Niall Ferguson - Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World - Maxim Force 1/5

[mwillis1000]

We are the most influential and important country in history! XD

[ashkaangolestani]

The song at the start of the video is 'What's the difference' by Dr Dre: A rather apt and ironic choice of song, given the inherent racial superiority felt by men such as Cecil Rhodes, who Ferguson proceeds to discuss. The gunshot at the end of the (full) song is comparable to firing of the Maxim gun. These insights into the motivation behind song choice, would however, be accessible primarily to the more youthful, Afro-American viewers of Ferguson's programme, of whom I'm sure, there are many!

[righthand48]

‎"Direct rule from Westminister had without question exacebated the disasterous famine of the mid-1840s, in which more than a million people had died of deart and disease."

Niall Ferguson

"Empire: How Britain made the modern world"

p253 Penguin

[TheLiberalKnight]

@righthand48 Irishman just fuck off. We are not interested in you any more. Go away. Just go and do your own thing. Stop moaning about Britain everywhere.

[StrahOfTheSundjer]

What's the music in the first 10 secs of the video?

[wtsmyname]

@StrahOfTheSundjer I'd like to know too, does anyone know the name?

[sinisterbigd]

Where can I find this dvd? Or where can I download it from?

[Angerofthenorth]

@HyperBorealOperator Are Jews not often Europeans too?

[qqwweerrttyy96]

"We are the first race in the world and the more of the world we inhabit, the better it is for the human race"

Cecil Rhodes

[AussieMatters]

Niall tells us point blank Rothschild financed Rhodes whom STEAL Africa at the end of a gun barrel. Niall's latest book speaks of the borrower and the lender. Thanks for the history lesson Niall's, but in 2011 it's time to reclaim the stolen wealth from the den of thieves that you yourself know have financed both sides of all major wars since the French Revolution. It's time for Rothschild to be relegated to the dust bin of history with other thieves and mass murders.

[panzercat1939]

Queen Vickey's ghost hit the dislike tab!

[nograviti]

And finally, so America imported all those millions of slaves for fun did it? They had no role to play in building infrastructure/farming and helping to create the foundations on which the "gilded age" was built?

Your slavery point does have some merit, but incidently a European empire centred around Italy which reached it zenith many centuries ago also used Slaves!! hmmm

Slavery does not imped growth/innovation, it is overreliance on it that does.

Yawn...

[carterupm]

One question? Why the fuck the music in the first couple of minutes? Eminem and then some shitty dance music. Really??

[tapl500000]

@carterupm What's worse is when you recognise the shitty dance music, I think it was a Sean Paul track, must listen to Schubert until my mind has been purified.

[redxenos]

Ferguson was exaggerating when he said Britain had conquered 'half of Africa' by 1900. Even after German East Africa and German West Africa were added to the empire in 1918 Britain controlled just over 1/3 of the continent.

[carterupm]

@redxenos Totally agree. his figures are well off

[lizardoner]

ferguson is a racist, conservative fact-stretcher, he makes some good points but should not be respected as a true historian. He hurts the argument he hopes to promote - that the British Empire was a cause for good - by omitting important counterarguments, and by using only favorable data. Sorry dude, the only people that will believe you are people who haven't done their homework, and while you may get paid, I hope you never hold a position at a university again.

[Tomyris]

@lizardoner Stop stretching the facts, Ferguson does not skimp on the dark side of empire - in fact, he goes so far as to label the removal of the Aborigines from Van Diemen's Land as outright genocide, which itself is debatable. Besides, what proof do you have that he is a racist?

[William00048]

@lizardoner What is a real historian? He studied it at university and now he teaches it at university. To most people that makes him an historian. What is your criteria? We all have bias, some to a greater or lesser degree try to overcome it and be impartial. It is in the eye of the beholder if he seeks to be impartial and if he meets this aim. Clearly he tries to be impartial, in my eye he does a good job of being dispassionate. You are welcome to your view.

[efraimdm]

@William00048 , not just history, great linkage between Money and history

[smalltime0]

@lizardoner he was quite scathing about the empire's actions in the other parts of the documentary. He does at most present the idea that sometimes the biritsh thought they were doing the right thing.

[tigerfedor1]

@lizardoner rofl he didn't agree with what you think so you decide to trash him, he's probably 50x smarter than you so just stop, the british empire was a cause for good in many cases

[nograviti]

"The british came to stamp out slavery and bring christianity", what absolute rubbish. The British enjoyed the spoils of slavery and were slow to stop it, even when kingdoms like the ashanti and benin had long since refused to trade in slaves because of the economic costs on their kingdoms.

[Tomyris]

@nograviti Of course the British enjoyed the spoils of slavery in the eighteenth century; however, after they abolished it in the nineteenth (the first major power to do so), they pursued its abolition with considerable zeal; Africa was seen as a station for the destruction of the slave trade for much of that century.

[JustB3NJI]

@Tomyris Odd how we get all the blame for slavery but we one of th last countries to employ it and the first to abolish it.

[tapl500000]

@JustB3NJI Good point, also fustrating how Rome is admired despite its slavery and violence, while the British Empire is typically denigrated.

