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data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/United-Kingdom">United Kingdom</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em class="material-icons font-26" data-icon="close"></em> </button> </div> <div class="section-content pl-10 pr-20 pl-sm-50 pr-sm-60 pl-lg-5 pr-lg-10 pt-10 pt-lg-0 bg-gray-50 clear-catfish-ad"> <div class="toc mb-20"> <div class="font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-15 mb-15 mt-20"> Table of Contents </div> <ul class="list-unstyled my-0" data-level="h1"><li data-target="#ref1"><div class="pl-25"><a class="link-gray-900 w-100" href="/place/United-Kingdom">Introduction & Quick Facts</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref44671"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom#ref44671">Land</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44672"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom#ref44672">Relief</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44673"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-highland-zone">The highland zone</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44674"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-lowland-zone">The lowland zone</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44675"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-lowland-zone#ref44675">Drainage</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44676"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-lowland-zone#ref44676">Soils</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44677"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-lowland-zone#ref44677">Climate</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44678"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Plant-and-animal-life">Plant and animal life</a></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref44682"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Plant-and-animal-life#ref44682">People</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44683"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Plant-and-animal-life#ref44683">Ethnic groups</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44684"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Plant-and-animal-life#ref44684">Languages</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44685"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Religion">Religion</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref225229"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Religion#ref225229">Settlement patterns</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref225230"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Religion#ref225230">Rural settlement</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref225231"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Urban-settlement">Urban settlement</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44686"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Urban-settlement#ref44686">Demographic trends</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44687"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Urban-settlement#ref44687">Population growth</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44688"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Urban-settlement#ref44688">Migration patterns</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref44689"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Economy">Economy</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44691"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Economy#ref44691">Agriculture, forestry, and fishing</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44692"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Economy#ref44692">Agriculture</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44693"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Economy#ref44693">Forestry</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44694"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Economy#ref44694">Fishing</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44690"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Economy#ref44690">Resources and power</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref225232"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Economy#ref225232">Minerals</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref225233"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Economy#ref225233">Energy</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44695"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Economy#ref44695">Manufacturing</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44699"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Economy#ref44699">Finance</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44700"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Trade">Trade</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref215040"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Trade#ref215040">Services</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref225234"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Trade#ref225234">Labour and taxation</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44701"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Trade#ref44701">Transportation and telecommunications</a></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref44702"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Trade#ref44702">Government and society</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref225235"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Trade#ref225235">Constitutional framework</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref215041"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Trade#ref215041">Regional government</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44705"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Local-government">Local government</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44709"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Local-government#ref44709">Justice</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44706"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Local-government#ref44706">Political process</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44710"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Local-government#ref44710">Security</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44716"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Health-and-welfare">Health and welfare</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44717"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Health-and-welfare#ref44717">The National Health Service</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44718"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Health-and-welfare#ref44718">Cash benefits</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44719"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Health-and-welfare#ref44719">Housing</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44712"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Health-and-welfare#ref44712">Education</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44713"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Health-and-welfare#ref44713">Primary and secondary education</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44714"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Health-and-welfare#ref44714">Private schools</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44715"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Higher-education">Higher education</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref44720"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Higher-education#ref44720">Cultural life</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref225236"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Higher-education#ref225236">Daily life and social customs</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref225237"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Higher-education#ref225237">The arts</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref225238"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Higher-education#ref225238">Cultural institutions</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref215039"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Sports-and-recreation">Sports and recreation</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44722"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Sports-and-recreation#ref44722">Media and publishing</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44723"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Sports-and-recreation#ref44723">Newspapers</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44724"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Sports-and-recreation#ref44724">Broadcasting</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref214519"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Sports-and-recreation#ref214519">History</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44730"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Ancient-Britain">Ancient Britain</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44731" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Ancient-Britain#ref44731">Pre-Roman Britain</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44732"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Ancient-Britain#ref44732">Neolithic Period</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44733"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Ancient-Britain#ref44733">Bronze Age</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44734"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Ancient-Britain#ref44734">Iron Age</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44735" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Roman-Britain">Roman Britain</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44736"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Roman-Britain#ref44736">The conquest</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44737"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Roman-Britain#ref44737">Condition of the province</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref44738"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Roman-Britain#ref44738">Army and frontier</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref44739"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Roman-Britain#ref44739">Administration</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44740"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Roman-society">Roman society</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref44741"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Roman-society#ref44741">Economy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref44742"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Roman-society#ref44742">Towns</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref44743"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Roman-society#ref44743">Villas</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref44744"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Roman-society#ref44744">Religion and culture</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44745"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Roman-society#ref44745">The decline of Roman rule</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44746"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Anglo-Saxon-England">Anglo-Saxon England</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44747" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Anglo-Saxon-England#ref44747">The invaders and their early settlements</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44748"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Anglo-Saxon-England#ref44748">The social system</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44749"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Anglo-Saxon-England#ref44749">The conversion to Christianity</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44750"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Anglo-Saxon-England#ref44750">The golden age of Bede</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44751" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-heptarchy">The heptarchy</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44752"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-heptarchy#ref44752">The supremacy of Northumbria and the rise of Mercia</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44753"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-heptarchy#ref44753">The great age of Mercia</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44754"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-heptarchy#ref44754">The church and scholarship in Offa’s time</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44755"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-heptarchy#ref44755">The decline of Mercia and the rise of Wessex</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44756" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-period-of-the-Scandinavian-invasions">The period of the Scandinavian invasions</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44757"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-period-of-the-Scandinavian-invasions#ref44757">Viking invasions and settlements</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44758"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-period-of-the-Scandinavian-invasions#ref44758">Alfred’s government and his revival of learning</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44759" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-period-of-the-Scandinavian-invasions#ref44759">The achievement of political unity</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44760"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-period-of-the-Scandinavian-invasions#ref44760">The