Happy Birthday Britain
On the first of May 2007, the United Kingdom of Great-Britain and Northern Ireland celebrates its 300th anniversary.
On the same day, 300 years ago, a series of Acts voted on the 16th January of the same year by the Scottish and English Parliaments were enacted, merging the English Kingdom and the Scottish Kingdom into one; The United Kingdom of Great-Britain. Even if both kingdoms already had the same monarch, since 1603 when the Union Jack was first flown. But Parliaments were still separated, as were the armies and the navies of both kingdoms, among others things.
However, the common history between England and Scotland does not start in 1603 or 1707, in fact it started well before that, during the Middle Ages. Once the Anglo-Saxons arrived, links were established between the different parts of the British Isles, the border between what would subsequently become Scotland and England, fluctuated a lot before its final stabilisation during the 16th century. Humans, cultural and linguistic exchanges were already patent at the time. The entire Scottish Lowlands speak a dialect (Scot) closely related to English. Customs which are typically seen as Scottish can be found into Northern England, I am particularly thinking about kilts and bagpipes and the reciprocal is true. Although the Act of Union effectively marks the real start of Great-Britain as a well recognised entity, a “British sphere” had already existed back then.
As it is true to say that a British sphere already existed back then, saying that reactions following the union were not always positive is also correct. Bribery, economic and diplomatic pressures were used. Nevertheless in 1707, the face of Europe was changed forever, the new Kingdom was at war with France then, a war which would be won. Saying that France and the United Kingdom, built themselves partly through their mutual wars is the truth. Wars always strengthened national identities and in the case of Franco-British wars during the 18th century, the idea of a common Britishness among the Scottish and English peoples was born by opposition to Frenchness. The spectrum of absolute monarchy definitely chased away after the Glorious Revolution of 1689; the United Kingdom became the crucible of modern parliamentary systems. The House of Commons and the House of Lords, gained more and more powers with time, preventing any excess on the part of the sovereign and were then elected in the case of the House of Commons by a growing numbers of persons.
Growing internal exchanges, also led to the creation of a financial sector, which became the first of the world in terms of power. The Scottish influence, under the works of Adam Smith, was decisive in helping the development of the City in London, modern economics were thence born. In London and Edinburgh, banks flourished, offering access to what were for the time phenomenal opportunities of credit and borrowing, kick-starting the Industrial Revolution a few years later. Scotland and England, being both seafaring countries, colonies were established very early, even if this had started during the 17th century before the union, the following century marks the start of what would become the greatest empire mankind has even known. America was colonised, the French rival expelled of the continent in 1763, the sea bordering the West Indies became a British lake, the Pacific Ocean once a reserved domain of the Spanish Crown was explored in details by the Scottish navigator James Cook. The conquest of the imperial jewel, India, started at the same time. In the space of a few decades, a poor and disunited archipelago, went from a status of being nothing more than the western margin of Europe to a status of world power. The French enemy, whose weaknesses were obvious in the areas, where British genius expressed itself, was humiliated in 1763 giving up its claim to world domination.
The American war of Independence was a defeat for the United Kingdom, but this was the start of another era, when an empire was lost in America another one was being built all over the world. But, before this, another test awaited the United Kingdom; a series of conflicts caused by the French revolution from 1792 to 1815. With just a little more than ten million inhabitants, the British Isles were clearly an outsider in the face of thirty million Frenchmen, having at their disposal a vastly more important pool of resources and a much bigger territory. Yet victory awaited for the United Kingdom, which by now had included Ireland since 1801. After 23 long years of an almost non interrupted conflict; parliamentary democracy, free trade, capitalism and liberalism. Were proved to be superior in the face of archaic autocratism, bureaucracy (Napoleon was a great bureaucrat) and contempt toward inidiviual initiatives. The triumph of these values, most of them being born in Britain, symbolizes by itself the enormous potential of the new nation, back then only a century old. Defeat was a distinct possibility, but this did not happened and the United Kingdom was to end the war, strengthened instead of weakened, ready to face the opportunities that the 19th century would offer.
The now uncontested Pax Britannica, was paving the way for a period of extraordinary developments, in the economical, technological and cultural fields. Already initiated by the end of the 18th century, the industrial revolution would embrace the kingdom in its totality. Seated on huge deposits of coal and iron, Great-Britain stepped into a golden age, the tremendous expansion of the industries was at first fuelled by the invention of the steam engine, invented in 1769 by James Watt a Scotsman, the fist man to create a practical engine. From now on, tasks made by the using forces of nature such as wind or water, or by the human muscle itself, were made by machines. Factories, workshops, foundries and railways were built all over the British Isles. The British genius expressed itself in all its splendour, trains which ran faster every year, steamships going against the wind, machines which became more and more complex, mass production, bridges over the rivers, tunnels under the mountains. From England to Scotland to Ireland to Wales, what was once impossible became possible. The livings standards saw unprecedented improvements; diseases like tuberculosis slowly became a thing of the past, at the end of the 19th century, The British were the richest people on earth.
