History Of United Kingdom

The history of the formation of the United Kingdom is long and

complex. England and Scotland have existed as separate sovereign and independent states with
their own monarchs and political structures since the ninth century. The once independent
Principality of Wales fell under the control of English monarchs from the Statute of Rhuddlan in
1284. The Treaty of Union in 1706, ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, united the kingdoms of
England (including Wales) and Scotland, which had been in personal union since the Union of
the Crowns in 1603, agreed to a political union in the form of a united Kingdom of Great Britain.
This United Kingdom of Great Britain was to be represented by one and the same parliament, the
Parliament of Great Britain.

The Act of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland, which
had been gradually brought under English control between 1541 and 1691, to form the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. Independence for the Irish Free State in 1922
followed the partition of the island of Ireland two years previously, with six of the nine counties
of the province of Ulster remaining within the UK, which then changed to the current name in
1927 of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Following the establishment of the union Great Britain entered a long period of internal peace
and stability which was accompanied by the breakdown of internal borders and the expansion of
trade. England, while ceasing to exist as an independent political entity, has remained dominant
in what is now the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Due to her geographic
size and large population, the dominant political and economic influence in the UK stems from
England. London has remained the capital city of the UK and has built upon its status as the
economic and political centre of the UK. It is also one of the world's great cities.

Relations with Europe

Britain's general policy with regard to Europe had two main features. The first was to maintain
the balance of power and prevent any single country from dominating the continent. To achieve
this Britain formed alliances with weaker countries and at different times engaged in wars
with Spain, France and Germany. As France was the most powerful and aggressive nation on the
continent, it was the country that these alliances were directed against. France was also Britain's
main rival abroad. This rivalry between Britain and France has been described as The Second
Hundred Years' War (1689-1815). The second feature was to support liberal movements in
Europe and oppose autocracy. This was epitomized by George Canning's foreign policy "to leave
each country free to settle its own internal affairs." Britain's oldest ally in Europe is Portugal.

The War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713) was a result of the determination of Britain to

prevent France and Spain falling under a single monarch after the death of King Charles II of
Spain. The Partition Treaties of (1697) and (1700) had been agreed by Britain, France and
Holland. However Louis XIV disregarded them and accepted Spain for his grandson. This led to
the formation of the Grand Alliance of Britain, Holland and Austria to enforce the agreement and
place Archduke Charles on the throne of Spain. Britain's most brilliant general, the Duke of
Marlborough, defeated the French at the battles of Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde and
Malplaquet. The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) which ended the war stated that the crowns of Spain
and France should never be united and ceded Newfoundland, Hudson's Bay, Nova Scotia and
Gibraltar to Britain.

The Triple Alliance (1717) was formed with France and Holland to uphold the Treaty of Utrecht.
In 1718 Austria joined and it was expanded to the Quadruple Alliance against Spain and to
maintain the peace of Europe. When Spain attacked Sicily Admiral Byng destroyed the Spanish
fleet off Cape Passaro.

The War of Austria Succession (1743-1748) was fought against France, Prussia and Bavaria to uphold the
claim of Maria Teresa to the hereditary dominions of her father Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI. On his
death Prussia under Frederick the Great invaded and kept Silesia.

The Seven Years' War (1756-1763) was the first war

waged on a global scale, fought in Europe, India, North
America, the Caribbean, the Philippines and coastal
Africa. It was fought by Britain and Prussia against
France, Russia and Saxony who had banded together to
help Maria Theresa recover Silesia. Britain won a
series of victories against France on the continent but
more significantly in India under Robert Clive which
led to the end of French power in India and the
eventual incorporation of India into the British Empire.
In North America the French were defeated in the
south at Fort Duquesne and in Canada by James Wolfe
who defeated Montcalm and captured Quebec at the
Battle of the Heights of Abraham in 1759. These
battles ended French power in North America and left
New France as Quebec was called under British rule.
The Seven Years War was ended by the Treaty of Paris
(1763) which recognized Britain's made gains from
France and Spain. This marked the beginning of British
dominance outside Europe.

