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British History IV Linye Han School of English Studies Chapter Outline IV. The Rise and Fall of British Empire • • • • • The Industrial Revolution The Victorian Era The Building of British Empire Britain during WWI and WWII Postwar Britain The Industrial Revolution • It occurred in the late 18th and early 19th centuries (1750s—1840s). • It refers to the mechanization of industry and the consequent changes in social and economic organization in Britain. • It first took place in Britain, and then spread to other parts of Europe and the world. Key Industries • • • • Iron and steel manufacture the production of steam engines textiles machine-building sector Why Industrial Revolution first took place in Britain? It began in Britain because political, economical, legal, social and other conditions there were particularly favorable to change. Political Factors • The limited monarchy resulted from the glorious revolution ensured that the economic groups could exert their influence over government policy; • The predictable, stable rule of law in Britain meant that monarchs and aristocrats were less likely to arbitrarily seize earnings or impose taxes than they were in many other countries. Economical Factors • Britain’s government pursued a relatively handsoff economic policy. • The book The Wealth of Nations written by Adam Smith was published in 1776, which encouraged free trade and free competition. • England, Scotland and Wales formed a customs union after 1707 and this included Ireland after 1807 (the national market not hindered by internal customs barriers); Legal Factors • Property rights, such as those for patents on mechanical improvements, were well established. • The inventors (e.g. James Watt) were well-respected and they solved practical problems. • Britain was the first country which made the patent law. Scientific Foundation • Great scientists like Issac Newton founded the modern science in the middle of 17th century, which provided theoretical tools for inventors to make technical improvement. Technical Innovation • First occurred in textile industry; • In 1765, a new energy source— steam engine was also invented. Four Important Inventions • John Kay’s flying shuttle in 1733 • James Watt’s steam engine in 1765 • James Hargreaves’s spinning jenny in 1766 • Richard Arkwright’s water frame in 1769 Foreign Expansion • Colonies were acquired by military means, which provided huge markets and abundant natural resources for the Industrial Revolution. • The so-called British Empire was being built. Other factors • Risk-taking and investment in new business ventures stimulated economic growth, because free and international trade brought wealth to British businessmen. • They had much safer earnings and could gain wealth, social prestige, and power more easily than people on the European continent. • Protestant work ethic inspired people, i.e. creating wealth, pursuing profits, communicating with God by real-world success. • The enclosures and other improvements in agriculture made contributions by providing food for the population, labor for the factories and raw materials needed by industry. • Britain is well-placed geographically to participate in European and world trade. • British main towns were near to seaports and rivers, which was convenient for the distribution of products. What changes did Industrial Revolution bring about? • Urbanization: growth of urban population and cities • Workshop of the world • Improved transportation • Effects on labor • Britain became the most powerful country and the first modernized nation, which helped the rest of the world to follow its suit. Urban Population • In the early 1770s, Manchester numbered only 25,000 inhabitants. By 1850, after it had become a center of cotton manufacturing, its population had grown to more than 350,000. • In pre-industrial England, more than threequarters of the population lived in small villages. By the mid-19th century, however, the country had made history by becoming the first nation with half its population in cities. By 1850, millions of British people lived in crowded, grim industrial cities. Growth of Cities • New manufacturing towns and cities grew dramatically. Many of these cities were close to the coalfields that supplied fuel to the factories. • The names of British factory cities soon symbolized industrialization to the wider world: Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Sheffield, and especially Manchester. Workshop of the World • Britain—a single nation produced more iron than the total volume of iron produced by all other countries in the world. • It produced two thirds of the world’s coal. • It also produced half of the world’s cotton. Improved Transportation • Locomotive was invented in 1814. • The first British railway was built in 1830. • 22 British railway networks were established in 1851, which was as long as 13,000 km. Effects on Labor • Division of labor: each worker is assigned to a different task, or step, in the manufacturing process, and as a result, total production increases. • As this illustration shows, one person performing all five steps in the manufacture