MODERN BRITAIN
The Fall of the Empire
The Commonwealth
The Windsors
Churchill, Thatcher
British Parliament and Government Today
The Fall of the Empire
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A free association of sovereign states
No empire has been larger
The Irish War of Independence
Many nations wanted independence
The UK was heavily in debt to the USA
World War I
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One of the world’s largest industrial powers
Victory brought new territories
A global military conflict
The proximate cause - 28.06.1914 the
assassination of Franz Ferdinand of Austria
• The end of four major imperial powers
• The Treaty of Versailles
World War II
• The Munich Pact in
1938
• Hitler and Stalin’s
secret agreement
• 3.09.1939 – the
declaration of war
• In 1942 Roosevelt
and Churchill’s
agreement
• 1945 Germany
surrendered
unconditionally
• Great Britain lost
300,000 fighting men
and over 60,000
civilians
The Commonwealth of Nations
• an intergovernmental institution
• was established in 1931 by the Statute
of Westminster
• 53 member states
• Were a part of the British Empire
• human rights, individual liberty, world
peace
Common information
• 1/3 of world’s population
• about 31,500,000 km2
• flag – March 26, 1976
• Kamalesh Sharma - Secretary-General • the Head of Commonwealth - Elizabeth II
The House of Windsor
• Current Royal House of the United
Kingdom and each of the other
Commonwealth realms.
• Remains one of the few dynasties to have
ruled over lands on all
continents simultaneously.
• Current head: Elizabeth II
Origins
• Created from a British branch of a German
royal house in 1917.
• German influence brought by Queen
Victoria's husband Prince Albert (the name
of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha).
• Anti-German movement convinced the
royal family to abandon all German titles
and use the name Windsor instead.
• The name change helped to preserve the
loyalty of the British people.
The line of Succession to the
British Throne
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Prince Charles (age 60)
Prince William (age 26)
Prince Henry/Harry (age 24)
Prince Andrew (age 49)
Princess Beatrice (age 20)
Princess Eugenie (age 19)
The Prince Edward (age 45)
James Alexander Philip Theo Mountbatten
Windsor, Viscount Severn (age 1)
The Royal Family
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
(1874-1965)
• A politician, a noted statesman, an orator,
an officer, a historian, a Noble-Prize
winner and an amateur artist
• Educated in Harrow, Royal Military
College at Sandhurst
• 1895 - Joined the Fourth Hussars
• 1899 - Left the British Army and worked
for the Morning Post
Served as Prime Minster of the UK
• from 1940 to 1945
• again from 1951 to 1955
Was known for his leadership of the UK during
World War II.
• Developed an united strategy with the USA and
the Soviet Union
• Important meetings in Teheran (Nov. 1943) and
Yalta (Feb. 1945)
Margaret Hilda Thatcher (1925 -
)
• One of the dominant political figures of
20th century Britain
The only woman who has been
• The prime minister of the United Kingdom
(1979 - 1990)
• The leader of the Conservative Party
(1975 - 1990)
• Went to Oxford University, became a research
chemist
• 1959 - became Conservative MP
• 1974 - became the leader of the Conservative
party
• 1979 - became the prime minister
• 1984 - the IRA planted a bomb in Brighton
• 1990 - resigned
• 1992 - left the House of
Commons for the House of Lords
British Parliament and Government
today
The politics of the UK
• constitutional monarchy
• the Monarch is head of state (Elizabeth II)
• the Prime Minister is the head of
government (Gordon Brown)
• the legislature – Parliament
• the executive – Prime Minister and
Cabinet (Government)
The business of Parliament
• democratically elected house – the House
of Commons, 646 members
• internally elected house – the House of
Lords, 738 members
• meet in the Palace of Westminster,
sometimes called the Houses of
Parliament
The Palace of Westminster
Government
• formed by the party with majority support
in the Commons.
• about 20 ministers make up the Cabinet
• the second largest party forms the official
Opposition, „shadow cabinet”
Gordon Brown
the head of government