Following the French Revolution in 1789, the

French Convention offered to help all nations
overthrow their kings and threatened to
invade Holland which was protected by a treaty
with Britain. This led to war with the French
Republic (1793-1801) during which Britain
defeated the French fleet off Brest. Britain then
declared war on Holland for supporting France and
took from it the Cape of Good
Hope and Ceylon.  The ensuing struggle with France under Napoleon, unlike previous wars, represented a
contest of ideologies between the two nations. [9] It was not only Britain's position on the world stage that
was threatened: Napoleon threatened to invade Britain itself and subject it to the same fate as the
countries of continental Europe that his armies had already overrun. So Britain invested large amounts of
capital and resources into the Napoleonic Wars even to the point of causing financial crises and social
problems at home. Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar thwarted Napoleon's plans to invade Britain.
The Peninsular War marked the beginning of the defeat of Napoleon. Although it was Russia that rolled
back Napoleon's army, France was finally defeated by the Duke of Wellington who commanded a
coalition of European armies at the Battle of Waterloo 1815. Peace was made at the Treaty of Paris
(1815) which returned France to its 1790 borders.

Britain refused to join the Holy Alliance formed by other European countries in 1815 to crush
any liberal movements that were inspired by the ideals of the French Revolution. Instead it
tended to give succor to liberal and democratic movements on the continent giving refugee to
exiles and revolutionaries. Following the end of the Twenty-two Years War (1793-1815) Britain
enjoyed 40 years of peace in Europe until the outbreak of the Crimean War (1853-1856) in
which Britain and France sided with the Ottoman Empire against Russia which had now replaced
France as Britain's rival in Central Asia.

The unification of Germany under Bismarck changed the balance of power on the continent and
with the defeat of France by Prussia in 1870 Britain began to realign itself culminating in the
Entente Cordiale signed in 1904 with France. This signified the end of a thousand years of
conflict between the two nations. Britain and Russia also signed a convention in 1907 to resolve
long-standing disputes over their respective imperial peripheries. These paved the way for the
diplomatic and military cooperation that preceded World War I.

The First British Empire (1583-1783)

The American colonies

Britain was one of several European nations that tried to establish colonies in the Americas. In
time the colonies established by other countries in North America were other captured, bought or
taken over by Britain. The first colonies in North America were initiated by speculators such as
the London Company and Plymouth Company which were joint stock companies that had been
given patents by the Crown. The first attempt was made in 1583 by Sir Humphrey Gilbert. It was
not a success and the following year Sir Walter Raleigh made an unsuccessful attempt to
found Virginia. The first enduring settlement was Jamestown founded in 1608. The main
impetus for British expansion was trade and commerce sponsored by the City of London and not
the desire for empire for its own sake.

The other sources of colonists were religious dissenters such as the Puritans, who came to be
known as the Pilgrim Fathers. They set sail from Plymouth, England to found a new colony in
America where they could worship in the way they wanted. Other Puritans founded
Massachusetts Bay Colony, Connecticut, Boston Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
The American colonies, which provided tobacco, cotton, and rice in the south and naval materiel
and furs in the north had large areas of good agricultural land and attracted large numbers of
English emigrants who liked the temperate climate. The Seven Years War resulted in France
losing its colonies in North America.

The Caribbean initially provided England's most important and lucrative colonies which soon
adopted the system of sugar plantations successfully used by the Portuguese in Brazil, which
depended on slave labor, and - at first - Dutch ships, to sell the slaves and buy the sugar. To
ensure the increasingly healthy profits of this trade remained in English hands, Parliament
decreed in 1651 that only English ships would be able to ply their trade in English colonies. This
led to hostilities with the United Dutch Provinces- a series of Anglo-Dutch Wars - which would
eventually strengthen England's position in the Americas at the expense of the Dutch.

Slavery was a vital economic component of the British Empire in the Americas. Until the
abolition of the slave trade in 1807, Britain was responsible for the transportation of 3.5 million
African slaves to the Americas, a third of all slaves transported across the Atlantic.[10]

For the slave traders, the trade was extremely profitable, and became a major economic mainstay
for such cities as Bristol and Liverpool, which formed the third corner of the so-called triangular
trade with Africa and the Americas. However, for the transportees, harsh and unhygienic
conditions on the slaving ships and poor diets meant that the average mortality rate during the
middle passage was one in seven.

