Considering the Victorian era in a global context, it should be noted that it was marked for a significant number of states - the British colonies - by gaining greater independence and freedom, as well as the opportunity to develop their own political life. In addition, those discoveries that were made in Britain at that time were important not only for the country, but for all mankind as a whole. The appearance in Britain of several prominent representatives of the arts and, first of all, fiction, had an impact on the development of world art. For example, the work of the English writer Charles Dickens had a significant impact on the development of the Russian novel.

If we consider the significance of this period for Britain itself, it should be noted that the Victorian era occupies a very special place in the history of Great Britain. This period of British history is characterized by two main circumstances. First of all, it is that during the Victorian era, Britain did not participate in any significant wars on the international stage, apart from the infamous Opium Wars in China. There was also no serious tension in British society, caused by the expectation of some catastrophe from outside. Since British society has been and remains rather closed and fixated on itself, this circumstance seems to be especially important. The second circumstance is that interest in religious issues has grown significantly with the simultaneous rapid development of scientific thought and self-discipline of the human person, which was based on the tenets of puritanism.

The development of scientific thought in the Victorian era was such that, as the importance of Darwinism increased and in the wake of new scientific discoveries, even British agnostics turned their criticism towards the main tenets of Christianity. Many non-conformists, including, for example, the Anglo-Catholic W. Gladstone, viewed the domestic and foreign policy of the British Empire through the prism of their own religious beliefs.

The Victorian era was marked by the acquisition of new social functions by Britain, which was demanded by new industrial conditions and rapid population growth. As for personal development, it was built on self-discipline and self-confidence, reinforced by the Wesleyan and evangelical movements.

Distinctive features of the Victorian era

The beginning of the Victorian era dates back to 1837, when Queen Victoria ascended the English throne. At that time she was 18 years old. The reign of Queen Victoria lasted for 63 years until 1901.

Despite the fact that the period of Victorian rule was a time of change unprecedented in the history of Great Britain, the foundations of society in the Victorian era remained unchanged.

The industrial revolution in Britain led to a significant increase in the number of factories, warehouses, and shops. There was a rapid increase in population, which led to the growth of cities. In the 1850s, all of Britain was covered in a net railways, which greatly improved the position of industrialists, as it facilitated the delivery of goods and raw materials. Britain has become a highly productive country that has left other European states far behind. At the international industrial exhibition of 1851, the success of the country was appreciated, Britain deserved the title of "workshop of the world." The leading positions in industrial production remained until the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. However, it was not without negative aspects. Unsanitary conditions were characteristic of the working quarters of industrial cities. Widely used child labour and low wages coexisted with poor working conditions and exhausting long hours.

The Victorian era was marked by the strengthening of the position of the middle class, which led to the dominance of its core values ​​in society. In honor were sobriety, punctuality, diligence, frugality, thriftiness. These qualities soon became the norm, as their usefulness in the new industrial world was undeniable. Queen Victoria herself acted as an example of such behavior. Her life, completely subordinated to family and duty, differed significantly from the lives of her two predecessors on the throne. Victoria's example had an impact on much of the aristocracy, which led to the rejection of the high-profile and scandalous lifestyle of the previous generation. The example of the aristocracy was followed by the highly skilled part of the working class.

At the heart of all the achievements of the Victorian era, of course, are the values ​​and energy of the middle class. At the same time, it cannot be said that all the features of this middle class were an example to follow. Among the negative features so often ridiculed in the pages of English literature of that period are the philistine belief that prosperity is the reward for virtue, and the extreme puritanism in family life, which gave rise to hypocrisy and guilt.

Religion played a big role in the Victorian era, despite the fact that a significant part of the British population was not at all deeply religious. Various Protestant movements, such as Methodists and Congregationalists, as well as the evangelical wing of the Anglican Church, had a great influence on the minds of the people. In parallel with this, there was a revival of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as the Anglo-Catholic movement within the Anglican Church. Their main postulates were adherence to dogma and ritual.

Despite the significant success of Britain during this period, the Victorian era was also a period of doubt and disappointment. This was due to the fact that the progress of science undermined faith in the inviolability of biblical truths. At the same time, there was no significant growth of atheists, and atheism itself still remained an unacceptable system of views for society and the church. Thus, for example, the famous political figure who advocated social reforms and freedom of thought, Charles Bradlow, who became famous among other things for his militant atheism, was able to get a seat in the House of Commons only in 1880 after a series of unsuccessful attempts.

The publication in 1859 of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species had a great influence on the revision of religious dogmas. This book had the effect of an exploding bomb. Darwin's theory of evolution refuted the previously seemingly indisputable fact that man is the result of divine creation and, by the will of God, stands above all other forms of life. According to Darwin's theory, man developed in the process of evolution of the natural world in the same way as all other animal species developed. This work caused a wave of harsh criticism from religious leaders and the conservative-minded part of the scientific community.

Based on the foregoing, it can be concluded that England experienced an undoubted surge of interest in science, which resulted in a number of large-scale scientific discoveries, but at the same time the country itself remained quite conservative in terms of lifestyle and value system. The rapid development of Britain from an agrarian state to an industrial state led to the rapid growth of cities and the emergence of new jobs, but did not alleviate the situation of the workers and their living conditions.

Page from the first edition of On the Origin of Species

The political structure of the country

The Victorian Parliament was more representative than during the reigns of Queen Victoria's predecessors. He listened more than in previous times to public opinion. In 1832, before Victoria had ascended the throne, a parliamentary reform gave the vote to a large section of the middle class. The laws of 1867 and 1884 gave the majority of adult males the right to vote. At the same time, a stormy campaign was launched for the granting of suffrage to women.

During the reign of Victoria, the government was no longer subordinate to the reigning monarch. This rule was established under William IV (1830-37). Despite the fact that the queen was highly respected, her influence on the ministers and the political decisions they made was extremely small. Ministers were subordinate to Parliament and primarily to the House of Commons. But since party discipline in those days was not tough enough, the decisions of the ministers were not always implemented. By the 1860s, the Whigs and Tories had formed into much more clearly organized parties, the Liberal and the Conservative. The Liberal Party was led by William Gladstone and the Conservative Party by Benjamin Disraeli. However, the discipline in both parties was too liberal to keep them from splitting. The Ireland problem had a constant influence on the policy pursued by Parliament. The famine of 1845-46 led Robert Peel to revise the grain laws that kept the price of British agricultural products high. The "Free Trade Act" was introduced as part of a general movement in the Victorian era to create a more open, competitive society.

Meanwhile, Peel's decision to repeal the Corn Laws divided the Conservative Party. Twenty years later, William Gladstone's activities, in his own words, aimed at appeasing Ireland, and his commitment to the policy of self-government, caused a split among the Liberals.

During this reformist period, the foreign policy environment remained relatively calm. The conflict came to a head in 1854-56, when Britain and France launched the Crimean War with Russia. But this conflict was only local in nature. The campaign was aimed at curbing Russian imperial ambitions in the Balkans. In fact, it was just one of the rounds in the protracted Eastern Question (a diplomatic issue linked to the decline of the Turkish Ottoman Empire) - the only thing that seriously affected Britain in the pan-European politics of the Victorian era. In 1878, England was on the brink of another war with Russia, but remained aloof from the European alliances that subsequently split the continent. Salisbury, British Prime Minister Robert Arthur Talbot, called this policy of not lasting alliances with other powers a brilliant isolation.

Based on available data, the Victorian era was a period of parliamentary restructuring, as well as the formation and strengthening of the main parties that exist in Britain today. At the same time, the nominal power of the monarch made it impossible for him to have a significant influence on the political life of the country. The figure of the monarch became more and more a tribute to the traditions and foundations of Britain, losing its political weight. This position continues to this day.

British foreign policy

The Victorian era for Britain was marked by the expansion of colonial possessions. True, the loss of the American colonies led to the fact that the idea of ​​new conquests in this area was not very popular. Until 1840, Britain did not seek new colonies, but was engaged in protecting its trade routes and supporting its interests outside the state. At that time, one of the black pages of British history falls - the opium wars with China, which were caused by the struggle for the right to sell Indian opium in China.

In Europe, Britain supported the weakening Ottoman Empire in its fight against Russia. In 1890, the moment came for the redistribution of Africa. It was to be divided into so-called "zones of interest". The undoubted conquests of Britain in this case were Egypt and the Suez Canal. The British occupation of Egypt continued until 1954.

Some colonies of Britain during that period received additional privileges. For example, Canada, New Zealand and Australia received the right to form a government, which weakened their dependence on Britain. At the same time, Queen Victoria remained the head of state in these countries.

By the end of the 19th century, Britain was the strongest maritime power, and also controlled a significant part of the land. However, the colonies were sometimes an exorbitant burden for the state, since they required significant cash injections.

Problems haunted Britain not only overseas, but also on its own territory. They mainly came from Scotland and Ireland. At the same time, for example, the population of Wales quadrupled over the 19th century and amounted to 2 million people. Wales boasted rich coal deposits in the south, making it the center of a booming coal mining and iron and steel industry. This resulted in almost two-thirds of the country's population seeking to move south in search of work. By 1870, Wales had become an industrial country, although there were significant areas in the north where farming flourished, and most of the inhabitants were poor peasants. The reforms of Parliament allowed the people of Wales to get rid of the families of wealthy landowners who had represented them in Parliament for 300 years.

Divided into industrial and rural area Scotland. The industrial zone was located near Glasgow and Edinburgh. The industrial revolution dealt a heavy blow to the inhabitants of the mountainous regions. The collapse of the clan system that had existed there for centuries was a real tragedy for them.

Ireland brought many problems to England, the battle for the freedom of which resulted in a large-scale war between Catholics and Protestants. In 1829, Catholics were given the right to participate in parliamentary elections, which only strengthened the sense of national identity of the Irish and encouraged them to continue their struggle with great effort.

