Chapter 15 Reaction and Reform
in the Early 19th Century
1. Reactionary rule gradually gave
way to a movement of reform.
2. The Reform Bill of 1832 redistributed seats in
the House of Commons and granted the right
to vote to most adult middle-class males. This
represented the decisive shift in political
power from the landed aristocracy to the
middle class.(p256-258)
3. Queen Victoria’s reign (1837-1901)
proved to the longest in English
history.
4. The Chartist Movement and the
People’s Charter (260)
5. The campaign for the repeal of the
Corn Laws (the tariff on wheat and
other grains) proved the increasing
political power of the middle class.
(p261)
6. The Irish famine (1845-1846), which
claimed some 700,000 people,
demonstrated the need for lower food
prices, and in 1846 Sir Robert Peel, the
Tory prime minister from 1841-1846,
won parliamentary approval for the
repeal of the Corn Laws.(p262)
7. The British opposed the intervention by
the conservative powers of Europe to
suppress the revolts against Spanish rule
in Latin America because they did not
want any interference with their
profitable trade with Latin America.(p265)
8. The British traditionally sought to prevent any
Russian advance into the eastern
Mediterranean and the Near East. In 1820s,
the British cooperated with the Russians in
support of the Greek struggle for
independence from the Turks (part of the
Ottoman Empire), because a British presence
in the region would place restraints on the
Russians. (p266)
9. Russia’s continuing pressure on the declining
Ottoman Empire and Russia’s claims to be the
protector of the Orthodox Christian subjects of
the Ottoman Sultan led to the outbreak of the
Crimean War (1853-1856). The British and
French intervened in the war because they
wanted to block any further expansion of
Russian power and esp. to prevent Russia from
acquiring control of the Turkish Straits.(p269)
10. For the British, the Crimean War had two
important long-term consequences: the
establishment of the British Cross (nurse
Florence Nightingale) and a program of
army reform.(p270)
11. When the American Civil War broke out in
1861, Great Britain declared its neutrality.
12. During the early 19th century, the movement known as
romanticism influenced literature, the arts, and
thought in Great Britain, as it did elsewhere in Europe.
The romantics emphasized feelings and emotions, faith
and intuition, and imagination and spontaneity instead
of reason in the 18th century Enlightenment. They
rebelled against the formalism and rigid rules of the
18th century classicism. Many romantics had a
fascination with the culture of the Middle Ages, an age
of faith.(p271)
13. The representative figures:
William Wordsworth, Samuel
Taylor Coleridge and their “Lyrical
Ballads”; Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe
Shelley and John Keats; Sir Walter
Scott.(p272)
14. Architecture during the romantic
period was dominated by the
neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles, as
well as by a fascination with the exotic,
which promoted a revival of Gothic
architecture.(p273)
15. The romantics’ emphasis on the mystical
and supernatural led to a revival of
traditional religious belief. In England, a
group of Anglicans, knows as the Oxford
Movement, reasserted Catholic elements
in the faith and practice of the Church of
England.(p273)
Chapter 16 The Age of Disraeli
and Gladstone
1. Benjamin Disraeli heading the Conservative
Party, served two terms’ of prime minister in
1868 and from 1874 to 1880; William E.
Gladstone heading the Liberals, served four
terms of prime minister: 1868-1874, 1880-
1885, 1886, 1892-1894.(p278)
2. The Reform Bill of 1867 redistributed
the seats in Parliament, and extended
franchise to most of urban workers;
the farmers were not
enfranchised.(p279)
3. In 1865, the British suppressed
the Fenian Rebellion in Ireland. The
Fenians, a secret revolutionary
organization, was established in
1858 by Irish-Americans. Its
purpose was to achieve Ireland’s
independence.(p279)
4. The Education Act of 1870 created, for
the first time, a national system of
elementary education.(p280)
5. The Ballot Act of 1872 introduced the
use of the secret ballot in British
elections.(p281)
6. Tory Democracy: the Conservative
party’s support of extensive
economic and social reforms to
benefit British workers.(p283)
In 1875, the Balkan provinces of Bosnia and
Herzegovina rebelled against Turkish
misrule. The Balkan crisis ended peacefully,
Russian expansionism had been contained,
and the British had advanced their
interests in the eastern
Mediterranean.(p286)

