19TH Century

19TH CENTURY
After the industrial revolution, BRITAIN WAS THE “WORKSHOP” OF THE WORLD
Why? » British factories produced more than any other of the world. Political
control, national pride a new middle class. Control world traffic/markets
Political control: Britain enjoyed a strong place in European councils after the defeat
of Napoleon bc industry, trade and the navy which protected this trade.
Britain wanted in Europe: “balance of power” (success. Encourages recovery of France
to balance the power of Austria) and free market (ships of its navy in almost every
ocean in the world – this was possible bc it had taken over several places during the
war against Napoleon).
Control world traffic/markets: after 1815 the British government did not only try to
develop its trading stations. Its policy now was to control world traffic and world markets
to Britain’s advantage. Britain colonised areas of its own interest, not every area; fear
of expansion of Russia.
The concerns in Europe and the protection of trade routes in the rest of the world
guided Britain’s foreign policy. This policy kept Britain from war in Europe for a century
from 1815.
National pride: Britain’s empire was political
rather than commercial. Britain used this empire to
control large areas of the world. The EMPIRE gave
the British a feeling of their own importance. The
novelist Charles Dickens nicely described this
national pride: one of his characters, Mr. Podsnap
(Our Mutual Friend, 1865), believed that Britain
had been especially chosen by God and
“considered other countries a mistake.”
a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-6630864
Reservados todos los derechos.
THE FEAR OF THE POOR
Napoleonic Wars = population didn’t think of the need of revolution → the need to
defeat the French + social effects of the industrial revolution hidden
BUT
UNEMPLOYMENT: factory workers + men from army/navy + workers on the land (new
methods of farming)
• CHEAPER IMPORTED CORN: had been imported during war to feed the army =
landowning’ farmers income had suffered, and they asked the government to introduce
laws to protect local corn and its price
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_caMQpiwiaU&ab_channel=schmoyoho
• INCREASES IN THE PRICE OF ALMOST EVERYTHING (BREAD): wages
remained the same.
• GENERAL MISERY BEGAN TO CAUSE TROUBLE ↓
• ENCLOSED LANDS + PUNISHMENTS:
People tried to catch wild animals to eat = woods enclosed by the local landlord + new
laws to stop people from hunting with severe punishments (=the rich feared the poor)
• WORKHOUSES: institution to provide employment for paupers and sustenance for
the infirm. Inhabitants had to work from morning till night, families divided, barely
enough food. Charles Dickens wrote about them (Oliver Twist).
Llévate 1 año de WUOLAH PRO con BBVA. ¿Cómo? ¡+Info aquí!
• THE POOR LAW 1834:
The new Poor Law ensured that the poor were housed in workhouses, clothed and fed.
Children who entered the workhouse would receive some schooling. In return for this
care, all workhouse paupers would have to work for several hours each day.
However, not all Victorians shared this point of view. Some people, such as Richard
Oastler, spoke out against the new Poor Law, calling the workhouses ‘Prisons for the
Poor’. The poor themselves hated and feared the threat of the workhouse so much that
there were riots in northern towns.
• LIFE IN TOWNS: To avoid workhouses people moved to towns. Britain changed from
being a nation of country people to a nation mainly of townspeople.
Main city areas: northwest England, north Midlands, area around Glasgow,
south Wales – London remained the largest
• RIOTS: the poor failed to cooperate, but several riots took place and the government
reacted nervously.
PETERLOO MASSACRE 1819, MANCHESTER: large crowd gathered to protest
against their conditions + radical speech. Attacked by soldiers, 11 deaths and many
hurt ↓
REFORM BILL 1832:
Major changes in electoral system. English towns represented in Parliament for the
first time.
BEFORE: inequalities in representation between traditionally enfranchised
rural areas and the rapidly growing cities of newly industrial England.
For example, such large industrial centres as Birmingham and Manchester
were unrepresented, while parliamentary members continued to be returned
from numerous so-called “rotten boroughs,” which were virtually
uninhabited rural districts, and from “pocket boroughs,” where a single
powerful landowner or peer could almost completely control the voting.
Tories believed to avoid revolution → reform
1. Tories: Parliament should represent “property” and property owners
2. Radicals: “ the people
3. Whigs: enough change to avoid revolution
The Commons agreed on reform in 1830 BUT turned down by House of the Lords
↓
Tories fell from power: new Whig government with Lord Grey (radical, supported the
reform)
1832 the Lords accepted the Reform Bill (fear of revolution)
Scotland’s votes and 41 English towns were represented in Parliament for the first
time, number of voters increased by 50 %.
= Political recognition that Britain had become an urban society
Reform Bill, any of the British parliamentary bills that became acts in 1832, 1867, and
1884–85 and that expanded the electorate for the House of Commons and rationalized
the representation of that body. The first Reform Bill primarily served to transfer voting
privileges from the small boroughs controlled by the nobility and gentry to the heavily
populated industrial towns.
WORKER’S REVOLT
Tolpuddle Martyrs 1834, defence through trade union strength; The People’s
Charter 1838; demand for rights
• TOLDPUDDLE MARTYRS
Since 1824 workers had been allowed to join in unions: most of them small and weak.
In 1834 six farmworkers in Tolpuddle joined. Their employer found a law by which they
could be punished, and they were found guilty by an appointed judge. 30 000 workers
+ radicals gathered in London to ask the government to pardon the “Tolpuddle
Martyrs”: no. → symbol of employers’ cruelty.
• THE PEOPLE’S CHARTER
1840 introduction of a cheap postage system (1 penny a letter anywhere in
Britain, the Penny Black stamp) = enabled workers+radicals to organise
themselves
↓
Unions, workers + radicals worked together and put forward a People’s Charter (1838):
demand for rights
− Vote for all adults
− Secret vote
− Man without property can be MP
− Election every year
− Payment for MPs
→ REFUSED BY THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
Soon “Chartists” divided (use violence/no; women can’t vote) but riots and political
meetings continued.
GOVERNMENT SAVED FROM REVOLUTION BY ROBERT PEEL (PM)
− Improved economic conditions in the 1840s = Chartists movement died
− Established a regular police force for London in 1829 (high crime rates
bc poverty) → in the next 30 years almost every town started its own
police force = crime was pushed out
Abolished the Corn Law of 1815 in 1846
FAMILY LIFE
Authority, wife and man’s property, Jane Austen’s satiric approach
• Stricter ideas of family life, new attitudes to privacy
• People no longer married for money (except the rich)
o Wives = not equals, LEGALLY A MAN’S PROPERTY / Husband =
“master” of the household
o Women no longer useful when children grew up, no possibility of support
outside the family
o Discouraged from going out to work if not necessary
Return to authoritarian family life result of:
1. Fear of political revolution spreading from France