Based on the data presented, it can be concluded that the main task of Britain of that period in the foreign policy arena was not the conquest of new territories, but the maintenance of order in the old ones. The British Empire has grown so much that the management of all its colonies has become quite problematic. This led to the granting of additional privileges to the colonies and the reduction of the role that Britain had previously played in their political life. The rejection of strict control of the colonial territories was due to the problems that existed on the territory of Britain itself, and the solution of which became a paramount task. It should be noted that some of these problems have not been properly solved so far. This is especially true of the Catholic-Protestant confrontation in Northern Ireland.

In the Victorian era, real erotic and pornographic literary works like My Secret Life were in circulation. There was even a pornographic magazine, The Pearl... But the Victorian code of conduct, in fact, required not the absence of sins in a person - the main thing was that they should not be known in society.
The reign of Queen Victoria

The cheerful 19-year-old girl who ascended the British throne in 1837 could hardly imagine what associations her name would evoke a hundred years later. And after all, the Victorian era was far from the worst time in British history - literature flourished, economics and science developed rapidly, the colonial empire reached the peak of its power ... However, perhaps the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name of this queen is “Victorian morality ".

The current attitude towards this phenomenon is at best ironic, more often frankly negative. AT English language the word "Victorian" is still a synonym for the concepts of "sanctimonious", "hypocritical". Although the era named after the queen had little to do with her personality. The social symbol "Her Majesty Queen Victoria" meant not her personal views, but the basic values ​​​​of the time - the monarchy, the church, the family. And these values ​​were postulated even before the crown was placed on Victoria.

The period of her reign (1837-1901) for the internal life of England was a time of calm digestion after a grandiose gluttony. The previous centuries were filled with revolutions, riots, Napoleonic wars, colonial conquests... And regarding morality itself, British society in previous times was by no means distinguished by excessive strictness of morals and stiffness of behavior. The British knew a lot about the joys of life and indulged in them quite unbridled - with the exception of a not too long period of existence in the country of a powerful puritan movement (which for a time turned England into a republic). But with the restoration of the monarchy, a long period of considerable relaxation of morals began.

Generations of Hanover

The generations of Hanoverians preceding Victoria led a very dissolute life. For example, King William IV, Victoria's uncle, made no secret of the fact that he had ten illegitimate children. George IV was also known as a womanizer (despite the fact that his waist circumference reached 1.5 meters.), An alcoholic, and also drove the royal house into huge debts.

Prestige of the British Monarchy

was at that time as low as ever - and no matter what Victoria herself dreamed of, time pushed her to a fundamentally different strategy of behavior. She did not demand high morality from society - society demanded this from her. The monarch, as you know, is a hostage of her position ... But there were reasons to believe that she inherited the extremely passionate temperament of the Hanoverians. For example, she collected images of male nudes… She even presented one picture to her husband, Prince Albert, and never did this again…

Victorian code of conduct

She got her husband quite appropriate to the trends of the times. Albert was so puritanical that he "felt physically unwell at the mere thought of adultery." In this, he was the exact opposite of his closest relatives: his parents divorced; father, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Ernst I, was just an enchanting womanizer who did not miss a skirt - as well as Albert's brother, Duke Ernst II.

The Victorian code of conduct is a declaration of every conceivable virtue. Diligence, punctuality, moderation, thriftiness et cetera… In fact, no one calculated or formulated all these principles. The most concise summary of their essence is contained, oddly enough, in the novel by American Margaret Mitchell "Gone with the Wind": "You are required to do a thousand of some unnecessary things just because it has always been done" ...

Of course, the notion that “it has always been done this way” was a lie. But in any society suddenly engulfed in a struggle for morality, a look at the past acquires a "Chinese accent": history is presented not as it was, but as it should have been.

Victorian persecution of sensuality

Victorianism erected especially cruel persecutions on sensuality. Men and women had to forget that they had a body. The only parts of it that were allowed to be opened in the house were the hands and face. On the street, a man without a high standing collar and tie, a woman without gloves, were considered naked. All of Europe has long been fastening pants with buttons, and only in England did they use ropes and laces.

There were a huge number of euphemisms, for example, to call hands and feet otherwise than “limbs” was very indecent. Feelings and emotions were written and spoken mainly in the language of flowers. The curve of the neck of a shot bird in a still life was perceived in the same way as an erotic photograph is now (it is not surprising that offering a bird's leg to a woman at dinner was considered rude) ...

The principle of "separation of the sexes"

At the feast, the principle of “separation of the sexes” was observed: at the end of the meal, the women left, the men remained to smoke a cigar, skip a glass of port wine and talk. By the way, the custom of leaving the company without saying goodbye (“departure in English”) really existed, but in England it was called “departure in Scotch” (in Scotland - “departure in French”, and in France - “departure in Russian” ).

Open manifestations of sympathy between a man and a woman were strictly forbidden. The rules of everyday communication recommended that the spouses address each other officially in front of strangers (Mr. So-and-so, Mrs. So-and-so), so that the morality of those around them would not suffer from playfulness of tone. The height of swagger was considered an attempt to speak with a stranger.

The word "love" was completely taboo. The limit of frankness in the explanations was the password "Can I hope?" with the response "I have to think."

courtship

Courtship consisted of ritual conversations and symbolic gestures. For example, a sign of affection was the gracious permission of a young man to carry the young lady's prayer book upon his return from Sunday service.

A girl was considered compromised if she was left alone with a man for a minute. The widower was forced either to leave with an adult unmarried daughter, or to hire a companion in the house - otherwise he would be suspected of incest.

Girls were not supposed to know anything about sex and childbearing. It is not surprising that the wedding night often became a tragedy for a woman - up to suicide attempts.

The pregnant woman was a sight that offended Victorian morality beyond measure. She locked herself within four walls, hid the "shame" from herself with the help of a dress of a special cut. God forbid to mention in a conversation that she is “pregnant” - only “in an interesting situation” or “in happy waiting”.

It was believed that a sick woman was more worthy to die than to allow a male doctor to perform “shameful” medical manipulations on her. Doctors' offices were equipped with blank screens with a hole for one hand, so that the physician could feel the pulse or touch the patient's forehead to determine the heat.

statistical fact

: in the years 1830-1870, about 40% of English women remained unmarried, although there was no shortage of men. And the point here is not only the difficulties of courtship - the matter also rested on class and group prejudices: the concept of misalliance (unequal marriage) was brought to the point of absurdity.

Who to whom is a couple and not a couple - was solved at the level of a complex algebraic problem. Thus, the conflict that occurred between their ancestors in the 15th century could prevent the marriage of the offspring of two aristocratic families. A successful rural merchant did not dare to marry his daughter to the butler's son, for the representative of the "senior master's servants", even without a penny behind his soul, stood immeasurably higher than the shopkeeper on the social ladder.

Classes in English society

However, harsh Victorian rules were introduced into English society only to the level of the lower middle class. The common people - peasants, factory workers, small traders, sailors and soldiers - lived very differently. It was in high society that children were innocent angels who had to be protected from the world in every possible way - children from lower social strata began working in mines or factories as early as 5-6 years old ... What can we say about other aspects of life. Ordinary people have never heard of all sorts of politeness in relations between the sexes ...

However, things were not so simple in high society either. It circulated real erotic and pornographic literary works like "My Secret Life". There was even a pornographic magazine The Pearl… But the Victorian code of conduct, in fact, demanded not the absence of sins in a person - the main thing was that they should not be known in society.

Born a little before the accession of Her Majesty, Victorianism died before her. This is well seen in English literature. The three Brontë sisters are complete mature Victorians. The late Dickens recorded signs of the destruction of the Victorian codex. And Shaw and Wells have only described the "Canterville Ghost" of the Victorian era. Wells was a particularly remarkable figure: the author of popular novels was a desperate, top-notch womanizer. And he was proud of it.

(1837-1901) - the period of the reign of Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India.
A distinctive feature of this era is the absence of significant wars (with the exception of the Crimean one), which allowed the country to develop intensively, in particular in the field of infrastructure development, construction of railways.

In the field of economics, the industrial revolution and the development of capitalism continued during this period. The social image of the era is characterized by a strict moral code (gentlemanship), which consolidated conservative values ​​and class differences. In the field of foreign policy, British colonial expansion continued in Asia (the "Great Game") and Africa (the "fight for Africa").

Historical overview of the era

Victoria succeeded to the throne on the death of her uncle, the childless William IV, on 20 June 1837. The Whig cabinet of Lord Melbourne, which the queen found upon her accession, was supported in the lower house by a mixed majority, only partly composed of old Whigs. It included, in addition, the radicals who sought to expand the suffrage and short-term parliaments, as well as the Irish Party, led by O'Connell. The opponents of the ministry, the Tories, were animated by a firm determination to oppose any further triumph of the democratic principle. New elections, called after the change of the monarch, strengthened the conservative party. The great cities of England, Scotland and Ireland voted predominantly in favor of the Liberal and Radical factions, but the English counties for the most part chose the opposition to the ministry.

Meanwhile, the policy of previous years created significant difficulties for the government. In Canada, the discord between the mother country and the local parliament assumed dangerous proportions. The Ministry received permission to suspend the Canadian constitution and sent the Earl of Dergham to Canada with extensive powers. Dergam acted energetically and skillfully, but the opposition accused him of abuse of power, as a result of which he had to resign his position.
The weakness of the government showed itself even more clearly in regard to Irish affairs. The Irish Tithes Bill could not be approved by the Ministry except by the complete removal of the appropriation clause.