[JustB3NJI]

@tapl500000 People forget that Britain brought about its own guilt, we put our hands up and admitted our wrong doings and the friendship we enjoyy with so many commonwealth countries shows that we worked hard at healing those wounds. Countries who were victims of our slave trade still happily have the queen as a symbolic head of state. We are still apologising and trying to bridge gulfs and those who have stayed in the past and remain hostile suffer, and they cant blame us anymore.

[tapl500000]

@JustB3NJI A salutary instinct for self criticism has been corrupted into an irrational loathing of much of our heritage, it has also been hijacked by our enemies. You'll wait a long time to see even modest self criticism from the Turks and Arab nations. Out of curiosity, have you ever heard of Mongol guilt, something tells me its yet to make its way into academic circles?

[JustB3NJI]

@tapl500000 Nope never heard of Mongol guilt.

[tigerfedor1]

@nograviti lol you have no idea what you are talking about, the british were the first to abolish slavery and actively fought it while the united states and other european countries were still fully enjoying it, i suggest you educate yourself before calling a historical fact ''absolute rubbish".

[nograviti]

@tigerfedor1 Well given my great grandfather was an Oba from Edo Benin City and explained that the british often forced the continuation of slavery through provoking wars by proxy, I will take his word over yours :) Also sadly I come from a wealthy former slave trading family in west africa. I know the history of this trade very well. Some West African nations were the first to ban it as it got so out of control, take the Ashanti, they took a stand well before the British did. 

[nograviti]

@tigerfedor1 Do not pass off Niall Ferguson as serious historian, he is no more than an apologist for empire. Take Benin city at its height it had a population of 100,000 as the centre of the Benin empire with a royal lineage that stretched back centuries. The benin government even had an ambassador in Portugal! The city was razed to the ground by the British (apparently accidently!!) and its bronze reliefs and statues stolen, taken to the british museum and sold in world markets for millions!

[tigerfedor1]

@nograviti ok i won't pass of a Harvard and London School of Economics history professor as a serious historian, im sure you and your grandad are much better sources.

[nograviti]

@tigerfedor1 Well professors from those very institiutions once had flourishing eugenics departments, labelling peoples from the orient as inferior humans capable only of copying the west. Funny with Decoupling those inferior people are now surpassing us economically. I went to Cambridge and that doesnt mean that everything I say is right. When it comes to Africa and western depictions of it, take what is said with a pinch of salt. Remember the old adage, "history is written by the victor!"

[smoochym]

@nograviti in no way are any asian countries economically superior to the west. All of them rely on huge amounts of western investment and technology. The most prosperous nations, in terms of per cpaita GDP are those which have had most western intervention, ie Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan to a lesser extent.

On a further point, all developed countries already have eugenics in the form of laws against incest.

[nograviti]

@tigerfedor1 Lastly I noticed you were unable to refute one thing I said, only state Niall went to Havard so there. I like your reasoning LOL!

[smoochym]

@nograviti and how do you think Benin achieved it's imperial status if not through the conquest and exploitation of others?

When you say Cambridge, is that Cambridge Arts College or something?

[nograviti]

@smoochym I take no issue with imperialism/conquest per se, its as old as the hills, its when Niall attempts to make out subjugated people were somehow beneficiaries of it I object LOL!

Japan? western intervention? I remember all western traders being told to go Nagasaki. Bar Perry's black ships & defeat in WW2, Japan historically has always dictated its level of interaction with the west.

The other regions you mentioned do have one thing in common, they were all Japanese Colonies : )

[nograviti]

I would Japanese influence rather than western intervention had more to do with the later economic successes of these regions : )

Finally, last I checked, Japan and China occupied position of the world's second and third largest economies. You could perhaps say America is western, but it was never a white nation to begin with, without the sheer mass of cheap human capital (african americans) I doubt America would be half of what it is today : )

class dismissed LOL

[nograviti]

@smoochym Your stupidity is astounding! So you think monetary investment would have more impact than 50 years of colonisation in Taiwan's case and 35 in Korea's case? Honestly...

GDP point, nowhere did I say that China had the worlds largest economy, read my comments before posting. Pop. size is irrelevant, overall GDP figures are what they are.

British and American warships, what British Ships? Ultimately, was Japanese political rule interrupted before WW2? No :)

[nograviti]

@smoochym Actually listen to and read excerpts from people who lived through the Japanese occupation in Singapore and Hong Kong, often they remark begrudgingly that the Japanese were a sensation, the image of asian soldiers not much different to themselves comprehensively defeating white western troops was an inspiration. It destroyed any thoughts of western superiority in the minds of people of those regions. It was that they gave them greater confidence in managing their own affairs : )

[nograviti]

@smoochym "Not for very long, and they suffered horribly, like at Nanking for example." Like the Congolese didnt suffer in the Congo, where to add insult to injury the very worst abuse of cutting off the hands of women and children from plantations that didnt produce enough rubber became the image on the colony's FLAG!! please spare your false sentiments!

Would the people of Hong Kong done well under Mao, probably not, but they would have been fine under Deng Xiaoping : )