7. Beginning of the campaign for Home Rule in
1871: the southern Irish were determined to
secure Home Rule, while the six counties of
northern Ireland, known as Ulster, were
predominantly Protestant, and desired to
maintain the union with Great Britain.(p287)
8. The establishment of the Labor Party at
the turn of the century came from the
idea that Britain’s industrial workers
should establish their own political party
to represent their interest more
effectively in Parliament.(p293)
9. During the 19th century, under both
Liberal and Conservative leadership,
Great Britain achieved remarkable
gradual reform:
1) universal manhood suffrage
2) The state assumed an expanding role in
education;
3) The government became more active in
urban sanitation, slum clearance, and
housing construction;
4)The civil service, the army, and the judicial
system also experienced reform
Chapter 17 The British Empire in
the 19th Century
1. While the British did not pursue an
active imperialist policy in the
early 19th century, they did
maintain and consolidate their
existing possessions. (p299-303)
1) In the Western hemisphere, the
British ruled Canada, a number of
islands in the West Indies, British
Honduras in Central America, and
British Guiana in South America.(p299)
2) In Africa, the British had
acquired the Cape of Good Hope
during the Napoleonic wars, and
they also had controlled a
number of trading stations along
Africa’s coasts.
3) In Asia, the British had defeated
France in the Seven Years’ War(17561763), gaining control over India. The
British started and protected the
opium trade with China through the
two Opium Wars (1839-1842, 18561858).
4) In the South Pacific, British
possessions included Australia and
New Zealand.
5) The British also controlled a number
of key strategic points around the
world: Gibraltar, the island of Malta,
Ceylon, and Singapore.
2. During the 1870s, like other
European powers, Great Britain
developed a new interest in
overseas expansion for a number
of factors.( p303-304)
National rivalries
1) While colonization offered a means
to increase a country’s military and
economic power in relation to that of
its rivals, the idea also came to be
widely accepted that the possession
of colonies was a sign of national
greatness and vitality.
Religious and humanitarian motives
2) During the late 19th century, there was a great
upsurge in Christian missionary activity by both
Protestants and Roman Catholics. These
missionaries not only sought to follow the
command of Jesus Christ to go forth into the
world and make disciples of all nations, but
also believed in their mission to bring the
advantages of European civilization to less
advanced people.
Economic motives
3) The growth of European industry led to
demands for new sources of raw
materials, as well as to a need for new
markets for the products of industry.
Besides, those who had accumulated
fortunes from industry were seeking new
opportunities for investment.
3. In the 1870s, the European powers began a
race to acquire colonial possessions in Africa.
By the first years of the 20th century, virtually
all of the continent had been partitioned
among the imperial states, such as Great
Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and
Portugal. (p305-311)
1) In Great Britain purchased 45%
of the total Suez Canal shares,
for the Suez Canal was regarded
as an essential link between
Great Britain and India.
2) South Africa, the Zulus, an
indigenous African people,
resented the entry of Europeans
into their lands, and the Zulu War
of 1879 broke out, but ended
with a decisive British victory.
3) In the Boer War, or the South
African War (1899-1902), the
British army successfully fought
against two Boer Republics
called the Transvaal and the
Orange Free State, and made
them part of the British Empire.
4. British imperialism in Asia covered India,
Afghanistan, Burma, Siam, the Malay
Peninsula, and China.(p311-316)
1) The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895:
Great Britain refused to involve in it.
2) The Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902: The
British remained particularly suspicious
about Russian intentions in East Asia, and
in 1902, they signed a defensive alliance
with Japan in the event of an attack on
one signatory by a third power.
3) The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905
resulted in a Russian defeat, and Japan
acquired Liaotung Peninsula and southern
Manchuria. The British were pleased with the
victory of their Japanese ally, which effectively
contained Russian expansionism in East Asia.
Chapter 18 The Triumph of
Liberalism
1. A new Liberal Party had taken shape,
abandoning its earlier doctrinaire
commitment to laissez-faire principles
and embracing a powerful philosophy of
socioeconomic and political reform.
2. Liberal reforms of 1906-1909
(p320)
1) The Workmen’s Compensation
Act of 1906 provided workers
with benefits in the event of jobrelated injury.
2) The Old Age Pensions Act of
1908 provided small benefits for
retirees over the age of 70 who
had only very limited incomes
from other sources.
3. Lloyd George’s “People’s Budget”: in April 1909,
David Lloyd George, the chancellor of the
exchequer, proposed a bold redistribution of
national income by placing the heaviest burden
of taxation on the landowners and capitalists,
called for higher income tax rates for the
wealthy, and suggesting raising taxes on
tobacco and alcohol. (p322)
4. By weakening the power of the aristocratic
House of Lords, the Parliament Act of 1911
represented another step towards the
creation of full political democracy in Great
Britain. (p324)
5. Other reforms of the Liberal government
1) Salaries for members of the House of
Commons, which was one of the six
demands in the People’s Charter of 1839
2) The National Insurance Act of 1911 included
a program of compulsory health insurance
supported by contributions by the
government, employers and workers, and a
system of unemployment insurance, which
was also supported by contributions by the
government, employers and workers. (p325)
6. On the eve of the outbreak of
World War I in the summer of
1914, Great Britain faced three
crises: the suffragette movement,
mounting labor unrest, and
Ireland.(p325-327)
1) In 1903, the Women’s Social and
Political Union (WSPU) was established.
In their drive to secure the right to vote
fro women, the suffragettes engaged in
militant and often violent tactics, such
as hunger strike, even suicide.
2) Despite the reforms of the Liberal government,
the hardships and discontents of Britain’s
workers persisted and labor unrest intensified
because of inflation and declining purchasing
power. The strike movement started from 1911,
and continued till the time when Britain went
to war.
3) In May 1914, the House of Commons passed
the Home Rule Bill a third time. The Ulsterites
armed themselves, and the threat of civil war
loomed in Ireland. The outbreak of World War
I averted civil war in Ireland and the Home
Rule Act of 1911 was replaced by the Home
Rule Act of 1920.
7. Science and literature in the mid-
and late 19th century
1) Darwinism;
2) Thomas Huxley;
3) Herbert Spencer and Social Darwinism:
Spencer contended that in human society, just
as in nature, life involves a struggle for
existence as a result of which the fittest
survive. This doctrine provided support for the
economic doctrine of laissez-faire, which
emphasized free competition and opposed
state intervention in the economy. (p328)
4) Alfred, Lord Tennyson was the most popular
of the Victorian poets.
5) Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert
Browning
6) William Makepeace Thackery and his “Vanity
Fair”
7) Charles Dickens and his works
8) George Elliot (real name was Mary Ann
Evans) and her “The Mill on the Floss”
9) Charlotte Bronte and her “Jane Eyre”, and
Emily Bronte and her “Wuthering Heights”
10) Thomas Hardy and his “Tess of the
D’Urbervilles” and other works
11) Robert Louis Stevenson and his
adventure story “Treasure Island”
12) Joseph Conrad and his “Heart of
Darkness”
13) H.G.. Wells and his science fiction
“The Time Machine”
14) Arthur Conan Doyle and his detective
hero Sherlock Holmes
15) Oscar Wilde was a leading figure in the
Aesthetic Movement that emphasized art for
art’s sake.
16) William Butler Yeats was the leading figure
in the Irish literary renaissance.
17) George Bernard Shaw, an Irish-born
playwright, won the Nobel Prize for literature
in 1925.
