Lectures on Britain - 2 (Lectures on Britain)

LECTURE № 2Some Snapshots of British HistoryWilliam the Conqueror ruled the country through the feudal contacts with hisvassals. After him his successors William 11 and Henry 1 strengthened the feudalsystem. Henry11’s successor was Richard (1189-1199) nicknamed the Lionheart,who spent most of his time out of England on crusades. (novels by Walter Scott).His brother John was forced to sign the Great Charter (Magna Charta) with thebarons in 1215, in which he promised to limit the Crown’s power and control overfinance. In 1258 the nobles elected a council called the parliament (from French‘PARLE’“parle”Historicallyaarler”- to discuss.

A very important English King was Henry the V111th(the dynasty of the Tudors). Due to the Pope’s refusal to allow Henry the V111 todivorce his first wife Catherine of Aragon Henry V111 broke with the RomanChurch, “nationalized” the English Church and named himself the Supreme Headof the English Protestant Church (1534). He dissolved the catholic monasteries andseized their wealth. He also came into history as the one who killed or executed his5-6 wives for their inability to give birth to his male heirs.His daughter of the second wife Anne Boleyn became the most famous QueenElizabeth.

During her reign (1558-1603) Elizabeth the First strengthened Englandconsiderably, stimulated shipbuilding, foreign commerce and art. She stronglyfostered the treasury of the country patronizing a group of pirates who caught androbbed the Spanish ships coming back from America with gold and other riches.But when the Spanish Armada of fleet, consisting of 130 ships, tried to invadeEngland in 1588, the faster and lighter English ships defeated the slow and heavySpanish galleons.

A third part of the Spanish ships failed to return to Spain.England turned out to be the first sea country and started its colonial expansion.During the Tudor period (l6th century) the Londoners of the Elizabethan periodbuilt the first theatres. Nowadays the theatre land is stretched around PiccadillyCircus.After Elizabeth the 1 Charles the 1 attempted to reduce the power ofParliament. As a result of this a bloody civil war followed. The king was arrestedand executed in 1642 and England became a republic, headed by puritan OliverCromwell (1599-1658). However Cromwell behaved like a dictator. He dissolvedParliament and ruled only with the help of his army. That is why after his death themonarchy was restored.

Charles 11 resumed the throne from his father but theking’s power was reduced significantly in favour of Parliament. In the 18th centurythe power of the king continued to decline. After the reign of James 11Parliamentasked Prince William from the Netherlands and his Stuart wife Mary to reign.Parliament concluded with them a Bill of Rights that strongly limited themonarch’s power. At the end of the 18th century as a result of the invention of thesteam engine by James Watt in 1769 Britain entered the period known as theIndustrial Revolution.

London was one of the most important centers of theIndustrial Revolution and the centre of the British Empire. The first factoriesappeared and a movement of population from the countryside into towns began.The dirt caused by London and Manchester smoke used to cause terrible fogs andsmogs, described by many English classical writers and shown in old films wherethey added mystery and atmosphere to murder stories and thrillers.

Now they arethings of the past. Since the 1950s, most British cities have introduced clean airzones. Factories and houses cannot burn coal and must use smokeless fuel.Britain's countryside is famous for its deep green colorThe 19th century was marked by the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) whoruled the country for 63 years and had 9 children.

During her reign Britain passedthrough industrial, political, cultural, scientific and military change. In 1850 shehad as many merchant ships as the rest of the world. That is why the English wayof life was seen as superior to that of other nations. Queen Victoria reign was alsomarked by a great expansion of the British Empire. Britain enlarged her coloniesand dominions with India, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, a lot of African lands.“The sun never sets on the British Empire” became a popular saying of that time.At the same time in big English cities the most characteristic features of life werelong working hours, unemployment, terrible poverty, high taxes and children’slabour.

About 30 per cent of the urban population lived below the poverty level.As the result of popular discontent the first trade-unions were organized. In 1900the Labour Party was formed.It was only in1918 when after the end of World War 1 all men over 21 got the rightto vote. Most women got this right much later in 1928.During the Second World War Britain acted as a part of Anti-Hitler Coalition. Thedestruction of property was great but only 60000 people were killed during airraids( compare with 27 million people in our country).The postwar period testified the collapse of the British Empire.

Starting with Indiain 1948 all big countries of the former British Empire reached independence. OnlyBermuda, the Falklands and Gibraltar were still British. Since the disappearance ofher empire and the comparative decline in her power, Britain has adjusted its worldview with difficulty. She managed to reconstruct the empire in the form of anotherunity - the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth is a voluntary association ofmembers of the former British Empire. There were only 11 members in 1960,which grew to 21 by 1965.Queen Elizabeth the Second is the head of theCommonwealth, even though half the member states are republics.InherforeignpolicyBritainbelievesina“specialrelationship”with the USA.

This relationship is based upon a shared language, strong AngloSaxon culture, and particularly strong relationships between Prime MinisterChurchill and Roosevelt during the war and between M. Thatcher and Reagan inthe 1980s and between Blair and Clinton at the end of the 20th century.Britain has encouraged the development of a strong arms industry to supply thearmed forces, and during the 1980s she became the second largestarms trader internationally. Britain still spends proportionally more on defense thanother NATO members.The population of Britain at the moment is 58 million people and currentlyapproximately 35 million are of working age.

About 2.5 million people areunemployed. When the oil resources were discovered in the North Sea much of theoil revenue was spent on social security for the unemployed. Like in some othercountries there is a gap between the earning of the rich and poor. The salaries ofdirectors (so-called ‘fat cats’) are sometimes 20 times greater than averageearnings at the bottoms of the companies.The centre of economic and political power, and therefore the largest populationconcentration is in the south of the country - a result of good climate and proximityto the European mainland. Men in the south East earn the most and work theshortest week.

The south east accounts for more than one-third of the Grossdomestic Product (GDP) of the United Kingdom. The north of England had thelowest average weekly wages, and the second highest regional unemploymentlevel. North Ireland has the highest.At the same time housing and rents are much more expensive in the south.

Thereare long waiting lists for public sector housing there, that is why only single youngpeople take the risks to move to the south.Life is changing in Britain but social class division is still important. Thecombination of class, wealth and privileged education still plays a very importantrole. The examples can be found in literature (George Bernard Shaw and SomersetMaugham).Nowhere is this clearer than in the question of speech.

The way English s spokengives away not only regional identity but class status too. Since the days ofShakespeare, the English of South-East has been considered the standard. Theemergence of an upper and upper-middle class mode of speech, “receivedpronunciation” RP is established through private schools for wealthier families.Through radio and television, RP has become a widely spoken accent.80 per cent of the British people live in towns or cities.

So called Greater Londonremains a magnet and is home to 7 million people. Because of its sprawlingsuburbs of small houses with gardens, Greater London stretches for 25 miles (40km) from one side to the other.At the moment there are a lot of ethnic minority communities in London. A lot ofpeople from former colonies have come to live and work in Britain.

With a naturalincrease they have become over 7 per cent of Britain’s population, concentratingparticularly in London, Leicester, Birmingham and Bradford. Muslim communityis becoming the most important of these. There are 1.5 million Muslims and over1000 mosques and prayer centers.