The story of the British Isles is that of a creative mixture of peoples. In modern times their insularity gave these islands security and enabled them to influence the world more than any other islands in history. Until the Norman Conquest in 1066, however, insularity was no bar to settlement within the islands by peoples from the European continent, since movement by sea was then easier than by land. ISLAND PEOPLES--TO 1066 Various peoples of different stocks entered Britain in the early stages of its history. It is convenient to call them, from their speech, \TCelts\t and \TAnglo-Saxons\t. The earlier Celts are now represented by the Irish and Gaelic Scots, the later Celts by the Welsh and Cornish. In addition to the main Germanic element of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, Scandinavian peoples also settled in Britain--Danes in eastern \TEngland\t and Norse (Norwegians) in the northwest, the Hebrides, and around the Irish coast. Within Britain significant differences have long persisted between the highland and lowland zones. These zones may be demarcated by drawing an imaginary line from the Tyne River in the northeast to Exeter in the southwest. All the land to the south is the lowland zone, and all to the north and west--including \TWales\t, \TScotland\t, and \TIreland\t--is the highland zone. There is a marked contrast in climate and culture between the two. The lowland was more accessible and open to influences from Europe, while the highland was more isolated and thus more conservative and inward-looking. Romans The Roman occupation of Britain illustrates this division. Present in England from AD 43 to c.400, the Romans were effectively confined to the lowland zone. Many signs of those four centuries of occupation can be seen today--in the road system that converges on London, in the remarkable resort city of \TBath\t, in \THadrian\t's \TWall\t and other rich archaeological remains, and, most of all, in Christianity, which continued in Britain after the withdrawal of the Romans. In the 5th century, Saint Ninian missionized in Scotland, Saint \TPatrick\t in Ireland. The Britons also produced a significant figure in Pelagius (c.355-425), whose heresy of \TPelagianism\t upheld the essential goodness of human nature as against the orthodox emphasis on sin as man's condition. Germanic Settlements Even before the Roman withdrawal, immigration of the Germanic peoples from across the English Channel and North Sea had begun. Two main waves brought the Anglo-Saxons (English), from c.450 to 550, and the Scandinavian \TVikings\t, from c.800 to 1000. The English gradually pushed the Britons ("Welsh" to them) westward until the former reached (c.600) the Mersey and the Bristol Channel. This fragmented the Celtic peoples, who were now concentrated in the areas of Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Thenceforward the English were the dominant stock in what had become England. The process consisted not only of war and conquest but of colonization. There remained Celtic elements in a gradual fusion of peoples, particularly in \TWessex\t, which became the dominant kingdom in the later Anglo-Saxon period. The Roman influence returned in 597, when Saint \TAugustine of Canterbury\t began to convert the pagan English and to gradually organize the English church. Celtic influence also returned from the northwest, as missionaries from Iona, a center of Celtic Christianity, penetrated the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of \TNorthumbria\t and \TMercia\t. Rivalry between the Roman and Celtic churches ensued, but the Synod of Whitby (664), at which King Oswy of Northumbria adopted Roman usages, set the pattern for the development of the English church. In this period northern England produced one of the greatest European scholars, Saint \TBede\t, who wrote a classic account of his people's conquest of Britain. And from the southwest came the influential Saint \TBoniface\t, who was a missionary to the Germans along the Rhine and organized the German church for Rome. The brilliant early Anglo-Saxon period was ended by the destructive Viking invasions. Responsibility for organizing the English resistance fell to the kings of Wessex. The most notable of these rulers was \TAlfred\t (r. 871-899), who held the line against the Danes and restricted their settlement to the \TDanelaw\t, mainly eastern counties where Danes settled alongside of the English. Anglo-Saxon England was much weakened by the continuing Danish raids, and for a time (1016-42) the country was part of the North Sea empire of King \TCanute\t and his sons. Norman Conquest The Vikings, or Norsemen, raided all around northwestern Europe and made their most important settlement across the English Channel in Normandy. The duchy of Normandy became the most highly organized and militarily efficient state in Europe. The \TNormans\t decided the future of England. Norman influence was already gaining ground under the last English king, \TEdward the Confessor\t, to whom the Norman duke William regarded himself as heir. On Edward's death (1066) William invaded England to claim the throne from the half-Danish \THarold II\t. Harold was defeated at the Battle of \THastings\t. The Norman conqueror assumed the English crown as \TWilliam I\t. The Norman conquest brought England close to continental Europe in terms of cross-Channel relations with Normandy, France, and the Low Countries. However, the Norman genius for military and political organization meant that England was at last tightly pulled together under an enforced unity and rendered secure from outside invasion. It