Lecture 4 Great Britain on the Way to Prosperity

Years of progress (1837-1906)

General Outline. Not long before this century began, Britain had lost its most important American colonies in a war of independence. When the century began, the country was locked in a war with France. By the middle of the 19th century, Britain established her industrial superiority in the world.

The strengthening of the capitalist state machine continued in this period. During the long reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901), the revolutionary changes that had transformed Britain from a mainly agricultural nation to an industrial one were followed by developments that took it further along the road of industrialism.

Soon after the end of the century, Britain controlled the biggest empire the world had ever seen. One section of this empire was Ireland. During this century, it was part of the UK, where the British culture and way of life predominated.

Another part of the empire was made up of Canada, Australia and New Zealand. These countries had complete internal self-government but recognized the overall authority of the British government.

Another part was India. The British officials developed a distinctly Anglo-Indian way of life. They imposed British institutions and methods of government on the country.

Large parts of Africa also belonged to the empire. Most of Britain’s African colonies started as trading bases on the coast, and were incorporated into the empire at the end of the century. The empire also included numerous smaller areas and islands, which were acquired because of their strategic position along trading routes.

There was a change in attitude in Britain towards colonization during this century. Previously, it had been seen as a matter of settlement, of commerce, or of military strategy. By the end of the century, it was seen as a matter of destiny. Britain became the world’s foremost economic power. This gave the British a sense of supreme confidence, even arrogance, about their culture and civilization. The British came to see themselves as having a duty to spread this culture and civilization around the world.

Political developments. Many men who did not get the vote in 1832 resented the Reform Act and worked to change it. They drew up a charter demanding votes for all men, payment of members of Parliament, the abolition of the rule that members of Parliament must be property owners, the creation of electoral districts of roughly equal populations, and the annual election of parliaments. Members of the movement became known as chartists. The chartists held many demonstrations throughout Britain. A final, sensational demonstration in 1848 failed ridiculously. But most chartists were serious men, and all their demands—except for annually elected parliaments—have since been granted.

Further parliamentary reform came later in the 1800's. The Reform Act of 1867 extended the vote to working men in the towns. The Reform Act of 1884 gave the vote to agricultural labourers. Both these acts also redistributed parliamentary seats.

From 1830 to 1841, with one short break, the Whigs formed the governments. The Tories opposed the Reform Act in 1832. But in 1835, the Tory Party issued a document called the Tamworth Manifesto, which said that the party should combine reform with respect for tradition. The Tories began to call themselves Conservatives. In 1841, they won power under Peel.

Meanwhile, the aristocratic Whigs became, largely under the leadership of William Gladstone, the new Liberal Party. The Liberals represented particularly the middle classes and Nonconformists (Protestants outside the Church of England). In the late 1800s, the trade unions and a group of socialist intellectuals called the Fabians formed the Labour Party. The first Labour members entered Parliament in 1893.

Industrial developments. British industry continued to expand. Coal output more than doubled between 1846 and 1862, and iron production increased by six times between 1833 and 1865. An expansion in trade as well as raw material production made Britain very prosperous and the world's leading manufacturing nation. It retained its industrial lead through the skill of its inventors. Sir Henry Bessemer discovered a less costly way of making steel, and steel replaced iron in engineering, railways, and shipbuilding. In 1844, Isambard Brunei laid the first electric telegraph on the Great Western Railway from Paddington to Slough. In 1866, British engineers laid the first telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1884, Sir Charles Parsons made the first practical steam turbine. In 1826, Patrick Bell invented a reaping machine for cutting cereals. He also devised a way of extracting sugar from sugar beet.

Near the end of the 1800s, Britain faced growing competition overseas. Such industrialized countries as France, Germany, and the United States protected their own manufactures against British goods by imposing high tariffs (taxes on imports). The United States and Germany overtook Britain in steel production. Britain's exports went into decline. Only coal, machinery, and ships maintained their share of the export market. Britain suffered an industrial slump between 1875 and 1896.

4.2. The United Kingdom in the 1^st Half of the 1900s

By the beginning of this century, Britain was no longer the world’s richest country. The first twenty years of the century were a period of extremism. The Suffragettes, women demanding the right to vote, were prepared both to damage property and to die for their beliefs; the problem of Ulster in the north of Ireland led to a situation in which some sections of the army were ready to disobey the government; and the government’s introduction of new taxes was opposed by the House of Lords so that even Parliament seemed to have an uncertain future in its traditional form. But by the end of the First World War, two of these issues had been resolved to most people’s satisfaction (the Irish problem remained)

In the first half of the 1900s, Britain fought in two world wars that considerably changed its international influence and status. Many countries that before 1945 were British colonies became independent countries as the British Empire developed into the Commonwealth of Unions. In 1906, Britain was the world's richest and most powerful nation, but the Soviet Union and the United States, with their vast resources of people and materials, eventually overtook Britain.

