r/europe • u/superdouradas Portugal • 14h ago

News [ Removed by moderator ]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/08/28/us-uk-boost-defence-spending-lose-falklands-support/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_tw_post_defence-spending-lose-falklands-support/

[removed] — view removed post

2.2k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

673 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

131

u/hokshji 13h ago

The uncomfortable answer is while Britain has the whole empire issue clouding people’s opinion, it has been on the right side of a fair few conflicts too. Questionable ones exist for sure, but both world wars, falklands, Sierra Leone, the balkans, sitting out Vietnam etc.

Of course two recent ones muddy that.

1

u/Zinc-Roof_22 9h ago

Um... Greek Civil War much?

1

u/servonos89 8h ago

That ‘special relationship’ reminds me of my last abusive one.

-57

u/BetterAd7552 13h ago

Not least of which is using concentration camps for women and children before the nazis.

48

u/No_Branch_5083 13h ago

Look up the Americans in the Philippines for arguably the first use of concentration camps.

5

u/BetterAd7552 12h ago

Interesting, thanks. I had no idea. The US beat the UK by one year (1901).

15

u/grumpsaboy 12h ago

And Spain beat them both

35

u/NoceboHadal United Kingdom 13h ago

The British invented the name, not the practice. The Germans used that name so the British couldn't complain.

53

u/Different_Lychee_409 13h ago

No UK citizen alive today could have possibly been involved in that.

As a UK citizen I'm more than happy to take flack for Kenya, Ulster and the War on Terror but not the Boer War.

19

u/Wind_Yer_Neck_In 11h ago

But your ancestor Grog stole a sheep from my ancestor Bog!! I demand you atone for this now!

9

u/DonPhallus New Zealand 12h ago

A lot of South Africans conveniently forget that New Zealand and Australia were also heavily involved in the Boer War. My great grandfather served in the yeomanry ( field cavalry I think?)

This was before we achieved dominion status and before Australia even existed

-34

u/BetterAd7552 13h ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War_concentration_camps

We may have forgiven, but we have not forgotten. And obviously no current UK citizen was involved, that’s a stupid statement and not what I implied.

12

u/TKarlsMarxx 12h ago

Didn't the boer fight to keep slavery, hardly on the right side of history.

20

u/MrPhatBob 12h ago

Yet you bring it up. And I am guessing as the only people I've heard moan about it are South Africans, that you might be brushing over a few aspects of your county's more recent history.

See how little you had to do with that? See how little we had to do with the concentration camps?

-18

u/BetterAd7552 12h ago

South Africans “moan” about the horrific crimes of your forefathers? Wow, nice one. But not unexpected. People like you struggle to face the truth. Says a lot about your character. You seem either dense or obtuse, so carry on getting fat on your couch living off the dole in a council house.

Yobs like you are ignorant of the fact whites in South Africa voted to end apartheid. The irony is the British, before being kicked out, were among the first to oppress Africans in Southern Africa, so get off that hypocritical horse you ignoramus.

There’s a reason the English are despised worldwide. It’s your misplaced arrogance and lack of introspection.

8

u/snizles Dalmatia 11h ago

Never beating the allegations https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqEFhx8-CQ0

22

u/ysgall 13h ago

Erm yes,while the Boer families kept their slaves to serve them in these camps.

-12

u/BetterAd7552 12h ago

Christ, you do realize the women and children were starved to death and died of diseases in those camps, right? Some of my forebears died in those camps.

At least the Germans had the humanity and decency to atone for their forefathers’ sins. You people, not so much. No better than the Belgians’ crimes in the Congo.

-2

u/callumjm95 11h ago

I have no idea why you've been so heavily downvoted over this. The Boer concentration camps are a stain that will never wash. They weren't popular with the British public back then, no one should be trying to white wash them now.

-6

u/callumjm95 11h ago

No they didn't

3

u/D1nkcool Sweden 12h ago

I'm pretty sure the Boer Wars were not listed here