Module: Study of civilisation texts

Group: 12
The British Empire was the greatest empire to be existed throughout history. During the 19th
century, Great Britain was raising to greatness. The British century witnessed a variety of changes and rapid
advancements that changed the society as a whole. Britain had just the perfect conditions that helped these
changes to rise. This development was referred to as “the industrial revolution”. Due to this revolution,
Britain managed to control trade and economies all over the globe which made it the wealthiest power in all
Europe. To expand its power and influence more and more, Britain adopted what has been termed as “the
new imperialism”.
The industrial revolution began first in Britain because it possessed a large quantity of natural resources:
iron and coal, labour supply, political stability and the use of colonies as a resource of different materials
was of a great benefit as well. This revolution was a shift from a handicraft, rural economy to an urban one;
based on agriculture improvements, technological innovations, transportation developments and so on.
Many social, economic and political reasons were behind this industrialization. Capitalism: the wealthy
entrepreneurs and businessmen invest their money to help the growth process moving. Banking played an
important role in protecting the economic stability and capital system .For example, the establishment of the
central bank of England in1694 was a way that helped the British society to exchange goods and to insure
against financial risks. Besides, Britain had an excessive trade network with different colonies which helped
it to acquire more materials and goods. Great Britain had a supportive and stable parliamentary government
that pleased the people. Unlike the feudalism system; the middle class representation took place in this era
and an individual had the right to become what he wanted to be. Also, a variety of experiments were
produced due to the peacefulness that Great Britain had experienced between the 18 th and the 19th century
such as the telegraph, the telephone, the steam engine, and typewriter and so on. However, this
industrialisation had a lot of positive consequences such as the emergence of a group of “self-made men”
emerged and one’s social class had no longer the ability to determine one’s future. The negative
consequence are the children labour where a seven years old kid worked for an extensive hours, the growth
of cities led to pollution and poverty for some and emergence of union movements in which people strike
against the poor working conditions ,and birth of political compromises.
During the last years of the 19th century and order to expand the power of Great Britain, «the New
imperialism” emerged along with the rise of other European powers such as Japan, Germany, France...Etc.
Apart from the industrial revolution, different reasons led to The new imperialism: Europeans thirst to be
No.1 imperialist in the world by controlling as many territories as possible which helps them gain more
materials and goods ,Gaining the good reputation among the Europeans, Be the single political power in the
world, Their wrong fallacy which suggests that the Western religion and culture is the superior one, thus it
must be spread all over the world, possessing the strongest and largest military force because every imperial
country was concerned with its own security. Imperialism brought technology, advanced medical methods,
education, transportation and many other positive effects to the colonies. However, its pros overweigh its
cons. All the transportation improvements and the infrastructures were made and built for the imperial
country not for the people.The colonized people like Africans and Asians were obliged to live as plantation
slave labor. Additionally, imperialism led to depopulation and violence against indigenous people and
created hatred between countries. Moreover, the indigenous beliefs and culture were wiped away .
The nineteenth century is known by many as the British century. Britain had a great role in giving birth to
modernity and industrialization to the world. Many great innovations took place in this era. However, years
later the british Empire witnessed its fall.