2. Fear of social changed caused by industrial revolution in Britain
3. Influence of the new religious movements Methodism/Evangelism
→ Family life ended when children grew up (individualism, strict parents, beating of
children)
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice:
Austen has seemingly illustrated the ideal model of what marriage was like
in Regency England, with quite possibly one of the most prominent and
renowned opening sentences of any novel, “It’s a truth universally
acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be
in want of a wife,”.
Satire is a literary device, praised for its “use of humor, irony, exaggeration,
or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in
the context of contemporary politics and other topical
issues,” (“satire”). Pride and Prejudice is thought to be the most comical of
her novels. Humor can be found just about everywhere, between the
character descriptions, the imagery, and even the expressions of the
characters, themselves! Satire and humor were effectives ways for Austen to
express her opinion on what was going on around her at the time without
having to attach her name directly to these unpopular opinions on topics
like love, marriage, and scandal.
-Satirizing love
Austen uses Mrs. Bennet as an instrument to satirize love, by portraying her
as a frivolous woman susceptible to fainting fits and a lack of sensibility
-Satirizing class
The financial and social stability that marriage has to offer women is more
important than whether they are compatible with their spouses.
-Satirizing a woman’s role in society

THE GREAT EXHIBITION OF 1851
Crystal Palace, giant glass-and-iron exhibition hall in Hyde Park, London, that
housed the Great Exhibition of 1851.
The era of the modern world’s fair began with Britain’s Great Exhibition (formally, the
Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations; often called
the Crystal Palace Exhibition). It came about through the efforts of Queen Victoria’s
husband, Prince Albert and through Parliament’s adoption of free trade, which, it was
hoped, would lead to more sales of British goods abroad. Paxton’s iron-and-glass
structure, dubbed the Crystal Palace, delighted the public and doubtless contributed to
the success of the exhibition.
The exhibits on display at the Crystal Palace included scientific and technological
marvels from many different countries as well as works of art and craftsmanship. Some
six million people attended the exhibition, which earned a substantial profit.
The exhibition aimed to show the world the greatness of Britain’s industry, bc:
• by 1850 Britain was producing more iron than the rest of the world together
• enough coal, iron and steel for own industry + export
• produced heavy industrial goods + machinery (=traditional goods like cloth;
cloth exported too)
• owned more than half the world’s total shipping
• supported by a strong banking system
• (transported ppl to the Great Exhibition) ↓
THE RAILWAY SYSTEM
• Greatest example of Britain’s industrial power
• Originally built to transport goods, in 1851 the government made the railway for
people ↓
• = Middle class started to live suburbs (copy of the country village but with the
advantages of town)
• = Poor people moved to the suburbs + travelled to get to work (women
became servants for middle class)
THE RISE OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES
Before: small class of merchants, traders and small farmers
18th century: increased (+industrialists/factory owners)
19th century: increased more (+Church workers, law, medicine, civil service, diplomatic
service, banking, army) = this class included both the very successful and rich
industrialists and the small shopkeepers in the growing towns
More wealth, social position and better works than before
POPULATION AND POLITICS
• 1832 outbreak of cholera, a disease spread by dirty water and as a result, hygiene
and healthcare improved
LORD ROBERT PEEL
• 1846: Sir Robert Peel had fallen from power; the shape of British politics was
still unclear. Peel had already made himself very unpopular for supporting the
right of Catholics to enter Parliament in 1829.
The Whigs (willing to let society advance) became Liberals. Some Tories
pursued this policy, for example LORD CANNING (the Tory Foreign Secretary).
LORD CANNING
