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1994-05-02
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<text>
<title>
United Kingdom: History
</title>
<article>
<hdr>
Background Notes: United Kingdom
History
</hdr>
<body>
<p> 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.
</p>
<p>Union
</p>
<p> 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.
</p>
<p> 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.
</p>
<p> 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.
</p>
<p>British Expansion
</p>
<p> 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.
</p>
<p> 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.
</p>
<p> 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.
</p>
<p>20th Century
</p>
<p> 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.
</p>
<p> 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.
</p>
<p> The United Kingdom began dismantling the remainder of its
empire in 1947. Most of its former colonies now belong to the
Commonwealth.
</p>
<p>Current Political Conditions
</p>
<p> 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.
</p>
<p> 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.
</p>
<p> Following the election, Liberal Party leaders and some SDP
leaders c