India

In 1600 the Honourable East India Company was founded to trade with India. The company
evolved from a commercial trading venture to one which virtually ruled India as it acquired
auxiliary governmental and military functions, along with a very large private army consisting of
local Indian sepoys (soldiers), who were loyal to their British commanders. The British East
India Company is regarded by some as the world's first multinational corporation. Company
interests turned from trade to territory during the 18th century as the Mughal Empire declined in
power and the British East India Company struggled with its French counterpart, the La
Compagnie française des Indes orientales, during the Carnatic Wars of the 1740s and 1750s.
The Battle of Plassey, which saw the British, led by Robert Clive, defeat the French and their
Indian allies, left the Company in control of Bengal and a major military and political power in
India. Its territorial holdings were subsumed by the British Crown in 1858, in the aftermath of
the Indian Mutiny.
The Loss of the Thirteen Colonies

Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown (John Trumbull, 1797). The loss of the American colonies marked the
end of the "first British Empire".

During the 1760s and 1770s, relations between the Thirteen Colonies and Britain became
increasingly strained, primarily because of resentment of the British Parliament's ability to tax
American colonists without their consent.[10] Disagreement turned to violence and in 1775
the American Revolutionary War began. The following year, the colonists
declared independence and with assistance from France, went on to win the war in 1783.

The loss of the United States, at the time Britain's most populous colony, is seen by historians as
the event defining the transition between the "first" and "second" empires, [11] in which Britain
shifted its attention away from the Americas to Asia, the Pacific and later
Africa. Canada remained a British territory and its population grew with a large influx of
loyalists who fled north during the Revolutionary War. The future of British North America was
briefly threatened during the War of 1812, in which the United States unsuccessfully attempted
to extend its border northwards. This was the last time that Britain and America went to war.

The Second British Empire (1783-1815)

In 1768 James Cook set out from England with secret instructions from King George III to lay
claim to what is now known as Australia which he did in 1770 after charting the continent's east
coast. In 1778 a penal settlement was established at Botany Bay when the first shipment of
convicts arrived. In 1826, Australia was formally claimed for the United Kingdom with the
establishment of a military base, soon followed by a colony in 1829 which became a profitable
exporter of wool and gold.
Cook also mapped the coastline of New Zealand which came under British rule in 1840 after
a Treaty of Waitangi was signed with the Maori.

Britain acquired Cape Colony in South Africa, and its large Afrikaner (or Boer) population of
Dutch descent in 1806. British immigration began to rise after 1820, and pushed thousands of
Boers, resentful of British rule, northwards to found the Transvaal and the Orange Free State
during the Great Trek of the late 1830s and early 1840s. Later Britain won the Boer Wars and
annexed these states.

The imperial century (1815–1914)

Between 1815 and 1914, a period referred to as Britain's "imperial century" by some historians [12]
[13]
, around ten million square miles of territory and roughly 400 million people were added to the
British Empire.[14] Victory over Napoleon left Britain without any serious international rival, other
than Russia in central Asia.[15] Unchallenged at sea, Britain adopted the role of global policeman,
a state of affairs later known as the Pax Britannica. Alongside the formal control it exerted over
its own colonies, Britain's dominant position in world trade meant that it effectively controlled
the economies of many nominally independent countries, such as in Latin America, China and
Siam, which has been characterized by some historians as "informal empire."[15]

An 1876 political cartoon of Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) making Queen Victoria Empress of India. The
caption was "New crowns for old ones!"
From its base in India, the East India Company had a monopoly on trade with China,
importing silks, tea and porcelain to sell in Britain. China would not import any foreign goods in
exchange and only accepted payment in silver. This caused a serious trade imbalance and huge
outflows of silver from Britain to China. The Company discovered a Chinese demand for opium
and started exporting it to China. This trade, technically illegal since it was outlawed by the Qing
dynasty in 1729, helped reverse the trade imbalances and the flow of silver was reversed. [16] In
1839, the seizure by the Chinese authorities at Canton of 20,000 chests of opium belonging to
British traders sparked the First Opium War, and the seizure by Britain of the island of Hong
Kong as a base.

The end of the Company was precipitated in India by a mutiny of sepoys against their British
commanders over the rumored introduction of rifle cartridges lubricated with animal fat. Use of
the cartridges, which required biting open before use, would have been in violation of the
religious beliefs of Hindus and Muslims (had the fat been that of cows or pigs, respectively).
However, the Indian Rebellion of 1857 had causes that went beyond the introduction of bullets:
at stake was Indian culture and religion, in the face of the steady encroachment of that by the
British. As a result of the war, the British government assumed direct control over India,
ushering in the period known as the British Raj. The East India Company was dissolved the
following year, in 1858.

