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UK History
The history of the UK as a sovereign state started with the political union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland in 1707. The Union gave rise to the United Kingdom of Great Britain, which shared a single monarch and parliament.
2,023 Questions
What life was like in London in 1830's?
It was a difficult time for many people, mostly poor people and women because they didnt have any legal rights. Women could not own property or vote, and poor people didnt have any legal protection, most lived in poverty, or lived in unsuitable conditions in work houses. Many familys that ended up in debt went to the work house, but they were split up. Children were made to work in dangerous conditions and many of them had no education. This time was just before the chartist movement, which campaigned for these people to have rights, so in political terms, everything was uneasy. This was a time when equality barely existed. But for the fortunate wealthy people, life couldn't be better, most had stately homes and country parks, were educated, fashionable etc... although they were worried about the unwealthy gaining the upper hand.
Great Britain's new colonial policy?
Great Britain's new colonial policy is to be colonized by people from other parts of the world.
What impact did the British Empire have on the world?
why do you think i asked the question wiki answers is rubbish and is no help at all i hate it :(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(
Did the Victorian era come before or after the Rennaiscance?
After 1819-1901 vs 14th -17th centuries.
no its gay ho banger
Who was the first prime minister elected by Elizabeth 2?
Please note that in Britain the reigning monarch does not elect the prime minister. When Elizabeth II succeeded her father on 6 February 1952 Winston Churchill was the prime minister.
Was the British empire a bad thing?
no... it still has effects today, like a lot of people speak English.
it also served a common good purpose, the defeat of Hitler in world war 2, you have to admit that without the British empire, Hitler could of won the war.
-Yes and no.
Being part of an empire has advantages. Also disadvantages. It can lead to the demise of cultures and also to the stifling of the development of cultures, but lets focus on the real bad part.
The creation of the British empire involved bad things. It was created as much through warfare, destruction, propaganda, manipulation, totalitarianism, terror tactics, crime, drug dealing, as it was through innovation, engineering and great legal and financial systems.
Any empire is created in a bad way. Empire entails a group of people ruling over others after some form of conquest. Usually what was already established might have had to be cleared away so the culture of the imperialist may take over.
There is perhaps an argument that England mostly conquered territory that was not "civilised" (not inhabited by advanced white European peoples, etc.) thus some might say it had some divine purpose of bringing advanced culture to those places.
Obviously down the line there are lots of advantages in being part of an empire, however anyone who does not want to admit that it was also evil in many regards, suffers greatly from delusions of moral grandeur.
A very useful perk that England obtained through creating a global empire, was a great monopoly over world media. This meant that Anglophone nations had and still has a lot of power over how modern history as well as the role of the British Empire in that history is to be perceived by the peoples of the world today.
The British Empire did not simply spawn from thin air. Like any other empire, it had to be forged.
This means that the BE was created through hundreds of wars, implying destruction, plunder, oppression, terror, brutality and everything else you would normally associate with the other empires that get thrashed in the media so regularly. However this is seldom given much attention.
Traced back to its roots, England needed the British Isles to be united, so it could compete with the larger and more powerful European nations. This meant invading and conquering Ireland, Scotland and Wales. This eventually resulted in the demise of their language and culture to a great extent. The British Empire was born out of this.
Apart from all the wars of conquest, the BE also got involved in a great many wars across the globe to strengthen its political position and to weaken future rivals. Creating a world Empire required constant treading on heads. Entering into the poplar pursuit of empire building, was to enter into a dirty game, that every nation played to some extent at some time. Many of these wars are sold today as having been participated in purely for noble, humanitarian reasons. The best example is the coveted WW1, which is a little diluted in the minds of many Anglophones. The war was fought mostly for imperialistic reasons; the fear that growing German influence would encroach too much upon that of the empire, also the undesired prospect of Germany replacing England as the arbiters of European affairs. The involvement of the BE contributed to the severity of the conflict and also turned it into the world-wide war that it was. The result of the treaty of Versailles and the taking of all of Germany's colonies was that every single person in Germany (even their colonists who wanted no part in the war) was severely punished collectively. This led to an infuriated and desperate Germany, and thus Hitler. Thus, it goes without saying that the British Empire was not above being self serving and doing some extent of bad. However, to Anglophone people this particular and more realistic history is usually presented a little sugar coated.
The British Empire fought against Napoleon, Germany, Russia and Japan amongst others, because these nations wanted to: increase their territory, influence and future cultural prosperity through invading, conquering and oppressing/dominating others.- Basically the same stuff England had to do to create the world wide British Empire. It sounds like a war between mafia families.
The South African Dutch for example, had their free states and colonies annexed three times in a row by the British, the last time resulting in a war, which they lost, and the Anglicisation of Southern Africa.
So even in modern times the BE was not all good. Even after WW2 the BE did some bad things to protect its interests. Take Kenya and the Suez crisis as examples.
The point is, the British Empire brought innovation, technology, useful international language and enormous opportunities to various nations, as well as many other good things. But the other side of the story can't simply be ignored. Simply because the end result after many years of Empire Building is something that can be favoured, it does not mean that the bad that went with creating this empire should not be taken into account.
So the answer should always be that it was like any other empire. Good and bad. That there would be one super influential group of people, with the largest world empire, was an inevitability. All of history was a constant battlefield on which the ultimate victor, the British Empire, was eventually crowned.
What were the living conditions in the Victorian era?
it was all good if you were rich but if you were poor life was bad you will have to live in the slums you could cacth disease people who lived in the slums were known as " The Great Unwashed". Also all of they muck got wash in the river middle of the street people drank from it too!
Why did britain grant some self government to canada?