reconquest of the Danelaw</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44761"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-period-of-the-Scandinavian-invasions#ref44761">The kingdom of England</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44762"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-church-and-the-monastic-revival">The church and the monastic revival</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44763" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-church-and-the-monastic-revival#ref44763">The Anglo-Danish state</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44764"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-church-and-the-monastic-revival#ref44764">The Danish conquest and the reigns of the Danish kings</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44765"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-church-and-the-monastic-revival#ref44765">The reign of Edward the Confessor and the Norman Conquest</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44766"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Normans-1066-1154">The Normans (1066–1154)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44767" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Normans-1066-1154#ref44767">William I (1066–87)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44768"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Normans-1066-1154#ref44768">Resistance and rebellion</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44769"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Normans-1066-1154#ref44769">The introduction of feudalism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44770"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Normans-1066-1154#ref44770">Government and justice</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44771"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Normans-1066-1154#ref44771">Church–state relations</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44772"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Normans-1066-1154#ref44772">William’s accomplishments</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44773" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-sons-of-William-I">The sons of William I</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44774"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-sons-of-William-I#ref44774">William II Rufus (1087–1100)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44775"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-sons-of-William-I#ref44775">Henry I (1100–35)</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44776" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-sons-of-William-I#ref44776">The period of anarchy (1135–54)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44777"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-sons-of-William-I#ref44777">Matilda and Stephen</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44778"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-sons-of-William-I#ref44778">Civil war</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44779"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-sons-of-William-I#ref44779">England in the Norman period</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44780"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-early-Plantagenets">The early Plantagenets</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44781" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-early-Plantagenets#ref44781">Henry II (1154–89)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44782"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-early-Plantagenets#ref44782">Government of England</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44783"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-early-Plantagenets#ref44783">Struggle with Thomas Becket</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44784"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-early-Plantagenets#ref44784">Rebellion of Henry’s sons and Eleanor of Aquitaine</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44785"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-early-Plantagenets#ref44785">Richard I (1189–99)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44786" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/John-1199-1216">John (1199–1216)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44787"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/John-1199-1216#ref44787">Loss of French possessions</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44788"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/John-1199-1216#ref44788">Struggle with the papacy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44789"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/John-1199-1216#ref44789">Revolt of the barons and Magna Carta</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44790"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/John-1199-1216#ref44790">Economy and society</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44791"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/John-1199-1216#ref44791">The 13th century</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44792" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Henry-III-1216-72">Henry III (1216–72)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44793"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Henry-III-1216-72#ref44793">Minority</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44794"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Henry-III-1216-72#ref44794">Early reign</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44795"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Henry-III-1216-72#ref44795">The county communities</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44796"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Henry-III-1216-72#ref44796">Simon de Montfort and the Barons’ War</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44797"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Henry-III-1216-72#ref44797">Later reign</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44798" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Edward-I-1272-1307">Edward I (1272–1307)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44799"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Edward-I-1272-1307#ref44799">Law and government</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44800"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Edward-I-1272-1307#ref44800">Finance</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44801"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Edward-I-1272-1307#ref44801">The growth of Parliament</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44802"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Edward-I-1272-1307#ref44802">Edward’s wars</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44803"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Edward-I-1272-1307#ref44803">Domestic difficulties</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44804"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Social-economic-and-cultural-change">Social, economic, and cultural change</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44805"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Social-economic-and-cultural-change#ref44805">The 14th century</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44806"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Social-economic-and-cultural-change#ref44806">Edward II (1307–27)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44807" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Edward-III-1327-77">Edward III (1327–77)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44808"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Edward-III-1327-77#ref44808">The Hundred Years’ War to 1360</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44809"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Edward-III-1327-77#ref44809">Domestic achievements</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44810"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Edward-III-1327-77#ref44810">Law and order</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44811"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Edward-III-1327-77#ref44811">The crises of Edward’s later years</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44812" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Richard-II-1377-99">Richard II (1377–99)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44813"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Richard-II-1377-99#ref44813">The Peasants’ Revolt (1381)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44814"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Richard-II-1377-99#ref44814">John Wycliffe</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44815"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Richard-II-1377-99#ref44815">Political struggles and Richard’s deposition</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44816"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Richard-II-1377-99#ref44816">Economic crisis and cultural change</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44817"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Lancaster-and-York">Lancaster and York</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44818" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Lancaster-and-York#ref44818">Henry IV (1399–1413)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44819"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Lancaster-and-York#ref44819">The rebellions</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44820"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Lancaster-and-York#ref44820">Henry and Parliament</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44821" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Lancaster-and-York#ref44821">Henry V (1413–22)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44822"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Lancaster-and-York#ref44822">The French war</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44823"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Lancaster-and-York#ref44823">Domestic affairs</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44824" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Lancaster-and-York#ref44824">Henry VI (1422–61 and 1470–71)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44825"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Lancaster-and-York#ref44825">Domestic rivalries and the loss of France</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44826"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Lancaster-and-York#ref44826">Cade’s rebellion</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44827"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-beginning-of-the-Wars-of-the-Roses">The beginning of the Wars of the Roses</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44828"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-beginning-of-the-Wars-of-the-Roses#ref44828">Edward IV (1461–70 and 1471–83)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44829"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-beginning-of-the-Wars-of-the-Roses#ref44829">Richard III (1483–85)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44830"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/England-in-the-15th-century">England in the 15th century</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44831"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/England-in-the-15th-century#ref44831">England under the Tudors</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44832" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/England-in-the-15th-century#ref44832">Henry VII (1485–1509)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44833"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/England-in-the-15th-century#ref44833">Economy and society</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44834"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Dynastic-threats">Dynastic threats</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44835"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Dynastic-threats#ref44835">Financial policy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44836"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Dynastic-threats#ref44836">The administration of justice</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44837" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Henry-VIII-1509-47">Henry VIII (1509–47)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44838"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Henry-VIII-1509-47#ref44838">Cardinal Wolsey</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44839"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Henry-VIII-1509-47#ref44839">The king’s “Great Matter”</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44840"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Henry-VIII-1509-47#ref44840">The Reformation background</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44841"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-break-with-Rome">The break with Rome</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44842"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-break-with-Rome#ref44842">The consolidation of the Reformation</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref275884"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-break-with-Rome#ref275884">The expansion of the English state</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44843"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-break-with-Rome#ref44843">Henry’s last years</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44844"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Edward-VI-1547-53">Edward VI (1547–53)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44845"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Edward-VI-1547-53#ref44845">Mary I (1553–58)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44846" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Edward-VI-1547-53#ref44846">Elizabeth I (1558–1603)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44847"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Edward-VI-1547-53#ref44847">The Tudor ideal of government</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44848"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Elizabethan-society">Elizabethan society</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44849"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Elizabethan-society#ref44849">Mary, Queen of Scots</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44850"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-clash-with-Spain">The clash with Spain</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44851"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-clash-with-Spain#ref44851">Internal discontent</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44852"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-early-Stuarts-and-the-Commonwealth">The early Stuarts and the Commonwealth</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44853" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-early-Stuarts-and-the-Commonwealth#ref44853">England in 1603</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44854"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-early-Stuarts-and-the-Commonwealth#ref44854">Economy and society</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44855"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-early-Stuarts-and-the-Commonwealth#ref44855">Government and society</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44856" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/James-I-1603-25">James I (1603–25)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref275885"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/James-I-1603-25#ref275885">Triple monarchy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44857"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/James-I-1603-25#ref44857">Religious policy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44858"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/James-I-1603-25#ref44858">Finance and politics</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44859"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/James-I-1603-25#ref44859">Factions and favourites</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44860" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Charles-I-1625-49">Charles I (1625–49)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44861"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Charles-I-1625-49#ref44861">The politics of war</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44862"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Charles-I-1625-49#ref44862">Peace and reform</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44863"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Charles-I-1625-49#ref44863">Religious reform</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44864"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Long-Parliament">The Long Parliament</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44865"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Long-Parliament#ref44865">Civil war and revolution</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44866"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Commonwealth-and-Protectorate">Commonwealth and Protectorate</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44867"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-later-Stuarts">The later Stuarts</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44868" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-later-Stuarts#ref44868">Charles II (1660–85)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44869"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-later-Stuarts#ref44869">The Restoration</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44870"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-later-Stuarts#ref44870">War and government</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44871"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-later-Stuarts#ref44871">The Popish Plot</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44872"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-later-Stuarts#ref44872">The exclusion crisis and the Tory reaction</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44873" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-later-Stuarts#ref44873">James II (1685–88)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44874"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-later-Stuarts#ref44874">Church and king</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44875"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Revolution-of-1688">The Revolution of 1688</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44876" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Revolution-of-1688#ref44876">William III (1689–1702) and Mary II (1689–94)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44877"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Revolution-of-1688#ref44877">The revolution settlement</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref275886"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Revolution-of-1688#ref275886">A new society</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44878"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Revolution-of-1688#ref44878">The sinews of war</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44879" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Anne-1702-14">Anne (1702–14)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44880"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Anne-1702-14#ref44880">Whigs and Tories</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44881"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Anne-1702-14#ref44881">Tories and Jacobites</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44882"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/18th-century-Britain-1714-1815">18th-century Britain, 1714–1815</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44883"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/18th-century-Britain-1714-1815#ref44883">The state of Britain in 1714</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44884" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/18th-century-Britain-1714-1815#ref44884">Britain from 1715 to 1742</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44885"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/18th-century-Britain-1714-1815#ref44885">The supremacy of the Whigs</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44886"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/18th-century-Britain-1714-1815#ref44886">Robert Walpole</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref44887"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/18th-century-Britain-1714-1815#ref44887">George II and Walpole</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref44888"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/18th-century-Britain-1714-1815#ref44888">Foreign policy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref44889"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/18th-century-Britain-1714-1815#ref44889">Religious policy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref44890"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/18th-century-Britain-1714-1815#ref44890">Economic policies</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44891"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/18th-century-Britain-1714-1815#ref44891">The electoral system</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44892"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Walpoles-loss-of-power">Walpole’s loss of power</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44893" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Walpoles-loss-of-power#ref44893">Britain from 1742 to 1754</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44894"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Walpoles-loss-of-power#ref44894">The Jacobite rebellion</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44895"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Walpoles-loss-of-power#ref44895">The rule of the Pelhams</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44896"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Walpoles-loss-of-power#ref44896">Domestic reforms</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44897" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/British-society-by-the-mid-18th-century">British society by the mid-18th century</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44898"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/British-society-by-the-mid-18th-century#ref44898">Joseph Massie’s categories</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44899"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/British-society-by-the-mid-18th-century#ref44899">Urban development</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44900"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/British-society-by-the-mid-18th-century#ref44900">Change and continuity</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44901"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/British-society-by-the-mid-18th-century#ref44901">The revolution in communications</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44902" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-from-1754-to-1783">Britain from 1754 to 1783</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44903"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-from-1754-to-1783#ref44903">Conflict abroad</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44904"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-from-1754-to-1783#ref44904">Political instability in Britain</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44905"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-from-1754-to-1783#ref44905">The American Revolution</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44906"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-from-1754-to-1783#ref44906">Domestic responses to the American Revolution</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44907" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-from-1754-to-1783#ref44907">Britain from 1783 to 1815</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44908"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/William-Pitt-the-Younger">William Pitt the Younger</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44909"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/William-Pitt-the-Younger#ref44909">Economic growth and prosperity</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44910"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/William-Pitt-the-Younger#ref44910">The Industrial Revolution</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44911"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/William-Pitt-the-Younger#ref44911">Britain during the French Revolution</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44912"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Napoleonic-Wars">The Napoleonic Wars</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44913"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Napoleonic-Wars#ref44913">Imperial expansion</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44914"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Napoleonic-Wars#ref44914">Great Britain, 1815–1914</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44915" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Napoleonic-Wars#ref44915">Britain after the Napoleonic Wars</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref274567"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Napoleonic-Wars#ref274567">State and society</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref274568"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Napoleonic-Wars#ref274568">The political situation</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref44919" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Early-and-mid-Victorian-Britain">Early and mid-Victorian Britain</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref274569"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Early-and-mid-Victorian-Britain#ref274569">State and society</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref274570"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Early-and-mid-Victorian-Britain#ref274570">The political situation</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274571"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Early-and-mid-Victorian-Britain#ref274571">Whig reforms</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274572"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Early-and-mid-Victorian-Britain#ref274572">Chartism and the Anti-Corn Law League</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274573"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Early-and-mid-Victorian-Britain#ref274573">Peel and the Peelite heritage</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274574"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Early-and-mid-Victorian-Britain#ref274574">Palmerston</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274575"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Gladstone-and-Disraeli">Gladstone and Disraeli</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44926"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Gladstone-and-Disraeli#ref44926">Economy and society</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref44928"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Cultural-change">Cultural