Discussion On Whether The British Empire Was A Blessing Or A Curse

The British Empire was seen as a blessing to many people living in England at the time, but in some ways, it could be seen as a curse, one way is: The British Empire causing the Amritsar Massacre on the 13th of April 1919, where many people were killed trying to start a rebellion because they hated being controlled by the British.

Another reason where it could be seen as a curse to anybody under the control of the empire, is that the empire allowed the people to be pushed and bullied by politics, which annoyed many, which caused many rebellions to start and everybody involved would usually be slaughtered.

The empire was in control of Jamaica at one point, and they made it their largest slave colony, which is quite bad, but it also made Jamaica the wealthiest colony in the British empire. As the English were starting to settle elsewhere a lot of prejudice towards other races started, especially in South Africa. To most of the English it was a blessing as it had a large impact items in shops, such as: different foods, sports and clothing permanently. It also allowed England to get raw materials to help start the industrial revolution, which formed our country the way it is today.

At one point it covered 24% of the earth’s area (35,500,000 km2) and 23% of the world population at the time. Which can be seen in both ways, as the empire was now extremely powerful, but many people hated being under the power of it. It also created many transport links between different countries also creating the greatest free trading area in the world.

There were still many disadvantages from the British Empire, for example: many diseases were being brought over from other countries, one being flu, another disadvantage is the economies of the colonies falling because most of the profits from the free trading goes back to Britain. As the empire took land and resources from the colonies, many were stealing to get money/food. As well as being a curse for the people living where the English settled as their villages/towns/countries where stripped of their resources and then left with nothing.

In conclusion I believe that it is mainly a blessing because of how it changed England for the better, but in many ways, it is a curse because of all the slave trade, wars and diseases (brought over from other countries) which may affect us today. Britain wouldn’t be the country it is today without the benefits taken from the colonies, but overall it was a good thing.