but recall the British Empire fell under the weight of its own morality, its subject peoples voting themselves free.
hmmmm,...
So all it took for America to split from England was a vote?
I actually didn't mean votes of the British Parliament, but that is a good point.
What hampered the war effort against the American Revolution in England was internal division with respect to the justice of the war, and widespread sympathy for the Colonial cause. King George III hisself, who by his uncompromising stance had prob'ly done more than any other to provoke open rebellion in the first place, is said to have applauded out loud when he heard George Washington had voluntarily relinquished the Presidency.....
http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/man-who-would-not-be-kingGive the last word to Washington’s great adversary, King George III. The king asked his American painter, Benjamin West, what Washington would do after winning independence. West replied, “They say he will return to his farm.”
“If he does that,” the incredulous monarch said, “he will be the greatest man in the world.”By the 1780's the British Government had about 120,000 men under arms, just 8,000 of those (a large number by American Rev. War Standards) were bottled up at Yorktown and surrendered under Cornwallis, about 6,000 had been previously captured after their defeat at Saratoga under Burgoyne. Paltry numbers compared to the usual scale of 18th Century European Warfare.
What really happened was that the embarrassment at Yorktown allowed the Whigs to take a majority in Parliament, said majority voting against continuing to prosecute the war.
But as to the votes of the subject colonies themselves....
The British Empire was just getting warmed up in 1783, the big expansion wouldn't begin for another thirty years and by the end of the 19th Century nearly a quarter of the World's population lived under its rule.
All fell apart in the 20th Century, especially after WWII. By then, the innate injustice of one country being allowed to forcibly subjugate another was just too apparent, and yes, one by one subject nations were allowed to vote themselves independent although IIRC most chose to remain in the British Commonwealth.
Ironic thing is is was the Brits themselves who spread that expected level of decency around the world.
Birdwatcher
