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One thing I like to observe is that even with the evaporation of the Empire, Britain remains a very wealthy country with a high standard of living. In fact, the
by jordanb 17y ago
One thing I like to observe is that even with the evaporation of the Empire, Britain remains a very wealthy country with a high standard of living. In fact, their standard of living is considerably higher now than it was at the height of the Empire in the 1950s.
- nopassrecover 17y agoCrime rates are considerably higher too though.
- arethuza 17y agoI think the "height" of the Empire was definitely before WW1 - by 1950 Britain was in a pretty bad way.
- pw0ncakes 17y agoThe discrepancy in wealth between Western and Eastern Europe is due largely to the Marshall Plan (Eastern bloc states couldn't accept the aid). Without it, Britain would have struggled to rebuild its economy (and Britain was very poor in the '50s). So the "American Era" effectively began with the conclusion of World War 2. World War 1 was the sign that imperialism might not be such a good idea, since it led to an effectively pointless war, but it didn't change the relative levels of power. World War 2 occurred because certain societies didn't learn this lesson and became even more monstrous than the old imperial powers. After it, imperialism essentially died in Europe, but was unfortunately reborn in the US corporate complex.