Affairs in Parliament. In 1906, the Liberals won a general election by a large majority and again returned to government in January 1910. It then introduced a bill to end the power of the Lords to reject financial bills. The bill also provided that any other bill, if passed by the Commons three times in two years, should become law without the approval of the Lords. The Liberals also proposed to reduce the length of a Parliament from seven to five years. The Lords passed the bill. It became law as the Parliament Act of 1911.

The Liberals passed more social reforms. In 1911, the Shops Act enforced early closing once a week. By another act, members of Parliament received payment for their services. A National Insurance Act provided sickness insurance for all low-paid workers and unemployment insurance for people in some jobs.

World War I. In the late 1800s, Britain, with its vast empire, relied on the Navy for defences and followed a foreign policy of splendid isolation. But with the early 1900s came a need for alliances. In 1902, Britain allied with Japan to meet a possible Russian attack on India. In 1904, Britain and France, both fearing German aggression, signed a treaty called the Entente Cordiale. In 1907, this became the Triple Entente, when France's ally, Russia, joined. The Entente was opposed by the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria, and Italy.War was becoming imminent. The assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, at Sarajevo on June 28, 1914 was the pretext which led to open conflict.

On August 1, 1914 Germany declared war on Russia, on August 3 it declared war on France.

World War I began in 1914. The Allies—Britain, France, the United States, and other countries—fought the Central Powers—Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria. The war was caused chiefly by political and economic rivalry among the various nations. Britain entered the war on August 4, 1914, after German troops invaded neutral Belgium on their way to attack France.

In the course of the war a coalition government was formed with the participation of the Liberals, the Tories and a few Labour representatives. Lloyd George emerged as the dominant figure in the government doing his best to divert growing labour unrest by propagating 'national unity'.

The fighting lasted until 1918, when the Allies finally defeated Germany. On August 8, 1918 the allied forces staged a major breakthrough surrounding and destroying 16 German divisions. Germany was defeated and the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918.

Lloyd George served as prime minister during the second half of the war. He helped write the Treaty of Versailles, which officially ended the war with Germany. The treaty set up the League of Nations, and gave Britain control over German colonies in Africa. The Treaty of Sevres, signed with the Turkish Ottoman Empire, gave Britain control over some Turkish possessions in the Middle East.

The war had a shattering effect on Britain. About 750,000 members of the British armed forces died. German submarines sank about 7 million metric tons of British shipping. The war also created severe economic problems for Britain and shook its position as a world power.

In January 1924, a new party, the Labour Party, came to power under James Ramsay MacDonald. The party represented socialist societies and workers' groups. While the Labour Party grew stronger, the Liberal Party declined. Many voters could see little difference between Conservatives and Liberals. They saw the Labour Party, with its socialist aims, as an alternative to the Conservative Party. The Labour Party held office only until November. It lacked a majority in the House of Commons, and needed the Liberal Party's support. The Liberals soon withdrew their support.

In the 1929 elections, the Labour Party became the largest party for the first time. MacDonald returned as prime minister. A few months later, the worldwide Great Depression began. In 1931, MacDonald formed a government of Labour, Conservative, and Liberal leaders to deal with the emergency. The government increased taxes, abandoned free trade, and cut its own spending. But the United Kingdom could not escape the effects of the Great Depression.

In the depth of the depression, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party won control of Germany. Germany began to rearm, but few leaders in the United Kingdom, or elsewhere, saw the danger.

Meantime, the United Kingdom faced an unusual problem at home. King George V died in 1936, and his oldest son became King Edward VIII. Edward wanted to marry an American divorcee, Mrs. Wallis Warfield Simpson. The government, the Church of England, and many British people objected. Edward then gave up the throne to marry "the woman I love." His brother became king as George VI.