Foreign and domestic policy

In the spring of 1839, the British successfully fought Afghanistan, which since that time has become, as it were, the front cover for their East Indian possessions and the subject of jealous guardianship on the part of England.
In May of the same year, a ministerial crisis broke out, the immediate cause of which was the affairs of the island of Jamaica. Disagreements between the mother country, which abolished Negro slavery in 1834, and the interests of the planters on the island threatened to lead to the same rupture as in Canada. The ministry proposed suspending the local constitution for several years. This was opposed by both the Tories and the Radicals, and the ministry's proposal was passed by a majority of just 5 votes. It resigned, but took over again the conduct of business when Wellington and Peel's attempts to form a new cabinet ended in failure - by the way, due to the fact that Peel demanded that the stats-dames and ladies-in-waiting of the Queen, who belonged to the Whig families, be replaced by others from the camp. Tories, and the Queen did not want to agree to this (in English constitutional history, this issue is known as the Bedchamber question). The parliamentary session of 1840 was opened with a solemn announcement of Queen Victoria's impending marriage to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; The wedding took place on February 10th.

On July 15, 1840, the representatives of England, Russia, Austria and Prussia concluded an agreement aimed at putting an end to the strife between the Porte and the Egyptian Pasha. Mehmed-Ali rejected the decision of the conference, counting on the help of France, offended by the exclusion from participation in such an important matter; but this calculation was not justified. An English squadron, reinforced by Turkish and Austrian military forces, landed in Syria in September and put an end to Egyptian rule there.
The triumph of foreign policy did not in the least strengthen the position of the ministry; this came to light during the parliamentary session that opened in January 1841. The government suffered one defeat after another. Already in 1838, in Manchester, under the leadership of Richard Cobden, the so-called anti-corn law league (en: Anti-Corn Law League) was formed, which set itself the task of abolishing the existing patronage system and, mainly, duties on imported bread. Enraged by the aristocracy and landowners, who profited enormously from the high tariff, the league demanded the free importation of all foodstuffs as the only means of raising declining state revenues, improving the condition of the working classes, and facilitating competition with other states. Partly under the pressure of financial difficulties, partly in the hope of finding support in the opponents of the grain tax, the ministry announced its intention to begin to revise the Corn Laws. It was subsequently defeated on the question of the sugar tax by a majority of 317 votes to 281. The Ministry dissolved Parliament (23 June).

The Conservative Party, superbly organized and led by Peel, prevailed, and when the ministerial draft address was rejected by a strong majority in the new parliament, the ministers resigned. On September 1, 1841, a new cabinet was formed. Peel was at its head, and the chief members were the Dukes of Wellington and Buckingham, Lords Lyndhurst, Stanley, Aberdeen, and Sir James Graham. And earlier already, on the issue of the emancipation of Catholics, Peel, who had shown some sensitivity to the requirements of the time, in February 1842 spoke in the lower house with a proposal to reduce the import duty on bread (from 35 shillings to 20) and adopt the principle of gradually lowering tariff norms. All the counter-projects of the unconditional free-traders and protectionists were rejected, and Peel's proposal was accepted, as well as other financial measures aimed at covering the deficit (introduction of income tax, reduction of indirect taxes, etc.). At this time, the Chartists stirred again and submitted to Parliament a gigantic petition in terms of the number of signatures, outlining their demands. They found a strong foothold in the displeasure of the factory workers, fueled by the commercial crisis, the lull in industrial activity, and the high prices of the necessities of life. Disagreement with the North American States from abroad was settled by convention on August 9, 1842. The strain on France caused by the 1840 treaty still continued; its echo was the refusal of the French government to sign the convention concluded by the great powers on the destruction of the slave trade and on the right to search suspicious ships (English droit de visite).

The old quarrels with China over the opium trade led as early as 1840 to open war. In 1842, this war took a favorable turn for the British. They climbed up the Yantsekiang to Nanjing and dictated peace to the Chinese. The British ceded the island of Hong Kong; 4 new harbors were opened for trade relations.
In Afghanistan, the rapid success of 1839 blinded the British; they considered themselves masters of the country and were taken by surprise by the uprising of the Afghans, which broke out unexpectedly in November 1841. Trusting the insidious enemy, the British negotiated for themselves a free exit from the country, but on the return trip to India they suffered terrible losses from the climate, deprivation and fanaticism of the inhabitants. The Viceroy, Lord Ellenborough, decided to take revenge on the Afghans and in the summer of 1842 sent new troops against them. The Afghans were defeated, their cities destroyed, the surviving British prisoners were released. The devastating nature of the campaign was strongly condemned by the opposition in the House of Commons. The year 1843 passed uneasily.

The Catholic direction of some part of the Anglican clergy (see Puseism) grew more and more. In Scotland there was a rupture between the state church and the Presbyterian nonintrusive sect. The main difficulties faced the government in Ireland. From the moment he took office in the Thorian ministry, Daniel O'Connell resumed his agitation in favor of the dissolution of the union between Ireland and England (eng. Repeal). He was now gathering gatherings of 100,000 people; armed clashes could be expected. O'Connell and many of his supporters were prosecuted. The trial was postponed several times, but the agitator was eventually found guilty. The House of Lords appealed the verdict due to formal violations of the law; the government abandoned further persecution, but the agitation no longer reached its former strength.

In the session of 1844 the question of the Corn Laws again came to the fore. Cobden's proposal for the complete abolition of the grain duty was rejected by the lower house by a majority of 234 votes to 133; but already during the discussion of the Factory Bill, when the famous philanthropist Lord Ashley (later Earl of Shaftesbury) succeeded in passing a proposal to reduce the working day to 10 hours, it became clear that the government no longer had the previous strong majority.
The most important financial measure in 1844 was Peel's Banking Bill, which gave the English bank a new organization.
In the same year an important change took place in the supreme administration of the East Indies. In December 1843, Lord Ellenborough undertook a victorious campaign against the Gwalior district in Northern Hindustan (even earlier, in 1843, Sindh was conquered). But it was precisely this belligerent policy of the viceroy in connection with unrest and bribery in the civil administration that caused the intervention of the directorate of the East India Company. In the exercise of her legal right, she succeeded Lord Ellenborough and appointed Lord Harding in his place. In 1845, the internal disintegration of the former parties was completed.

Everything that Peel did in this year's session was achieved by him with the help of his former political opponents. He proposed an increase in funds for the maintenance of the Catholic seminary at Minut, which, being the only public institution of its kind in Ireland, represented a deplorable contrast to the luxurious furnishings of the Anglican schools. This proposal aroused the strongest opposition on the ministerial benches, which vividly outlined all the callousness of the old Torhorian and Anglican orthodoxy. When the bill was admitted to the second reading on April 18, the former ministerial majority no longer existed. Peel acquired the support of 163 Whigs and Radicals. Church agitation received new food when the ministers came up with a proposal to establish three higher secular colleges for Catholics, without the right to interfere with the state or the church in religious teaching.
Because of this measure, Gladstone, then still a strict churchman, left the office; when it was introduced into Parliament, Anglican high-churchists, Catholic fanatics and O'Connell alike burst into denunciations against the godless project. Nevertheless, the bill was passed by a huge majority. This changed position of the parties became even more pronounced in economic questions. The results of the last financial year were favorable and showed a significant increase in income tax. Peel petitioned for the continuation of this tax for another three years, assuming, at the same time, to allow a new reduction in customs duties and the complete abolition of export duties. His proposals aroused the displeasure of the Tories and landowners, but they met with ardent support in the former opposition and were accepted with her help.

Meanwhile, a terrible famine suddenly broke out in Ireland due to a crop failure for potatoes, which constituted almost the only food of the poorest classes of the population. The people were dying and tens of thousands sought salvation in emigration. Thanks to this, the agitation against the Corn Laws reached its highest degree of tension. The leaders of the old Whigs openly and irrevocably joined the movement, which until then had been in the hands of Cobden and his party. On December 10, the ministry resigned; but Lord John Rossel, who was commissioned to draw up a new cabinet, met with no less difficulty than Peel, and restored his powers to the queen.
Peel reformed the Cabinet, which Gladstone re-entered. Peel then proposed the gradual abolition of the Corn Laws. Part of the old Tory party followed Pil into the free trade camp, but the main body of the Tories raised a furious agitation against their former leader. On March 28, 1846, the second reading of the Corn Bill was passed by a majority of 88 votes; all changes, partly proposed by the protectionists, partly tending to the immediate abolition of all grain duties, were rejected. The bill also passed in the upper house thanks to the influence of Wellington.

In spite of this success, however, and the immense popularity which Peel had acquired by carrying out his great economic reform, his personal position became more and more precarious. In the struggle against the poisonous attacks of the protectionists, especially Disraeli, who, together with Bentinck, took over the leadership of the old Tories, Peel, of course, could not count on the protection of his long-term opponents. The immediate reason for his downfall was the issue of emergency measures against Ireland, resolved in the negative by a coalition of Whigs, Radicals and Irish deputies. External affairs at the time of the removal of the Tory ministry were in a very favorable position. The former strained relations with France gradually gave way to a friendly rapprochement. There were disagreements with North America due to mutual claims to the Oregon region, but they were peacefully settled.
In June 1846, the Sikhs raided British possessions in India, but were defeated.

On July 3, 1846, a new Whig ministry was formed under Lord John Rossel; its most influential member was the Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston. It could count on a majority only if Peel supported it. Parliament, which opened in January 1847, approved a number of measures taken to help the distress of Ireland. About the same time O'Connell died, on his way to Rome, and in him the National Party of Ireland lost its chief foothold.
The issue of Spanish marriages led to a chill between the London and Paris cabinets. Taking advantage of this, the Eastern powers decided to annex Krakow to Austria, disregarding the belated protests of the British Foreign Minister.
In the general election of 1847, the protectionists were in the minority; the Peelites constituted an influential middle party; the combined Whigs, Liberals and Radicals formed a majority of 30 votes. The Chartists found a representative in the talented lawyer O'Connor. Inside the country, the situation was bleak. Increasing crime in Ireland called for a special repressive law. In the English manufacturing districts, poverty and unemployment also assumed appalling proportions; bankruptcy followed one after another. The shortfall in public revenues due to the general stagnation in business and the impossibility of reducing spending led the ministry to propose a law to increase income tax by another 2 percent. But the increase of this unpopular tax caused such a storm within and outside Parliament that at the end of February, 1848, the proposed measure was withdrawn.

