I admire the greatness of what was achieved and am pleased that ultimately in lead to a 'what did the Romans do for us?' style growth of infrastructure and advancement in many of the nations that were part of the empire. I'm also proud that unlike the collapse of most Empires it resulted in something arguably better- The commonwealth. In the end Britain gave up the last remnants of it's empire in order to direct all resources at fighting the Nazis, would have it have been powerful enough to do that without empire building?
Were a lot of innocents stamped on to get there? Yes. Was that going to happen anyway even if Britain didn't do it? Yes, it would have just been another European nation instead.
Were a lot of innocents stamped on to get there? Yes. Was that going to happen anyway even if Britain didn't do it? Yes, it would have just been another European nation instead.