Used the navy to prevent Spain from sending troops to colonies,
helped the Greeks against Turkish empire.
LORD PALMERSTONE
• 1846-65 Lord Palmerston was the most important political
figure. Liberal, but like Peel he often went against his own
party’s ideas and values.

N
GLADSTONE & DISRAELI
• After Palmerston’s death in 1865, a stricter two party
(TORY/CONSERVATIVE + LIBERAL) developed. GLADSTONE
was the new Liberal leader and Benjamin DISRAELI was the
Conservative leader.
= Reform of 1832, +ppl could vote = men from the commercial class
chosen for MP
• GLADSTONE: factory owner
• DISRAELI: Jewish, since 1881 the Conservative Party
has remained the strongest
DEMOCRACY
Between 1867-84 n.º of voters increased
Democracy grew:
• 1872 voting in secret for the 1st time
• Growth of newspaper industry
England: conservative
Scotland, Ireland, Wales, north of England: radical
House of Commons grew +650 members; House of Lords lost power (only prevent
reforms from Commons)
1844 “Co-operative Movement” started. Charists + trade unionists: network of shops,
sold goods at fair price, shared profits among members: SUCCESFUL
• 1850 trade unions grew up
• 1868 1st congress of trade unions met in Manchester
• 1869 Trades Union Congress established parliamentary committee
1850s civil service established: civil servants + army, administration of the law, local
government in towns reorganised
N
QUEEN AND MONARCHY
Queen Victoria came to the throne with 18 y/o (1837) and reigned until her death
(1901). She married a German, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg, but he DIED 💀 with
42 (1861). → Queen Victoria refused to be seen in public = criticised in
newspapers, monarchy questioned.
Radicals: the end of monarchy was bound to happen as a result of democracy.
BUT queen’s advisers persuaded her to take a more public interest in the business of
the kingdom AND SHE BECAME POPULAR bc:
Queen’s book -her diary-: Our life in the Highlands, 1868
• Her life w/ Prince Albert at Balmoral (her castle in the Scottish Highlands)
• 1st time private life of the monarch
o Prince Consort, Albert: Albert
o Prince of Wales: Bertie (later king Edward VII, second child and
eldest son of Queen Victoria)
o Princess Royal: Vicky (the eldest child of Queen Victoria)
• Servants as member of her family
Example of family life, her morals and religious values: shared by democratic
British → showed the newly industrialised nation that the monarchy was a connection
with a glorious history
QUEEN AND EMPIRE
CHINA
Attacked in 1839 and forced to allow the profitable British trade in opium from India to
China.
The first Opium War (1839–42) was the result of China’s attempt to suppress the
illegal opium trade, which had led to widespread addiction in China and was causing
serious social and economic disruption there. British traders were the primary source
of the drug in China. The second Opium War (1856–60) was the result of the desire of
Great Britain and France to win additional commercial privileges in China, including
the legalization of the opium trade, as well as to gain more legal and territorial
concessions in China.
AFGHANISTAN
Fear of Russia = war in Afghanistan (1939-42)
Anglo-Afghan Wars, also called Afghan Wars, three conflicts (1839–
42; 1878–80; 1919) in which Great Britain, from its base in India, sought to
extend its control over neighbouring Afghanistan and to oppose Russian
influence there.
RUSSIA DANGER
Britain feared that Russia would destroy the Ottoman Empire (→controlled Turkey
and the Arab countries) in the CRIMEAN WAR (1853-56) = Britain joined the Turks
IN 1854 to stop its expansion
Newspaper reported poor quality of their officers + bad condition in army hospitals =
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
INDIA
Bad treatment of Indian soldiers in British = revolt in 1857 (“INDIAN MUTINY”) →
national movement against foreign rule, led by Hindu and Muslim princes who had
lost power and land to British rulers. ==== Cruelly punished by Britain ===
distrust/distance between ruler/ruled grew.
Queen Victoria was Empress of India but had never been there.
INTEREST IN AFRICA
• 1st interest for the slave trade on the west coast
• Britain took over the Cape of Good Hope → port for the sea route to India
Interest increased by reports of explorers, most famous:
DAVID LIVINGSTONE
Scottish doctor, Christian missionary and explorer