Britain acquired Cape Colony in South Africa, and its large Afrikaner (or Boer) population of
Dutch descent, in 1806. British immigration began to rise after 1820, and pushed thousands of
Boers, resentful of British rule, northwards to found the Transvaal and the Orange Free State
during the Great Trek of the late 1830s and early 1840s. Later Britain won the Boer Wars and
annexed these states.

In 1875 the two most important European holdings in Africa were French controlled Algeria and
the United Kingdom's Cape Colony. By 1914 only Ethiopia and the republic of Liberia remained
outside formal European control. The transition from an "informal empire" of control through
economic dominance to direct control took the form of a "scramble" for territory by the nations
of Europe. The United Kingdom tried not to play a part in this early scramble, being more of a
trading empire rather than a colonial empire; however, it soon became clear it had to gain its own
African empire to maintain the balance of power.

In 1875, the British government of Benjamin Disraeli bought the indebted Egyptian ruler's

shareholding in the Suez Canal for £4 million to secure control of this strategic waterway, a
channel for shipping between the United Kingdom and India. To secure the canal Britain
occupied Egypt in 1882. A preoccupation over securing control of the Nile valley, lead to the
conquest of the neighboring Sudan in 1896.

British gains in southern and East Africa prompted Cecil Rhodes, pioneer of British expansion

from South Africa northward, to urge a "Cape-to-Cairo" British controlled empire linking by rail
the strategically important Suez Canal to the mineral-rich South. In 1888 Rhodes with his
privately owned British South Africa Company occupied and annexed territories which were
called after him: Rhodesia now known as Zimbabwe. Together with British High Commissioner
in South Africa between 1897-1905, Alfred Milner, Rhodes pressured the British government for
further expansion into Africa. After World War I German East Africa came under British
control.

The aftermath of World War I saw the last major extension of British rule, with the United
Kingdom gaining control through League of Nations Mandates in Palestine and Iraq after the
collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East, as well as in the former German colonies
of Tanganyika, South-West Africa (now Namibia) and New Guinea (the last two actually under
South African and Australian rule respectively).

Social and political changes

Agricultural revolution

The open field system that had existed from the Middle Ages involved each farmer subsistence-
cropping strips of land in one of three or four large fields held in common and splitting up the
products likewise. This gradually changed in response to need for enclosures so as to allow for
the use of more modern methods and agricultural mechanization. A series of government acts,
culminating finally in the General Enclosure Act of 1801. While farmers received compensation
for their strips, it was minimal, and the loss of rights for the rural population led to an increased
dependency on the Poor law. Poor farmers sometimes had to sell their share of the land to pay
for its being split up. Only a few found work in the (increasingly mechanized) enclosed farms.
Most were forced to relocate to the cities to try to find work in the emerging factories of
the Industrial Revolution.

An agricultural engine, towing a living van and a water cart:

Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies Ltd 6nhp Jubilee of 1908

It was in England that many of the new developments in agricultural technology took place.

Jethro Tull invented the seed drill in 1701. Joseph Foljambe in 1730 produced the first
commercially successful iron plough. Andrew Meikle's developed a threshing machine in 1786
and in the 1850s and 1860s John Fowler, an agricultural engineer and inventor, produced a
steam-driven engine that could plough farmland more quickly and more economically than
horse-drawn ploughs.

Robert Bakewell and Thomas Coke introduced selective breeding (mating together two animals
with particularly desirable characteristics), and inbreeding (to stabilize certain qualities) in order
to reduce genetic diversity in desirable animals programs from the mid-eighteenth century. These
methods proved successful in the production of larger and more profitable livestock.

The Agricultural Revolution in Britain proved to be a major turning point in history. The
population in 1750 reached the level of 5.7 million. This had happened before: in around 1300
and again in 1650. Each time, the appropriate agricultural infrastructure to support a population
this high was not present, and the population fell. However, by 1750, when the population
reached this level again, an onset in agricultural technology and new methodology allowed the
population growth to be sustained.

