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| Country polled | Pos. | Neg. | Neutral | Pos – Neg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Turkey | 34% | 47% | 19% | -13 |
 Pakistan | 20% | 29% | 51% | -9 |
 Spain | 34% | 42% | 24% | -8 |
 Russia | 24% | 32% | 44% | -8 |
 Brazil | 33% | 39% | 28% | -6 |
 Peru | 41% | 29% | 30% | +12 |
 India | 33% | 20% | 47% | +13 |
 Germany | 35% | 18% | 47% | +17 |
 Greece | 42% | 22% | 34% | +20 |
 France | 63% | 32% | 5% | +31 |
 Mexico | 53% | 22% | 25% | +31 |
 Indonesia | 51% | 18% | 31% | +33 |
 Kenya | 69% | 20% | 11% | +49 |
 China | 73% | 19% | 8% | +54 |
 Canada | 73% | 18% | 9% | +55 |
 Nigeria | 76% | 15% | 9% | +61 |
 Australia | 76% | 15% | 9% | +61 |
 United States | 79% | 10% | 11% | +69 |
| Country polled | Positive | Negative | Neutral | Pos-Neg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pakistan | 39% | 35% | 26% | +4 |
| Spain | 41% | 36% | 23% | +5 |
| Turkey | 39% | 30% | 31% | +9 |
| China | 39% | 26% | 35% | +13 |
| Mexico | 40% | 25% | 35% | +15 |
| India | 43% | 27% | 30% | +16 |
| Germany | 51% | 34% | 15% | +17 |
| Peru | 41% | 21% | 38% | +20 |
| Brazil | 45% | 25% | 30% | +20 |
| Russia | 44% | 16% | 40% | +28 |
 Chile | 45% | 15% | 40% | +30 |
| Indonesia | 59% | 26% | 15% | +33 |
 Israel | 50% | 6% | 44% | +44 |
 Japan | 47% | 2% | 51% | +45 |
| Nigeria | 67% | 22% | 11% | +45 |
 United Kingdom | 72% | 23% | 5% | +49 |
| France | 72% | 20% | 8% | +52 |
| Australia | 73% | 18% | 9% | +54 |
 South Korea | 74% | 14% | 12% | +60 |
| Kenya | 74% | 10% | 16% | +64 |
 Ghana | 78% | 9% | 13% | +69 |
| Canada | 80% | 9% | 11% | +71 |
| United States | 81% | 10% | 9% | +71 |
Anti-British sentiment is theprejudice against,persecution of,discrimination against, fear of, dislike of, orhatred against theBritish Government,British people, or theculture of theUnited Kingdom.
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Historically, anti-British sentiment in Argentina has its roots on theFalkland Islands sovereignty dispute and the 1982Falklands War, as well as the perception of disproportional political influence that Britain was once seen to wield in the country due to the large amountBritish investment in Argentina at the beginning of the 20th century, as exemplified by the controversialRoca–Runciman Treaty in 1933.[3][page needed]. Due to these sentiments, protests against thegovernment of the United Kingdom have occasionally occurred in Argentina.[4]
Gott strafe England (English: May god punish England) was an anti-Britishslogan coined by poetErnst Lissauer duringWorld War I. It was used by theImperial German Army as well as the German public duringWorld War I.[5] In 1946, a crowd of Germans inHamburg chanted the slogan.[6]
Anti-British sentiment, sometimes described as Anglophobia, has been described as "deeply entrenched in Iranian culture",[7] and reported to be increasingly prevalent inIran. In July 2009, an adviser toAyatollahAli Khamenei called Britain "worse than America" for its alleged interference in Iran's post-election affairs. In the first half of the 20th century, theBritish Empire exerted political influence over Iran (Persia) in order to control the profits from theAnglo-Persian Oil Company. TheBritish government took an active interest in Iranian affairs, being involved in the overthrow of theQajar dynasty in the 1920s, the subsequent rise to power ofReza Shah Pahlavi, and thesuccessful coup d'état overthrowing prime ministerMohammad Mosaddeq in 1953.[8][9][10]
On Monday 9 August 2010, the senior Iranian minister and Iran's first vice presidentMohammad Reza Rahimi declared that theBritish people were "stupid" and "not human". His remarks drew criticism from Simon Gass, the British ambassador to Iran, and also from the media in Britain.[11]
In November 2011 the Iranian parliament voted to downgrade relations with the UK after British sanctions were imposed on Iran due to its nuclear programme. Iranian politicians reportedly shouted "Death to Britain".[12] On 29 November 2011, Iranian students in Tehran stormed the British embassy, ransacked offices, smashed windows, shouted "Death to England" and burned theUnion Jack.[13]
