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For people interested in the subject, I recommend "Empire of cotton" by Sven Beckert. One thing that I learnt was how actively the British undermine the local

For people interested in the subject, I recommend "Empire of cotton" by Sven Beckert. One thing that I learnt was how actively the British undermine the local industries on their colonies. They wanted the colonies to be only raw material exporters. The effects of that policy can be felt even nowadays. Another thing that I had not realized before, but it's obvious in retrospective, is how important was the British manufacturing demand in consolidating slavery in the USA.

QuesnayJr 6y ago
Economic historians have been fairly critical of Beckert's book. Here's one analysis: https://cpb-us-e2.wpmucdn.com/sites.uci.edu/dist/8/3876/files/2019/10/Cotton-slavery-and-the-new-history-of-capitalism.pdf https://cpb-us-e2.wpmucdn.com/sites.uci.edu/dist/8/3876/file... I have heard the claim that Britain destroyed the local Indian textile industry, so it would be interesting to know a different source for it. (The review doesn't touch on that specific claim.)
- RobertoG 6y ago
  >>"I have heard the claim that Britain destroyed the local Indian textile industry, [..]" If I remember correctly, not only Indian, but also, for instance, Egyptian. I have not sources at hand unfortunately.
aceflux 6y ago
Something I learned after reading a primer on the American Civil war: Britain had no issues with the South's stronghold on slavery, as long as the cotton and sugar kept flowing.
- DylanSp 6y ago
  Depends what slice of Britain you're talking about. The upper classes weren't opposed, as you say, but public opinion tended to pretty strongly anti-slavery. Lincoln actively encouraged this; see his public letter to the Manchester workers quoted on Wikipedia. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_and_the_American_Civil_War#Possibility_of_recognizing_Confederacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_and_the_America...

QuesnayJr 6y ago

Economic historians have been fairly critical of Beckert's book. Here's one analysis: https://cpb-us-e2.wpmucdn.com/sites.uci.edu/dist/8/3876/files/2019/10/Cotton-slavery-and-the-new-history-of-capitalism.pdf https://cpb-us-e2.wpmucdn.com/sites.uci.edu/dist/8/3876/file... I have heard the claim that Britain destroyed the local Indian textile industry, so it would be interesting to know a different source for it. (The review doesn't touch on that specific claim.)

RobertoG 6y ago
>>"I have heard the claim that Britain destroyed the local Indian textile industry, [..]" If I remember correctly, not only Indian, but also, for instance, Egyptian. I have not sources at hand unfortunately.

aceflux 6y ago

Something I learned after reading a primer on the American Civil war: Britain had no issues with the South's stronghold on slavery, as long as the cotton and sugar kept flowing.

DylanSp 6y ago
Depends what slice of Britain you're talking about. The upper classes weren't opposed, as you say, but public opinion tended to pretty strongly anti-slavery. Lincoln actively encouraged this; see his public letter to the Manchester workers quoted on Wikipedia. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_and_the_American_Civil_War#Possibility_of_recognizing_Confederacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_and_the_America...