SUBJECT: BRITISH AND AMERICAN STUDIES

CONTENTS
PART 1: GREAT BRITAIN

Introduction to Great Britain

Chapter 1 History

Chapter 2 Institutions

Chapter 3 Education

Chapter 4 Holidays and festivals

PART 2: AMERICA

Introduction toAmerica

Chapter 1 History

Chapter 2 Institutions

Chapter 3 Education

Chapter 4 American Traditional holidays and values

References
 PART 1: GREAT BRITAIN

INTRODUCTION to Great Britain

Great Britain is the largest Island in the UK. Great Britainis

surrounded by seas on all sides and is separated from the European

continent by the North Sea and the English Channel. It is just 1,000

kilometers from the south coast to the far north and just under 500

kilometers in the widest part. No

place in Great Britain is more than 120 kilometers from the sea.
Great Britain is one of the most densely (dày đặc) populated countries of Europe,
with the southern parts of the country reaching the highest density figures of Europe as a
whole.
 The main mountain regions are the
CornishHeights, the Cambrian in Wales, the
Cambrian Mountains (in Lake District) and the
Pennies.
The highest mountain in Great Britain is
Ben Nevis in Scotland. There are many rivers in
Great Britain. Among the most important rivers
is the Thames, which flows into the North Sea.
Its length is 336 km and it is the deepest rive in
Britain. It is navigable as far as the capital of
Great Britain – London. The longest river in
Britain is the Severn. Its length is 354 km (220
miles). Other important rivers include the Trent,
the Tay and the Tweed.

The capital and largest city, London, is in the southeast and is situated at both sides of
the River Thames. Greater London has a total land area of 1,580 square kilometers with a
population of 6.6 million inhabitants. It is divided in 32 boroughs.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain

The United Kingdom is made up of the countries of England, Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland. Its full name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland.
Great Britain, on the other hand, comprises only England, Scotland and Wales.
It(Great Britain) is the largest island of the British Isles.
Northern Ireland and the IrishRepublic form the second largest island.
 The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are not part of the United Kingdom. They
are largely self-governing with their own legislative assemblies and systems of law. The
British Government is, however, responsible for their defense and international relations.
Population: Britain ranks 20th in the world in terms of population size. In mid-2000,
the population of Britain was 59.8 million, an increase of 21.6 million since 1901.
The total population of England is estimated at 50 million, Wales is estimated at 2.95
million, Scotland at 5.1 million and Northern Ireland at 1.7 million people.
England has the highest population density and Scotland has the lowest.
England
England is the largest country of the UK, occupying well over half
of its geographical area. Whilst(=while) its identity is bound up (gắn liền)
with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in many ways, it is at the same
time a separate country with its own distinct features, history,
characteristics and culture.
England's population is estimated to reach 52.5 million by 2021. England has a
diverse population. For centuries, immigrants have arrived in England from abroad and
from other parts of the British Isles, bringing with them their cultures, religious beliefs,
customs and languages. Many aspects of English life have been greatly enriched as a result
of this diversity.
The diverse backgrounds and traditions of ethnic peoples who have made their home
in England have influenced the quality and breadth of the arts and of popular culture, as
well as business, design, food and other aspects of life.
One of the defining features of England is its 'green and pleasant' countryside. The
vast majority ofEngland's land is rural, and, while most people live in cities, many travels to
the countryside for recreation and holidays, where they can enjoy the peace and beauty of
the English countryside.
 A strong streak of creativity lies at the heart of the English character. In fashion,
design, architecture and the Arts, English creative are making their mark on the
international stage, from creating some of the world's landmark buildings, to show-stopping
fashion and thought-provoking art.
Originality and the willingness to 'think different' has put the English in the forefront
of developments that are helping to shape the modern world, in the fields of science, design,
technology or discovery.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland, with a population of more than 1.6 million, consists of six of the
nine counties of the Old Irish Province of Ulster. The population is expected to grow to
1.75m by 2025.
Nature has been generous to Northern Ireland, endowing it with a rich landscape of
mountains and glens, rolling drumlin hills and island-studded lakes. Although compact in
size, it has a rich variety of scenery and cultural attractions, a rapidly growing economy and
a first class environment for living as well as doing business.
The people are hospitable, friendly and warm - characteristics obscured by television
images and news reports over the past three decades. Northern Ireland people have a
passion for life and thanks to the strong education system, have a can-do attitude as well as
being highly skilled and easily motivated.
Long recognized for producing a wealth of talented individuals who have made a real
impact on the world stage, Northern Ireland is proud of its sense of social responsibility and
generous nature.

