The Rise and Fall of the British Empire

The Rise and Fall of the British Empire Abstract:The United Kingdom is located in west Europe. It consists of Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland and over 5500 small islands.It has long coastline which great contributes to the development of its economic, and compare with others countries in the EU, it also has the most abundant energy. Now, the population of Britain is more than sixty million, and its land area is about 244,000 square kilometers. England is the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution and the first modern country that changed form agricultural civilization to industrial civilization. From the 16th century to the beginning of the 19th century, Britain constant to aggress and expand overseas, which make it become the biggest colonial power in modern history. Up to 1914, its territory even reached 33,500,000 square kilometers, which is 137 times that of the United Kingdom. The First World War is the turning point for Britain from prosperity to decline, and after the Second World War,under the impact of the national liberation movement, the powerful empire was gone forever. Key Words: colonial power; Industrial Revolution; the First World War; the Second World War I Introduction The British Empire was the largest empire in human history, and now it isn’t as powerful as before. This paper aims at analyzing the factors that influence the rise and fall of the British Empire. There are four parts in this paper,colonial expansion of Britain, the Industrial Revolution, Britain in the World War I and Britain in the World War II. We will reappear the history about Britain from prosperity to decline. II Literature Review The British Empire began with private exploration in the search for wealth. With no luck finding precious metals, privatized naval warfare became the norm because robbing Spanish and Portuguese ships was easiest. As sea-faring technology in Britain improved, Britain became an empire of the sea. Ferguson emphasizes the beginnings of consumer culture in early 18th century England as the ultimate driving force behind British imperialism. Britain was able to control an enormous empire. Most important was British mastering of new technology, its naval advances and accurate mapping of British territory. These factors combined enabled the British to swiftly respond to any crisis. By the turn of the 20th century, the British Empire was looking for new horizons to colonize. During this time, the so-called Scramble for Africa began, 1 with an accompanying arms race among the European powers. Britain's expansion in Africa was a combination of financial power and military might. Ferguson explores the birth of three important modern phenomena, namely the mass media, the military-industrial complex, and a global bond market. According to Ferguson, those three factors brought the British Empire to its peak, but were also what would foreshadow its decline. Britain's military was weakened as it became less of a political priority, while global economic dominance shifted to the US. Although the era of European colonization has seemed to end, however, the rise and demise of the British world order and the lessons for global power by claiming that empire is still a reality. Today, though, empire is ruled by a single superpower, the United States, and takes an indirect, more abstract form of economic exploitation and political control. The British Empire fell because of its "Pyrrhic victory" in the two world wars remains a bit dubious, however. Certainly the financial burden held significant immediate consequences, but no one should discount the simultaneous impact of liberal social movements within European societies, rebellion against colonialist within British-occupied territory, and the push from the US and other (smaller) nations to liberate colonies. The horrors of the world wars had much to do with the shift in attitude, including the colonies where large numbers of soldiers were recruited as well as - obviously - in Europe itself. The so-called "era of democracy" in the Western world began with the fall of Nazi Germany and the development of the Cold War. III The Analysis of the rise and fall of the British Empire The British Empire began with the colonization in 16th century, and its first colony overseas is Newfoundland. Later, it controlled Canada, Australia, India and many small states in the West Indies. During the mid-19th century, the British consolidated its colonies by bringing them under the direct control of the government. Britain expand their colonies and sphere of influence in Asia at the beginning of the 19th century, British government waged the Opium War against China, and Hong Kong was ceded to Britain. Meanwhile, Britain also occupied Burma, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaya, Sarawak, Brunei and some other small states in Asia. By the end of the 19th century, the British Empire included a quarter of the global population and nearly a quarter of the world’s landmass. By the beginning of the 20th century, it occupied the Gold Coast, Niger, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, North Rhodesia, Upper Nigeria and South Africa. On the Eve of World War I, Britain was the largest colonial empire the world had ever seen. It controlled a territory of 33.5 million square kilometers, about a quarter of the world’s landmass, about 137 times as large as Britain. It ruled over a population of 393.5 million, about eight times that of Britain itself. The British boasted that they had an empire on which the sun never set. After the Glorious Revolution, the British Parliament was made up of prosperous merchants and entrepreneurs who supported commerce and industry. Otherwise, Britain fought and won a series of wars against France, which help it won more colonies overseas, and those colonies provided Britain with necessary raw materials and a large market for its industrial products. From the colonies in America and India, England, acquired enormous wealth with which to develop its industries. All these things resulted in the Industrial Revolution. Industrial Revolution began in the textile industry and was marked by a series of important inventions, such as the Spinning Jenny, the water frame, the spinning mule, the power loom and the steam engine. These inventions completed the mechanization of the textile industry and prepared the way for a new system of production: large scale industry. With these developments came a need for a cheap means of transportation. By 1850, Britain had established a railway system encompassing over 10,000 kilometers of track. By the middle of the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution was accomplished in Britain. It changed Britain in many ways. Its industrial productivity increased dramatically. Britain became the most advanced industrial country and also the financial center in the world. By the beginning of the 20th century, the world had entered the period of imperialism. Britain's dominance was challenged by other European nations and the United States, for they had also been industrialized and each were eager to protect their own markets and expand their influence. The power balance in Europe had undergone enormous changes. A conflict of interests and colonial rivalry divided Europe into two camps. The conflict plunged the whole world into two devastating wars. More than 32 countries were involved World War I. Though Britain won this war finally, the cost of the war was great. Britain was drained of its manpower and 70% of the merchant ships were sunk or damaged. As a result, Britain lost the sea supremacy. Business was slack, many factories were closed down and taxes soared. The great depression brought additional problems to the Britain economy and society. Britain’s position in the capitalist world was further weakened. World War II was for all intents and purposes a continuation of World War I. As the result of World War II, most of Britain’s colonies demanded and fought for independence. In the 1960s, an independence movement swept the entire British Empire. More than 20 countries won their independence. The Empire had been replaced by the British Commonwealth of Nations. IV Conclusion It’s the contingency of the necessity that England chose capitalism and successfully founded the Britain Empire, which was once the largest empire in human history. Though there are so many events and elements contributed to the rise of the Great Britain, there are still many variables because other countries were also developing well with expansion. During the world wars, the few odds hadn’t stood with Britain though Britain was the final winner. So I think it is the wars and the Great Depression that result in the fall of the British Empire. References [1]马歇尔. 剑桥插图大英帝国史[M].北京:世界知识出版社,2004 [2]李涛,姜晓东.白金汉宫的倒影——看日不落帝国的兴衰[M].北京:中国友谊出版社,2007 [3]凤凰网专稿.大历史下看英国兴衰100年[EB/OL]. ,2012-05-09 [4]刘中民,张宝霞.崛起与错失——海权强国兴衰的历史解读[J].海洋期刊, 2007(10):75-80 [5]唐晋.大国崛起[M].北京:人民出版社,2006 [6]金城,阎晓明.世界历史——英帝国的兴衰[EB/OL]. ,4年前