The Roman invasion in 55 B.C. and the subsequent incorporation into the Roman Empire stimulated development and brought Britain into a more active relationship with the rest of Europe. After the Romans' departure, the country was vulnerable periodically to other invasions until the Norman conquest in 1066. Norman rule effectively ensured Britain's safety from further invasion and stimulated the development of institutions, both new and indigenous, that have since distinguished British life. Among these institutions are a political, administrative, cultural, and economic center in London; the development of a separate but established church; a system of common law; distinctive and distinguished university education; and representative government.
Union
In its earliest history, Wales was an independent kingdom that thwarted invasion attempts from England for centuries. The English conquest succeeded in 1282 under Edward I, and the Statute of Rhuddlan established English rule 2 years later. To appease the Welsh, Edward's son (later Edward II), who had been born in Wales, was made Prince of Wales in 1301. The tradition of bestowing this title on the eldest son of the British monarch continues today. An act of 1536 completed the political and administrative union of England and Wales.
Scotland also was an independent kingdom that resisted English invasion attempts. England and Scotland united under one crown in 1603, when James VI of Scotland succeeded his cousin Elizabeth I as James I of England. In the ensuing 100 years, strong religious and political differences divided the kingdoms. Finally, in 1707, England and Scotland agreed to unite under the name of Great Britain. At this time, the Union Jack became the national flag.
The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in 1170 began centuries of strife. Successive English kings sought to impose their will on the Irish, whose cause was finally defeated in the early 17th century, when large-scale settlement of the north, from Scotland and England, also began. After this defeat, Ireland was subjected, with varying degrees of success, to control and regulation by Britain. The legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland was completed on January 1, 1801, under the name of the United Kingdom. However armed struggle for political independence continued sporadically into the 20th century. The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 established the Irish Free State, which left the Commonwealth and became a republic after World War II. The six northern and predominantly Protestant Irish counties have remained an integral part of the United Kingdom.
British Expansion
Begun initially to support William the Conqueror's (c. 1029-1087) holdings in France, Britain's policy of active involvement in European affairs endured for several hundred years. By the end of the 14th century, foreign trade, originally based on wool exports to Europe, had emerged as a cornerstone of national policy. The foundations of sea power--to protect British trade and open up new routes--were gradually laid. Defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 firmly established Britain as a major sea power. Thereafter, its interests outside Europe grew steadily.
Attracted by the spice trade, British mercantile interests spread first to the Far East. In search of an alternate route to the Spice Islands, John Cabot reached the North American Continent in 1498. Sir Walter Raleigh organized the first, short-lived British colony in Virginia in 1584, and permanent British settlement began in 1607 at Jamestown, Virginia. During the next two centuries, alternately in contest and concord with its European neighbors, Britain extended its influence abroad and consolidated its political development at home. The territorial foundation of the 20th-century British Empire, with the principal exceptions of parts of Africa and India, had already been laid by the time of the Boston Tea Party in 1773.
The peace in Europe allowed the British to focus their interests again on more remote parts of the world, sometimes at the expense of European rivals. During this period, the British Empire reached its zenith. British colonies, effectively managed, contributed to the United Kingdom's extraordinary economic growth and strengthened its voice in world affairs. Even as the United Kingdom became more imperial abroad, it continued to develop and broaden its democratic institutions at home.
20th Century
By the time of Queen Victoria's death in 1901 other nations, including the United States and Germany, had developed their own industries; the United Kingdom's comparative economic advantage had lessened, and the ambitions of its rivals had grown. The losses and destruction of World War I, the depression of the 1930s, and decades of relatively slow growth made it difficult for the United Kingdom to maintain its preeminent international position of the previous century.
Britain's control over its empire loosened during the interwar period. Ireland, with the exception of six northern counties, broke away from the United Kingdom in 1921. Nationalism became stronger in other parts of the empire, particularly in India and Egypt. In 1926, the United Kingdom completed a process begun a century earlier and granted Australia, Canada, and New Zealand complete autonomy within the empire. As such, they became charter members of the British "Commonwealth of Nations," an informal but closely knit association that succeeded the empire. Throughout the interwar period, moreover, the British economy continued to lose ground to competitors.
The United Kingdom began dismantling the remainder of its empire in 1947. Most of its former colonies now belong to the Commonwealth.
Current Political Conditions
Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government--first elected in May 1979, and re-elected in June 1983 and June l987--dominates the British political scene. The Conservatives, or Tories now hold 375 seats--for a commanding 100-vote majority--in the 650-member House of Commons (in addition, the nonvoting Speaker of the House is a Conservative Member of Parliament). In its first two terms, the Thatcher government's program included efforts to curb the power of the unions, reduce inflation, and privatize nationally owned industries. The third term program includes reform of local government finance by replacing "rates" (essentially real estate taxes) with a universal community charge (popularly dubbed the "poll tax"), educational reform, National Health Service and legal system reform, and privatization of electricity and water.
The Labor Party holds 228 seats in the House of Commons. Under Neil Kinnock, the official leader of the opposition, the Labor Party has challenged most government initiatives, running in 1983 and 1987 on platforms calling for renationalization of certain industries, unilateral British nuclear disarmament, and substantially greater government spending on social programs and the National Health Service. Following its third consecutive general election defeat, the Labor Party embarked on a major review of its policies, including a possible move away from unilateral nuclear disarmament. That review is nearing completion, but the issues involved have highlighted important differences between factions of the party. The farther left elements are opposed especially to any change on the disarmament question. The centrist Alliance, composed of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Liberal Party, won 23% of the vote in the 1987 general election. Because of the United Kingdom's single-member-constituency, winner-take-all voting system, however, the Alliance won only 22 seats in the House of Commons.
Following the election, Liberal Party leaders and some SDP leaders called for a formal merger of the two parties. Other Social Democrats, under SDP leader David Owen, opted to remain independent. In 1988, the Alliance was dissolved, and the "mergerites" formed a new party, the Social and Liberal Democrats (SLD). It holds 19 seats in Parliament. The separate SDP under Owen has three Members of Parliament. Both the SLD and the SDP favor the introduction of proportional representation. Proposals have been floated for an electoral arrangement between the SLD and the SDP whereby only one of the parties would offer a candidate in each constituency. No agreement has yet been reached.
Of the remaining 24 seats in the House of Commons, Northern Ireland parties fill 17, the Scottish nationalists 4 (including a seat taken from Labor in a by-election), and the Welsh nationalists 3.
The next general election must be held by June 1992.
Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, October 1990.