Twentieth-Century England, 1901-2000
Edward VII acceded to the throne at the age of fifty-nine after the
death of
his mother, Queen Victoria. His short
nine-year reign was marked by international peace for the most part and
relative
prosperity which allowed the king to continue the pleasure-seeking
patterns
of behaviour he had cultivated as Prince of Wales. During his reign,
Australia and New Zealand were granted dominion status, and
territorial disputes with France were finally settled with the signing
of the Entente Cordiale in
1904. Four years later,
Britain signed the Triple Entente with France and Russia. The Modern
Age
saw the publication of such disparate works as Kipling's Just So Stories (1902), Freud's Psychopathology of Every Life (1904),
and Barrie's Peter Pan
(1904). Transportation advances were made with the advent of aircraft
flight (1903) and motor buses (1905), with the infamous British
taxi-cabs being legally recognized in 1907. As early as 1907,
Parliament was rejecting plans for the Channel Tunnel scheme. Social
changes included increased demand for women's suffrage, continued labor
and judicial reforms, and establishment of an Old Age Pension Scheme
(1908),
national insurance, and initial steps toward founding the modern
welfare
state. Public entertainments included London's hosting of the
Olympic
Games (1908) and the first Boy Scout rally at the Crystal Palace (1909).
George V succeeded his father in 1910. His reign was one of great
turbulence, economically, politically, and socially. Parliamentary
clashes between the Lords and Commons over budget matters dominated the
first two years of his rule, along with increasing conflicts with
Ireland. Escalation of unrest between
Austria, France, and Russia pointed to the inevitability of war. In
1912,
the luxury ship S.S. Titanic,
widely
touted as 'unsinkable,' sank on her maiden voyage, killing more than
1,500
people. Two years later, the outbreak of World War I called into
question all things German, and the conscientious king devoted himself
exclusively to the war effort for the next four years, and in 1917
changed his Germanic surname of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the much more
British-sounding Windsor. The Irish problem persisted, with the Easter
Rising of 1916 supporting Irish independence.
World War I ended in 1918, with British losses estimated at 420,000
men;
the same year, women over thirty were given the right to vote by the
Reform
Act, and Sinn Fein MPs in Ireland formed their own Dail parliament in
Dublin
after refusing to take their parliamentary seats in Westminster. The
following
year, Lady Astor became the first woman to serve in the House of
Commons.
In 1920-1921, Ireland was partitioned into the Free State and the
province
of Northern Ireland. In 1926, a general strike highlighted workers'
unrest
with wage cuts and long hours. In 1928, all women over the age of
twenty-one
were given voting rights; that same year, the king suffered a serious
streptococcal
infection of the lungs that kept him invalid for months and left his
health
in precarious condition. The late 1920s and early 1930s saw Britain
plunged
into the global Great Depression. The realization that imperialism was
fast
becoming a thing of the past was cemented with the Statute of
Westminster
recognizing the independence of the dominions in 1931. In 1932, George
V
made the first annual Christmas broadcast on radio.
George V's death in 1936 brought his eldest son Edward VIII to the
throne for almost twelve months, but he was never officially crowned;
having fallen in love with an American twice divorced, Mrs. Wallis
Simpson, Edward chose to abdicate the throne rather than end the
relationship his advisors told him would be unacceptable to his
subjects. The year of his rule was a turbulent one, not just personally
but politically as well. Civil war broke out in Spain,
and European political tensions seemed to be pointing to more military
conflict,
leading to the necessity of rearmament. Fire destroyed the Crystal
Palace.
On 2 November 1936, the British Broadcasting
Company
opened the world's first regular high-definition television service
from
Alexandra Palace in North London. On 10 December, Edward signed the
Instrument
of Abdication, thrusting his brother George VI into the role of king.
Edward
was made Duke of Windsor, lived for a time in France, served as
Governor
of the Bahamas during World War II, then retired to Paris, where he
died
in 1972.
George VI had never expected to be king and was unprepared to wear the
crown, but he bravely rose to the challenge despite great anxiety
brought
on by an acute speech impediment. George was well-served by his strong
sense
of duty and by the steadfast support of his queen, whose immense
popularity made her legendary. His was a happy marriage, and his two
young daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, made for a happy family life.
His was the first British coronation to be broadcast on radio. Despite
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's attempts to negotiate with Adolf
Hitler, World War II broke out in 1939, and
George VI's popularity increased when he refused to leave London during
the
Blitz and showed tremendous love and care for his subjects in its
aftermath. Winston Churchill became Prime Minister in 1940, leading the
country through the defeat of Germany which ended the war in Europe in
1945. Post-war leadership went to Prime Minister Atlee. In 1947, India
and Pakistan were granted independence, and in 1948, the National
Health Service established free medical treatment. In 1948, the king
suffered from arterio-sclerosis which left his health in a precarious
state. Winston Churchill again became Prime Minister in 1951, just one
year before George VI died rather suddenly in his sleep.
The king's sudden death thrust his twenty-five-year-old daughter into
the monarchy. The present Queen Elizabeth II became queen in 1952 and
has fulfilled her monarchical role with her consort Prince Philip at
her side. Her reign has been one of rapid and often turbulent change
and she has met many challenges with her sense of duty intact. Under
her rule, the British Empire has been transformed into a Commonwealth
and while its political position has changed, it is still considered a
major world power. The role of the monarchy has changed
drastically in the modern world, with the queen's role in government
now
chiefly a formal, ceremonial one. Social and political changes in the
twentieth
century included the decimalization of Britain's currency in 1971 and
Britain's
joining the European Community in 1973. In 1979, Margaret Thatcher
became
Britain's first (and to date only) female prime minister. The 1980's
saw
high unemployment rates, war with Argentina over control of the
Falkland Islands,
and institution of widely protested poll tax. The 1990's were a
particularly
trying decade for the monarchy, with involvement in the Gulf War, a
devastating
fire at Windsor Castle (the oldest continuously inhabited royal
residence
in Britain), reversion of Hong Kong to China, the scandalous
breakdown
of royal marriages and subsequent divorces of three of Elizabeth's four
children,
and the tragic death of the popular Princess Diana, former wife to the
Prince
of Wales. Once criticized as "being out of touch with the modern
world,"
Elizabeth II has allowed news media, radio, television, and cinema to
democratize
the monarchy as never before and has made concerted efforts to lessen
the
financial burden of the monarchy on the government by agreeing to pay
taxes
and by opening Buckingham Palace to the public to help fund Windsor
Castle's
restoration.