They no longer wanted to defend Canada and wanted Canada to leave, maybe even join the USA.
Yes, Woman wore Wrist Watches, while Men used Pocket Watches.
Before World War I only women wore wristwatches, they were considered 'unmanly'. Wristwatches became fashionable as a result of their use by soldiers in WW1, who needed access to their watches while their hands were full. These first wristwatches, called 'trench watches', were made with pocketwatch movements, so they were large and bulky and had the crown at the 12 o'clock position like pocketwatches. After the war pocketwatches went out of fashion until by 1930 the ratio of wrist- to pocketwatches was 50 to 1.
The first timepieces to be worn, made in 16th century Europe, were transitional in size between clocks and watches. These 'clock-watches' were fastened to clothing or worn on a chain around the neck. They were heavy drum shaped cylindrical brass boxes several inches in diameter, engraved and ornamented. They had only an hour hand. The face was not covered with glass, but usually had a hinged brass cover, often decoratively pierced with grillwork so the time could be read without opening. The movement was made of iron or steel and held together with tapered pins and wedges, until screws began to be used after 1550. Many of the movements included striking or alarm mechanisms. They usually had to be wound twice a day.
What event is known as Bloody Sunday?
There are a number of Bloody Sundays. Here are just three of them, though there are several others:
In January 1905 a group of peaceful workers lead by Gapan reached the Winter palace in St. Petersburg to present a petetion to Tsar.The workers were attacked by police,over 100 workers were killed and 300 were wounded.Since,the incident took place on Sunday,it is known as Bloody Sunday.
On the 21st of November 1920, the British Army went into Croke Park in Dublin during a match and opened fire killing 14 civilians in reprisal for attacks on agents that morning. Between all attacks, 31 people died that day. This is known as Bloody Sunday.
On the 30th of January 1972 in Derry, the British Army opened fire on the day of a civil rights march killing 13 people and wounding others. This is known as Bloody Sunday.
How did English justify taking land from natives?
The English or British as they and the Empire of Great Britain was known, taking land from natives was justified as the natives weren't civilised didn't utilise their resources and actually had better lives under British rule than under others.
What coins did they have in the Victorian times?
It depends on which country. For the UK you've got the standard pre-decimal coins, to most people under 40 (or who have grown up without using pre-decimal currency) it seems odd, but the system was:
A pound is equal to 20 shillings, each shilling was made out of 12 pence (the plural of penny), each pence was equal to two half pence, and each half pence was equal to 2 farthings. So a farthing was equal to 1/4 of a penny, and a sixpence would be equal to half a shilling.
The main coins that circulated in the UK at the time (there are some other coins that did not circulate widely but were produced, especially for the use of collectors such as the 5 pound gold coin, or the colonies such as the third farthing, but they weren't used much in the UK itself)
The sovereign was a gold coin equal in value to 1 pound.
The half sovereign was a gold coin equal in value to 10 shillings, or 1/2 of a pound.
The crown was a large silver coin (about the size of a modern 5 pounds coin or a silver dollar) equal to 5 shillings, or 1/4th a pound.
The half-crown was a silver coin slightly bigger than a modern half dollar (or about the same size as an early, large size 50p like the ones released in the 1970s) worth 2 shillings and 6 pence, or one half of a crown.
The florin was a silver coin equal to 2 shillings. This was an early attempt at decimalization because one florin would be equal to 1/10 of a pound.
The shilling was a silver coin equal to 12 pence, this coin was the size of an old 5p piece or about the size of a US/Canadian quarter.
The sixpence was a silver coin equal to 6 pence, this coin was about the size of a US/Canadian dime, or a modern British 1p. Two sixpence made one shilling.
The groat was a silver coin equal to 4 pence. This was not widely used, but did circulate in early Victorian times, it was about the size of a threepence but slightly thicker. The groat was used because the fare for a cab (horse-drawn of course!) was traditionally 4 pence, however this proved to be unpopular with the cab drivers because they were usually paid with a sixpence and were told to keep the 2 extra pence as a tip!
The threepence was a very small silver coin worth three pence. Two threepence made one sixpence.
For the copper coins, there are 2 major series of them. The copper coins were produced until 1860, they were much larger and thicker. The bronze coins were produced from 1860 onwards. These bronze coins were much lighter and smaller. Since the bronze coins were much more common during later Victorian times, the descriptions below will be for the smaller bronze coins.
The penny was a large copper coin about the size of a US/Canadian half dollar.
The half-penny was a smaller copper coin about the size of a US/Canadian quarter, two half-pennies made one penny.
The farthing was a copper coin about the size of a US/Canadian penny or about the size of a modern UK 1p. Four farthings made one penny, or two farthings made a half-penny.
Of course, there were other denominations such as the half-groat, five pounds, two pounds, etc. But they weren't widely used.
Who side was Great Britain on in WW1?
Oh dear. Agreed. Great Britain was on the Allied side in both world wars from start to finish. In each war, America came in later, on the Allied side. Just to make sure - Germany was on the other side in both World Wars.
Why did Britain's Empire and overseas trade grow?
because they traded lots of things example:
tea,jute and cotton from India
cheese and meat from Newzealand
cotton and gold from Canada
When did Wales join Great Britain?
Wales fell to the power of England in 1282 on the death of the last Welsh Prince of Wales, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, or Llywelyn the last, grandson of Llywelyn the Great. He died in an ambush at Builth in Powys on December 11th, mid afternoon. It was thought that the ambush was a minor skirmish and that he was killed by accident but letters have since come to light that tell that it was a deliberate act to end resistence in Wales. Acts of union were later passed, but in reality it all ended on December 11th 1282.
