Niall Ferguson - Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World - Empire for Sale 4/5

[dawnnadir]

Where is Hong Kong?

[fomiz]

doesnt matter, china runs everything now

[DAVIDCGosling]

thoose monsters desreved the A-Bomb

[psikogeek]

OMG!

I am so happy to see such insight. I had never posted a comment on youtube.

What convinces me to do so now is this quote:

"For the Americans,...the idea of ruling over subject peoples was unpalatable. It also implied those foreign entanglements the founding fathers had warned them against. For the Americans, it was dead simple, sooner or later, everybody had to be like them: democratic and independent."

Educated people know it; odd that BBC/ch4 publishes it. Good work.

OMG!

[William00048]

It is true that our good friends t US had as a stated WWII goal t undermining of the British Empire. With lease lend they were little better than black marketeers. They gave stuff to the USSR but the UK paid for every bomb & bullet even if it ended up at the bottom of the Atlantic. The US was the only country to exit t war richer than when it went in. No Marshall Plan money for the UK. The US even told t Chinese they could have Hong Kong, got our fleet out of the way & refused our envoy a ride.

[NearAbbeyRoad]

@William00048

Lend-lease was free. Use it then give it back, or if you keep then pay.

Marshall Plan money went to the UK.

[William00048]

@NearAbbeyRoad If nobody paid, how did the US leave the second world war and indeed the first world war more wealthy than it went in. You just said, give back then free, can't give it back if it is at the bottom of the Atlantic or if it was destroyed in action. That makes your comments on Lend-lease a little mute. on your comments on Marshall Plan money going to the UK, state your source. The UK only finished repaying it's debts to the US 29 December 2006.

[William00048]

@NearAbbeyRoad Stick this in your search engine. Settling a debt: The British make good on a war loan from the U.S. Pittsburgh Post Gazette. It doesn't mention that no Marshal Plan money went to the UK but does say that the UK felt had done by that we had born the brunt of the war but had to take out a $4.34 Bn loan from the US.

[William00048]

@NearAbbeyRoad I have an open mind. I too feel the US behaved rather poorly in this. If you can show that the US did indeed help the UK out with money from the Marshal Plan rather than a simple loan, then please do tell. If the UK provided the blood while the US provided the metal would in some degree be welcome news too, but I think the reality is that the UK fought alone 39 - 41 taking the full cost in blood and treasure.

[William00048]

@NearAbbeyRoad Just looked it up myself. Yes, the UK did indeed receive money from the Marshal Plan. It received $385 Million in the form of loans. Other countries had loans and grants. Many countries had their repayment requirements reduced. The UK paid for every bullet and repaid every $.

[William00048]

@NearAbbeyRoad By the way. Our special relationship allies tried to give Hong Kong to China at the end of WW2. US presidental general order no1 stated all Japanese troops had to surrender to general Chiang Kai Shek. The UK had to rush a fleet there to take the surrender of the Japanese. The US after some attempt to dissuade the UK informed Chiang Kai Shek Britain would not give up Hong Kong without a fight.

[William00048]

@NearAbbeyRoad Another by the way. If the US had honoured another war time agreement there would never have been a Vietnam War. Ho Chi Min was a US agent during the war. His assistance was secured with the agreement that Vietnam would become independent of France at the end. The US reneged, Ho Chi Min took aid where he could find it and the rest is history.

[Baledwyr]

It was the Labor Party and the Americans who kicked the crutch out from under and so destroyed a prosperous althought somewhat stuggling empire. For this I shall forever damn Roosevelt's name till the day I die. He also insulted Churchill in front of Stalin. Bastard.

[cheyaura]

National pride in the Empire of our Aristocracy meant the decent people of Britain had to live in poverty for no reason other than their Egotistical desire to rule the world. The labour party built national industry and health care and put the ownership in the hands of the people. Thatcher flogged it all off for cheap tax breaks and the corrupt profiteering of her pals in the private sector. Now they are so powerful they even own the labour party.

[smoochym]

""The labour party built national industry and health care "

No they didn't at all. British indsutry had been surpassed long before the Labour party even existed, all you socialists did is help it's death.

Whatever the ills of the British Empire, it was nothing compared with the repeated horrors forced upon the unwilling followers of communism which you so freely espouse.

[cheyaura]

The usual communist rhetoric how imaginative of you. You mean the fat cat toff's didn't like the idea of a real free market allowing workers to negotiate with them fairly so they moved their industry to third world countries were they could get away with treating people like slaves.

[smoochym]

"allowing workers to negotiate with them fairly"

Depriving the whole country of electricity is hardly fair by any reasonable standard.

[cheyaura]

Totally one sided argument.. Takes two parties to have a disagreement. When our backs are against the wall we will unite and that time is coming again. The silver spoon brigade would do well to cash their chips in and get out of town.

[imangrynow]

@smoochym Do you mean strike action? As a worker what other means do you have? All you can do is withdraw your labour.

[smoochym]

Get a different job? Work with a different company? You're proposing that through the power of manipulation and force that people pay you artificially high wages, in this case taxpayers - it's just proposterous really. If corporations were caught doing what unions do they would be heavily reprimanded.

[RogetKing]

@Baledwyr Seriously I wasn't aware of this? I always thought America and Britain were allies. How wrong I was. What America did was unforgivable.

What did Roosevelt say when he insulted Churchill in front of Stalin?

[Baledwyr]

@RogetKing @RogetKing

Well I may have been a bit to rude and hastey when I said I'd curse his name till the day I die, but you must understand I said that because I believe in Winnie and his ideals an awful lot! ...Roosevelt basically took a low road...insulting Winston's Britishness and his personality, to win Stalin's favour.