could now work out its own destiny. THE MIDDLE AGES, 1066-1485 Norman Rule For much of the medieval period, England--and, increasingly, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland--was dominated by a French-speaking military aristocracy. The Norman Conquest virtually destroyed the Anglo-Saxon governing class. Their lands were seized, and all resistance was crushed. William the Conqueror devastated northern England in particular. As they destroyed, so also the Normans built--more firmly and efficiently than had been done before. The \TTower of London\t, intended to protect the capital and also to overawe it, remains as visual evidence of this. In the north a splendid acropolis, a vast cathedral and castle together, was built at \TDurham\t to rule the border country and defend it against the Scots. An even more remarkable monument is \TDomesday Book\t, which testifies to the Norman genius for administration. Compiled (1085-86) by order of William the Conqueror, it was a complete survey of the land, its holdings, tenures, and services, wealth, population, animals, resources, and taxable capacity. A Russian historian has called the Domesday Book "the greatest record of medieval Europe." The history of British administration is no less remarkable than its constitutional history, which has had widespread influence abroad. The English hated Domesday Book, Norman taxation, and the harsh Norman rule. They lived their own lives and spoke their own language--or, rather, various dialects of what is now regarded as Middle English. For some years English monks continued to record events in the \TAnglo-Saxon Chronicle\t. The English also continued to produce alliterative poetry, which later surfaced in the masterpiece \TPiers Plowman\t. The lasting achievement of the 12th century was the internal colonization of the land. The new monastic order of the \TCistercians\t contributed to this process; they built their monasteries in sequestered areas, cultivated the land around, and bred great flocks of sheep on hills and wolds. England became the chief supplier of fine wool to the cloth industries of the Low Countries and Italy. The wool trade, which was easily taxable by government (the lord chancellor's seat in the House of Lords is still called a woolsack), was the chief strength of the medieval economy. Church and State Along with efficient government, the Normans reformed the church; they brought in men like \TLanfranc\t and Saint \TAnselm\t to set new standards in religion and thought. All over the country splendid cathedrals and monasteries were built as well as the Norman castles that held the country together in a tight spider's web. From these centers a feudal society was organized; most of the land was held by and owed service to Norman lords, who in turn owed allegiance and service to the king (see \Tfeudalism\t). The reform of the church led to a clash between its claims and those of the state. Both \TWilliam II\t (r. 1087-1100) and \THenry I\t (r. 1100-35) fought Anselm in the \Tinvestiture controversy\t. Later the church-state conflict was renewed by \THenry II\t (r. 1154-89) and Thomas \TBecket\t, archbishop of Canterbury. The murder (1170) of Becket by four of Henry's knights created a European furor and forced Henry to confirm the privileges of the church. Canterbury became the shrine of the canonized Becket, whose cult spread all over Europe. He was depicted in stained glass, painted fresco, and manuscript illumination as a prime English saint, although actually he was pure Norman. Expansion of Influence Henry II was the heir not only to England and Normandy but to the vast \TAngevin\t territories in France. By marriage to \TEleanor of Aquitaine\t he also secured \TAquitaine\t, whose chief city, Bordeaux, was the center of the wine trade with England. As a result, England's foreign relations focused more than ever upon France. Meanwhile the powerful Norman military caste pursued expansionist aims closer to home. Normans settled in and gradually feudalized Scotland. Eventually a Norman family, the \LStuart\ls, was to succeed (1371) to the Scottish throne. Norman barons also conquered the Welsh border and much of South Wales. An expedition under Richard de Clare, 2d earl of Pembroke, known as Strongbow, began the Anglo-Norman conquest of Celtic Ireland in 1170. This brought into existence Norman-Celtic feudal families--Fitzgeralds, Butlers, Burkes--who ruled much of Ireland under nominal suzerainty from England. Legal and Constitutional Developments Within England an increasingly firm and diverse society flowered, made possible by the internal peace maintained by a strong monarchy. (When the monarch was not strong--as in the reign of \TStephen\t and later of John and Henry III--there came periods of confusion and barons' wars.) Henry II gave significant impetus to the development of a system of royal justice that superseded feudal courts. From this there grew up the system of \Tcommon law\t, based on the decisions of the king's judges, who traveled around the country. In contrast to Roman civil law and the church's canon law, common law reflected the customs and instincts of the English people, who were beginning to recover influence. Norman lawyers, like Ranulf de Glanvill (d. 1190) and Henry de Bracton (d.1268), helped to codify it. Its very flexibility and adaptability (like the empirical spirit of British philosophy later) was to ensure its future importance among English-speaking peoples all over the world, especially in the United States. A step of later constitutional significance was taken with the granting of \TMagna Carta\t in 1215. The