Modern English History Review:
Midterm
Parliament & More
House of Lords: Hereditary; donât have to be elected since the monarch appoints who is a lord.
House of Commons: Commons are elected, but they are still very wealthy and landowning themselves. Also, they had to be in the COE
Virtual Representation: The idea that everyone is represented under the House of Lords, because they will do the right thing for the people
Pocket Borough/Rotten Borough: Due to the districting not changing with the population people were essentially an MP for as long as they wanted to be. In Pocket Boroughs, it happened in small, wealthy areas where everyone would vote for you. Rotten Boroughs happened where the population had ârotted awayâ such as towns underwater or small villages
Statute Law: Anything what Parliament says is the constitution. The king stamps it into law
Charles II: Secular King
James II: A Catholic ruler, but was told that he could rule in private
Glorious Revolution: two factions started because of the religious strife. The army eventually dispersed, and James the II escapedâthey let him as they donât want a catholic ruler. This starts the whole Jacobite drama
William and Mary: The protestant co-rulers who come in after James II is disposed of. Parliament reasserts its control.
Revolutionary Settlement: Signing of the Bill of Rights, and the Army Bill, where Parliament is responsible for the army where the King used to be the one asserting that
Act of Toleration: Part of the Revolutionary Settlement. COE still exists but it is no longer a crime to be a dissenter (like a puritan) but Catholics are still barred
Whigs and Tories: First two modern political parties. Whigs are more liberal while Tories are more conservative.
Jacobites: Those who wanted James II as the leader along with his son. Lots of them in Ireland and Scotland, since James was Scottish and he was also Catholic (Lots in Ireland)
The Age of Walpole & Transition of Government
Patronage: Supporting people with money to do things, and youâre supposed to be reflected well as the patron. The patronage system bleeds into the government and voting
Handel: Was a composer from Hannover so he left for England after Queen Anne liked his music.
Queen Anne: Didnât have any Kids so Parliament had to decide the next heirs. James and his younger brother are out of course.
George I: Becomes Queen after Anne. However, he doesnât speak English and heâs not exactly the greatest guy (had two mistresses) So parliament exerts more control now â
Salutary Neglect: Britain isnât really watching, so Americans can do whatever
Old â15: A rebellion where over 10k rise up; they do not like George I. They secretly collect taxes for James the younger. The Battle of Glenshiel was the climactic battle. Eventually died off.
Riot Act: A win for speech as it explicitly states that you can form an assembly. Thereâs just a limit to it and the government can decide what itâs turned into a riot.
Cabinet: The group of people who decides this, with the PM leading this
South Sea Bubble: Scheme for trading slaves with Spain and a bunch of people invested in this. However, the people purposely werenât doing anything with the money, just cashing it in for themselves. To legitimize themselves they paid money that other people had invested to other investors. It was a whole mess in Parlimament as many MPs said it was a good idea, and some people knew it was a scam but still continued to invest for some cash.
Walpole: comes out clean from the South Sea Bubble drama. He figures out the scam early on, finding a fall-guy to take the blame. Personality: Loved the patronage system; was essentially bribery as Walpole would be the patron and would bribe other MPs to do his bidding. He was also very pro-business, such as trying to crush piracy.
Prime Minister: the leader of the majority party in Parliament. Can be ousted with a vote of no confidence.. add extra information. Maybe about the changing nature of this role?
William Pitt: The rival of Walpole. Came from a wealthy family so he needed nothing from Walpole. Pitt also had his own system of âclientsâ
Scottish Problems & Solutions
Act of Toleration: Allowed protestants who werenât in the COE in worship publicly, excluding Catholics
Ulster: This is the place where Scots beings moving to, as both England and the Scots are fighting for dominance
Battle of the Boyne: A battle between the Catholics and Protestants. It was fought between James II and William III, (William and Mary) with William winning.
Massacre of Glencoe: After the Jacobite War (So after the Battle of Boyne) the Scottish leaders needed to swear loyalty to the King. However, after some delays, the King sent an army targeting the Glencoe clan, killing around 30 people
Act of Union: Officially combined both England and Scotland
Act of Settlement: Since William and Mary werenât having kids, Anne would step in so that only her and only protestants could rule
Lloyds: This was a cafe/coffee house where powerful people could meet, so lots of investing talk and important decisions were discussed here
John Wesley & Lacking British Society
Bloodsports: Any sort of entertainment that involved the shedding of blood. For example, chicken-fighting was a popular past time where people would gamble lots of money. This was a part of the social underworld that existed along with drinking lots of gin.