Discovered areas of Africa unknown to Europeans + “opened” them to
Christianity and European ideas/trade
Christianity = tool for building commercial/political empire in Africa with the
excuse of bringing “civilisation” =
TREATY IN 1890 to divide Africa into “areas of interest”. Britain took the most.
Zanzibar Treaty, also called Helgoland-Zanzibar Treaty, (July 1,
1890), arrangement between Great Britain and Germany that defined their
respective spheres of influence in eastern Africa. (Britain = Zanzibar)
Britain used Zanzibar as a key link in the British control of East Africa.
SOUTH AFRICA: other European settler there →The Dutch settlers (the Boers).
= BOER WAR; defeated by Britain with great difficulty (=weakness of British
army)
EGYPT: ←British imperial ambition
Britain had bought large number of shares in the Suez Canal company. When Egyptian
nationalists brought down the ruler in 1882, Britain invaded “to protect international
shipping” and “for a short time” but did not leave until forced in 1954.
Comentado [CCR1]: Los bóers (también llamados
afrikáners) eran granjeros de origen holandés que se
habían establecido en la zona de El Cabo
Involvement in Egypt led to invasion and takeover of the Sudan in 1884.
OTHER COLONIES: Canada, Australia, New Zealand.
Another interest in colonies: from 1830s population increased = colonies could be a
solution.
Increased in settlement in Canada, Australia and New Zealand from de 1840s
onwards; earlier populations killed or pushed to certain areas.
The white colonies were soon allowed to govern themselves but accepted British
monarchy as their head of state.

ORIGIN: Canada, 1837. Lord Durham (governor) → report that established the
principle of self-government.
VICTORIAN SPIRIT
By the end of the 19th century Britain controlled the oceans and much of the land areas
of the world = most British believed in their right to an empire.
=== JINGOISM
(after a Music Hall song) the extreme belief that your own country is always best,
often shown in enthusiastic support for a war against another country.
Comentado [CCR2]: Examen?
WALES, IRELAND AND SCOTLAND
WALES: INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY and cultural life (nation divided between
industrialised areas and unchanged areas of old Wales)
Population grew bc average expectation of life doubled
In south Wales: rich coal mines → became the centre of coal and steel industry.
Between 2/3 and ¾ of the total Welsh population moved to the southeast for work =
by 1870 Wales was mainly an industrial society.
//
The new working-class community became interested in Nonconformist Christianity
and radicalism and it created its own cultural life:
• In mining villages brass bands were created → symbols of working-class unity +
other joined the local Nonconformist chapel choir = WELSH TRADITION OF
CHORAL SINGING
• When Wales was able to vote in the Parliament, they got rid of the Tories and
landowning families who has represented them for 300 years
Comentado [CCR3]: banda de viento-metal