Scotland
Scotland is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is
the northern part of the island of Britain situated between latitudes 54º38' and 60º51' north
and longitude 1º45' and 6º14' west. Scotland is bounded(ràng buộc) west and north by the
Atlantic Ocean and by the North Sea to the east. In the south the border with England
stretches for 60 miles, roughly along the line of the Cheviot Hills.
Scotland has three natural divisions. The fertile plains of the Lowlands in the south
merge into the industrial heartland of central Scotland which in turn gives way to the fast
rivers, quiet lochs and picturesque mountains of the Highlands in the north.
It is the third of the land mass of Britain and accounts for 10 percent of the British
population.An historic event took place in Edinburgh, Scotland's capital city, in July 1999
when the Queen opened the first Scottish Parliament for nearly 300 years. The Scottish
parliament has assumed the powers previously administered by The Scottish Office.
However, Scotlandstill remains part of Britain and not all the functions of Government have
been devolved.
Wales
Wales is essentially an upland country, about a quarter being more
than 300m above sea level. Extensive tracts of high plateau and shorter
stretches of mountain ranges are deeply bisected by a series of river valleys which typically
radiate from the centre of the upland area. The lower lying ground is largely confined to the
relatively narrow coastal belt (vành đai ven biển) and the floors or lower slopes( dốc) of the
river valleys. The longest rivers are the Dee, Severn and Wyes, which fall to the lowlands of
the English border.
The total population of Wales is estimated at more than 2.9 million representing
about five percent of the total British population. The land area represents nine percent of
the area of Britain.
Welsh is a language belonging to the Celtic family, its nearest cousins being Cornish
(now almost extinct) and Breton. The oldest living language of Britain and among the
oldest in Europe, Welsh has a rich and varied literature, stretching from medieval times to
the present day, particularly distinguished by the poetic tradition. The Welsh language is
used widely in everyday speech and also in education, the media, public administration and
culture. The Welsh name for Wales in Cymru.

The official name

"England" is sometimes, wrongly, used in reference to the whole United Kingdom,
the entire island of Great Britain (or simply Britain), or indeed the British Isles. This is not
only incorrect but can cause offence (phản cảm) to people from other parts of the UK.
England, Scotland, Wales, Great Britain refer to different 'parts of the UK. The British Isles
includes many islands not even part of the UK.

England Scotland Wales

Great Britain UK British Isles

The diverse history of England, Scotland and Wales has led to very different cultural
traditions; The Scots and Welsh have right to feel aggrieved(buồn rầu) whenever the term
'English' is used wrongly, to mean all three.
The name United Kingdom refers to the union(liên hiệp) of what were once four
separate countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland (though most of Ireland is now
independent, only Northern Ireland remains part of the UK).
The UK's full and official name is the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland".
History of the making of the UK
1536 - Act of Union joins England and Wales
1707 - Act of Union unites Scotland and England, together with Wales to form the
Kingdom of Great Britain. 
1801 - The Irish Parliament voted to join the Union. The then Kingdom of Great
Britain becomes the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 
1922 - Name changed to United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,
when most of the Southern counties in Ireland choose independence.
Climate
It is said that the British are always talking about the
weather! The climate in the United Kingdom is generally
mild and temperate. There are few extremes of temperature,
which rarely rises above 32°C or falls below -10°C.
Rainfall is greatest in western and upland parts of the country, where the annual
average exceeds 1,100 mm; the higher mountain areas receive more than 2,000 mm.
During May, June and July (the months of longest daylight) the amount of sunshine
varies from five hours in northern Scotland to eight hours in the Isle of Wight. During the
months of shortest daylight (November, December and January) sunshine is at minimum,
with an average of an hour a day in northern Scotland and two hours a day on the south
coast of England.
EMBLEMS OF BRITAIN

The national flower of England is the rose. The flower has

been adopted as England’s emblem since the time of the Wars
of the Roses - civil wars (1455-1485) between the royal house
of Lancaster (whose emblem was a red rose) and the royal
house of York (whose emblem was a white rose).

The national flower of Scotland isthe thistle( cây kế), a

prickly-leaved purple flower which was first used in the 15th
century as a symbol of defence( phòng thủ). The Scottish
Bluebell is also seen as the flower of Scotland.
 The national flower of Wales is the daffodil( hoa thủy tiên
vàng), which is traditionally worn on St. David’s Day. The
vegetable called leek(tỏi tây) is also considered to be a
traditional emblem (biểu tượng) of Wales.

There are many explanations of how the leek came to be adopted as the national
emblem of Wales. One is that St David advised the Welsh, on the eve of
battle( trận chiến) with the Saxons, to wear leeks in their caps to distinguish friend
from foe( kẻ thù). As Shakespeare records in Henry V, the Welsh archers wore
leeks at the battle of Agincourt in 1415.