change</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274576"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Cultural-change#ref274576">The development of private life</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274577"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Cultural-change#ref274577">Religion</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274578"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Cultural-change#ref274578">Leisure</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref274579" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Late-Victorian-Britain">Late Victorian Britain</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref274580"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Late-Victorian-Britain#ref274580">State and society</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref274581"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Late-Victorian-Britain#ref274581">The political situation</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274582"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Late-Victorian-Britain#ref274582">Gladstone and Chamberlain</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274583"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Late-Victorian-Britain#ref274583">The Irish question</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274584"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Late-Victorian-Britain#ref274584">Split of the Liberal Party</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274585"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Late-Victorian-Britain#ref274585">Imperialism and British politics</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274586"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-return-of-the-Liberals">The return of the Liberals</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274587"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-return-of-the-Liberals#ref274587">The international crisis</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref274588"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-return-of-the-Liberals#ref274588">Economy and society</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref274589"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-return-of-the-Liberals#ref274589">Family and gender</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref274590"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-return-of-the-Liberals#ref274590">Mass culture</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref44948"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-from-1914-to-the-present">Britain from 1914 to the present</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref274520" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-from-1914-to-the-present#ref274520">The political situation</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref274521"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-from-1914-to-the-present#ref274521">World War I</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274522"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-from-1914-to-the-present#ref274522">The Asquith coalition</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274523"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-from-1914-to-the-present#ref274523">Lloyd George</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref274524"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-from-1914-to-the-present#ref274524">Between the wars</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274525"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-from-1914-to-the-present#ref274525">The election of 1918</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274526"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-from-1914-to-the-present#ref274526">Harsh peace and hard times</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274527"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-from-1914-to-the-present#ref274527">Ireland and the return of the Conservatives</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274528"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-from-1914-to-the-present#ref274528">The Baldwin era</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274529"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Baldwin-and-the-abdication-crisis">Baldwin and the abdication crisis</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274530"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Baldwin-and-the-abdication-crisis#ref274530">Foreign policy and appeasement</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref274531"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Baldwin-and-the-abdication-crisis#ref274531">World War II</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274532"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Baldwin-and-the-abdication-crisis#ref274532">The phases of war</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274533"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Baldwin-and-the-abdication-crisis#ref274533">Political developments</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref274534"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-since-1945">Britain since 1945</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274535"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-since-1945#ref274535">Labour and the welfare state (1945–51)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274536"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-since-1945#ref274536">Economic crisis and relief (1947)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274537"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-since-1945#ref274537">Withdrawal from the empire</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274538"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-since-1945#ref274538">Conservative government (1951–64)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274539"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-since-1945#ref274539">Labour interlude (1964–70)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274540"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-since-1945#ref274540">The return of the Conservatives (1970–74)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274541"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-since-1945#ref274541">Labour back in power (1974–79)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274542"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Margaret-Thatcher-government-1979-90">The Margaret Thatcher government (1979–90)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342384"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Margaret-Thatcher-government-1979-90#ref342384">The Falkland Islands War, the 1983 election, and privatization</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342385"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Margaret-Thatcher-government-1979-90#ref342385">Racial discrimination and the 1981 England riots</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342386"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Margaret-Thatcher-government-1979-90#ref342386">The 2001 England riots</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342387"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Margaret-Thatcher-government-1979-90#ref342387">The “Troubles” in Northern Ireland</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342388"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Margaret-Thatcher-government-1979-90#ref342388">“Thatcherism”</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274543"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Margaret-Thatcher-government-1979-90#ref274543">The government of John Major (1990–97)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342389"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Margaret-Thatcher-government-1979-90#ref342389">“Black Wednesday,” epidemic scandals, and Major’s “Citizens Charter”</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342390"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Margaret-Thatcher-government-1979-90#ref342390">“Mad cow disease”</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref342391"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Tony-Blair-government-1997-2007">The Tony Blair government (1997–2007)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342392"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Tony-Blair-government-1997-2007#ref342392">The struggle for control of Labour</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342393"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Tony-Blair-government-1997-2007#ref342393">New Labour, the repeal of Clause IV, and the “third way”</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342394"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Tony-Blair-government-1997-2007#ref342394">Navigating the European monetary system and the EU Social Chapter</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342395"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Tony-Blair-government-1997-2007#ref342395">The Good Friday Agreement</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342396"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Tony-Blair-government-1997-2007#ref342396">London’s local government, House of Lords reform, and devolution for Scotland and Wales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342397"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Tony-Blair-government-1997-2007#ref342397">The royal family’s “annus horribilis,” the death of Princess Diana, and the Millennium Dome</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342398"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Tony-Blair-government-1997-2007#ref342398">The battle for the soul of the Conservative Party</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342399"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Tony-Blair-government-1997-2007#ref342399">Response to the September 11 attacks</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342400"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Tony-Blair-government-1997-2007#ref342400">Weapons of mass destruction and the Iraq War</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref274544"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Tony-Blair-government-1997-2007#ref274544">The Gordon Brown government (2007–10)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref332804"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Conservative-Liberal-Democrat-coalition-rule-2010-15">Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition rule (2010–15)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342401"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Conservative-Liberal-Democrat-coalition-rule-2010-15#ref342401">The U.K. general election of 2010</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342402"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Conservative-Liberal-Democrat-coalition-rule-2010-15#ref342402">First-past-the-post referendum</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342403"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Conservative-Liberal-Democrat-coalition-rule-2010-15#ref342403">Intervention in Libya</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342404"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Conservative-Liberal-Democrat-coalition-rule-2010-15#ref342404"><em>News of the World</em> hacking scandal</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342405"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Conservative-Liberal-Democrat-coalition-rule-2010-15#ref342405">The 2011 riots, the European sovereign debt crisis, and Cameron’s veto of changes to the Lisbon Treaty</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342406"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Conservative-Liberal-Democrat-coalition-rule-2010-15#ref342406">The 2012 London Olympics, Julian Assange’s embassy refuge, and the emergence of UKIP</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342407"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Conservative-Liberal-Democrat-coalition-rule-2010-15#ref342407">The birth of George, rejection of intervention in Syria, and regulation of GCHQ</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342408"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Conservative-Liberal-Democrat-coalition-rule-2010-15#ref342408">Euroskepticism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342409"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Conservative-Liberal-Democrat-coalition-rule-2010-15#ref342409">Scottish independence referendum</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342410"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Conservative-Liberal-Democrat-coalition-rule-2010-15#ref342410">Economic recovery</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref332805"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Conservative-Liberal-Democrat-coalition-rule-2010-15#ref332805">David Cameron on his own (2015–16)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342411"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Conservative-Liberal-Democrat-coalition-rule-2010-15#ref342411">The U.K. general election of 2015</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342412"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum">The “Brexit” referendum</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref337649"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref337649">The premiership of Theresa May (2016–19)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342413"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref342413">The resignation of Cameron, the rise of May, and a challenge to Corbyn’s leadership of Labour</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342414"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref342414">Triggering Article 50</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342415"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref342415">The