Chapter 19 Great Britain and the
First World War
1. The European alliance system (p336-338)
1) The Three Emperors’ League (1872):
Germany’s Emperor William I, Austria’s
Emperor Francis Joseph, and Russia’s Tsar
Alexander II pledged to cooperate to
preserve peace and the status quo. This
alliance revived in 1881.
2) The Dual Alliance (1879):
Germany and Austria formed the
alliance after the Three Emperors’
League collapsed during the
Balkan crisis in the late 1870s.
3) The Triple Alliance (1882): Italy joined
Germany and Austria in a defensive alliance.
4) The Franco-Russian Alliance (1894): a
diplomatic revolution began as long-isolated
France and newly isolated Russia began to
draw closer.
2. Britain’s relations with Germany deteriorated.
3. In 1902, the British signed the Anglo-Japanese
Alliance , the first step in Britain’s
abandonment of isolation. This alliance
reflected Britain’s concern about Russian
expansion in East Asia. (p339)
4. The Anglo-French Entente (1904): In
spite of the tension arising from colonial
disputes in Anglo-French relations, the
French sought to improve that
relationship, believing that Germany,
rather than Great Britain, posed the real
threat to France.
5. The Anglo-Russian Entente (19070
settled imperial disputes concerning
Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet.(p341)
6. The two alliance systems:
1) the Triple Entente of France, Great Britain,
and Russia
2) the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria, and
Italy
7. The outbreak of the war
1) On June 28, 1914, the heir to the AustroHungarian throne and his wife were
assassinated in Sarajevo by a South Slav
nationalist. The Austrians declared war on
Serbia on July 28.
2) The Russians decided to back Serbia, and
Germany declared war on Russia on August
1. On August 3, Germany declared war on
France.
3) Following Germany’s assault on Belgium, the
British went to war in August.
8. the Battle of the Somme: in July 1916,
the British and French launched a great
offensive on the Somme River, with
British casualties of 410,000, the French
of 200,000, and German of 650,000.
(p348)
9. Defeat of Russia: By the end of 1916,
the Germans had defeated the Russians.
The Russian Revolutions of 1917 ended
any possibility that the Russians might
continue fighting. (p350)
10. The German submarine fleet
presented a more substantial threat,
and hoped to knock Great Britain
out of the war.
11. The United States declared war on
Germany in early April 1917, but
American forces were not present in
large numbers on the front in France
until almost a year later. (p353)
12. In mid-July 1918, the French, British and
American armies began a counterattack
that marked the beginning of the long
offensive that ended the war. On August
13, German general admitted losing the
war.
13. The war imposed heavy burden on
the British people---high national debt
and inflation, and with war dead
totaling 947,000.
14. As increasing numbers of British men entered
the armed services, women became more
numerous in the domestic labor force. Women
workers could only earn half the wages earned
by men doing the same jobs, but they gained
greater freedom, helped change male attitudes
on the controversial subject of women’s
suffrage.
Chapter 20 The Age of Baldwin
and MacDonald
1. Following World War I, Great Britain
confronted serious economic problems,
which became even more intense during
the depression decade of the 1930s.
1) The war disrupted Britain’s trade links.
2) Due to the national debt, the British
finances were under a severe strain.
3) Industry had to be reconverted to
peacetime production.
4) Jobs had to be found for discharged
veterans.
5) The loss of 900,000 people in the war
deprived Britain of an important part of
its male population.
2. The most significant political
development was the decline of the
Liberal Party and the emergence of Labor
Party as one of the major parties in the
British two-party system.
3. The British confronted continuing problems in
Ireland, and in 1918, Sinn Feiners declared
Irish independence, and proclaimed the
establishment of an Irish republic, which led to
civil war in Ireland. In October 1921, the six
counties of Ulster became a part of what was
known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland, while the southern
Ireland established an independent state, the
Irish Free State.
4. In the Empire, demands for
independence mounted in Egypt and
India, while the dominions--- Canada,
Australia, New Zealand, and the Union of
South Africa --- called for greater rights
of self-government.
5. The Treaty of Versailles (1919): The Paris Peace
Conference produced five treaties for Germany,
Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey, among
which the most important was the Treaty of
Versailles. It imposed restrictions on the
German armed forces, forced Germany to
accept responsibility for causing the war, and
required the Germans to pay reparations.
6. The Mandate System: the Treaty of Versailles
deprived Germany of its colonies in Africa and
the pacific and assigned them as mandates to
the allies. The system was designed to protect
the indigenous population and prepare them
for independence, but in practice, it proved to
be little more than disguised annexation.
7. During 1919 and 1920, Great Britain
enjoyed a brief postwar economic
boom, but during late 1920, an
economic downturn began.
8. The 1929 Elections: for the first
time in English history, the Labor
party held the largest number of
seats in the House of Commons, and
MacDonald returned to the prime
ministership. (p372)
9. The return of Conservative government (19351937) with Stanley Baldwin as Prime Minister.
10. King Edward VIII had to abdicate in order to
marry Mrs. Simpson, a twice-divorced
American woman, and later became the Duke
of Windsor.(p375)
11. British literature
1) Three pre-war writers remained prominent in
the postwar era: Shaw, Wells, and Galsworthy.
Shaw won the Nobel Prize in 1925. Galsworthy,
who won the Nobel Prize in 1933, is best
known for his trilogy “The Forsyte Saga”.
2) Virginia Woolf used the stream-of –
consciousness technique in her novels, and
was admired by the feminists, for her essays
focus on a woman’s need for independence
and the opportunity for creative work.
3) D. H. Lawrence shocked his contemporaries
with his frankness about sexuality.
4) T.S. Eliot and his “The Waste Land”
5) James Joyce, the Irish writer, and his “ A
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man”
Chapter 21 Great Britain and the
Second World War
1. The Appeasement Policy on the part of
Britain and France
1) Soon after taking power in1933, Adolf
Hitler seized the initiative in foreign
affairs and met little resistance from
Great Britain and France.
2) France believed it could act to contain
Hitler only with the full support of the
British.
3) In Britain, there was a widespread
belief that the Treaty of Versailles had
been unduly harsh and that it should be
revised in Germany’s favor.
4) Both Britain and France were preoccupied
with domestic economic problems
resulting from the Great Depression.
5) In both countries, intense memories of the
carnage
of World War I created a powerful
desire to do everything possible to avoid
another conflict.
2. the Axis powers---- Germany, Italy,
and Japan
3. On September 1, 1939, Germany
invaded Poland. Two days later, Great
Britain and France declared war on
Germany. The Second World War
began.
4. On June 5, 1940, Germany took Paris.
5. Under the leadership of Winston
Churchill, one of the greatest war
ministers in English history, the British
people united with grim determination
to win what quickly became a total
global war.
6. British Royal Air Force (RAF)
fought against the Luftwaffe, the
German air force in August and
September 1940.
7. In mid-January 1945, the Soviets
took Warsaw, Poland’s capital. The
Soviets entered Berlin on April 19,
1945, and the Germans
surrendered on May 7.
8. The Second World War brought
an end to the depression that had
afflicted the British economy. There
was a shortage of labor, and wages
increased.
9. As one of the wartime Big Three,
Great Britain established a close
“special relationship” with the
United States.
Chapter 22 Socialist Britain
1. By the end of World War II, two
superpowers, the United States,
and the Soviet Union, had come to
dominate international relations.
2. In the Cold War, the great new
international conflict that developed
