Introduction
Many Roman Empires overpowered Britain at different times, but after the reign of Plautius, Claudius followed him, invaded them and left scars. Their downfall gave the British a wide area to rule the world either decisively or cunningly, but they did. As it was the most powerful colonization in human history, it left a lasting sway on the lives of people of every age. And its outcomes are crystal clear in the Pakistani politics somehow.
The Roman invasion of Britain
The Romans distinguished themselves from the rest of the world countless times by invading Britain and leaving traces of their power. Who were the Romans? The Romans emerged from a small town on central Italy’s Tiber River in the modern-era into an empire. An empire is a political entity which is represented by an individual’s supremacy over the entire state or all territories. The Roman empire arose when Augustus Caesar, in BC 31, affirmed himself the first emperor of Rome. While throwing down the principles and premises of the contemporary world between the 16th and 18th centuries, the Roman empire also faced rise and fall when they were unable to conquer the wide areas of Scotland, which badly impacted its economy and culture.
But again, in AD 41, when Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was announced as the fourth Roman Emperor following Aulus-Plautius (a Roman politician and beginning the Roman conquest of Britain), they started to implant their language, military power, and culture across the globe, especially among Great Britain. Because they were primarily concerned with language, military power, and culture. They overpowered Europe for more than 700 years, and by stretching themselves on the land of Greece, Spain, the North African Coast, the Middle East, modern-day France, and the remote island of Britain, they out-posted a great part of their land and conquered it. They invaded Britain once again in 43 AD. This was the time when they finally pulled out their story of growth.
The British empire as a superpower following the Roman colonization
An artist is a first-hand source of any art. To give something a proper shape or name before the world, one has to turn it into an art form that makes the world understand it. So, in the late 18th and 19th centuries, the British Empire warred their blood-up against the first revolution in the period of Napoleon, showed their art of power and got what they wanted. The era of the British empire as a superpower was the era of the “twilight”, when they glorified the entire world with their potential. This was the most influential empire in the whole human history when they established their government in the first place.
Once, Romans who had buried their confidence under the dominance of power. But when Britain started to approach the seventh heaven determinatively during those twenty-two years, they almost dominated the worldwide markets in every field. What made Britain a superpower? They had five goals to become a global power. Firstly, Britain wanted their solid feet and progressive hands in the field of business and commerce across the globe. For this reason, they had a strong army and military power to guard them on every step. It shows the influence of Roman colonisation in Britain.
Secondly, they started to give importance to an individual’s strength to run their societies, politics, towns, and even election systems because an individual(man) was the main focus to burn out ashes from the flames. They limited the right of vote to men only. They shattered the confidence of other countries to take hold of their lands and became the landowners.
Thirdly, once they became successful landlords, they attacked the weak countries’ culture and language. Fourthly, they banned other languages to give rise to the English language. The English authors started to publish their works. It was the black-period when the course of books was restricted to English stories only worldwide.
Fifth, because of their weak economy and industrial system, Indians were their primary target. And Britain was those who arose from the industrial revolution. They cunningly ruined their political and even trade systems by adding personal elements to them and became the most powerful empire. The lingering impacts of Roman colonisation are visible here.
“The Britain was like the noiseless waves in the sea,
The other world was like the shaky sea-shore…….
The Powerless edges gave them the reason coldly,
Those Unvoiced waves softly fitted them into it”(AAfia Ejaz).
Roman colonization and British colonization
It was a time when Roman forces were in power, especially when they invaded Britain in AD 43. But with the descendance of the Roman Empire in 476 AD, it gave rise to the extremely powerful Empire of the British in history in the late 1500s. The Roman and British approaches to ruling the world were almost the same. But the Roman Empire presided over lands from India to the Atlantic Ocean, while Britain ruled the entire world.
Britain had colonies across the map because they expanded because of the industrial revolution. Actually, the weak states were their focal point for becoming wealthy and freezing their trading moves. However, as they were the imperialists of that era, by manipulating them and shattering their confidence, they got resources from them. They traded gold and other resources to and from the newly formed colonies for their settlements all over the world during the American Revolution.
Meanwhile, India was the largest decolonized independent state at that time, which had no strong local military but had an emerging economy. Britain manipulated them by introducing modern technology and changing their political interests. They established their own authorities in the Indian Sub-continent and crowned Robert Clive (the first British Raja) to rule India. It was the real time when they had achieved their goal of becoming superior to the rest of the world by decisively making them inferior.But the Indians had forgotten that they were actually constructing anarchy.