Victorian architecture(Eng. Victorian architecture) is the most general term that is used in English-speaking countries to refer to the whole variety of varieties of eclectic retrospectivism common in the Victorian era (from 1837 to 1901). The dominant trend of this period in the British Empire was neo-gothic; entire neighborhoods in this style have been preserved in almost all former British colonies. British India is also characterized by the Indo-Saracenic style (a free combination of Neo-Gothic with national elements).

In the field of architecture, the Victorian era was marked by the general spread of eclectic retrospectivism, especially neo-Gothic. In English-speaking countries, the term " victorian architecture».

Victorian art and literature

Typical writers of the Victorian era are Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, Anthony Trollope, the Brontë sisters, Conan Doyle and Rudyard Kipling; poets - Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning and Matthew Arnold, artists - Pre-Raphaelites.
British children's literature is taking shape and flourishing, with a characteristic departure from direct didactics towards nonsense and "bad advice": Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, William Rands.

The Victorian era is not very easy to describe, if only because the reign of Queen Victoria turned out to be incredibly long. Styles and trends in literature and art changed, but the fundamental worldview remained.
We have already said that the old, stable world was disintegrating before people's eyes. Green hills and valleys were built up with factories, and the development of science called into question the very origin and essence of man: is he really the image of God, or a descendant of strange creatures that crawled out of the primitive mud a million years ago? Therefore, through the whole era, through all art, there is a desire of people to somehow hide from reality or recreate it themselves. (This is done by Turner and Constable: in their paintings they seem to re-create light and color). Some try to escape modernity by hiding in the Middle Ages, like the Pre-Raphaelites, Morris and Pugin.

Others try to oppose a crumbling world with simple, reliable middle-class values: family, children, home, honest work. Queen Victoria herself sets an example. In her youth, Victoria was very beautiful, and the stereotype that arises at the mention of her - the image of an overweight old woman in eternal mourning - is her later years. Victoria was an exemplary wife, remaining faithful to her beloved husband even after his death (hence the lifelong mourning), perpetuating his memory in monuments such as the Albert Hall. They were the perfect family, true to middle class values. It was Prince Albert who introduced the Christmas tree and the custom of giving gifts to children at Christmas into English use, and gradually this desire to find warmth and joy in a cruel world turns into syrupy sentimentality so characteristic of Victorianism - or, conversely, moralizing. The Victorian of the Victorians in this sense is Charles Dickens, with his innocent angel children and the inevitable punishment of vice.
At the same time, revolutionary changes were taking place in the country. Industrialization affected more and more areas of life. Mass production appears (the same porcelain dogs, lithographs and postcards), the phonograph, photography. The level of education is also growing: if in 1837 in England 43% of the population was illiterate, then in 1894 - only 3%. The number of periodicals has grown 60 times (among others, fashion magazines such as Harpers Bazar appear), a network of libraries and theaters have emerged.

Perhaps mass production is the reason why when we use the term "Victorian", especially in relation to design and interiors, we most often think of a room with lush, heavy furniture, where it is impossible to turn around due to the numerous tables, armchairs, ottomans, shelves with figurines, where the walls are completely hung with paintings and photographs. This eclecticism was not some single style; this was for the most part a middle-class house, and for the most part such interiors belong to the period that is commonly called High Victorian (1850s - 70s).

Moreover, even in the furniture, the Victorians expressed their strict morality: where did such long tablecloths come from, where did the chair covers come from? But the fact is that even an armchair and a table cannot be shown legs, this is indecent. "Decent" is one of the fundamental values ​​in that era. Everyday costume was quite strict and restrained (however, at a ball or a reception one could still show off the beauty of the dress and jewelry). But even going to the ball, it was not customary to use cosmetics - this is indecent, only fallen women put on makeup. A monument to the Victorian concept of decency will forever remain the bathing cabin, which allowed ladies to bathe away from male eyes. They changed in these booths - bathing suits were not much different from the usual ones! - and then the cabins were taken out to sea so that you could enter the water and leave it without witnesses.

Around this time, people begin to realize that children are not miniature adults, but very special creatures. Education is another of the words that run like a red thread through the era. Childhood stands out in a separate period of human life, and combines all the incompatible features of Victorianism: on the one hand, children are innocence, purity, gifts for Christmas; on the other hand, children need to be brought up in strictness so that they learn the moral norms of society, accustom them to hard work and good manners.

The Victorian era is full of contradictions. This is the time of extreme optimism and extreme pessimism, the time of strict moral rules and the time when prostitution flourished in London, the time of the triumph of the empire and the time of Jack the Ripper. All this must be remembered when we speak of art, because all this is most directly reflected in it.

The Victorian era gave rise to the women's emancipation movement, but the focus was still on jewelry and accessories. Men's fashion gravitated toward greater austerity of style, and new methods of making clothes spread rapidly.
The 19th century - the century of the bourgeoisie and technological progress - had a radical impact on fashion. Thanks to the mass industrial production of clothing, the development of means of communication, fashion is becoming the property of ever wider sections of society. The accelerated pace of life and the development of civilization leads to a rapid change in fashion trends.
Despite the fact that a woman is gradually winning her rights from men, the fashion of the 19th century is still chaste and bashful in a bourgeois way. The female silhouette is now entirely determined by clothing. The open body is becoming less and less, although it is by no means forbidden to emphasize certain “places” with clothing

The Victorian Age can be divided into three periods:
- early Victorian (1837-1860)
- Middle Victorian (1860-1885)
- Late Victorian (1885-1901)

The early Victorian period is also known as the "Romantic" period. This is the queen's youth, marked by ease and a certain freedom of temper, as well as an ardent love for Prince Albert. The queen adored jewelry, and her subjects ladies, imitating her, adorned themselves with cute enamel trinkets, cabochons and corals.
Wide-brimmed hats decorated with feathers and flowers, fashionable at the beginning of the century, were replaced by practical caps, which influenced the female silhouette as a whole.
In the 20s of the XIX century, the figure of a woman resembles an hourglass: rounded "swollen" sleeves, a wasp waist, a wide skirt. The neckline of the dress almost completely exposes the shoulders. A strongly open neck allows you to "highlight" the head, and complex hairstyles, usually raised, come into fashion.

Although the skirts are wide, their length was shortened: first the shoes opened, and then the ankles. This was quite revolutionary, because the woman's legs for a long time (almost the entire European history of "AD") remained securely hidden from prying eyes.
Women's fashion of that time was complemented by long gloves, which were removed in public only at the dinner table. An umbrella becomes an obligatory fashionable attribute of women for a long time. There was not so much coquetry in this as it might seem at first glance. The umbrella had a rather pragmatic purpose - to protect the woman's skin from the sun. Until the 1920s, tanning was considered indecent, "village", pale "alabaster" skin was in fashion, so corresponding to the period of romanticism.

Also, by 1820, the corset returned to the attire of fashionistas, which would leave clothes only after a century. The waist, which in Empire times was located almost under the breast, again occupies a natural position, but an unnatural volume is required from it - about 55 cm! The desire to achieve an "ideal" waist often led to tragic consequences. So, in 1859, a 23-year-old fashionista died after a ball due to the fact that three ribs compressed by a corset stuck into her liver.

The already long corset (beginning under the bust, it covered the buttocks by a quarter, pulling them in) by 1845 lengthened so much that a classic V-silhouette appeared, complemented by wide sleeves. As a result, women of fashion could hardly move their arms, and their ability to move was seriously limited. Helplessness and dependence on a man made the ladies of the Victorian era even more attractive in the eyes of their gentlemen. The color scheme became more muted, in contrast to the variegation of fabrics inherent in the beginning of the century, small details came to the fore, which made it possible to radically change the appearance. Usually these were wide belts with buckles. Women's modesty was also emphasized by white scarves around the neck, as well as white undersleeves - "engageantes". After almost a long absence, exquisite cashmere shawls are back in fashion. However, this time they were much wider and almost completely covered the female shoulders. The upper skirt gradually lost its former round shape, becoming much wider and taking on the shape of a bell. By 1850, the word "crinoline" came into fashion, denoting a woman's overskirt. The wider the crinoline, the better. Wearing it was quite problematic, so this accessory was soon abandoned.

Curls were fashionable hairstyle at that time. Laid around the head, descending to the shoulders, stabbed into a knot or gathered at the back of the head.

Women's costume sample 1833

Fashion lady in the park

The Middle Victorian period was marked by a tragic event - the death of Prince Consort Albert. Victoria, who passionately loved her husband, plunged into the abyss of sorrow and mourning. She constantly mourned and mourned her dead husband and always dressed only in black. It was followed by the entire royal court, and then, in general, by the whole society. However, the ladies concluded that they look extremely attractive in black and managed to benefit from the general grief.

The women's clothing of the middle Victorian period was one of the most uncomfortable costumes: tight corsets, long heavy skirts with numerous pleats, high collars rising to the throat. Men's clothing was much more comfortable.
However, even as the struggle for the reform of women's clothing was being waged in England, female travelers stubbornly continued to wear corsets and hats and took great care to maintain the proper appearance of a woman, no matter how difficult it was. Moreover, according to them, only this clothing was the only suitable and appropriate for a woman in unusual conditions.

The 60s of the XIX century became a turning point in the history of the development of world fashion, turning it into a real industry. Such significant changes have occurred largely due to the invention of the sewing machine, as well as the emergence of artificial dyes. At the same time, one of the main directions in the development of modern fashion, haute couture, emerged and institutionalized. From now on, fashion trends have ceased to be some kind of frozen and slowly changing form, turning into something much more dynamic and creative.

