British Cultural, Social & Political History (18th–20th c.)

65 question-and-answer flashcards covering key transitions from Neoclassicism to Romanticism, the Industrial and Agricultural revolutions, Victorian society, political reforms, and Britain’s role in world wars.

At the start of the 18th century, what qualities were most valued in art and thought?

Reason, science, imitation of reality, aristocratic patronage and taste.

By the end of the 18th century, which new values dominated artistic expression?

Feeling, imagination, art as self-expression, and bourgeois market values (Romanticism).

What metaphor did neoclassicists use for art, and what did it imply?

A mirror—art should accurately imitate universal human nature and external reality.

What metaphor did Romantics adopt for art, and what did it imply?

A lamp—art should shine outward from the artist’s inner emotions and imagination.

Which new urban venue became a meeting place for the middle class during the 18th century consumer revolution?

Coffee houses.

Who compiled the first major Dictionary of the English Language and became Britain’s ‘cultural journalist’?

Dr Samuel Johnson.

Which 18th-century painter produced satirical pictorial sequences about the corrupting power of money?

William Hogarth.

David Hume argued that the basis of morals is not reason but what human faculty?

Sentiment (emotion) and sympathy.

What literary movement emphasized individual psychology, emotions, love, family life and nature?

Sentimentalism.

List two typical features of epic/chivalric romance that the novel rejected.

Mythic or medieval settings; kings, knights, and quests in high-style poetry.

What new prose form focused on ordinary people, realistic plots, and bourgeois values?

The novel.

How does a ‘culture of honour’ differ from a ‘culture of dignity’?

Honour is relational and hierarchical; dignity is individualistic, egalitarian and inner-directed.

Which novel by Samuel Richardson is considered the first English psychological novel?

Pamela.

Name two influences on the rise of the 18th-century English novel.

Puritan spiritual autobiography and John Locke’s idea of personal identity through experience.

Who founded Methodism and led the evangelical revival stressing personal piety and charity?

John Wesley.

Which artist is famous for idyllic pastoral portraits and love of nature in the late 18th century?

Thomas Gainsborough.

Who designed naturalistic English landscape gardens and earned the nickname “Capability”?

Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown.

What 1765 collection by Thomas Percy helped spark interest in folk poetry?

Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.

Give three defining elements of the traditional folk ballad.

Collective authorship, medieval origins with supernatural or violent events, mixed narrative/lyric/dramatic form.

Which Gothic novel by Horace Walpole launched the genre?

The Castle of Otranto.

What 1790 treatise by Edmund Burke distinguished the sublime from the beautiful?

A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful.

According to Romantic aesthetics, what feelings do sublime landscapes evoke?

Awe, terror, and delight at nature’s vast power.

Name four recurring interests of Romanticism.

Wilderness and the sublime, dreams and transgression, national past/folk lore, personal emotional experience.

What key change did the Agricultural Revolution’s enclosures bring to rural populations?

Loss of common land leading to dispossession and migration to cities.

Which invention by James Hargreaves revolutionised cotton spinning?

The Spinning Jenny.

Why did the north of England industrialise faster than the south?

Access to coal, iron and water power suitable for factories.

How did Britain’s attitude toward the French Revolution change after the Reign of Terror?

From initial sympathy and reform hopes to fear, repression and conservative backlash.

What utopian community plan did Coleridge and Southey briefly entertain in 1794?

Pantisocracy in America.

In ‘Reflections on the Revolution in France’, what did Burke warn against?

Radical destruction of tradition, social hierarchy and inherited institutions leading to mob rule.

Which 18th-century radical wrote ‘Rights of Man’ advocating republicanism and social reforms?

Thomas Paine.

Mary Wollstonecraft’s ‘Vindication of the Rights of Woman’ argued women were what?

Rational beings deserving education, professions and political rights.

What 1801 act formally joined Ireland to Great Britain?

The Act of Union.

Which naval hero won the Battle of Trafalgar (1805)?

Admiral Horatio Nelson.

What 1815 land battle ended Napoleon’s ambitions?

The Battle of Waterloo, won by Duke of Wellington.

What unpopular grain tariff protected landowners after 1815?

The Corn Laws.

Who were the Luddites?

Workers who smashed machinery they believed threatened their jobs.

What 1819 massacre of reform demonstrators became known as ‘Peterloo’?

Troops charged a political rally at St Peter’s Field, Manchester, echoing Waterloo.

List four traits of the Byronic hero.

Alienated, passionate, rebellious, often in exile and a dark romantic lover.

Which Scottish author pioneered the historical novel with works like ‘Waverley’?

Sir Walter Scott.

Jeremy Bentham’s utilitarianism is summed up by which principle?

“The greatest happiness of the greatest number.”

Which 1807 act and 1833 act are associated with William Wilberforce?

Slave Trade Act (1807) and Slavery Abolition Act (1833).

What 1832 legislation began the Victorian parliamentary reform era?

The First Reform Act.

What term did Thomas Carlyle use to criticise industrial capitalism’s reduction of human relations to cash?

Cash nexus (in ‘Past and Present’).

Name three core values of the Victorian middle class influenced by Evangelicalism and utilitarianism.

Hard work, respectability, and individual self-reliance.

John Stuart Mill feared what danger in mass democracy?

The ‘tyranny of public opinion’ over individual liberty.

What was the main purpose of elite 19th-century English public schools like Rugby or Harrow?

To train Christian gentlemen and future imperial leaders, emphasising character and sportsmanship.

Give two common criticisms of Victorian public schools.

Social exclusivity and anti-intellectualism (hindering technological innovation).

What reform movement’s ‘People’s Charter’ demanded universal male suffrage and secret ballots?

The Chartist Movement.

What economic model do cooperatives follow?

Businesses owned and democratically run by members, sharing profits.

Which two main parties emerged in late Victorian politics and what core idea distinguished each?

Conservatives (tradition & social cohesion) vs Liberals (individualism & free trade).

Who became the first working-class Member of Parliament and later led Labour?

James Keir Hardie.

Charles Darwin’s theory challenged the Bible by proposing what mechanism of change?

Natural selection without divine intent.

Define ‘Social Darwinism’.

The application of Darwin’s ideas to justify racial, colonial or class hierarchies as ‘survival of the fittest’.

According to Karl Marx, history is driven primarily by what?

Class struggle stemming from economic relations of production.

What was the Fabian Society’s strategy for socialism?

Gradual evolution through research, education and policy (no violent revolution).

Name two key Liberal social reforms of 1906-11.

Old-age pensions and National Insurance (health/unemployment).

What 1911 act curtailed the veto power of the House of Lords?

The Parliament Act.

Which suffragette became a martyr by stepping in front of the King’s horse in 1913?

Emily Davison.

When did British women gain full voting equality with men?

1928.

How many British military deaths occurred in World War I?

About 885,000.

What 1921 treaty created the Irish Free State while keeping Ulster in the UK?

The Anglo-Irish Treaty.

Why was Dunkirk presented as a ‘victory’ despite being an evacuation?

Churchill framed it as triumph of courage and national resolve at a dark hour.

Give one major social legacy of WWI for Britain.

Expansion of state welfare, housing and health initiatives; women’s societal roles increased.

What 1948 institution guaranteed free healthcare for all UK citizens?

The National Health Service (NHS).

Which post-war act provided financial aid to unemployed, elderly and sick citizens?

The National Assistance Act (1948).

What global change accelerated the ‘loss of empire’ for Britain after WWII?

Commitment to guide colonies to self-government amid rising nationalist movements.