This is the first episode of a series on the history of the British Empire.
Jeremy Paxman is the thoughtful host who takes us on a walking tour of important colonial sites. He chats with some of the former colonials but sometimes asks awkward questions of them. "How do you FEEL about having been under the British boot for so many years?", something like that. Some of the replies are smooth; some are evasive. I winced.
First stop, India, a huge chunk of land, a subcontinent really. The British felt a moral duty to civilize the natives and make a profit at the same time. Since Britain could never muster enough manpower to rule such a large area, they paid Indians to act as British soldiers, and they made deals with the local rulers that allowed the maharajahs to continue administering their territory, only they would pay the British taxes. In some places this is known as extortion.
If this sounds cynical, I should note that Americans didn't get into the imperialism business until later, since they were busy subduing American Indians. When we did expand, we played the same manipulative tricks. In Samoa, for instance, the first American visitors tried to make a deal with one of the family chiefs granting rule over the islands to America. The chief would have none of it. Besides, he was in no position to cede rule to anyone since he controlled only his own clan. So our delegation simply went from one autonomous chief to another until they found one who was more accommodating and sold out.
The populace of India rebelled in the mid-19th century. It resulted in a horrible slaughter of English families, including women and children, at Luknow. When reenforcements arrived, the British retribution was even more dramatic. One officer executed thousands by his own commands. The city was littered with decomposing and skeletonized corpses. British rule became more stern. As Rudyard Kipling put it, there were knuckle dusters under the kid gloves.
Paxton performs a similar autopsy on the British rule of Egypt. It was never a colony. It was a "protectorate." The troops arrived, it was announced that they would leave shortly, and they stayed for seventy years. It wasn't that they were fascinated by the Sphynx so much as they were interested in who controlled the Suez Canal.
At home, England celebrated its empire, which ran from Canada across the world to Australia. A rite of intensification in London brought representatives from all the colonies together in a majestic display. (I never realized that Queen Victoria had been captured on movie film.)
The program ends with a rapid survey of the Bedouin and the British occupation of Israel.
It's magnificently photographed and lushly orchestrated. Informative and nicely done, but I wish Paxton hadn't been so politely forceful with his informants.
Jeremy Paxman is the thoughtful host who takes us on a walking tour of important colonial sites. He chats with some of the former colonials but sometimes asks awkward questions of them. "How do you FEEL about having been under the British boot for so many years?", something like that. Some of the replies are smooth; some are evasive. I winced.
First stop, India, a huge chunk of land, a subcontinent really. The British felt a moral duty to civilize the natives and make a profit at the same time. Since Britain could never muster enough manpower to rule such a large area, they paid Indians to act as British soldiers, and they made deals with the local rulers that allowed the maharajahs to continue administering their territory, only they would pay the British taxes. In some places this is known as extortion.
If this sounds cynical, I should note that Americans didn't get into the imperialism business until later, since they were busy subduing American Indians. When we did expand, we played the same manipulative tricks. In Samoa, for instance, the first American visitors tried to make a deal with one of the family chiefs granting rule over the islands to America. The chief would have none of it. Besides, he was in no position to cede rule to anyone since he controlled only his own clan. So our delegation simply went from one autonomous chief to another until they found one who was more accommodating and sold out.
The populace of India rebelled in the mid-19th century. It resulted in a horrible slaughter of English families, including women and children, at Luknow. When reenforcements arrived, the British retribution was even more dramatic. One officer executed thousands by his own commands. The city was littered with decomposing and skeletonized corpses. British rule became more stern. As Rudyard Kipling put it, there were knuckle dusters under the kid gloves.
Paxton performs a similar autopsy on the British rule of Egypt. It was never a colony. It was a "protectorate." The troops arrived, it was announced that they would leave shortly, and they stayed for seventy years. It wasn't that they were fascinated by the Sphynx so much as they were interested in who controlled the Suez Canal.
At home, England celebrated its empire, which ran from Canada across the world to Australia. A rite of intensification in London brought representatives from all the colonies together in a majestic display. (I never realized that Queen Victoria had been captured on movie film.)
The program ends with a rapid survey of the Bedouin and the British occupation of Israel.
It's magnificently photographed and lushly orchestrated. Informative and nicely done, but I wish Paxton hadn't been so politely forceful with his informants.
