6.

pdf

Annagg

Historia y Cultura de Los Países de Habla Inglesa

1º Grado en Estudios Ingleses

Facultad de Filología, Traducción y Comunicación

Universitat de València

Reservados todos los derechos.

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
 19. THE YEARS OF POWER AND DANGER

Britain in the 19th century was at its most powerful and self-confident, Britain was the
workshop of the world. There had been an enormous rise in the population and by the
end of the century most men had the right to vote.

The danger at home, 1815-32

Britain was in greater danger at home than abroad. The Napoleonic Wars had turned the

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
nation from thoughts of revolution to the need to defeat the French. Peace came in 1815
and suddenly there was no longer need for factory made goods, and many lost their
jobs. → unemployment.
The cost of bread rose quickly, and this led to increases in the price of almost
everything.
The general misery began to cause trouble. In 1830 starving farmworkers in the south of
England rioted for increased wages (=salari).
People started to search for food in the hunt but almost every wood had been enclosed
and new laws were made to stop people hunting animals for food.
These laws showed how much the rich feared the poor.
A new poor law in 1834 was intended to improve the help given to the needy. But

Reservados todos los derechos.

central government did not provide the necessary money and many people received
even less help than before. The workhouses were feared and hated.
Charles Dickens wrote about the workhouse in his novels.
Between 1815 and 1835 Britain changed from being a nation of country people to a
nation of mainly townspeople.
If the rich feared the poor in the countryside, they feared even more those in the
growing towns.
Poor were not organised and had no leaders, only a few radical politicians spoke for
them. However, several riots did happen in 1819 a large crowd of working people and
their families gathered in Manchester to protest again their conditions.

Reform

The Whigs understood better than the Tories the need to reform the law in order to
improve social conditions. The Tories believed that parliament should represent
“property” and the property owners. The radicals believed that parliament should
represent the people. The Whigs, or Liberals, were in the middle, wanting enough
change to avoid revolution.
The Tories hoped that the House of Lords would protect the interests of property
owners. When the Commons agreed on reform in 1830 in was turned down by the
House of Lords. But the Tories fell from power and Lord Grey formed a Whig
government. In 1832 the Lords accepted the Reform Bill.

Workers revolt

Since 1824 workers had been allowed to join together in unions. The working classes
still found it difficult to act together. […]

Estudiar sin publi es posible. Compra Coins.

a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4645476
 Unions, workers and radicals put forward a People’s Charter in 1838. The Charter
demanded rights that are now accepted by everyone: the vote for all adults, the right for
a man without property to an MP, voting in secret, payment for MPs and an election
every year. All of these demands were refused by the House of Commons.
Robert Peel, the prime minister, abolished the unpopular Corn Law of 1815, which had
kept the price of corn higher then necessary. […]
Now power decisively passed into the hands of the growing number of industrialists and
traders.

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
20. THE YEARS OF SELF-CONFIDENCE

Railway system: now people also could travel by train. The middle class took advantage
of the new opportunity to live in suburbs, from which they travelled into the city every
day by train. The suburb was a copy of the country village with all the advantages of the
town.
The rise of the middle classes: the middle class grew, it included those working in the
Church, the law, medicine, the civil service, the diplomatic service, merchant banking
and the army and the navy.
Population and politics: changes in the law in 1828-1829 made it possible for Catholics
and Nonconformists to enter government service and enter parliament.

Reservados todos los derechos.

Queen and monarchy

Queen Victoria came to the throne as a young woman in 1837 and reigned until her
death in 1901. Victoria had married a German, but he died earlier. She published a book
about her life, it was a kind of diary “our life in the Highlands” and people began to be
inspired by her attitude → Victorian Values.
The democratic British respected the example of family life which the queen had given
them and shared its moral and religious values.
Pure family morality.

Queen and empire

After the loss of the American colonies in 1783, the idea of creating new colonies
remained unpopular. Britain watched the oceans carefully to make sure its trade routes
were safe and fought wars in order to protect them. In 1839 it attacked China and forced
it to allow the profitable British trade in opium from India to China → The Opium War.

