Introduction Britain, an ancient country that has gone through thousands of years of changes in the sea and winds, a witness to the vicissitudes of the human toddler, a wise man of the vicissitudes of the growth of the mankind, a resolute and unyielding, standing on the Atlantic Ocean, looking up at the world, the fierce warrior looking at the future. He has walked through the evil winds and cold rains, and with his heavy memories, his unique temperament and heritage, he is marching towards a more glorious tomorrow without stopping. Suddenly look back, that a long series of deep and shallow historical footprints, each step tells a different but all the same thrilling historical years, or sad sadness, or touching, or thought-provoking ------ Light dust, open the heavy history scroll has been slightly yellowed, the "British Empire" "Sunset Empire" "Victorian era" in the light flickers, telling the brilliant glory of Britain in the 19th century. 19th century Britain, economically, territorially, culturally, politically, have gone through countless changes, from a small island nation step by step to become a territory of the world's largest and most powerful country in the world. In the 19th century, Britain underwent countless changes economically, culturally and politically, and gradually grew from a small island nation to a great empire with territories on every continent and influence on the world. In the nineteenth century, it shed blood and tears, but it also reaped wealth, made progress and was transformed. At that time in the world and even the entire history of mankind, the British Empire in the 19th century is an unsurpassed myth.
Economic development
(1) Rapid development of industrial production After 1801, Britain finally won a great victory after a 14-year war with France. Britain's Royal Navy gained control of the sea, and foreign trade grew exponentially, resulting in unprecedented commercial prosperity. The victory expanded the scope of Britain's colonies, which became the supply of raw materials and the dumping ground of commodities, not only providing cheap raw materials for the development of Britain's industry and commerce, but also providing a vast market for manufactured goods, and creating a favorable environment for the development of industry. In the factory day and night the noise of the machine, Britain's production efficiency continues to improve, productivity into several times or even dozens of times the speed of rapid development. The proportion of industrial output in the British economy also increased, and by the middle of the 19th century, Britain had become the most industrialized country in the world, which also led to a fundamental change in Britain's economic position in the world, and London became the world's financial and trade center. 1850s to 1870s was the heyday of the development of Britain's free-trade capitalism, which was called the "Victorian Era". It was called the "Victorian Era". During this period, the Industrial Revolution of Britain was completed, and Britain's iron and steel production accounted for more than half of the world's total production, and its import and export trade accounted for more than one-third of the world's total. 1850, Britain produced 60.2% of the world's coal production, 50.9% of the world's iron production, and processed 46.1% of the world's cotton production. This tiny island nation, adrift on the vast ocean, became a veritable "factory of the world" that could not be underestimated.
(2) Urbanization and Population Growth Driven and facilitated by the rapid development of industry, a large number of industrial cities such as Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, Glass, and so on, rose rapidly, and a large number of rural populations flocked to the cities, the process of urbanization in Britain is extremely rapid. By 1851, the urban population of Britain had already exceeded the rural population, and urbanization was initially realized. Urbanization civilization made a grand entry into the stage of human history and civilization. Rural civilization faded away, and the rural way of life and concept of living gradually faded out of people's sight, replaced by a brand-new mode and concept of living. The railroad network was dotted all over Britain, running through the north and south of the country, making human interaction and information transfer more convenient and more frequent. In the 19th century, a hundred years, the total population of Britain increased three times, but the per capita income increased four times four times, which shows that the 19th century British society is moving forward, the continuous improvement of productive forces to solve the problem of the people's food and clothing, to run to a more affluent life full of hope.
