What is Margaret Thatcher's contribution to history?

Answer 1

Margaret Thatcher was the first female prime minister of Great Britain. She was also a great influence to British politics, serving longer as Prime Minister than any other in the 20th Century. Her impact on Britain was sweeping and lasting, leaving a market economy and a more right-wing Conservative party.

Here is a list of reasons why Thatcher was important. Try to understand that Britain was pretty much on the brink on self-destruction in the mid-late 70s. Britain was known as the sick man of Europe due to the strength of union activity that led to a great deal of strikes. The country was pretty much controlled by an aggresive form of old-style Socialism.

FIRST ELECTION WIN : 1979 - 1983

• Europe: She won Britain a £700 million rebait from the European Union (other European leaders did not like her confrontational, diplomatic style). Her mistrust of Europe led to her downfall.

• Economics: The core of Thatcherism, she introduced a new economic system call monetarism. This was the economic theory that the control on the supply of money would stabilise the economy. Instead of spending money to stimulate the economy (think Labour), she made huge Government cuts and doubled VAT. The effects were very painful. Even higher unemployment and a recession. However, she knew it had to be done to save Britain's economy and that it would take time. She was right.

• Falklands: She won the Falklands War in 1982. She saved British territory from an illegal invasion and from a military dictatorship. Patriotic frenzy swept Britain and she was re elected in 1983. Her tough nature and victory in the Falklands cemented her nickname by the Soviets as the 'Iron Lady'. The Falklands saved her career, and most importantly the world was reminded that Britain was still powerful as sea and in military action (the American Government said of British success in the Falklands an 'impossibility'). The Conservatives won a majority and were very powerful. At the same time the economy was beginning to grow and the Labour party was divided.

SECOND ELECTION WIN: 1983 - 1987

• Trade Unions: They were very powerful in the 70s and 80s. They had enough strength to bring down Governments (look up Edward Heath). Thatcher was ready to confront them. The Miner's Strike was the turning point. She refused to give in and saw the miner's as the 'enemy within' (she had reason, it turned out Arthur Scargill the leader of the strike had links with the Russians, IRA and Lybia). The union leaders abused their power and eventually many miners went back to work and the movement lost support. The Miner's Strike last more than a year. She changed the laws of the unions. Strikes are a rarity nowadays in the UK, however, there are some expected in 2011.

• Privatisation and popular capitalism: Thatcher closed off state owned industries and that were, at the time, uneconomical. After the Miner's Strike many mining pits were closed anyway, this was devastating for some mining communities. More importantly, Thatcherism had started divide Britain because of this. At the same time she privatised many of the state owned industries, for example BT. In the process ordinary citizens became shareholders once these industries had been sold off, this became known as 'Popular Capitalism'. Quality of services improved dramatically because of privatisation due a competitive FREE MARKET, this was good for the economy. London became the biggest financial centre in the world along side New York. When the banks were deregulated, there was a economic boom, this was known as the 'Big Bang'. Britain was never the same again.

THIRD ELECTION WIN: 1987-1990 (RESIGNED)

• Cold War: Reagan and Gorbachev both credited Thatcher with laying the foundations for bringing an end to the Cold War which led to the downfall of a Communist Soviet Union. Thatcher had formed a rapport with Gorbachev, they respected each other and became friends. This eased tensions between the US and USSR, as Britain had a special relationship with the US. Thatcher and President Regan got along famously. Her diplomacy with the USSR and US helped boost her popularity in Britain, especially her state visit to Russia in 1987.

• Poll tax: Probably the most hated tax of all time. Introduced by Thatcher effectively a community charged resulted in many people being taxed unfairly and above all way too much. Protests followed by riots ensued. This was the first critical blow which led to her resignation. It's important to realise Thatcher had spent many years in power, she relied on her confrontational style which had kept her in power, however, people in her own party wanted rid of her owing to her single mindedness.

• Europe: Back to where we started. Many Conservatives believed closer EU integration was a good thing. Thatcher was firmly opposed to the Exchanged Rate Mechanism which many wanted the UK to join. She believed that it would restrict Britain's economy. She had a deep mistrust of Europe and believed the ERM would lead to disruption and greater powers in Brussels (sounds familiar...). This led to the resignation of Geoffrey Howe, her former Chancellor and top minister. His resignation is important because he read it out in the House of Commons, but also it immediately led to a leadership challenge. Her party had lost confidence in her. She resigned in 1990.

