Key Historical Events in Britain and Europe: 17th to 20th Centuries
Welfare State
Welfare is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those unable to avail themselves of the minimal provisions for a good life. Modern welfare states include the Nordic countries, such as Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland, which employ a system known as the Nordic model. The welfare state involves a transfer of funds from the state to the services provided (i.e., healthcare, education) as well as directly to individuals.
New Labour
New Labour refers to a period in the history of the British Labour Party from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, led by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The “New Labour” brand was developed to regain trust from the electorate and to portray a departure from “Old Labour”, which was criticized for its breaking of election promises and its links between trade unions and the state. The “New Labour” brand was used to communicate the party’s modernization to the public.
The Seven Years’ War
The Seven Years’ War was a world war that took place between 1754 and 1763, with the main conflict being in the seven-year period 1756-1763. It involved most of the great powers of the time and affected Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines. The war was driven by the antagonism between Great Britain (in personal royal union with the principality of Hanover in Germany) and the Bourbon Dynasty (in France and Spain), resulting from overlapping interests in their colonial and trade empires, and by the antagonism between the Hohenzollern Dynasty (in Prussia) and Habsburg Dynasty (with their Holy Roman Emperors and archdukes in Austria), resulting from territorial and hegemonial conflicts in the Holy Roman Empire.
Jacobite Risings
When James II ascended to the English throne in 1685, he was the first Catholic monarch in nearly 130 years. For once, the Anglicans and Puritans of England, ever at each other’s throats, were united in opposition, but since James had only two daughters by his first wife, and they had been raised as Protestants, no effort was yet made to depose him. In 1688, however, a son was born, and with the prospect of a Catholic succession, there arose almost immediately a widespread movement to depose James II and raise one of his Protestant daughters to the throne. Within a year, William III and Mary were crowned King and Queen of England, and James II was sent into exile. Catholic Ireland, however, immediately declared for James II, but after several years, this rebellion was put down by Williamite Royalists. A smaller-scale rebellion in Scotland was also put down at this time, and for thirty years there was no further significant resistance. France and other Catholic countries, however, still recognized James II and his descendants as the legitimate heirs to the English throne, and his cause was also popular in Ireland and Scotland. Loyalists to James II and his line were called Jacobites because Jacobus is the Latin form of James.
Further resistance by the Jacobite factions did not occur until both Mary and Anne Stuart died without issue, and the English crown was passed from the Stuarts to the German Hanoverians. This caused a great resurgence of sympathy for the Jacobite cause, especially in Scotland, where the Stuarts had held sway for over 300 years. The two most famous Jacobite risings, in 1715 and 1745, occurred during the reign of the Hanovers and were both centered in Scotland. Ireland, as always, was sympathetic to the Jacobite cause, but penal laws and other oppressive measures inflicted on the Irish following the Williamite War in Ireland made it difficult for the Irish to lend much martial support to the cause.
The Thatcher Revolution
The Thatcher Revolution was arguably the greatest political, economic, and cultural shift in 20th-century Britain. Thatcher’s Conservative party won the 1979 General Election after the Winter of Discontent. It promised uncompromising measures to reverse Britain’s decline, with a belief in a free market, private enterprise, and less government economic protection or interference. The idea was that low rates of taxation and public expenditure would reduce inflation, stabilize the economy, and ensure its revival.
First Term (1979-1983)
The economic crisis worsened as industrial production fell by 10% and manufacturing production by 15%. Unemployment rose from 1.2 million to over 3 million. There was civil and industrial conflict in depressed areas, and Thatcher moved to break the trade unions’ power.
Shipbuilding and iron and steel industries practically disappeared. Despite high unemployment and the 1981 riots, the Conservatives won the 1983 General Election by 144 seats, helped by the Falkland Islands victory and division in the Labour party.
Second Term (1983-1987)
There was a miners’ strike and privatization of public sector industries. The economy seemed to be on the road to recovery, and there were record levels of consumer spending, despite high unemployment close to 4 million and around 1 million homeless.
Third Term (1987-1992)
The country entered a period of recession. The issue of European integration divided the cabinet. There was a widely-held impression of a divided party governing a divided nation.
Fourth Term (1992-1997)
John Major led the Conservatives to victory over Labour. Major opted out of monetary union and maintained Thatcherite economic policies, achieving relative success. The Conservative government was rocked by a succession of sleaze scandals.
Arts Council
The Arts Council was founded in 1946, with a tradition of government support but a lack of interference. During the 1980s, subsidies were severely reduced, with consequences of cuts in funding.
The Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought on 21 October 1805 between the navies of France and Spain on one side, and Great Britain on the other. The battle took place near Cape Trafalgar (a cape is a piece of land sticking out into the sea), which is in southwest Spain. The battle ended with a clear victory for the British forces. This allowed Britain to become the world’s largest sea power for 100 years. The Battle of Trafalgar was the most important sea battle of the 19th century.
France and Britain had been at war for some time. France had built the strongest army in Europe and controlled much of the land. Because it was an island, Britain had built a strong navy and had used this to try to prevent French ships from leaving their ports. (This is called a blockade.) Because the French leader Napoleon Bonaparte wanted to invade (capture) Britain, he knew that he would have to sink the British navy first, otherwise, it would be able to prevent his army from landing.
The British knew that France might try to attack them and had placed ships outside the important French ports, like Toulon. The admiral (chief sailor) in charge of the British fleet was Lord Horatio Nelson. He had become famous in Britain for his victories over the French, such as at the Battle of the Nile in 1798.
But the French navy managed to avoid Nelson’s fleet and leave Toulon during a storm and met up with a group of Spanish ships. Spain at the time was an ally (partner) of France. This small fleet first sailed to the West Indies, then returned across the Atlantic Ocean to the Spanish port of Cadiz. They wanted to join up with more French ships to make a stronger fleet. The British had chased them both ways across the ocean.
Because France was unable to invade Britain, British soldiers were able to fight on the European continent together with the armies of other countries against the armies of Napoleon. In the end, Napoleon was finally defeated in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo. With control of the seas, Britain was able to build up a large empire during the years that followed, and its navy was the world’s largest for over a hundred years.
Nelson’s body was brought back to Great Britain, and he was given a hero’s funeral. In 1843, the famous Trafalgar Square and Nelson’s Column were built in London to honor him.