(3) Universal Exposition In the middle of the 19th century, the rapid development of industry and prosperity of Britain in the world's economic power and comprehensive national strength as the day, the British people are extremely proud of their own strength and the wealth they have. The Universal Exhibition (also known as the "Crystal Palace Exhibition") was held on May 1, 1851, in a building made entirely of glass and steel tubes in Hyde Park, London, to show the world that Britain was a powerful nation. With the theme of world culture and industrial technology, the Universal Exhibition lasted for more than five months, from May 1 to October 11, 1851, and attracted 60,391,195 visitors. The pavilion, which was approximately 563 meters long and 138 meters wide, took only nine months to build and was then moved and rebuilt in Sydenham, South London, an area that was later renamed Crystal Palace. More than 10,000 exhibits are on display, including railroad tracks, traction engines, high-speed steamships, cranes, kitchenware, ironwork, and harvesting machines from the United States. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert held their "triumphal ceremony of industry and peace under the brilliantly glowing glass roof". Two days before the fair opened, Queen Victoria wrote in her diary, "We can do anything." It was a statement that captured the pride and contentment of the British, their hope and faith in the future, in the science of mankind.
(4) Problems in the development of the capitalist economy "Every coin has two sides." The initial development of the economy is often a double-edged sword, with both advantages and disadvantages. 19th century Britain was a country with rapid economic and industrial development, and people had not yet realized or thought of suitable strategies to adapt to and solve the problems of economic development. In the 19th century, Britain's economic and industrial development was so rapid that people were not yet aware of, or had not yet thought of, suitable strategies to adapt to and solve the problems brought about by the economic development, and the following are two of the most important problems at that time:
1. Class Exploitation In the development of capitalism, the working class was the mainstay of the development of the capitalist economy, but it was also a disadvantaged group who suffered from the exploitation and oppression. "Sweatshops have emerged frequently, and the living conditions of the working class, especially the middle and lower classes, have not benefited much from economic and social development. The unfair distribution of social wealth, the widening gap between the rich and the poor, the problem of poverty remains unresolved, the number of urban poor remains high, and their lives are described as "miserable".
2. Environmental Pollution The "three wastes" of factories have left the ecological environment devastated. London is full of "big pipe" on the ground, day and night without stopping towards the sky exhausting the rolling smoke, these smoke meets the water vapor will become fog, London in the 19th century has become "world-famous" "Fog City! London became the "world-famous" "Fog City" in the 19th century. At that time, a British engineer said in describing the situation of iron smelting industry in the western region of England: the whole earth seems to be turned inside out, all of its innards have been dug out and thrown everywhere, and the whole earth is piled up with cinders everywhere.
(5) The outbreak of the first capitalist economic crisis Cyclical economic crisis is an important feature of the capitalist economy. Whenever the economy develops to a certain extent and in a certain state, an economic crisis will come. The first economic crisis broke out in Britain, a country that was the first to carry out the industrial revolution and the most industrialized, and it was only natural that the first economic crisis should break out in Britain.
1. Causes and background of the outbreak The development of capitalist machine industry was an important cause of cyclical economic crises. in the late 18th century and the early 19th century, overproduction also occurred in Britain many times, but because of the underdevelopment of the capitalist machine industry at that time, the crises were confined to the local areas and sectors. before 1825, Britain had experienced a short period of high industrial growth. In 1825, the value of industrial output was about one-third higher than that of 1820, the volume of pig iron at that level of production increased by 58%, and the consumption of cotton increased by 39%. However, the domestic and foreign markets6 did not expand accordingly. The Napoleonic wars had not long ended, and coupled with the failure of European agriculture, the European market was shrinking and in a state of depression. The former phenomenon of localized overproduction and oversupply was transformed into a cyclical and generalized overproduction crisis. As stated in the book The Cyclical Economy of Capitalism, "Britain had great difficulty in selling its goods in the European market, and the value of its exports fell from 26.9 million pounds sterling in 1814 to 14.6 million pounds sterling in 1825. Exports to the United States and Central and South America also fell from ￡15.8 million in 1815 to ￡13.4 million. At the same time, the domestic market was greatly restricted by the fall in real wages for workers, which in 1824-1825 were only about 4/5 of what they had been in 1792. The serious disconnect between production and sales made the outbreak of an economic crisis inevitable."