She is important because during the 80s her policies not only changed Britain and the world (privatisation for example), but she forced all other political parties in Britain to adapt to her legacy. No one dares to think to nationalise industries, it's accepted that Government owned industries are thing of the past. She's important because she believed in capitalism, hated communism. And she pretty much stopped socialism in Britain, and now the socialist (Labour) have had to change themselves and accept her policies (New Labour) and they hate her for it. In Britain we live on her political landscape. Monetarism is accepted throughout the world thanks to the Thatcher Government. We've maintained a strong defence because of the Falklands War. Britain became very, very rich too. After 18 years of the Conservatives in power, when Labour won the 1997 election, the British economy was golden. However, the thorn in the side of Thatcherism was unemployment. It remained around the 3 million mark throughout her Premiership. This was a result of Public Sector losses. With a reliance on the financial sector, traditional industries were not needed so those who worked in the industry remained out of work.

Answer 2

You will get a different answer depending on the answered I would guess. She was either loved or hated - and still is...

In truth, she (along with President Reagan) changed much of the world's politics - the advent of consumerism (consumer choice) - privatisation and removing the monolpoly and making way for competition.

For the UK her years saw the GDP to soar 25%, spending on Law and order (+53%), Employment and Training (+33%), Healthy (+32%) and social security (+32%) to all rise (against what is popularly belived) and transport (-6%), trade and industry (-38% Gov no longersupportin expensive utilities etc that were now in the private sector), House (-67% getting rid of long term Gov poverty housing by allowing the tenant a right to buy saved a large fortune!), and unbelievable defence (-3%).

So, in short she saved a lot of cash from traditional money black holes and still increased services foir the poor and needy (and allowed poor people to buy their homes to give them the ability to get a step up).

She was famous for the Poll Tax whcih caused riots - but was really just misunderstood and badly flamed in propoganda - Brints ended up paying community tax instead which was still better than the old Rates system which no longer generated enough local taxes, but actually worked out worse than poll tax for the poor and elderly - as she said it would.

Her policies allowed Britain to come out of recession and to create the best economy the country had seen in modern times - with the best reserves since mid Victorian times (all wasted and plundered by New Labvour when sold off for cheap cash at 50C on the Dollar during a boom when Gold is at its lowest!!!)

She declared in November 1988, "We're not in a Cold War now" but rather in a "new relationship much wider than the Cold War ever was" - and worked with Reagon and Gorbachev - and was one of the first leaders to meet with him.

SHe and Reagan built that special relationship that strains these days - help was a two way street with diplomacy (see Bombing of Libya and IRA extradition treaty).

It also seems her staunch stand against joining nthe Euro (pushed by just about all of her enemies on all sides!) was the correct one.

She was PM during the Falkland's war also - and it is said the iron lady cried during a personal meeting with her cobinet over the loss of life that would occur! She also pushed/convinced Bush (Snr) to send troops in to Kuwait to repell the Iraqi invasion there.

In August 1992 Thatcher called for NATO to stop the Serbian assault on Goražde and Sarajevo to end ethnic cleansing during the Bosnian War. She compared the situation in Bosnia to "the worst excesses of the Nazis", and warned that there could be a "holocaust"

In March 2002 her book Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World, dedicated to Ronald Reagan, was released. In it, she claimed there would be no peace in the Middle East until Saddam Hussein was toppled, that Israel must trade land for peace, and that the European Union was "fundamentally unreformable", "a classic utopian project, a monument to the vanity of intellectuals, a programme whose inevitable destiny is failure". She argued that Britain should renegotiate its terms of membership or else leave the EU and join the North American Free Trade Area.

Answer 3

She was in power during the Falkland war and also the 1994 Iraq war. Margaret Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister was the longest since that of Lord Salisubry and the longest continuous period in office since Lord Liverpool in the early 19th century. She was the first woman to lead a major political party in the United Kingdom, and the first of only three women to hold any of the four great offices of state. She holds a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher, of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire, which entitles her to sit in the House of Lords.