John Wesley: English preacher who developed Methodism. He didnât like how the Church operated at the time. For example, rich people would get their own pews. His revival movement within the Church, Methodism, preaching salvation coming from the heart,
Methodism: Focused on social actions; were also labeled do-gooders based on their actions. Wesley was banned from official churches because of his specific method of preaching which Methodists adopted
Charles Wesley: Brother of John Wesley, he eventually caught on to his brotherâs ideas and wrote lots of poems/songs
Scotland, 2nd 100 Years War, & Pitt
War of Jenkinsâ Ear: Another War of fighting the French. Since the PM is still an unofficial role along with the booting system, the dynamic will be cemented into law. Of course, there were exceptions to votes of confidence for stuff that didnât matter, (consensus votes) but usually pieces of legislation like the budget were votes of confidences. Walpole agrees to the war but itâs a disaster, and now the opposition to him is gaining power
Charles Edward Stuart: Another battle is happening during this war involving Stuart. He was the new pretender who fought in Scotland. Also known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, as people loved him. Him and his group conquered Scotland and marched toward London, but since there werenât many Jacobites there the whole thing collapsed and the British Army chased them all the way up to Northern Scotland. As a result, England banned the wearing of Tartans and other Scottish cultural practices.
Seven Yearsâ War: Also known as the French and Indian War. At first, it was going terrible for Britain until Pitt came up with the idea of spending lavish amount of money on the war, even if they didnât have it. When itâs over in 1763, taxes are raised to help gain money.
John Wilkes: Anti-King speaker, did not like how much power George III was trying to consolidate power with things like the Kingâs Friends.
General Warrant: George gave a warrant to the ministers to search through the officers of Wilkesâ newspaper company
N. Brition: The Newspaper company. Wilkes hired people to transcribe the words of MPs for transparency
Porphyria: Affected the Judgement of King George III (perhaps)
đ Industrial Revolution
Bridgewaterâs Folly: He wanted to make coal shipments faster by making a canal, especially with all of the money and unlimited debt opportunities (investments) with the Bank of England. A lot of people thought it was stupid but it made tons of money. This was a spark.
Open Field Farming: Farmers paid rent but land was all over the place; it wasnât contiguous. Planting is decided communally in order to reduce double panting and achieve efficiency. This conservative way of planting caused stride when people were inventing new things.
Copyhold: The lands that farmers leased were usually passed down, and this document was your proof that this land was yours. Inheritance got tricky and farmers had many kids.
Putting-out system: A chain of making stuff. A merchant was a contractor and hired out people to do the spinning, for example, by also hiring people to bring them wool. However, thereâs too many people involved and the supplies canât keep up due to a lack of streamlining.
Jethro Tull: Invented new agricultural machines, such as The Seed Drill and Horse-Hoe
Charles Townsend: asked people to put certain crops in the ground but was met with skepticism from conservative planters.
Enclosure: Extra land was enclosed and sold by Parliament, and Townsend had his land sold back to him. As a result, the resulted in leases being changed and land being more centralized and contiguous. This results in a lot of people becoming jobless and sucked into the new, industrial cities.
Highland Clearances: Similar to Enclosure, but happening in Scotland.
Richard Arkwright: Invented the Water Frame, which made cloth-making and textiles easier to produce. It was an improvement to the Spinning Jenny. It produced thread automatically from cotton.
Industrial Revolution continues & Slavery
Invention Cluster: No such things as a single inventions, but rather clusters of them that are tied together. A single invention doesnât do anything by itself because they build off one another.
Reverse Salient: The thing that sticks in, or whatever is slowing you down and preventing growth. As a result, chain reactions inventions start along with the development of many different fields of learning.
Henry Cortâs Puddling: Made purer metal that could handle better for the steam engine. The steam Engine also helped spur things along developmentally wise.
Somerset Case: A slave was being forced off into the New World as his master was trying to sell him there. Abolitionists reported it saying that he was taken against his will and it was taken to trial. Abolitionists knew they had to target slavery first
William Blackstone: The judge over the Somerset case. He was a straight arrow, and ruled that nothing said that a slave could be kidnapped and slavery went against the bill of rights. As a result, slavery was banned in England without fanfareâunlike America.