2. Economic losses caused by the Economic Crisis During the Economic Crisis, Britain's industrial production and foreign trade suffered a heavy blow. 3,549 enterprises and 80 banks went bankrupt, and the gold reserve of the Bank of England plummeted from 13.9 million pounds sterling in March 1824 to 1.2 million pounds sterling in December 1825. Consumption of cotton, wool, silk and coal plummeted, and exports fell by 16%. Unemployment rose sharply and led to an exodus. However, the Industrial Revolution in Germany, France and the United States was not yet in full swing, so the economic crisis of 1825 was not yet cyclical.
Three political parliamentary reforms
(1) Parliamentary reform of 1832
1. Background of the first parliamentary reform
The early 19th century witnessed the initial formation of the framework of the responsible cabinet system in Britain. However, before 1832, the king still enjoyed a certain degree of sovereignty in the election of the prime minister and cabinet members (e.g., it was the king's own choice to appoint the prime minister, Canning Goderich, in 1827, and the prime minister, Wellington, in 1828). In the reign of George IV. During the reign of George IV, the Cabinet became more and more independent of the Crown and moved closer to the House of Commons, which was in fact the head of executive decision-making in Britain at that time. Especially during the reigns of Prime Minister Rockingham and Prime Minister Fox, they never regarded the king as the "lord of the country", nor did they regard themselves as the king's "servants". The Prime Minister was transformed from the King's "Steward-in-Chief" to the real master of Britain. The delicate and close relationship between the prime minister and the cabinet allowed them to share benefits and risks, while the king, who was of royal blood, became more and more alienated. In 1830, under the influence of the July Revolution in France, the democratic movement swept across Europe and became unstoppable. In a few months from the end of 1830 to the beginning of 1831, the House of Commons received a total of 645 petitions*** from all over the country. But the Tories, led by the Duke of Wellington, thought that the existing system was already very perfect, and even openly declared that they were firmly opposed to the reforms and would not give in. At that time, there were so many calls for reforms that the Tories were doomed to a crushing defeat in the election of the same year.
2. The process of enactment and content of the Act
King William IV (1830-1837) appointed Grey, the leader of the Whig Party, to form a cabinet. In January 1831, Grey's Cabinet set up a four-member group headed by Lord Russell to draft the Reform Bill, which was approved by the King on June 7 of the same year and came into force. The contents of the bill were threefold: First, the distribution of seats was adjusted. The seats of 56 "declining constituencies" with a population of less than 2,000 were abolished, and the 31 constituencies with a population of between 2,000 and 4,000 were each reduced by one seat, leaving 143 seats for large industrial cities and larger counties, while the total number of members of the House of Commons remained unchanged. The property qualifications for voters were re-established. After the property qualification of voters was lowered, a large number of artisans, small merchants and some tenant farmers were enfranchised, in addition to big bankers, merchants and factory owners. The procedure for voter registration has been laid down and the time period has been shortened. The election period was shortened from 15 to 2 days.
3. Significance
The parliamentary reforms of 1832 could be said to have been a thunderbolt, but the reforms, which came after such a large-scale movement and many setbacks, had little effect. Marx also criticized, "I am afraid that never before has such a powerful and seemingly successful people's movement had such meager superficial results." Although the workers were the mainstay of the reform movement, the reforms did not change the hard life of the workers and did not bring them true democratic power. Nevertheless, the parliamentary reforms of 1832 were of indelible historical significance. It weakened the power of the king, the peers and the House of Lords, and promoted the improvement of the organization of political parties and the formation of a two-party system, which was a major turning point in the development of the British parliamentary monarchy. It inspired people's confidence and determination to go deeper into the electoral reform, and a new kind of power relationship between the Cabinet and the king, political parties, public opinion, and the House of Lords and Commons gradually took shape.