document itself registered feudal concessions extracted by the barons and the church from King \TJohn\t (r. 1199-1216), whose position had been drastically weakened by the loss of Normandy. The fact that Magna Carta set forth certain "liberties," however, opened the way to greater liberties later. Magna Carta became more important in time, especially with the development of \TParliament\t. This institution was also to have major significance in all English-speaking countries. Many medieval states had comparable institutions, but none with such a future. Parliament was in origin an extension of the royal council (curia regis), in which the king consulted magnates from all over the realm. In 1265, during the \TBarons' War\t between \THenry III\t (r. 1216-72) and the nobility, the baronial leader Simon de \TMontfort\t summoned a Parliament that also included local gentry from each county (knights of the shire) and middle-class people of the leading towns (burgesses). Thus for the first time the whole country was represented--or, at least, all the active elements who ran it. Thereafter, these representatives were generally consulted in times of national emergency--as during foreign wars or rebellions--that necessitated the raising of money. This gradually strengthened the lower elements in Parliament, the Commons (knights and burgesses), to whom it fell to raise the money. Financial power gave them some control over the executive and eventually won them a share in it. In the end, many centuries later, the House of Commons came to provide the executive--the system called parliamentary government. But the origin was, and the essence has always been, \Trepresentation\t. Thus, from this medieval institution flowed the idea of representative government, which is a chief contribution of English-speaking peoples to political practice and thinking throughout the world. Cultural Development Universities are another legacy from the Middle Ages. Medieval England had two. Oxford was already a center of learning in the 12th century, when \TGeoffrey of Monmouth\t wrote his History of the Kings of Britain, which spread the Arthurian stories into the literatures and arts of Europe. In the 1160s students began to form a university at Oxford, and in the early 13th century a group emigrated from Oxford to start another university at Cambridge. Medieval Oxford was one of the great universities of Europe; its philosophers Roger \Tbacon\t, John \TDuns Scotus\t, and \TWilliam of Occam\t, among others, were leading European thinkers. This succession ended with John \TWycliffe\t, who challenged the foundations of the church and medieval religious thought. His followers exerted marked influence with John \THuss\t in central Europe; the \TLollards\t, with their translation of the Bible and their preaching, heralded the eventual Reformation. The 13th century may be regarded as the meridian of medieval culture. It saw not only the rise of the universities but the establishment of new religious orders, the \TDominicans\t and \TFranciscans\t, who made contributions to philosophic thought. The architectural achievements of the age included \TWestminster Abbey\t and \TSalisbury Cathedral\t. Renewal of Expansion The reign (1272-1307) of \TEdward I\t is important in terms of major legal reforms that further asserted the judicial supremacy of the crown. It also saw the renewal of expansion with Edward's militant aggression against Wales and Scotland. He conquered the mountain fastness of North Wales, building a girdle of splendid castles, the most notable of which was \TCaernarvon\t, seat of the principality that he created for the eldest son of ruling monarchs. Edward also annexed Scotland. This did not last, however. At the Battle of \TBannockburn\t (1314) the Scots under \TRobert I\t confirmed their independence. Between 1347 and 1349 the Black Death (see \Tbubonic plague\t) killed a quarter of the English population. This profoundly disturbed feudal society, leading the peasantry and artisans to demand more for their labor. Ultimately the discontent produced the \TPeasants' Revolt\t of 1381. \TEdward III\t (r. 1327-77) revived the claims of his ancestors to the French territories and thus began the \THundred Years' War\t with France. There was an interlude under pacific, art-loving \TRichard II\t, during whose reign (1377-99) English literature reached new heights with the work of Geoffrey \TChaucer\t. Richard was, however, an incompetent king, and he was deposed by his cousin \THenry IV\t (r. 1399-1413), who brought the house of \TLancaster\t to the throne. Henry's son \THenry V\t (r. 1413-22) renewed the claims on France. A soldier and ruler of great ability, he defeated the French in the Battle of \TAgincourt\t (1415) and won the right of succession to the French throne. Lancaster Versus York Henry V's extraordinary achievement proved a mirage, for he died young and was succeeded by his infant son, \THenry VI\t. In France the tide was turned against the English invaders with the appearance of \TJoan of Arc\t, and by 1450 the English were driven out of France (except for Calais, which they held until 1558). This eventuality, combined with the incapacity of Henry VI, produced a dynastic conflict between the royal houses of Lancaster and \TYork\t resulting in the Wars of the \TRoses\t. These wars (1455-85) distracted the country at intervals without disturbing its social life. The wool industry continued to flourish; in addition to wool production, there was a gradual turn to manufacture in the clothing areas of East Anglia and the West Country. The great churches and civic buildings of