in the late 1940s, Britain firmly
allied itself with the United States.
3. The Labor Party won the 1945
elections for the House of
Commons, and for the first time in
British history, a majority Labor
government took office.
4. The Labor Party called for the creation
of “a new Socialist Commonwealth, and
its Program included the establishment
of a planned economy, assurances of
full employment, an expanded system
of social insurance, and the construction
of more housing.
5. The war had resulted in the loss of Britain’s
export market, and the loss of income from
merchant shipping and overseas investments.
In 1946, Great Britain secured a $3.75 billion
loan from the US, and a credit of $1.25 billion
from Canada to overcome the crisis.
6. Marshall Plan Aid: In 1948, the US
initiated the Marshall Plan to assist
the economic recovery of Western
Europe. Britain received some $2
billion, which helped stimulate a
modest economic upswing. (p417)
7. Nationalization: From 1946-1948,
the Labor government nationalized
the Bank of England, the coal industry,
electric and gas production, civil
aviation, telecommunications, and the
railroads and other transport service.
8. Social Insurance
1) The National Insurance Act of 1946
included unemployment insurance,
pensions for retirees, sickness
insurance, maternity and widow’s
benefits, and death grants.
2) The National Assistance Act of 1948 was a
government program of aid for the poor.
3) The National Health Service in 1948
provided free medical care for the British
people, which covered physicians’ and
dentists’ services, prescription drugs,
hospital care, eyeglasses, and dentures.
9. Austerity program was imposed to
restrict imports, increase exports, and
reduce the balance of payments
deficit. The rationing of meat, sugar,
clothing, gasoline, and tobacco
continued.
10. In 1949, the Irish Free State
withdrew completely from the
Commonwealth of Nations,
becoming the Republic of Ireland.
11. In November 1947, the UN voted
to partition Palestine into Arab and
Jewish sections. Britain withdrew
from Palestine in May 1948. (p420)
12. In August 1947, two independent
states came into being: India, with its
capital at New Delhi, and Pakistan,
with its capital at Karachi. The control
of the province of Kashmir became the
main dispute of the two countries.
13. Creation of two German States in
1949: the Federal Republic of
Germany, and the German
Democratic Republic (p424)
14. Britain supported the intervention in Korea,
sent a small force to South Korea, and
increased its defense budget. (p425)
15. The Suez Crisis of 1956 demonstrated the
dramatic decline in Britain’s power and
position in world affairs. (p429-430)
16. The British failed to modernize
their industry, and British industry
lacked innovative management.
Besides, the economy continued
to be hurt by labor-management
conflict.
17. Instead of tying the British
economy closer to that of the
European continent by joining the
EEC, there was a desire for stronger
relations with the Commonwealth
and the US.
18. In 1959, the British took the lead in organizing
the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), a
customs union with Sweden, Norway, Denmark,
Switzerland, Austria, and Portugal, which was
called the “outer seven”, contrasted with the
“inner six” (France, Italy, West Germany, and
the Benelux states).
19. The spread of nationalism in the postWorld War II era resulted in the
conversion of the British Empire into the
loose association of independent states
that constitute the Commonwealth of
Nations.
Chapter 23 Contemporary Britain
1. From 1964-1979, the Labor Party
dominated the British government, with
the exception of the years from 19701974, when the Conservatives held office.
During this period, the welfare state
remained intact.
2. The Labor government pressed
forward with modest programs of
further nationalization. The
renationalization of the steel
industry began in 1967.
3. Britain’s chronic economic problems --- inflation, inefficiency in industry, and
the balance of payment ---- persisted.
These economic and financial problems
forced the government in November
1967 to devalue the pound from $2.80
to $2.40.
4. Roy Jenkins, the chancellor of the exchequer,
imposed further controls designed to cut the
government’s budget deficit, reduce consumer
spending, increase exports, increase interest
rates, increase income and sales taxes, and
place restrictions on consume credit. By 1970,
Britain enjoyed a modest balance of payments
surplus. (p442-443)
5. During the early 1960s, the growing
number if immigrants from the
Commonwealth, esp. India, Pakistan,
and the West Indies, led to growing
racial and social tensions in Britain.
6. British society during the 1960s was a more
permissive society: the Beetles, the Rolling
Stones, rock’n’rollers, miniskirts, and the “mod’
fashions; declining church membership and
attendance; increase in the crime rate and the
number of illegitimate births. (p444)
7. The Heath Government 19701974 had to face both the crisis in
Northern Ireland and the
persistent problems of the
economy.
8. Heath believed that British entry into
the Common Market would provide
powerful impetus to the economy. On
January 1, 1973, Great Britain became a
member of the Common Market, along
with Ireland and Denmark.
9. By 1972, the British economy enjoyed a shortlived prosperity. An increase in world prices of
raw materials, esp. petroleum, along with
labor-management conflict and shortage of
skilled labor, led to an increase in the inflation
rate and a slowdown of economic expansion.
10. The Second Wilson Government
1974-1976 was confronted with the
economic crisis. His “ tax the rich”
program served to undermine
business confidence still further.
11. The inflation rate reached almost 25% in the
summer of 1976, the highest in history.
Unemployment and the budget deficit increased.
The balance of payments deficit remained large,
and the value of the pound continued to decline
against major Western currencies, falling to
about $1.70 in June 1976.
12. Although Britain joined the Common Market in
1973, many left-wing Laborites continued to
oppose British participation in what they
viewed as a capitalist economic endeavor,
while many unions feared that their traditional
privileges would be undermined by those
countries that were less supportive of unions.
13. The Callaghan Government 1976-1979: The
new prime minister found it hard to come up
with enduring solutions for the country’s
economic problems. He failed to find a means
to promote the modernization of British
industry and to take other measures needed to
get the economy off its “stop-and-go” track.
14. The Thatcher Government 1979-1990:
Margaret Thatcher became prime minister in
1979. “The Iron Lady” was not only the first
woman in British history to hold the prime
ministership, but she also held that office
longer than any person since Lord Liverpool in
the early 19th century.
15. Emphasis was placed on bringing inflation
under control, curbing the power of the unions,
and reducing the role of the state in the
economy. By 1982, the rate of inflation had
declined to under 8%, and there was a
balance of payments surplus.
16. During the world recession of the
early 1980s, the British were
unable to find jobs for much of
their work force, and
unemployment increased from 4%
in 1979 to 13% in 1983.
17. In 1981, the Social Democratic
Party was formed. It was intended
to be a center force in British
politics between the Conservatives
and the radicalized Labor Party.
18. A 1984 treaty with the PRC provided for the
restoration of Hong Kong to China in 1997.
19. Thatcher’s reform measures:
1) Financial deregulation enhanced London’s
already substantial position as an
international financial center.
2) Decentralization or privatization
of state-owned enterprises
3) The Trade Union Act of 1984
further reduced the power of the
union leaders.
4) During the early and mid-1980s,
Thatcher remained a firm ally of
President Ronald Reagan in
maintaining a hard-line stance in
dealings with the Soviet Union.
English History
Chapter 1 Celtic and Roman Britain
Historians tend to begin English history with the
Celts, who crossed from the European
continent and settled in the British Isles
(England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland) during
the first millennium B.C. The Celts consisted of
numerous tribes that shared a culture dating
back to the Bronze Age in Central Europe