Manchester arena bombing and London bridge attacks</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342416"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref342416">The snap election campaign</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342417"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref342417">The 2017 U.K. general election</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342418"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref342418">The Grenfell Tower fire, a novichok attack in Salisbury, and air strikes on Syria</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342419"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref342419">The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Chequers plan, and Boris Johnson’s resignation</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342420"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref342420">EU agreement and Parliamentary opposition to May’s Brexit plan</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342421"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref342421">Objections to the Irish backstop and a challenge to May’s leadership</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342422"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref342422">Parliamentary rejection of May’s plan, May’s survival of a confidence vote, and the Independent Group of breakaway MPs</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342423"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref342423">Parliament rejects May’s plan again</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref342486"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref342486">“Indicative votes,” May’s pledge to resign, a third defeat for her plan, and a new deadline</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref350369"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref350369">The Boris Johnson government</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref344342"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref344342">Boris Johnson’s ascent, the December 2019 snap election, and Brexit</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref347309"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref347309">The coronavirus pandemic</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref350370"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref350370">“Partygate”</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref351071"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref351071">Further scandal and Johnson’s resignation</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref351684"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref351684">The premiership of Liz Truss</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref352183"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref352183">Ascent to office</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref352184"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref352184">The death of Elizabeth II</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h6"><li data-target="#ref352772"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref352772">Abrupt resignation</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref352803"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/The-Brexit-referendum#ref352803">The premiership of Rishi Sunak</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref274545" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/United-Kingdom/Society-state-and-economy">Society, state, and economy</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li 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Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). </div> <div class="type-menu"> <label for="feedback-type" class="label mb-10">Feedback Type</label> <select id="feedback-type" class="form-select mb-30" name="feedbackTypeId" required> <option value="" selected="selected">Select a type (Required)</option> <option value="1">Factual Correction</option> <option value="2">Spelling/Grammar Correction</option> <option value="3">Link Correction</option> <option value="4">Additional Information</option> <option value="5">Other</option> </select> </div> <label for="feedback" class="label mb-10">Your Feedback</label> <textarea id="feedback" class="form-control mb-30" name="feedback" maxlength="3000" rows="7" required></textarea> <button class="btn btn-blue" type="submit">Submit Feedback</button> </form> <div class="success-messaging d-none mt-30"> <div class="title">Thank you for your feedback</div> <p>Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="md-websites-modal size-lg d-none"> <div class="md-modal-body"> <div class="h2 font-serif pb-15 border-bottom font-weight-bold"> External Websites </div> <div class="pb-20"> <ul class="list-unstyled mt-20 lh-lg"> <li><a class="external" href="https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Historic-November/" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">Historic UK - Historic November</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/gb.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">CRW Flags - Flag of United Kingdom</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/united-kingdom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Central Intelligence Agency - The World Factbook - United Kingdom</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="md-websites-ebk-title">Britannica Websites</div> <div class="md-websites-ebk-subtitle">Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.</div> <ul class="list-unstyled bps-topic-web-sites lh-lg"> <li><a class="external" href="https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/United-Kingdom/345811" target="_blank" rel="noopener">United Kingdom - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/United-Kingdom/277509" target="_blank" rel="noopener">United Kingdom - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="toc-header-marker"></div> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 js-header-ai-ask-button d-none btn-sm btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 mr-0 mr-lg-10 ml-5 ml-sm-10 ml-lg-0 p-10"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> <div class="caption alternate-titles">Also known as: Britain, Great Britain, U.K., United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland</div> <div class="md-byline module-spacing "> <div class="font-serif font-12"> <span class="written-by text-gray-700"> Written by </span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor" href="/contributor/John-S-Morrill/5173" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">John S. Morrill</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Assistant Master and Professor of History, Selwyn College, University of Cambridge. Consultant editor for the <em>Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</em>.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> John S. Morrill</span>, <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor" href="/contributor/William-Ravenhill/2416" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">William Ravenhill</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Reardon Smith Professor of Geography, University of Exeter, England, 1971–83. Author of <i>Ben Donn's Map of Devon, 1765; </i>coauthor of <i>South-West England.</i></div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> William Ravenhill</span><span class="text-gray-700 mx-5">•</span><a class="see-all border-gray-700 gtm-byline" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/United-Kingdom/additional-info#contributors">All</a> </div> <div class="font-serif font-12 text-gray-700"> <span class="qa-fact-checked-by">Fact-checked by</span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 font-12" href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 text-black">Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <span class="text-gray-700"> Last Updated: <time datetime="2024-11-29T00:00:00CST" >Nov 29, 2024</time> •</span> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/United-Kingdom/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button js-sections-inline-button module-spacing"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 ai-ask-button btn border-2 module-spacing btn-sm js-inline-ai-ask-button btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <div class="bg-gray-50 p-15 rounded module-spacing recent-news d-flex flex-column float-false"> <div> <h2 class="font-weight-bold font-14 m-0 d-inline"> News <span class="text-gray-600">•</span> </h2> <div class="recent-news-item first-recent-news-item d-inline"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="/news/615557/6f4d41f0c4859b9127316c762561d7e7" rel="nofollow">UK intelligence chief accuses Russia of 'staggeringly reckless' sabotage campaign</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 29, 2024, 7:42 AM ET (AP) <button class="btn btn-link d-inline p-0 font-12 js-toggle-recent-news"> <span class="text-gray-500">...</span><span>(Show more)</span> </button> </span> </div> </div> <div class="rest-of-recent-news-items"> <div class="recent-news-item mt-5"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="/news/615557/fa79807d1ef320098e6f76faf7147a8b" rel="nofollow">UK transport secretary quits over decade-old cellphone fraud case</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 29, 2024, 7:12 AM ET (AP) </span> </div> <div class="recent-news-item mt-5"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="/news/615557/0bc2de13d41fe6d62753935e91dfb0f8" rel="nofollow">Historic debate on legalizing assisted dying in England and Wales begins</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 29, 2024, 5:44 AM ET (AP) </span> </div> <div class="recent-news-item mt-5"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="/news/615557/fdd390388f1135f2cab25f8b2abc6507" rel="nofollow">Bill to legalize assisted dying in England and Wales faces heated parliamentary debate</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 28, 2024, 12:43 PM ET (AP) </span> </div> <div class="recent-news-item mt-5"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="/news/615557/d4b32efec6cb63faa1b6302f502f7a3a" rel="nofollow">Former British soldier who broke out of prison is convicted of spying for Iran</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 28, 2024, 8:26 AM ET (AP) </span> </div> <button class="js-toggle-recent-news d-flex btn btn-unstyled font-14 pr-10 rounded-sm mt-10" aria-label="Toggle additional news items"> Show less <em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_less"></em> </button> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="3" id="ref274579">  <section data-level="4" id="ref274580"> <h2 class="h4">State and society</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">From the 1880s a mounting sense of the limits of the liberal, regulative state became apparent. One reflection of this awareness was the increasing perception of national decline, relative to the increasing strength of other European countries and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">United States</a>. This awareness was reinforced by British <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/armed-force" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">military</a> failures in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/South-African-War" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">South African War</a> (Boer War) of 1899–1902, a “free enterprise war” in which free enterprise was found wanting. One consequence of this and other developments was the growth of movements aimed at “national efficiency” as a means of establishing a more effective state machine. The recognition of social problems at home—such as the “discovery” of urban poverty in 1880s in the assumed presence of plenty and increasing anxiety about the “labour question”—also raised questions about the adequacy of the state in dealing with the mounting problems of an increasingly populous and complex society. Toward the end of the century, the possibility of a violent outcome in the increasingly intractable problem of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Ireland" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Ireland</a> brought existing <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="constitutional" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/constitutional" data-type="MW">constitutional</a> methods into question. Behind much of this anxiety was a sense that the Third Reform Act of 1884 (<em>see</em> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Reform-Bill" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Reform Bill</a>) and changes in local government were precipitating a much more democratic polity, for which the classical liberal state had no easy answers. The example of what was called at the time municipal socialism, especially as it existed in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Birmingham-England" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Birmingham</a> under the direction of its mayor, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Chamberlain" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Joseph Chamberlain</a> (1873–76), indicated what the local state could accomplish. Instead of the old “natural order” religion that had underpinned the state previously, different currents of thought emerged that saw the state and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="community" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/community" data-type="MW">community</a> as necessary for individual self-realization. German <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Absolute-Idealism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">idealism</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/socialism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">socialism</a>, and new <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/liberalism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">liberalism</a> (<em>see</em> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/libertarianism-politics/Historical-origins" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">libertarianism</a>) all <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="encompassed" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/encompassed" data-type="MW">encompassed</a> different ways of rethinking the state.