WHO WERE THE BRITISH? WHY WE GAINED INDEPENDENCE
We celebrate Independence Day every year, but I realized I didn't really know what we were celebrating until I asked a simple question: Who were the British?
"They ruled over 400 million people from thousands of kilometers away. But who were the 'British' and why did they own our future?
Imagine waking up in your own country, but every law is written in a language you don't speak. If you're caught protesting, you can be sent to jail without trial.
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Who Were The British?
When we say “British” in our story of independence, we don’t mean everyone living in Britain at the time — we mean the British rulers, government, military, and business interests who controlled vast swaths of the world through an empire.
Britain itself is a small island in northwestern Europe, made up of England, Scotland, Wales, and (later) Northern Ireland. During the 18th and 19th centuries, it became the most powerful country in the world, led by what was called the British Empire. At its peak, it ruled over a quarter of the world’s land and people.
In the case of our region, they came in two major phases.
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❖ East India Company (1600–1858)
This was a private British trading company, created to do business in Asia. It started out by buying spices, tea, cotton, and silk. But it gradually began to interfere in local politics. Through deals with local rulers, bribery, and military force (such as the Battle of Plassey in 1757), the company gained control of large areas. By the early 1800s, it was running large parts of India as if it were its own country — collecting taxes, controlling armies, and making laws.
❖ British Crown (1858–1947)
In 1857, a major rebellion (our first war of independence) broke out against the company. It was brutally crushed, and the British government in London decided that the company could no longer be trusted to run such a vast land.
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From Whom Did We Gain Our Freedom?
The simple answer is “The British Empire.” The truer answer is that we gained our freedom from a system that not only ruled our land, but also our lives.
They controlled the laws, the military, the economy, the education system — even what crops we could grow. Cotton and indigo for their factories, tea for their markets — all decided not for our benefit, but for theirs.
We were not free to decide our own future. Our resources—gold, wheat, spices—were exported to Britain for its wealth, while our people lived in poverty.
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Why Did We Need Freedom?
Because we were not treated as equals. The British believed they were superior, they called it the “white man’s burden” the idea that it was their duty to “civilize” us. In reality, it was a polite cover for exploitation.
Our farmers worked hard but starved during famines because food was exported. Our industries, like India’s famous textile weaving, were destroyed to allow British factories to dominate.
It wasn’t just about politics; it was about dignity. If you were Indian (or Pakistani after 1947), you were considered second-class in your own land. British officers could sit in “whites only” clubs. Natives could be arrested for protesting. It was dangerous to even speak out against them.
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The Hidden Story We Never Learned In School:
School history books often make it easy:
The British came, we protested, the leaders negotiated, we got freedom.
But the reality is messier and more human.
It wasn’t just JINNAH and GANDHI. While they played a huge role, thousands of unknown freedom fighters—farmers, students, writers, even women in small villages—risked their lives.
The economic drain was deliberate. A Cambridge study found that by the time the British left, the Indian subcontinent’s share of the global economy had fallen from 23 percent in 1700 to less than 4 percent.
Partition was not a gift; it was done in a hurry. When the British finally decided to leave after World War II, they drew the borders in a hurry, resulting in the largest migration in history. More than 14 million people were displaced and nearly 1 million people died in communal violence.
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Why Was Independence Necessary?
Because without it, we would still be living under someone else's decisions. Independence gave us the right to choose
✦ Our own leaders
✦ Make our own laws
✦ Build our own future.
It wasn't just a political change; it was a psychological change. We went from being "subjects" of an empire to being citizens of a nation. It meant that our children could dream without asking permission from a foreign ruler.
But independence was not a magic wand. Poverty, illiteracy, and division did not disappear overnight. The new nations of PAKISTAN, INDIA, and later BANGLADESH had to be rebuilt from the rubble left behind.
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Was It Good For Us?
Yes, but it came at a price.We got self-rule, but we also inherited problems that arose during the British rule, such as economic imbalances and communal distrust.
Still, I believe that freedom was worth it. Without it, we would not even have the chance to solve our own problems.
Freedom does not guarantee success, but without it, success is impossible.
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History is not just about dates and treaties; it is the story of real people. The British were once the most powerful rulers on earth, but they could not hold us back forever. Our freedom was won through struggle, sacrifice, and determination.
✧ The sad part? We often remember the names of the rulers more than the names of the people who fought for them.
✧ The inspiring part? Every time they speak, write, or dream freely, they are living proof that their fight was not in vain.
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The British took $45 trillion worth of wealth out of the Indian subcontinent (research economist Utsa Patnaik)
The British today live primarily in the United Kingdom (UK), a country in northwestern Europe that consists of: England (where London is the capital), Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Great Britain, their home, but many Britons also live in other parts of the world — particularly in countries that were once part of the British Empire, such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa — due to centuries of migration and settlement.
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