Their warrior aristocracy possessed
considerable wealth and power. In
the first century B.C., the Romans
began their incursions into Britain,
and in the first century A.D., Britain
became a province of the Roman
Empire.

The Romans ruled Britain for 4
centuries, but the influence of Roman
culture on Britain was slight. In
Roman times, Christianity proved to
be the most enduring.
Celts
1.social classes: nobles, freemen, slaves
2.Celtic religion: known as druidism,
involved the worship of nature deities
1)immortality; transmigration of souls
2)monument at Stonehenge
Roman Britain

1.The Celtic Queen Boudicca’s revolt
against the Romans in A.D. 60
2.Hadrian’s Wall was intended to
protect Roman Britain from incursions
by Caledonian tribesmen.

3.London, the commercial center, became
the center of government for Roman
Britain.
4.By the 3rd century, Christianity was
becoming widespread.
St. Patrick became the patron saint of
Ireland.

Hadrian’s Wall: a stone wall built by
the Roman Emperor Hadrian across
the north of England in 122 AD from
the east to the west, in order to
defend Roman Britain from attack by
northern Caledonian tribes.
Chapter 2 Anglo-Saxon England
From the 5th century Roman Britain came under
the control of the Anglo-Saxons. In the next
several centuries, Anglo-Saxon institutions
developed, Roman Catholic Christianity
became the religion of the land, the several
Saxon kingdoms became the united kingdom
of England, and the English fought a long
struggle against the Danes.

The history of England from the 9th
century to the early 11th century was
dominated by the struggle of the English
against the Danes. Although the royal
house of Wessex regained the throne by
Edward the Confessor, soon after his
death England was conquered by the
Normans, and a new era in English history
began.
1.
Resistance from Britons: the
legendary King Arthur of the
Roundtable
2.
The Anglo-Saxons worshipped
nature gods.
3. The seven kingdoms of the AngloSaxon heptarchy developed; Northumbria,
Mersia, East Anglia, Essex, Wessex, Kent,
and Sussex.
4.
The Celtic Christians didn’t
acknowledge the pope as the head of the
church, and the Celtic church didn’t
require its priests to be celibate.
5.
King Ethelbert became the first Anglo-Saxon king to
embrace Christianity, and Augustine, the first
archbishop of Canterbury.
6.
The class structure: nobility, freemen, serfs, and slaves
7.
The government: the hundreds as
administrative and judicial units; the shires as
the largest administrative units in Anglo-Saxon
England; the king and the witan (a council)
8.
the law: the customary law emphasized the
payment of monetary compensation;
compurgation (proof by oath); the ordeal
9. In the struggle against the Danes, or the
Vikings;
1). King Alfred of Wessex was considered the
greatest figure in the history of Anglo-Saxon
England, and the first king of a united
England. (P18-19)
2). King Edward the Confessor regained the
throne.
10. literature: the poet Caedmon, and the epic
poem Beowulf
Chapter 3 The Normans
In 1066, William, the Duke of Normandy, crossed
the English Channel and began his conquest of
England, which is an important turning point in
English history. William the Conqueror
established a powerful monarchy and created
the best-organized state to exist in Western
Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire in
the West.

