Реферат: История Великобритании
The final victory over Napoleon after
his defeat at Waterloo in 1815 laid the foundations for a great extension of
the British Empire. As one of the members of anti-Napoleonic coalition, Britain
got a number of strategic key points, such as Malta, Mauritius, Ceylon,
Heligoland and the Cape. Yet the first result of the peace was a severe
political and economic crisis.
The British had assumed that the
ending of war would open a vast market for their goods and had piled up stocks
accordingly. Instead, there was an immediate fall in the demand for them
because Europe was still too disturbed and too poor to take any significant
quantity of British good. This post-war crisis was marked by a sudden outburst
of class conflict, as a series of disturbances began with the introduction of
the Corn Bill in 1815 and went on until 1816. The object of the Corn Laws of
1815 was to keep the price of wheat at the famine level it had reached during
the Napoleonic Wars, when supplies from Poland and France were prevented from
reaching Britain. The Corn Laws were repealed in 1846, a small, temporary
tariff being retained till 1849. Still, there was no fall in prices, what could
be explained by a number of reasons: increasing population of Britain, greater
demand due to the revival of industry, bad harvests in a number of years and
the Crimean War which soon interrupted the import of wheat from Poland.
Another act of law that became the
result of the economic crisis was the Reform Bill of 1832, which had two sides.
One regularised the franchise, giving the vote to tenant farmers in the
counties and to the town middle class. Another swept away the rotten boroughs
and transferred their members to the industrial towns and the counties.
In the first half of the nineteenth
century a protest organisation called the Chartist Movement gained power. The
Chartist Movement urged the immediate adoption of the so-called People’s
Charter, which would have transformed Britain into a political democracy, and
also was expected to improve living standards. Drafted in 1838, it was at the
heart of a radical campaign for Parliamentary reform of the inequities
remaining after the Reform Bill of 1832. Some of the main demands were
universal male suffrage, equal electoral districts, annual general elections
and the secret ballot. There were three unsuccessful attempts to present the Charter
to the House of Commons were made in 1839, 1842 and 1848, and the rejection of
the last one brought an end to the movement.
The years between 1829 and 1839 were
the time of foundation of the modern police force in Great Britain. This development
became the direct result of the upsurge of a militant working class movement in
the first decades of the nineteenth century. The Chartist Movement with its
demonstrations and riots played the major role in initiation of the
reorganisation of the police. One more reason for it were the multiple problems
of factory workers.
By the beginning of the nineteenth
century, Britain had become an industrial nation. In the earliest stages of the
Industrial Revolution, when machinery was crude and unreliable, factory owners
were determined to get the fullest possible use out of this machinery in the
shortest possible time. Hours of work rose to sixteen and even eighteen a day,
and in this way the greatest output could be obtained with the least outlay of
capital. The terrible conditions of labour caused a number of legislation acts
to ease the burden of factory workers. The first legislation, passed in 1802,
was a very mild act to prevent some of the worst abuses connected with the
employment of children. It was followed by the Cotton Factories Regulation Act
of 1819 which forbade the employment of children under nine and cut their hour
down to thirteen and a half a day. One more effective act was passed in 1833,
which provided a number of regular inspections to control the labor conditions.
In 1847 the Ten Hour’s Bill limited the hours of women and young people and
secured a ten hour day for most of the men.
The years 1837 – 1901 are remarkable
in the British history for what is called the Victorian period. King William IV
died in June 1837, yielding the throne to his niece, Victoria, and so the great
Victorian epoch started. 1837 to 1848 is considered as the early Victorian
period, which was not that much different from the beginning of the nineteenth
century as the following years. The time between 1848 and 1866 is known as the
years of Mid-Victorian prosperity. Rapid and efficient development of
manufactures and commerce took place mainly due to the removal of protective
duties on food (such as he Corn Laws of 1815) and raw materials. Also, the
British industry and the technological development began to experience a steep
rise in those years. The first half of the nineteenth century is widely known
among historians as the Railway Age. The idea of railway emerged as a result
of the development of steam locomotives, but building locomotives and rail
systems was so expensive that railroads were not widely used in Britain until
the late 1830’s, when the increase in economics began.
The striking feature of the Victorian
time was the growing urbanization of Britain, which is commonly explained as
the result of the development of industry. In 1801, 20 per cent of Britain’s
people lived in towns, and by the end of the nineteenth century, it was 75 per
cent. The inflow of people in towns was caused by the increasing demand for new
workers at factories and plants.
The middle of the century was marked
by the Crimean War which lasted for three years (1853-1856). In 1853, Russia
attempted to gain territories in the Balkans from the declining Ottoman Empire.
Great Britain, France and Austria joined the Ottomans in a coalition against
Russia to stop the expansion. Britain entered this war because Russia was
seeking to control the Dardanells and thus threatened England’s Mediterranean
sea routes. Although the coalition won the war, bad planning and incompetent
leadership on all sides, including the British, characterized the war, leading
to the large number of casualities. The exposure of the weaknesses of the
British army lead to its reformation.