The national flower of Northern Ireland is the

shamrock(cỏ ba lá) , a three-leaved plant similar to clover(cỏ
ba lá). An Irish tale tells of how Patrick used the three-leafed
shamrock to explain the Trinity. He used it in his sermons to
represent how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit could all
exist as separate elements of the same entity. His followers
adopted the custom of wearing a shamrock( áo choàng) on his
feast day.

Task 1: Answer the following questions

1. Discuss the location of Great Britain?
2. In groups, discuss the official name of the country.
3. Could you give some information about the national emblems of England,
Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland?
4. What’s the weather like in UK?
 Chapter 1. History
PRE-Norman Britain

The Iberians brought their metalworking skills and the first real civilization to Britain
in the third millennium B.C. and were then overrun by the various Celtic invasions that
began in the 8th century B.C. The Celts introduced their tribal organization and an early
form of agriculture before they were forced westwards into Cornwall, Wales and Ireland
(where the Celtic language still exists in different forms) by the Roman invasion begun by
Claudius in 43 A.D.

The Romans rules Britain for over two hundred years and left behind three things of
importance: their road, the sites of important cities (notably London) and the seeds of
Christianity. The Latin way of life- villas, arts, language and political organization- all
vanished, however, after the invasions from Northern Europe by the Angles, Saxons and
Jutes fro the 5th century onwards.

These pagan people were easily converted to Christianity and the preachers from
Rome bought with them learning and civilization. Christianity was an important factor in
enabling the various kingdoms created by the Nordic invaders to be the united under Egbert
in the 9th century. The Vikings (the name means “warrior”) first raided England to plunder
it, then in the days of Alfred of Wessex they began ‘to win wide lands to plough and to
rule’. In the 10th century England fell under Danish rule, with King Canute finally managing
to unite the Anglo-Saxons and Danes at the beginning of 11th century.

Task 1: Complete this chart

People Dates Characteristics/ achievements

1. Iberians 3000 BC Metal working, first real civilization

2……………… ……………..… …………………………………..

3……………… …………… ……………………………………..

4……………… …………… ……………………………………..

5……………… …………… ……………………………………..

Medieval England

A new era in English history began with the Norman Conquest. After defeating the
Anglo-Saxon king Harold at the battle of Hastings in 1066. William of Normandy (William
I) introduced Norman feudal system, rewarding his French-speaking followers with land in
return for their continued support, and French remained the language of the upper classes
and administration until the 14th century.

The power of these Norman Barons

gradually increases and during the reign of the
Plantagenets began, together with the church, to
challenging the King’s absolute power, which
resulted in King John being forced to sign the
Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215. Henry II

This document contained a long list of limitations to the King’s power and these
rights obtained by the Barons were eventually extended to the entire population.

The origins of Parliament are to be found in the reign of John’s successor, Henry III.
It was a meeting of the King and his Barons and servants at which various administrative
and financial problems were discussed. In order to make it easier to put the decisions taken
into practice, each Shire had to elect a number of knights to attend these meetings and
report the decisions to their Shires. Edward I continued this experiment and in 1295 called
parliament that became known as the Model Parliament, at which barons, earls and the high
clergy (bishops and abbots) were present, together with the knights and burgesses
representing the shires and boroughs. The ‘House of Commons’ as a separate Chamber
resulted from the unofficial meetings of these knights and burgesses. The person chosen to
‘speak’ for these ‘commoners’ in Parliament became known as the Speaker.

The Hundred Years’ War fought between France and England had a devastating
effect on the economy. The high taxation necessary to finance the war and the Black Death
(a plague in 1348 that killed a third of the population of England) led to such extreme
hardship for the peasant class that there was a revolt in 1381. Although the Peasants’ Revolt
was soon put down, it led to greatly improved conditions for the peasant class and was the
first step towards the endings of feudal system in England.

Task 2: Outline the main characteristics

1. The Norman Conquest

2. The Magna Carta

3. The first parliaments

4. The Hundred Years War

5. The Black Death

6. The Peasants’ Revolt

Tast 3: Perhaps the most important clauses of the Magna Carta is the one which states
that:

“no freeman shall be arrested or imprisoned or dispossessed or outlawed or exiled

or in any way victimized….except by the lawful judgment of his peers or the law of the
land”

What constitutional principle is contained in this clause?