The Norman nobility replaced the old
Anglo-Saxon nobility, and the institutions
of Norman feudalism fused with AngloSaxon traditions. England was brought
into closer contact with the European
continent, from which the English gained a
lot, but England often became embroiled
in French affairs.

Lanfranc’s efforts to reform the
English church: enforcing clerical
celibacy and monastic discipline,
improving the education of the clergy,
and eliminating simony（买卖圣职）

William supported the reform, but
refused to acknowledge the
supremacy of papal authority, and
didn’t permit the pope to control the
selection of bishops and abbots.. He
separated the systems of secular and
ecclesiastical justice .
1. Norman feudalism: suzerain (feudal overlord) and
vassals; manors and serfs
2. French became the language of government and law,
and educated people were fluent in French and Latin.
English was reduced to a spoken language; as a result,
English grammar became simplified, and the
vocabulary was enriched with French words.
3. Norman architecture was typical of
Western European architecture during
the 11th and 12th centuries, which was
characterized by the use of round arches,
massive, heavy walls, and small windows.
4. In 1087, William the Conqueror left the
duchy of Normandy to Robert, his eldest
son, and passed the English crown to his
second son, William II, known as William
Rufus (William the Red-faced).
5. Henry, the king’s younger brother became king
of England and, in 11o6, invades Normandy
and defeated Robert.
6. Henry I, who gained the title “lion of justice”,
also began the practice of sending out itinerant
justices, who went from the curia Regis to the
shire courts to administer justice in the name
of the king.
7. In less than a century after its establishment by
William the Conqueror, the feudal system
began to decline in England.
8. Henry began to take money payments, known
as scutage (shield money), from bishops in lieu
of service
.
9.
In October 1154, Stephen, the grandson of
William the Conqueror and nephew of Henry I,
died. The direct line of Norman kings ended,
and England now had a new royal family, the
Angevins, also known as the Plantagenets.
10. During Stephen’s reign, the
prestige and power of the monarchy
established by William the
Conqueror had declined as the
nobility asserted its claims against
the crown.
Chapter 4 Henry II and His Sons
King Henry II, the first of the Angevin(安茹), or
Plantagenet(金雀花 1154-1485), kings of
England, was a capable, intelligent, and
energetic monarch. He combated the anarchy
that had developed during the reign of King
Stephen.

Henry’s two sons proved to be less
capable rulers. For most of his reign, King
Richard I was absent from England,
fighting either on the Third Crusade or in
France. King John confronted three
opponents ---- King Philip Augustus of
France, Pope Innocent III, and the English
barons, and defeated by all three.

One of the greatest of England’s
kings, he is known for his enduring
contributions to the English system of
justice and also for his bitter conflict
with Thomas a Becket, the
archbishop of Canterbury.
1. King Henry II became king at the age of 21.
His mother Matilda was Henry I’s daughter,
and the widow of the Holy Roman Emperor
Henry V.
His father Geoffrey was the son of the
Count of Anjou, and was known as the
Plantagenet for the sprig of broom he wore in
his helmet.
2.
The Angevin Empire extended from Scotland to the
Pyrenees.
3.
King Henry II created a new system of royal law
common to the entire kingdom----the foundations of
English common law.
4. The conflict between King Henry II and
Thomas a Becket resulted in Becket’s
murder.
5. King Richard I the lionhearted and the
three Crusades
6. King John’s conflicts with King Philip Augustus
of France, Pope Innocent III, and the English
barons weakened his position.
7. Magna Carta (P52): the first step in the
rcreation of constitutional government in
England
Chapter 5 The Thirteenth Century
1. The conflict between the king and
barons led to the emergence of
Parliament, which was the most
important development in English
government and politics in the 13th
century.
2. The Friars （男修道士）conducted an
active ministry among the people.
3. The universities offered education in four areas:
the liberal arts, law, medicine, and theology.
(Oxford and Cambridge)
4. In the late 12th century, the graceful Gothic
style developed to supplant the heavy Norman
Romanesque. (perpendicular)
5. Economic activities and guilds of all
kinds
6. William Wallace was regarded by the
Scots as a national hero.
7. The Westminster Statutes---- the change in
relationship from lord and vassal to seller and
buyer or landlord and tenant
8. limited representation of knights and
burgesses in Parliament----- the origins of
Parliament’s development as a legislative body
9. Edward I won the nickname of the
“English Justinian” for his contributions to
law and justice. During his reign,
feudalism declined, and parliament
became firmly established.
Chapter 6 The Fourteenth and
Fifteenth Centuries
The 14th and the 15th centuries were a
time a turmoil and intensified violence:
the Hundred Years’ War, the Black Death,
the peasants’ revolt, and the Wars of the
Roses. The authority of the monarchy
and the nobility declined, which
hastened the end of feudalism and
helped the expansion of Parliament’s
power.


