British Empire - Tumblr Posts
Still trying to figure out what to do with this blog, so I've decided to compile some art (that i still like cause i don't like... a lot) people-wise so that the folks out here might get the general idea of who and what I draw???? Idk.
I guess part 1/? being (small, with some intruders)
Liverpool
Damn, I should draw him more...
Now we expand, part 2/? being the disaster that is
Canning
You know, war crimes
Well, talk about expanding... part 3/? (probs 3/3) being the gaslight girlboss gatekeep icon
Castlereagh
I have, like, a lot of pics of him..............................
So, today is the 🎃 day 🦇, thus I simply can’t resist the urge to post some thematic cringe due to the occasion!
Watch at your own risk, ahem…
*yes, I make history TikToks from time to time, good Lord, I have sinned…*
*but it’s so much fun, I swear!!! 😩🤌*
“Ars (Britannica) Longa”, cartoon from Punch, 1903
Paris, Hôtel des Invalides,1840. London, St. Paul’s, Nineteen hundred and ?
Wellington’s ghost: “Begad, sir, here’s news! They’re going to finish my memorial at St. Paul’s!” Napoleon’s ghost: “ Déjà?”
at least tumblr doesn't hate vertical pics
chuckling giggling hehing cause these two separately and unconnectedly drawn pictures look like:
"you're just a little hater"
"and?"
put together
Okay, I guess, this artwork (drawing practice?) can be present here as well. 😮💨
For some reason I haven’t tried to depict Wellington and Castlereagh for 2 years and a half. Last August something made me to do it, however I was able to finish the art only recently.
Still can’t make myself draw someone less popular from the British side of the Napoleonic era. Hopefully, this situation is going to change one day…
At least, the finishing process was very fun! I’m slowly rewatching “Sharpe’s rifles” 5 years after the first viewing and can’t get enough of what I’m seeing, friendly speaking. X)
Like, I feel quite positive about the books and the show itself, even though I may get critique for that. Probably, rightfully. 😗
History memes #46
Why is there not much talk about the first world in Africa
Ya know that's a good question. There's a few reasons that make the war in Africa far less prominent than the war in Europe; scale, strategic importance and colonialism, not necessarily in that order.
Let’s start with an easy one, scale. There just weren’t that many troops fighting the war there compared to the different fronts in Europe and the Middle East. The Western and Eastern fronts packed millions of men into the trenches on either side, the Italian front had another million on each side, the Balkan theatre had another three million, the Egypt and Palestine campaign had another million, Mesopotamia was another million and the Caucasus another million.
The various European colonies in Africa were garrisoned, like most colonies of this period, by a pretty small number of total troops and an absolutely miniscule number of white, European troops. The vast majority of the soldiers fighting in these campaigns were ‘native’ troops. As an example, German East Africa, which saw the longest campaign of the war in Africa, had a population of around 7.5 million. There were around 5,000 white Germans there in total. The German army in the colony, the Schutztruppe had a strength in 1914 of about 2,700 soldiers of which only 250 where white Germans. Even counting the militia of German settler-farmers only added another 2,700 men. All of this in an area that’s three times the size of modern Germany. Total military casualties for the East Africa Campaign amounted to somewhere around the 55,000 mark (that’s killed, injured, captured and missing), fewer than British casualties on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
The other African campaigns were even smaller in scope, with total forces on each side often numbering in the hundreds or low thousands, and were usually over by 1916. Germany knew they’d likely lose their colonies, but hoped to recoup the loss in the post-war settlement when (if) they won. They colonies in Africa just weren’t vital to Germany, which brings us to our next point, strategic importance.
Germany’s geographic position meant that as soon as war was declared they were essentially cut off from their colonies (although there was a failed attempt to resupply the Schutztruppe in East Africa by airship in 1917 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZ_104_(L_59) ). The British and French navies dominated the seas and there was little Germany could do. But, by the same token, the loss of these colonies wasn’t a big blow to the German war effort. Germany’s strength was in Europe, and most of its basic needs could be met from resources within Germany or the territories it conquered. Beating a few thousand German troops in East Africa wasn’t going to bring down the German government or make the German army collapse. There were local and imperial reasons to wage these campaigns, and wage them the British, French, Portuguese and Belgians did. But they were never the main, or even a secondary effort, they were very much an afterthought. And this brings us neatly to the last point, colonialism.
