The United Kingdom in the 19th century: a time of transformation

Rain, steam and speed (184) by JMW Turner

Introduction, pages 52-53

Teacher:

We are going to study the economic transformations (industrialization), and the social and political transformations (Romanticism, nationalism, revolts) that occurred in Europe, and in the United Kingdom in particular, during the 19th century.

Translate the title, key question and introductory paragraph (note and learn new vocabulary!)

Definitions:

• Revolution: a fundamental political, ideological, economic, social, cultural, technological or scientific change in society.
• French Revolution: a major historical event, began in 1789 and ending in the late 1790s with Napoleon; absolute monarchy and the feudal system were replaced by a republican system based on Enlightenment ideals such as popular sovereignty and inalienable rights (i.e. that cannot be taken away). It showed Europeans that political and social systems could be changed through the will of the people. 
• Nation: a large group of people with common characteristics (language, traditions, etc.); it is a cultural entity.
• State: a people with control over a territory and institutions to make rules; it is a political entity.
• Nation state: is a state in which one nation lives.
• Nationalism: a shared feeling of pride in one's nation; also an ideology based on loyalty to the nation-state.
• Ideology: a collection of beliefs shared by a group of people; a political/economic ideology (for example socialism) is a set of ideas about how a country should be run.
• Liberalism: political belief in freedom, equality, peace, social progress and political change.
• Romanticism: was a  nineteenth century movement in art and literature which was against the Neoclassicism of the previous century. Romantic thinkers, artists, and writers posed a powerful challenge to the Enlightenment emphasis on rationalism and reason. Friedrich Schlegel defined it as "literature depicting emotional matter in an imaginative form". Victor Hugo described it as "liberalism in literature". The characteristics of Romanticism include: imagination, emotion, freedom, subjectivity, individualism, spontaneity, freedom from rules, worship of nature, fascination with the past especially the mysticism of the middle ages (cf. What is Romanticism?).
• Industrialization: is the increased use of machines to do work and create goods. This changes society: people leave the rural areas to work in factories (creation of a working class). It increases wealth (for a minority).

The Fighting Temeraire

Comments on the maritime art work by J. M. W. Turner:

In Turner’s famous 1838 oil painting, the small but powerful steamboat is pulling the tall ship; the sailing ship’s time is over, it is no longer of any use and it will be broken up... The sunset scene symbolises a change of epoch: the heroic age of sail is coming to an end and the age of steam has arrived.

Sailing ships dominated trade routes and warfare at sea from the 16th to the mid-19th century. During this time, square-rigged sailing ships carried European explorers and settlers to many parts of the world. The man-o'-war was a large, three-masted warship, or frigate, up to 60 metres (200 feet) long, with up to three cannon decks. Sailing vessels, such as clippers and barques, reached their peak in speed and efficiency during the second half of the 19th century, at which point steam-powered ships started to dominate the seas. The Temeraire was a man-o’-war that had fought in the naval battles against Napoleon. Now, Europe was entering another epoch, that of industry and trade, so war ships had little use.

We learn, then, from this painting (a primary historical source) that, in the 1830s, the UK was undergoing significant technological (and therefore economic) changes: sailing ships were being replaced by the more powerful steamers (ships powered by coal-fired steam engines).

The first reliable steamboat was built by Robert Fulton in the USA in 1808. It was a paddle steamer (the boat in the painting is a paddle boat). In 1837 (a year before the painting), the SS Great Western, built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, started the first regular cross-Atlantic service (it carried mostly emigrants from Europe to the USA). In 1839, the first propeller steamship was built (most steamships were propeller-driven by the 1850s). Steamships became very big and powerful and could transport huge amounts of ever-more varied goods to and from markets all over the world very quickly. Passengers could be transported in large numbers, for example: Brunel’s SS Great Eastern, launched in 1858, was 211m long and could carry 4000 passengers (it was paddle, propeller and wind-driven).