Industry and commerce expanded,
advances in education occurred, and the
English language and literature emerged.
English national consciousness developed.
Henry Tudor’s victory in 1485 ended the
turmoil in the 14th and the 15th centuries.
1.
King Edward II was a weak monarch,
dependent on favorites.
2.
King Edward III fought an intermittent
war against France for nearly 25 years.
3.
The Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453)
(p77-81)
4.
The Black Death (1348-1349) claimed
one-third of England’s population.
5. In the 14th century the English
Church began to decline, and the
ideas of John Wycliffe foreshadowed
the Protestant Reformation of the
16th century. (p83)
6. The Wars of the Roses (p87; 91)
7. Emergence of Henry Tudor
8. In 1362, English replaced French as the
language of the courts of law.
9. Geoffrey Chaucer and his Canterbury
Tales
Chapter 7 The Tudor Century:
Henry VII and VIII (1485-1547)
Henry VII restored order and stability to the
kingdom following the turmoil of the Wars of
the Roses.
Henry VIII succeeded in breaking England’s ties
with the papacy, and this religious reformation
marked the beginning of a new era of turmoil.

Henry VII and Henry VIII provided
orderly and effective government,
winning the support of the
prosperous middle classes, who
appreciated the peace and stability
the kings brought to the nation.
1. The power of the monarchs increased,
while the authority of Parliament declined.
2. During the 15th century the enclosure
movement had gained momentum in
England.
3. Decline of the craft guilds
4. In the early 16th century, the Protestant
Reformation began on the European
continent with Martin Luther and John
Calvin as representatives.
5. King Henry VIII’s six marriages
Catherine----mother of the future Queen
Mary
Anne Boleyn----mother of the future
Queen Elizabeth
6. The Act of Union of 1536 incorporated
Wales completely into England.
7. The English Renaissance----Thomas
More and his Utopia (1516)
8. Henry VIII succeeded in breaking
England’s ties with the papacy.
Chapter 8 The Tudor Century: Edward
VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I1547-1603
Under King Edward VI, the Church of
England (Anglican Church) became more
Protestant in doctrine and practice.
Queen Mary attempted to restore Roman
Catholicism.

Queen Elizabeth I led England during one
of the most glorious periods in its history.
In religion, she sought to find a broad,
moderate settlement that would satisfy the
great majority of her subjects, and thus
resolved the religious turmoil.
1. Under King Edward VI, the Church of England
became more Protestant.
2. Queen Mary I, England’s first reigning queen,
attempted to restore Roman Catholicism, and
prosecuted some 300 Protestants, which led to
her acquisition of the nickname “Bloody Mary”.
3. Queen Elizabeth I, the last of the Tudors
(1485-1603), established the monarch as the
“supreme governor” of the Church of England.
4. Efforts to establish colonies in the New World
turned out to be unsuccessful; while new
trading companies were established, such as
the East India Company (1600).
5. Queen Elizabeth I, who never married,
used the possibility of marriage as an
instrument of diplomacy with France and
Spain.
6. Puritan movement came to challenge the
established Church of England and the
authority of the monarchy.
7.
English efforts to establish colonies in the New
World were unsuccessful. (Sir Walter Raleigh,
an explorer, was the first to bring tobacco to
England)
8. Elizabethan literature
Shakespeare (1564-1616) and his works
Chapter 9 The 17th Century: The
Stuarts Versus Parliament
In the early 17th century, James I and
Charles I tried to establish an absolute
monarchy and enforce their views on
religion, and this resulted in the Civil War
and the execution of Charles I in 1649.

The eleven-year experiment (1649-1659)
in republican government failed to provide
England with stability in politics and
religion. The army leaders took over.
1. King James I from Scotland had to face two
issues: the relationship between the crown and
Parliament, and the relationship between the
Calvinist Puritans and the Church of England.
2. The King James Bible (1611)
3. The Gunpowder Plot and Guy Fawkes (Nov. 5,
1605)
4.
Involvement in the Thirty Years’ War in
Germany (1618-1648)
5.
King Charles I ruled England without
Parliament for 11 years (1629-1640)
6.
The Short Parliament (3 weeks) was
summoned to suppress the Scottish revolt
( Presbyterian was the dominant religion).
7.
The English Civil War(1642)
8.
In 1644, a Scottish Roundhead
army defeated the Cavaliers.
9.
The eleven-year Interregnum and
the experiment in republican
government
10. Cromwell, an ardent Puritan, pursued
an aggressive foreign policy designed to
promote England’s commercial
interests.( the Dutch War and the War
with Spain) His experiment in republican
government failed.
Chapter 10 The 17th Century:
Restoration and Revolution
The 17th century was an era of political and
religious turmoil for England, but it was
also a time of remarkable achievements
in the arts, literature, science, and
political thought.