The increase in population led to more demand from the people for goods such as clothing. A
new class of landless laborers, products of enclosure, provided the basis for cottage industry, a
stepping stone to the Industrial Revolution. To supply continually growing demand, shrewd
businessmen began to pioneer new technology to meet demand from the people. This led to the
first industrial factories. People who once were farmers moved to large cities to get jobs in the
factories. It should be noted that the British Agricultural Revolution not only made the
population increase possible, but also increased the yield per agricultural worker, meaning that a
larger percentage of the population could work in these new, post-Agricultural Revolution jobs.

The Industrial Revolution

The Iron Bridge The world's first cast iron bridge built by Abraham Darby III in 1779

Britain led the Industrial Revolution, a period in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries when technological advances and mechanization transformed a largely agrarian society
throughout Europe, causing considerable social upheaval. Its birthplace is traditionally thought
of as Ironbridge where in 1711 the Quaker ironmaster Abraham Darby I perfected the technique
of smelting iron with coke, allowing much cheaper production of iron. It was this innovation
in metallurgy accompanied by the development of steam power and technological inventions in
textile manufacturing that formed the beginning of the industrial revolution. Other significant
factors were that Britain had the necessary raw materials (coal and iron ore), a single market, a
well developed legal system with property rights and enforceable contracts, relatively little state
interference or control of the economy, the sea, navigable roads and improving roads and canals
for transport, entrepreneurs and capital markets, a large scientific community, a relatively free
market, a supply of cheap labor and cheap food. Other innovations included the invention
of cement, new chemical processes, machine tools, ship building, gas lighting and glass making.
One of the most important was the development of mass production in large factories which
allowed for huge economies of scale. Many of the leading figures of the industrial revolution
came from non-conformist backgrounds. In the nineteenth century Britain came to be known as
the "workshop of the world."

Cotton mills in Ancoats, Manchester about 1820.

Much of the agricultural workforce uprooted from the countryside moved into large urban
centers of production, as the steam-based production factories could undercut traditional cottage
industries. This rapid urbanization led to the world's first industrial city - Manchester. The
consequent overcrowding into areas with little supporting infrastructure saw dramatic increases
in the rise of infant mortality (to the extent that many Sunday schools for pre-working age
children (five or six) had funeral clubs to pay for each other's funeral arrangements) and social
deprivation. Children were employed in factories and coal mines with often in dangerous jobs.
Many workers saw their livelihoods threatened by the process, and some frequently sabotaged or
attempted to sabotage factories. These saboteurs were known as Luddites.

Religious changes

From the seventeenth to the nineteenth century the UK experienced many religious revivals
which often resulted in the formation of new Christian churches such as the Methodists and
Congregationalists. These non-conformists often were excluded by the Anglican establishment
and instead poured their energies into overseas missionary work, social action, and business. The
reforming zeal also led to the development of the anti-slavery movement whose leader
was William Wilberforce, Methodist revival, evangelical revival, tractarianism, Christian
socialism, the Salvation Army, social reform, moral reform, charities, schools, and hospitals, etc.

Political reform

During the early nineteenth century, the working classes began to find a voice. Concentrations of
industry led to the formation of guilds and unions, which, although at first suppressed, eventually
became powerful enough to resist government policy. Chartism is thought to have originated
from the passing of the 1832 Reform Bill, which gave the vote to the majority of the (male)
middle classes, but not to the "working class." Many people made speeches on the "betrayal" of
the working class and the "sacrificing" of their "interests" by the "misconduct" of the
government. In 1838, six members of Parliament and six workingmen formed a committee,
which then published the People's Charter.

But by the end of the Victorian era (1900), the United Kingdom lost its industrial leadership,
particularly to the United States, which surpassed the UK in industrial production and trade in
the 1890s, as well as to the German Empire.

Victorian Age

Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her accession to the Throne, June 20, 1837) gave her name to
the historic era
The Victorian era of the United Kingdom marked the height of the British Industrial
Revolution and the apex of the British Empire. Although commonly used to refer to the period
of Queen Victoria's rule between 1837 and 1901, scholars debate whether the Victorian period—
as defined by a variety of sensibilities and political concerns that have come to be associated
with the Victorians—actually begins with the passage of the Reform Act 1832. The era was
preceded by the Regency era and succeeded by the Edwardian period.

By virtue of Queen Victoria's marriage to Prince Albert, son of Duke Ernst I of the small
German duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, her descendants were members of the ducal family of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha with the house name of Wettin. Victoria's son Edward VII and his
son George V reigned as members of this house.