American Revolution & Changes
Wealth of Nations: Written by Adam Smith, this book talked about supply, demand, and free trade. Essentially, it highlighted how the government was too involved with resulting in the American Revolution.
Charles James Fox: Pushed for liberty and giving votes to more people. He said that it was the governmentâs fault for the war as they were being taxed without representation.
Edmund Burke: An opponent of Fox; a conservative who believed Fox was making things worse. Tories were becoming more conservative at this point as well, as it used to just be if your favor Parliament or the King. Now, itâs more policy based
Reflections on Revolution in France: Burke does not like letting revolutions happen, so the one in France was also a bad idea. To him, the American Revolution occurred because we changed the rules too fast. The fact that both sides are saying that itâs our fault points the blame at the King. George wanted to maintain more royal power and couldnât accept that revolutionary settlement.
William Pitt the Younger: Was one of the only ones untainted from the mess of the American war, so he ended up as PM at only 24. The song outshined Pitt the Elder, as he helped reconstruct the power dynamics a basically reduce the king into a shadow. He was a moderate but tended to lean liberal. He was in favor of abolition but also loved Adam Smithâs ideas.
Napoleonic Wars & War in Ireland
William Wilberforce: Political sidekick of William Pitt the younger who was interested in social reforms and his alliance with Methodists since he was quite religious. He went full on board with wanting to get rid of the slave trade and helped developed an early grassroots program to abolish slavery in Europe
Press Gangs: Groups of people who captured guys, kidnapping them and forcing them into the Navy during the Napoleonic wars. There was no way for these sailors to escape since they were always at sea
Blockade: Surrounding land with lots of ships to prevent your enemy from escaping out to either invade, communicate, or conduct trade. The British did this to try and shut down French activity but this became harder as the French Empire expanded so Pree Gangs became more popular as an easy means of gaining labor to man ships.
Spithead Mutiny: One of the famous mutnities that occured in 1797 from people who were press-ganged. It took a lot of negotiation and punishment to fix this, especially since Britainâs own sailors were going against them.
Battle of the Nile: Considered a turning point in the war. Napoleon attacked Egypt to try and surprise the British and have a means of getting out to expand their empire via the Red Sea (they would have access to Asia)
Horatio Nelson: He was the British Admiral in the Mediterranean at the time of the Battle of the Nile. He wedged between French ships (on both sidesâbecause only so many people can man the guns) in the Nile River. Since both sides can be properly covered, he destroyed the French opportunity for exiting via the Red Sea
Wolf Tone: He was a leader who reorganized the jacobites into the United Irishmen and negotiated with the French to attack Britain from Ireland. However, the winds did not work in favor for the French and they were blown back to sea and it was too late, as the British eventually found them out. Cornwallis took advantage of the decentralized Irish Command but even after he defeated them it was too late, as he lost control of the army
Catholic Emancipation: Pitt the Younger negotiated with the Irish leaders, saying that he would give representatives in Parliament for them along with Catholic Emancipation of discrimination laws that had previously been established. However, the Catholic Emancipation portion of the bill failed and since it was a vote of confidence Pitt was no longer the PM
Battle of Trafalgar: Napoleon wanted to invade England with the help of Spain, so he tried to break their blockade but Nelson caught them at Fort Gibraltar. The result is that the French and Spanish navies are decimated, allowed Britain to dominate Navally
French Fighting Ends, Waterloo, & Reforms
Anthony Ashley-Cooper: Wilberforceâs sidekick, so a do-gooder who wanted change. He was the heir to the Do- Gooder movement
Utilitarians: Looking at things by what will create the biggest help, so everything is a cost-benefit analysis on how many people are hurt/helped by something
Jeremy Bentham: He founded the Utilitarian school of thought and even donated his body for science to produce the maximum amount of efficiency for society
Edwin Chadwick: Benthamâs sidekick, and he really cared about the environment and a good environment helps people
Romanticism: Made up of Authors, Poets, Painters, etc. Loved nature and deep feeling, so something like slavery gives them agony and the Industrial Revolution would make the country ugly
Peninsular War: The British tried to help push back Napoleon army but was pushed out of Spain into Portugal. In 1808, Napoleon wanted Portugal and responded to the British blockade with one of his own, preventing Britain from reaching the continent
Lines of Torres Vedras: These were the forts and defensive lines that the British had built in Portugal, going head to head with France and not giving them Portugal, which was what Napoleon wanted
Arthur Wellesley (Lord Wellington): He was the one that ran the lines, and was successfully able to drive the French back. Soon, other countries joined in and began to crush the French, especially at Waterloo when Napoleon returned
Congress of Vienna: Decided what happened after the war and the trading of land that went along with that
Robert Stewart (Lord Castlereagh): He was an ambassador for Britain at the Congress, and had the idea of a 2 power rule (Britain must be the most powerful Navy, better than the next two combined) along with making more countries neutral and having a balance power powers.(not letting states get too strong)
Riot, Reform, & Conservatives
Lord Liverpool: A conservative PM trying to maintain the current ways, especially after the war. But he needed money so he enacted the Corn Laws
Corn Laws: Protective tariffs on incoming food, so tax dependent on how cheap the food coming in was to make it more expensive. Now, prices are all up and people already donât make a lot of money. This also highlights how regular people are not getting representation to fix this because of the current system of Rotten and Pocket boroughs.
