Everything we have ever known about the British empire has been through textbooks. But there are two kinds of histories, one that we were taught, and one that has been hidden from us, deliberately.

Our knowledge about the history of the colonies was shaped by keeping away secrets. And when it comes to Britain, there is a dark history attached to the nation.

Britain’s History Of Brutalities

What we know about Britain’s brutality portfolio begins with our country, the famine, the massacre of Jallianwala Bagh and the division. The wounds are still fresh. 

But India was not the only country to be the victim of Britain’s brutality. Their lengths of inhumanity stretch far beyond our country. 

Let’s take a leap into the past.

Boer Concentration Camps-

Boer Concentration Camps were refugee camps before they turned into death beds. Thousands of women and children were captured in these concentration camps.  

They were deliberately starved by being given less food. The concentration camps were overcrowded, allowing diseases like measles and typhoid to spread, killing about 27,927 Boers, among which a large fraction were children. 

Mau Mau Rebellion

Mau Mau was the term given to the secret society of Kenyan farmers. The torture by the British officers on Kenyans was a catastrophe. 

One African was beaten and burned alive. Some were beaten and had their mouths stuffed with mud. Around 50,000 people died, and half of them were children aged ten or below.


Also Read: The Chapati Movement of 1857: Watch How The Innocent Roti Terrified The British


Malaya Massacre-

It dates back to the time when Malaysia was called Malaya. British officers tortured and beat villagers for aiding the revolutionaries. After declaring a state of emergency, British soldiers killed a total of 24 men with automatic weapon fires.

Britain’s Involvement In Yemen

Yemen suffered from the worst humanitarian crisis, and Britain played a major role in creating this disaster. Around 1,00,000 people have died from starvation and other causes.

Why The Proofs Of This Brutality Are Not Known Widely?

The aberrant history of brutality and torture on colonies was hidden away from historians and the public for years.

Britain destroyed most of the documented proofs of colonial brutality. Some were burned whereas others were stored in the secret Foreign Office archive for 50 years.

Some of the documents were made public after a group of Kenyans won the right to sue the British Government. These documents have a record of killings and torture done on various colonies.

In some of the documents, colonial officers were informed to put the documents in weighted crates and drop them into deep waters with no currents.

The released documents are just a glimpse of inhumanity the Britishers forced on colonies. The greater fraction is still hidden, the majority of which is destroyed. The 19th and 20th centuries were not only a dark era for India but also for various other colonies. 


Image credits: Google Images

Source: The Guardian, BBC News, Wikipedia

Find the blogger: @mitali_pk

This post is tagged under: British, British colonialism, British colonization India, British forces, British invasion, British rule, British brutality, imperialism, Yemen, Yemen famine, Yemen’s worst humanitarian crisis, mau mau, mau mau rebellion, Boer concentration camps, Boer deaths, Malaya massacre, British secret documents, British brutality documents


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