SCOTLAND: Industrialised area and Highland/Lowland area (collapse of clan system)
Divided between new industrialised area (Glasgow and Edinburgh):
• Coal mines, steel and iron factories, centre of the British shipbuilding industry
(River Clyde)
and the Highland/Lowland areas.
Scotland became Liberal when they could vote.
Many old clan lands were sold to new landowners (no previous connection with the
Highlands). The Highlands have never recovered from the collapse of the clan system
(any final traces of Highland clans were forced on mass to the sea coast, the Lowlands
or abroad)
Comentado [CCR4]: Clans were generally associated
with a geographical area of Scotland
IRELAND: Famine, “Home rule”
GREAT FAMINE/GREAT HUNGER/BLACK 47
For 3 years (1845-46-47) the potato crop (main food of the poor) failed → POTATO
BLIGHT. Population had risen from 5 to 8 m: 20% died from hunger.
− Ireland had enough WHEAT to feed the population, but it was grown for export
to England by Protestant landowners.
− Evicted:
Much of the financial burden of providing for the starving Irish
peasantry was thrown upon the Irish landowners themselves (through
local poor relief) and British absentee landowners. Because the
peasantry was unable to pay its rents, however, the landlords soon ran
out of funds with which to support them, and the result was that
hundreds of thousands of Irish tenant farmers and labourers were
evicted during the years of the crisis. Under the terms of the harsh 1834
British Poor Law, enacted in 1838 in Ireland, the “able-
bodied” indigent were sent to workhouses rather than being given
famine relief per se.
− The government did not realise the seriousness of the problem:
British assistance was limited to loans, helping to fund soup kitchens,
and providing employment on road building and other public works.
The Irish disliked the imported cornmeal, and reliance on it led
to nutritional deficiencies.
The government’s grudging and ineffective measures to relieve the
famine’s distress intensified the resentment of British rule among the
Irish people.
− Souperism: was a phenomenon of the Irish Great Famine. Protestant Bible
societies fed starving children, on the condition of receiving Protestant
religious instruction. People who converted for food were known as
"soupers", they “took the soup”
− Most affected: Connacht, Munster, County Clare, West Cork
= many Irish left (1 m during these years, more followed bc the poverty of Ireland),
most to EEUU (1841-1920). Today’s population has still not grown, emigration from
Ireland continues.
HOME RULE
The Irish Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for self-
government (or "home rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1870 to the
end of World War I.
• By 1880 the Irish Americans (those who emigrated) were rich and powerful =
supported the Irish freedom movement.

• Charles Parnell (Protestant Irish MP) demanded fuller right for the Irish ppl, in
particular the right to SELF-GOVERNMENT/”HOME RULE”
Ireland able to vote on Parliament: 86 member of Parnell members elected to P.
Liberals supported Parnell, BUT denied by the Tories until 30 years later
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPROVEMENTS 1975-1914
• Prices fell, wages doubled
• Comfortable life at home (gas for heating and lighting), better food and diet
• EDUCATION: 1870 & 1891 two Education Acts: all children went to school up to
13 y/o.
-Scotland: had already a state education system and had 4 Universities.
-Wales: schools grew rapidly: 1 University + 1 University college
-England: traditional universities (Oxford, Cambridge) and “redbrick” universities
(new universities in the new industrial cities
TOWNS:
• Growth of towns and cities
• Slow social change: power moved from the country squire to county councils
(elected men and women, administrators carried out their decisions) – system still
operates today
• Church lost authority; ppl stopped going to Church (no help with new problems +
rebellion against the ruling establishment + other ways to spend Sundays↓)
• Leisure and freedom: for the 1st time working people could enjoy free time.
Museum, parks, swimming pools, libraries
Travel for pleasure: new seaside holiday towns
The invention of the bicycle: freedom to working + middle-class AND WOMEN
Comentado [CCR5]: landlord
Comentado [CCR6]: concejal de Ayuntamiento

