Declaration of Independence?
In the first paragraph of the document, it states: When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. I have just a few questions 1. Why is Course capitalized? 2. Assume among the powers of the earth 3. what are the laws of nature and nature's god? in the context it is placed? 4. What kind of separation? like, moving to another country? what? 5. What does impel mean? 6. any other translations would be greatly appreciated! especially if anyone knows any other interesting parts or things about the declaration of independence thank you!
Did Britain ever think of retaking America as a colony and could they have succeeded?
No to both questions.The British quickly realised that they could trade with an independent USA as easily as with the 13 Colonies, and as a bonus they didn’t have to pay for its defence.I’ve noticed that a lot of Americans like to claim that Britain tried to ‘retake America’ in the War of 1812. This is false. The war was forced on Britain against its will while it was locked in a major war with Napoleon. The UK government’s only concerns were to preserve its naval and commercial rights to blockade and search-and-seizure, and of course prevent the US conquering any British territory. It succeeded in all its war aims, while the US failed to achieve any of its own goals.As for the question of ‘could it succeed’: the USA overtook Britain in economic power and military potential by around the end of the 19th/early 20th centuries, though US isolationism meant that this potential was not actually realised for a few more decades. Prior to that, Britain could have won the war IF (a) it was willing to mobilise all its resources (b) no other Great Power intervened. But winning a war and permanently subjugating an entire unwilling population spread over a land area 14 time the size of your own country (in the 1840s; the ratio was even larger later on) are two entirely different matters.It’s highly unlikely that the British government would have considered such a conquest to be cost-effective, which was the main determining factor of its foreign policy in those days.
How did the British colonize India?
Britain came in the 1600s (with Sir Thomas Roe) when India was under the rule of Jehangir. India was a stronger nation back then. So, the British were contended to be traders. However, Nadir Shah's (of Iran) invasion of India in 1738, changed the picture (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nad...). The Mughal rulers were badly defeated and that signalled to the world that India was very weak. The East India Company immediately latched on and made use of the weakness. The timing was key. India had plenty of infighting. For instance, Tipu Sultan, who offered ferocious resistance against the Brits was undermined by our own rulers (Nizam of Hyderabad and Marathas) who surrounded the Mysore kingdom when British attacked him. The Marathas duly paid the price for the friendship with the devil with the Anglo-Maratha war in which they were badly defeated. British troops were well organized and used superior tactical & strategic skills on the warfield. French revolution and later the defeat of Napolean in 1815, distract the French from expanding their control in India. The British used this opportunity to kick out the other colonial powers from India.By the 18th century, India was under a crisis. The Aurangzeb's rule was quite bitter for non-Muslims and the Hindus were tired of Islamic rule. This gave rise to many Hindu kings (such as the Marathas). The East India Company rightly used this period to increase the divisions with their divide and rule policy. India had a very weak navy. Unlike islands like Britain or Japan, we didn't have enough incentives to build a strong navy. Naval superiority helped the British to gain and build the critical ports of India (Bombay, Madras, Calcutta) and build the empire from there. Britian was entering the age of industrial revolution at around the same time (1750) when Indian empires were weakened. The economic strength from industrial revolution gave the Brits an upper hand.