BRITISH PRIME MINISTERS AND GOVERNMENTS

CONTENTS

1. Geographical position of the british isles.......................................................................... 2

TERRITORY AND STRUCTURE......................................................................................... 2

SURROUNDING SEAS AND COASTLINE......................................................................... 3

PHYSICAL STRUCTURE AND RELIEF.............................................................................. 4

Highland Britain................................................................................................................... 4

England............................................................................................................................................................... 5

Wales................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Scotland.............................................................................................................................................................. 6

Ireland................................................................................................................................................................. 7

Lowland Britain................................................................................................................... 7

RIVERS AND LAKES........................................................................................................... 7

CLIMATE AND WEATHER................................................................................................. 8

VEGETATION..................................................................................................................... 10

MINERAL RESOURCES..................................................................................................... 10

Coal.................................................................................................................................... 11

Oil and Gas........................................................................................................................ 11

Iron Ore.............................................................................................................................. 12

Non-Metallic Minerals........................................................................................................ 13

Water................................................................................................................................. 14

2. Historical Outline............................................................................................................... 14

ANCIENT BRITAIN............................................................................................................ 14

The Roman Conquest and Occupation............................................................................... 15

The Growth of Feudalism in Britain. The Anglo-Saxon Conquest, the Struggle against the Danes................................................................................................................................. 15

The Norman Conquest and the Establishment of Feudalism in England............................ 17

ENGLAND IN THE MIDDLE AGES (11th—15th CENTURIES)....................................... 19

The Economic and Social Development of the State.......................................................... 19

The Development of Culture in Feudal England................................................................ 22

The Wars of the Roses, the Development of Absolutism in the 15th Century................... 24

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLAND IN THE 16th CENTURY...................................... 25

The Reformation. Anglo-Spanish Rivalry. Colonial Expansion........................................ 25

The Renaissance. The Literature and Culture of Tudor England........................................ 27

THE ENGLISH BOURGEOIS REVOLUTION OF THE 17^th CENTURY........................... 29

The Economic and Social Development of the Country on the Eve of the Revolution....... 29

The Restoration Period. The Compromise of 1688 and the Gradual Formation of Constitutional Monarchy................................................................................................... 34

Cultural Developments in the 17th Century....................................................................... 37

THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY IN THE 18th CENTURY........................................................................................................................... 39

Constitutional Monarchy................................................................................................... 39

Colonial Expansion and the Formation of the Colonial Empire........................................ 40

The Industrial Revolution of the 18th — 19th Centuries and Its Consequences................ 43

The War of Independence and Its Effect on Britain............................................................ 44

England and the French Bourgeois Revolution of 1789..................................................... 47

The National Liberation Movement in Ireland. The Act of Union (1801).......................... 48

Science and Culture in the 18th Century............................................................................ 48

ENGLAND AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 19th CENTURY. THE PERIOD OF NAPOLEONIC WARS......................................................................................................... 52

ENGLAND IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY............................................. 54

The Economic and Political Development of Britain after the Napoleonic Wars. The Period of Reaction......................................................................................................................... 54

The Struggle for Parliamentary Reform. The Reform Act of 1832..................................... 55

Post-Reform England......................................................................................................... 58

Chartism and its Main Trends. The Historical Significance of Chartism............................ 59

BRITAIN IN THE FIFTIES-SIXTIES OF THE 19th CENTURY........................................ 62

Britain — the 'Workshop of the World'............................................................................. 62

The Struggle of the Working Class for Its Rights............................................................... 65

English Science and Culture in the 19th Century............................................................... 66

GREAT BRITAIN AT THE END OF THE 19th AND AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 20th CENTURY........................................................................................................................... 70

British Colonial Imperialism.............................................................................................. 70

The Labour Movement....................................................................................................... 72

World War I....................................................................................................................... 73

BRITAIN IN THE INTER-WAR PERIOD........................................................................... 74

BRITAIN AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR................................................................... 79

POSTWAR BRITAIN........................................................................................................... 81

CONTEMPORARY BRITAIN............................................................................................. 83

3. Population......................................................................................................................... 89

4. State system..................................................................................................................... 93

GREAT BRITAIN - A CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY................................................ 93

PARLIAMENT AND ELECTIONS...................................................................................... 94

HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT............................................................................................... 95

LEGISLATIVE PROCEEDINGS......................................................................................... 98

POLITICAL PARTIES AND TRADE UNIONS................................................................ 100

GOVERNMENT................................................................................................................. 104

5. National economy.......................................................................................................... 105

THE PLACE OF BRITAIN IN THE WORLD ECONOMY............................................... 105

CHIEF INDUSTRIES......................................................................................................... 106

AGRICULTURE................................................................................................................. 108

TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS....................................................................... 110

OVERSEAS TRADE.......................................................................................................... 112

THE MAIN ECONOMIC REGIONS.................................................................................. 113

The South Industrial and Agricultural Region.................................................................. 113

The Midlands................................................................................................................... 116

Lancashire and Yorkshire................................................................................................ 117

North England.................................................................................................................. 119

Wales............................................................................................................................... 120

Scotland........................................................................................................................... 121

Northern Ireland............................................................................................................... 123

6. The press, television and radio..................................................................................... 125

7. Educational system........................................................................................................ 128

SCHOOL EDUCATION..................................................................................................... 128

FURTHER EDUCATION.................................................................................................. 132

UNIVERSITY EDUCATION............................................................................................. 132

8. British culture and arts in the 20^th century.................................................................... 134

LITERATURE.................................................................................................................... 134

THEATRE.......................................................................................................................... 137

CINEMA............................................................................................................................. 138

MUSIC................................................................................................................................ 138

ARTS.................................................................................................................................. 139

MUSEUMS......................................................................................................................... 140

9. British character.............................................................................................................. 141

MAKING OF A CHARACTER.......................................................................................... 141

PUBS AND CLUBS........................................................................................................... 144

LEISURE AND SPORTS................................................................................................... 145

APPENDIX.......................................................................................................................... 147

CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE......................................................................................... 147

KINGS AND QUEENS OF ENGLAND FROM ALFRED................................................. 149

BRITISH PRIME MINISTERS AND GOVERNMENTS................................................... 150

Date: 2015-02-03; view: 880