United Kingdom history
Previous history of Great Britain: History of the Kingdom of Great Britain
The history of the United Kingdom began with the Act of Union 1800 and the resulting creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . On January 1, 1801, the legal unity of Great Britain and Ireland was completed. Ireland sent around 100 MPs to the House of Commons and 28 peers to the House of Lords .
Ireland in the UK
In the Act of Union 1800, the equality of Catholics was provided. But King George III. initially resisted it successfully. A campaign led by Daniel O'Connell led to the repeal of discriminatory laws in 1829 and Catholics were now allowed to be elected to parliament. However, his efforts to dissolve the Act of Union were unsuccessful.
In the period from 1846 to 1851 there was a great famine in Ireland due to poor potato harvests , which was exacerbated by the then prevailing economic-political orthodoxy of laissez-faire . During this time, around 1 million people starved to death and around 2 million emigrated. In 1858 the first underground army was formed, which carried out an unsuccessful armed uprising.
Instead, several groups began to advocate self-government . Two "Home Rule" laws were drafted by the government of William Ewart Gladstone , but failed in Parliament in 1886 and 1893, respectively. Opinions were divided in Ireland, with the Protestant majority in Ulster particularly against.
Another "Home Rule" law was approved by the House of Commons in 1912, but failed in the House of Lords. In the meantime, the House of Lords had lost its right of veto and could only delay the law by two years. Two hostile underground armies were formed in Ireland, and they were eager to import arms. On one side stood the Catholic nationalists, on the other side the Protestant unionists. The First World War pushed the Irish question into the background for a few years.
In 1916 the Irish Republic was proclaimed in Dublin and in 1919 a self-appointed Irish Parliament was formed. The Irish War of Independence lasted from January 1919 to June 1921. In the Anglo-Irish Peace of 1921, the formation of the Irish Free State was agreed. Gradually, all constitutional ties to Great Britain were dissolved, until the Republic of Ireland was founded in 1949 . Six counties in Ulster , the majority Protestant, remained with Great Britain. This made the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . The official name change did not take place until 1927.
See also the main article History of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
The Protestant Northern Irish, who had always opposed Northern Ireland's independence, continued to suppress the Catholic minority. The borders of the constituencies were drawn in such a way that the Catholics could hardly send any representatives to the city administrations.
In the 1960s, First Minister Terence O'Neill attempted to reform the discriminatory system, but met fierce opposition from fundamentalist Protestants led by Ian Paisley . Various violent riots led to the dispatch of British troops by Home Secretary James Callaghan . Protection by the troops was initially welcomed by the Catholic population. However, when thirteen unarmed demonstrators were killed by parachute troops in Derry on Bloody Sunday , the Catholic minority became radicalized. This was the beginning of the Northern Ireland conflict .
For 25 years Northern Ireland sank into a state of civil war, the IRA and various Protestant underground movements terrorized the population. The armed conflict was only ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. But the fundamental contradictions could not be overcome until today and the conflict could easily get out of hand again.
British Empire and Commonwealth
Main article: British Empire
At its height, the British Empire comprised almost two-fifths of the earth's surface. The settler colonies of Australia , New Zealand , Newfoundland and South Africa , to which millions of British and Irish had emigrated, were able to secure an ever greater degree of independence and eventually became independent. After independence from India and Pakistan (1947), the gigantic empire was dissolved within a few years. It was replaced by the loose Commonwealth to which most of the former colonies belong. 13 former colonies have chosen to stay with Great Britain and take on overseas territory status . These include Gibraltar , the Falkland Islands and Bermuda .
Post-war period (1945–1951)
After the Second World War , the United Kingdom became a great power of the second order and gradually lost not only its empire but also its supremacy in the Commonwealth .
Despite the military victory, the Conservatives were voted out of office in 1945 and Clement Attlee became premier. He began some nationalizations (Civil Aviation Company, Bank of England , Coal Mining, Transportation, Gas and Electricity, and - particularly controversial - Iron and Steel) and in 1946 introduced comprehensive social security legislation and the National Health Service .
In 1947 India left the Empire and the United Kingdom joined GATT at the urging of the USA . From 1948 it received help from the Marshall Plan . In the same year it gave up the administration of the mandated area of Palestine and gave Ceylon and Burma, now Myanmar , independence. Also in 1948 the principle of one man, one vote was introduced and the double right to vote for owners and academics, the possibility of voting in two different constituencies, was abolished.
Conservative Governments (1951–1964)
When the Conservatives re-appointed Prime Minister Winston Churchill, they left social legislation untouched and only withdrew the nationalization of the iron and steel industry. Years of economic boom followed with high growth rates in residential construction. The coronation celebrations for Elizabeth II in 1953 stood for overcoming the restrictions of the post-war period, which had lasted longer on the island, for example with food rationing, than in the loser state of the Federal Republic of Germany .
In 1956, Prime Minister Anthony Eden , together with France , embarked on the adventure of occupying the Suez Canal area , as in the old days of the Empire , but it became clear that no policy against the joint pressure from the Soviet Union and the USA was possible. So it came to Eden's resignation. His successor Harold Macmillan led the United Kingdom into EFTA in 1960 and released a number of colonies into independence ( Ghana , Nigeria , Somalia , Tanzania , Sierra Leone , Uganda , Kenya , Malaysia , Cyprus and Jamaica ). In 1961 he submitted an application to join the EC (now the EU ), which was rejected in 1963 with the veto of Charles de Gaulles . MacMillan's successor Alec Douglas-Home narrowly defeated Labor leader Harold Wilson in the 1964 general election .
