The British Empire

During 19th century the relationship between England and Ireland deteriorated due to the potato blight of 1845.

Since the Irish economy and people's diet were based on potatoes, when the crops failed, emigration to the USA or to England was the only alternative to starvation.
A movement for Irish independence began, led by Charles Parnell, who convinced Prime Minister Gladstone to present the Irish Home Rule Bill in the Houses of Parliament (1886), but it was twice rejected.

Britain assumed an important political and military role during Crimean War, due to a dispute between Turkey and Russia over their border.
Florence Nightingale, an Englishwoman, went to Crimea to organize hospitals and to relieve soldiers' sufferings; her work had a great influence on the foundation of the Red Cross in Geneva.

Empire building and Propaganda

During the reign of Queen Victoria the British Empire expanded in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Indian sub-continent and the Caribbean.
Australia and New Zealand became fluorishing centres for cattle and sheep raising.
Many people also went to Canada, part of which was already occupied by the French.
In 1876 Queen Victoria became Empress of India - the territories controlled actually included today's India, Bangladesh, Pakistan-.

In Africa the British occupied Uganda, Kenya, and Niger. They also obtained the majority of the shares of the Suez Canal, a route between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Building the British Empire was not just a matter of sending ships, soldiers and colonists to distant countries, but first and foremost of rousing wide support at home for British colonial expansion.

This was achieved through an extensive and effective use of propaganda, especially media (mainly newspapers and magazines) and popular entertainment (from public ceremonies to music halls, where musicals and pro Empire songs were very popular).

Propaganda was not only based on commercial advantages and work opportunities afforded by the Empire, but on the idea of helping the "uncivilised" and "racially inferior" native people of the non-Western world.

Another purpose of imperialist propaganda was educating children to high values of British Empire.

A host of boys' magazines were published, which included heroic figures of boys who did their bit in defence of the Empire (Union Jack, The Boys' Own Paper, Wizard).

These boys' journals aimed from the first at the encouragement of physical strength and patriotism, of international travel and exploration, and pride in British Empire.

Moreover, in these stories gender roles were fully drawn: males were the "active" sex and the builders-protectors of both home and country, while female were the guardians of the family life and, thus, took on their role of wife or mother to the men.

Then, the first examples of novels which both came from and were about the overseas colonies were published.

Rudyard Kipling was the first major writer to explore the relations between the British and the Indians.

He never seems seriously to question the right of the British to be in India - the typical attitude of many British people was that they were there to bring civilization to a far less developed country.

Kipling was seriously attached to and fascinated by Indian continent; in fact, he illustrated in his masterpiece Kim (1901) colorful and passionate descriptions of India's various races and beliefs.

Enthusiastic support for the Empire came from the middle classes and this naturally resulted in support for the ruling class. In general, though, it is true that patriotism ran very high in all classes.

British Empire products were displayed in the Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, one of the best known engineering structures of the 19th century designed by Joseph Paxton. In this place the Great International Exhibition of London took place.

By observing the structure of a leaf, Paxton developed a greenhouse design using standard iron and glass elements.

The design of Crystal Palace was built in just six months and it was the wonder of the age.

Internally a seemingly never-ending, barely-enclosed space in which goods were displayed among the trees, it was a fitting symbol of the unlimited possibilities of British imperialism.

Above of all, the British Empire's commercial and political supremacy were celebrated during Victoria's Golden and Diamond Jubilees on the occasion of 50th and 60th anniversaries of the Queen's accession.

Rivalry with Germany and the US

Despite the fact that one third of the world's financial and commercial transactions were still carried out in Britain, two powerful rivals emerged at the end of the 19th century:

• Germany which under Bismarck's guidance was beginning to challenge Britain's naval and industrial supremacy;

• the United States, after the Civil War, was almost on a par with Britain with regards to its industrial production.

From Empire to Commonwealth

However, as with all great empires, the extent of Britain's possession and the cost of defending them gradually became a strain.

By 1901, Britain's imperial defence costs were twice as much as those of Germany or France. And the political and commercial expansion of France in Africa and of Russia in the Far East was becoming more aggressive.

These were all signs of the decline and break up of the British Empire that was to occur in the first half of the 20th century.

Some colonies were already being given limited independence. Between 1840 and 1872, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Cape Colony (South Africa) achieved "dominion status".

This meant that they were free from direct British control in their internal affairs, though not in matters of foreign policy and defence. They retained Queen Victoria as Head of State, and made up the British Commonwealth of Nations. In 1949 this developed into the modern Commonwealth of Nations.