(2) Parliamentary Reform in 1867
1. Background of the Second Parliamentary Reform
After the 1860s, the political activism of the working class rose again, and the parliamentary reforms aroused a new hope. 1861, the trade unions all over the country demanded for the reform of the system, and 1864, the "First International", which was active in supporting the struggle for the right of the workers to vote in the United Kingdom, was founded. In 1864, the "First International" was founded in London, and in 1865, the "National Reform League" was established to reform the electoral system. Marx also actively supported the workers' struggle for the right to vote. He thought that the time was not yet ripe to end the monopolistic rule of the bourgeoisie, and that the maximum expansion of bourgeois democracy was the practical goal. With the support of the First International, the National Reform League and other organizations, as well as Marx and others, large-scale reform movements were launched in major cities like Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham. With the great reform procession marching through the streets and parks, parliamentary reform became a necessity and a necessity.
2. The process of enacting the bill and its content At that time, the Prime Minister was Derby of the Conservative Party, who opposed the reform, but Benjamin Disraeli, the Finance Minister, who had a high political reputation and status, realized that he was a man of great talent who knew what was happening, and that he should follow the trend of the public opinion. So Benjamin played the role of a reformer to win people's support and introduced a reform bill to the House of Commons on March 18, 1867, which was partially amended and came into force in August with the approval of the House of Lords and the signing of the bill by Queen Victoria (1837-1901).9 The Reform Act of 1867 restructured the parliamentary seats by removing 46 "declining seats" and abolishing the "bad seats", which were the most important seats in Parliament. The 1867 Reform Act restructured the parliamentary seats by abolishing 46 'failing constituencies' and giving 52 constituencies to large industrial cities and counties. Birmingham, Manchester, London and other medium-sized cities were increased. The Reform Bill largely removed the 'failing constituencies' and enfranchised the petty bourgeoisie and the upper working class.
(III) The Third Parliamentary Reform
1. Background of the Second Parliamentary Reform
Between 1880 and 1885, a serious financial crisis broke out in Britain, with the unemployment rate soaring to an all-time high, and social contradictions becoming increasingly intensified. The democratic self-government movement in Ireland and the Mahdi Rebellion in the Sudan were at their height, and Britain's colonial expansion in northeastern Africa also encountered difficulties. Under these circumstances, the ruling Glaston Liberal government was in a difficult position.
2. The process of enactment and contents of the bills
Joseph Chamberlain, a representative of the radical faction of the Liberal Party, took advantage of the opportunity to join hands with the opposition Conservative Party to put pressure on the government, and prompted the Gladstone government to put forward two new parliamentary reform bills - the Representation of the People Bill and the Re-apportionment of Seats Bill. The Representation of the People Act was passed through Parliament in December 1884, which made further changes to the electorate. It further adjusted and expanded the electorate, which doubled to 4.5 million. The "homeowner's franchise" was extended to the counties, and some agriculturalists were given the right to vote, but men who had not started a family and were dependent on their parents, as well as all women and domestic servants, were not given the right to vote. The Redistribution of Seats Act was passed through Parliament in January 1885, which abolished 72 seats in counties where the population had not reached the age of majority. It eliminated the right of the 72 cities with a population of less than 15,000 to elect 10 separate councillors and incorporated them into other counties. The country was divided into 617 constituencies on the basis of one seat for every 54,000 people. The 22 cities in the country and the universities of Cambridge and Oxford retain two seats, while all other constituencies are single-member, meaning that a constituency can only be represented by one MP.
3. Significance
This parliamentary reform made the distribution of seats more reasonable and fairer, which was beneficial to the workers in the densely populated industrial cities, and to a certain extent, it allowed the working class and some agricultural workers to participate in the national politics, which was conducive to the improvement of the workers' situation and the promotion of the development of capitalism.
Third, 19th century British realist literature
(1) Rise and development
In the 1830s and 1840s, when the economy was developing rapidly and the society was undergoing a great change, a new type of literature, realist literature, began to appear in the British literary world. It paid attention to the observation and experience of life, tried to get close to the real life, and maximized the response to people's living condition and outlook. It gradually occupied the British literary world when the Romantic literature was fading, and reached its peak in the 1840s and 1850s.
