noob

Before WW2 the british were a world power dominating the world was there a sense of wanting to be a British gentlemen or countries admiring the British culture as we're seeing with the Americanisation (culture, corporate company, movies, food etc) of the world today??

What was it like back then??

Hope this make sense

El Kaiser

As for the world out of the british empire, i believe there was a clash between Britain and France. like it was fancy to speak english, it was also fancy to speak french. French literature was more coppied than the british one (at least it seemed so here in latin America) but the "gentleman" look that people searched for was the british gentleman look. In constrast, urbanizers from other countries searched for a more parisian look for the city, that's why there's still today many "The Paris from somewhere" but i don't remeber any "London from somewhere"

As for the world inside the british empire, i think this quote says a lot:

"No Hindu who has received an English education ever remains sincerely attached to his religion. It is my firm belief that if our plans of education are followed up, there will not be a single idolater among the respected classes 30 years hence.” – Lord Macaulay

Every coloniser, at least a sucessful one, tries to implant it's culture in the colony. One (weird?) example,take a look at this judges from the world:
http://www.filibustercartoons.com/judges.htm
and search for the judges from Great Britain. Then look at the outfits from the judges of former colonies: it's almost identical.
Till today, in former british colonies english is a popular language, or even one of the main languages of the country (specially in africa). If you spoke the language of your colonizer, you were seen as more than a simple indian/african, you were "superior". Many natives were happy to adopt british costumes and british way of life. Tea had for centuries been used as a medicinal plant in India, but it only started to being drunk for pleasure till the british stabilished tea plantations there and today, the indian sub continent is one of the the greatest tea consumers of the world.The colonized adopts the way of the colonizer.

I hope this was of some use for you and it wasn't very confusing

noob

Ah thanks for the reply. always wondered what is was like back then and I could never find much info. Thanks for the insight.

PraiseGod_Barebones

This is kind of related.

My freind loaned me a book a while ago on British India and as its conclusion it juxtaposed the Taj Mahal and an iron bridge near it. It said that the Taj Mahal was a sign of dominance, oustentatiousness and oppression. While a little down the road stood an iron bridge that was built whilst India was under British control. This bridge made it easier to get from A to B, it meant that a farmer could take his goods to the market easier, it meant that people could look further afield for work and it meant that comunication was made much easier in the area. For me this shows how the impact of the British presence was an advantage for the area.

-Also with India, would they have experienced the rapid growth in its economy if it had not have been partly Britishized, probably not.

Gary

May I recommend Naill Ferguson’s Empire, How Britain Made the Modern World. He gives a good overview of the build up of empire and a balanced perspective of the merits and demerits of the British Empire. Allow one finishes the book with the feeling that on the whole the Empire was a good thing, he is not afraid to show the Empires warts

noob

Thanks for the recommendation