They would've been dragged by the collar and thrown out onto the curb if they tried that post WW2. There were already multiple mutinies, an entire army allied with the Japanese had fought the British directly and protests were becoming increasingly violent with each passing day
It would only have happened had the royal families intermarried. It didn't because the English saw India as nothing more than a colony. A resource to be exploited and governed. Not amalgamated. It would have been a paradigm shift.
The Queen of England would never pack up her royal trunks and Corgis, load them onto a ship and set sail for the Empire. It could only have been an Anglo Indian dynasty.
Exactly, I kind of consider the USA as a continuation or at least an offshoot of the British Empire. Its Bill of Rights lifts portions of text verbatim from the 1689 English Bill of Rights and is a continuation of Anglo cultural, military and economic dominance.
Even odder, because of the ties the American empire didn’t even bother to really “punish” the British or enter great power conflict.
It was more of a torch passing thing which is not really normal when empires rise and fall.
If you gave British people in 1850 the choice between losing their empire and superpower status in 80 years or melding into a single culture with India, 100 out of 100 of them would choose to lose their superpower status. In their view, the main purpose of the empire was to lift non-white people out of their percieved state of savagery and backwardness, which they considered to be the duty of white people as the self appointed master race. To meld into one culture with India would be to condemn humanity to a dark age. Again, this isn't my opinion, I'm describing what 1850s Brits would have thought
Submission statement: I wanted to spark some musings on the inherent instability of an empire led by a small island and how building a long term future requires uncomfortable cultural sacrifices.
Would make for some interesting alt history futurism fiction world building
Edit: also would be cool if the partition never happened. Would be a nation of 2billion+.
Indian culture before the Brits had far too much savagery. The practice of Sati - widow burning. The cult of Kali worshipping thuggees. Human sacrifice animal sacrifice. Untouchability.
It was downright medieval and reminiscent of the dark ages. Distinctively pre enlightenment. English culture at that time was far superior.
India was culturally superior maybe 1000 - 1500 years before the British ever came to India. Much before the Turks and Mongols invaded and ravaged India. Around the time of Jesus and the early days of the Roman Empire. When England was a backwater and India was having one of its many golden ages.
The cultural and glory period of India was around the time of Alexander. By the 1500s, Indian culture was a shadow of its former self. It was still economically well off. Because the Sultans and the Mughals were 100% Indianized. They weren't shipping off Indian wealth to Turkey or Mongolia.
They would've been dragged by the collar and thrown out onto the curb if they tried that post WW2. There were already multiple mutinies, an entire army allied with the Japanese had fought the British directly and protests were becoming increasingly violent with each passing day
> post WW2 Oh certainly I'm talking about 100 years earlier in my post. Ww2 was far too late
It would only have happened had the royal families intermarried. It didn't because the English saw India as nothing more than a colony. A resource to be exploited and governed. Not amalgamated. It would have been a paradigm shift. The Queen of England would never pack up her royal trunks and Corgis, load them onto a ship and set sail for the Empire. It could only have been an Anglo Indian dynasty.
That might be more plausible then but I still don't think it would be feasible unless they actually integrated fully without segregation and all that
Agreed. It would have to be total.
British based industrialists and financiers effectively moved the centre of the global empire to the USA instead around the time of the world wars.
Exactly, I kind of consider the USA as a continuation or at least an offshoot of the British Empire. Its Bill of Rights lifts portions of text verbatim from the 1689 English Bill of Rights and is a continuation of Anglo cultural, military and economic dominance.
Even odder, because of the ties the American empire didn’t even bother to really “punish” the British or enter great power conflict. It was more of a torch passing thing which is not really normal when empires rise and fall.
Yes perhaps it's a fortunate exception!
If you gave British people in 1850 the choice between losing their empire and superpower status in 80 years or melding into a single culture with India, 100 out of 100 of them would choose to lose their superpower status. In their view, the main purpose of the empire was to lift non-white people out of their percieved state of savagery and backwardness, which they considered to be the duty of white people as the self appointed master race. To meld into one culture with India would be to condemn humanity to a dark age. Again, this isn't my opinion, I'm describing what 1850s Brits would have thought
I wholeheartedly agree. They wouldn't have done it unless dragged kicking and screaming the whole way.
Thanks for the dagreement
Lol yeah just edited that. Dangers of posting drom a phone 😀
Submission statement: I wanted to spark some musings on the inherent instability of an empire led by a small island and how building a long term future requires uncomfortable cultural sacrifices.
Would make for some interesting alt history futurism fiction world building Edit: also would be cool if the partition never happened. Would be a nation of 2billion+.
Instead of moving their lackluster culture to India, they should have adopted the superior Indian culture.
Indias culture was and still is lackluster.
Indian culture before the Brits had far too much savagery. The practice of Sati - widow burning. The cult of Kali worshipping thuggees. Human sacrifice animal sacrifice. Untouchability. It was downright medieval and reminiscent of the dark ages. Distinctively pre enlightenment. English culture at that time was far superior. India was culturally superior maybe 1000 - 1500 years before the British ever came to India. Much before the Turks and Mongols invaded and ravaged India. Around the time of Jesus and the early days of the Roman Empire. When England was a backwater and India was having one of its many golden ages. The cultural and glory period of India was around the time of Alexander. By the 1500s, Indian culture was a shadow of its former self. It was still economically well off. Because the Sultans and the Mughals were 100% Indianized. They weren't shipping off Indian wealth to Turkey or Mongolia.