such provincial capitals as \TYork\t, \TNorwich\t, and \TBristol\t testify to the period's prosperity. The \TPerpendicular Gothic style\t of these buildings was a specifically English contribution to architecture. The same period produced a monument of English prose in Sir Thomas \TMalory\t's Arthurian romances. The conflict was brought to an end by the victory of the Lancastrian heir, Henry Tudor, over \TRichard III\t at Bosworth Field in 1485. The new king, \THenry VII\t, united the two houses by marrying Elizabeth of York, daughter of Richard's predecessor, \TEdward IV\t. THE NATION STATE, 1485-1688 The fact that Henry VII was a Welsh Tudor reconciled Wales to union with England, formalized by the Act of Union (1536). Wales was organized into counties and came under the English system of local government, by which the gentry served as justices of the peace, and received representation in Parliament. Reformation Farsighted Henry VII backed the early voyages of John \TCabot\t from Bristol to North America. However, the promise of these early discoveries was not immediately followed up because of \THenry VIII\t's absorption in the English \TReformation\t. Although the Reformation stemmed from Henry's desire to divorce his first wife, \TCatherine of Aragon\t, it became a controlled revolution, supervised by the able minister Thomas \TCromwell\t. Henry broke with Rome, subordinated the church to the state, ended monasticism, and annexed vast church properties to the crown. The last were gradually sold and came into the hands of the gentry and middle classes, immensely increasing their economic strength and leading them to claim greater political power through the House of Commons. Some of these resources were also used to strengthen the nation-state. Henry VIII built a powerful navy and fortified the whole Channel coast. The struggle over the Reformation--EDWARD VI's reign advanced it, \TMary I\t's retarded it--was resolved by the long and successful reign (1558-1603) of \TElizabeth I\t. During these years the Church of England achieved its permanent character; its intellectual position was defined by the great work of Richard \THooker\t in The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (1593). (See \TEngland, Church of\t.) Elizabethan Age That issue settled, the Elizabethans were able to renew voyages across the Atlantic and, with Sir Francis \TDrake\t and Thomas \TCavendish\t, around the world. Expansive energies drove them to challenge Spain's monopoly of the New World, leading to conflict in the Caribbean and elsewhere. Sir Humphrey \TGilbert\t and Sir Walter \TRaleigh\t led the campaign to establish English settlements in North America, taking possession of Newfoundland in 1583 and sending out colonies to Roanoke Island (now in North Carolina) from 1585 on. Many voyages explored the American coasts, and several penetrated the Davis Strait in search of a \TNorthwest Passage\t to China and the Far East. Voyages searching for a \TNortheast Passage\t opened up direct sea routes to Russia. The English were given privileges in Russian trade that extended to the Caspian Sea and Persia. From 1580 strong expeditions into the Mediterranean produced direct trade with Turkey and the Middle East; companies were formed in London for this purpose. In 1600 the British \TEast India Company\t was founded to make trading voyages around the Cape of Good Hope; from these beginnings British interests in the East rapidly expanded. Spain was determined to keep other Europeans out of the New World. Moreover, its efforts to suppress the revolt against Spanish rule in the Netherlands posed a direct threat to nearby England, especially since the Spanish king, \TPhilip II\t, supported revolt against Elizabeth I. These factors precipitated a long war between England and Spain from 1585 to 1604. The defeat of the \TSpanish Armada\t of 1588 increased the self-confidence of the Elizabethans and gave a patriotic inspiration to the brilliant \TElizabethan Age\t. This was expressed creatively in literature and the arts, in a general cultural renaissance, and in scientific development, particularly in cosmography and navigation. The work of William \TShakespeare\t and others made the Elizabethan era one of the most creative periods in the history of drama. In the conflict with Spain, Ireland lay strategically open to Spanish incursion, the more so since it remained overwhelmingly Roman Catholic. Under Queen Elizabeth, therefore, Ireland was increasingly subjugated, a process completed by the reduction of Ulster and the latter's partial plantation with Scottish settlers after the accession of James I. Plantation in Ireland served as a blueprint for colonization in North America. After the war with Spain ended (1604), the \TLondon Company\t was founded, and \TJamestown\t was established (1607) in Virginia. Efforts in New England were begun, but development there awaited the arrival of the \TPilgrims\t in 1620 and the larger settlement of Puritans (see \TPuritanism\t) in the 1630s. Union and Division The accession (1603) of the Stuart, James VI of Scotland, to the English throne as \TJames I\t brought the personal union of the Scottish and English crowns. Although institutional union of the two kingdoms did not occur until 1707, the whole of Great Britain was now united under a Scottish dynasty. It proved almost impossible, however, to hold the kingdoms together on one course. They differed in religion, even within each country, and this exacerbated political differences and produced conflicts, civil war, and rebellions at intervals throughout the 17th century. England was largely