While the Romans rose from a small city-state in Italy to control lands stretching from India to the Atlantic Ocean. They had no proper colonies. But in the long war, they fought cold-bloodedly, won territories, and founded colonies. To solidify their kingdom, they started to hold control of their technical skills like engineering, construction of roads, theatres etc. They admired education over everything, and spread their language, Latin. But a time came when they had to confront the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD. The Roman colonisation left marks everywhere at that time. Its traces can still be seen in the modern world. And the Roman colonisation force was the most formidable one in existence. This similar attitude to ruling the world shows the effects of both colonization on each other widely.
Powerful and low-priced impact of colonization
“Colonization and opium hold no difference,
Opium travels between the body and mind,
Colonization travels between the generations
Both ends up smashing deep down quaintly”(AAfiaEjaz).
The foremost and deepest effect of both colonization is on the lifestyle, culture, and interests of people. It exposed the new face of the world regarding their culture, values, beliefs, education, political system, division of tribes and lands in the name of religion. Roman colonisation brought Britain to Christianity, while British colonization gave rise to many classes in the same society on social and religious evaluations. It has made everything impure, whether it is a culture or the identity of an individual.
No culture is pure even in the era of decolonization because of the traces of colonization in the modern era. It is evidenced in every affair, like if we talk about our politics, it is corrupted because it is following the footprints of colonial politics. When every individual was just in need of making themselves superior by demonstrating others were inferior. The powerful and even unassumed impacts of the colonisation of the Romans and British can be sensed in the foundations of every nation with every new moon.
It specifically shows the deepest influential elements in Britain after the Roman colonisation or empire. On the other hand, it pulls out the scattering elements from the British’s dreadful period of colonisation across the entire world, even after seventy-five years of independence.
Traces of British Colonization in Pakistani Politics
The deepest wounds of British colonial rule can be seen in the psyche of the politicians of Pakistan. Pakistani politicians are chasing the footsteps of British laws that germinated deep within the roots of Indian politics back then. Since their rules and laws have been embedded or emerged in Pakistan’s political legacy, injustice has soared. But most of the people are still grasped in the sense of confusion that these prominent politicians are providing aid for the welfare of Pakistan. It was a time when Indians used to think the same way about the British Raj and Nehru in his book, he comments sarcastically, “we are often reminded, lest we forget, that the British rescued India from chaos and anarchy.”
The Britishers during the era of revolution manipulated the weak countries around the world, took hold of their lands, and dominated them to make themselves superior over others, no matter how they were doing so. If we shed light on our current political system, we observe personal involvement in the assessment. We witness every single day that our leaders are germinating new seeds of descendance for the nation in the near future. One in the name of religion and the other in the name of sympathy. One is importing solar plants from India secretly to run one’s personal business in the name of the whole nation. During colonial rule, the British used to obtain resources from countries with a strong economy in order to become wealthy.
Since Pakistani politicians have licked the dusty shoes of Americans to get resources for their personal development, Pakistan is lurking between loans and taxes. But the scheduled beggars of Pakistan are busy making people fool around by constructing wide roads and motorways. The Roman Empire was mainly focused on constructing roads, adequate social institutes, and cinemas, which left scars across Britain. And when the Britishers were in power, they did the same with the entire world. Now Pakistanis are bearing witness behind the covetous leaders. All the judicial system is in the personal hands, which is spreading inequality.
The Lower-class people were serving the bourgeois as the British classified the world in the feared existence of their power. So, the middle-class people had to struggle like cats and dogs to meet their goals. So is the case in Pakistan currently. Because of this false evaluation, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. In the era of the British Raj, the individual was the central point in building up a nation and giving positive rise to society. Lately, in Pakistan, a strong-handed man is running societies and owning lands.
Even this impure and corrupted political system of Pakistan because of the marks of colonisation in the decolonized era is heightening the wrong beliefs among the people, which is leading a nation to demonstration and destruction blindly. This in equal evaluation and injustice is increasing the cases of rape, murder, robbery, and forceful devouring of land from innocent people. We are only one step away from colonial implementations, namely a better education system in Pakistan, despite the fact that both Roman and British colonisation valued education.But we are strictly learning their language, “English”, and the stories of English writers have become a necessary part of the Pakistani education system. Even the English language has become the stair of success. It seems Pakistani politicians and even common people are under the hypnotic spell of colonial rule.
Conclusion
The above discussion concludes that each empire left its scars in the modern world, which is deeply breaking the nations apart. The souls of people have been dead. It is like they are living while dying. The influence of British colonial rule can be sensed in every single act of Pakistani politicians in the current and even in the former leadership.Such external forces are weakening the foundation of the Pakistani political legacy. They are not playing the role as the back bone of Pakistan as destroyers, though.
