RE: Lighter Skin = Better?
July 12, 2013 at 3:35 pm
(This post was last modified: July 12, 2013 at 3:53 pm by Anomalocaris.)
It isn't, and really wasn't that powerful at all. Not compared to Rome, or the other really great empires.
The minimum threshold of great empire is that it has cleared the world of peer competitors that could threaten its own core security.
Britain was never able to achieve that.
For a while Europe enjoyed a big technological advantage over the rest of the world and it was easy for any European power to stomp on the natives. No big deal for the British can be able to go stomping on India if little netherland can go stomping on Indonesia, or Belgium can go stomping on Congo, or if Spain can go stomping on all of South and Centeral America.
Britain was more successful than most in later years, although Spanish colonial empire arguable left an even more likely enduring cultural and demographic legacy.
But at the core of British empire, Britain was never enduringly secure from other European powers. Even when it was at the height of its power, it was arguable not capable of really facing down and defeating its primary peer competitors. Britain could not acheive security without a continental alliance, whether it was against France or Germany.
In the rank of really great world power centers, Britain was second rate.
The minimum threshold of great empire is that it has cleared the world of peer competitors that could threaten its own core security.
Britain was never able to achieve that.
For a while Europe enjoyed a big technological advantage over the rest of the world and it was easy for any European power to stomp on the natives. No big deal for the British can be able to go stomping on India if little netherland can go stomping on Indonesia, or Belgium can go stomping on Congo, or if Spain can go stomping on all of South and Centeral America.
Britain was more successful than most in later years, although Spanish colonial empire arguable left an even more likely enduring cultural and demographic legacy.
But at the core of British empire, Britain was never enduringly secure from other European powers. Even when it was at the height of its power, it was arguable not capable of really facing down and defeating its primary peer competitors. Britain could not acheive security without a continental alliance, whether it was against France or Germany.
In the rank of really great world power centers, Britain was second rate.