Did Britain do any good?

Question

In its long history . We did not seem to do anything postive in the world .

Answer 1

You have a phenomenal legal system, upon which our American system was based.

Your government and the RAF and others fended off the n***s for years before the US entered the Second World War.

And look at your colleges and universities - Oxford and Cambridge, which served as the models for Harvard and Yale (even some of the architecture). And an Oxford professor, J.R.R. Tolkien, whose "Lord of the Rings" has delighted generations. Speaking of writers, let's not forget Shakespeare.

Plus wonderful composers who wrote amazing music the world still enjoys. Handel loved England and wrote some of his most famous and beloved music there.

You have so much to be proud of! This is just the tip of the iceberg!

Answer 2

I must disagree with you.  It is true that your folk have an attitude that makes "the ugly American" look good, but Britain has done a lot of good in the history of the world.

Answer 3

In my opinion, the world would be a much, much poorer place but for British influence, particularly after 1700.  Its contributions in jurisprudence, literature, seafaring, science, and, for lack of a better term, civility, are immeasurable.  I'm American, by the way, and I'm as objective as any "cousin" might be expected to be.

Answer 4

we invented football, we ruled half the world at point in history.

Answer 5

We have.

Modern Democracy is derived from the Glorious Revolution and John Locke's involvement in it.

Answer 6

The question is very surprising. Britain's positive contribution to the world has been huge.

Many of the world's legal systems, including those of the US, are based on the British model. The British Magna Carta (1215) established the basis for constitutional government.

Britain was the birthplace of parliamentary democracy, which is the most successful political system, and has spread around the world. For many years Britain has been a liberal society with a tradition of political competition and free speech.

Britain has supported democracy on many occasions. It was a key member of the coalition that defeated n**i Germany in the Second World War. In 1940 Britain and its Empire were the only countries that held out against Hitler. British scientists cracked the n**i Enigma codes.

Many of history's greatest scientists have been British. Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin are two of the greatest and most influential scientists of all time, devising the theory of gravity and the theory of evolution. Other great scientists have included Robert Hooke, Michael Faraday and Ernest Rutherford.

Many of the world's greatest inventions and inventors have been British. For example, the railway (George Stephenson), television (John Logie Baird), the jet engine (Frank Whittle), penicillin (Alexander Fleming). See a fuller list of British inventions here:

http://inventors.about.com/library/inven...

Because of British inventions such as the steam engine and railway, Britain was the birthplace of the industrial revolution. This has spread across the world, leading to a gigantic increase in global prosperity.

Britain has been and remains a centre of international finance, laying the foundations of today's global economic and financial systems. It devised the first joint stock company. The Bank of England (founded in 1694) was the second central bank after Sweden's.

Many of the world's greatest philosophers, political thinkers and economists have been British. Thomas Hobbes, David Hume, John Locke, Adam Smith, Thomas Paine, John Stuart Mill, John Maynard Keynes...  

Many of the world's greatest writers, poets and playwrights have been British. Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, John Milton, Jane Austen, William Wordsworth, Charles Dickens, Lewis Caroll, H. G. Wells, George Orwell, Ian Fleming, J. K. Rowling... to name but  a few. Their works have been translated into every language and are popular around the word.

This list could go on and on but I think you get the point. You don't have to be a jingoistic nut to recognize that Britain has contributed a lot of positive things during its long history.

Answer 7

Hmmm - language - we gave the World English.

Industrialisation

Agrarian Revolution

John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Bentham, Mill & Mill

Pankhurst & Suffragettes

Railways

Provided a home for Samuel Morse, Simon Bolivar, Karl Marx, Napoleon III. Samuel Colt, Edgar Allen Poe and Charles De Gaulle.

Helping to win both World Wars

Shakespeare - Betjemen and Britton, and Purcell

The Television, radio, electricity, and the internet

The Church of England

Minis, Morris Minors & Land Rovers

Football, Rugby, Baseball (sorry Americans - it's ours), Tennis, Skiing, Mountain Climbing - most sport.

That's just a few - say it loud, I'm a Brit & I'm Proud

Answer 8

ello hannah,

hm...britain well i say now ur chance!lol but compared to the US u seem betta!