Click HERE, listen to the "personal reponse" by Russell Celyn Jones (use the transcript to help you!), then do the following work:

Translate:

• what strikes me
• the hulk itself
• then towed it up
• breaker’s yard
• to board and destroy
• possibly swung the tide of the war
• he mourned
• you struggle to remember
• which will be stirring up in you

Questions:

1. What does the Temeraire represent for Turner?
2. What value does the ship have for John Beatson?
3. Why is the sunset the crucial element of the painting?
4. What colour is the ‘colour of dreams’?
5. What does this ship remember?
6. Is this a painting of the Romantic period?
7. What emotions does it trigger up in you?

Give a short oral presentation on one of the following topics:

• Turner
• Trafalgar
• Nelson
• HMS Victory
• Tall ships
• Steamships
• Ship's chronometer from HMS Beagle

Read the FACTFILE (note and learn new vocabulary!)

Comments on the map, page 53:

This political and economic map of Europe in the mid-19^th century shows us the countries, important cities, political systems, 1848 revolts, and some aspects of industrial development.

Definitions:

• Autocratic monarchy: a form of government in which unlimited authority is held by a monarch.
• Constitutional monarchy: a form of government in which a king or queen is the head but the rules are made by a parliament.
• Authoritarian practice: a type of government which expects people to obey rules and laws without questioning its authority.
• Liberal practice: a type of government which exercises its authority with respect for citizens’ freedoms.
• Republic: a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them (Dictionary.com)
• Revolt: the attempt to overthrow the authority of the state.

Questions on the map:

1. Which countries have more than one city over 200,000 people?
2. In which countries was coal to be found?
3. Where was steel made?
4. Was industrial activity in Europe widespread?
5. Which political system was the most prevalent?
6. Which political system was the least prevalent?
7. What happened in Belgium and in Greece in 1830?
8. Why do you think there were revolts in many countries of Europe in 1848?

Comments on the TIMELINE, page 53:

• Napoleonic Europe: From 1799 to 1815, Napoleon built a vast empire in Europe, spreading the reforms of the French Revolution. Seeking to undermine Britain's sea power, Napoleon imposed the Continental System on Europe, which was meant to stop European countries from trading with Britain (it was a large-scale embargo/blockade on British goods). Instead of hurting Britain, the Continental System hurt Napoleon. Napoleonic rule fuelled German nationalism (Romanticism in Germany can be seen as an intellectual rebellion against French Enlightenment ideas). In Spain, the attempt to impose the Continental System led to the Peninsular War (1807-1814).
• Congress of Vienna (1814-1815): After two decades of war, Europe was reorganized by the delicate negotiations in Vienna. The Congress of Vienna created a stable Europe in which no one power could dominate the others; there was relative peace until World War I...
• Europe’s Holy Alliance: was an informal group of most of the European sovereigns, set up in Paris in 1815 after the final defeat of Napoleon. Its aim was to promote the influence of christian principles in the affairs of nations (but also to defend the interests of monarchs!).
• 1830 revolutions: began when the Paris mob, manipulated by the interests of the bourgeoisie, deposed Charles X and replaced him with Louis Philippe. In the rest of Europe, the French example set off various nationalist revolts; all, apart from in Belgium and Greece, were successfully quelled by conservative forces.
• Young Italy movement: was founded by Giuseppe Mazzini in 1831 to work for a united Italian republic. Attracting many Italians to the cause of independence, it played an important role in the Risorgimento (the "renaissance", i.e. struggle for Italian unification).
• Chartist movement: in 1838, the People’s Charter was signed and it launched the first mass movement of the British working class for universal adult male suffrage. This movement failed in the short-term, but its demands were eventually adopted (in 1918).
• 1830-1848, Daniel O’Connell’s agitation in Ireland: O’Connell was an important figure in Irish emancipation (it is thanks to his efforts that Roman Catholic MPs were finally allowed to sit in the Westminster Parliament). He also campaigned, unsuccessfully, for repeal of the Union (he wanted Ireland to become a separate kingdom with its own parliament but with the British monarch as Head of State).
• 1848 revolutions: in February 1848, Louis Philippe was overthrown and universal suffrage was granted to adult French men, who then elected Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon III). Revolutions broke out nearly everywhere in Europe. Rebellion in Germany led to the establishment of the Frankfurt Assembly (it was unable to unify Germany). In the Austrian Empire, the various ethnic groups revolted (Hungarian nationalists pushed for independence); there was rioting in Vienna. All of the Eastern European rebellions were ultimately put down, which was a triumph for the reactionaries. However, the events of 1848 frightened the rulers of Europe and forced them to realize that they would have to change the nature of their governments...