Luddites: People who despised the new technology, so the burned factories and even sniped owners. It even got to the point where 11,000 people were sent in just to fight these guys
Peterloo: Started when a reformer, Henry Hunt, began an assembly orating the changes that needed to be made. They tried to arrest him and this just led to chaos
Daniel OâConnell: He was an Irish Politician and Catholic who pushed for Catholic emancipation. He put his name forward for Parliament (There wasnât a rule that he couldnât run, just that he couldnât hold a seat because you had to swear an oath to the Church of England) and of course was elected. He walked into London at the dumbfoundment of Lord Wellington (Now PM) and Robert Peel (His sidekick) and passed the Roman Catholic Emancipation Act
Robert Peel: He helped created a police force (Less armed than soldiers) to help deal with all the violence
Early Grey: He helped to United the 3 different reform movements so that they could work together and get the change that they wanted. A reform bill is desperately needed because Riots in Britain are occurring
Great Reform Bill: Grey told the king to force the Lords to pass a bill to fix all of these problems, passing this bill. It took away rotten Boroughs and allowed better representation in growing places like Manchester, and also opened the door for more reform
Factory Act: After the growing amount of child labor that was very unethical for a variety of reasons, Parliament passed the Factory Act, which did not allow children under 10 to work and also gave children over more time off
Final
Peak of Power, Victorian Era, & Party Confusion
The Irish Famine resulted in a mass exodus of people away from the area, anger at the government, and religious strife between the North and South
Lord Palmerston: Turned his attention outward instead of focusing on the drama, which was that the Tories were split on Corn Laws and both parties were split on the idea of Free Trade vs. No Free Trade. He wanted to expand the empire, liking the balance of power to keep others from getting too strong
William Gladstone: Was the leader of the new Liberal party created in the split. He was very religious, and he drew in to other reform groups to get supporters. Also very dull compared to his Conservative counterpart.
Benjamin Disraeli: Was the leader of the new Conservative party created in the split. He was very charming, and Victoria liked him a lot (Declared her the Empress of India)
Liberals: Believed in Peace, Entrenchment (Stinginess), Reform, and Free Trade. Liberals dominated because they gave people the votes. Still, it would flip back and forth between parties.
Conservatives: Believed in the ability to Preserve things, and wanted Reform via virtual representation.
Reform Bill of 1867: Anyone with property can vote, and the army becomes merit-based along with civil service. Disraeli passed this because of a dispute causing Gladstone to get booted, so the former had to deal with Liberals.
Forster Education Act: Government-created school that mandated children attend them, so it help to rid of child labor.
Public School: A hyper-rich school, typically boarding schools like Eton.
Divorce Act of 1870: To get a divorce, one used to need an act of parliament to carry it out. Now itâs for courts to decide. Itâs still very tricky for women to get divorced as there wasnât any no-fault divorce. Also, the woman had to prove some sort of wrong had been committed (abuse, or adultery, for ex.), but a bit easier now to gain one.
Married Womenâs Property Acts: Helped women as well gain more rights, or at least laid the foundations for them as they had they right to own land in their name instead of it being controlled by their husband
Wore bustles and tight-fitting corsets. They also went overboard with respectability due to the reigning social class at the time. This was completely different than the 1960s that brought Mod culture and relaxed moral norms.
Charles Stewart Parnell: Revived the Irish problems and wanted reform as a Protestant. He Created the Irish Home Rule Party which wanted Fixity of Tenure (canât evict on a whim), Free Sale (whatâs that), and wants power invested to Ireland to make local decisions in order to empower them.