Now, the above refers to military numbers and casualties, and as usual in war, it’s civilians who actually suffer the most. Taking the East Africa Campaign again. Each of the armies fighting there conscripted huge numbers of ‘porters’, local civilians who carried the equipment and supplies. One historian assessed the British effort as “recruiting” 1 million civilian porters. 95,000 of them died during the war. A further 15,000 porters in Belgian service died, 7,000 porters in German service died as did an unknown number of civilian porters in Portuguese service, but it’s likely in the low tens of thousands. An official from the British Colonial Office wrote that the East African campaign had not become a scandal only "... because the people who suffered most were the carriers - and after all, who cares about native carriers?"
The war the European armies fought in Africa was mobile, and far from stable and secure supply lines. As such, the armies often “lived off the land”, which is a nice way of saying they looted and pillaged everything in their path to keep themselves fed and supplied. The German army was probably more ruthless in its pillaging, but that’s largely because they were cut off from any support base and waging a guerilla war. Looting like this had dire consequences for locals and famine spread in the war’s wake. Modern estimates are in the range of 750,000 civilian deaths in Africa from the war, although this is probably a conservative count. About half of these deaths, some 350,000, were in German East Africa. Ludwig Deppe, a German doctor who participated in the East Africa Campaign compared the devastation caused by German forces:
“Behind us we leave destroyed fields, ransacked magazines and for the immediate future, starvation. We are no longer agents of culture, our track is marked by death, plundering and evacuated villages, just like the progress of our own enemies in the Thirty Years War.”
None of the war in Africa painted the European empires in a particularly flattering light and it was pretty easy for them to if not cover it up, at least to deflect attention. The butchery in Europe was on a different scale and much closer to home. The Western Front came to dominate memory of the war for the basic reason that it was in France and Belgium that most of the troops fought and died, and it was on the Western Front that Germany was defeated. It was hard enough to fit sideshows like Italy, Salonika and even Palestine into a narrative of the war, let alone the colonial campaigns in Africa.
History memes #57
Context: Although Afghanistan is perceived as unconquerable, multiple empires, mainly Persian ones, have been successful in occupying what we would now consider Afghanistan
Soldiers of the King's Royal Rifle Corps (WW1)
The Scots Guards 1891
Drawn on May 19, 2022
A Spotter in London (1940)
An Observer Corps Spotter on a rooftop in London (1940). The Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was a civil defense organization in the UK that ran from 1925 to 1996. Mostly ran by civilian volunteers, their task was to spot, track, and record aircraft over the country. The ROC's origins dates back since the Great War when the country experienced bombing raids from German zeppelins. They played an important role in WW2, notably the Battle of Britain, and was titled "Royal" by King George VI in 1941 for their service.
VICEROY’S HOUSE (Dir: Gurinder Chadha, 2017).
Viceroy’s House is a fact based drama detailing the events surrounding the Partition of India from British born Indian director Gurinder Chadha.
Set in 1947 Delhi during the dissolution of the British Raj. As the last Viceroy of India, Lord Louis Mountbatten (Hugh Bonneville) is to oversee the transition from British rule to Independence. India is a country divided, between those who wish the independent nation to remain intact and those who wish to establish the separate Muslim country Pakistan. Against this backdrop is the Romeo and Juliet-esq tale of Jeet (Manish Dayal) and Alia (Huma Qureshi) whose love is thwarted as he is Hindu and she is Muslim.
The Partition of India was a bloody mess at the hands of the UK government. As the film's postscript informs us "14 million people were displaced and one million Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs died". It is a dark episode in 20th Century British history rarely spoken of in the UK. For this reason, Viceroy's House is a difficult film to criticise, as it relays such an important story. Perhaps it can only be faulted for not depicting how truly horrific it was.
Hugh Bonneville is very effective as the beleaguered Mountbatten faced with the thankless and controversial task of dividing India. He is surrounded by a quality supporting cast of acting legends including Gillian Anderson, Michael Gambon, Om Puri and Simon Callow. As the star-crossed young lovers Manish Dayal and Huma Qureshi are both touching and appealing.
Director Gurinder Chadha is a talented filmmaker. Her feature is incredibly moving and made more powerful by the knowledge that it draws upon Chadha's own family history; her grandparents were among those displaced and her aunt starved to death on the migration.
It could be argued that Chadra's gentle approach to Partition does make a challenging subject more accessible for audiences. The fact that it addresses an issue largely untold in film is significant, however more palatable that issue has been made. The powerful tale may provide uncomfortable viewing for many, but do not let that dissuade you from watching this ultimately very moving film.
Check out my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME for a longer, more in-depth review of Viceroy’s House. Link below.