Neville Chamberlain, a Conservative, became prime minister in 1937. Chamberlain thought he could deal with Hitler. In 1938, Hitler seized Austria and then demanded part of Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain and Premier Edouard Daladier of France flew to Munich, Germany, to confer with Hitler. They gave in to Hitler's demands after the German dictator said he would seek no more territory. Chamberlain returned to Britain and said: "I believe it is peace in our time." The people sighed in relief. But Chamberlain met sharp attacks in the House of Commons. Winston Churchill, a Conservative, called the Munich Agreement "a disaster of the first magnitude."

World War II. In March 1939, Germany seized the rest of Czechoslovakia. On September 1, Germany invaded Poland and World War II began. Two days later, the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany. In April 1940, German troops invaded Denmark and Norway. Chamberlain resigned on May 10, and Churchill became prime minister. On that same day, Germany attacked Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

Churchill told the British people he had nothing to offer but "blood, toil, tears, and sweat" to win "victory at all costs." Germany conquered France in June, and the UK stood alone against the Nazi war machine.

The United Kingdom prepared for invasion, and Churchill urged his people to make this "their finest hour." He inspired them to heights of courage, unity, and sacrifice. Hundreds of German planes bombed the UK nightly. German submarines tried to cut the UK's lifeline by torpedoing ships bringing supplies to the island country. Severe rationing limited each person's share of food, clothing, coal, and oil. The British refused to be beaten, and Hitler gave up his invasion plans.

In June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union. In December, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii, and the United States entered the war. The UK, the United States, the Soviet Union, and the other Allies finally defeated Germany and Japan in 1945. Near the end of the war, the UK helped establish the United Nations.

About 360,000 British servicemen, servicewomen, and civilians died in the war. Great sections of London and other cities had been destroyed by German bombs. The war had shattered the UK economy, and the country had piled up huge debts. The United States and the Soviet Union came out of the war as the world's most powerful nations.

The welfare state. The Labour Party won a landslide victory in 1945. The party had campaigned on a socialist programme. Clement Attlee became prime minister, and the Labour Party stayed in power until 1951. During those six years, the UK became a welfare state. The nation's social security system was expanded to provide welfare for the people "from the cradle to the grave." The Labour government also began to nationalizeindustry by putting private businesses under public control. The nationalized industries included the Bank of England, the coal mines, the iron and steel industry, the railways, and the road haulage industry.

Although the Labour government struggled to restore the economy, conditions improved little. Rationing and other wartime controls continued. The government borrowed heavily from the United States.

Decline of the empire. World War II sealed the fate of the British Empire, though the UK had begun loosening control over its empire earlier. In 1931, the UK granted independence within the empire to Australia, Canada, the Irish Free State, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and South Africa. They became the first members of the Commonwealth of Nations, an association of countries and dependencies that succeeded the empire.

After World War II, the peoples of Africa and Asia increased their demands for independence. The UK could no longer keep control of its colonies. Nevertheless Britain tried to keep international ties with its former colonies through a new organisation called the British Commonwealth of Nations. All the former colonies were invited to join it as free and equal members. Now there are 53 member states with the population of more than 1, 7 billiard people.

While the UK was breaking up its empire during the postwar years, other nations of Western Europe joined together in various organizations to unite economically and politically. The UK was reluctant to join them. Throughout history, the UK had preferred to stay out of European affairs—except to keep the balance of power in Europe. By joining the new organizations, the UK feared it might lose some of its independence, and would also be turning its back on the Commonwealth.

Most important, it did not join the European Economic Community (EEC). This association, also called the European Common Market, was set up by France and five other nations. After the EEC showed signs of succeeding, the UK set up the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) with six other nations. But it was only a mild success, and the UK later regretted its refusal to join the EEC.

George VI's health declined during 1951, and Princess Elizabeth was soon frequently standing in for him at public events. In October of that year, she toured Canada, and visited the President of the United States, Harry S. Truman, in Washington, D.C.; on the trip, the Princess carried with her a draft accession declaration for use if the King died while she was out of the United Kingdom. In early 1952, Elizabeth and Philip set out for a tour of Australia and New Zealand via Kenya. At Sagana Lodge, about 100 miles north of Nairobi, word arrived of the death of Elizabeth's father on 6 February. Philip broke the news to the new queen. Martin Charteris, then her Assistant Private Secretary, asked her what she intended to be called as monarch, to which she replied: "Elizabeth, of course." Elizabeth was proclaimed queen throughout her realms, and the royal party hastily returned to the United Kingdom. She and the Duke of Edinburgh moved into Buckingham Palace.

In the years after World War II, British foreign policy was closely allied with that of the United States. The UK joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and fought in the Korean War (1950-1953).