- •Early britain
- •Prehistoric Britain
- •Cultural Focus: Stonehenge
- •Celtic Invasions
- •Cultural Focus: The Druids
- •The Roman Conquest and Occupation
- •Early History
- •The Romans and the Celts
- •Early History
- •The Fall of Britannia
- •The Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms
- •The Anglo-Saxon Culture
- •The scandinavian invasion First Raids and Battles
- •Danelaw
- •Cultural Focus: King Alfred the Great
- •Restoration of the Saxon Kings
- •The norman conquest The Norman Invasion
- •The House of Normandy
- •The Effect of the Norman Conquest
- •Cultural Focus: The Canterbury Tale
- •Magna Carta. The First Parliament
- •Cultural Focus: Prince of Wales
- •The Wars of the Roses
- •England in the 16th century. The tudor monarchy
- •Henry VII
- •Henry VIII — Beginning of the Reign
- •Henry VIII and the Reformation
- •Edward VI
- •Bloody Mary
- •Mary, Queen of Scots
- •Elizabethan Times
- •Cultural Focus: English Renaissance
- •England in the 17th century. The stuart dynasty
- •James the First
- •Charles the First
- •Civil Wars. Execution of the King
- •Republic of Commonwealth
- •The Restoration Period
- •Glorious Revolution
- •William III
- •The Union with Scotland
- •Building the Empire
- •George III. The American Revolution
- •The Industrial Revolution
- •4) Negotiate, negotiable, negotiator, negotiation
- •7) Stipulate, stipulation
- •8) Smuggle, smuggler, smuggling
- •Britain in the 19th century
- •The Period of Napoleonic Wars
- •Britain after the Napoleonic Wars
- •The Victorian Age
- •British Empire
- •Britain in the first half of the 20™ century
- •The Beginning of the Century
- •Fighting for the Vote
- •Death of Edward VII. King George V
- •The First World War
- •Britain after World War I
- •Britain in World War II: 1939-1943
- •The Crown in World War II
- •Britain in the second half of the 20th century
- •The Commonwealth
- •Domestic Affairs
- •Cultural Focus: Welfare in Britain
- •Britain and Her European Neighbours
- •The Royal Family Today
- •1. Geographical factors:
- •2. Historical factors:
- •Bibliography
Britain in the first half of the 20™ century
Task 1. Brainstorming.
What do you know about the Suffragette movement in Britain? When were women given a right to vote?
The 20th century saw the biggest wars in the history of mankind. What wars were they? What were the factors that caused these wars?
The Beginning of the Century
At the beginning of the 20th century, Britain was no longer the mig! .tiest country in the world, but it still was one of the greatest world powers. The Victorian Age was coming to the end — new ideas and life styles appeared. The Royal Dynasty also faced changes — in 1901, Queen Victoria died and her eldest son, Albert Edward became King Edward VII. Edward took the family name of his father — Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
As the Prince of Wales, he took part in British public life since 1863 — the time he took his seat in the House of Lords. Edward VII, as the Prince of Wales had been a great support to the throne much before he filled it. He reigned as a constitutional sovereign, paying more attention to foreign affairs, military and naval matters.
During his reign Edward made a number of visits abroad uniting the countries of the Imperial Commonwealth. These countries, often called the "Overseas Dominions" were making steady progress — Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand were developing as economically independent states and sent valuable did to Britain. Edward VII became known as a skilful diplomat, who paid great attention to the peaceful regulation of international conflicts.
Though on the world arena Britain managed to sustain uniformly friendly relations with other power, at home the first two decades of the century were harsh. These twenty years, often called as "a period of extremism" saw the following events:
The Liberals came to power to provide new economic policy. This party was supported by the new Labour Party, which appeared at the beginning of the century from an alliance of trade unionists and intellectuals;
The Liberals and the Labourists provided a number of reforms aimed at establishing better conditions for workers, aged and unemployed people. But despite all these reforms the 1900s and 1910s were full of bitterness, strikes and general extremism. There were strikes of workers, because working conditions became worse and the Suffragettes (women demanding the right to vote) damaged property to draw attention to women's needs and demands. There were also Nonconformists, who demanded the disestablishment of the Church in Wales and the Irish Nationalists, who tried to make their country independent;
The Trade Unions were getting more support among the working class. By the last years before World War I they had already developed a political programme. The strikes organised by the Trade Unions, were of great importance — for they stopped the fall in wages and brought thousands of workers into the Union.
Task 2. Vocabulary development. Discuss the meaning of the following words in groups and Insert them in the text. Give your opinion of the Suffragette movement.
vote, publicity, new-style, martyr, suffrage, legal, petition, prison, suffragette |