"The Brtish Army was never an instrument of oppression, at home or abroad" (Neillands,4) : Truth or Lie?

When I read the excerpt of Robin Neillands' "A Fighting Retreat" one statement the author made, hit me hard. Neilland mentions that crucial events such as the Amritsar massacre, which took place in India in April 1919, should not be considered as a brutality on the part of Great Britain since incidents of this extent had been rather rare and not a permanent condition. 

Moreover, he points out that Great Britain had never oppressed any other nation. As we all know this is definitely not the case. For sure the British Army was never innocent when it comes to violence and suppression. If anything, they were professionals in terms of blowing smoke and making pointless promises.

"Britain's empire was established, and maintained for more than two centuries, through bloodhsed, violence, brutality, conquest and war. Not a year went by without large numbers of its inhabitants being obliged to suffer for their involuntary participation in the colonial experience. Slavery, famine, prison, battle, murder, extermination - these were their various fates". 

I found this quote by author Richard Gott on the website of  the guardian newspaper and thought it would be a good example to show that Robin Neillands' opinion regarding Great Briatin in fact is quite controversial based on the history of this country. Gott's quote proves that the inhabitants of those countries which belonged to the British Empire definitely had to suffer under the British rule and were not able to strike back against this oppression they sensed. It is obvious that the British Army was "an instrument of oppression". In my opinion there is no way to not face the bitter truth! I think the excerpt by Neillands is written in a pro-British style. It seems like the author really wants to defend the actions undertaken by the Brits and above all, convince us of the "greatness" of the British Army. 

However, the quote by Richard Gott also depicts that events such as the massacre at Amritsar obviously were not the only atrocity against other nations. 

As for Neilland, I think it would be best to overthink the whole "situation" and stop denying that Great Britain was the villain in this story!