Parts of the Iranian media campaigned against the reopening of the British Embassy in Tehran in August 2015, referring to Britain as an "old fox" – a term popularised by the Pakistani writerSeyyed Ahmad Adib Pishavari – and accusing Britain of having provoked protests against the re-election ofMahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009.[14]
A poll conducted by the Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran (GAMMAN) between 21 and 30 September 2021 found that 63% have a negative view of the United Kingdom, while 25% have a positive view.[15]
There is a long history of anti-British prejudice and of specificallyanti-English sentiment withinIrish nationalism; it is rooted inIrish history starting with theAnglo-Norman invasion of Ireland and, even more so, in the policies and actions of the British government during theprolonged occupation of Ireland including theGreat Famine, thePenal laws and thereligious persecution of theCatholic Church in Ireland from the reign ofHenry VIII untilCatholic emancipation in 1829. Much of this was grounded in the hostility felt by the largely Catholic poor for therackrenting practices of theAnglo-Irish landlord class, who were the backbone of theProtestant Ascendancy and theanti-CatholicWhigsingle party state in Ireland until the late 19th century events of theLand War. At the same time, however, during thePeninsular War against the even more anti-CatholicNapoleon Bonaparte, thirty per cent of theDuke of Wellington's Army was composed ofIrish Catholics. This figure rose steadily over the following decades. By 1831, forty per cent of the British Army was Irish. By the 1860s, the number peaked at sixty per cent claiming to be either Irish-born or of Irish descent. The number then gradually reduced until by theBoer War, twenty per cent ofBritain's fighting men were of Irish descent. In post-famine Ireland,anti-English sentiment andanti-colonialism were adopted into the philosophy and foundation of the Irish nationalist movement. At the turn of the twentieth century, theCeltic Revival movement associated the search for a cultural and national identity withdecolonisation andlanguage revival.[16]
By 1914, the British Army numbered 247,000 troops, of whom 20,000 were Irish. There were a further 145,000 ex-regular reserves, 30,000 of which were Irish. Thus, in 1914, Irishmen made up twelve percent of the total British Army. Approximately 50,000 Irish soldiers died in theFirst World War,[17] including thewar poetsTom Kettle andFrancis Ledwidge. The subsequent events of theEaster Rising and the declaration of the Irish Republic by theFirst Dáil in 1919 were swiftly followed by systematic atrocities by British Forces during theIrish War of Independence, which continue to be remembered and regularly discussed in the communities where they took place. DuringWorld War II, an estimated 70,000 Irish citizens decided, despiteIrish neutrality, to serve in the British Armed Forces, together with 50,000 or so from Northern Ireland. 7,500 of these lost their lives in service. Virtually all who served were volunteers. In Southern Ireland at least, decisions to volunteer and serve were mainly individual.[18]
Duringthe Troubles (1969–1998), the sheer amount ofProvisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) sympathy among the populace in the Republic of Ireland allowed PIRA activity to flourish in the country and use it as a base of operations against Northern Ireland and England, contributing to the longevity of the campaign.[19][20] Hundreds of Irish citizens in the Republic joined the IRA,[21] includingMartin Ferris (known for a failed plan to import weapons on board the boatMarita Ann),Thomas McMahon (responsible forassassinating Lord Mountbatten), andDáithí Ó Conaill (credited for introducing thecar bomb to Northern Ireland). Southern Irish PIRA Volunteers, however, also includedSean O'Callaghan, who became a highly damagingmole within the organization for theSpecial Branch, thecounterterrorism wing of theGarda Siochana.