The famous dome-shaped crinoline skirt has sunk into oblivion, it was replaced by a much more elegant elongated shape. However, the very concept of "crinoline" lingered in fashion for quite a long time due to the extraordinary popularity of the creator of haute couture Charles Worth. Worth himself considered the crinoline to be a rather bulky and unattractive structure, but since his name was strongly associated with this particular accessory, he continued to experiment with the form, creating an increasingly sophisticated image. As a result, after a few years, the overskirt rose significantly and was gathered into elegant pleats just below the waist.

By 1867, the crinoline had finally disappeared from the fashionable horizon and was replaced by bustles. Experiments with upper and lower skirts literally captured almost all sections of English society. As a result, by 1878 the ladies bore a very distant resemblance to their early Victorian predecessors. A thin, graceful silhouette with a long train finally defeated massive forms. From now on, designers began to pay special attention to the figures of customers, giving the latter the desired grace, which meant further improvement in the skill of the couturier, who often had to turn the ugly duckling into a real princess.

Speaking of crinoline. The crinoline acquires its true meaning only from 1850. It was then that it is a shirred domed skirt, the shape of which was supported by numerous petticoats. Until 1856, six more petticoats were worn under the overskirt, mostly handmade, very elaborate. Making them was difficult and took an infinite amount of time. This was due to the fact that improved sewing machines began to be used in Parisian salons, at best, around 1850. Everywhere, these machines were brought into them only in 1857. Since 1859, artificial crinolines were introduced, where elastic steel hoops - a technically modernized memory of the former ryfrock with its hoops - seemed to support the lighter modern material like springs. This change affected not only the outer outline of the dress, but also changed the very nature of the clothes. The skirt has taken on a new, unexpected movement. The former petticoats have disappeared, and the faux crinoline has become a machine-made commodity. As soon as the skirt expanded to the crinoline, the sleeves of the bodice narrowed, which in the 40s already tightly fitted the arm, and the bodice itself began to be complemented by a wide frill at the collar, called "berte".
Small hats, decorated with feathers and veils, came back into fashion; ladies preferred modest hairstyles - a bun or curls, tucked into French braids on the sides. Particularly relaxed ladies experienced the first model haircuts, but they have not yet received distribution.

Lady and Gentleman Model 1850

Dresses with bustles 1869

Dress with a narrow silhouette, 1889

Lady in an Amazon dress

Late Victorian period.

Industrialization is progressing across the planet with leaps and bounds: the telephone and telegraph have already been invented, experiments are being carried out with computers, the Kodak camera has appeared, and the luxurious World Exhibition has died down. Life has become dynamic and hasty, which is reflected in fashion trends. It was at this time that the famous "bloomers" were invented - wide harem pants like the clothes of harem slaves, the skirts became narrower, the silhouette began to take shape, familiar to us now. Tournament and crinoline, although they are worn everywhere, are gradually going out of fashion, giving way to practical strict dresses (most often from the atelier), Amazon cut suits and mermaid skirts (narrow top and puffy bottom). Women begin to cut their hair; perm and bangs are in fashion.
But all this concerns mainly wealthy women, representatives of the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie. For ladies from the lower classes, the clothes remain unchanged - a closed dark dress with a blank collar of the most simple cut, a hard bustle made of cheap materials that mercilessly rubs the skin even through undershirts, coarse (“goat”) shoes or shoes with low heels.

It is characteristic that men's clothing from the beginning of the XIX century. almost didn't change. Only the details and materials changed, but not the cut. After 1875, the type of men's clothing that we know today was established - trousers, waistcoat and jacket, all from the same material - solid English fabrics.
The tuxedo is in fashion. Initially, it was worn in smoking parlors, and then when visiting theaters and restaurants. The tuxedo was worn mostly by young people. The cuffs were starched so that they could be written on.
In the 1860s, the famous bowler hat was invented, originally intended to be worn by lackeys and clerks, but then rapidly ascending to the very upper strata of society. Say what you like, but the compact and solid headdress with narrow brim was much more comfortable than the usual top hat. However, this one has also undergone changes - some models of cylinders have become folding.

They were animated by a firm determination to oppose any further triumph of the democratic principle. New elections, called after the change of the monarch, strengthened the conservative party. The great cities of England, Scotland and Ireland voted predominantly in favor of the Liberal and Radical factions, but the English counties for the most part chose the opposition to the ministry.

Meanwhile, the policy of previous years created significant difficulties for the government. In Canada, the discord between the mother country and the local parliament assumed dangerous proportions. The Ministry received permission to suspend the Canadian constitution and sent the Earl of Dergham to Canada with extensive powers. Dergam acted energetically and skillfully, but the opposition accused him of abuse of power, as a result of which he had to resign his position.

The weakness of the government showed itself even more clearly in regard to Irish affairs. The Irish Tithes Bill could not be approved by the Ministry except by the complete removal of the appropriation clause.

Chartism

At that time, the radicals formed an extreme faction that developed the "People's Charter" - a petition to parliament, where they demanded universal suffrage, secret ballots, annually renewed parliaments, etc. Starting in the autumn of 1838, the Chartists raised a strong agitation at meetings, collected for petitions and convened at the beginning of 1839 the so-called national convention in London, looking for supporters among the working population of the factory cities. The uprising raised in the summer of 1839 was crushed; the main leaders of the Chartists were put on trial and sent into exile. Chartism achieved a reduction in the working day.

Foreign and domestic policy

The year 1850 began under more favorable conditions. In Ireland, Habeas Corpus was reinstated; thanks to freedom of trade, revenues gave a surplus of 2 million pounds, while the tax for the benefit of the poor was reduced by 400,000 pounds against the previous year.

In the discord between Russia and Austria, on the one hand, and Turkey, on the other, caused by the affair of the Hungarian fugitives, England took the side of the Porte. In January 1850, an English squadron suddenly appeared in sight of Athens demanding payment of old bills, among which in the foreground was the reward of the Portuguese Jew Pacifico, who was an English citizen, for damage to his house during popular unrest. The answer to the refusal of the Greek government was the blockade of all Greek harbors. Greece could only protest against such an abuse of power; the envoys of other states, in more or less energetic terms, voiced their reproach to England's course of action. A month later, the blockade was lifted; its consequence was the cooling of relations with France and Russia. Lord Stanley proposed to the upper house that the government should be reproved for its conduct in Greece.

This proposal was accepted, but the lower house, at the suggestion of Robuk, expressed formal approval of Palmerston's policy. However, the vote of the upper house was not without consequences. Palmerston realized the need to extricate himself from the isolated situation in which he had placed England, and the more diligently he tried to get closer to the great powers on the Schleswig-Holstein question, resolved by the London Protocols of July 4 and August 12, 1850.

A severe blow to the ministry was the sudden death of Robert Peel. At the same time, the Austrian General Gainau, who arrived in London, suffered a personal insult from the workers at the Barclay brewery, and since Palmerston was in no hurry to give satisfaction, this further aggravated mutual relations with Austria, whose policy in Germany, in particular the desire to include all Austrian lands into the German Confederation, provoked a decisive rebuff from England.

The Roman Curia prepared the Whig ministry for great difficulties. The Papal Breve of 30 September immediately appointed nine Catholic bishops for Great Britain; Cardinal Wiesemann received the title of Archbishop of Westminister. This revived in the English clergy and people a deep-seated hatred and aversion to Rome; the old “No Popery” click rang out again. In early 1851, Rossel introduced a bill of ecclesiastical titles, which forbade the adoption of the episcopal title to all clergy who did not belong to the state church, and declared invalid all donations made in favor of such persons. To liberals and even to some Peelites, this bill seemed too harsh, and in the eyes of zealous Protestants it was still too timid.

Meanwhile, the lower house, despite the protest of the ministry, adopted the proposal of Lock King to give the English and Welsh counties the same voting rights as the cities. A ministerial crisis ensued, culminating in the restoration of the former cabinet, as Lord Stanley, the leader of the protectionists, failed to form a stable cabinet and attract such people as Gladstone to it.

Politics took a backseat for a time thanks to the first World's Fair, which opened in London on May 1, 1851. A new source of weakness for the ministry was Lord Palmerston's conduct. True, he ensured that the Hungarian fugitives settled in Turkey, including Kossuth, were released; but on the other hand, the outcome of the struggle over Pacifico was a heavy defeat for him. The mediating commission elected on this matter recognized Pacifico's right to a reward of not more than 150 pounds sterling - and because of such and such a sum, the minister almost caused a European war.

Then there was a diplomatic break with Naples as a result of Gladstone's letters to the English envoys on the continent about the cruelties of the Neapolitan government.

The coup d'état that took place in France on December 2 was joyfully welcomed by Palmerston, without the knowledge of the ministry and the crown. Rossel took advantage of this to get rid of an uncomfortable comrade. Palmerston repaid him by introducing an amendment to one of the government proposals, the adoption of which caused the resignation of the ministry. This time, Lord Stanley (who received the title of Earl of Derby after the death of his father) managed to create a ministry (in February 1852). In the new cabinet, strictly Tory direction, he himself took the place of the first Lord of the Treasury, Disraeli received a portfolio of finance, and foreign affairs passed to the Earl of Malmesbury.

The ministry's protectionist sympathies led to renewed free-trade agitation. The Cobden League has reopened its operations; rallies were gathering all over the country and preparations were made for new elections. The government was in the lower house in an undeniable minority and owed its existence solely to the disagreements among the liberal parties. In view of all this, Disraeli spoke in favor of continuing the customs policy of his predecessors.