Among the internal problems, Britain
experienced much disturbance in its relations with Ireland. A set of conflicts,
based on both the political and religious grounds, followed the British
attempts to suppress the Irish struggle for independence throughout the whole
nineteenth century.
2.5. Britain in the
twentieth century
Queen Victoria died in January 1901,
and Edward VII, the son of Queen Victoria ascended the throne. Edwardian
Britain was a powerful and rich country, much of its wealth coming from
business abroad. By that time, British money had been invested in many
countries, and British banks and insurance companies had customers and did
business all over the world, and, as the result, much of the policy and affairs
concerning the Edwardian Britain at that time were the international ones.
In 1902, when Germany, supported by
the Triple Alliance, became extremely powerful and the ambitions of the Kaiser
became evident, Britain entered the Anglo-Japanese alliance to avoid political
isolation. The war of 1904-1905 between Russia and Japan made the first one
and Britain nearly enemies, with the end of the war political situation
changed. In 1907 the Triple Entente of Great Britain, Russia and France was
achieved as a countermeasure to the expansion of the Triple Alliance of
Germany, Austria and Italy in Balkans.
Still, while the reign of King Edward
VII was taking place, many of the British were concerned with domestic matters.
Some important changes in the way that people lived and were governed happened.
In 1900 the Labour Representation
Committee, which soon became the Labour Party, was formed. Its aim was to see working
people represented in Parliament, with the powerful support of trade unions.
The Education Act of 1902 met the
demand for national system of secondary education. The government began
providing such kind of education, although only a small number of
schoolchildren could pay for the secondary school, and the rest had to be
clever enough to pass the scholarship exams.
The general election of 1906 gave the
Liberal Party an overwhelming majority in Parliament, with the programme including
old-age pensions, government employment offices, such as Employment Exchanges,
unemployment insurance, a contributory programme of national medical insurance
for most workers, and a board to fix minimum wages for miners and others; but
women still were not given the right to vote.
The years 1911 to 1914 were marked
with strikes by miners, dock workers, and transport workers, as wages scarcely
kept up with rising prices; suffragists carried out numerous demonstrations in
favour of the enfranchisement of women, and while the Britain was in the midst
of these domestic problems and disputes, World War I broke out.
The first large operation in which
the British expeditionary force took part was the battle of Marne in 1915,
which also happened to become the turning point of the whole war in the West
front. The German advance across the French territory was halted, and it made
the quick victory of the Germans impossible and gave time for great but slowly
mobilized material resources of the British Empire to have their effect. In the
course of the following years the war turned into the stalemate with mostly
positional fighting and no significant advances of any of the combatants; the
peace among Germany and Britain was signed in 1918.
World War I had both positive effect
on the British industry and negative effect on the internal political
situation. The Irish problems drew to the 1916 Easter Rebellion. If necessary,
the Irish nationalists were ready to seek German aid and support in fighting
the British government. The rebellion led to some several hundred casualities
and imprisonment and execution of most of the Irish political leaders. The
civil war in Ireland began and lasted until the peace treaty of 1921. Most of
the Ireland became the Irish Free State, independent of British rule in all but
name. One more result of the disturbances in Ireland was the development of the
new Irish Sinn Fein political party.
World War I created more
opportunities for women to work outside domestic service. Women aged 30 and
over were granted the vote by the Reform Act of 1918, and the same Act granted
the vote to all men over the age of 21. In 1928 women were given voting rights
that were equal to those of men.
The immediate post-war years were
marked by economic boom, rapid demobilization, and much labour strife. By 1921,
however, the number of people without work had reached one million. Between
1929 and 1932, the depression more than doubled an already high rate of
unemployment. Unemployment rose to more than 2 million in the 1930’s. In the
course of several years, both the levels of industrial activity and of prices
dipped by a quarter, and industries such as shipbuilding collapsed almost
entirely.
Between 1933 and 1937, the economy
recovered steadily, with the construction, automobile, and electrical
industries leading the way. Unemployment remained high, however, especially in
Wales, Scotland, and northern parts of England.
In 1936 King Edward VIII ascended the
throne, and a remarkable occasion took place. Edward preferred to be happy in
private life rather than to dedicate himself to the royal duties and discharged
his duty as a king and emperor in favour of a love affair. Edward VIII was
succeeded by his brother, George VI.
In 1939 World War II broke out. After
the surrender of France in 1940, Britain remained the only resisting country in
the West front. In 1940, also, one of the greatest aerial battles in history
took place. The so-called Battle of Britain was the British answer to the
permanent attempts of Germany to ruin the industry of United Kingdom and to
suppress the spirit of the British people by heavy air bombardments. By the end
of 1940 almost all aircraft factories in England were destroyed, and a few
British fighter squadrons remained operational, but the ability of Luftwaffe to
carry out offensive operations in the West was almost zeroed due to very heavy
losses. The real help in struggle against Germany was that beginning early in
1941, the still-neutral United States granted lend-lease aid to Britain.