The railways slashed journey times, from London to the different parts of the British Isles, to a matter of hours instead of days. Postal service came with the trains, bringing closer together the peoples of the British Isles. Human exchanges inside the British Isles are secular, but their intensity became extraordinary during the 19th century. Scottish and Irish emigrants who came to England amounted to hundreds of thousands, migrations towards Scotland and Ireland also took place. With the migrations came cultural exchanges, even if none of the different British cultures disappeared, they more and more fused together in one single British culture. Elements of the British culture passed on to the entire world during the 19th century abound, in the fields of sports, literature, sciences and political thoughts.
Economical expansion went on par, with an imperial expansion everywhere in the world. British colonies in 1815 amounted to Eastern Canada, the West Indies, trading posts in Africa, some parts of India and some weak establishments in Australia. One hundred years later, the British Empire included the whole of Canada, the quasi-entirety of Oceania, a good part of Africa, the Indian subcontinent and influences zones in China, in South America and in the Middle-East. In the meantime, the British population (dominions included) increased from 15 million to 60 million; this amazing increase permitted by better living standards had almost no equivalent in Europe. On the top of that, no less than 400 millions inhabitants lived in the others colonies, one quarter of the world population of the time, living on one quarter of the world landmass. The economical and financial power of the United Kingdom had no equal, even if the growth of German and American economies threatened this position in the long run. The English common law, Westminster style politics and other key values spread throughout the entire world. Some regions were developed from scratch, Australia was in 1815, a virtually empty continent, yet one century later it was home to “Britannia on the other side of the world”, a sister nation populated by 5 millions British citizens and already a growing power in Oceania.
Great trials awaited the British nation as the 20th arrived. The United Kingdom could have lost a lot during the First World War, nowadays we know that Germany wanted some British colonies and the German Navy dreamed of humiliating the Royal Navy. The ultimate sacrifice of more than 850 000 soldiers, coming from all over the British Empire, prevented this from happening. For the first time during this conflict, France and the United Kingdom, two nations which build themselves through their mutual conflicts, were for better or for worse allies and finally won the war. The ultimate trial was however 1940, alone against the Nazi hordes, bombed daily, the United Kingdom resisted for one long year, awaiting an invasion which never came. One more time, freedom, justice, tolerance, values embodied by the British nation since its foundation, were to triumph against brute force and authoritarianism. Nothing would have been possible during the Second World War without this resistance, despite its great cost, victory was more than merited.
The end of what was the greatest empire the world has ever seen, did not signify a decline in itself. Parliamentary democracy, justice, important cultural influences and in the cases of the old dominions their vast populations, composed by direct descendants from Britain itself; are present wherever the Union Jack once flew. Few nations can boast about a similar footprint on world history and we have absolutely no reason to forget or regret the heritage that we left to a quarter of the planet. The values that have made the strength of the United Kingdom ever since its foundation back in 1707, continues to prove their superiority all over the world. The United Kingdom declined when these values were rejected, but everytime these were embraced, it moved forward.
At a time were 300 years after the foundation of the United Kingdom, the hypothesis of it’s dissolution appears as likely. We must remember at all costs that what unites us is much more important than what divides us, our history is glorious, the legacy that we left to the entire world is as glorious. The Britishness that unites us as a people, has extremely deep roots, which are historical as well as cultural. The notions of English and Scottish people, have ceased to have any ethnic meaning long ago, everybody has a Scottish, Welsh or Irish ancestor and vice versa. Everywhere from Penzance to Aberdeen, from Belfast to Norwich to Swansea, our aspirations are the same, our cultures have despite their differences a common basis. We should not let futile political differences spoiling our secular relationship, tensions are always present in every relation but they only offers opportunities to deepen our relationship. The rape of British values, for political purposes, shows that our values are common, respecting and embracing them is thence an imperative. We have our differences, but in an evermore globalizing world, these differences which already made our strength in the past, can only constitute another advantage. They allow us to be open minded, ambitious and daring as a nation. Conflicts happened between Englishmen and Scotsmen in the past, but did not The Prussians and The Bavarians fought each other before embracing their common Germanity? What can we say about The Castillians and The Aragonese whose peace opened the era of the great discoveries? Instead of concentrating on the few dark pages of our history, let’s have a look at all our achievements since we united our kingdoms. The Belgians say “Strength lies in unity”, the same is true for us.
The 21st century has just started, the United Kingdom possesses considerable advantages in Europe, its values have constantly proven their force and we are still a great power. Britannia proudly seated on her throne, her lion by her side and armed with her trident, never look backward, always forward! Let’s look towards the future then, we have a formidable energy in reserve as our history shows and new challenges await us. But we will know how to stand up to them, our advantages, the existence of sister nations in the presence of Canada, Australia and New Zealand. All of these things allows us, to continue our march in history. So let’s continue this march, walking with our head held high, let us be worthy of our ancestors, let’s embrace the values which gave us victory back in 1815 and in 1945, and then nothing will be impossible for another 300 years and perhaps more!
Happy Birthday Britain!
Rule Britannia! Britannia rule the waves
Britons, never will be slaves
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