Wales, Scotland and Ireland

Wales: its population grew because the expectation of life doubled. In south Wales there
were rich coal mines which became the centre of coal and steel industry. A huge
number of people moved into the southeast corner. Wales became interested in
Nonconformist Christianity and radicalism.
Scotland: was divided into industrialised area and the Highlands and Lowlands. There
were coal mines and factories producing steel and iron.
Scotland became strongly Liberal and the Clearances in Highlands continued.

Estudiar sin publi es posible. Compra Coins.

a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4645476
 Ireland: many Catholics were now allowed to become MPs in 1829. However, the worst
disaster occurred in 1845 when the potatoes crop stopped producing them for three
years.

21. THE END OF AN AGE

Social and economic improvements

Between 1875 – 1914 the condition of the poor greatly improved as prices fell by 40

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
percent and real wages doubled. Life at home was more comfortable, poor families
could eat better food, including meat, fresh milk and vegetables.
In 1870-1891 two Education Acts were passed. Now, all children had to go to school up
to age of 13, they were taught reading, writing and arithmetic.
Towns, villages and cities changed physically, and the power moved from the shires to
the towns.
The authority of the church was also weakened, people in the towns stopped going to
church. The poor also stopped going because the church offered them no help.
For the first time, now, working people could think about enjoying in their free time, on
Sundays they could go museums, parks, swimming pools and libraries.
Many people had started to use the railway to get to work, but now they began to travel

Reservados todos los derechos.

for pleasure.
The invention of the bicycle gave a new freedom to working and middle classes and
especially to young women.

Changes in thinking

The most important idea of the 19th century was that everyone had the right to personal
freedom, which was the basis of capitalism.
Adam Smith argued that government should not interfere in trade and industries at all.
Fewer laws, they claimed, meant more freedom, and freedom for individuals would lead
to happiness for the greatest number of people.
It soon became very clear that freedom of factory owners to do as they pleased had led
to slavery and misery for the poor, not to happiness and freedom. By 1820 more and
more people had begun to accept the idea that government must interfere to protect the
poor and the weak. The result was a number of laws to improve working conditions.
One of these laws limited the number if hours that women and children were allowed to
work and another abolished slavery in 1833.
By the end of the century, few people thought it was wrong for the government to
interfere in factory conditions, health in towns, and education for children. People now
saw these as government duties.
Literature was influenced by the new mood of change. Charles Dickens attacked the
rich and powerful for their cruelty towards the weak and unfortunate in society. Painting
too was affected.
In 1851 the Great Exhibition.
In 1857 Charles Darwin → The Origin of Species

The end of “England’s summer”

Estudiar sin publi es posible. Compra Coins.

a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4645476
 A growing demand for reform led “New Liberal” governments to try to improve social
conditions. They provided free school meals and they started an old age pensions
scheme.
In 1909 Labour Exchanges were opened, where those without work could look for jobs.
All working people were made to pay for national insurance.
The new Liberals had begun to establish the “welfare state”.
Government, said the Liberals, had a duty to protect the weak against the strong.

The storm clouds of war

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
The danger of war with Germany had been clear from the beginning of the century, and
it was this which had brought France and Britain together. Britain was particularly
frightened of Germany’s modern navy. By 1914 Germany and Austria-Hungary had
made a military alliance. Russia and France, frightened of German ambitions, had made
one also. Although Britain had no treaty with France, in practice it had no choice but to
stand by France if it was attacked by Germany.
In July 1914 Austria-Hungary declared war on its neighbours Serbia for following the
murder of a senior Austrian Archduke in Sarajevo. Because Russia had promised to
defend Serbia, it declared war on Austria-Hungary. Because of Germany’s promise to
stand by Austria-Hungary, Russia also found itself at war with Germany. France,

Reservados todos los derechos.

Russia’s ally, made its troops ready, recognising that the events in Serbia would lead to
war with Germany. Britain still hoped still hoped that it would not be dragged into war
but realised only a miracle could prevent it. No miracle occurred.
In August 1914 Germany’s attack on France took its army through Belgium. Britain
immediately declared war because it had promised to guarantee Belgium’s neutrality by
the treaty of 1838.

Estudiar sin publi es posible. Compra Coins.

a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4645476