As no one had a majority party in 1885, they went to the Irish for help. This forced them to consider Home Rule. However, Liberals were split on the issue and people found out he was having an affair with a married woman (A lot of catholics did not appreciate this)
Changes, War on Horizon, Issues Created
Independent Labour Party: This party springs up as working class men gain the vote. They are interested in socialism but not heavily aligned with Marxism. People realise that politics can help you gain reforms, but you must build up steam in order to do this.
We also start to see a realignment with society. Morals become a hollow shell where people are more posterizing rather than actually embodying âproperâ behavior. There used to be lots of serious Methodists, Do-gooders, Moralistic Royals, but now a lot of people do not actually subscribe to any of that. (Edward VII, for ex) This change in behavior will continue to stretch on, shifting to a more bleak outlook post WW1 and then to more liberal attitudes on behavior in the latter half of the century.
James Keir Hardie: Dressed as a coal-worked to show what party (ILP) he belonged to. These types of people just want rights and will eventually eclipse the liberals. Also, they understand now that instead of strikes/protests that can just vote one of their own into Parliament.
Arthur James Balfour: A Conservative who realised Britain was starting to decline. Realised several issues: Germany was building up her own fleet and America also has her own fleet, along with trying to manage an alliance with Japan who is also gaining power. He wants there to be a maintenance of the two-power rule.
Dreadnought: The type of ship that Balfour invested in. They were bigger ships.
Entente: At this time, Britain is getting closer with France. They start to share patrols. This period is marked by both Germany and Britain militarizing without war and starting allying themselves with other states.
Henry David Asquith: A liberal who is now Prime Minister. His fun fact is that everyone love his wife, Margo, but since she couldnât become PM (gender disparities at the timeâcanât vote or run) she had to marry someone with those aspirations so that she could run the show behind the scenes.
David Lloyd George: Also a radical who wanted to give people the ability to picket, and give old people pensions.
Death Duties: Were the estate taxes that would help fund the government. This was not popular with the elite who owned a lot of assets.
Peopleâs Budget of 1909: This was also not popular with the elite as this budget included the introduction of death duties. However, since no one has a majority, the Irish will have to be the tie-breaker. As a result, someone will have to give them Home Rule?
WW1 Buildup That Boils Over
The newly crowned King George agreed to work with the Iris in order to pass death duties and get them Home Rule. The House of Lords vetoes this (which had never happened before, but no written rule) but George makes a list of 500 potential liberals to move to the House of Lords, so they caved in.
Parliament Act: This is something that the Liberals want to pass. They want two things: 5 year terms, and 3 sessions of passing the same law that it will eventually bypass the House of Lords (except the budget.) This passage of this act gets paused because of the war.
Curragh Mutiny: This happens in the summer of 1914 where British soldiers werenât going to attack loyal ulstermen.
Irish try to get Home Rule in 1912, 1913, but in 1914 the War starts.
Syndicalism: A new thought process, where power comes from the bottom up with different syndicates ruling. The Parliament Act helps labor unions bolster this idea.
General Strike: A Large strike across multiple different industries to disrupt the economy. Labor Unions start to do this during this time.
Suffragettes: A specific group of women who want the right to vote. For example, the carried slingshots to destroy things, chained themselves to placed like William Pitt, and set houses on fire. They blamed the liberal government who refused to do anything.
Emmeline Pankhurst: Founded the movement. She realized that the approach was through violence and riots to get what you want
Cat and Mouse Act: A woman on a hunger strike was released so that they wouldnât have to force feed her, but she was imprisoned over and over again. Again, the liberals fail to do anything.
In the meantime, Germany started invading Belgium (which is a problem, as they arenât supposed to have access to the channel because Belgium is a buffer state.) However, they decide itâs easier to go to war than deal with all of these internal problems so they went to Belgium (and they were expected too, anyway.)
Also, Trench warfare starts and they have to utilize America. It continues to get worse as they run out of ammunition and need more soldiers. As a result, the liberal government forces people to do jobs for the war, even those they are supposed to be the party of liberty and reform. This shows that there was always a limit to the freedom people have in Britain that circumnavigated the expressive feelings at the time in order to accomplish an foreign goal.
Easter Rising: Irish taking over the British post and clearing that they were now the Republic of Ireland.
Sinn Fein: âOurselves alone,â which was the new name for the Irish Republicans
Eamon de Valera: The British didnât kill him because he was an American Citizen. Later, he becomes the first Irish president of the free Ireland.
