A Brief Introduction to the U.K. 1. The course-teaching plan.
16 weeks in this term. This first book accounts a period from Anglo-Saxon period to the 18th century. This period of history can be divided into six parts: the Anglo-Saxon period, the Anglo-Norman period, Geoffrey Chaucer, the Renaissance, the 17th century, the 18th century. These six parts will be the content of this course for the term. 2. What is literature?
Literature is a mirror holding to life. With it people may study and investigate voluminous history in their leisure time, observing mutation of human soul, bathing the banal mind in the halo of truth, kindness and beauty to make it noble. 3. A brief introduction to the U.K.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, constitutional monarchy on the British Isles, off the West European continent. (pop. 60,600,000), (244,044 sq km). It comprises England, Wales, and Scotland on the Island of Great Britain, and Northern Ireland on the Island of Ireland. The capital is London. Great Britain is one of the world’s leading industrial nations. However, it lacks most of the raw materials needed for industry and must also import about half of its food supplies. Thus its prosperity is heavily dependent on the export of the manufactured goods in exchange for raw materials and foodstuffs, and it is the third most active trading nation in the world. Manufacturing is the largest sector of the economy and employs more than one third of the total work force. Major industries include food processing, iron and steel, engineering, motor vehicles, chemicals, textiles, and aircraft. Production of oil from North Sea wells began in 1975, and by 1979 the country was self-sufficient in petroleum. Coal is also mined in large quantities. About half the land is devoted to agriculture, with dairy products and beef cattle the chief commodities. Large numbers of sheep are raised for meat and wool. The coal , gas, electricity, railroad, shipbuilding, nuclear energy, and in part, aerospace industries are publicly owned. Great Britain is the fourth most densely populated nation in Europe, and the greatest population concentration is in England. English is the universal language, but Welsh is widely spoken in Wales and some Gaelic in Scotland. The Church of England is the established church in England, Anglican Church; The Presbyterian church is legally established in Scotland. There are large numbers of Roman Catholics and Methodists. Immigration has made Great Britain a multiracial society; immigrants from India, Pakistan, the West Indies, and other commonwealth countries number at least 1,500,000. The hereditary monarch plays a largely ceremonial role in the government. Sovereignty rests in Parliament, which consists of a 635-member House of Commons and a house of lords. Effective power resides in the commons, where the leading party usually provides the executive---the cabinet, headed by the prime minister.
Early English history.
Little is known of the earliest inhabitants of Britain, but the great structure at Stonehenge is evidence of their advanced Bronze Age culture. The first Celtic invaders arrived in Britain in the early 5th cent. B.C. In A.D. 43 the emperor Claudius I began the Roman conquest of Britain, which prospered and grew under four centuries of Roman rule. With the disintegration of the empire by the early 5th cent., Germanic peoples---the Anglo-Saxons and Jutes---initiated waves of invasion and settlement that gradually coalesced into a group of small kingdoms. Raids by Vikings (Danes), began in the late 8th cent., turned into full-scale invasion in 865, and by 1016 the Dane Canute ruled all of England. The conquest of England in 1066 by the Norman William ushered in a new era in English history with the introduction of Feudalism. Conflict between the kings and the nobles over abuse of royal power came to a head under King John, whose unprecedented financial demands and unpopular church and foreign policies resulted in the Magna Carta (1215), a landmark in English constitutional history.
Magna Carta or Magna Charta (Lat., =great charter). The purpose of the original charter was to insure feudal rights and to guarantee that the king could not encroach on baronial privileges. The document also guaranteed the freedom of the church and the customs of the towns; implied laws protecting the rights of subjects and communities, which the king could be compelled to observe; and vaguely suggested guarantees of trial by jury and Habeas Corpus.
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The Hundred Years War with France, which began in 1337, and the Black Death, which first arrived in Britain in 1348, hastened the breakdown of the feudal system. Dynastic wars weakened both the nobility and the monarchy and ended with the accession (1485) of the Tudor family.
Wars of the Roses, name given to the struggle (1455-85) for the throne of England between the houses of Lancaster (whose badge was a red rose) and York (whose badge was a white rose).