Tudor England

No sooner was the Hundred Years’ War over than a long

struggle 1455-85 began for the English Crown between two
families: The House of Lancaster and The House of York. The
war of roses so called because both families used a rose as their
symbol, ended when Henry VII (Henry of Tudor) united the two
rival houses, giving origin to the Tudor dynasty.
Henry VIII

During Henry’s reign, the medieval period came to a close. There was revival or
Renaissance of learning, partly as the result of the printing press, which ended the Church’s
monopoly of learning.

Henry’s son and heir Henry VIII 1509-1547 was a typical Renaissance prince,
handsome, learned, and ambitious. He also had an instinctive understanding of his times. It
was his creation of the Royal Navy that enabled England to realize her imperialistic
ambitions under Elizabeth.

Henry used Parliament to establish himself as the head of the Protestant Church of
England with the Act of Supremacy in 1534. His decision to act through Parliament greatly
strengthened his institution, which had lost virtually all his authority under Henry VII.
There was general support on the part of the English people, who was resentful of papal
interference in national affairs. His Reformation lead to the creation of the religiously
distinct Anglican Church.
 Elizabeth I (1558-1603) was an outstanding ruler.
She restored national unity, opposing extremist’s doctrines
and supporting a moderate form of Protestantism similar
to that of her father’s. Her reign is considered by many as
the Golden Age of English history producing not only
poets of the stature of Shakespeare and Spencer, but also
prosperity for the entire nation.
Elizabeth I

The discovery of America placed Britain at the centre of the world trading routes and
brilliant naval commanders especially Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh, enabled
England to dominate these trade routes. During this period great trading companies like the
East India Company, were also established. Parliament was regularly called and consulted
while Justices of the Peace administrated justice and carried out all the ordinary functions of
local government.
Task 4: Discuss briefly the following
1. Henry VII’s reign’s changes
2. Henry VIII’s reign
3. The role of Parliament under the Tudors
4. The Church in Tudor times
5. The navy and oversea expansion
ThE CONFLICT BETWEEN KING AND Parliament

The civil war

Convinced of the divine right of the kings, the Stuart Kings James and Charles I
followed the medial notion of monarchy, ignoring the parliament. Charles raised taxes
without its permission and prevented it from meeting for 11 years until he needed its help to
raise money to fight the war against Scotland. Relations between King and Parliament
became so bad that civil war eventually broke out (1642).

The majority of the nobles supported Charles and the majority of the gentry
supported Parliament in this fight over who should have sovereign power. After Oliver
Cromwell had led the Parliamentarian Roundheads to victory in 1648. Charles I was
executed for treason and Cromwell became Lord Protector. England was now a Republic.

Task 5: Complete the following sentences to obtain a summary of the text.

1. The Stuart King ignored the Parliament because….

2. Charles I did not summon Parliament until…..

3. The Civil war was really a battle to decide….

4. The monarchy was replaced by ….

The restoration of the monarchy

The monarchy together with the Anglican Church and the House of Lords was
restored in 1660, two years after Cromwell’s death, when Charles II was invited to sit on
the throne of a country tired of the harsh morality of Puritan rule. The Plague killed almost
70,000 of London inhabitants, and the Great Fire destroyed most of the city during his
reign.

Although Charles had restored some power to the monarchy by the time James II
came to the throne. Parliament’s support was necessary to govern the country. Parliament
was dominated by two groups: The Whigs, who had tried to exclude Charles’ Catholic
brother from the throne, and the Tories, the conservative aristocracy that had favoured the
royal prerogative. However, his filling of civil and military posts with Catholics while the
Protestants were being murdered in France so angered Parliament that the Tories and the
Whigs agreed to invite William of Orange and Mary (James II’s daughter) to take the
Crown as joint sovereigns. This glorious Revolution 1688, so called because it was
bloodless, was accompanied by a Bill of Rights, which made it obligatory for the sovereign
to rule with Parliament’s assistance.

Task 6: Summarize the passage by answering these questions.

1. Why was the monarchy restored?

2. What did the King need in order to govern the country?

3. What was the original difference between the Whigs and Tory Parties?

4. What did James II lose the support of the Tories?

5. Why was the Bill of Right so important?

The 18TH century

Under Queen Anna Scotland was united with England in 1707 and by the Act of
union their Parliaments became one. Parliament then assumed almost absolute
responsibility for running the country during the reigns of George I and George II, with the
king’s most influential minister becoming known as the Prime minister. Parliament pursues
a vigorous trading policy which led to large areas of Canada and India being colonized as
the expense of the French.

Towards the end of this century of the Enlightenment, when people felt they could
use their treason to dominate both nature and society, some of the most profound political
changes in British history occurred and began to shake this belief. They included the
traumatic loss of the American colonies in 1776 after a seven year war and the revolutions
in agricultural and industrial methods at home.