On 2 February 1972, an angry mob, in an outraged response toBloody Sunday committed by British paratroopers a few days earlier on 30 January and consisting of an estimated 20,000-100,000 people,burned down the British Embassy in Dublin. On 12 May 1981, during the1981 Irish hunger strike, 2,000 people tried to storm the British Embassy in Dublin.[22]
In 2011, tensions and anti-English or anti-British feelings flared in relation to the proposed state visit ofQueen Elizabeth II, the first British monarch to visit Ireland in 100 years. A republican demonstration was held at the GPO Dublin by a group of Irish Republicans on 26 February 2011, and amock trial and decapitation of an effigy of the Queen were carried out by a republican groupÉirígí. Other protests included a Dublin publican hanging a banner declaring "She and her family are all officially barred from this pub as long as the British occupy one inch of this island they will never be welcome in Ireland" during her visit.[23]
It may have been with this in mind that, duringQueen Elizabeth II'sstate visit to Ireland in May 2011, the Queen made an official visit to theGarden of Remembrance in Dublin, which is dedicated to the generations that fought and died in the struggle for Irish independence. During her visit,Liam mac Uistín's poemAnAisling ("We Saw a Vision") was read aloud in theIrish language and the Queen also laid a wreath at the Garden in honor ofglúnta na haislinge ("the generations of the vision"), whom Liam mac Uistín's poem both praises and gives a voice. The Queen's gesture was widely praised by the Irish media.
Even so, following the announcementof Queen Elizabeth II's death on 8 September 2022, a video of hardcoreShamrock Rovers fans chanting "Lizzie's in abox, in a box, Lizzie's in a box!" to the tune ofKC and the Sunshine Band's "Give It Up" at aUEFA Europa Conference Leaguegroup stage match inDublin circulated on social media.[24]
In 2018, the Irish author and journalistMegan Nolan wrote an opinion piece forThe New York Times that detailed how she had come to hateEngland andEnglish people.[25]
The relationship between Israel and the UK is generally regarded as close and warm,[26] and as a strategic partnership of the two nations.[27] According to the aBBC World Service poll in 2014,[2] five in ten Israelis (50%) have favourable attitudes to the UK, and only 6% of Israelis hold negative views towards the UK, the second lowest percentage after Japan.
Occasional criticism is also found. In Israel, anti-British sentiment may historically stem from British rule and policies in themandate era, and in modern times from the perceived anti-Israel stance of the British media.[28][29][30][31]
The Jewish population of the United Kingdom was recorded as being 269,568 in the 2011 Census. Reacting to 609 anti-Semitic incidents across the UK in the first half of 2009,[30] and to the announcement of numerous UK organizations to impose a boycott on Israel,[31] some Israelis claimed that the UK is anti-Israeli andAntisemitic.[28][29] According to an opinion piece by Eytan Gilboa, "the British media systematically supports the Palestinians, and openly slants its reporting about Israel and Israeli policy. The left-wing Guardian and Independent newspapers regularly print accusatory, anti-Israel editorials, and their correspondents in Israel file biased, and occasionally false, reports. The supposedly prestigious BBC has long been a sounding board to trumpet Palestinian propaganda."[31] In 2010 Ron Breiman, a former chairman of the right-wing organisation "Professors for a Strong Israel", claimed in one of Israel's leading newspapers,Haaretz, that the United Kingdom has raised and armed Israel's enemies in Jordan and the Arab Legion and described the British media as anti-Israeli.[32]
Reacting to the UK government's decision to expel an Israeli diplomat because of Mossad's forging of 12 British passports foran assassination operation in 2010, former National Union members of theIsraeli parliamentMichael Ben-Ari andAryeh Eldad accused the British government of being "anti-semitic" and referred to them as "dogs".[33][34]
Anti-British sentiments evolved in Spain following the ceding ofGibraltar to the British through theTreaty of Utrecht in 1713 following theWar of the Spanish Succession.[citation needed] In August 2013, Spain was considering forging an alliance with Argentina over the status of theFalkland Islands.[35]
