I don’t know if this is true so maybe I shouldn’t be mentioning it, but: I had a driver for a week in India who I talked with a lot because my wife and our two friends rode in the back seat while I sat up front. One of our longer conversations was about British rule. Our driver claimed that England very purposefully dismantled India’s education system and had the harsh punishment of “hand maiming” that was frequently meted out for even small infractions.

Empires, especially when in decline, can be brutal so maybe what our driver told me is true.