England has a long and rich history ranging from the Celtics to the Romans and Anglo Saxons, and from there, the feudal system and the beginning of Kings. A course of history spanning over thousands of years, England passing from being the conquered to conquering nearly three quarters of the world’s total population during the Victorian Era. England’s position during the Victorian Era was one of world dominance and power and her path through the era and the years after has shaped the modern British Identity exponentially. The rise of the British Empire was seemingly endless until it’s inevitable peak and speedy downfall leading to one of the world’s largest intercontinental associations, the Commonwealth. The rise and fall of the British Empire
It is true that British dominion was not built according to the principles of the Equal Opportunities Commission and we have to accept, too, that it was interwoven with imperialism and what we now call racism. In this it was not alone among other imperialisms – including republican and socialist imperialisms.” (Colls , 2012). In accordance to the British Identity, history has shaped how one views oneself. If the “British national Identity was not born of a deplorable past” (Colls, 2012) it becomes understandable why there has been a decline in the sense of a national identity in Britain itself. As seen in the Table 1 to the right the percentages of English citizens identifying with a “British Identity” has been slowly declining. A British citizen will “accept a British identity, feel proud of Britain and feel strongly attached to Britain” (Heath, 2005), just as any American can accept an American Identity and feel pride in the American nation as a whole. The Victorian Era was a time where the concepts of ‘White Man’s Burden’ and ‘Colonial Domination’ were mindsets and the concepts were easily and happily accepted without question. Today the world calls these concepts racist and imperialistic and unsurprisingly, as author Jeremy Paxman states “we look back on our imperial history simply as the actions of men and women we cannot identify with; the products of motives we
With a steady climb in military power Britain became an unchallenged world power. Under the reign of Queen Victoria Britain rapidly expanded into the world, eventually possessing one quarter of the Earth’s land and governing over three quarters of the world’s population. The figure to the right depicts the countries under British reign during the time of the British Empire in red. During the Victorian Era people affectionately and proudly used the phrase ‘This vast Empire on which the sun never sets.’ It was also during the distinguished Victorian Era and this vast expansion that British society viewed the rest of the world with the perspective of the ‘White Man’s Burden’. The British culture believed it was a moral responsibly to aid the inferior people in the new realms, it “was not simply the grubby pursuit of profit but rather a commitment to bring light into the darkest corners of the world.” (Judd, Hall, & Bell, 2015). In the 1994 movie version of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, directed by Stephen Sommers, there is a scene early in the film of a young boy, Mowgli, being taught the English translations from his native language. The conversation between a father and son goes as: “‘What is this?’ ‘Baloo’ ‘And in English?’ ‘Bear’” (Sommers,
"To prohibit a great people from making all that they can of every part of their own produce advantageous to themselves, is a manifest violation of the most sacred rights of mankind." These views of Adam Smith were very much supported throughout the mid-18th century. Throughout this time, many new developments were made regarding American colonists view's of their sense of identity and unity as Americans. Due to an over controlling British government and a need for individuality as a country, colonists became Americans through their great fight to highly develop their sense of identity and unity as Americans.
When examining the bloody and often tumultuous history of Great Britain prior to their ascent to power, one would not have predicted that they would become the global leader of the 18th century. Prior to the Treaty of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years War, the Spanish and the Holy Roman Empire held much of the power in Europe. Only with the suppression of Catholicism and the development of national sovereignty did Great Britain have the opportunity to rise through the ranks. While much of continental Europe was seeking to strengthen their absolute monarchies and centralized style of governing, in the 17th and 18th centuries Great Britain was making significant political changes that reflected the ideals of the Age of Enlightenment. The first of the political philosophers was Thomas Hobbes who first introduced the idea that the monarch ruled not by “divine right” but through the consent of the people. This was a radical idea with ramifications that are reflected in the great changed Great Britain made to to their government in the 17th century. Through a series of two violent civil wars between the monarchy and Parliament and the bloodless civil war known as the Glorious Revolution, Parliament was granted the authority to, in essence, “check” the power of the monarchy. The internal shifts of power in Great Britain and the savvy foreign policy skills demonstrated by the British in much of the conflict happening in continental Europe can be credited with England’s rise to power.
Rudyard Kipling’s poem “The White Man’s Burden” articulates the imperialism of the English empire into India, Cambodia, China, and Africa. The English thought it their duty to go out and take over these barbaric nations to civilize them. They justified their act of westernizing and destroying others’ cultures as the “burden’ they were born to bear. “And when your goal is nearest the end for others sought, watch sloth and heathen folly bring all your hopes to nought.” They blamed the ineffectiveness of their efforts on the native’s laziness. They are the ones whose whole world is being flipped upside down; being submerged in a new culture with new laws and strange people. Yet, somehow they are the lazy ones and despite the trails for the white man at the end of the day it is beneficial to the savages.