The agricultural revolution

In the country the open fields with their strips of land worked by peasant farmers
were rapidly replaced by compact farms, with large fields enclosed by hedges and ditches to
prevent stray animals from ruining the crops or mixing with the new, improved breeds of
sheep and cattle. This agricultural revolution left large numbers of the rural population
landless and destitute, but also led to the massive increase in agriculture production
necessary to feed the country’s growing non-agricultural population

The industrial revolution

The industrial Revolution is the name given to the period beginning in the second
half of the 18th century in which industry was transformed from hand-work at home to
machine-work in factories. The driving force behind this development was the increase in
population and the consequent increase in demand for products. This was only made
possible, however, by series of inventors such as the steam engine.

This change created serious psychological problems for a formerly rural society
based on the family and there were open challenges to the government by the increasingly
organized town and village labourers. The resulting Reform Bill revealed the forced of
organized opinion.

Task 7:Describe the main characteristics of

1. Parliament in the 18th century

2. The Agricultural revolution

3. The Industrial revolution

Victorian Britain
 During Queen Victoria’s sixty-four year reign (1837–1901)
the British Empire led by an array of great statesmen and
supported by great industrial expansion, grew to a size so vast
that ‘the sun never sets upon it’. This Empire, whose creation
began initially from commercial motives, was also added to for
strategic and even missionary reasons and eventually comprised
about a quarter of the world’s population and land surface. Yet
only towards the ends of the nineteenth century was there any
Queen Victoria strong public sentiment in favor of it.

Victorian’s long reign saw many changes in British institutions and the British
“way of life”. Her practice of insisting on being informed about government policy while
remaining politically neutral fixed the position of the Crown in the Constitution. Her
rejection of the amusements and life of the aristocracy enabled the common people to
identify themselves with this simple wife and widow, which led to revival of popular
support for the monarchy. Above all, her essentially middle-class views and life-style,
combined with the rise of the middle classes themselves, led to an affirmation of values-the
paternalistic integrity and discipline of the family, and Puritanism of public life-which in
later years came to be shown as “Victoria values” to which the Thatcher’s Government of
the 1980s wished to return.

The reign of Victoria covered the period of Britain's commercial and industrial
leadership of the world and of its greatest political influence. Initial steps toward granting
self-government for Canada were taken at the start of Victoria's reign, while in India
conquest and expansion continued. Great Britain's commercial interests, advanced by the
British navy, brought on in 1839 the first Opium War with China, which opened five
Chinese ports to British trade and made Hong Kong a British colony. The aggressive
diplomacy of Lord Palmerton in the 1850s and 60s, including involvement in the Crimean
War, was popular at home.

In the last decades of the 19th century competition with other European powers and
enchantment with the glories of empire led Britain to acquire vast territories in Asia and
Africa. By the end of the century, the country was entangled in the South African War
(1899–1902). Great Britain's period of hegemony was ending, as both Germany and the
United States were surpassing it in industrial production.

Task 8: Answer the following questions

1. What enabled Britain to create such a vast empire?

2. What were the reasons behind the creation of this empire?

3. In which three ways did Queen Victoria change life in Britain during her reign?

The rise of the working class

At the same time as the middle classes were expanding in Victorian Britain, so were
the working classes. The Industrial Revolution had now entered its second stage: new
industries were developed, new factories were built. Britain’s products were exported all
over the world, and Britain became known as ‘the workshop of the world’.

Life in the new factories and towns was one of terrible hardship. Men, woman, and
children worked fifteen or sixteen hours a day in dangerous, unhealthy conditions for poor
wages and lived in dirty, dreary slums, so vividly described by Charles Dickens in the novel
Bleak House.

Parliament was forced to come to terms with the new social conditions. The Reform
Act of 1832, which granted the franchise to tenants of land, was followed by other urgently
needed social reforms: the creation of the police forces; free compulsory education 1870;
gradual legal recognition of trade unions; the extension of the vote. First to town labourers
1867 and then to Agricultural Labourers 1884.

Meanwhile the working classes were becoming organized, while the ideas of Karl
Marx never won much support among British workers even though Marx himself studied
and wrote most of his works while living in London, the idea of socialism was nevertheless
a potent force in late Victorian Britain. In the last quarter of and the century there was a
massive increase in trade unionism and in 1893 the founding of the Labor Party, led by Keir
Hardie gave the proletariat a greater voice in Parliament.