World War I

The First World War was a global military conflict which took place primarily in Europe
between 1914 and 1918. More than nine million soldiers and civilians died. The conflict had a
decisive impact on the history of the twentieth century. The Entente Powers, led by France,
Russia, the United Kingdom and later Italy (from 1915) and the United States (from 1917),
defeated the Central Powers, led by the Austro-Hungarian, German, and Ottoman Empires.
Russia withdrew from the war after the revolution in 1917.

A graphic depiction of the state of international relations in pre-WWI Europe.

High anti-German feeling among the people during World War I prompted the Royal Family to
abandon all titles held under the German crown and to change German-sounding titles and house
names for English-sounding versions. On July 17, 1917, a royal proclamation by George V
provided that all agnatic descendants of Queen Victoria would be members of the House of
Windsor with the personal surname of Windsor. The name Windsor has a long association with
English royalty through the town of Windsor and Windsor Castle.
After the carnage of the Great War, Britain remained an eminent power, and its empire expanded
to its maximum size, gaining the League of Nations mandate over
former German and Ottoman colonies after World War I. By 1921, the British Empire held sway
over a population of about 458 million people, approximately one-quarter of the world's
population. It covered about 14.2 million square miles, about a quarter of Earth's total land area.
As a result, its legacy is widespread, in legal and governmental systems, economic practice,
militarily, educational systems, sports (such as cricket, rugby and football), and in the global
spread of the English language and Anglican Christianity. At the peak of its power, it was often
said that "the sun never sets on the British Empire" because its span across the globe ensured that
the sun was always shining on at least one of its numerous colonies or subject nations.

Independence for the Irish Free State in 1922 followed the partition of Ireland two years
previously, with six of the nine counties of the province of Ulster remaining within the UK,
which then changed in 1927 to the name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland.

World War II

The famous Spitfires of the RAF in World War II.

The Second World War, was a worldwide military conflict which lasted from 1939 to 1945. It
was the amalgamation of two conflicts, one beginning in Asia, in 1937, as the Second Sino-
Japanese War and the other beginning in Europe, in 1939, with the invasion of Poland. It is
regarded as the historical successor to World War I. The majority of the world's nations split into
two opposing camps: the Allies and the Axis. The UK fought with its Commonwealth allies
including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India, later to be joined by further
allies. Spanning much of the globe, World War II resulted in the deaths of over 60 million
people, making it the deadliest conflict in human history. The conflict ended in an Allied victory.

Wartime leader Winston Churchill and his successor Clement Atlee helped plan the post-war
world as part of the "Big Three." World War II, however, left the United Kingdom financially
and physically damaged. Loans taken out during and after World War II from the United States
and from Canada were economically costly, but, along with post-war US Marshall aid, they
started the UK on the road to recovery. As a result, the United States and Soviet Union emerged
as the world's two leading superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War for the next 45 years.
Self determination gave rise to independence movements in Asia and Africa, while Europe itself
began traveling the road leading to integration. During the five decades following World War II,
most of the territories of the Empire became independent. Many went on to join the
Commonwealth of Nations, a free association of independent states.

Multi-ethnic welfare state

The immediate post-war years brought the establishment of the British Welfare State and one of
the world's first and most comprehensive health services, while the demands of a recovering
economy brought people from all over the Commonwealth to create a multi-ethnic UK. Although
the new postwar limits of Britain's political role were confirmed by the Suez Crisis of 1956, the
international currency of the language meant the continuing impact of its literature and culture,
while at the same time from the 1960s its popular culture found an influence abroad.

Following a period of economic stagnation and industrial strife in the 1970s after a global
economic downturn, the 1980s saw the inflow of substantial North Sea oil revenues, and the
premiership of Margaret Thatcher, under whom there was a marked break with the post-war
political and economic consensus. Her supporters credit her with economic success, but her
critics blame her for greater social division. From the mid-1990s onward these trends largely
continued under the leadership of Tony Blair.

The United Kingdom joined the European Union in 1973. Attitudes towards further integration
with this organization have been mixed. In 2016, the United Kingdom held a referendum and the
majority voted to leave the European Union. As a result of this, Prime Minister David Cameron
announced that he would resign. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the
United Kingdom withdrew from the European Union in January 2020.