When it comes to imperialism and colonialism, Great Britain is a major employer of the two concepts. Though, at one point in history many regions of the influential country was ruled over by another. The entity which ruled over the kingdoms of England and Wales for over four centuries was the Holy Roman Empire.
The rise of Great Britain began in the early 16th century and lasted until the mid-19th
In the 19th century, Britain obtained unprecedented economic profits in Asia through control of Singapore, as a colony discovered by Thomas Stamford Raffles, and China, as the British sphere of influence began with the Opium War. Under British imperialism, common people in Singapore and China experienced a hard time since the British extracted most interests. Finally, they ended their imperialistic relationships with Britain by gaining political and economic independence.
The British Empire was a period of , but it was only this way due to their imperialistic views and the exploitation of people within the Empire. Even though the British Imperialism of the late 19th century/early 20th century brought great wealth, knowledge, and technological advancements, but at the expense of others. Britain had to find a way to justify their ‘superiority’ over these other countries….. Scientists and social scientists created many sciences, including social Darwinism, eugenics, phrenology, and polygenism. Many historians have argued whether or not these sciences were proposed in order to justify the British Empire or not. These pseudo-sciences were constructed to rationalize the imperialism during the 19th century. This paper
Nationalism in Britain The state is officially the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but this is clouded in ambiguity – many refer to ‘the UK’ or simply ‘Britain’, while part of the state, England, is often confused with the whole. The UK is not, strictly speaking, a nation-state, since it consists of four nations. Some living in the UK claim a dual national allegiance (e.g. British and Irish) while others describe themselves as English or British, depending on mood and circumstances. There are also members of ethnic minorities who are full citizens of the UK, but whose national identity and allegiance is doubtful in the eyes of others, and perhaps sometimes to themselves. England was politically united from the 10th century, with strong links with Scandinavia until the Norman conquest, and then with France until the 15th century.
The debate about British Identity has been prominently featured in recent years as a public concern. The foundation of British Identity was based on the act of union in 1801 between England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland that created Great Britain. Heath and Roberts describe this identity as “a relatively recent construct and was gradually superimposed on earlier national identities of English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish” (2008:4). The four nations were unified mainly because of the political and economic project of the British Empire that developed a shared agenda and The Second World War which melted the distinctive differences between the constituent nations (Ward, 2004). According to Colley, the interests that unified the nations do not exist and even if they do” they are less distinctive” (1992). Although there is identification with Britishness, it is noticeable that Britons hold a stronger allegiance to their primary nation. The British Identity is decreasing as many writers suggested, and this is due to many different trends and influences such as globalization, immigration and communication (Heath and Roberts, 2008). This essay highlights some of the reasons of the decline in the British national identity and the rise of the consentient nation’s sentiment. This is approached by firstly considering the internal factors of the devolution of power to Scotland and Wales, and secondly the external factor of immigration and will analyze the relationship between age and identification with a nation.
Imperialism may seem like an obvious subject, but it can be hidden in the least expected places. Rudyard Kipling illustrates imperialism in India in The Jungle Book. The characters in these stories can represent British people fighting for British control, British people fighting for Indian rule, Indian people fighting for British control, and Indian people fighting for Indian rule. Characters in Mowgli’s Brothers such as the wolves, Mowgli, Shere Khan, Bagheera, and Baloo symbolize these roles in society. The Jungle Book uses allegory to show imperialism in India in various ways.
Darwin, John. 2011. BBC - History - British History in depth: Britain, the Commonwealth and the End of Empire, 3 March 2011. Accessed 11 April 2014. Available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/endofempire_overview_01.shtml.
Throughout history, the British have been a nation of sailors and businessmen. With the dawn of the imperial era, money began to equal power, and the wealth of the British elevated them to the top of the world. As Sir Walter Raleigh said,
In 1603 the Scottish and English monarchies were united and at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the monarchy of the United Kingdom was deprived of the decision-making privilege they once had. For the purpose of this essay, I intend to examine the many different arguments both for and against the British monarchy being abolished. Proponents argue strongly that the monarchy symbolises all that is British throughout Britain and the Commonwealth Realms. However, contrary to this, the monarchy receives exorbitant financial aid from the British taxpayers to maintain the monarchy. Does the monarchy have a place in the twenty first century?
The Victorian Era in English history was a period of rapid change. One would be hard-pressed to find an aspect of English life in the 19th century that wasn’t subject to some turmoil. Industrialization was transforming the citizens into a working class population and as a result, it was creating new urban societies centered on the factories. Great Britain enjoyed a time of peace and prosperity at home and thus was extending its global reach in an era of New Imperialism. Even in the home, the long held beliefs were coming into conflict.
One of the oldest still functioning monarchies in the world is the British monarchy. Due to its historic status in a continually modernizing country and world, this system of government has been at the center of much political, socioeconomic, and cultural controversy. While the structure of Britain’s government has changed over the years, the monarchy is an element of it that has been in existence for centuries, and despite its varied roles throughout history, has played an integral part in defining British culture.