946,etc for a better picture.

[@brandonk8948]

Loved your tie today in this episode 🙂

[@iancody3215]

I’m in the mood for a mystery episode about Jack The Ripper!😮

[@hedgehog3180]

Tbf India also wasn't exactly a shining example of pacifism. The British had spent literally all their time there stoking division between Muslims and Hindus while also fucking up the entire subcontinent in general. Then when things inevitably started going out of control the British just drew a line somewhere and went “alright now this is your problem” and fucked off before this began to reflect badly on them. Unsurprisingly the result of dividing the country in two based on religion was a massive wave of refugees and enormous levels of violence. This is more or less the same that happened in Palestine except in Palestine it went way worse, here the British also wanted to divide the land based on sectarian lines but then rapidly after WWII Jewish terrorism went out of control. The British finally realized that telling both the Jews and the Arabs that they would get all the all the land during WWI to get brownie points with both groups had perhaps been a bad idea. However since they had made this promise they couldn't really tell anyone to stop and they of course did not have the manpower to stop them so instead they fucked off before things got too bad and told the UN to deal with it. Surprising no one the organization created solely to be a diplomatic forum with no armed forces of it's own that was less than three years old was not in fact able to stop a bloody sectarian conflict. Basically like roughly 70% of geopolitical issues today are Britain's fault.

[@MKatss]

What a great family friendly, fun, and above all else cheery Christmas video!

[@shamanslayer9417]

Great Video, I really like these kind of analysis of lesser known topics. Just a minor correction, though: Stalin died in 1953 and the Suez crisis happend in 1956. So it should be " Khrushchew" who is leading the Soviet Union at 13:51.

[@CT-kl7tt]

First video I'm seeing from this channel and it's pretty alright! But when talking about atrocities of the British Empire it includes some of the long running ones that carried over from the 19th century into the 20th, which does gloss over the Begal famine in India that occurred under Churchill's charge.

[@CivilWarWeekByWeek]

Therapist: Hitler Everest isn't real Hitler Everest:

[@54032Zepol]

what happened to you Britain? you used to be cool, had controls of the four corners and seven seas with massive armadas now look at you barely a dozen warships!

[@Rynewulf]

Tbf our ships cant even successfully attack Icelandic fishermen, might as well be rid of them. Not like the Vikings or Romans are coming back any time soon and I doubt the Afghan inland hill shepherds are sailing here either

[@Alusnovalotus]

India. That's why.

[@saturationstation1446]

imagine if zimbabwe suddenly discovers a weapon that instantly makes all explosive weapons self detonate. then they get to be the next brittish empire because they happened to get ahold of destructive technology that no one else could fight against. not exactly something to have personal pride in, because other people did all the stuff, you just took credit for it all and labeled them as subhuman

[@johnnotrealname8168]

@@CoochSmooch This is not totally true at least. India was not funding the whole Empire, it was largely funding itself. There was plenty wrong during that time but the British were also more than willing to leave given that it was a Constitutional thing.

[@johnnotrealname8168]

@@CoochSmooch The British were always going to give independence to India, it was a matter of when.

[@coffeeortea547]

So it's basically the same as your After Occupation video. It's not that they didn't try to return things to the way it had been, it's just that the old way of doing things simply wasn't viable anymore in the new age.

[@NefariousKoel]

Regarding Churchill, there needs to be a compilation of all the boneheaded military decisions he made in his government positions. For both WW1 and WW2, it could be a long video.

[@shafsteryellow]

😂 That's antisemitic

[@randomrhino7500]

To be fair fthere a lot of British people also don’t like British empire, mostly the ones living in the slums

[@bobmcbob9856]

The Suez crisis is a HUGE part of the Canadian high school curriculum. I think Canada stood against Britain in it for the first time in an international crisis or something like that but I know they talk about it a lot. My friend’s younger brother was even mentioning it today.

[@starsixseven9259]

Jack what’s up? This one also feels off…