of a product can make one unit in a day. Five workers, each specializing in one of the five steps, can make 10 units in the same amount of time. Division of Labor Effects on Labor • The movement of people away from agriculture and into industrial cities brought great stresses to many people in the labor force. • Traditional handloom weavers could no longer compete with the mechanized production of cloth. Skilled laborers sometimes lost their jobs as new machines replaced them. Effects on Labor • With the development of the Industrial Revolution in Britain in the 18th century, child labor was practiced on a large scale in the new “manufactories.” • In the factories, people had to work long hours under harsh conditions, often with few rewards. Factory owners and managers paid the minimum amount necessary for a work force, often recruiting women and children to tend the machines because they could be hired for very low wages. The Most Powerful Country • By that time, Britain had changed forever. The economy was expanding at a rate that was more than twice the pace at which it had grown before the Industrial Revolution. • Although vast differences existed between the rich and the poor, most of the population enjoyed some of the fruits of economic growth. The House of Hanover George I George II grandfather George III grandson George IV brothers William IV niece Victoria Edward VII George I (1714-1727) • 1701 Act of Settlement—sought to guarantee a Protestant succession • Cabinet system of government; 1st Prime Minister in Britain—Robert Walpole(罗伯特·沃波 尔) George III (1760-1820) • 3rd Hanoverian monarch, 1st born in England and to use English as the first language • Losing the American colonies: 1765 Stamp Act, 1773 Boston Tea-dumping; 1775 American Revolution; 1776 Declaration of Independence • Losing his mind in the 1780s and permanently deranged in 1810, and the Prince of Wales ruled the country in his place • In 1801, under the Act of Union Great Britain and Ireland were united into a single nation—the United Kingdom. • George III was thus the first king of the new nation. George IV (1820 -1830) • Naturally gifted; well-taught in classics; multilingual • He became Prince Regent while his father was very ill. • Triumph over French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar in 1805; • Defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 under the leadership of Duke of Wellington; William IV (1830-1837) • Sailor King • Silly Billy • Died without issue and his niece Victoria succeeded Queen Victoria (1837-1901) • reigned for 64 years, the longest reign in the history of England; Those years, from 1837 to 1901, became known as the Victorian Era and were marked by the rise of the middle class and a deeply conservative morality. Mother of a Growing Empire • Victoria (1819-1901), queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1837-1901) and empress of India (1876-1901). Her reign was the longest of any monarch in British history and came to be known as the Victorian era. • Queen Victoria was the official head of state not only of the United Kingdom but also of the growing worldwide British Empire, which included Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand, and large parts of Africa. British Economist William Stanley Jevons: “北美和俄国 的平原是我们的玉米地;芝加哥和敖德萨是我们 的粮仓;加拿大和波罗的海是我们的林场;澳大 利亚、西亚有我们的牧羊地;阿根廷和北美的西 部草原有我们的牛群;秘鲁运来它的白银;南非 和澳大利亚的黄金则流到伦敦;印度人和中国人 为我们种植茶叶;而我们的咖啡、甘蔗和香料种 植园则遍及印度群岛;西班牙和法国是我们的葡 萄园;地中海是我们的果园;长期以来早就生长 在美国南部的我们的棉花地,现在正在向地球的 所有的温暖区域扩展。” Economy • The Industrial Revolution developed to its heights; • Locomotives were invented, throwing the country into a frenzy of railway building; • Agriculture was further mechanized. • Trade and commerce grew immensely. Foreign Affairs • Opium War against China in 1840; • Wars suppressing the revolt of Canada and India; • Crimean War(1853-1856) against Russia; • A more flexible approach in foreign expansion: Canada, Australia and New Zealand were all granted self-government; • Victoria became Empress of India; • Imperialism was achieved. Chartist Movement (1838-1848) • The Chartist movement was the first mass movement driven by the working classes. • In 1839, 1842 and 1848, the Chartist movement urged Parliament to adopt three great petitions, but was rejected by the government for each time. Three Petitions • In June 1839, the Chartists’ petition was presented to the House of Commons with over 1.25 million signatures, but was rejected by Parliament. This provoked unrest which was swiftly crushed by the authorities. • A second petition was presented in May 1842, signed by over three million people but again it was rejected and further unrest and arrests followed. • In April 1848 a third and final petition was presented. A mass meeting on Kennington Common in South London was organized. • The third petition was also rejected but the anticipated unrest did not happen. People’s Charter 1838 • All men to have the vote (universal manhood suffrage); • Voting should take place by secret ballot. • Parliamentary elections every year, not once every five years; • Constituencies should be of equal size. • Members of Parliament should be paid (so that poor men could