For homework, prepare short oral presentations (work in pairs) on one of the following topics:

• The first steam engine
• Richard Trevithick
• 1825:Stockton and Darlington Railway
• 1830: the Stephenson locomotive
• 1851: the Great Exhibition in London

LESSON 1 p. 54-55

The awakening of nationalities in the United Kingdom: the Irish question

Write down the title of the lesson, then take notes from what the teacher says:

• Why did nationalities in Europe assert their need for territorial and political independence in the 19th century? To answer this question, we are going to study what happened in Ireland...
• A 'nationality' or 'nation' is a large group of people with common characteristics (origins, language, traditions, etc.). It is a cultural-political community. The word 'nation' is sometimes used as a synonym of 'country' or of 'State'.
• What was "the Irish question"? Benjamin Disraeli, in 1844, described it thus: "A dense population, in extreme distress, inhabit an island where there is an Established Church, which is not their Church, and a territorial aristocracy the richest of whom live in foreign capitals. Thus you have a starving population, an absentee aristocracy, and an alien Church; and in addition the weakest executive in the world. That is the Irish Question." "The Irish question" (as in 'issue') was a phrase used from the early 19th century until the 1920s to describe the situation in Ireland and the problems it caused, namely: the rise of Irish nationalism; what help should be given to the starving during the Great Famine; division in the UK within the Liberal Party on how to deal with the oppression in Ireland (which thus weakened the Liberal Party and meant that it was slow in implementing social and political reforms in the UK).
• England dominated Ireland for more than 700 years from the 12th century on (cf. doc. 1). The political turmoil in Europe in the 19th century encouraged the nationalist mouvements in Ireland (cf. doc. 2) to seek independence from the United Kingdom of Great-Britain and Ireland (which had been established on 1 January 1801 under the terms of the Acts of Union 1800, by which Great Britain and Ireland were united). Initially, independence was sought through the British parliament (cf. doc. 2). The Great Famine of 1845-1852 (cf. doc. 3) resulted in mass emigration (cf. doc. 4); the Irish diaspora encouraged Irish separatists to pursue their efforts. In 1922, twenty-six of the thirty-two counties of Ireland seceded to form the Irish Free State (becoming the Republic of Ireland in 1948).

Translate the introductory paragraph. Then, learn by heart the introductory paragraph in English.

A. The long fight for independence

Read information on Ireland's history using the following link: Brief history of Ireland

Answer the following questions on "A brief history of Ireland":

1. When did the earliest settlers arrive in Ireland?
2. Who is St Patrick?
3. Where is the Book of Kells housed today?
4. In which century did the Vikings start raiding Ireland?
5. What do Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Waterford have in common?
6. What happened in 1169?
7. Who was “Lord of Ireland” from 1171?
8. Who was “King of Ireland” in the 16^th century?
9. What is Protestantism?
10. Why is Oliver Cromwell not liked in Ireland?
11. What happened in 1798?
12. What does “Catholic emancipation” mean?
13. When was the “Great Famine”?
14. What was the population of Ireland in 1870?
15. What happened on the 23^rd April 1916?
16. What is the “Dẚil”?
17. When was the Anglo-Irish Treaty signed?
18. Why did six counties of Ulster remain part of the United-Kingdom?
19. When did Ireland finally become a Republic?
20. When did Ireland join the EEC?

Study document 1 (map and chronology) page 54, then answer the following questions (in three short sentences at the most!):

1. When and how did a colony of Anglo-Norman barons settle in Ireland?
2. Who was Henry VIII?
3. Why did English and Scottish people settle in the north of Ireland in the 17th century?
4. What was the result of the Battle of the Boyne for Ireland?
5. How was the rebellion led by the United Irishmen put down?
6. Did the Irish approve of the Acts of Union ?
7. How popular was Daniel O’Connell in Ireland?
8. What was the advantage of the “emancipation of the Catholics” for the Irish people?
9. Who were the members of the Young Ireland movement, what did they want, and why did their efforts fail?
10. Why is part of Ireland in green (cf. map)?