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

Historian and presenter Niall Ferguson takes us on a fascinating journey in both time and space to explore the impact of the British empire on the modern world. From the earliest British settlers in Virginia to the decline of the empire in the aftermath of the two World Wars, positive and negative aspects of the empire are illustrated through key events and players.

Niall Ferguson uses a wealth of original sources such as quotes, documents, film footage and photographs, as well as taking a contemporary look at key locations and drawing parallels with recent history, such as the USA's war against terrorism.

The series is highly entertaining, informative and thought-provoking, and provides an excellent and balanced overview of the British empire and its continuing legacy in the world.

Part five: Maxim Force

The 'Scramble for Africa' by competing European nations during the last years of Queen Victoria's reign is the compelling tale of this programme. We learn how 10,000 independent African kingdoms became 40 European colonies over the course of two decades, in a drastic redrawing of the map. Indeed, by 1900 Britain owned half of Africa.

No longer dominated by moral and religious concerns, this new era was about power and the economy as the battle for raw materials progressed. Power was in the hands of bankers and industrialists such as Rothschild and Cecil Rhodes, as illustrated by their use of the new Maxim guns to keep any opponents in check. By this stage it was businessmen doing the colonising and not governments.

This was a time when young men from elite schools were sent to work in the colonies, with the sports fields of England used as training grounds for a career in the army. Images of heroes overcoming the native warriors were very popular. Archive film from this period, of battles such as Omdurman in Sudan, illustrate the power of British military tactics and show a complete disregard for supposedly inferior races. The Boer war and subsequent treatment of the Boers brought a moral backlash in Britain that signalled a new era for the British empire.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• niall
• ferguson
• empire
• britain
• made
• modern
• world

[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!

[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.

[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

[wtsmyname]

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

[StrahOfTheSundjer]

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

[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.