Task 9:

1. Summarize the working and living condition of the working classes in Britain during
the 19th century.

2. Summarize how Parliament created to these conditions.

3. Summarize how the working classes themselves reacted.

Britain’s decline as a world power

Victoria’s death in 1901 coincided with the beginning of the decline in the power of
the Empire. The white settler colonies had always enjoyed considerable self-government
and in the first decade Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand were all allowed
to draw up their own constitutions to become dominions. The non-white colonies were not
so fortunate: India, ‘ Jewel in the Crown of Victoria Empire’ was subjected to an often
harsh military rule, and vast areas of Africa remained firmly under British domination.

World War I

Britain was not the only European country with an empire. France, Germany,
Belgium, Austria and Hungary were all imperialist powers and other countries such as Italy
also had dreams of empire. British industry no longer enjoyed the total domination of the
world markets that it had in the 19th century. Germany was rapidly becoming the dominant
economic power in Europe.

The rivalry between the great European powers led almost inevitably to the outbreak
of World War I in 1914. It was the bloodiest war in history. When it ended in 1918 in
victory for the Allied Powers of Britain, France, America, and Italia, more than 10 million
men had been killed. In Britain, the only positive outcome of the war was that women’s
contribution to the war effort had been so important that it was impossible to deny them the
right to vote in 1919 elections.

The years of depression

The war was followed by a period of severe hardship throughout Europe as the
depressed economies struggled to recover from the war effort in the face of the expanding
American and Asian economies. It was a period of great social unrest and mistrust between
the various classes. Unemployment was high, wages low and there were numerous strikes
including a General Strike in 1926 by all the unions in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the
owners of the coal mines cutting miners wages.

The basic domestic economic problem of the post–World War I years was the decline
of Britain's traditional export industries, which made it more difficult for the country to pay
for its imports of foods and raw materials. A Labour government, under Ramsay
MacDonald, was in power for the first time briefly in 1924. Severe economic stress
increased during the worldwide economic depression of the late 1920s and early 30s.
During the financial crisis of 1931, George V asked MacDonald to head a coalition
government, which took the country off the gold standard, ceased the repayment of war
debts, and supplanted free trade with protective tariffs modified by preferential treatment
within the empire and with treaty nations.
 Recovery from the depression began to be
evident in 1933. Although old export industries such
as coal mining and cotton manufacturing remained
depressed, other industries, such as electrical
engineering, automobile manufacture, and industrial
chemistry, were developed or strengthened. George V
was succeeded by Edward VIII, after whose abdication
(1936) George VI came to the throne. In 1937, Neville
Chamberlain became prime minister. Neville Chamberlain

The years prior to the outbreak of World War II were characterized by the ineffective
attempts to stem the rising tide of German and Italian aggression.

The League of Nations, in which Britain was a leader, declined rapidly by failing to
take decisive action, and British prestige fell further because of a policy of nonintervention
in the Spanish civil war. Appeasement of the Axis powers, which was the policy of the
Chamberlain government, reached its climactic failure (as became evident later) in the
Munich Pact of September 1938. Great Britain had begun to rearm in 1936 and, after
Munich, instituted conscription. With the signing of the Soviet-German pact of August
1939, war was recognized as inevitable.

Task 10: Answer the following questions

1. When did World War I break out?

2. Why did Britain involve in this war?

3. What was its aftermath?

4. Can you list the main characteristics in Britain in the 20s and 30s?

5. When did the recovery from the depression begin?

World War II

Britain was soon involved in another war, for which it was ill-prepared. The Prime
minister Chamberlain had done everything possible to appease Germany (including
accepting its occupation of Czechoslovakia) while the country try to rearm but Britain and
France were still not ready when they declared war on Germany on 3 rd September 1939
after Hitler’s invasion of Poland. As Germany swept through Europe. Britain found herself
almost alone and only a courageous effort by her Air Force prompting Churchill’s famous
speech: ‘Never in the field of human conflict as so much owed by so many people to so
few’ prevented Germany from invading Britain. Germany’s subsequent unsuccessful
invasion of Russia, together with the intervention of the United States, enabled Britain and
her allies to stop Germany once more. The war had cost Britain a quarter of its national
wealth.

Task 11: Complete the following sentences to obtain a summary of the passage

1. Britain allowed Germany to invade Czechoslovakia because….

2. However, Britain was still unprepared for war because…

3. The country was saved by ….

4. Germany lost the war after……

5. For Britain, the war had been very …..

POST –WAR RECONSTRUCTION

Labour’s triumph

The war was a great class leveler, but it was Labour’s offering of a concrete
programme as opposed to the ideological worries of Churchill that enabled the party to
obtain a massive majority in the 1945 elections. The Labour government under Prime
Minister Clement Attlee, using the planning experience gained during the war, nationalized
the railways and the coal, steel, shipbuilding, gas and electricity industries and extended the
social services provided by the state to include such things as insurance against
unemployment, sickness and old age, a weekly benefit for minimum needs, and free
medical health care for everyone (National Health Service). This legislation came to be
known as the Welfare State.

