Talk:British Empire

St Kitts and Nevis gained independence in 1983 Chrysogonus 07:19, 15 April 2007 (EDT)

Ireland

Was Ireland a part of the British Empire or was it considered just a constituent part of the United Kingdown? The article mentions Ireland becoming independent of the British Empire. Was it ever in it? Hannibal ad portas 02:52, 10 May 2007 (EDT)

You're correct. Ireland was an integral part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (Dublin was considered the Empires second city), it was never considered a colony. It was the United Kingdom (rather than the British Empire) it broke away from. Mrjimbob 18:11, 27 June 2007 (EDT)

No longer a world power

I question the claim that the UK is no longer a world power. Yes, it's not as powerful as it used to be, but I think it's still a world power. DanH 01:09, 30 July 2007 (EDT)

On the contrary, the United Kingdom is a great deal more powerful than it has ever been in the past. Just to take one example, in Victorian times it had no nuclear weapons, but it does now. Cornovius 07:56, 29 August 2007 (EDT)

If that were the case, we wouldn't have backed off from the (admittedly totally ill-judged) Suez expedition because of US opposition. Pachyderm 08:06, 29 August 2007 (EDT)

Owning more nuclear weapons may make it more "powerful" in the sense of "able to destroy more things," but as far as having real influence in world politics, it is not really a world power anymore. During the pre-WWI years, the political moves of the British Empire controlled European and World Politics. That's power. --ToJones 00:12, 19 October 2008 (EDT)

Power peaked in 1914

I'm surprised to read that British power peaked in 1914. I thought it was earlier than that. Why did Britain have so much trouble in WWI if it was still so powerful? Perhaps its land holdings peaked in 1914, but not its might.--Aschlafly 22:46, 18 October 2008 (EDT)

well that's a good question. I think Germany was gaining even faster that Britain--both were growing more powerful but the Germans were catching up. The trouble in WW1 was Germany had a better army--the Brits had always favored their navy and had neglected the army.RJJensen 22:49, 18 October 2008 (EDT)

I wonder if unions had already started to weaken Britain by 1900.--Aschlafly 23:07, 18 October 2008 (EDT)

they had just started to be powerful by 1900. they kept growing and came to political power in 1920s. They weakened Britain esp in late 1940s.RJJensen 23:14, 18 October 2008 (EDT)

credits

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Part of this article was copied from Citizendium and Wikipedia but the copied text was originally written by me, RJJensen (under the name Richard Jensen and rjensen) and does not include alterations made by others on that site.

RJJensen 11:10, 24 August 2009 (EDT)