British Colonialism and Its Policies

[Whistler]

One of the more positive aspects of British colonialism was it's defense of it's Asian colonies. If India had fallen, the war would have taken on another dimension. As it happened, the imperial forces with a huge contingent of Indian forces, halted Japan from it's march West.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

Initially, the British did little in defence of its Asian colonies, they were outnumbered and outsmarted at almost every turn by the Japanese be it in Hong Kong, the Federated Shan States, Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak.

By the way, you are factually incorrect that the Second World War in the Pacific ended with the Japanese surrender to the United States. Doodoo is more factually correct. Japan was still at war with Canada, Britain, the Netherlands, Russia and others until separate peace treaties were signed with those nations. For example, the Japanese did not surrender to the British in Burma until 12 September 1945. Russia and Japan still have not signed a treaty. Japan did not leave the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) until September 1945.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

Japan officially surrendered to China in Nanking on 9 September 1945.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

Caz someone please tell me what WW11has to do with British Colonialism , apart from absoutely ,nothing dae I say, as most countries involved more so on the ALLies side were fighting in some instances for their right to be free, Tru Canada and Australia and new Zealand plus India came to fight partly because they we part of the British Empire in the first plae but not long after that all those countries and many others realised it was going to be fight or die .

so the argument over wh did what and when is useless and pointless .Bloody pathetic more so when I got a post removed which told a story of how any country can subjugate another and in one instance is still doing do even if it is covertly

But snowflakes did not like the insinuation so removed the entire post. Sad really discussions no longer allowed by xenephobic Administrators and Moderatorsd

The First World War had a lot to do with British colonialism and Empires in general. By the end of the War, the Hapsburg and Ottoman Empires were gone, and the British and French Empires had grown.

[Khun Paul]

[Redacted by Moderator]

The First world war was about empires correct, following on from that many had egg on their faces and that prompted a fightback by some which led to Germany becoming an aggressor under Hitlers rhetoric `.
What is sad history looks as if it is repeating itself and now the liberals and isolationists in some countries wish to to longer be involved . Not only in Europe and the UK but also in America failing to read and understand History is a, failing many Governments and Politicians do, the problem is Mr and Mrs Average always pay the price.

[Udon Map]

Off topic posts removed.

[Whistler]

Initially, the British did little in defence of its Asian colonies, they were outnumbered and outsmarted at almost every turn by the Japanese be it in Hong Kong, the Federated Shan States, Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak.

By the way, you are factually incorrect that the Second World War in the Pacific ended with the Japanese surrender to the United States. Doodoo is more factually correct. Japan was still at war with Canada, Britain, the Netherlands, Russia and others until separate peace treaties were signed with those nations. For example, the Japanese did not surrender to the British in Burma until 12 September 1945. Russia and Japan still have not signed a treaty. Japan did not leave the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) until September 1945.

The British fought the Japanese ferociously when Japan invaded SE Asia

https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/far-east- ... al%20enemy.
Japanese surrendered in Burma 28th August, 1945 according to this source, not 12 September

https://www.google.com/search?q=when+di ... s-wiz-serp

Russia co-signed the surrender document with Japan September 2, 1945 as did The Netherlands, Canada and Great Britain.

The control of Indonesia was passed to the British 15th August, 1945 according to this source. While Japan had officailly surrendered, local Japanese renegades continued to fight in Indonesia for more than a month after the official surrender.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_ ... occupation

Your sources?

[tamada]

Christ on a bike...

[Whistler]

Christ on a bike...

Do you have a problem? Discussing history using reliable sources. If you are not interested in the topic, avoid the thread.

The thread about British colonialism in the Pacific and the East is very much on topic. The treaty of Yalta dictated that Britain had to give up its sovereignty to these lands. Some posters seem touchy about Canada's role in those parts of the world, they should be free to make comments on that subject without snipping from the sidelines.

The forum has changed since your disappearance some months ago, if you don't like what you see, you are free to go away again.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

Initially, the British did little in defence of its Asian colonies, they were outnumbered and outsmarted at almost every turn by the Japanese be it in Hong Kong, the Federated Shan States, Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak.

By the way, you are factually incorrect that the Second World War in the Pacific ended with the Japanese surrender to the United States. Doodoo is more factually correct. Japan was still at war with Canada, Britain, the Netherlands, Russia and others until separate peace treaties were signed with those nations. For example, the Japanese did not surrender to the British in Burma until 12 September 1945. Russia and Japan still have not signed a treaty. Japan did not leave the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) until September 1945.

