Historians disagree about whether the British Empire did more good or harm. Both sides agree, however, that the empire reshaped Britain and the colonies forever.

Impact on Britain

Huge wealth flowed in - some of it funded the Industrial Revolution, grand cities and stately homes.
Cheap food and raw materials kept British factories running and British people fed - sugar, tea, cotton, palm oil, rubber.
British people gained a sense of identity as world rulers. Maps showed a quarter of the world coloured red.
From the 1950s, people from former colonies came to live in Britain (e.g. the Windrush generation), making it a multicultural society and influencing food, music, art, literature and everyday culture.
Ideas about race and superiority - used to justify empire - have continued to shape British attitudes.

Impact on the colonies

Some lasting benefits: schools, hospitals, English language, the rule of law and rail networks like the Indian railways.
But also huge harm: local industries destroyed, wealth flowing one way only to Britain, and hasty borders that led to violence (e.g. India's Partition).
Famines killed millions in India and elsewhere while food was exported to Britain.
Resistance was often punished with massacres, such as the Amritsar Massacre of 1919.

Two historians, two views

British historian Niall Ferguson argues in his book Empire (2003) that, despite its violence, the British Empire spread liberal ideas, free trade and the rule of law. He calls it the foundation of today's globalised world.
Indian writer Shashi Tharoor argues in Inglorious Empire (2017) that the empire looted India - reducing its share of world wealth from 23% in 1700 to about 3% by 1947 - and left lasting divisions. He calls for an apology and reparations.

Year 8 Power & Protest

The Impact of the British Empire