Anglican. Scotland had been won over to the Calvinist Reformation by John \TKnox\t and emerged predominantly Presbyterian. Ireland remained Catholic, except for the now-Scottish Presbyterian northeast. There were also religio-political divisions within each country. The most dynamic movement was that of the Puritans in England, who wanted a Presbyterian established church. They were a minority, but they continued to increase their strength in eastern England, among the growing urban middle class, and, above all, in London, whose commercial and financial resources held the key to the situation. Puritan sympathies in Parliament won a narrow majority in the House of Commons, which was soon pitted against \TCharles I\t (r. 1625-49) and the Anglican church. Puritan intellectual leadership was provided largely by Cambridge University, which had risen to prominence in the Reformation. And, of course, the Puritan parliamentarians had allies in New England and, above all, in Scotland. Conflict finally erupted in the \TEnglish Civil War\t. In the first war (1642-46), the Puritans brought in the Scottish Presbyterians to turn the tide and decide the issue of power. They already had far superior resources--economic, military, and naval--but they were divided among themselves--moderates against radicals, Presbyterians against Independents (Congregationalists), and Parliament against the army headed by Oliver \TCromwell\t. In 1648 civil war was renewed, with the defeated King Charles now in alliance with the Scots. Charles was again defeated, and Cromwell's army, having seized control from Parliament, brought about the judicial murder of the king. After this act no reconciliation was possible. The army next proceeded to subdue (1649-50) the royalists in Ireland. The lands of royalists and Catholics were expropriated on a large scale and granted to Cromwellian soldiers and settlers, who provided a nucleus for the Protestant ascendancy that controlled Ireland until 1922. The Presbyterian Scots revolted and invaded England to restore the monarchy under \TCharles II\t. However, Cromwell defeated the Scots at both Dunbar (1650) and Worcester (1651); Scotland was occupied and an enforced union imposed. England, Scotland, and Ireland became a republic--called first the Commonwealth, later the Protectorate, with Cromwell as lord protector. Republic and Restoration The dynamic impulse of the English republic was seen in its aggressive expansion, as well as its military and naval efficiency. Puritans had earlier been in the fore of colonizing and imperialist enterprises; now the same spirit directed national policy. The first of the \TAnglo-Dutch Wars\t was fought (1652-54) for commercial and maritime supremacy; parity was achieved. In addition, Cromwell renewed war against Spain both in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. Cromwell's army dictatorship could not last, however. It rested on a small minority in the country, strained the nation's resources, and was bound to end with Cromwell himself, who could neither find a civilian basis for his rule nor reconcile England--let alone Scotland or Ireland--to it. The restoration of both the monarchy and Parliament was the only hope for a permanent solution. Royalists and parliamentarians came together to effect it with the \TRestoration\t of Charles II in 1660. This move marked the restoration of the governing classes and the Anglican church. The Puritan Revolution had proved abortive; henceforth Puritanism took the form of minority sects of \Tnonconformists\t. Restored Stuart rule rested on a compromise between the crown and Parliament--the terrible civil war had at least achieved this balance. The crown continued to provide the executive, but it had to rule on the basis--and with the support--of Parliament. With this settled, the ruling elements in the nation, with the commercial and maritime interests constantly increasing in power, renewed their drive for trade and colonies overseas. The second Anglo-Dutch War (1664-67) added New York to the growing chain of English North American colonies. English trading factories in India--particularly Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay--portended the extension of British rule from these bases. \TJames II\t, who succeeded Charles II in 1685, attempted to overturn the political and religious balance by his Catholicizing policy--he was himself a Roman Catholic--and his attempt to gain greater power for the monarchy. This united the governing classes of both the \TWhig\t and \TTory\t parties--which had just developed--against him. They called in his son-in-law, the Dutch and Protestant William of Orange, to replace him as \TWilliam III\t. This was effected by the so-called \TGlorious Revolution\t of 1688. Once again the decision in England was contested in Ireland, but imposed by force upon it-- James's supporters were defeated at the Battle of the \TBoyne\t in 1690. A compromise was effected in Scotland by recognition of Presbyterianism as the national Church of Scotland (see \TScotland, Church of\t). This rendered possible the subsequent Act of Union (1707), which made Scotland an equal partner with England in economic and colonial enterprise and gave it representation in Parliament. The way was now open to Scottish participation in government and trade--in London and throughout the growing empire. The constitutional settlement of the Glorious Revolution, which in effect ensured the supremacy of Parliament, besides barring Catholics from the throne, gave England enough stability to take the lead--with Holland--in the European resistance to the ascendancy of