In foreign policy India and Pakistan, together with a number of other former colonies,
were finally granted independence, as Britain made the painful decision of turning its back
on its former Empire to strengthen ties with Europe. The first sign of this was membership
of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Task 12: Give a short description of

1. nationalization

2. the Welfare States

3. Britain’s foreign policy after war

The affluent society

There then followed a period of economic growth and prosperity under Conservative
Governments. During the 1950s, there was a period of massive growth in the private sector,
above all in the newer industries, particularly car and aircraft production, and wages
increased by 40% in real terms. Most families could now afford a car, fridge and a televion
set, and people began to talk of an affluent society. By the start of the 1960s, however,
production was beginning to slow, while wages and prices continued to rise. The
Government’s policy of freezing wages as a cure enabled Labour to win the 1964 elections.
 Abroad, the Britain Empire had been almost completely dismantled generally very
peacefully, with most of the newly independent nations joining the Commonwealth. The
decline of Britain as a world power was highlighted, however, when Britain was forced to
withdraw its troops in the face of world opposition after occupying the Suez Canal (in
retaliation for its nationalization by the Egyptian leader Colonel Nasser) and accept the
conditions laid down by Egypt.

Task 13: Mark the following statements True (T) or False (F) and correct any false
statements in order to obtain a summary of the passage.

1. Under the three Conservative governments, the economy grew considerably.

2. This growth was caused primarily by the public sector.

3. This period became known as the affluent society because most households were able
to buy a car, a TV and a fridge.

4. The Labour Party won the 1964 election because wages continued to rise.

5. Most of the former colonies had to use force to gain their independence.

6. The Suez crisis revealed Britain’s decline as a world power.

The 1960s and 70s

Great Britain helped to form (1959) the European Free Trade Association (EFTA),
but in 1961 the government of Harold Macmillan announced its decision to seek
membership in the European Economic Community. Because of French opposition as well
as Britain's request for special considerations for the countries of the Commonwealth and of
EFTA, agreement on British entry was not reached until 1971. Britain finally entered what
had become the European Community (now the European Union) in January, 1973.Labour
returned to power in 1964 under Harold Wilson, and the steel industry was renationalized.
The country faced the compound economic problems of a very unfavorable balance of
trade, the instability of the pound sterling, a lagging rate of economic growth, and
inflationary wages and prices. A number of sterling crises were followed by government
controls and cutbacks.

The Conservatives under Edward Heath returned to power in Britain in 1970. At the
end of 1973, the country underwent its worst economic crisis since World War II. The
balance of payments deficit, after improving in the late 1960s, had worsened. Serious
inflation had led to widespread labor unrest in the critical coal mining, railroad, and
electrical industries, leading to a shortage of coal, Britain's main energy source. A further
blow, following the 1973 war in the Middle East, was the reduction in oil shipments by
several Arab states and a steep increase in the price of oil.When coal miners voted to strike
in early 1974, Heath called an election in an attempt to bolster his position in resisting the
miners' demands. Neither Labour nor the Conservatives emerged from that election with a
plurality in the Commons. After an unsuccessful attempt to form a minority government,
Heath resigned (March 1974) and was succeeded as prime minister by Harold Wilson, who
moved immediately to settle the miners' dispute.

In the elections of October 1974, the Labour party won a slim majority; Wilson
continued as prime minister. The early 1970s brought the development of oil and natural
gas fields in the North Sea, which helped to decrease Britain's reliance on coal and foreign
fuel. Wilson resigned and was succeeded by James Callaghan in April 1976. Neither
Wilson nor Callaghan was able to resolve growing disagreements with the unions, and
unrest among industrial workers became the dominant note of the late 1970s. In March
1979, Callaghan left office after losing a no-confidence vote.

Task 14: Answer the following questions

1. What were the major problems of Britain during the 1960s and 1970s?
 2. What solutions were carried out for these problems?

The Thatcher Era to the Present

In May 1979, the Conservatives returned to power under the leadership of Margaret
Thatcher, who set out to reverse the postwar trend toward socialism by reducing
government borrowing, freezing expenditures, and privatizing state-owned industries.

Thatcher also managed to break union resistance through

a series of laws that included the illegalization of secondary
strikes and boycotts. A violent, unsuccessful yearlong miners'
strike (1984–85) was Thatcher's most serious union
confrontation. Thatcher gained increased popularity by her
actions in the Falkland Islands conflict with Argentina. She led Marg
aret Thatcher

the Conservatives to victory again in 1983 and 1987, the latter an unprecedented third
consecutive general election win. In 1985, Great Britain agreed that Hong Kong would
revert to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. In 1986, the Channel Tunnel project was begun with
France; the rail link with the European mainland opened in 1994.

