205. The Empire at its peak, the country in the pits
A History of England28 Heinä 2024

205. The Empire at its peak, the country in the pits

In contrast to the last episode, where we saw how dire the state of the British economy was and how close to violent confrontation society was coming, this episode is the one where we find Britain reaching the peak of its imperial grandeur. It seems that power abroad doesn’t necessarily deliver either peace or prosperity at home.

Meanwhile, at home, political instability continued. There were two more elections, in 1923 and 1924, making it three in three years. The middle one was brought on by Stanley Baldwin decided he needed to go for tariff protection for British industry, and decided he needed a mandate for it from the electorate, much to the annoyance of many of his colleagues who felt there was no need to jeopardise their comfortable parliamentary majority just because the leader had decided his conscience needed a new election.

As it happened, he lost his bet, and ultimately the election resulted in the formation of the first ever Labour government. A minority government, vulnerable to any loss of support in the Commons, but a government all the same. Anyone, however, expecting radical change from it was in for a disappointment. Though, oddly enough, what brought it down was its supposed softness on communism.


Illustration: Ramsay MacDonald in court dress. Public Domain.

Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License


Jaksot(274)

17. Things fall apart

17. Things fall apart

Charles I, like his father, proved extremely good at not being at all good at getting on with people he really needed to be really good at getting on side. Just like with his Dad, that mainly meant Pa...

7 Helmi 202110min

16. Slippery Slope

16. Slippery Slope

Charles I started his reign in just the way he'd go on with it, and in just the way his father James I/VI had ended his: by getting right up the noses of most of his subjects in Scotland as well as En...

2 Helmi 20218min

15. Bad to Worse

15. Bad to Worse

The end of James Stuart's reign over Scotland and England was no more impressive than the earlier part. One of the wonderful, crazy and ultimately futile episodes was the 'Spanish Match', involving th...

28 Tammi 20218min

14. Reckless Romanticism, a Touch of Gayness, and Bonfires

14. Reckless Romanticism, a Touch of Gayness, and Bonfires

The marriage of James VI of Scotland, later James I of England, to Anne of Denmark started off with some romanticism, including a dangerous sea crossing to fetch her home, and it certainly produced a ...

23 Tammi 20219min

13. Wise Fool

13. Wise Fool

James I of England (VI of Scotland) had clear ideas of what kingship meant. It meant he'd been chosen by God to run the show and Parliament wasn't going to get in his way. The trouble was, Parliament ...

18 Tammi 20219min

12. Hunting and Hanging

12. Hunting and Hanging

Boy, did it take a long time for James VI of Scotland to get from his proclamation as King of England, down to London to take the throne as James I. Partly that was because he had other things to do o...

13 Tammi 20217min

11. Transition

11. Transition

With no children of her own, what had Elizabeth I done to guarantee a smooth succession after her death? The answer is precious little. Which meant there had to be some clever footwork by her Chief Mi...

8 Tammi 20218min

10. Here today, no heir tomorrow

10. Here today, no heir tomorrow

Elizabeth was the virgin queen. And indeed she had no children, which would be a bit of a problem for when she finally popped her clogs and the survivors had to try to find a way to make the successio...

3 Tammi 20217min

Suosittua kategoriassa Historia

olipa-kerran-otsikko
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
mayday-fi
huijarit
mystista
rss-ikiuni
tsunami
konginkangas
totuus-vai-salaliitto
rouva-diktaattori
rss-kirkon-ihmeellisimmat-tarinat
rss-i-dont-like-mondays-2
rss-sattuu-sita-suomessakin
historiaa-suomeksi
apinan-vuosi
maailmanpuu
rss-peter-peter
tiedetta-ja-sirkushuveja-vanhojen-aikojen-podcast
rss-subjektiivinen-todistaja