France. This struggle was to be fought out in a series of wars lasting from 1689 to 1815. EMPIRE AND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, 1688-1837 A cardinal principle of British policy was to maintain the balance of power against any state that was so strong as to threaten the independence of others. In that principle Britain found its own security--as against Philip II's Spain and later against \TLouis XIV\t's France. French Wars and American Revolution Britain began its participation in the wars against Louis XIV with the War of the \TGrand Alliance\t (1689-97). This was followed by the larger-scaled War of the \TSpanish Succession\t, which began (1702) after Louis had claimed the inheritance of the whole Spanish Empire for his grandson Philip V. For the British this conflict was known as Marlborough's war. John Churchill, 1st duke of \TMarlborough\t, won a succession of victories, the most striking of which was the Battle of \TBlenheim\t (1704) in Bavaria. By the Peace of Utrecht (1713; see \TUtrecht, Peace of\t) some restraint was placed upon France, although the Bourbon dynasty retained the Spanish throne. This led to a series of alliances--Family Compacts--by which France and Spain fought several wars against Britain and its allies. In 1714 the death of the last Stuart monarch, \TAnne\t, brought to the throne the elector of Hanover, \TGeorge I\t. Rebellions (1715, 1745) by the \TJacobites\t (supporters of James II's descendants) could not unseat the new German dynasty. The Hanoverian connection involved Britain even more closely in European affairs and wars. Although the War of the \TAustrian Succession\t (1742-48) resulted in little change, the \TSeven Years' War\t (1756-63) was a different matter. Through the exercise of sea power and under the inspired leadership of William \TPitt\t the Elder, Britain won Canada (1760) and eliminated French power in India. This constituted the apogee of the first \TBritish Empire\t, which now included much of North America. With the threat from French Canada removed, however, the American colonies moved toward independence. The London government's determination to make the colonies bear part of the expense of the wars (called the \TFrench and Indian Wars\t in America) raised colonial protests against taxation without representation. An impasse was reached, which resulted in the \TAmerican Revolution\t and, ultimately, British recognition (1783) of the independence of the United States of America. France had aided the colonies in the American Revolution, and ten years later Britain was again engaged in war with France. This time it was a mortal struggle with Revolutionary and later Napoleonic France (see \TFrench Revolutionary Wars\t; \TNapoleonic Wars\t). Britain's command of the sea narrowly averted invasion by \TNapoleon I\t and finally helped to overthrow France's rule over Europe. The long duel with France was over. During the crisis of the American war British rule in India was saved by a great proconsul, Warren \THastings\t. Upon the collapse of the \TMogul\t empire, Britain filled the vacuum, and gradually and reluctantly the British government took over responsibility for rule from the East India Company. At the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars, Britain retained Cape Colony (South Africa), which it had captured from the Dutch, as a station on the route to India. The British Empire was set for a new stage of development. Economic Development Certain internal developments had enabled Britain to defeat France, which was three times its size and had more than twice its population. Scotland was making rapid progress in commerce, agriculture, and manufacturing. In the late 18th and early 19th century a brilliant cultural epoch centered upon Edinburgh, "the Athens of the North." In Ireland, Dublin became a cultural center, as is reflected in its architectural distinction. England developed tremendous power with its \TIndustrial Revolution\t. In essence this meant the application of mechanical power to every form of manufacture and industry. Water power gave Yorkshire a lead in woolens; Lancashire became a world center for cottons, importing the raw material from America; and \TBelfast\t, in northeast Ireland, was the center of the linen industry. Communications were facilitated by a network of canals and a new road system. Vast deposits of coal and iron in various parts of Britain led to the growth of heavy industry, particularly steel. The application of steam power revolutionized mining and soon led to the invention of the steam locomotive and the development of railroads. Next, steel revolutionized shipbuilding. Britain was not only becoming the workshop of the world but was also creating the foundation of its modern industrial civilization. Concurrently agriculture was transformed and productivity increased by large-scale \Tenclosure\t of land and improved rotation of crops; steam power was also applied to operations on the land. Country-house civilization and the planned beauty of the countryside reached a peak about 1800. The population doubled, while large numbers emigrated to America and to new colonies in Australia and New Zealand. Social and Political Change The social and political consequences of economic change were profound and were, in time, to transform society in both islands. The Irish emigrated both to industrial Britain and overseas. The growth of the middle classes challenged the rule of landed aristocracy and gentry. The middle class demanded reform and a widening of opportunities in every sphere--political, social, educational, and religious, as well