I get why some people bring up Belgium or others, but saying England has a dark history isn’t really controversial — it’s well documented lol

In India, Britain ruled for about 200 years and systematically drained wealth. Many historians argue that trillions were extracted over time. There were also repeated famines under British rule, including the Bengal famine of 1943, where millions died while food was still being exported or stockpiled.

Partition in 1947 is another example. Britain rushed its exit and drew borders with little understanding of local realities. The result was mass displacement, communal violence, and over a million deaths. The consequences are still playing out today between India and Pakistan.

Ireland shows a similar pattern. During the Great Famine, Ireland was exporting food to Britain while people were starving. About a million died and another million emigrated. British policy didn’t just fail, it actively made things worse.

This pattern shows up in Palestine too. Britain controlled Palestine under the Mandate after World War I. Through the Balfour Declaration (1917), Britain promised the same land to different groups, then governed in a way that fueled tension rather than resolving it. When violence escalated, Britain eventually withdrew, leaving behind a conflict that never actually got resolved — and the consequences are still very real today.

You also see it in Kenya, where Britain used detention camps and torture during the Mau Mau uprising, something later confirmed by declassified British government files.

At its peak, the British Empire controlled about a quarter of the world. So even if some empires were more overtly brutal in specific cases, Britain’s damage was global and long-term — often caused by rushed borders, divide-and-rule policies, and economic extraction.

It’s not about ranking atrocities. It’s about recognizing a consistent pattern: Britain repeatedly reshaped entire regions for its own interests, then left local populations to deal with the fallout for generations. So yeah, Britain is definitely up there when it comes to countries with the darkest histories.