British Armed
The Legacy of the British Raj in India
The British ruled over and administered India for the best part of 100 years.
They started trading with India in the early 1600’s. By the mid 1700’s they were engaged in fighting against various kingdoms. By the mid 1800’s they were fully in control of the Indian subcontinent and were either directly administering through the means of the Indian civil service, or were letting the local Maharajahs administer their own Kingdoms as long as the Maharajahs were paying the British the desired licence fee and were prepared to follow the terms and conditions set out by the British.
In 1947 the British left India partitioned into India and Pakistan as a result of which over one million people died in migration between the two new countries. In addition India was virtually bankrupt with very little infrastructure
or industry. Yet when the British first went to India in the 1600’s it was a very prosperous place with a large GDP and a huge manufacturing base, which is the reason why the British wanted to trade in the first place. The conclusion being that the British left India in a far worse state then how they found it.
Since 1947 India has developed all its infrastructure and industries from ground up, including roads, agriculture, textiles, steel, nuclear, space, military, telecoms and IT and much more. It has made so much progress that some consider it to be a potential global superpower in the very near future, and this has all happened within 60 years of The British leaving India.
So what really was the legacy of the British in India? Many would say that the British went into a prosperous land, bled it dry, and then left. Others would say the British brought culture (education to the heathens), technology and of course the great English language to a country that otherwise would never have experienced all of this.
But one point that often gets missed is that India is now a united country with a democracy and all the relevant institutions needed to sustain democracy, like a judiciary and armed forces. The British had a big hand in this although their motives were all together different. Basically when the British came to India in the 1600’s, it was a fragmented country with many little kingdoms none of whom liked each other. The British took advantage of these differences and slowly gobbled up each kingdom, eventually bringing the sum total of all these kingdoms under British rule. Eventually when the British left they handed over a united India.
It seems that this unification could only have been achieved by an alien power like the British because the Kingdoms hated each other to the extent that they would join the British against each other, yet they would not join each other against the British. This character flaw in the Indian persona is exactly what the British exploited and is also why it would have been very difficult for the Indians to have unified by themselves without some external influence.
India has made great progress over the last 60 years because it is unified. Surely this has to be counted as an important British legac
About the Author
Improve your Sales, Business Cards, Leaflets
[mage lang="en|es|fr|en" source="article" backup="sooper"]British Armed[/mage
British Armed
 |
 LOT 145 BRITISH ARMED FORCES NUMBER 88880818 78888898  US $388.00
|
 LOT 150 BRITISH ARMED FORCES 1P NUMBER 8888813 67 9 US $288.00
|
 BRITISH ARMED FORCES 4TH ONE POUND NUMBER 888880 US $288.00
|
 BRITISH ARMED FORCES VOUCHER NUMBER K 3 300000 US $228.00
|
 BRITISH ARMED FORCES 4th SERIES x 25 UNC 1 NOTES M 32b US $199.00
|
 BUNDLE 100 x British Armed Forces One Pound Banknotes US $161.60
|
 BRITISH ARMED FORCES P M12a 1946 1st Series 2 Shillings Sixpence VF US $118.50
|
 1962 BRITISH ARMED FORCES 4th SERIES 10 NOTE L 1 476871 72 73 UNC US $118.50
|
 BRITISH ARMED FORCES 4TH ONE POUND RADAR NUMBER 100001 US $98.00
|
 British Armed Forces Banknote EXCELLENT condition US $65.00
|
 British Armed Forces Bank 1 Pound Notes Lot of 3 US $60.00
|
 British Armed Forces 3 Pence 1946 ChEF Grade CatM 9 US $49.99
|
 BRITISH ARMED FORCES 10X £1 VIETNAM ERA 1962 SEQUENTIAL ORIGINALUNCIRCULATED US $44.99
|
 BRITISH ARMED FORCES 5 Pounds UNC US $40.00
|
 UK GREAT BRITAIN 5 POUNDS NOTE BRITISH ARMED FORCES US $39.99
|
 British Armed Forces 10 Shillings NOTES GEM CU PMG 68 US $34.73
|
 UK GREAT BRITAIN 5 PENCE NOTE BRITISH ARMED FORCES US $29.99
|
 UK GREAT BRITAIN 50 PENCE NOTE BRITISH ARMED FORCES US $29.99
|
 100 LOT BRITISH ARMED FORCES 10 PENCE BANKNOTES MINT US $28.99
|
 British Armed Forces 10 Pence Special Voucher US $125.95
|
 British Armed Forces 2 Shilling 6 pence ND1948 P M19a US $25.00
|
 British Armed Forces 10 Shillings NOTES GEM CU PMG 67 US $24.84
|
 BRITISH ARMED FORCES 5 P 1948 P M23 UNC LOT 5 PCS US $23.99
|
 BRITISH ARMED FORCES FIVE POUNDS 1948 POST WW II UNC US $22.49
|
 British Armed Forces Occupation Currency 7 5 NP 5 £ Ch CU US $22.00
|
The UK Conservatives talk about a defense review but what does mean for the British Armed Forces?
Are they hinting at an increase in military manpower?
It without a doubt means cuts! We need this money for shools hospitals etc so the forces get cuts, which is only fair as I think schools and hospitals and stuff need more money thrown at them. However what I don't thnk is fair that they expect us to fight in foreign wars with out of date and second hand cr@p!
Why don't we have a review of spending in Quango's and the civil service etc, we could easily rustle up a few million thats wasted on consultants fees and other tosh such as all the health and safety nonsense that we put up with!