The British fought the Japanese ferociously when Japan invaded SE Asia

https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/far-east- ... al%20enemy.
Japanese surrendered in Burma 28th August, 1945 according to this source, not 12 September

https://www.google.com/search?q=when+di ... s-wiz-serp

Russia co-signed the surrender document with Japan September 2, 1945 as did The Netherlands, Canada and Great Britain.

The control of Indonesia was passed to the British 15th August, 1945 according to this source. While Japan had officailly surrendered, local Japanese renegades continued to fight in Indonesia for more than a month after the official surrender.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_ ... occupation

Your sources?

How did the British forces do defending Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaya and the Kra Peninsula? I think the Japanese just needed 5-6 months to take the British Empire in Burma. The forces of the British Empire may have fought with ferocity to defend Burma from the Japanese; however, they lost fairly quickly. I have no sources for this as I left most of my books in Canada, so it is based on my memory. I think I used Wiki to get information on the surrenders. I am glad to see you recognise that the war went on a little longer than you originally thought.

[tamada]

Christ on a bike...

Do you have a problem? Discussing history using reliable sources. ....

The thread about British colonialism in the Pacific and the East is very much on topic. The treaty of Yalta dictated that Britain had to give up its sovereignty to these lands. Some posters seem touchy about Canada's role in those parts of the world, ...

The forum has changed since your disappearance some months ago, ...

Discussing history? Let's see. Quoting Wiki's, splitting hairs and last wordism.

It looks like the Canadian's are the ones being touchy here.

So you're quite wrong. The forum hasn't changed a bit.

[Whistler]

LYM,

Japan deployed huge forces against the British in HK. Singapore was a fiasco, the defences were all waiting for a Japanese attack by sea, they were taken by surprise when they came through Thailand and down the peninsula attacking across the causeway, the imperial forces were shambolic and quickly overrun. There were 365,000 British troops facing the Japanese. The Japs had a force of five and a half million.

I rely on more than textbooks, my father was British Army, stationed in India and Burma for 10 years. At the time of the Japanese invasion, he was in North Africa with the 8th Army. Mad Mike Hoare, 2nd in command of the irregular British in Burma, called the Chindits, was a great mate of my father. They had previously served in Palestine together, Mad Mike always stayed with us when he came to Australia and he told me many tales about Burma in WWII.

What started this tangential discussion was Doodoo's statement that the Japanese were defeated by America, Canada and New Zealand. America yes, but Canada had very, very few troops committed to the region and NZ close to none.

[Whistler]

Christ on a bike...

Do you have a problem? Discussing history using reliable sources. ....

The thread about British colonialism in the Pacific and the East is very much on topic. The treaty of Yalta dictated that Britain had to give up its sovereignty to these lands. Some posters seem touchy about Canada's role in those parts of the world, ...

The forum has changed since your disappearance some months ago, ...

The forum hasn't changed a bit.

I have to agree with you, the changes started while you were still posting. So many of these were being removed by the mods in you last few months before you disappeared. Let's just say it changed from the previous tolerance of abuse to a tighter set of moderation rules that may have existed in previous years.

[jackspratt]

Thousands of New Zealanders from all three of the armed forces served in the Pacific: the Navy, the Air Force, and 3 Division of the Army. It was a war that took young New Zealand men and women to exotic places, many of which they'd probably never heard of: Mono, Nissan, Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Okinawa. Sometimes working closely with the United States, New Zealanders fought the Japanese in three main areas — Singapore, the Solomon Islands and in the waters surrounding Japan. New Zealanders were also stationed in other places such as New Caledonia, operating radio and radar stations and medical facilities.

https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/war-in-th ... inst-japan

The Japanese had occupied Vella Lavell in January 1942. American and New Zealand troops landed at Barakoma on 15 August 1943 and eventually forced the Japanese to evacuate in October.

https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php ... -11-36-414

[Whistler]

Thousands of New Zealanders from all three of the armed forces served in the Pacific: the Navy, the Air Force, and 3 Division of the Army. It was a war that took young New Zealand men and women to exotic places, many of which they'd probably never heard of: Mono, Nissan, Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Okinawa. Sometimes working closely with the United States, New Zealanders fought the Japanese in three main areas — Singapore, the Solomon Islands and in the waters surrounding Japan. New Zealanders were also stationed in other places such as New Caledonia, operating radio and radar stations and medical facilities.

https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/war-in-th ... inst-japan

The Japanese had occupied Vella Lavell in January 1942. American and New Zealand troops landed at Barakoma on 15 August 1943 and eventually forced the Japanese to evacuate in October.

https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php ... -11-36-414

Thanks for that Jack, I looked at lots of sites and did not find this info, good update. I would have expected given its geographical position that there would have been some involvement, a very small country, but KIWI's always punch well above their weight.