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">This rethinking revolved around the belief that the operation of the state must incorporate consideration of the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="collective" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/collective" data-type="MW">collective</a> characteristics of society—that is, solidarity, interdependence, and common identity—in a much more direct way than hitherto. Indeed, the idea of the “social” came to characterize the entire period and even much later eras. Notions of a distinct social sphere, separate from the economic and political realms, had emerged much earlier, based upon the idea that the characteristics of this social realm were evident in the biological, vital characteristics of populations, so that society was very often understood in organic terms. The influence of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/Thomas-Malthus" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Malthus</a> in the early 19th century and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Darwin-Northern-Territory" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Darwin</a> in the mid-19th century contributed powerfully to this worldview, giving rise to late 19th-century representations of society in the strongly biological terms of “social <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/eugenics-genetics" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">eugenics</a>” and other variations of “racial” thought, such as the idea of the “degeneration” of the working class. From about the turn of the 20th century, the concept of the social realm as <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="autonomous" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/autonomous" data-type="MW">autonomous</a> developed alongside and partly incorporated older understandings. The social question became a sociological question, as indeed it has remained until very recently in British history. Society was now understood, unlike in earlier times, to work according to its own laws and to be divorced from <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="moral" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moral" data-type="MW">moral</a> questions, although, in practice, political interventions were invariably designed to change moral behaviour.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">One major result of this questioning of the state and of new <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conceptions" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conceptions" data-type="MW">conceptions</a> of society was the extensive social legislation of the Liberal administrations after 1905, which is widely seen as the foundation of the 20th-century <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/welfare-state" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">welfare state</a>. The new Liberal government embarked upon a program of social legislation that involved <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/free-school" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">free school</a> meals (1905), a school medical service (1907), and the Children’s Act (1908). The <span id="ref483588"></span>Old Age Pensions Act (1908) granted pensions under prescribed conditions to people over age 70, and in 1908 the miners were given a statutory working day of eight hours. In 1909 trade boards were set up to fix wages in designated industries in which there was little or no <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/trade-union" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">trade union</a> strength, and labour exchanges were created to try to reduce unemployment. In 1911 the National <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="Insurance" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/Insurance" data-type="EB">Insurance</a> Act was passed, whereby the state and employers supplemented employees’ contributions towards protection against unemployment and ill health. This act clearly represented a departure from the manner in which government had been carried out, as it began to be executed in supposed accordance with the social characteristics of the governed (age, family circumstances, gender, labour). Under this new dispensation, individual rights, as well as the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/family-law" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">rights of families</a>, were secured not by individual economic action but by state action and by the provision of pensions and benefits. These new rights were secured as social rights, so that individual rights were connected to a web of obligations, rights, and solidarities extending across the individual’s life, across the lives of all individuals in a population, and between individuals across generations—in short, a network of relations that was in fact one early version of society as a sui generis entity.</p><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">However, much of this new relationship of state and society was still recognizably liberal in the older sense, <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="constituting" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/constituting" data-type="MW">constituting</a> a compact of social and individual responsibility. At the heart of this compact was the belief that it was necessary to safeguard the individual from the unfettered operation of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/free-market" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">free market</a>, while at the same time making sure that there must be an obligation to obtain gainful employment. Contributory pension schemes required individuals to make regular payments into them rather than providing <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/social-insurance" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">social insurance</a> from general taxation. The National Insurance Act provided a framework within which workers were to practice self-help, and, although involvement was mandatory, the administration of the legislation was largely through <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="voluntary" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/voluntary" data-type="EB">voluntary</a> institutions. <span id="ref483589"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Lloyd-George" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">David Lloyd George</a>, who did most to push the legislation through, himself combined these characteristics of old and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/new-liberalism" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">new liberalism</a>. At the same time, in practice this new formula of government emerged in a very piecemeal and haphazard way, often driven by the circumstances of the moment, not least the circumstances of party politics. Moreover, the circumstances of war were of overwhelming importance. It was <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-I" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">World War I</a> in particular that fostered the idea of the increased importance of the interventionist, collectivist state. The demands of winning the war required an unparalleled intervention in a running of the economy and in the operations of social life, particularly when the radical Liberal <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Lloyd-George" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Lloyd George</a> took power in 1916. Perhaps the most important factor legitimizing the increased role of the state was conscription in the armed services, and the most important general outcome was the idea that “planning” (understood in many different ways) was from this point forward a fully <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="legitimate" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legitimate" data-type="MW">legitimate</a> part of governmental enterprise. Nonetheless, despite the piecemeal nature of the change, what is striking is how this understanding of the relationship between state and society obtained across the whole <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/political-spectrum" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">political spectrum</a> and how it lasted so long. This increased role of the state was accompanied, after World War I, by the increasing specialization and professionalization of an expanding <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/civil-service" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">civil service</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="4" id="ref274581"> <h2 class="h4">The political situation</h2> <section data-level="5" id="ref274582"> <h2 class="h5">Gladstone and Chamberlain</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="9288" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/88/7288-050-6A3A5BDD/Joseph-Chamberlain-detail-oil-painting-Frank-Holl-1886.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/615557/9288"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/88/7288-050-6A3A5BDD/Joseph-Chamberlain-detail-oil-painting-Frank-Holl-1886.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/88/7288-050-6A3A5BDD/Joseph-Chamberlain-detail-oil-painting-Frank-Holl-1886.jpg?w=300" alt="Frank Holl: Joseph Chamberlain" data-width="1186" data-height="1600" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/88/7288-050-6A3A5BDD/Joseph-Chamberlain-detail-oil-painting-Frank-Holl-1886.jpg" data-href="/media/1/615557/9288">Frank Holl: Joseph Chamberlain</a><span>Joseph Chamberlain, detail of an oil painting by Frank Holl, 1886; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">Gladstone’s second administration (1880–85) did not live up to the promise of its election victory. Indeed, in terms of political logic, it seemed likely in 1880 that the Gladstonian Liberal Party would eventually split into Whig and radical components, the latter to be led by Joseph Chamberlain. This development was already foreshadowed in the cabinet that Gladstone assembled, which was neither socially uniform nor politically united. Eight of the 11 members were Whigs, but one of the other three—Chamberlain—represented a new and aggressive urban radicalism, less interested in orthodox statements of liberal <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="individualism" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/individualism" data-type="MW">individualism</a> than in the uncertain <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="aspiration" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aspiration" data-type="MW">aspiration</a> and striving of the different elements in the mass electorate. At the opposite end of the spectrum from Chamberlain’s municipal socialism were the Whigs, the largest group in the cabinet but the smallest group in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/nation-state" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">country</a>. Many of them were already abandoning the Liberal Party; all of them were nervous about the kind of radical program that Chamberlain and the newly founded National Liberal Federation (1877) were advocating and about the kind of caucus-based party organization that Chamberlain favoured locally and nationally. For the moment, however, Gladstone was the man of the hour, and Chamberlain himself <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="conceded" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/conceded" data-type="EB">conceded</a> that he was indispensable.</p><div class="module-spacing"> </div><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The government carried out a number of important reforms culminating in the Third <span id="ref483542"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Reform-Bill" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Reform Act</a> of 1884 and the <span id="ref483543"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Redistribution-Act" class="md-crosslink ">Redistribution Act</a> of 1885. The former continued the trend toward universal male <span id="ref483544"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/suffrage" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">suffrage</a> by giving the vote to agricultural labourers, thereby tripling the electorate, and the latter robbed 79 towns with populations under 15,000 of their separate representation. For the first time the franchise reforms ignored the traditional claims of property and wealth and rested firmly on the democratic principle that the vote ought to be given to people as a matter of right, not of expediency.