British Politics

CIVILISATION BRITANNIQUE

XIXe Century

Examen : 3h dissertation ou commentaire

The Victorian Era

Introduction:

· Queen Victoria : 1837-1901

--> Deep changes ; economic, political, social.

- Called "Era" because she embodied this period.

- Mostly queens give name to Historical Periods ( Elisabathan Age...)

- "Victorian Era" was firstly used by a journalist in 1851, on the occasion of the Great Exhibition in London.

- She is known as the longest reign in history, after Elisabeth II.

- Victoria presided over a period of industrial revolution, artistic succeesses, many changes in Britain, a key Century.

- She succeeded her uncle King William IV who had a short reign. Lord Melbourne (Whig Leader) was PM at the time (1837).

- At the time factions (= groups of politicians sharing the same interests, but not real discipline, ideology) not parties yet.

2 main factions :

--> The Whigs: supporters of Parliament, dissident religions, industrial interest.

--> Tories: Conservatives defended the interest of the King, Church Of England, Aristocracy.

At the time it was quite common to change faction.

- Lord Melbourne was a widower and treated Victoria as his own daughter. He was getting old, he resigned in 1839.

- 1839: Sir Robert Peel, Tory leader PM, Yet Melbourne back

- 1840: She married Albert, her german cousin. They really loved each other, unusual at the time for kings and queens.Albert became her closest adviser, he played a role in British politics. They had 9 children.

- 1841: Melbourne resigned again

- 1861: Prince Albert Died

Victoria decided to go to Scotland to diseappear for several years from public vision but she carry on her duties. Radical voices wanted political changes

- 1868: William Gladstone, Liberal leader PM ( new Party, Whigs became Liberal)

- 1871: idea to revise the Civil List

She understood that she must came back, otherwise a revolution is inevitable

- 1874: Disraeli, Tory leader PM, leader of the Conservative Party (Novelist)

1876: Victoria became Empress of India , Head of Commonwealth. She became more and more popular for 2 reasons:

- Her son nearly died, Prince of Wales, he recovered

- She was victim of an attempt of murder in 1862.

She became the symbol of Constitution, non-written Constitution in Britain. (based on ancient texts)

– 1897: diamond jubilee

– 1885 : Marquess of Salisburg, Conservative PM.

– 1901: she died (22 January).

The stability of the British Society was shattered by Victoria, people feared for the future of the country when she died. She was succeeded by her son Albert (Edward VII), he took his German family name.

Some historians said that the Victorian Era started in 1830 because of the first Railway Line, it brought communication, transport people.

- 1832: Great Refom Act: First Act which widened the franchise ( members of people allowed to vote).

Ending of the reign:

– 1896: first Daily Mail (first popular newspaper)

– First session of cinema too

– Red Flag Act: abolished the rules limited the speed of cars of 6km/h.

– 1910: End of Edward VII's reign (he followed his mother's path, he didn't change so we can say the reign of Victoria ended here).

– 1914: WWI landmark in history, weakening dynasties shattered the equilibrium of powers in Europe.

SEVERAL PERIODS

• Early Victorin Age: Implanmentation of economic Age, new social system, developement of middle-classes, improvement, industrialisation.

• Mid-Victorian Age: stability, stagnation, Age of balance, prosperity

• Late Victorian Age: End of economic superiority, Germany and USA became competitors in economy.

---> Paradoxal Age : poor people/ people getting very rich, improvement but not for every one.

British Society before and after

- 1830s: mostly rural country, despite of the 1st phase of industrialisation( dev of canals...)

- Economy represented by a high proportion of craftsmen

– Parliament: King, Lords, Commons...

– Coherence in politics, a sort of balance, constitutional monarchy

– felling of unity because of war with France (Britishness)

– 1901: a great industrial and urban country, clearly defined political and a large franchise.

– The whigs: the Liberal/Tories= Conservatives/Labor Party= new Party

– An imperial empire yet poverty

“PAX BRITANNICA”

– 1815 -1914: colonial conflicts mainly far away from Britain (South Africa) and only involving soldiers and not common people.

– A dominating position

– British Empire was flavorished even if Britain had lost the American colonies in the 1780s. It was a blow to the Empire. Britain built the Second Empire. After the war with France, Britain got some territories in France and Canada : the Empire was becoming bigger, stronger. By the beginning of the Victorian reign over 1/4 of the world was living in the British Empire.

HOW DID THE GOVERNMENT IN LONDON MANAGED TO CONTROL SUCH A HIGH EMPIRE ?

– They had representatives institutions in the countries (India). They involved local people educated people offered good positions. Those people wanted to be anglicized by sending their children in the English schools. Economic links, trade was important in the colonies.

– In 1887, the Golden jubilee, many celebrations.

THE 5 M's

– Men : population was the starting point, no dev without a dvlpt pop. Demographic dynamism in Britain, rising pop for a long time, a slower rise, there were often accidents. Better living conditions. Rising life expectancy, in the first 30 years +34% pop. In 1951, pop doubled. T.R Malthus, an essay on the principles of Population (1789). The ressource

base determined the number of people. He really influenced the 19th Century. He explained that the world population had a tendency to grow faster than ressources. There will be to many people on Earth according to him. There should be limits for the world pop, nature regulating the nb of pop ( disease, famine, war). His hope was to introduce ways of controling the growth of pop. Many of his direction proved wrong; british people ignored his advice, they married younger and had many children. Child mortality declined.

– Money: devlpment of the banking system, mostly the aristocracy was rich, they had lands. 1694: Bank of England which was mostly used by the British Gov not by individuals.

1844: The Bank Charter Act was voted. Allowed the Bank of England to issue bank notes (Revolution). More and more factories, more workers, they had to pay them with notes.

1956: Join Stock Campanies Act voted, another improvement in the banking system. It gave the possibility to private banks to finance a scheme, the luability was limited to encourage businessman to start a plan. So they wouldn't lose everything if the business failed.

Private Banks: Barclays, Lloyds, The Midlands, Westminster, National Provincial.

– Machines: Technological revolution, apply inventions to industry. They developed engineers. Science meant the discovery of nature. Scientists realized that change was the characteritics of universe. Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species, 1859

1831: British Association for the Advancement of Science ( to encourage researchs, increase public interest in science).

– Means of communication: (canals since 1790-1794), people were aware they were living a new Age. Change was faster than it ever been before. Com had improved with the dev of canals: quicker and safer to carry goods (coal, steel,