What extent could Britain deemed to be great by 1914?

Britain can be deemed a great for various reasons. One reason that makes Britain great is the British Empire. The British Empire was the most extensive empire in the whole world. Furthermore it lasted for than three centuries from about 1600. It was the biggest empire in the world at its period which covered ¼ of the world. This was pretty impressive considering Britain was a little island.

Britain used this empire to a great empire to great advantage as they took advantage of the civilians that they ruled. In India they would take the most profits as it was the British Empire's largest source of revenue. It had the reasons that could help enhance the empire. Furthermore they would take back the resources they had and used them in Britain. However the empire regime was a bit harsh as they were unfairness towards the people they colonised. As I have shown here it tells us that black Africans were taken as slaves to the remote parts of the West Indies and America to act as slaves. This was the harsh brutality of the empire as they used brute force to gain success. Furthermore deemed it normal doing what they did. It was horrendous as considering Britain took nearly 30% of Africa's population under her control, compared to 15% for France, 9% for Germany, 7% for Belgium and 1% for . Moreover alone contributed 15 million subjects, more than in the whole of or the entire German colonial empire. Therefore this suggest that the Britain was successful however British empire did not seem fair to people as many african cultures where wiped away forever due to slavery.

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Another thing that made Britain deemed great by 1914 was the The Industrial Revolution was the major , and change in the late and early that began in and spread throughout the world.Industrial Revolution which was a had a major change in which people lived in the 18th and 19th century. The term 'Industrial Revolution' applied to technological change was common in the 1830s. Also it didn’t change Britain but the whole world. However before the change Britain was an economy that was based manual labour. This did not help the econmy to grow rapidly to help cover the costs for the british empire. What this revolution did to help enchance to reputaion of ‘Great’ Britain was technological machines to make cotton in huge proportion. Futhermore cotton was the main source of the weatlh. As a result of this domestic Britain improved massively such the canals, railways and roads where focused on to be improved. Moreover this led to less and less productions of agriculture and this caused a more and more people to move from the countryside to move to town. As a result of this it led towns to be overpopulated and people were competing for the same job.

The reform act was a contributing factor in making Britain great by 1914. there were various reform acts before 1885 was the last year of reform. The first reform act was in 1832 which was introduced by the Whigs. The term whig was coined when an insurgency of the known as marched from the south west of Scotland on in , with the country folk using the word "whiggam" to urge on their horses . Here they helped form contitutions in new towns. However the voting rights remained the same as middle class were allowed to vote. From this act is also addressed who would be able to vote in parliamentary elections.

There was another reform act in 1869 and this helped people of all some classes to vote. This was a huge change from the last reform act. This therfore suggest that Britain was changing and democarcy was actualy being used. One in three men could vote now which was better than before and the ediucation policy was introduced as the parliamentary wanted all their voters educated.

The last main act was the reform act in 1884 the vote extented even more which enalbed people that live in he countryside to have more of a vote. Now it was two out three men could vote however the other 30% of adults men were still not in the voting range.

However one thing that didn’t make Britain deemed great is the way they treated the women. In history men always have been considered the better gender and at the beginning of the nineteenth century it was no different. Men always had better jobs then women and women were paid poorly. This seemed normal as the women was the 2nd class citizen toward the man. Furthermore women were expected to live at home and look after it long wit the children. If this was not obeyed then it was considered very disrespectful. There were women that worked but for mainly charitable organisations or work without pay. By 1900, half a million women did so

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_empire

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whigs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_Act_1867

‘The Complete A-Z, 19th and 20th Century British History Handbook’ by Eric Evans, page 309.

But the work they were put in was normally emotionally and physically demanding, for example, visiting the sick in slum areas.

However that seemed too changed by 1914 as women were called for work as Britain had gone to war. This war helped women to actually change the system because they helped with all the technological equipments for the war.

Overall in my opinion Britain was deemed to be great by 1914 for many reasons such as the British empire. This was the greatest empire ever as it had all the foundations and seemed to be unstoppable. By 1914 Britain has aquired ¼ of the world. However it did not reflect the what they had to do to become a huge empire. Britain introduced reform act to help the voting in the country and it also had the industrial revulotion. This sparked off a worldwide doing as countires like Germany and America tried to match the amount that Britain produce. Futhermore by the 1914 they were so strong that going to war wasn’t a problem as they were well equipped as they had the best navy in the world.