Great Britain

The first world war

Expected a swift and decisive war Machine guns, mortars, cannon and

poison gas killed hundreds of thousands 10 million soldiers had lost their lives Britain: 42 million (3 million young men ) Bankrupted the British state The role of the colonies (they helped in

the war) Equality and independence

Resistance to British rule Particularly in India – Mahatma Gandhi Earlier ¨the Indian Mutiny of 1857, put down

with incredible brutality Amritsar Massacre in 1919 (400 unarmed,

men, women and children were slaughtered)

Gandhi non violence resistance – boycotting all British institutions, goods and services refusing cooperation in any way

Mahatma Gandhi assassinated in 1948.

Ireland

Frustrated b decades of unfulfilled promises for “Home Rule”, a group of nationalist seized government buildings in Dublin and proclaimed Irish independence in the Easter rising of 1916.

They were shot A guerilla war was fought until 1921 The island was divided between an

independent Irish Free State and the Northern province of Ulster

The Second World War Appeasement towards Germany

(memories of w.w.1) Churchill warned against An appeaser is one who feeds a

crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. September 1939 ww2 10th of May 1940 Churchill prime minster Germany crushed France and threw

Great Britain off the continent. Great Britain stood alone against the fury of Hitler’s tyranny

The battle of Britain

Fought in the air The Royal British Air Force defeated the

German Luftwaffe. “Never in the field of human conflict was

so much owed by so many to so few” Lots of sacrifices by the British people They ability to hold firm against the

attack from Germany in 1940 In 1941 the Soviet Union and the United

Stated entered the war.

Post-war Britain

Great Britain emerged from the Second World War greatly weakened and in need of making major social and political changes

The Welfare state – the architect being the Labour party

1950s and 60s saw a wave of immigration from former colonies to the United Kingdom

The New Commonwealth ethnic communities

Reinventing Britain

Conservative Britain – Margaret Thatcher 1979

Cut back on welfare programmes reduced taxes, rewarded individual initiative and attempted to stimulate business to get the economy growing

Broke the power of the trade unions De-nationalizing indstries that hat been taken

over by labour governments Reduced the size of government Replaced by John Major in 1990

Dismantling Empire Australia, New Zealand and Canada gained

independence peacefully Part of British commonwealth in the 1920s

and ‘30s Independence movements in colonies in

India 1947 – India was granted its independence Between 1945 and 1965 – 500 million

people of the British Empire became self governing.

The Troubles

UK made the province of Ulster a self-governing part of the UK in 1921

The Protestant majority controlled the elected government

Suppressed and excluded the minority of Catholics

1969 violence broke out between the two sides IRA began a long campaign against the Ulster authorities and Protestant paramilitary groups

Northern Ireland

1972 the Northern Ireland governing replaced by direct rule from London

3 decades of unsuccessful attempts to return self-government

300 person were kileld 1998 a ceasefire between the two

sides Good Friday Coalition government in Nay, 2007 Including Protestants and Catholics

Realigning in the world

The European market Britain member since 1973 Many Britons still disagree with EU

membership Not changed to Euro from the Pound Who are Britain’s friends?

The other countries in EU? The Us? The commonwealth countries? All?