Luckily, the British Isles
experienced no ground fighting throughout the whole war, and no British troops
were engaged in ground operations until the Allies landing in France in 1944.
Before that date, British took part in the coordinated Anglo-American
operations in North Africa, fighting against German troops there, the most
significant battle being that at El Alamein, where the Allies managed to defeat
one of the best German commanders-in-chief Rommel. After the landing in
Normandy, which didn’t play the big role in the course of war, but helped to
bring it to closure sooner than it was expected, it took only ten month to make
Germany to surrender on 8 May, 1945.
When World War II ended, the British
government launched a number of important programmes in an effort to restore
the county’s economy. The National Insurance Act of 1946 was a consolidation of
benefit laws involving maternity, disability, old age, and death, as well as
assistance if unemployed. In 1948 the National Health Service was set up. The
general election of 1945 gave the Labour party the majority in Parliament, and
the party launched a programme of nationalization of private industries to
improve the economical situation.
In 1949 Britain joined other Western
powers in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), which was created as a
counterweight to the Warsaw Block countries, leaded by USSR. Also, the late
1940’s in the British Empire were marked with the beginning of decolonization.
In 1953, Queen Elizabeth II inherited
the throne from George VI. The early 1950’s brought economic recovery with
flourishing of trade and the boom of housing construction, and since that time
Britain has been steadily developing in economical, political, social and
scientific aspects, becoming one of the leading countries in the world.
3.
Culture of Great Britain
3.1.
Cultural Life in Great Britain
Artistic and cultural life in Britain is rather
rich, like in most of the European countries. It has passed several main stages
in its development.
The Saxon King Alfred encouraged the arts and
culture. The chief debt owed to him by English literature is for his
translations of and commentaries on Latin works. Art, culture and literature
flourished during the Elizabethan age, during the reign of Elizabeth I; it was
the period of English domination of the oceans and colonies, and, due to the
strong political and economic position of the country, there were few obstacles
in the way of the cultural development. This time is also famous for the fact
that William Shakespeare lived and worked then.
The empire, which was very powerful under Queen
Victoria, saw another cultural and artistic hey-day as a result of
industrialisation and the expansion of international trade during the so-called
industrial age.
However, German air raids caused much damage
during the First World War and then during the Second World War. The madness of
the wars briefly inhibited the development of British culture.
Immigrants who have arrived from all parts of the
Commonwealth since 1945 have not only created a mixture of nations, but have
also brought their cultures and habits with them. Monuments and traces of past
greatness are everywhere. There are buildings of all styles and periods. A
great number of museums and galleries display precious and interesting finds
from all parts of the world and from all stage in the development of nature,
man and art. London is one of the leading world centres for music, drama, opera
and dance. Festivals held in towns and cities throughout the country attract
much interest. Many British playwrights, composers, sculptors, painters,
writers, actors, singers and dancers are known all over the world.
3.2. Musical culture of Great Britain
The people living in the British Isles are
very fond of music, and it is quite natural that concerts of the leading
symphony orchestras, numerous folk groups and pop music are very popular.
The Promenade concerts are probably the most
famous. They were first held in 1840 in the Queen's Hall, and later were
directed by Sir Henry Wood. They still continue today in the Royal Albert
Hall. They take place every night for about three months in the summer, and
the programmes include new and contemporary works, as well as classics. Among
them are symphonies and other pieces of music composed by Benjamin Britten, the
famous English musician.
Usually, there is a short winter season lasting
for about a fortnight. The audience may either listen to the music from a seat
or from the ‘promenade’, where they can stand or stroll about, or, if there is
room, sit down on the floor.
Concerts are rarely given out-of-doors today
except for concerts by brass bands and military bands that play in the parks
and at seaside resorts during the summer.
Folk music is still very much alive. There are
many folk groups. Their harmony singing and good humour win them friends
everywhere.
Rock and pop music is extremely popular,
especially among younger people. In the 60s and 70s groups such as the Beatles,
the Rolling Stones, the Who, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd became very popular
and successful.
The Beatles, with their style of singing new and
exciting, their wonderful sense of humour became the most successful pop group
the world has ever known. Many of the famous songs written by John Lennon and
Paul McCartney are still popular. Some of the more recent rock groups are
Eurhythmics, Dire Straits, and Black Sabbath.
British groups often set new trends in music. New
staff and styles continue to appear. One of the most popular contemporary
musicians and composers is Andrew Lloyd Webber. The musicals and rock operas by
A. L. Webber have been a great success both in Britain and overseas.
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