In July, the long-awaited dissolution of parliament followed, and new elections were called immediately. The ministry gained a few extra votes, but not enough to have a majority in parliament. A considerable loss for him was the death of Wellington (September 14), who enjoyed a pacifying influence on the parties. Disraeli's financial proposals were rejected by a majority of 19 votes, and the Tory ministry was forced to resign (December 1852).

The cabinet that replaced him was made up of various parties that had allied with each other to overthrow Derby. The Peelites had their representatives in it in the person of Lord Aberdeen (First Minister) and Gladstone, who received a portfolio of finances, the Whigs in the person of Lord John Rossel, and the radicals in the person of Molesworth and Baines. Palmerston received the Home Office.

Crimean War

Events in India were no less favorable. Since the capture of Delhi by the British, the center of gravity of the uprising has shifted to Oudh and its capital, Luknov. In March 1858, the main quarters of Luknov were taken by storm. In vain the leaders of the insurgents sought help in Nepal, the only Indian state that still retained signs of independence: the ruler of Nepal made an alliance with the British.

Lord Stanley, the talented son of the Earl of Derby, successfully carried out the plan for the reorganization of India. The dominance of the East India Company ceased, the board of directors was abolished, and instead the position of a special minister responsible to Parliament was established with a council of 15 members.

Shortly before this, the ministry had suffered a severe defeat on the question of the Jews. When the Bill for the Admission of the Jews to Parliament was for the third time rejected by the peers at the urging of Lord Derby, the opposition, indignant at such contempt for the decisions of the lower house, proposed to the House simple solution recognize Baron Rothschild as representative of the City of London. Lord Derby had to yield. He introduced a new bill of oath in the upper house, making it possible for the Jews to be admitted. This bill was passed by the Lords, after which Rothschild took his seat in the House of Commons.

In the same year, 1858, Lord Elgin concluded an agreement with Japan, which brought England huge trade advantages.

In England itself the reformist agitation assumed impressive dimensions in 1859; shortly before the opening of Parliament, Bright proposed a reform project of a purely democratic nature. The Ministry decided to introduce its own bill in order to appease public opinion with some concessions. The Whigs entered into an agreement with the Radicals to reject this bill, which did not meet with approval among the Tories. On 21 March, Lord John Rossel suggested to the House that the Reform Bill be inconsistent with the requirements of the country; this proposal was accepted by a majority of 39 votes. Following this, the dissolution of Parliament was announced.

This step aroused great excitement in the country, especially since the Ministry's foreign policy threatened with new dangerous complications. At the first sign of a clash between Austria and France in the Italian case, although the government assumed the guise of complete impartiality, it could be understood from its statements that it was inclined more towards the side of Austria, while sincere sympathy for the cause of Italian freedom prevailed among the people. The mediation proposed by Lord Malmesbury was rejected by Napoleon III.

The extensive naval armaments announced by the government, the strengthening of the Mediterranean fleet, Lord Derby's statement that England might find herself in need of occupying Trieste, the call for the formation of detachments of volunteers, even the proclamation of neutrality, interpreted in a favorable sense for Austria, all this supported in the public distrust of intentions ministers and influenced new elections. The fear of being drawn into the war to maintain European absolutism led the radicals to forget their dislike of Lord Palmerston.

Lord Rossel has reconciled himself with his longtime adversary; a coalition was formed from all the liberal factions, with the aim of overthrowing the conservative ministry, to which the new House of Commons expressed its distrust (June 1859). The Tories have fallen. Palmerston took over as First Minister, Rossel became Foreign Minister, and the rest of the portfolios were distributed to Whigs, Peelites, and Radicals. Ministers included Gladstone and Milner-Gibson. There was no more talk of diversion into the Adriatic Sea to protect Trieste; in alliance with Russia, an attempt was made to deflect the Prussian court from intervening in favor of Austria.

All other interests were pushed into the background by the North American crisis that broke out in early 1861. If the seemingly inevitable collapse of the proud republic caused a certain feeling of gloating in the British aristocracy, then the impact of the internecine war on the cotton industry, which fed a significant part of the working population of England, inspired serious fears. The budget introduced by Gladstone indicated a continuing improvement in finances. Revenues promised a surplus of almost 2 million, which is why the Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed not only to abolish the tax on paper, but also to lower the income tax. In order to deprive the Lords of the opportunity to reject the first of these measures a second time, the financial proposals of the ministry were not submitted to the upper house separately, but along with the budget, and although the Lords protested against this, but on the advice of Lord Derby they did not bring matters to a collision with the House of Commons.

The treaty between England, France and Spain, by virtue of which the demands made by these three powers on the Mexican government were to be supported by military force if necessary, indicated the intention of the allies to take advantage of the critical position of the alliance to interfere in the affairs of America.

Thanks to an unexpected incident, things suddenly took on such an acute character that a decisive break could be feared. The English mail steamer Trent, carrying the commissioners of the southern states of Mazon and Slidel, was detained by an American military corvette under the command of Captain Wilks, who arrested the commissioners and delivered them to New York. The news of this caused great indignation in England. The English envoy in Washington, Lord Lyons, immediately received an order to demand the extradition of the prisoners and satisfaction for the insult inflicted on the British flag. The government of President Lincoln understood that, under the given conditions, a break with England could have the most fatal consequences for the union. It expressed censure of the act of its officer and released the prisoners. The peaceful outcome of the clash was partly the work of Prince Albert. This was the last service rendered by him to his second fatherland. He died on December 14, 1861, sincerely mourned by the British nation.

The joint intervention in Mexican affairs undertaken by England, France and Spain had a completely unexpected outcome. Spain and England were not slow to see that the plans of the French emperor went much further than the original purpose of the expedition. First the British, then the Spanish troops left Mexico. This step could not but hurt the French emperor, but he hid his displeasure, because he needed further assistance from England for his transatlantic plans.

On October 30, 1862, Minister Drouin de Luis sent an invitation to the courts of London and St. Petersburg to take measures to end the internecine war in America, transparently hinting at the possibility of armed intervention. But the Petersburg court decisively rejected the French invitation, and Lord Rossel followed suit.

The revolution in Greece, which cost the throne to King Otto (October 1862), produced a new turn in the eastern policy of England. In order to prevent the election of the Prince of Leuchtenberg, the nephew of the Russian emperor, as king, it was decided to bring a territorial sacrifice to Greece. The Greeks were given to understand that if they made a choice pleasing to the British Cabinet, the latter intended to agree to the annexation of the Ionian Islands to the Greek kingdom.

The bombing of the London prison to free the arrested Fenians brought the Irish question back to the fore. Realizing the impossibility of resolving it by persecution alone, Gladstone, at the very beginning of the 1868 session, introduced three famous resolutions to Parliament, which stated the need to destroy the Irish state church. They were adopted by a majority of 65 votes. The ministry, headed by Disraeli because of Derby's illness, decided to remain in office and appeal to the people. On July 31, the last Parliament, elected under the Act of 1832, dissolved.

By the same time, the war with Abyssinia, caused by the refusal to release the captured British, ended successfully.

New elections gave a Liberal majority of 118 votes. Disraeli resigned; the drafting of the ministry was entrusted to Gladstone (December 1868). In addition to the members of the former Liberal Cabinet, John Bright and Adulamit Law, who managed to make peace with the Liberals, entered the ministry.

The 1869 session opened with the emancipation of a significant number of Fenians and the announcement of the imminent reinstatement of Habeas corpus in Ireland. On March 1, Gladstone introduced his Irish Ecclesiastical Bill into the lower house. He proposed to immediately stop issuing maintenance to Irish priests and to transfer all church property into the hands of a royal commission, which would take over the payment of lifetime income to the owners of spiritual places. Irish bishops were to lose their seats in the upper house, Irish ecclesiastical courts were to cease their activities. Of the 16.5 million worth of property of the Irish Church, she retained the right to only 6.5 million, while the remaining 10 million were to be used partly for public purposes, partly for the benefit of Catholics and Presbyterians. The lower house adopted this bill by a majority of 361 votes to 247. The House of Lords, although it approved it in the third reading, but with many amendments. Since these amendments were rejected by the lower house, and the Lords did not yield, at one time there were fears that the reform would not take place; but the conflict was resolved by a compromise between the Earl of Granville and Lord Cairnes, leader of the opposition.

After the resolution of the Irish ecclesiastical question, another reform, which was in connection with the Irish unrest, was to come next - namely, a change in land relations in Ireland. This constituted the main task of the 1870 session. Already on February 15, Gladstone introduced his Irish bill to the lower house. It was supposed to recognize for the farmers at the end of the lease term the right to remuneration for all the improvements and buildings they made; to make it easier for farmers, through grants from the state treasury, to purchase landed property, and for farmers to cultivate barren lands; finally, establish arbitration courts to resolve all disputes and misunderstandings between farmers and landowners. The bill passed in both chambers and on August 1 received the force of law. In addition, both Houses approved Forster's proposed new Public Education Act (originally for England and Wallis). The whole country was supposed to be divided into school districts and then figured out, since the schools in each district corresponded to the true needs of the population. Those districts in which the state of the schools proved to be satisfactory were to remain in the same position, while in the rest it was supposed to open a corresponding number of new schools. For these new schools, the following three basic rules were established:

• 1) conformity of teaching with the program legalized by the Parliament,
• 2) the supervision of government inspectors, regardless of religious differences,
• 3) complete freedom of conscience, by virtue of which none of the students can be forced, in addition to the will of their parents, to participate in religious teaching.

Acceptance or non-acceptance of these rules is left to the good will of the school authorities, but only if they are accepted, the school becomes entitled to an allowance from Parliament.

The English commissioners were greeted in London with noisy jubilations, as heralds of an "honorable peace" (Eng. peace with honor). Lord Hartington's motion to vote against the ministry's eastern policy was rejected by 388 votes to 195. Important legislative measures were out of the question during the 1878 session, in view of the predominance of foreign policy. The Home Ruler Party resumed its obstructive tactics on various occasions, but refrained from repeating scenes like last year's. An important event in history was the break between its moderate and revolutionary elements over the debate about the assassination of a large landowner, Count Leitrim.