The Somme: The deadliest point in WW1, on the first day, 20k British soldiers were killed during this offensive. It was a turning point in the war because the Germans also lost a lot of people, though not as much as the British. The goal was to take over the German trenches. h7v
Interwar Period & Changes
Unemployment was up to 22% in 1921, and this era was known as The Slump. Britain felt powerlessâthey loaned money to Russia but didnât get that back due to the revolution over there. Also, the U.S. wouldnât help their unemployment problem. People stopped listening the the Liberals with their own personal loss of power; Labor outflanks them.
The Dole: Government-provided benefits. Someone living on the Dole is provided for by the government.
The Lost Generation: Were the young people who were alive during the Great War, who saw all of the people killed and the despair that surrounded this.
Virginia Woolf: A writer that encapsulated the spirit of the Lost Generation
Mrs. Dalloway: A book by Woolf that switched between two characters and it told via stream of consciousness
There is also a rise in the interest of psychiatry and a general recalibration of life. People started mountain climbing, eating live goldfish, squishing into telephone booths or pole-sitting to gain back the freedom and control that they lost previously. People will express themselves in wacky ways to gain back a semblance of control even when times are bad.
Stanley Baldwin: A conservative who was all for austerity, or cutting. He was the one who got on the radio (another new technology) who wanted to negotiate and shut it down.
Ramsay MacDonald: Was a labour politician, who was an illegitimate son of a maid. A group of hardcore liberals wanted a general strike, so in 1926 coal miners and others went on strike because they wanted the government to control their industries.
Depression, Appeasement, & Journey to WW2
National Government: Ramsay declares this as he has had no other choice to make cuts to the government as a result of the run on the pound. Even though Labour wants a redistribution of wealth, this was difficult due to the economic pressures on everyone. This pulled together a majority to pass bills, but it wasnât well received as people thought it was a betrayal of the electorate and had concerns of a 1-party state as they joined with conservatives.
Means Test: In order to efficiently decide how much money to give people who are unemployed, they develop a complicated system to determine how much money they would give you. However, they would not give you money if you already had it in the bank. People didnât like this because it was an inasion of privacy and it kept them dependent on the government.
Neville Chamberlain: Was the PM eventually, and Churchill was constantly a thorn at his side. He thought the axis-powers were just all talk. He established the idea of Appeasement.
Appeasement: Keeping Nazi-Germany at bay through several means that later proved to be a mistake and contributed to the cause of WW2. The logic: calm them down and eventually the people would vote against the Nazis overtime. It started in 1933, when Hitler said that Germany was no longer going to pay reparations and Chamberlain just let it go. Also, they had secret talks about letting them build up their Navy (a huge win for Hitler.)
Munich Conference: Chamberlain had talks with Hitler because he didnât want them taking the Sudetenland. On the plan there, he realized how easy it would be for Germany to bomb England with planes, so he had them promise they wouldnât invade anything else.
Battle of Dunkirk: The Germans sent paratroopers to cross the Maginot lines (underground bunkers of the british) and trapped the British army. They had to all be rescued. Churchill spinned it as a victory on the radio
Battle of Britiain: Germany also begins to bomb Britain to destroy their airfields so they can make their way onto the island with their now built-up navy.
Peak of WW2 & Societal Effects
The Blitz: Britain decides to go on the offense by dropping bombs on Berlin. While Germany had better planes, Britain had Radar and children to help identify planes. Also, they have bombers that they needed to utilize. Germany retaliates by doing the same thing, so now civilians are free game.
The government is very much involved because thereâs not much choice: total war beings and people donât want to die. 70% of manufacturing is government controlled.
Battle of El Alamein: A turning point in the war, taking place in North Africa
Germany made the mistake of invading Russia and Japan made the mistake of bombing Pearl Harbor. However, Britain is struggling (losing Pacific fortifications because Australian troops are in Britain) and they only have so many men helping them. America has to help them.
Bernard Montgomery: A British general who helped win the battle of El Alamein
Beveridge Report: A report on post-war transition. It found that there should be government benefits, money to have children, and a more planned economy. This was widely popular at the timer and people took it as a problem. The level of government control depends on what the people want and how they execute it also matters.
Clement Attlee: An election was called in 1945 but Churchill lost. Labour Clement Attlee won with the Beveridge Report agenda
National Insurance Act: Acts as a safety net for people (Pensions, Unemployment, Maternity benefits)
National Health Service: The health system is also taken over by the government, providing free health care.