THE IMPORTANCE OF SPORT
Two sports of great importance:
Started as a “gentleman’s” sport → became a
popular village game.
Rules were organised 19th century.
Encouraged individual & team excellence.
Exported to the Empire: West Indies, India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Australia and New
Zealand.
Rules were organised 19th century.
Started as a middle-class/gentlemen’s
sport → became popular among all
classes.
By the end of the 19th century every town had its own team, which encouraged
local loyalties: In Glasgow Celtic supported by Irish immigrants, Rangers was
supported by Protestants.
CHANGES IN THINKING: PERSONAL FREEDOM &
CAPITALISM
Most important idea of the 19th century: everyone had the right to personal
freedom (basis of capitalism) → idea spread through by ADAM SMITH’s book
in the 18th century.
Capitalist economists argued that: “Fewer laws meant more freedom, and more
freedom would lead to happiness for the greatest number of ppl”
Soon it became clear that freedom of factory owners led to slavery and misery
for the poor → ppl accepted the idea that government must interfere → LAWS
TO IMPROVE WORKING CONDITIONS
Government influenced by:
1. ROBERT OWEN: factory owner in Scotland – shorter working hours for

his workers (=produced more in less time); encouraged trade unions,
supported Toldpuddle Martyrs
2. ¿ARTHUR? GEORGE CADBURY: built first-class housing for workers
1833: limited number of hours women/children allowed to work // abolished
slavery throughout the British Empire (another law, same year)
PARADOX: Extremely poor popularion/most powerful nation → William BOOTH
started a new religious movement (The Salvation Army – 1865) to “make war”
on poverty: In Darkest England and the Way Out, he talked about a greater
darkness reaching Britain.
LITERATURE AND PAINTING AFFECTED BY THE NEW MOOD OF
CHANGE:
LITERATURE: Charles Dickens
PAINTING: sentimental scenes of the countryside, moral stories or
industrial scenes (paid by urban middle-class)
Pre-Raphaelite painters: looked back to pre-industrial medieval and
classical worlds with fresh and romantic eyes (Rosetti)
Arts&Crafts Movement: turned away from the new middle-class
values, looked to pre-industrial handcraft and to nature for inspiration
(Morris)
SCIENTIFIC ADVANCES: Charles Darwin – The Origin of Species
(1857): Theory of evolution →
• battle between faith and reason
• dangerous result: belief of advanced and inferior race, ideas
influenced Britain’s imperial policy
N
ENGLAND’S SUMMER
Liberal ideas at the end of the century
A growing demand for reform led to “New Liberal” governments to try to improve social
conditions:
− Free school meals: improve health of British children
− Old age pensions
− 1909: Labour exchanges were opened, where those without work could look
for jobs
− 1911: National insurance
Political evolution:
House of Lords vs. House of Commons
• The Liberal drive for reform was unpopular with most Conservatives (majority in
the HOUSE OF LORDS) → stopped bills introduced by the Liberal government
from 1906-10. ↓
• This battle produced a crisis: Liberals tried to introduce a new budget in 1909
(increase taxes to rich), the Lords turned down the budget. The new king
George V made the Lords accept the budget by threatening to make more
Liberals into lords to give them a majority.
• This crisis was about reform: there was a constitutional disagreement:
Conservatives wanted two-house parliamentary system; the Liberals wanted
one strong house with Lords so weakened.
=== Parliament Act of 1911 Lords powers limited: couldn’t question financial
legislation passed in the Commons. Couldn’t prevent legislation, only delay it for 3
years. SYSTEM STILL OPERATES.
• In the same year, for the 1st time, the Commons agreed that MPs should be
paid (=men of low income could become MPs).
• In 1906 a new “Labour” party managed to get 29 representatives elected to
Parliament.
Comentado [CCR7]: El paro
WAR ON THE HORIZON
Less powerful Britain facing Germany and USA, less advantages:
• USA and Germany producing more steel than Britain
• Germany had greater natural wealth
• British invested abroad rather than home industry
• British worker produced less than other countries
• Britain was behind in science and technology
• British public schools did not encourage business/scientific studies
Balance in Europe begins to collapse:
• Britain believed previous period of peace = Britain’s authority in world affairs.
• Authority = Britain’s imperial&economic power.
British earlier power:
• 1880 British merchant fleet larger than 1847 (already world leader then)
• 1880 Britain world leader in telegraphic communications (lines to almost every
part of the world)
• London centre of international financial system
Fear: German & USA Armies and industries; need allies (after Boer Wars)
• Britain shock: Boers Wars almost the whole Europe sided with Britain’s enemies –
had to reach agreement
• Britain fear of Germany = sided w/ France
• Britain fear of Germany’s fleet = Government started a programme of building
battleships
Danger with Germany and Ottoman Empire
1902-1907 Britain made treaties of friendship with France, Japan, Russia BUT failed
to reach agreement w/ Ottoman Empire & Germany