as in public health, medicine, and nutrition. John \TWesley\t, a religious leader and brilliant organizer, worked among the new industrial masses and created--unwillingly--the Methodist church, which took root both at home and in America (see \TMethodism\t). The expanding lower classes swelled Methodist membership as well as that of other nonconformist sects. The Church of England was also revived by the Evangelical movement-- inspired from Cambridge--among Low Churchmen, and by the \TOxford movement\t among High Churchmen. Both had their influence and following overseas; the former inspired the abolition of the slave trade in 1807 and of slavery throughout British dominions by 1834. The middle-class demand to share in government created agitation for reform from the late 18th century on. William \TPitt\t the Younger, who was prime minister from 1783 to 1801 and again in 1804-05, favored reform in most spheres but was frustrated by the long struggle against revolutionary France. Pitt brought to an end an experiment, begun in 1782, of nominal self-government in Ireland. The intended effect of his act (1801), to unite the Irish in a British parliament, was ruined by the refusal of King \TGeorge III\t to allow enfranchisement of the Catholic population. \TCatholic Emancipation\t was not conceded until 1829--too late to avert increasing unrest among the Irish. In Britain the \TReform Act\t of 1832 broadened parliamentary representation and opened the way for the middle class to share in power. Reform was now underway in every area: administration, local and municipal government, the \Tpoor laws\t, sanitation, and factory conditions. The Anglican monopoly of the old universities was ended, and new universities were started. Reform lagged behind in the army and navy and in lower education. VICTORIAN AND MODERN ERAS The Victorian Age--named for Queen \TVictoria\t, who reigned from 1837 to 1901--saw another peak reached, economically, politically, and culturally, with the diffusion of the English language and literature throughout the world. The growth of the United States helped make the fortune of Britain, for during this time, which has been called the Railway Age, British entrepreneurs built railroads at home and overseas as well. Free Trade and Further Reform The growth of the industrial working class necessitated cheaper food. In 1846 the repeal of the \TCorn Laws\t initiated the era of \Tfree trade\t. British agricultural interests were further hit when wheat from the American Middle West, transported by rail and steamship, poured into Britain from the 1870s on. The unfortunate \TCrimean War\t (1854-56), brought on by Russian expansion in the Middle East, revealed the inefficiency of aristocratic government and speeded up army reform. Benjamin \TDisraeli\t sought to broaden the appeal of the old Tory party and, building on the beginnings made by Sir Robert \TPeel\t, created the modern \TConservative\t PARTY. On the other side the Whigs gradually developed into the \LLiberal part\ly, led for many years by William Ewart \TGladstone\t. Gladstone, the champion of reform, began the task of dismantling the old regime in England as well as in Ireland, where he disestablished the Anglican Church of Ireland and began to dispossess the landlords in hopes of creating a society of peasant proprietors. He favored self-government for Ireland, but his \THome Rule Bills\t were defeated (1886 and 1894) by Unionist opposition. Gladstone championed liberalism and self-government everywhere (including South Africa). He was the antithesis of his contemporary Otto von \TBismarck\t, whose unification of Germany by "blood and iron" portended ill for the future. During this period the civil service was transformed by the introduction of an examination system. Numerous "public schools" (actually private institutions) were founded for the growing middle class. In 1870 a national system of primary education was belatedly created; not until 1902 was a complete nationwide system of secondary education brought into existence. (See \TBritish education\t.) The Empire The \TIndian Mutiny\t of 1857 ended the rule of the East India Company in India, and administration there was taken over directly by the crown. In Canada, where the Scottish element was large and provided many political leaders, the provinces formed a confederation in 1867. Australia achieved a similar federal union in 1901. Hopes of collaboration between the Dutch Boers and the British in South Africa were disastrously set back by the \TSouth African War\t of 1899-1902. The British won the war, but the establishment (1910) of the Union of South Africa gave the Boers (Afrikaners) effective control. Britain obtained substantial colonial holdings elsewhere in Africa as a result of the late-19th-century partition of that continent by the European powers. World Wars Britain had enjoyed a century of unprecedented security behind the shelter of naval supremacy, which was no threat to others and indeed gave security to both North and South America. The determination of the new German Empire to build a powerful navy gravely threatened Britain's existence, since it depended on overseas imports to feed its population. This, more than anything, caused Britain to end its isolationist policy toward Europe and align itself with France and Russia in the \TTriple Entente\t (1904, 1907). In the ensuing \TWorld War I\t (1914-18) Britain lost the large part of a generation of young men. The domestic effect of the war was to accelerate many social and political developments. Women, who worked in munitions and other industries during the war, won