</p><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD7 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The most difficult problems continued to arise in relation to foreign affairs and, above all, to Ireland. When in 1881 the Boers defeated the British at Majuba Hill and Gladstone abandoned the attempt to hold the <span id="ref483545"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Transvaal" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Transvaal</a>, there was considerable public <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="criticism" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/criticism" data-type="MW">criticism</a>. And in the same year, when he agreed to the bombardment of Alexandria in a successful effort to break a nationalist revolt in <span id="ref483546"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Egypt" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Egypt</a>, he lost the support of the aged radical <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Bright" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">John Bright</a>. In 1882 Egypt was occupied, thereby adding, against Gladstone’s own inclinations, to British imperial commitments. A rebellion in <span id="ref483547"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Sudan" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">the Sudan</a> in 1885 led to the massacre of Gen. <span id="ref483548"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-George-Gordon" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Charles Gordon</a> and his garrison at <span id="ref483549"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Siege-of-Khartoum" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Khartoum</a> (<em>see</em> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Siege-of-Khartoum" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Siege of Khartoum</a>) two days before the arrival of a mission to relieve him. Large numbers of Englishmen held Gladstone personally responsible, and in June 1885 he resigned after a defeat on an <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="amendment" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/amendment" data-type="MW">amendment</a> to the budget.</p><span class="marker MOD7 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="5" id="ref274583"> <h2 class="h5">The <span id="ref483550"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Ireland" class="md-crosslink ">Irish</a> question</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD8 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The Irish question loomed ominously as soon as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Parliament" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Parliament</a> assembled in 1880, for there was now an Irish nationalist group of more than 60 members led by <span id="ref483551"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Stewart-Parnell" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Charles Stewart Parnell</a>, most of them committed to Irish <span id="ref483552"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Home-Rule-Great-Britain-and-Ireland" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Home Rule</a>; in Ireland itself, the <span id="ref483553"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Land-League" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Land League</a>, founded in 1879, was struggling to destroy the power of the landlord. Parnell embarked on a program of agrarian agitation in 1881, at the same time that his followers at Westminster were engaged in various kinds of parliamentary obstructionism. Gladstone’s response was the <span id="ref483554"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Irish-Land-Acts" class="md-crosslink ">Irish Land Act</a>, based on guaranteeing “three <em>f</em>s”—fair rents, fixity of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="tenure" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tenure" data-type="MW">tenure</a>, and free sale—and a tightening up of the rules of closure in parliamentary debate. The Land Act did not go far enough to satisfy Parnell, who continued to make speeches couched in violent language, and, after a coercion act was passed by Parliament in the face of Irish obstructionism, he was arrested. Parnell was released in April 1882, however, after an understanding had been reached that he would abandon the land war and the government would abandon coercion. <span id="ref483555"></span>Lord <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lord-Frederick-Charles-Cavendish" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Frederick Charles Cavendish</a>, a close friend of Gladstone and the brother of the Whig leader, Lord <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Spencer-Compton-Cavendish-8th-Duke-of-Devonshire" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Spencer Hartington</a>, was sent to Dublin as chief secretary on a mission of peace, but the whole policy was undermined when Cavendish, along with the permanent undersecretary, was murdered in <span id="ref483556"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Phoenix-Park-murders" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Phoenix Park</a>, Dublin, within a few hours of landing in Ireland.</p><span class="marker MOD8 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD9 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Between 1881 and 1885 Gladstone coupled a somewhat stiffer policy in Ireland with minor measures of reform, but in 1885, when the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="Conservatives" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Conservatives" data-type="MW">Conservatives</a> returned to power under <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Arthur-Talbot-Gascoyne-Cecil-3rd-marquess-of-Salisbury" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Robert Arthur Salisbury</a>, the Irish question forced itself to the forefront again. <span id="ref483557"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-Howard-Molyneux-Herbert-4th-earl-of-Carnarvon" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Henry Herbert, earl of Carnarvon</a>, the new lord lieutenant of Ireland, was a convert to Home Rule and followed a more liberal policy than his predecessor. In the subsequent general election of November 1885, Parnell secured every Irish seat but one outside Ulster and urged Irish voters in British constituencies—a large group mostly concentrated in a limited number of places such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Lancashire-county-England" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Lancashire</a> and Clydeside—to vote <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="Conservative" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Conservative" data-type="MW">Conservative</a>. The result of the election was a Liberal majority of 86 over the Conservatives, which was almost exactly equivalent to the number of seats held by the Irish group, who thus controlled the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/balance-of-power" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">balance of power</a> in Parliament. The Conservatives stayed in office, but when in December 1885 the newspapers reported a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="confidential" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/confidential" data-type="MW">confidential</a> interview with Gladstone’s son, in which he had stated (rightly) that his father had been converted to Home Rule, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Salisbury-former-district-England" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Salisbury</a> made it clear that he himself was not a convert, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Caernarfon" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Carnarvon</a> resigned. All Conservative contacts with Parnell ceased, and a few weeks later, in January 1886, after the Conservatives had been defeated in Parliament on a radical amendment for <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/land-reform" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">agrarian reform</a>, Salisbury, lacking continued Irish support, resigned and Gladstone returned to power.</p><span class="marker MOD9 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="5" id="ref274584"> <h2 class="h5">Split of the Liberal Party</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD10 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Gladstone’s conversion had been gradual but profound, and it had more far-reaching political consequences for Britain than for Ireland. It immediately <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="alienated" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/alienated" data-type="EB">alienated</a> him further from most of the Whigs and from a considerable number of radicals led by <span id="ref483558"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Chamberlain" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"> Chamberlain</a>. He had hoped at first that Home Rule would be carried by an agreement between the parties, but Salisbury had no intention of imitating <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Peel" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Peel</a>. Gladstone made his intentions clear by appointing <span id="ref483559"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Morley-Viscount-Morley" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">John Morley</a>, a Home Rule advocate, as Irish secretary, and in April 1886 he introduced a Home Rule bill. The Liberals remained divided, and 93 of them united with the Conservatives to defeat the measure. Gladstone appealed to the country and was decisively beaten in the general election, in which 316 Conservatives were returned to Westminster along with 78 <span id="ref483560"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Liberal-Unionism" class="md-crosslink ">Liberal</a> Unionists, the new name chosen by those Liberals who refused to back <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/home-rule-government" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Home Rule</a>. The Liberals mustered only 191 seats, and there were 85 Irish nationalists. <span id="ref483561"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Whig-Party-England" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Whigs</a> and radicals, who had often seemed likely to split Gladstone’s 1880 government on left-right lines, were now united against the Gladstonians, and all attempts at Liberal reunion failed.</p><span class="marker MOD10 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD11 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Chamberlain, the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="astute" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/astute" data-type="MW">astute</a> radical leader, like many others of his class and generation, ceased to regard social reform as a top priority and worked in harness with <span id="ref483562"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Spencer-Compton-Cavendish-8th-Duke-of-Devonshire" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Hartington</a>, his Whig counterpart. In 1895 they both joined a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Salisbury-England" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Salisbury</a> government. The Liberals were, in effect, pushed into the wilderness, although they held office briefly and unhappily from 1892 to 1895. Gladstone, 82 years old when he formed his last government, actually succeeded in carrying a Home Rule bill in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/House-of-Commons-British-government" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Commons</a> in 1893, with the help of Irish votes (Parnell’s power had been broken as a result of a divorce case in 1890, and he died in 1891), but the bill was thrown out by the Lords. He resigned in 1894, to be succeeded by <span id="ref483563"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Archibald-Philip-Primrose-5th-earl-of-Rosebery" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Archibald Primrose, earl of Rosebery</a>, who further split the party; in the general election of 1895, the Conservatives could claim that they were the genuinely popular party, backed by the urban as well as the rural electorate. Although Salisbury usually stressed the defensive aspects of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="Conservatism" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Conservatism" data-type="MW">Conservatism</a>, both at home and abroad, Chamberlain and his supporters were able to mobilize considerable working-class as well as middle-class support for a policy of crusading <span id="ref483564"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/imperialism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">imperialism</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD11 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="5" id="ref274585"> <h2 class="h5">Imperialism and <span id="ref483565"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/British-Empire" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">British</a> politics</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD12 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><em>Imperialism</em> was the key word of the 1890s, just as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/home-rule-government" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Home Rule</a> had been in the critical decade of the 1880s, and the cause of empire was associated not merely with the economic interests of businessmen looking for materials and markets and the enthusiasm of crowds excited by the adventure of empire but also with the traditional lustre of the crown. Disraeli had emphasized the last of these associations, just as Chamberlain emphasized the first. In the middle years of the century it had been widely held that <span id="ref483566"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/colony-ancient-Roman-settlement" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">colonies</a> were burdens and that materials and markets were most effectively acquired through trade. Thus, an “informal empire” had been created that was as much dependent on Britain as the formal empire was. Nonetheless, even during these years, as a result of pressure from the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="periphery" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/periphery" data-type="MW">periphery</a>, the process of establishing protectorates or of acquiring colonies had never halted, despite a number of colonial crises and small colonial wars in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Africa" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Africa</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Asia" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Asia</a>, and the Pacific. Most of the new acquisitions were located in tropical areas of the world and were populated mainly by non-Europeans.