The long conflict between Parliament and
the Stuart monarchs led to the Glorious
Revolution of 1688, which restricted the
power of the crown, and established a
constitutional monarchy, and reaffirmed
the position of the church of England as
the country’s established church.
1.
King Charles II made no attempt to
reestablish royal absolutism and avoided
conflicts with Parliament.
2.
The Dutch War of 1665--- the English seizure
of the Dutch colony of New Netherland (later
split into New York and New Jersey)
3.
King James II attempted to impose
royal absolutism and promote a
restoration of Roman Catholicism.
4.
The Glorious Revolution (the Bloodless
Revolution)-----the Whigs and the Tories
(p152)
5.
In 1689, Parliament awarded the
English Crown to William of Orange, the
Dutch ruler, and he became King William
III.
6.
The Bill of Rights (p152)
7.
The Nine Years’ War (1688-1697) between the French
and the Holy Roman Emperor and his allies
8.
Some figures to be remembered: Anthony Van Dyck;
John Milton and his “Paradise Lost”; Francis Bacon; Sir
Isaac Newton; Thomas Hobbes; John Locke( “knowledge
from experience”, “social contract”)(p166)
Chapter 11 The 18th Century: The
First Hanoverians (1714-1901)
1.
King George I, the elector of the
German state of Hanover, never learned
English.
2.
The Tories failed in supporting James
Edward Stuart’s claim to the English
throne.
3.
King George I and George II
maintained close ties with the Whigs.
4.
Robert Walpole served as the King’s
chief minister (prime minister) for some
20 years (1721-1742). His economic
policies were to encourage industry and
commerce, and to reduce interest and
taxes.
5.
“The Forty-Five” (1745) was the last attempt to
restore the Stuarts to the throne.
6.
The British Museum was built in 1753.
7.
King George III tried to undermine the
Whig oligarchy and weaken the cabinet
system that placed limits on his authority.
The party of “King’s Friends” in 1760s
resulted in the return of the Tories to
power since 1714.
8.
Methodism began as a reform
movement within the Church of England,
but it became a separate denomination by
the end of the 18th century.
9.
Literary figures: Alexander Pope (the
England’s greatest 18th-century poet;
Daniel Defoe and his “Robinson Crusoe”;
Jonathan Swift and his “Gulliver’s Travels”;
Henry Fielding and his “Tom Jones”.
10. Robert Walpole owed his long
tenure as the country’s first real
prime minister to his ability to
manage the House of Commons.
Chapter 12 The 18th Century: Empire
and Politics
1.
the Quadruple Alliance (p187): Great
Britain, Austria, France and the
Netherlands to restrain Spain
2.
“Second Hundred Years’ War” between
Great Britain and Spain
3.
the War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748):
Prussia, France, Bavaria and Saxony as one side,
Austria, Great Britain, and the Netherlands as
the other
4.
The British focused their attention on the
colonial war against France (in North America,
the West Indies, and India)
5.
The Seven Years’ War (1756-1763)
involved both a continental war and a
colonial conflict, resulting in a
considerable expansion of the British
Empire.
6.
When Prussia invaded the kingdom of
Saxony, the British contributed substantial
financial support to Prussia, hoping to
divert France’s resources away from the
colonial war overseas.
7.
The British benefited from their control
of the sea.
8.
The Treaty of Paris(1763): Great Britain
won a decisive victory over France, and
little was left of the French Empire in the
New World
9.
The American Revolution
10. Economic Reform Acts lessened the
ability of the Crown to influence
Parliament.
11.
In 1807, Parliament abolished the slave trade.
12.
In 1788, the first 750 British settlers, most of
whom were convicts, established Sydney
13.
British policy of opposing Russian
expansionism in the Near East (the Middle East)
14.
William Pitt the Younger, the leader of
the resurgent Tories, became Prime
Minister. His reform efforts included:
1) establishing an auditing commission to
supervise government finances;
2) reducing tariffs in order to discourage
smuggling;
3) simplifying the complicated system of tax
collection;
4) reducing restrictions on foreign trade----the first step on Britain’s road to a freetrade policy.
Chapter 13 Great Britain, the French
Revolution and Napoleon
1.
The French Revolution in 1789 initiated
a generation of warfare in Europe.
France was at war with most of Europe.
The war continued until the final defeat
of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815.
2.
The British initially sought to remain
uninvolved, but the war threatened British
control of the English Channel, so in 1793,
Great Britain went to war against France.
Three Coalitions were formed.
1) Great Britain joined Austria, Prussia,
Spain and Sardinia in the War of the First
Coalition against France.(1793-1796)
2) Russia formed a new alliance with Great
Britain, Austria, Portugal, Naples and the
Ottoman Empire to fight against
France.(1799-1801)
3)Britain formed a new coalition with
Austria and Russia in the war against
France.(1805-1807)
3. The British interference with American
shipping, combined with the expansionist
ambitions of American “War hawks” who
hoped to annex Canada, led to America’s
entry into the war of 1812 against Britain.
4.
The British made important territorial
gains, but the war against France and
Napoleon left Great Britain with a huge
national debt, and it experienced a severe
postwar economic depression that lasted
until 1820.
5. The fear of revolution that had led to
repressive policies during the war years
continued to influence the British
government in the postwar era.
Chapter 14 The Agricultural
and Industrial Revolutions

The Agricultural Revolution
1. the development of scientific agriculture;
the practice of crop rotation
2. Tull’s horse drawn seed drill; “Turnip
Townshend”
3. The scientific breeding of cattle and
sheep
4. The introduction of new crops ( potatoes,
peas, cauliflower, asparagus)
5. The Enclosure Movement starting in the
16th century (p235)
The Industrial Revolution
1. Reasons for Great Britain’s leadership in
the industrial revolution
1) ample resources of coal and iron
2) available capital for investment

3) mercantile experience
4) policies designed to promote industry
and commerce
2. Innovation of machinery: the flying
shuttle, spinning machine, the cotton gin
3. Factories replaced small workshops and
cottage-based industries.
4. The development of the steam engine
provided a dependable and efficient
source of power, and made possible the
development of industry in towns far
from rivers.
5. The interrelationship among the steam
engine, coal mining and iron production
6. The first efficient method for the mass
production of steel (1856)

The Revolution in Transportation
1. The construction of canals and roads
2. The development of the steam engine
and improvements in the quality of iron
led to the invention of railroads
(Stephenson’s locomotive in 1825).
3. Water transportation developed quickly
owing to steam power.

The revolution in Communications
1. In 1836, Samuel F. B. Morse, an American,
invented the telegraph. Submarine telegraph
cables and trans-Atlantic cables were built.
2. In 1840, Great Britain introduced the penny
post, the first modern postal system.

Developments in others Areas
1. the principle of limited liability (p243)
2. population growth and distribution
3. the human cost of industrialization: long
working hours, low wages, crowded slums;
without adequate sewage facilities, a safer
water supply, educational opportunities, or
access to health care
4. liberalism; the doctrine of laissez-faire
and Adam Smith (p244);mercantilism
5. Malthus on population
6. Ricardo and the Iron Law of Wages
(p245)
7. Bentham’s utilitarianism led to the
creation of the 20th century welfare
system
8. John Stuart Mill’s ideas about universal
suffrage
9. different kinds of socialism: Utopian
Socialism (Robert Owen), Christian
socialism (brotherly love)