Monday, February 20, 2017

In your country, are there any dark historical incidents that you can't even talk about?

I think almost any European power in history will have some dark secret they don't like to reveal - we Europeans weren't very nice people.

In Britain there is probably lots we cover up such as:

The Boer War concentration camps which is glossed over whenever possible, most Brits won't know it even happened, let alone the Boer War - we conveniently skip over about 100 years of military history in between the start of the Victorian era and World War 1.

There's a reason why we don't learn much military history around the British Empire in schools because it simply was horrific and bloodthirsty. The only war you ever really cover is the Battle of Waterloo. Everything else, conveniently skipped out until you reach about 1914 and talk about World War 1.

The Boer War camps were among the most horrific, not dissimilar to Nazi war camps. They were cruel and unjustifiable yet the British government claimed they were a lot better than they really were. Brits also gloss over the fact that Winston Churchill, the 'greatest prime minister' supported the camps.

The government also barely acknowledges the fact that Britain owns more than a generous amount of stolen artefacts from across the world. The history behind how Britain obtained the artefacts is also conveniently glossed over.

For instance, the Benin Bronzes were stolen from the Benin Kingdom in Africa after a British Unit was massacred by Benin forces - we returned the favour swiftly by destroying the city and ransacking anything precious. We stole the Bronzes of course and keep them in British museums.

In fact, many European countries ransacked artefacts from Africa - which is why African nations rarely have any heritage left to show off - the Europeans ruined it.

So yes, there is plenty we cover up.



Read other answers by Victoria Weaver on Quora: Read more answers on Quora.

from Quora http://ift.tt/2kRJalh

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