</p><span class="marker MOD12 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD13 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">There were further crises during the 1880s and ’90s, when the Liberals were divided on both tactics and objectives, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/public-opinion" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">public opinion</a> was stirred. When Chamberlain chose to take over the Colonial Office in 1895, he was acknowledging the opportunities, both economic and political, afforded by a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="vast" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/vast" data-type="EB">vast</a> “undeveloped estate.” The same radical energies that he had once devoted to civic improvement were now directed toward imperial problems. The argument about empire assumed an increasingly popular dimension. Boys’ <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/book-publication" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">books</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/magazine-publishing" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">magazines</a>, for example, focused on the adventure of empire and the courage and sense of duty of empire builders, and textbooks often taught the same lessons. So also did the popular press. In consequence, the language of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/imperialism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">imperialism</a> changed.</p><span class="marker MOD13 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD14 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">However, it was difficult to pull the empire together politically or constitutionally. Certainly, moving toward federation was a challenging task since the interests of different parts were already diverging, and in the last resort only British power—above all, <span id="ref483567"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/sea-power" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">sea power</a>—held the empire together. The processes of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="imperial" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/imperial" data-type="EB">imperial</a> expansion were always complex, and there was neither one dominant theory of empire nor one single explanation of why it grew. Colonies that were dominated by people of British descent, such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Canada" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Canada</a> or <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/New-Zealand" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">New Zealand</a> and the states of <span id="ref483478"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Australia" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Australia</a>, had been given substantial powers of self-government since the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Durham-unitary-authority-England" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Durham</a> Report of 1839 and the Canada Union Act of 1840. Yet <span id="ref483568"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/India" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">India</a>, “the brightest jewel in the British crown,” was held not by consent but by conquest. The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Indian-Rebellion-of-1857" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Indian Mutiny</a> of 1857–58 was suppressed, and a year later the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/East-India-Company" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">East India Company</a> was abolished and the new title of viceroy was instituted. Imperial control was tightened too, through the construction of a network of railways. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Babington-Macaulay-Baron-Macaulay" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Thomas Macaulay</a>’s dream that India would one day be free and that such a day would be the happiest in British history seemed to have receded, although the nationalist movement that emerged after the first <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Indian-National-Congress" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Indian National Congress</a> in 1885 was eventually to gain in strength. Meanwhile, given the strategic importance of India to the military establishment, attempts were made to justify British rule in terms of benefits of law and order that were said to <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="accrue" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accrue" data-type="MW">accrue</a> to Indians. “The white man’s burden,” as the writer and poet <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rudyard-Kipling" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Rudyard Kipling</a> saw it, was a burden of responsibility.</p><span class="marker MOD14 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD15 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">It was difficult for the British voter to understand or to appreciate this network of motives and interests. Chamberlain himself was always far less interested in India than in the “kith-and-kin dominions” (populated primarily by those of British descent) and in the new tropical empire that was greatly extended in area between 1884 and 1896, when 2.5 million square miles (6.5 million square km) of territory fell under British control. Even he did not fully understand either the rival <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="aspirations" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aspirations" data-type="MW">aspirations</a> of different dominions or the relationship between economic development in the “formal” empire and trade and investment in the “informal” empire where the British flag did not fly.</p><span class="marker MOD15 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD16 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Queen-British-rock-group" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Queen</a> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Victoria-queen-of-United-Kingdom" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Victoria</a>’s jubilees in 1887 and 1897 involved both imperial pageantry and imperial conferences, but, between 1896 and 1902, public interest in problems of empire was intensified not so much by pageantry as by crisis. British-Boer relations in <span id="ref483569"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/South-Africa" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">South Africa</a>, always tense, were further worsened after the Jameson raid of December 1895, and, in October 1899, <span id="ref483570"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/war" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">war</a> began. The early stages of the struggle were favourable to the Boers, and it was not until spring 1900 that superior British equipment began to count. British troops entered Pretoria in June 1900 and <span id="ref483571"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Paul-Kruger" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Paul Kruger</a>, the Boer president, fled to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Europe" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Europe</a>, where most governments had given him moral support against the British. Thereafter, the Boers employed guerrilla tactics, and the war did not end until May 1902. It was the most expensive of all the 19th-century “little wars,” with the British employing 450,000 troops, of whom 22,000 never returned. Just as the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Crimean-War" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Crimean War</a> had focused attention on “mismanagement,” so the South African (Boer) War led to demands not only for greater “efficiency” but also for more <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="enlightened" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/enlightened" data-type="MW">enlightened</a> social policies in relation to health and education.</p><span class="marker MOD16 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD17 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">While the war lasted, it emphasized the political differences within the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Liberal-Party-political-party-United-Kingdom" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Liberal Party</a> and consolidated Conservative-Liberal Unionist strength. The imperialism of the Liberal <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/prime-minister" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">prime minister</a>, Lord Rosebery, was totally uncongenial to young pro-Boer Liberals like Lloyd George. A middle group of Liberals emerged, but it was not until after 1903 that party rifts were healed. The Unionists won the “khaki election” of 1900 (which took its name from the uniforms of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/British-Army" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">British army</a>, a reflection of its occurrence in the middle of the war) and secured a new lease of power for nearly six years, but their <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="unity" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/unity" data-type="EB">unity</a> also was threatened after the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Peace-of-Vereeniging" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Peace of Vereeniging</a>, which ended the war in May 1902. Salisbury retired in 1902, to be succeeded by his nephew, <span id="ref483572"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Arthur-James-Balfour-1st-earl-of-Balfour" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Arthur Balfour</a>, a brilliant man but a tortuous and insecure politician. There had been an even bigger break in January 1901 when the queen died, after a brief illness, at age 81. She had ruled for 64 years and her death seemed to mark not so much the end of a reign as the end of an age.</p><span class="marker MOD17 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD18 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">There were significant changes in terms of the impression <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/organized-labor" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">organized labour</a> made on politics. Some of the new union leaders were confessed <span id="ref483579"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/socialism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">socialists</a>, anxious to use political as well as economic power to secure their objectives, and a number of socialist organizations emerged between 1880 and 1900—all conscious, at least intermittently, that, whatever their differences, they were part of a “labour movement.” The <span id="ref483580"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Social-Democratic-Party" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Social Democratic</a> Federation, influenced by Marxism, was founded in 1884; however, it was never more than a tiny and increasingly sectarian organization. The <span id="ref483581"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Independent-Labour-Party" class="md-crosslink ">Independent Labour Party</a>, founded in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Bradford-England" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Bradford</a> in 1893, had a more general appeal, while the <span id="ref483582"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Fabian-Society" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Fabian Society</a>, founded in 1883–84, included <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="intellectuals" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intellectuals" data-type="MW">intellectuals</a> who were to play a large part in 20th-century labour politics. In February 1900 a labour representation conference was held in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/London" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">London</a> at which trade unionists and socialists agreed to found a committee (the Labour Representation Committee), with <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ramsay-MacDonald" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Ramsay MacDonald</a> as first secretary, to promote the return of Labour members to Parliament. This conference marked the beginning of the 20th-century <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Labour-Party-political-party" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Labour Party</a>, which, with Liberal support, won 29 seats in the general election of 1906. Although until 1914 the party at Westminster for the most part supported the Liberals, in 1909 it secured the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="allegiance" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/allegiance" data-type="MW">allegiance</a> of the “Lib-Lab” miners’ members. Financially backed by the trade unions, it was eventually to take the place of the Liberal Party as the second party in the British state.</p><span class="marker MOD18 mod-inline"></span> </section> </section></section><span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":55,"pagesTotal":66,"pageId":615557,"pageLength":3757,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"C","adLeg":"C","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"COUNTRY_PAGINATED","gisted":false,"pageNumber":55,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>