Under the Tudors, England flourished and was introduced to Renaissance learning. Henry VIII (r. 1509-47) began the English Reformation by breaking with the papacy and establishing the Church of England. He also brought about the union (1536) of England and Wales. The English Renaissance reached its peak during the reign of Elizabeth I, a time of great artistic achievement and overseas expansion. Elizabeth’s court became a center of culture for English musicians, poets, scholars and artists, like William Byrd, the composer, Nicholas Hillyarde, the painter and Sir Walter Raleigh, the poet and adventurer. This was also the age of great English writers, like the dramatists, William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe. This was a time, too, when England was becoming more important in the world, and English sailors were challenging the Spaniards in the new, rich Spanish colonies in America. Seamen like the famous Francis Drake, John Hawkins or Martin Frobisher made daring raids on the Spaniards and captured their treasure ships.
At Elizabeth’s death (1603) the crowns of England and Scotland were united by the accession to the English throne of the Stuart James I (James VI of Scotland). Under the Stuarts a bitter power struggle between the monarchy and Parliament culminated in the English Civil War (1642—48). The victory of the parliamentarians led to the execution (1649) of Charles I, abolition of the monarchy, and establishment of the Commonwealth and the protectorate under Oliver Cromwell. Following Cromwell’s death, Charles II was invited (1660) to become king. The old issues of religion, money, and royal prerogative were not laid to rest, however, until the Glorious Revolution (1688) ousted James II and placed (1689) William III and Mary II on the throne.
The Bill of Rights confirmed that sovereignty resided in parliament. It stated that no Roman Catholic would rule England; it gave inviolable civil and political rights to the people and political supremacy to parliament. It was supplemented (1701) by the Act of Settlement.
In 1707 the Act of Union legally united the kingdoms of Scotland and England. The Empire
In the 18th cent. Britain began to play a more important role in world affairs, emerging from the Seven Years War 1756-63 as possessor of the world’s greatest empire. It suffered a serious loss in the American Revolution 1775-83, but it was preeminent in India, settled Australia, and acquired still more territories in the wars against Napoleon I. A vain attempt to solve the longstanding Irish problem brought about the Union (1801) of Great Britain and Ireland. The Industrial Revolution in the late 18th and early 19th cent. ( c. 1750-1850) transformed social and economic life. Under Queen Victoria (r. 1837-1901) Britain reached the height of its commercial, political, and economic leadership. The country’s aggressive diplomacy in Europe culminated in the Crimean War, and social and political reforms were also begun. The dominant figures on the political scene were the prime ministers Benjamin Disraeli (conservative) and William Gladstone (liberal).
Crimean War, 1853-56, between Russia and the allied powers of Turkey, England, France. Its pretext was a
quarrel between Russia and France over guardianship of Palestinian holy places.
Seven Years War 1756-62, worldwide conflict fought in Europe, North America and India between France,
Austria, Russia, Sweden, Spain on one side, and Great Britain, Prussia, and Hanover on the other. Two main issues were involved: French and English colonial rivalries in North America and India, and struggle for supremacy in Europe of Maria Theresa of Austria and Frederick II of Prussia. The 20th century.
In the early 20th cent. Growing military and economic rivalry with Germany led Britain to ally itself with France and Russia and in 1914 Britain entered WWI. Despite British victory, the war drained the nation of wealth and man power,
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and in the postwar years Britain faced severe economic problems. In an effort to settle the thorny Irish problem, Northern Ireland was created in 1920 and the Irish Free state (Republic of Ireland) in 1921-22. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain pursued a policy of appeasement toward the rising tide of German and Italian aggression, but this failed. In 1939 the Germans invaded Poland, and Britain entered WWII by declaring war on Germany. The nation sustained intensive bombardment in the battle of Britain, but the British people, inspired by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, rose to a supreme war effort. Following the defeat in 1945 of Germany, the Labor party, led by Clement Attlee, gained power and launched a program, including nationalization of industry, to revive the war-damaged economy. The postwar years brought independence to many former colonies, and economic power gradually declined. In the early 1970s the country underwent its worst economic crisis since WWII, and although the situation ceased somewhat with the discovery of oil in the North Sea, the 1980s saw a continuation of the problems of inflation and unemployment accompanied by a weakening currency.
Major British political parties:
Conservative party: successor of the Tory party. Labor party.
Major American political parties: Republican party. Democratic party.
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