(2) Characteristics
Critical realist literature was closely related to the Charter Movement and could be said to be inseparable from it. It was also characterized by petty bourgeois literature. Since most of the writers were born in petty bourgeois families, their works reflected the life of the petty bourgeoisie to a large extent. Most of these realistic literary works portrayed the image of a positive petty bourgeoisie who struggled on and on. Although these works were humorous and satirical, they opposed violent revolution, advocated social reform, and embraced moral criticism and moral probation. In addition, a number of outstanding female writers have taken their place in the literary world, such as Mrs. Gaskell, George Eliot, the Bront? sisters and other outstanding female realist writers.
(3) Representative Writers.
1. Austen Austen (1775--1817) was born into a clergyman's family in England, and was born with a very strong interest in literature. She lived in a small country town and remained unmarried. In her short but full life, Austen pursued her literary dream persistently and completed six novels, including Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Pride and Prejudice. Her novels mainly depict the marriage and life of women in a squire's family, reflecting the sweetness and sourness of women's world in a light-hearted and witty way, and focusing on the process of a young girl's transition from ignorance and blindness to the realization of reality and self-knowledge. For this reason, Austen is regarded as an outstanding writer in depicting women's consciousness.
2. Thackeray Thackeray (1811--1863) Thackeray's father was an official of the East India Company, and after losing his father at the age of four, the young Thackeray inherited his father's huge estate and often went out to the high society, living the life of a cockney boy. 1833, he squandered the family's fortune, and became a columnist for Fraser's Magazine and Clumsy Magazine. He became a columnist for Fraser's Magazine and Clumsy Magazine. During his life, he wrote a lot of novels, such as Pendennis, Henry Esmond, The Newcomb Family, The Virginians, the middle grade novel The Encounters of Barry Lyndon, and the collection of short stories Snobbery, and so on. The most representative one is the long novel Vanity Fair, which is characterized by bitter satire. It realistically reproduces the rivalry and corruption among the British high society during the Regency period from 1810 to 1820. This novel is a unique treasure in the history of literature with its magnificent length and dramatic plot, which made Thackeray as famous as Dickens in the literary world.
3, Mrs. Gaskell Mrs. Gaskell (1810--1865) Mrs. Gaskell from a young age by her father's literary training and religious beliefs, and into a local girls' school. During her lifetime, Mrs. Gaskell published six full-length novels (including Mary Barton, North and South, Ruth, Cranford, The Sylvia Lovers, and The Turn of Charlotte Bronte). His debut novel was Mary Barton, published in 1848, which largely reflected the tragic life and fate of the working class and occupied an important position in 19th-century English literature.
4. The Three Bront? Sisters Charlotte (1816-1855) represents the classic of the world's most famous women's work, Jane Eyre. Although this work can not be said to be a masterpiece, but it is also called a bright star in the history of literature. From the perspective of women's demand for independence and equality, Jane Eyre shows the social reality of the 19th century in England. It exposes the brutal nature of the charity industry at that time and criticizes the materialistic nature of the capitalist society where money is the most important thing; at the same time, it also expresses the idea of women's demand for equal status and the same treatment, and lays down a certain ideological foundation for the women's liberation movement. Emily (1818-1848) Wuthering Heights is Emily's only novel, but it is the only one that has established her unshakable position in the history of literature. Wuthering Heights has been called "the strangest of all novels", and Emily shocked more and more people with her "extraordinary passion of heart" and her "intense feeling, sadness, boldness," which is unmatched after Byron. Emily shocked more and more people with her "extraordinary passion of heart" and her "intense feeling, sorrow, and boldness," unmatched after Byron. Anne (1820-1849) Anne's masterpiece, Agnes Grey, is a rare work that reflects the reality of life at that time, although it is a little less important than Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights in literature.
