Debt Slavery: How the British Empire Took Over Nations

*Video Description*

The British Empire is often remembered for its red-coated soldiers, vast colonies, and naval dominance. But behind the battles and the banners lay a far more powerful weapon—**debt**. Nations were not only conquered by force but also by finance. From India and Egypt to Latin America and the Ottoman Empire, Britain mastered the art of using loans, interest, and financial manipulation to strip countries of their sovereignty while expanding its global influence.

This video uncovers the hidden story of how the British Empire quietly **bought nations with debt**, turning governments into dependents, transforming economies into tributaries, and reshaping the modern financial world. It is a story of balance sheets as powerful as cannons, of contracts that enslaved as tightly as chains, and of an empire that wielded the pen as effectively as the sword.

Dive into the forgotten history of financial imperialism—where banks became conquerors, and debt became the most enduring tool of empire.

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*References*

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Pettigrew, William A. Freedom’s Debt: The Royal African Company and the Politics of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1672–1752. UNC Press, 2013.
Tooze, Adam. The Deluge: The Great War and the Remaking of Global Order, 1916–1931. Viking, 2014.
Tracy, James D. The Rise of Merchant Empires: Long-Distance Trade in the Early Modern World, 1350–1750. Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Tomz, Michael. Reputation and International Cooperation: Sovereign Debt across Three Centuries. Princeton University Press, 2007.