Late Victorian period

Shortly after the closing of parliament, news came out of the Russian movement towards the Amu Darya and the arrival of the Russian embassy in Kabul. This was Russia's response to sending Indian troops to Malta. For his part, Lord Beaconsfield decided to abandon the policy of non-intervention in Afghanistan, which was followed by his predecessors. When the Afghan emir Shir-Ali did not agree to the presence of British residents in Kandahar and Herat, the Anglo-Indian army entered Afghanistan and quickly occupied the Peiwar Pass, thus removing one of the main obstacles on the way to Kabul.

At the beginning of 1879, Shir-Ali fled from Kabul and soon died. His successor, Yakub Khan, made peace with England.

In Ireland, the general excitement was supported by huge meetings. Parnell proposed a system of social ostracism against anyone who dared to rent land from which the previous tenants had been expelled, or who in any way would act against the land league. A whole series of violence was committed against judicial officials, land agents, farmers who remained faithful to the contracts of farmers and, in general, against all persons who for some reason were unpleasant to the league. All this aroused all the more fear because the perpetrators were not found and the police were powerless.

The government increased the size of the troops and brought to trial 14 major members of the Land League, including Parnell, on charges of insurrectionary agitation. To what extent the Irish people took to heart the means of social ostracism recommended by Parnell - this was shown by the story of Captain Boycott, a farmer and land agent in Mayo, after whom this whole system, which took on the character of a real terror, received the name boycott. Soon in Ireland, except for Ulster, there was not a single corner where the league did not have its branches and secret courts, whose members had at their disposal a terrible weapon of boycott. In the case of the members of the land league, the jury could not reach an agreement, and the trial was without result. At the beginning of 1881, a bill was proposed to parliament to suppress anarchy in Ireland and a land bill, which tended to transform agrarian relations. Homerulers declared their firm intention to slow down at all costs the first of these bills. The debate dragged on for 42 hours straight. At last the bill passed in the first reading; but already on the same day, with regard to the proposal for a second reading, the Home Rulers resumed their obstructive tactics.

The need for changes in the charter of the chamber itself became quite clear. Gladstone's proposal in this sense caused new stormy scenes. It was accepted, but the Irish deputies still managed to delay the approval of the bill for as many as 12 meetings. Then came the land bill. It contained the following main decrees: restriction of the landowner's right to refuse the farmer further maintenance of the lease; securing for farmers the cost of all improvements made by them on the leased plot; revision of excessively high rents by special appraisal offices, the determinations of which should be equally binding on both landowners and farmers; increase in lease terms; finally, the issuance of loans for the improvement or purchase of leased estates, for the uplifting of empty lands, as well as for the resettlement of the hopelessly impoverished. Despite many amendments, the bill remained unchanged in its essential points; but after considering him by the Lords, he returned unrecognized to the lower house. The Ministry expressed its willingness to make concessions, but rejected all amendments that violated the main purpose of the bill. The Lords stood their ground. Gladstone made a few more concessions, and finally the bill received royal assent (August 1881).

In April of the same year, Lord Beaconsfield died, who was succeeded as leader of the Conservative Party in the upper house by Lord Salisbury. A rebellion broke out in the Transvaal. Through the Orange Republic, negotiations were opened that ended in peace, based on the recognition of the supreme rights of the queen and the self-government of the Boers.

The government calmly looked at the occupation of Tunisia by France, but in advance declared its protest against the expansion of French influence in Tripoli.

Efforts to renew the Anglo-French trade treaty concluded by Cobden in 1860, in which Charles Dilck played an outstanding part on the English side, were defeated by the resistance of the French protectionists.

The Irish Land League was shut down by the government; appraisal offices for reviewing rent payments have opened their activities, reviving hopes for a better future. But already in the early days of 1882, a new fermentation of hostile elements was discovered. The secret societies of the Fenians tried to fill the gap left by the destruction of the landed league; they were supported by cash grants and emissaries from America.

Early in the 1882 session there was a clash between Gladstone and the upper house. The latter decided to elect a special commission to study the results of the Irish Land Bill. In Gladstone's opinion, such a commission, appointed by the landowners and in the interests of the landowners, could only have a harmful effect on the cause of pacification begun in Ireland. He proposed, therefore, that a reprimand be voted on the upper house, which was passed by a majority of 303 votes to 235.

The lords nevertheless elected a commission, but, not using the assistance of the government, it remained stillborn. The Tories themselves found it necessary to meet the requirements of the Land League and made a proposal to assist farmers in buying their leased plots with an allowance from the treasury, while at the same time demanding more severe measures against secret societies. The conciliatory mood was disturbed by the news of the assassination of the new Minister for Ireland, Lord Frederick Cavendish, and his comrade Bork in Phoenix Park, Dublin (May 6). This murder was the work of secret societies that did not want to hear about the agreement. Already on May 11, Harcourt introduced a bill on the prevention of crimes to the lower house, which, in addition to other measures to protect public safety, included permission to conduct house searches day and night, the appointment of emergency courts, the right to ban newspapers and public meetings. The bill was passed by both houses. Following this, Gladstone passed another bill designed to help the poorest Irish tenants.

In the field of foreign policy, Egyptian affairs were of primary interest. Back in the autumn of 1881, a military party was formed in Egypt under the leadership of Arabi Pasha, which openly became hostile to foreigners. In this regard, on June 11, 1882, there was an indignation of the mob in Alexandria, during which the British consul was wounded. On June 15, Gladstone formulated his Egyptian policy in Parliament in 3 main provisions: joint action with France, respect for the sovereign rights of the Porte, and the establishment of a lasting order in Egypt in the interests of Europe and with the approval of the great powers. The European conference that met in Constantinople (June 23) acted in the same spirit. But the slowness of the Porte, the aversion of France to armed intervention, and the more and more provocative mode of action of the Arabi soon forced England into a more energetic mode of action. On July 6, the British government sent Arabi Pasha a demand to suspend the fortress work he had begun in Alexandria, and since Arabi ignored this demand, on July 11 the British fleet under the command of Admiral Seymour opened fire on the Alexandrian forts.

On July 13, Arabi left the city, which was set on fire by the mob. Having occupied Alexandria, the British turned their forces against Arabi. The most outstanding English commander, Wolsley, was sent to Egypt, who already on August 13 won a brilliant victory over Arabi Pasha at Tel el-Kebir. The latter surrendered and was taken to the island of Ceylon.

By the end of the session, Gladstone's proposed changes to the parliamentary charter had been adopted. The most important of them was the so-called. closing rule closure), which gave the speaker the right, with the consent of the majority, to declare the debate over and the establishment of the so-called large committees (eng. grand committees) for the preliminary development of special issues that have so far been discussed in full session of the chamber. These two ordinances largely limit the possibility of abuse of freedom of speech. There have been important changes in the composition of the ministry. Bright retired immediately after the bombing of Alexandria. Gladstone ceded the financial portfolio to Childers, leaving only the post of First Minister, and new members entered the cabinet: Lord Derby, who openly went over to the liberal camp, and Charles Dilke, who belonged to the radical wing of the party.

In the 1883 session, the ministry still had a majority in the House of Commons. The law against the manufacture and sale of explosives passed in both houses on the same day. Thanks to the large committees elected under the new parliamentary statutes, the chamber passed with unusual speed the laws introduced by the ministry on insolvency, on abuses in parliamentary elections and on the protection of the rights of inventors. In the same way, though not without strong resistance, a law was passed to improve the living conditions of English and Scottish farmers.

In Ireland, things were still going on. How far the network of Fenian conspiracies stretched was proved by the murder of Carey, one of the crown witnesses in the trial against the killers in Phoenix Park; he was killed on a British steamer just as he was about to disembark on the African coast.

In Egypt, things have become more complicated due to the riots that broke out in the Sudan. Back in 1882, a national-religious movement arose there, headed by the Mahdi (prophet) Mohammed-Ahmed. On November 1, 1883, he utterly defeated the Egyptian army, commanded by British officers, and a few days later another detachment suffered a severe defeat at Suakim. A nationwide outburst of indignation led Gladstone to agree to the dispatch of General Gordon to the Sudan as governor-general. Gordon immediately hurried to his destination, but was poorly supplied with troops and money. The Egyptian army under the command of the Englishman Baker was utterly defeated (February 11, 1884) by Osman Digma at El Teb, and Gordon himself was forced to lock himself in Khartoum, without provisions and with a garrison overflowing with traitors. The whole nation demanded that the brave general not be abandoned to the mercy of fate, and the ministry decided to send General Volsley to his rescue. But before the advance detachment of the new army reached Khartoum, the city surrendered from starvation and Gordon was killed (January 26, 1885). Volsley was ordered to retreat. By the end of May, all British military forces had returned to Upper Egypt.

If, despite the unwelcome outcome of the Egyptian affairs, the chamber rejected the censure of the ministry proposed by the Thorii, this is due to the fact that a number of reforms in the field domestic policy Gladstone managed to acquire reliable supporters among the radicals. Among these reforms, the first place was occupied by a new electoral law, which eliminated the difference between rural and urban voters and granted suffrage in the counties to every tenant of an apartment; moreover, the suffrage was granted to servants who had a qualification of 10 pounds. Thus, 2 million new voters were created. The lower house passed this bill on June 26, 1884, but the upper house decided not to proceed to the second reading until the ministry introduced its bill for the distribution of constituencies. Gladstone did not agree to this demand.