serve). • The property qualification for becoming a Member of Parliament should be abolished. Chartist Legacy • The Chartists’ legacy was strong. Further Reform Acts were passed in 1867 and 1884. • By 1918, five of the Chartists’ six demands had been achieved—only the stipulation that parliamentary elections be held every year was unfulfilled. Improved Social Conditions • • • • • Secret voting: in 1872; Right to vote: male workers in 1876; Compulsory education was adopted; Women students admitted to universities; Oxford and Cambridge universities were free to enroll students, who were not Anglican Church believers Literary& Scientific Achievements • Charles Darwin published Origin of Species in 1859; • A group of influential writers—Bronte sisters, Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot— appeared. • Lake poet: William Wordsworth—one of the earliest romantic poets Family Life • Queen Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha of Germany, in Feb. 1840. • Between 1840 and 1857, they had nine children. • Prince Albert died at the age of 42 in 1861, while the Queen remained in mourning for decades to come. Grandmother of Europe • Some of Victoria’s children and grandchildren eventually married the heirs to thrones of Germany, Spain, Russia, Sweden, Norway and Romania. • Because of her descendents, Victoria became known as the “Grandmother of Europe”. House of Windsor George V Edward VIII George VI Elizabeth II George V (1910-1936) Edward VIII 1936 Abdication of Edward VIII • After being proclaimed king in 1936, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland announced his intention to marry Wallis Warfield Simpson, an American divorcee. Because the British and Commonwealth governments strongly opposed the marriage, Edward abdicated on December 11, 1936. He and Simpson were married in France on June 3, 1937. George VI (1936—1947) Queen Elizabeth II (1952— ) • Elizabeth II became queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1952 upon the death of her father, King George VI. Throughout her reign she has been a symbol of unity and continuity within the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Nations. Winston Churchill • Churchill, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer (1874-1965), British politician and prime minister of the United Kingdom (1940-1945, 1951-1955), widely regarded as the greatest British leader of the 20th century. Churchill is celebrated for his leadership during World War II (1939-1945). His courage, decisiveness, political experience, and enormous vitality enabled him to lead his country through the war, one of the most desperate struggles in British history. Winston Churchill • Winston Churchill’s public life extended from the reign of Queen Victoria in the late 19th century to the Cold War. During this long political career, Churchill held every important cabinet office in the British government, except foreign minister. Churchill was also known for the many books on British history and politics he wrote throughout his lifetime. His command of the English language not only made him a great orator but earned him the Nobel Prize for literature in 1953. Margaret Hilda Thatcher • Thatcher, Margaret Hilda, (1925-?), first woman to hold the office of prime minister of the United Kingdom (1979-1990). • Victorious in the June 1987 elections, she became the first British prime minister in the 20th century to serve three consecutive terms. During Thatcher's years as prime minister, unemployment rose, almost doubling in her first term. Thatcher opposed the socialist programs of the Labour party and worked to decrease the role of the government in the economy. Margaret Hilda Thatcher • She privatized some nationalized industries and social programs, including education, housing, and health care. In 1990 controversy over Thatcher's tax policy and over her reluctance to commit the United Kingdom to full economic integration with Europe inspired a strong challenge to her leadership. She resigned in November and was succeeded as party leader and prime minister by her protégé, John Major. Margaret Thatcher • Thatcherism refers to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Policy in the 1980’s. • It places much emphasis on privatization and monetarism, namely, on minimum state intervention in the economy and tight fiscal policy. • Her policies held down inflation, and brought forth a relatively rapid economic growth in England. The British Empire • The British Empire expanded through either aggression or annexation. • It extended its influence to nations by means of aggression. India and China were both victims of this policy. Britain also enlarged its empire by annexing un-inhabited or sparsely-populated lands such as America and Australia. • By 1900, Britain had built up a big empire consisting of a great many protectorates, Crown colonies, spheres of influences, and self-governing dominions almost everywhere around the globe. Three International Conflicts in the 2nd half of the 20th Century The United Kingdom was involved in the War of Aggression against North Korea in 1950, the Suez Canal Crisis in 1956 and the Falkland Islands War in 1982.