limited (1918) and then full (1928) suffrage. The issue of Irish home rule, which had brought Ireland to the brink of civil war in 1914, was placed on the political back stage for the duration of the war; however, increasing nationalist revolutionary activity and unionist resistance led to the partition (1920) of Ireland and the creation (1922) of the Irish Free State in the south. The war also split the old Liberal party, and after the defeat of its renegade leader David \TLloyd George\t in 1922, it dwindled and never regained strength. Its place was taken by the young \TLabour party\t, which formed its first short-lived government in 1924 and its second in 1929-31. Economic dislocation caused widespread hardship and industrial unrest in the early 1920s, and in 1926 there was a \Tgeneral strike\t. Economic difficulties increased with the worldwide depression of the 1930s. Ramsay \TMacDonald\t's second Labour government was converted into a coalition in 1931, and coalitions, soon dominated by the Conservatives, ruled the country until 1945. The abdication (1936) of King \TEdward VIII\t--so that he might marry an American divorcee--provided temporary distraction from economic woes and the mounting threat of Nazi Germany. The appeasement policy of Prime Minister Neville \TChamberlain\t failed, and in September 1939 Britain again declared war on Germany. Wartime leadership was soon assumed by Winston \TChurchill\t. As a result of \TWorld War II\t, European primacy in the world came to an end. The war brought the end of the British Empire as such. The creation (1947) of the independent states of India and Pakistan set in train the achievement of independence by nearly all Britain's colonies in the following 2 decades. Most of the former colonies, however, retained some ties with Britain in the \TCommonwealth of Nations\t. Welfare State The end of the war in 1945 brought to power the first majority Labour government. Britain already had a system of old-age pensions and health and unemployment insurance, first enacted by the Liberal government just prior to World War I. The post-World War II Labour government greatly extended social services and created (1948) the National Health Service, a system of socialized medicine. It also nationalized the Bank of England, the coal and steel industries, the railroads, communications facilities, and a number of other vital enterprises. The denationalization and then renationalization of some of these industries by subsequent Conservative (1951-64, 1970-74, 1979- ) and Labour (1964-70, 1974-79) governments were not conducive to economic stability. The social services of the \Twelfare state\t, however, were maintained. In the 1960s and 1970s, Britain experienced mounting economic problems--partly the product of its loss of colonial markets, partly the result of its failure to keep pace in both plant and labor and managerial practices with more recently industrialized nations. Britain entered the European Economic Community in 1973, thus loosening Commonwealth ties. These ties were further affected by the imposition, beginning in the 1960s, of restrictions on immigration from Commonwealth countries, in part a reflection of the racial tensions afflicting Britain's efforts to absorb a growing non-white minority. Throughout the 1970s the British government also sought to cope with more extreme tensions in \TNorthern Ireland\t; there a conflict originating in Protestant resistance to Catholic civil rights demands escalated into prolonged warfare between the \TIrish Republican Army\t and British troops. The Thatcher Years In the 1980s Britain was governed by a strong Conservative government under Margaret \TThatcher\t, who reversed the policies of her predecessors, returning nationalized industries to private control and cutting government expenditures. Benefiting from a military victory over Argentina in a war (1982) over the \TFalkland Islands\t, a small British colony in the south Atlantic, the government was buoyed by an upwelling of patriotic sentiment at home and the Conservatives won reelection in 1983. They retained their majority over a divided opposition in 1987. In 1990 Thatcher, who had angered the public by her decision to impose a common charge or "poll tax," resigned after quarreling with other party leaders over her reluctance to proceed further along the path of European integration. She was succeeded as prime minister and party leader by John \TMajor\t. In 1991, Britain was a prominent member of the U.S.-led coalition that opposed Iraq in the \TPersian Gulf War\t. A. L. Rowse Bibliography: Briggs, A., A Social History of England (1985); Childs, D., Britain Since 1945 (1980; repr. 1984); Churchill, Sir Winston, History of the English-Speaking Peoples, 4 vols. (1956-58); Clark, Sir George, ed., Oxford History of England, 15 vols. (1937-65); Dodd, A. H., Short History of Wales (1977); Haigh, C., ed., The Cambridge Historical Encyclopedia of Great Britain and Ireland (1985); Havighurst, A. F., Britain in Transition, 4th ed. (1985); Hollister, C. W., The Making of England, 5th ed. (1990); Kenyon, J. P., Stuart England (1978); Mackie, J. D., History of Scotland (1964); Morgan, K. O., ed., The Oxford Illustrated History of England (1984), and The People's Peace: British History, 1945-89 (1990); Porter, B., Britain, Europe and the World, 1850-1982 (1984); Rowse, A. L., The Spirit of English History (1943); Thompson, F. M., Cambridge Social History of Britain, 1750-1950, 3 vols. (1990); Trevelyan, George Macaulay, History of England, 3d rev. ed. (1952; repr. 1958). See also: \TIreland, history of\t; \TUnited Kingdom\t.