PresidentThomas Jefferson complained of an unreasonable hostility towards the British state by the people in the United States during theNapoleonic Wars, brought about by theAmerican Revolutionary War.[36]
During theAmerican Civil War, anti-British sentiment in the U.S. ran rampant over theBritish unofficial role in supporting theConfederacy:blockade runners carrying British arms supplies,Confederate Navycommerce raiders built from British shipyards (e.g.,CSSAlabama),[37][38][39] and British tolerance ofConfederate Secret Service activities in its territories as an anti-U.S. base of military operations (such asJames Dunwoody Bulloch, theChesapeake Affair, theSt. Albans Raid, and theConfederate Army of Manhattan) all in violation of British neutrality laws.[40][41][42][43][44] For example, Irishwar correspondentWilliam Howard Russell wrote in his diary on November 13, 1863, that based on his experiences in theNorth:
The sentiment of dislike [there] towards England is increasing, because English subjects have assisted the South by smuggling andrunning the blockade.[45]
The U.S. administration of PresidentUlysses S. Grant sued Britain in 1869 over its complicity in allowing commerce raiders to leave British ports for use against theUnited States Merchant Marine shipping in theAlabama Claims. Blockade runners from Britain was later added to the charge, as many U.S. officials claimed that without the arms supplies being smuggled by British subjects through theUnion blockade to the Confederacy, the war would have ended by 1863, and American casualties and cost of war would have been greatly reduced.[46][37][38][39] The internationalarbitration inGeneva in 1872 however rejected claims for compensation from the British blockade running, but did order Britain to pay $15.5 million to the U.S. as a result of damages caused by British-built Confederate commerce raiders.[37]
During the World War II alliance, anti-British sentiment took different forms. In May 1942, when conditions were highly problematic for British prospects, American journalistEdward R. Murrow privately gave a British friend an analysis of the sources of persistent anti-British sentiment in the United States. He attributed it especially to:
Senior American military officers often tried, with little success, to push against Roosevelt's support for Britain.Fleet AdmiralErnest King had been noted for these views which affected his decision-making during the "Second Happy Time" (in theBattle of the Atlantic).[48]Joseph Stilwell, a four-star general in the China, Burma and India theatre of theSecond World War was another noted for anti-British views (for example, in this diaries he wrote, "Boy, will this burn up the Limeys!" when Myitkyina was finally taken). Curiously, he got on well with British military commanderWilliam Slim, even volunteering to serve under him for a time rather than underGeorge Giffard. Slim noted that Stilwell had a public persona that differed from his private relations.
In the 21st century, theSpecial Relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom has come under attack by advertising executive Steven A. Grasse who publishedThe Evil Empire: 101 Ways That England Ruined the World,[49] although this work is partly tongue in cheek and forms part of a larger media project launched by the author.
Roland Emmerich's2000 movieThe Patriot drew controversy for its depiction of British forces during theAmerican Revolutionary War,[50] depicting them as engaging in acts such as the burning of a church with civilians inside it in theThirteen Colonies during theAmerican Revolution. TheLiverpool City Council went on to claim that the film misrepresented British generalBanastre Tarleton and sought an apology from the producers.[51] Other commentators noted that a similar incident was committed by German troops in theOradour-sur-Glane massacre inWorld War II, and suggested that the film producers may have had, consciously or subconsciously, an anti-British agenda in changing the nationalities and relocating the event to an earlier and different conflict[52][53] and one stated that it was similar to a "blood libel".[54]
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