The Brutality of Empire
History: KS3, topic 6.7.2
The Brutality of Empire
The British Empire is often criticised for the brutality of some of its policies and for the hardship that it inflicted on those living in some of its colonies.
Cash crops
- In India, the British encouraged farmers to grow ‘cash crops’ which could be exported for a large profit.
- E.g. cotton and tea.
- These were grown rather than crops for food.
Famine
- While this policy brought great wealth to the Empire in the form of trade, it caused several devastating famines in India.
- One famine in 1769 killed roughly ten million Indians.
Opium
- The British also encouraged Indian farmers to grow opium (the plants used to make the drug heroin).
- They exported large amounts of this to China even though the Chinese Emperor had warned the British not to do so.
- The trade led to widespread opium addiction in China, and the British went to war with China in 1839 to ensure they could continue this harmful trade (the Opium War).
Gold
- When gold was discovered in the Boer state of Transvaal next to Cape Colony (which was controlled by the British), the British went to war against the Boers, in order to try and extend their power over Transvaal.
- The Boer Wars were brutal for the Boer settlers and the native Africans.
- The British used a scorched earth policy to burn their crops, killed their cattle, and destroyed Boer villages.
The Boer Wars
- Thousands of people lost their homes and were housed in concentration camps that the British established.
- Conditions in these camps were appalling, and caused the deaths of around 12,000 Africans and 25,000 Boers.
- These are just a few examples of some of the harsh and brutal policies employed by the British in order to extend their power and control and maximise profits from the empire.
Test yourself on The Brutality of Empire
What is NOT an example of a 'cash crop'?
What broke out in 1839?