>biggest empire in history
>read British histories about it
>can be summed up to "and we had no money"
really was there any English sources speaking well about the British empire?
>>1087271
Try Niall Ferguson's "Empire", if that isn't one of the books you're bashing
In the end, we really did collapse because of money. We were broke from the Second World War, needed loans from America, so took them, with conditions attached that we would commit to decolonisation.
>>1087271
Land empires are old school anyways
especially sprawling overseas ones are far too expensive to maintain
the collapse of the British empire I understand, what's more strange is the French loss of North Africa considering costs were low and it was so close to the motherland unlike India.
What's the point of holding huge chunks of land if it's a money drain
>>1087342
prestige
manpower
converting the natives
also Mercantilism necessitated a large "internal" economic zone excluding others.
>>1087342
>if it's a money drain
It wasn't.
>>1087377
It was mostly.
Only a few exceptions
>>1087377
India alone paid for everything else
>>1087377
Most of the colonies were completely useless save India, Egypt, and the Caribbean (most were ports to India which became obsolete after the construction of the Suez canal) and any money made from them was spent when the periodic revolt happened.(which in turn made Britain place harsher penalties which made them revolt more).
Canada and Australia controlled their own domestic and economic functions lest they repeat what happened with America. this lead to Canada being richer than Britain by the latter half of the 19th century.
though they did manage to gain a bit of equilibrium it gone down the shitter due to the World wars.
>>1087455
The entire policy with the African colonies was "rule on the absolute bare minimum" and they STILL had troubles with that.
>>1087316
>what's more strange is the French loss of North Africa considering costs were low and it was so close to the motherland unlike India.
Well there was a War and international pressure on France to drop them
>>1087316
Costs were lower, not low, especially after a world war. And indeed the French tried to keep Algeria because it was so close, and won the Algerian war militarily.
What they couldn't win was the people's vote, and they voted out.
>>1087470
low priced house = high priced repairs
>>1087342
as i remember india was always considered as the crown jewel, because it has generated a positive payoff to gb
>>1087462
Theres also Malaysia
Not as important as Egypt or India but still
>mfw in 1990 Hong Kong had a higher GDP than its "master"
>>1087475
There was also internal pressure
Vietnam war for France was exactly like the Vietnam war in America and when it happened to Algeria the army thought "you know maybe someone should pull a Bonaparte and coup France again" which they had to pull up De Gaulle to solve it
>>1087542
Nous étions au fond de l'Afrique,
Gardiens jaloux de nos couleurs,
quand sous un soleil magnifique
retentissait ce cri vainqueur,
en criant, en chantant, en avant!
serrons les rangs.
- Refrain -
c'est nous les Africains
qui revenons de loin
Pour défendre la patrie
nous avons laissé la-bas
Nos parents , nos amis
et nous gardons au cœur
Une invincible ardeur
Car nous voulons porter haut et fier
Le beau drapeau de notre France entière
et si quelqu'un venait à y toucher
nous serions là pour mourir à ses pieds
Pour le pays, pour la Patrie, mourir au loin
C'est nous les Africains.
- II -
Pour le salut de notre Empire,
nous combattons tous les vautours,
La faim, la mort nous font sourire
quand nous luttons pour nos amours,
en criant, en chantant, en avant!
serrons les rangs.
- III -
De tous les horizons de France
groupés sur le sol africain,
nous venons pour la délivrance
qui par nous se fera demain,
en criant, en chantant,
en avant ! serrons les rangs.
- IV -
Et lorsque finira la guerre,
nous reviendrons dans nos gourbis,
Le cœur joyeux et l'âme fière
D'avoir libéré le pays
en criant, en chantant, en avant!
serrons les rangs.
>ywn be a pied noir
>ywn live a nice life like a non-autistic meursault
>ywn ignore the Beurs and their struggles while you drink wine and eat good Mediterranean food amongst Roman ruins near Algiers.
WHY