N
CAUSES AND BEGINNING OF WAR
Germany Austria-Hungary = military alliance // Russia France = too
(frightened of Germany)
1914: Murder of Austrian Archduke of Sarajevo
Austria-Hungary Germany vs. Serbia, Russia France
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia – Russia promised to defend Serbia,
declares war on Austria-Hungary
Germany promised to stand by Austria-Hungary = Russia vs. Germany & France
(Russia’s ally) too
Germany’s pass-through Belgium: implication of Britain in war
Germany attacks France, army goes through Belgium
BRITAIN promised to guarantee Belgium’s neutrality (Treaty of London, 1838):
BRITAIN declares war on Germany (also bc feared Germany’s ambitions

19TH Century

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19TH CENTURY

control, national pride a new middle class. Control world traffic/markets

Britain wanted in Europe: “balance of power” (success. Encourages recovery of France

war against Napoleon).

National pride: Britain’s empire was political

rather than commercial. Britain used this empire to

control large areas of the world. The EMPIRE gave

the British a feeling of their own importance. The

novelist Charles Dickens nicely described this

national pride: one of his characters, Mr. Podsnap

(Our Mutual Friend, 1865), believed that Britain

had been especially chosen by God and

“considered other countries a mistake.”

Reservados todos los derechos.

THE FEAR OF THE POOR

laws to protect local corn and its price

• INCREASES IN THE PRICE OF ALMOST EVERYTHING (BREAD): wages

remained the same.

• GENERAL MISERY BEGAN TO CAUSE TROUBLE ↓

• ENCLOSED LANDS + PUNISHMENTS:

• WORKHOUSES: institution to provide employment for paupers and sustenance for

enough food. Charles Dickens wrote about them (Oliver Twist).

Llévate 1 año de WUOLAH PRO con BBVA. ¿Cómo? ¡+Info aquí!

Reservados todos los derechos.

• THE POOR LAW 1834:

there were riots in northern towns.

being a nation of country people to a nation mainly of townspeople.

south Wales – London remained the largest

PETERLOO MASSACRE 1819, MANCHESTER: large crowd gathered to protest

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Reservados todos los derechos.

REFORM BILL 1832:

BEFORE: inequalities in representation between traditionally enfranchised

For example, such large industrial centres as Birmingham and Manchester

were unrepresented, while parliamentary members continued to be returned

from numerous so-called “rotten boroughs,” which were virtually

uninhabited rural districts, and from “pocket boroughs,” where a single

powerful landowner or peer could almost completely control the voting.

Tories believed to avoid revolution → reform

1. Tories: Parliament should represent “property” and property owners

2. Radicals: “ the people

3. Whigs: enough change to avoid revolution

1832 the Lords accepted the Reform Bill (fear of revolution)

time, number of voters increased by 50 %.

= Political recognition that Britain had become an urban society

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Reservados todos los derechos.

populated industrial towns.

Charter 1838; demand for rights

+ radicals gathered in London to ask the government to pardon the “Tolpuddle

Martyrs”: no. → symbol of employers’ cruelty.

• THE PEOPLE’S CHARTER

1840 introduction of a cheap postage system (1 penny a letter anywhere in

Britain, the Penny Black stamp) = enabled workers+radicals to organise

demand for rights

− Vote for all adults

− Man without property can be MP

− Election every year

− Payment for MPs

→ REFUSED BY THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

Reservados todos los derechos.

GOVERNMENT SAVED FROM REVOLUTION BY ROBERT PEEL (PM)