Slavery: Global Enforcement

This episode examines what happened after Britain abolished the slave trade — and why that decision was only the beginning. It follows Britain’s choice to enforce abolition in a world that largely rejected it, tracing the creation of naval patrols, international treaties, and legal mechanisms designed to suppress the trade at sea. The episode confronts the human and financial cost of that commitment, including the deaths of thousands of sailors and the absence of material gain or imperial reward. It culminates in the 1833 abolition of slavery across the British Empire, showing how Britain chose costly enforcement and moral responsibility over profit and convenience, and asks how history should judge a nation that was willing to tear down part of its own power in the name of conscience.