Daily Archives: October 21, 2026

Top Tens – History: Top 10 Types of Empire & Imperialism (Special Mention) (15) Anti-Imperialism

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“Washington Crossing the Delaware”, iconic 1851 painting by Emanuel Leutze of the founding anti-imperialism of the United States (public domain)

 

 

(15) ANTI-IMPERIALISM

 

Wait, what?

Anti-imperialism is opposition to imperialism – how is it one of my special mentions for types of empire and imperialism?

Well, these are special mentions so arguably it is a lens through which to view empire or imperialism – but there are two more fundamental arguments that, ironically and paradoxically, anti-imperialism can be a guise for empire or imperialism, similarly to defensive or democratic imperialism as oxymorons.

The first and perhaps lesser argument is that while anti-imperialism has origins throughout history in resistance to empires, usually on the basis of being “foreign” or causing some loss to their subjects, it only assumed its full force through modern political ideologies – primarily nationalism, liberalism, and socialism – that were in turn spread by and a product of Western empires, ironically and paradoxically as the seeds of their own destruction yet also the harvest of their cultural propagation.

The second and more fundamental argument is that empires from ancient history onwards have always had an element of anti-imperialism – against other empires as rivals, including to the extent of encouraging or supporting civil wars or revolts within those rivals. While they could collaborate, as in the Scramble for Africa, the modern European empires were often fiercely “anti-imperialist” against each other – occasionally propping up or supporting non-European peoples or states from being formally annexed by rival European empires, or any single European empire in the case of China.

Germany was perhaps most distinctive among European empires in pursuing an anti-imperialist policy against its rivals, particularly against the British during both world wars, albeit not very effectively.

However, there are three modern imperial powers that stand out in pursuing imperialism, ironically while styling themselves as anti-imperialist or even doing so in the name of anti-imperialism, and even more ironically, each against the other two as among its most formidable opponents – Japan, the Soviet Union, and the United States.

Of course, in contemporary history and world politics, it seems to be de rigueur for nations to engage in imperialism while claiming to be doing so as “anti-imperialist” against the “imperialism” of their opponents – and even for movements or proponents of “anti-imperialism” to have moral myopia so that they only see imperialism from their direction of choice.

Top Tens – History: Top 10 Empires (Special Mention: Revisited) (15) East India Company

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(15) EAST INDIA COMPANY 

 

It’s strange to think that most of the heavy lifting of the British Empire in India was done not by the British Crown or government, but by a company – indeed, to the extent that the British Empire in India was effectively that company. But what a company!

That is of course the East India Company – the British East India Company that is, not the Dutch East India Company or one of the other prolific East India Companies established in Europe (Danish, Portuguese, Genoese, French, Swedish and Austrian).

At its peak, the British East India Company was the largest company in the world and accounted for half the trade in the world.

So yes, you might say, that’s big – reflecting that they started with a Crown charter giving them a monopoly on English trade east of Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan – but it was just a company doing company things like trade, wasn’t it?

Well, for the East India Company, company things included having its own armed forces, including its own navy – the Bombay Marine – and three ‘presidency’ armies – the Bengal Army, the Madras Army and the Bombay Army – “totalling about 260,000 soldiers, twice the size of the British army at the time”.

They also included that the company “eventually came to rule large areas of present day Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, exercising military power and assuming administrative functions”, either directly or indirectly through “princely states tied to it by treaty”.

That was particularly so after the Battle of Plassey – the Anglicized form of Palashi or Polashi – when the Company, under the leadership of the famous Robert Clive or “Clive of India”, won against the Nawab of Bengal and the Nawab’s French allies in 1757.

However that all fell apart literally a century later, with the Indian or Sepoy Rebellion of 1857-1858, named for the sepoys that were the mainstay of the East India Company’s power – “locally raised, mostly Muslim, western trained and equipped soldiers that changed warfare in present day South Asia…a few thousand company sepoys, time and again, took on vastly superior Mughal forces numerically and came out victorious”.

Following this rebellion, the British Crown effectively took over the East India Company in India (by the Government of India Act 1858) – “assumed its governmental functions and absorbed its armies” – although the company survived as a financial shadow of its former self until it was formally dissolved (by the East India Stock Redemption Act 1874).

The Company also had its hand in Asia beyond the Indian subcontinent, not least competing with the Dutch for spice from Indonesia – and trading opium to China, prompting the Opium Wars.

“Wait – it’s all companies?”

“Always has been.”

As I said, it is strange to think of a company as the vanguard of British imperialism in India, but it might be observed how often that was the case in Western imperialism – and indeed, some might observe even more so for Western neo-imperialism. United Fruit and banana republics, anyone?

But yes – it was deeply ingrained in the DNA of European or Western imperialism that much of it was effectively private entrepreneurial rather than public governmental. That is, it was done by private individuals – including literal privateers or pirates – and corporations or organizations, albeit typically under government charters.

Top Tens – Mythology: Top 10 Mythology Horror (8) Norse Mythology

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“Odin and Fenris” 1909 illustration by Dorothy Hardy in Myths of the Norsemen by H.A. Guerber – I own the book with this image (public domain)

 

 

(8) NORSE MYTHOLOGY

 

Norse mythology is essentially the cabin in the woods, metaphorically as the horror trope.

Arguably even literally as the 2011 film of that name, as elaborate and deceptive machinations behind the scenes – primarily by Odin – for ritual sacrifice to keep the world-destroying eldritch abominations at bay.

But certainly at the metaphorical level of the horror trope, Norse mythology is the cabin in the apocalyptic woods.

The apocalypse, that is of fire, ice and darkness – embodied or represented by giants, monstrous wolves or serpents, and the evil dead of Hel. An apocalypse that the gods can only hope to keep at bay but will ultimately overwhelm them and destroy the world – an apocalypse where even the greatest of gods will be swallowed up by wolves or drowned in venom.

Sure, Asgard and Valhalla might be much grander places than the usual cabin in the woods to bunker down and party up in preparation for the apocalyptic horror.

Sure, the gods are much more powerful than the average horror protagonist in the cabin of the woods. Well, with the exception of Ash Williams in the Evil Dead franchise, but we all know he’s a dead ringer for the god Tyr, even down to the sacrificial loss of his hand.

The gods can even have a bit of fun and adventure before the metaphorical lights go out, aided to some extent by limited co-existence or détente with antagonists that are not quite as adversarial as the average horror antagonists, at least for a while.

But in the end, Norse mythology is the cabin in the woods, besieged by apocalyptic eldritch abominations.

As with the Bible and classical mythology, modern horror rarely adapts the eldritch abominations of Norse mythology directly – with the notable exception of the 2017 film The Ritual (and the book it adapted)– but instead adapts its ambience, template and tropes for the cabin in the woods.