A decade of Thatcher's economic policies resulted in a marked disparity between the

developed southern economy and the decaying industrial centers of the north. Her
unpopular stands on some issues, such as her opposition to greater British integration in
Europe, caused a Conservative party revolt that led her to resign in November 1990,
whereupon John Major became party leader and prime minister. Despite a lingering
recession, the Conservatives retained power in the 1992 general election.A peace initiative
opened by Prime Minister Major in 1993 led to cease-fires in 1994 by the Irish Republican
Army and Loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland. Peace efforts foundered early in
1996, as the IRA again resorted to terrorist bombings. In July 1997, the IRA declared a new
cease-fire, and talks begun in September of that year included Sinn Féin. An accord reached
in 1998 provided for a new regional assembly to be established in Belfast, but formation of
the government was hindered by disagreement over guerrilla disarmament. With resolution
of those issues late in 1999, direct rule was ended in Northern Ireland, but tensions over
disarmament have led to several lengthy suspensions of home rule since then.

The Major government was beset by internal scandals and by an intra-party rift over
the degree of British participation in the European Union (EU), but Major called a
Conservative party leadership election for July, 1995, and easily triumphed. In November
1995, three divisions of British Rail were sold off in Britain's largest-ever privatization by
direct sale. Britain's sometimes stormy relationship with the European Union was
heightened in 1996 when an outbreak of “mad cow disease” in England led theEuropean
Union to ban the sale of British beef; the crisis eased when British plans for controlling the
disease were approved by the European Union. Although the European Union ban was
ended in1999, France continued its own ban on British beef, causing a strain in British-
French relations and within the European Union. In 2001, British livestock farmers were
effected by an outbreak of disease, this time foot-and-mouth disease.

In the elections of May 1997, Labour won 418 seats in the

House of Commons by following a centrist political strategy. Tony
Blair, head of what he called the “New Labour” party, became
prime minister. In August, Britain mourned Princess Diana, the
former wife of Prince Charles, who was killed in a car accident in
Paris. Blair's pledge to decentralize government was endorsed in
Tony Blair September,

when Scotland and Wales both voted to establish legislative bodies, giving them a stronger
voice in their domestic affairs.A bill passed by both houses of Parliament in 1999 stripped
most hereditary peers of their right to sit and vote in the House of Lords; the shape of the
reconstituted upper chamber is studied by a commission. Blair and Labour again trounced
the Conservatives in June 2001, though the victory was not so much a vote of confidence in
Labour as a rejection of the opposition.

Following the devastating September 2001, terrorist attacks

in the United States, the British government became the most
visible international supporter of the Bush administration in its war
on terrorism. Government officials visited Muslim nations to seek
their participation in the campaign, and British forces joined the
Americans in launching attacks against Afghanistan after the
Taliban government refused to hand over Osama bin Laden.
Princess Diana

The Blair government was also a strong supporter of the United States' position that
military action should be taken against Iraq if UN weapons inspections were not resumed
under new, stricter conditions, and committed British forces to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq
that began in March 2003.

Blair's strong support for the invasion, and the failure to find any weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq, were factors in Labour's third-place finish in the June, 2004, local
elections; the results reflected the British public's dissatisfaction with the country's
involvement in Iraq. Labour, and the Conservative party as well, suffered losses in the
subsequent European parliament elections, which saw the anti-EU United
KingdomIndependence party double its vote to 16%. In the 2005 parliamentary elections
the issue of Iraq again hurt Blair and Labour, whose large parliamentary majority was
significantly reduced. Nonetheless, the election marked the first time a Labour government
had secured a third consecutive term at the polls.

On July 7, 2005, London experienced four coordinated bombing on its underground

and bus system that killed more 50 people and injured some 700. The attacks, which
broadly resembled the March 2004, bombings in Madrid, appeared to be the work of
Islamic suicide bombers; three of the suspected bombers were born in Britain. Evidence
uncovered by the British police indicated that the attacks may have been directed by a
member of Al Qaeda. A second set of suicide bombings was attempted later in the month,
but the bombs failed to detonate. Prime Minister Blair suffered the first legislative defeat of
his tenure in November2005, when the House of Commons refused to extend, to the degree
that he had sought, the time that a terror suspect could be held in custody without being
charged.

Task 15: Answer the following questions

1. Why is Mrs. Thatcher’s period considered a revolution?

2. Why did she lose in the last election?

3. Could you list the main events in 1997 in Britain?

4. What was about Blair’s term?