[jackspratt]

It really wasn't that hard.

The 1st quoted passage arose from googling "nz ww2 in Asia".

The 2nd quoted passage came from one of your links.

[noosard]

LYM,

Japan deployed huge forces against the British in HK. Singapore was a fiasco, the defences were all waiting for a Japanese attack by sea, they were taken by surprise when they came through Thailand and down the peninsula attacking across the causeway, the imperial forces were shambolic and quickly overrun. There were 365,000 British troops facing the Japanese. The Japs had a force of five and a half million.

I dont believe the japanese forces went thru thailand on their way to Singapore

[Doodoo]

The battle of Singapore forces
"The Battle of Singapore was fought January 31 to February 15, 1942, during World War II (1939-1945) between the British and Japanese armies. The British army of 85,000 men was led by Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, while the Japanese regiment of 36,000 men was headed by Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita

[deankham]

Thought I'd share my thoughts on this subject.

British colonialism refers to the period of time when the British Empire established and maintained its colonies throughout the world, including Africa, Asia, North America, and Australia. British colonialism began in the 16th century and lasted until the mid-20th century.

During this time, the British Empire implemented a variety of policies that had significant impacts on the colonies and the world at large. Some of the key policies of British colonialism included:

1. Economic Exploitation: The British Empire exploited the natural resources of their colonies for their own economic gain. They extracted raw materials such as cotton, rubber, and tea from their colonies, and then processed them in Britain to sell for a profit. This exploitation often left the colonies with little to no economic benefits.

2. Land Ownership: The British Empire implemented a policy of land ownership that often resulted in the displacement of indigenous people. They claimed large areas of land in the colonies and sold or leased it to European settlers, leading to a loss of traditional land and resources for indigenous peoples.

3. Cultural Suppression: The British Empire often attempted to suppress the cultures of the people they colonized. They forced the adoption of English language and culture and discouraged the practice of traditional customs and beliefs.

4. Education: The British Empire implemented a system of education in their colonies that was designed to produce loyal and educated colonial subjects. This often meant that education focused on British culture and values, and did not prioritize local knowledge or cultural traditions.

5. Political Control: The British Empire exerted significant political control over their colonies through the implementation of indirect rule, which allowed local leaders to govern under the oversight of British officials. This policy often resulted in corruption and the manipulation of local power structures to maintain British control.

The impacts of British colonialism continue to be felt today, including economic inequality, social fragmentation, and political instability in many of the former colonies. However, it is also important to note that British colonialism had both positive and negative impacts on the colonies, and its legacy remains a complex and contested topic.

Of course I didn't write all that stuff, Chat OpenAI did it for me

It does sound very negative though only focusing on the bad. What about the fact we introduced Cricket in the sub continent for example and taught them how to make Gin and Tonics.

[Whistler]

LYM,

Japan deployed huge forces against the British in HK. Singapore was a fiasco, the defences were all waiting for a Japanese attack by sea, they were taken by surprise when they came through Thailand and down the peninsula attacking across the causeway, the imperial forces were shambolic and quickly overrun. There were 365,000 British troops facing the Japanese. The Japs had a force of five and a half million.

I dont believe the japanese forces went thru thailand on their way to Singapore

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_ ... f_Thailand

the Malayan campaign began when the 25th Army, under the command of Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita, invaded Malaya on 8 December 1941. Japanese troops launched an amphibious assault on the northern coast of Malaya at Kota Bharu and started advancing down the eastern coast of Malaya.[21] The Japanese 5th Division also landed at Pattani and Songkhla in Thailand, then moved south into western Malaya.[21] French Indo-China was still under French administration, and had little option but to co-operate with the Japanese. The French authorities therefore submitted to the Japanese military using the territory's ports as naval bases, building air bases, and massing forces there for the invasion. Japan also coerced Thailand into co-operating with the invasion, though Thai troops resisted the landings in Thai territory for eight hours.[citation needed]