- •Билет 21. The glorious revolution. The bill of rights.
- •Билет 22. The cultural history of the 17th century.
- •Билет 24. The growth of British political system in the 18th century.
- •Билет 25. The colonial wars: the League of Augsburg and of the Spanish Succession.
- •Билет 26. The beginning of the making of the British colonial empire.
- •Билет 27. The Act of Union of 1707.
- •Билет 28. The 1715 and 1745.
- •Билет 34. The Industrial Revolution.
- •Билет 35. The machine production and the population. The Speenhamland Act of 1795.
- •Билет 36. The cultural history of the 18th century.
- •Билет 37. Britain after the war of American independence.
- •Билет 38. Britain and the French Revolution. The wars with France.
- •Билет 39. Britain after Waterloo.
- •Билет 40. The liberal reforms of the 1820’s.
Билет 38. Britain and the French Revolution. The wars with France.
Before the Revolution France seemed to be falling into decline. The budgets were unbalanced, the army and navy unregularly paid, peasants overtaxed and suffering from hunger. The aristocracy was in a sharp conflict with the Crown and had to struggle thruogh the revolution, which was greatly supported by the people. They attacked the Bastille in Paris, then marched to Versailles and sent the king to prison. For all the other countries these events confirmed the impression that France was sinking into anarchy. But England was the first to understand that the new evil of democracy was rising.
The conquest of Belgium brought England and France into the direct conflict. Britain entered the war in 1793 and remained constantly in it till 1814. The source of such strength was the modern capitalist organisation. Pitt invested enormous sums of money into allies and hostilities in different parts of the world, but he had not his father’s talent to lead the war and England’s actions were mostly a failure. He sent the forces to conquer the West Indies, but didn’t know the local tropical conditions, and the disease killed 40 000 soldiers. As for France, it was already a different country, and Pitt didn’t know what he should do with it. That is why the British troops were being defeated.
In 1796-1797 Italy and Austria were cinquered by France, and England remained alone against it. The Napoleon’s mistake was that he decided to attack Britain through the Egypt in the East, not through the Ireland, which would have been easier, as Ireland supported the Revolution and was revolting against British control (the revolts were supressed and Ireland was legally united with Britain in 1800). At the Battle of the Nile (1798) the British navy defeated the French and restored its power and dominance in Mediterranean. Napoleon slipped to France, where he started to gather new resources for the war. The British shattered French, Spanish, Dutch and Danish fleets and captured the Cape of Good Hope and Ceylon. But on the land no one could attack Napoleon. The enemies signed the Treaty of Amiens (1802) which was only a short pause. 1805 – the Battle of Trafalgar, the victory that gave England control of the seas. Pitt persuaded Russia and Austria to join the war on land, but they were defeated at Austerlitz and Friedland and mafe peace with Napoleon for 6 years. Napoleon declared the economical blocade of Britain. Portugal refused the blocade and Napoleon sent an army there to prevent the trade. The England’s reaction was an army under the head of Duke Wellington to defend Portugal and step by step the French were driven off the peninsula. 1813 – Napoleon defeated at Leipzig 1814 – Allies entered Paris, Napoleon sent to Elba England, Russia, Prussia and Austria settled at the Congress in Vienna to decide upon the profits of war. 1815 – One Hundred Days’ Campaign, Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo.
The results of the Congress: - restoration of despotism; - Holy Alliance (Russia, Prussia, Austria) for supporting each other against democracy; - England got a number of strategic key points: Malta, Mauritius, Ceylon, the Cape.