Nationalization: This is taking over different industries under the government. It also includes services such as coal miners, transportation, and the bank of England.
New Place In The World Post WW2 & The Troubles
The Empire was facing a decline at this point. The spread of communism was contributing to people wanting to leave the influence of Britain even if they didnât subscribe to the views (The Malayan Emergency, for example). Slowly, the empire let go od lands as they could not longer support them post-war.
Parliament Act of 1949: Shortened the House of Lordsâ rejection ability from three sessions to two sessions
HMT Empire Windrush: This was a ship coming from the Caribbean holding people who immigrated to Britain. These people still had British passports, but not for much longer due to the empire slowing down.
European Economic Community: Britain practically had no other choice but to join this. However, at first they were rejected when they tried to join in 1963.
Harold Macmillan: Became the conservative PM after Churchill. When he saw the British Boom declining he had no other choice but to ask to join it in 1961. It was tricky to join, however, because it required them to change immigration policies and switch the the metric system.
The Beatles: British Band that dominated culturally and help show the world that Britain still had influence culturally if not politically. Their era was marked by Mod Culture and a relaxation of moral standards (homosexuality became legalized along with abortion)
Provisional IRA: Republican Paramilitary responsible for a lot of deaths. They helped facilitate order in Northern Ireland during the troubles and fought extensively against Protestant loyalists through riots.
John Major: Was the PM post-Thatcher. He helped facilitate agreements by signing the Downing Street Declaration
Downing Street Declaration: Was a document hoping to have a negotiation with Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, both of which were considered terrorists and were brought in to talk.
Gerry Adams: Irish Republican leader of Sinn Fein brought in to talk
Ian Paisley: Irish Unionist Politician. He instigated the Troubles happening by retaliating against Catholic Civil Rights movements.
Good Friday Agreement: Outlined a power-sharing government in Northern Ireland between Catholics and Protestants.
Power-Sharing government: The IRA had to decommission but the prisoners in H-Blocks were released. Both groups would be represented in their government and the people would be allowed to decide if they want independence or not.
Thatcher, Stabilisation, & Recent Britiain
Margaret Thatcher: Eventually became PM, which was big news for a woman to be elected even though she was a conservative. She was the daughter of a grocer who was interested in a free-market for the middle class; a capitalist.
Privatisation: Allowing industries to be privately held and not owned by the government. Thatcher advocated for this and was able to successfully to this to airlines and railroads. However, this was widely unpopular as it cut a ton of jobs (11% unemployment in 1981)
Falkland Islands War: These were tiny islands off of Argentina, and they said they had a claim to it. 2,00 people lived there raising wool (who were British and 97% of them wanted to remain in British Control.) When Argentina took the island, it resulted in a massive victory for Britain and Thatcher.
New Labour: This is what the Labour party was reorganized under. It became more center-left and away from extremism to try and appeal to more people
Tony Blair: A Labour politician who was responsible for reorganizing the Labour party.
Devolution: This idea was spearheaded by Blair. It devolved power onto local areas, being a massive success in Scotland along with other British States who got their own parliaments.
Scottish Nationalist Party: This political party wants independence for Scotland, like Sinn Fein
House of Lords Acts 1999: Anybody in the House of Lords will not have inherited seat except 92 of them, and the rest will be a sort of advisory board , and all of them just make comments now
Supreme Court: The House of Lords acted as a Supreme Court until 2006, when an official one was created.
7-7 Attacks: A terrorist attack happening in 2005 of planned bombings that killed 52 people.
Reform Party: A newer party made of up Nationalists who want a bigger military, Britain to take a larger role, and to decrease immigration. A projection for the general election has them winning a majority of seats, so their popularity is rising.
Brexit: A rise in nationalism results in people wanted to leave the European Union to take âbackâ Britain. This was a close vote, and 51% agreed to leave.
Five Factors That Changed Britainâs Role:
Britain began to draw back their military Post-Cold War. Their position is based on their allies and NATO.
Devolution gives power to local people instead of all be invested in one Parliament
The Nobilityâs lack of power is cemented with the House of Lords Act, as most seats can no longer be inherited
The Face of Britain changes, becoming more of a nation of immigrants. For example, leaders of the countries have been POC recently.
Brexit and the Reform Party show the growing backlash of immigration and modern changes of Britain