The Great Defiance How the World took on British Empire (Book Review)

Introduction

While much has been written about how the so-called superior Western civilization conquered and colonized vast regions of the world owing to their advancement in technology and mission civilisatrice, there have been few histories of the people who encountered the British with more advanced militaries, lavish courts, thriving cities, bustling trade and economies, and complex and developed cultures with extravagance lifestyles. Although James S Mill like historians praised the civilizing mission of the British Empire that came of age when J.S. Mills like historians developed disillusioned historical consciousness, the so-called backward and barbarian autochthonous people were far ahead of the British and other European nascent powers. The story of the British conquest remained a famous subject of romance historians who eulogized the British ability to conquer and subjugate different regions. However, the story of British subjection and their humility and disgrace rarely became a famous subject of study for Western historians.

Although there are many stories of resistance against the British colonial forces around the globe most of them are taken from the point of view of the British perspective hereoising the British forces instead of showing the heroic defiance of the conquered. In his exuberantly lively and dazzling account of the world’s resistance towards the British Empire, ‘The Great Defiance: How the World Took on the British Empire’ David Veevers tells the story of Indigenous people’s resistance in his epic book. The Great Defiance is the story of the world taking over the British Empire. While castigating the histories written eulogizing the empire where the sun never set, David Veevers sees that ‘the defining event of the pre-modern world was not the emergence of an all-encompassing British Empire, but the great defiance of the people who found themselves in its path and their heroic struggle in resisting it—often successfully.

Irish Rebellions

The long resistance of colonised people against the British started from Irish kingdoms when Anglo-Saxons tried to subdue them and convert them to their religion as the Irish were the first people to come under the sway of British colonialism. The author highlights the magnetic effects of Irish culture and ways of transforming English occupiers that many became fully Irish adopting everything that was part of Irish culture while nominally associating with the British crown. The Irish were skilled in guerilla warfare and the marshy lands and sloppy glens provided perfect places for uprooting the invaders as seen at the Battle of Glenmalure and the Battle of Yellow Ford. Along with one-on-one pitched battles, the Irish also employed scorched earth policies and time and again saw multiple regional uprisings that kept the English treasury draining.

It was not possible to subdue Irish lords with small expeditionary forces as the author reveals that were so fierce in defending their kingdom that it was easy to win but hard to hold. From the Kildare Rebellion to the Earl of Tyrone’s long struggle, the Irish never recognised the full sovereignty of the British colonisers. The result was that the British resorted to the strategy of starvation and destruction of the people, women and children alike by famine that the kingdoms became a ‘nightmarish wasteland’ where people ate every available item including nettles and docks but still the Irish kept the spirit of defiance alive.

The Indigenous Americans

There is a general perception among naïve readers of the history of civilisations that the American continent had no civilisation except a few barbarians and uncivilised people dwelling there but Veevers’ account describes how flourishing cities and communities were masterfully ruling the cities and landscapes. The early Europeans’ adventures into the indigenous American port cities were met with stiff resistance from the tribesmen there until Europeans showed clear intent that they were here only to stop over and leave. The kings of Ossomocomuck and Powhatans initially did not allow Europeans to permanently settle there for trade. Most indigenous American societies were well organised and centralised with effective governments such as Ossomocomuck and some were highly decentralized with sustained village communities such as Kalinago which had a formal assembly of villages called ouicou.

After decades-long contacts, the British were consigned to small trade but as the British saw that they were hardly using the metal for weapons, they started filling their demand for weapons and gradually established themselves. When once a silver cup was stolen from the British, in vengeance they annihilated and burnt the whole town, and its inhabitants were killed. For initiating permanent settlements, the British successfully carried the holocaust of indigenous people and this ethnic cleansing was not without defiance from the people of that land. In response, the whole petty village kingdoms were cleared one after another and the African Slaves were introduced in their place to work in new settlements which would set the stage for history’s most brutal forms of slavery by the people on mission civilisatrice.

The Ottomans and the African Kingdoms

The Ottomans and the pirates working covertly under sultan ministers were in no way resistible to the British expeditions in the Mediterranean. Many of the British ships were often plundered and English were sold to slavery. Until the mid-18th century Ottomans were able to keep the British privateers at bay and James I had to make peace treaties with pirates on the African coasts to keep Mediterranean ventures safe for the Englishmen. The Ottomans ruled undisputed Mediterranean waters and Red Sea ports where the Britons came too late on the stage. The author tells that to keep the favours of the Ottoman Sultans, the Queen had to establish sycophantic relations with women of the imperial harem otherwise, the Englishmen could hardly stand the Ottoman navy in the Mediterranean.

The Africans were never behind in controlling Europeans. The kingdom of Dahomey was the wealthiest and most powerful kingdom and like the Mughal empire in India, Dahomey kept the British at the margins for most of the time. Only after the Royal African Company started interfering in the internal affairs and gradually involved in human trafficking beneficial both to the African kings and the British, that they later gained a strong footing. Despite the gradual occupation of most of Africa, many kingdoms such as Dahomey had established strong centralised states which kept defying the British until the late eighteenth century.