5. George Eliot George Eliot (1819-1880), formerly known as Mary Ann Evans, was born in a rural family in Warwickshire. A devout believer in religion, George Eliot attended two girls' schools. She had a kind heart and a lifelong passion for charity. Between 1859 and 1876, she wrote seven novels, including Adam Peter, The Mill on the Floss, Manannan the Weaver, and Middlemarch, Daniel de Sada. Her early works mainly depicted the simple and rustic rural life in the early 19th century, while her later works were involved in major historical events and political and social contents. The descriptions are meticulous and the characters are vividly portrayed.
Fourth, the 19th century British colonial expansion
(A) British colonial expansion during 1800~1880
Industrial development, wealth accumulation, Britain's ambition to rule the world as an uncontrollable fire, and soon in all parts of the world burning. 1801, Ireland was merged, and the United Kingdom was formally renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1801, Ireland was incorporated and Britain was officially renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The vast but relatively backward Asian continent became a major strategic target for Britain, and the fallen India became a huge raw material supplier and market for Britain. in the middle of the 19th century, Britain launched two wars of aggression against China with the use of opium and took part in the suppression of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement. 1758-1759, the patriotic national uprising broke out in India, but as Britain had a more advanced army, it suppressed the uprising by a large force. In 1876, Queen Victoria was crowned by the Conservative B. Disraeli's cabinet and became the Queen of India. Since then Britain was also known as the British Empire (or British Empire). Britain continued to expand its aggression in Iran, Burma, South Africa, Egypt, East Africa, New Zealand and Australia, etc. In addition, Britain invested heavily in South America, which was also included in the "Hunting". 1867, Canada became the first self-governing region of Britain.
(2) British colonial expansion between 1880 and 1900
Towards the end of the 19th century, the main battlefield of British colonial expansion was shifted to Africa. After taking control of the Suez Canal from France, Britain occupied Egypt in 1882, followed by Sudan in 1899. Britain fought hard in the battlefield of Africa and fiercely competed with other colonial powers for the land in East, Central and West Africa. The Congress of Berlin in 1884-1885 was in fact a meeting of the imperial powers to divide the booty, and Britain "returned home loaded with money". The imperialist C.J. Rhodes proposed the construction of a large railroad running from Cape Town to Cairo across the African continent, which was also known as the so-called "Two C's Plan" (the first letter of both Cape Town and Cairo was "C"), in order to step up the invasion of South Africa. In 1899, the Anglo-Boer War broke out and Britain annexed Orange and Transvaal, and at the end of the 19th century, Burma and Afghanistan were colonized by Britain in the Asian Theater, and in 1900, Britain suppressed the Boxer Rebellion in China and took control of Tibet.
British colonies. Britain's colonies were the largest of all the greedy colonial expansionist countries, spreading over every continent and plundering untold riches. The extent of its land was unmatched by any other country, and it became a veritable "Empire of the Sunset". Colonial expansion was both hated and shocking, and for the British, the British Empire of the 19th century is the proudest myth in British history.
V. Conclusion To sum up, Britain in the 19th century underwent great changes in political, economic and literary aspects. Politically, the three parliamentary reforms made the British political system more democratic and allowed more people to participate in national politics, which played a model role in the capitalist society; economically, in the first half of the 19th century, Britain took the lead in completing the industrial revolution, which gave Britain a new look, and the ensuing urbanization also created various problems, such as class exploitation, industrial pollution, economic crisis, etc.; literarily, in the 1930s, Britain made great changes in politics and literature. Literarily, in the 1830s and 1840s, there were various darknesses in the development of the society, and the once popular Romantic literature gradually faded away, and satirical realism literature, which exposed the dark side of the society, emerged, and reached its climax in the 40s and 50s. In Britain in the 19th century, crisis and change coexisted - change in crisis, and in change, new crisis and then new change. As Britain progressed through crisis and change and rose to the top of the world, understanding nineteenth-century Britain is of great significance to us as we live in a world of crisis and change. In a word, Britain in the 19th century not only made quantitative changes in political and economic aspects, but also made qualitative leaps, which made Britain go from mediocrity to stand out and become the pioneer of the capitalist world and the hegemon of the world at that time.