Of Empires and Famines: The Old Playbook Still Runs Today


When people think of famine, they often imagine droughts, crop failures, or natural disasters beyond human control. But history tells a darker truth: famine has been one of empire’s most effective weapons. The British Empire, in particular, turned hunger into a policy tool, deliberately starving populations into submission. Today, that same playbook is still running — updated, outsourced, and rebranded, but unmistakably rooted in the same imperial DNA.




Britain’s Famine Empire

Let’s start with India. Between 1757 and 1878, under direct British rule, India suffered 31 major famines in just 120 years. Before colonial rule, the subcontinent had only recorded 17 serious famines in over 2,000 years — about one every century. Under Britain, it was one every four years. Tens of millions of Indians perished. Life expectancy by the early 20th century had collapsed to just 21 years. George Orwell described Indian workers whose legs were thinner than the average Englishman’s arm — not from disease, but from plain starvation.

The story was similar in Ireland. Between 1845 and 1852, the so-called potato blight killed at least a million people. But let’s be honest: how does a lush island, full of fertile fields and surrounded by fish-rich seas, suffer “famine”? The answer is simple — Britain exported Irish grain, beef, and dairy while the population starved. Hunger wasn’t natural; it was manufactured.

And then there’s Kenya. During the Mau Mau rebellion (1952–1956), Britain responded to resistance by locking up 1.5 million Kikuyu men, women, and children in barbed-wire camps and fortified villages. Inside, they faced forced labor, torture, rape, and starvation. British authorities later destroyed or smuggled out tons of documents to erase the evidence. Historian Caroline Elkins estimated up to 300,000 Kikuyu were “unaccounted for” — a polite way of saying dead. Starvation, once again, was part of the plan.

These examples aren’t isolated mistakes. They reveal a consistent strategy: weaponize food, enforce scarcity, starve people into submission.




The American Upgrade: Kissinger’s NSSM 200

The empire didn’t disappear after the Union Jack was lowered. It simply shifted headquarters, grafting its methods onto U.S. policy. In 1974, Henry Kissinger authored National Security Study Memorandum 200 (NSSM 200). In plain language, it made population control in developing nations a U.S. security priority. Food aid, Kissinger wrote, should be treated as “an instrument of national power.” In other words: we’ll feed you only if you obey.

This wasn’t a break from British colonial logic. It was a continuation. Where Disraeli once spoke of blockading nations into starvation, Kissinger talked of “rationing food aid” to encourage population reduction. Same weapon, different packaging.




Hunger as a “Virtue”

Fast forward to 2022. The UN actually published an article called “The Benefits of World Hunger.” Written by academic George Kent, it argued that hunger has “great positive value” because hungry people are the most productive — especially for manual labor. Think about that. In the 21st century, a supposedly enlightened global institution gave a platform to the exact same mindset that justified Victorian famines. Kipling called it “the dignity of labour.” Today, they call it “economic productivity.” The logic hasn’t changed: keep people insecure, keep them hungry, and they’ll work harder for less.




Gaza: The Old Playbook in Action

Now look at Gaza. The blockade, the starvation, the bombing of bakeries, the fenced-off enclaves — none of it is new. It’s empire’s playbook applied once again. The British perfected these methods in India, Ireland, and Kenya. Today, Israel enforces them against Palestinians, with Britain quietly supporting from the shadows.

  • Within days of October 7, 2023, Britain had deployed SAS units to Cyprus. When the media got wind, the government slapped down a gag order.
  • The Royal Air Force flew surveillance missions over Gaza, feeding intelligence to the Israeli military. Later, those flights were outsourced to private contractors.
  • British arms, ammunition, and training kept flowing. IDF officers even trained on British soil while the siege unfolded.

The British public was never consulted. Most still don’t know the extent of their government’s complicity. Just like during the famines of the 19th century, London hides its hand while others do the dirty work.




The Pattern is Clear

From Bengal to Belfast, from Kikuyu villages to Gaza, the strategy is the same: starve the disobedient until they break. Call it famine, call it blockade, call it “population control.” The names change, the victims change, but the imperial DNA stays the same.

And here’s the chilling part: famine is not just a tool of punishment. It’s also seen as a management technique. Well-fed populations demand rights. Hungry populations accept their chains. That’s why the system cultivates scarcity even when abundance is possible. That’s why, in an age of global surplus, millions still go hungry.




Conclusion: Breaking the Cycle

We have to stop pretending these are accidents of history. They are not. Famines in India, Ireland, Kenya — and now the forced starvation of Gaza — are not acts of God. They are acts of empire. And until this system is dismantled, humanity will remain hostage to its most ruthless weapon: manufactured hunger.

The British like to present themselves as the guardians of civilization, democracy, and human rights. But history tells another story: one of blockades, concentration camps, and mass starvation. Strip away the propaganda, and you see the heart of darkness — a system that thrives on famine.

The question is: how long will we let the same old empire starve us into obedience?

✍️ Written for Substack readers seeking truth beyond sanitized headlines.

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