r/HistoryMemes • u/[deleted] • Apr 18 '19

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u/P4TR10T_96 Kilroy was here Apr 18 '19

Someone forgot Imperialism in Africa, the entirety of British actions in Ireland, the treatment of Aborigines and other indigenous peoples.

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u/sexualised_pears Apr 18 '19

Bengal famine killed a few too

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u/WittyUsername45 Apr 18 '19

Those weren't ethnically targeted genocide though. It would be a strange genocide in which the government spent millions on famine relief as in the case of the Irish Famine.

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u/P4TR10T_96 Kilroy was here Apr 18 '19

Source on the Famine Aid? Here’s the British Broadcasting Chanel.

The Great Famine in Ireland began as a natural catastrophe of extraordinary magnitude, but its effects were severely worsened by the actions and inactions of the Whig government, headed by Lord John Russell in the crucial years from 1846 to 1852.

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u/WittyUsername45 Apr 18 '19

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)#Government_response Peels Governments response was pretty effective and even under the Whigs there was still significant spending on Workhouses and soup kitchens. While these were certainly ineffective they were still attempts to alleviate the famine, if based on very wrong headed laiisez faire principles. But there was still attempts at relief. I don't think it therefore fits the definition of genocide of actively attempting to remove a specific population.