From Inflation to the Winter of Discontent (1964–1979)
Wilson soon faced significant inflation and the resulting persistent sterling weakness and spike in unemployment , which he could not control by monitoring prices or restricting immigration from Commonwealth countries. Despite international support actions by the central banks , he was finally forced to devalue the pound by 14.3%, which proved the currency speculators right.
On the other hand, with the abolition of the death penalty , the reform of the House of Lords and laws against racial discrimination, he also took lasting reform steps. Considerations about restricting the power of the trade unions had to give up under their pressure in view of their high influence on the Labor Party. Unrest in Northern Ireland prompted him to intervene militarily.
The change of government to the Conservatives under Edward Heath did not bring about any relaxation. On August 3, 1971, a state of emergency was declared . The release of the pound's exchange rate resulted in a depreciation of around 20%. Membership in the EC from 1973 onwards did not bring any immediate relief. Taking over government responsibility for Northern Ireland required further crisis management. When the energy supply ran into difficulties in January, the three-day week had to be introduced at times. The miners' strike by the NUM brought the government further difficulties , so that Heath decided to dissolve the lower house. However, the elections did not result in a clear majority, and in the end Harold Wilson formed a Labor Cabinet again, but as a minority government.
But neither he nor his successor James Callaghan could solve the problems with price and wage controls. In addition, unemployment rose in 1977 to 1.3 million, its highest level since 1939. The subsequent winter strike ( Winter of Discontent ) led to Callaghan being voted out of office.
The Thatcher Era (1979–1990)
Margaret Thatcher , the first female prime minister in the United Kingdom, based her economic policy on US President Ronald Reagan with a very business-friendly economic policy and consistently fought against the power of the trade unions. After her victory in the Falklands War in 1982, her party won the general election on June 9, 1983 by a large margin over the Labor Party. Thatcher had enough backing in parliament and in the population to victoriously end a year-long miners' strike under the leader Arthur Scargill on March 3, 1985 and then to severely curtail the rights of the trade unions through harsh legislation. She also won the 1987 general election. With the introduction of a new local tax system , the poll tax , Thatcher overused the loyalty of her party members. After several resignations by cabinet members and the resulting government reshuffle , Thatcher resigned on November 22, 1990 . This ended the longest continuous term in office of a Prime Minister of Great Britain since the Napoleonic Wars after eleven years.
Her successor, John Major , remained in her shadow despite his solid work and was at times the most unpopular prime minister of the post-war period due to inflation and unemployment (14% in survey results). The Tories suffered a heavy electoral defeat in the general election on May 1, 1997 due to Labor Party reforms - led by Neil Kinnock , John Smith and Tony Blair - to New Labor .
New Labor (from 1997)
Tony Blair introduced job creation programs and minimum wages on the one hand , but he also pursued industry- friendly deregulation , including greater independence for the Bank of England. He also made himself popular through his quick reaction to the death of the popular Princess Diana , the queen of hearts , especially since the royal family exercised disconcerting restraint among the people.
Successes were also his introduction of regional parliaments in Scotland and Wales in 1999 and the Northern Ireland Agreement of April 10, 1998. The fact that this was not a lasting success, but had to be reintroduced directly to the government of London on February 11, 2000, did less to his popularity Termination as his unconditional approval of the second Gulf War , which was proclaimed by US President George W. Bush as an anti-terror war . Because the majority of the population was clearly against the war. Nevertheless, he was able to prevail both in national elections and against his internal party competitors. Tony Blair handed over the business of government to Gordon Brown on June 27, 2007 . His term in office was initially overshadowed by a series of scandals, in which there were repeated negligence in handling sensitive data of British citizens.
Conservative victory and EU referendum (from 2010)
After the general election in 2010 Labor lost a majority to the opposition Tories, which, however, could not achieve an absolute majority of seats, whereupon the chairman of the Tories, David Cameron, entered into a coalition with the Liberal Democrats under Nick Clegg, which was unusual for British standards, and was elected on May 11th Finally in 2010 the new British Prime Minister, Clegg Deputy Prime Minister. In the general election on May 7, 2015 , the Conservatives, led by Cameron, almost won an absolute majority of the parliamentary seats (with a 36.9% share of the vote), contrary to all prognoses and opinion polls before the election. Cameron was able to form an all-conservative government after the election.
On September 18, 2014, a referendum was held on whether Scotland would remain in the United Kingdom and its membership in the United Kingdom was confirmed. In a referendum on whether the United Kingdom should remain in the European Union on June 23, 2016, 51.9 percent of those who voted voted in favor of leaving the European Union . David Cameron announced his resignation until October.
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After all, on July 13, his party colleague Theresa May took over the affairs of state. She has headed the May II Cabinet since June 2017 .
Because May failed to negotiate a Brexit settlement with the European Union , she was succeeded by the energetic Brexit advocate Boris Johnson as Prime Minister. In the general election on December 12, 2019, he achieved the Conservatives' greatest electoral success since 1987.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ BBC History: Jim Donelly; The Irish Famine
- ↑ Edward J. O'Boyle: CLASSICAL ECONOMICS AND THE GREAT IRISH FAMINE: A STUDY IN LIMITS Forum for Social Economics, Vol 35, No. 2, 2006 (PDF, 114 kB) .
- ^ BBC History: Jim Donelly; The Irish Famine
- ↑ Brexit - but without Cameron. Referendum result. In: tagesschau.de. Tagesschau (ARD) , June 24, 2016, accessed on June 24, 2016 .
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