Late Victorian Holocausts

Late Victorian Holocaust by Mike Davies

This book is a very important work which highlights a particular aspect of British Colonial History which has been neglected by the Mainstream Historians. The Author Mike Davies is not a Historian..he is a Urban theorist.

Before the British decided to visit India and civilize the Indians and bring Modernity to them...despite the fact they were more advanced than the British !!.The actual history of the British Empire in India is a sad and destructive one.

Before the British arrived... India was partially ruled by the Mughal rulers..it must be pointed they never ruled the 100% of India. The British used to say they ruled the rulers of India

The book first starts with weather in India. India has extreme weather patterns droughts and monsoons. These extreme weather patterns meant that agriculture is a very precarious and since India at that time relied on agriculture for survival...bad harvest could mean life or death.

Under Mughal rule there was a ‘insurance policy'in place if crops failed.under this system areas which were not affected by bad harvest were compelled to help drought ridden areas..this avoided mass famine and hunger.

When the British came to India they first de-industrialized the country by destroying the industrial base of the country..as they did not want any competition to their industry..cloth manufacture suffered the most decline. This forced people back to the land..the British gave the farmers two options (1) grow crops for the British and pay no rental on the land (2) Grow your own crops and pay us rental on the land. The insurance policy which Mughals had in place was gone.

When droughts came... affected areas had no means to feed themselves and the people starved. These famines were a regular occurrence during British rule including in the early 20th century..millions died from famines which could easily have been prevented. Indians starved to death while granaries for export to Europe were full. When the British realized the dire situation...too little was done to prevent deaths on a biblical proportion

I urge readers to assimilate the massive amount of information the author provides and will see the British Empire for what it is ….ruthless exploitation and domination..complete disregard for the lives of others as human beings...and brutal suppression of revolts against the Empire.

Kind Regards

Tiger Moto