Under the influence of attacks from the press, the lords yielded; the electoral bill was passed by them. Soon after, the other half of the reform was carried out: many small towns were deprived of the right to have their own special deputy, the number of representatives from large cities was increased, the counties were divided into electoral districts with approximately equal population. Gladstone's weak success in foreign policy, and on the other hand, his courtesy to the radicals and Irish autonomists, had long since caused a rift between him and the moderate Whigs. This led to the fact that when on June 3, 1885, regarding the budget, Geeks Beach introduced a resolution expressing no confidence in the government, the latter was defeated and resigned.

The composition of the new cabinet was entrusted to the head of the Tories, the Marquis of Salisbury. He himself took over the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Northcote, who at that time had passed with the title of Lord Iddesley to the upper house, became president of the Privy Council, Geeks Beach was in charge of finance, and Lord Churchill was in charge of the Indian Office.

The new cabinet rather happily pursued its foreign policy: relations with Germany, shaken by the latter's success in Africa, improved, disagreement with Russia over the Afghan borders was settled, General Prendergast occupied Burma, and already on January 1, 1886, the Viceroy of India proclaimed the accession of Burma to British Empire.

In the meantime, at the beginning of December, 1885, a parliamentary election took place on the basis of a new electoral law, which brought the Liberals a significant number of votes due to the assistance of rural electors who wished to express their gratitude to Gladstone and his friends for the political rights granted to them. A total of 333 Liberals, 251 Tories and 86 Irish autonomists were elected. In Parliament, the Irish united with Gladstone's friends, and already on January 26, 1886, the Salisbury cabinet was defeated over the address. The Tories have retired.

Since the moderate Whigs, like Lord Hartington and Goshen, kept aloof, the cabinet was made up mainly of Gladstone's friends and radicals - Lord Rosbery, Childers, Morley, Chamberlain. Gladstone immediately introduced two bills to the lower house to pacify Ireland. One of them was supposed to use a redemption operation to convert large landed property, which was exclusively in the hands of the British, into free peasant possession, and the other - to grant Ireland a native government and a special people's parliament. The new Irish Parliament was to be composed of 2/3 elected members and 1/3 appointed by the British government. All matters relating to Ireland were to be subject to his jurisdiction, with the exception of foreign policy, customs and military matters; instead, Irish members lost their seats in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

There was fierce opposition in the country against this last bill; he was attacked not only by all the conservatives, but also by the moderate Whigs, with Lord Hartington at their head; even many radicals spoke out against the law, the consequence of which would be such a far-reaching separation between Ireland and England. Chamberlain left the office with his friend Trevelyan. The Irish Autonomy Act was rejected in the lower house (June 7) by a majority of 341 to 311. Gladstone appealed to the country, but after an unusually excited electoral struggle, the people spoke out, in July 1886, against the ministry. In the new parliament, apart from 86 Irish autonomists, only 191 supporters of Gladstone got into the new parliament, while the Tories received 317 seats, and the Liberal Unionists - 76.

Since Hartington refused to enter the Cabinet, Salisbury formed a purely Thorian ministry, which included, among other things, Lord Iddesley, Geeks Beach, Lord Churchill and Cranbrook. Ireland responded to the overthrow of Gladstone's ministry with new agrarian crimes and street riots. Dillon and O'Brien, the leaders of the national league that had taken over from the old land league, were recruiting supporters everywhere for their "plan for a new campaign." Under this plan it was supposed to appoint trustees from the league to fix the rent on every private estate in Ireland; if the landlords do not accept the estimates made by these trustees, then the tenants must completely stop paying rent. Irish MPs tried to embarrass the government in the lower house, but Parnell's amendment to the address was rejected along with his land bill, which was supposed to reduce rent by 50%.

At the end of 1886 and at the beginning of 1887 some changes took place in the ministry. First of all, Lord Churchill unexpectedly resigned. His place was offered to the leader of the Liberal Unionists, Lord Hartington, who himself refused to accept the position, but persuaded his friend Goshen to enter the ministry as Chancellor of the Exchequer. This marked the beginning of a rapprochement with moderate Whigs. Then Lord Iddesley and Geeks Beach came out of the ministry; the latter was replaced by Balfour, Salisbury's nephew.

The unrest in Ireland forced the government, at the end of March 1887, to submit a draft of a new pacifying law. Despite strong opposition from Gladstone supporters and Irish MPs, the ministry's proposal won a majority and went into effect in June 1887.

In August 1887, the Irish National League was closed as a dangerous society, and its branches were dissolved; the consequence of this was new perturbations.

In April, the Imperial Conference opened in London. Imperial conference) of all British colonies in order to more closely tie the ties between the colonies and the mother country.

In the field of foreign policy, a disagreement arose with France over the New Hebrides, which was soon settled; there were misunderstandings with Russia on questions of the Afghan borders and on Bulgarian affairs. When, after a long interregnum, the Bulgarians elected Ferdinand of Coburg as prince, the St. Petersburg cabinet turned to the Porte with a demand to recognize the illegality of this election. But England, supported by Austria and Italy, refused to join this demand, and the appointment of Queen Victoria with Emperor Franz Joseph, in April 1888, apparently, did not remain without influence that Austria and England adopted a hostile position in the Bulgarian question. Russia.

In Ireland, despite special laws and emergency courts, agrarian unrest did not stop. Strong irritation was caused in the country by the statement of the Roman Curia (1888), which in harsh terms condemned the boycott system. The Irish replied that they did not intend to borrow their policy from either Italy or England, and categorically refused to stop the measures of violence condemned by the Pope. In August, Parliament debated a motion to set a trial for Parnell, accused by The Times of being an accomplice to the assassins of Cavendish and Bork. Parnell, without waiting for the decision of a committee appointed by Parliament, launched a libel suit against The Times; Pigot, who delivered the letters compromising Parnell to The Times, confessed to the forgery and committed suicide (February 1889).

Parnell's trial with The Times made a deep impression in the country. The series of private elections that followed showed that the Tory cabinet was losing ground more and more. The new trial of Parnell, convicted of illegal cohabitation with a married woman (whom, however, he later married), alienated Gladstone's supporters from him and produced a split in the bowels of the Irish autonomists themselves, who demanded that Parnell temporarily renounce the leadership of the party and, in general, the parliamentary activities. The most important internal measure that marked the rule of the conservative ministry in recent years was the transformation of local government on more democratic lines.

This new law came into force on April 1, 1889. In the same year, a special Ministry of Agriculture was established. In 1890, £33 million was allocated to assist Irish tenants in buying their leased estates; in 1891 a new bill was passed, directed to the same end, and providing tenants who were compulsorily removed for non-payment of rent to sell their leasehold rights to others within a five-year period. The Conservative majority in the House of Commons, although reduced (through separate elections favorable to the Liberals), is still strong enough to prevent the adoption of radical reforms, such as free primary education, rejected (February 1890) by a majority of 223 votes against 163. Budgetary surpluses are used, however, for the development of public education and the improvement of the position of public teachers. The Queen's request to allocate special sums for the maintenance of her grandchildren (the son and daughter of the Prince of Wales) was opposed by the leaders of the radical party, Labouchere and Morley. The House of Commons agreed only to a slight increase in funds allocated personally to the Queen (August 1889).

As in 1889, so in 1890, there were great strikes of workers in London and other large cities in England.

English troops took part in the defeat of the dervishes, who invaded Egypt from the south.

Disagreements arose between the USA and Great Britain because of the freedom of navigation on the Bering Sea, between France and England - because of fishing off the coast of Newfoundland (1890). England recognized the rights of France to Madagascar, France - the rights of England to Zanzibar (established in accordance with the Zanzibar Treaty of 1890 with Germany).

1899 - the beginning of the Anglo-Boer War.

Fight for Africa

Long-standing misunderstandings between England and Germany on the question of the South African possessions of both powers were put to an end by the treaty of July 1, 1890, according to which Germany made great concessions to England in Africa, but instead received the island of Heligoland from England.

In Africa, however, there were occasions for a strife between Portugal and England, which at one time threatened war.

In 1891, Parnell, who failed to return to his former role as leader of the Irish autonomists.

Victorian morality

Values ​​professed by the middle class and supported by both the Anglican Church and the opinion of the bourgeois elite began to prevail in society. The values ​​and energy of the middle class formed the basis of all the achievements of the Victorian era.

Sobriety, punctuality, diligence, frugality and thrift were valued even before the reign of Victoria, but it was in her era that these qualities became the dominant norm. The queen herself set an example: her life, completely subordinated to duty and family, was strikingly different from the lives of her two predecessors. Much of the aristocracy followed suit, abandoning the flashy lifestyle of the previous generation. So did the qualified part - Queen Victoria, June 20, 1837 Victorian era (1837 1901) the period of the reign of Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India. In the field of economics, the industrial revolution and the development of capitalism continued during this period. For ... Wikipedia

The era of Jacob is the conventional name for the period of English and Scottish history, coinciding with the reign of King James VI (reigned: 1567 1625), the ruler of Scotland, who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as Jacob I. The era of Jacob ... ... Wikipedia

- (second half of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century) the period in English history, in which art and poetry, music and theater flourished, lived in this era famous people, such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, in the history of the era ... ... Wikipedia, Pavlishcheva N. The legendary Queen Victoria. A living symbol of the British monarchy, behind the mask of royal equanimity hid a unique strong personality with an amazing fate. She ascended...

The Victorian era, like any other, is characterized by its own unique features. When they talk about it, then, as a rule, there is a feeling of sadness, because it was a time of high moral standards, which is unlikely to return.

This period was characterized by the flourishing of the middle class, high standards of relations were established. For example, such qualities as: punctuality, sobriety, diligence, diligence, economy and economy have become a model for all residents of the country.

The most significant thing for England at that time was the absence of hostilities. The country did not wage wars at that time and could concentrate its funds for internal development, but this is not the only characteristic feature of that time, it was also distinguished by the fact that it was precisely in this era that the rapid growth of English industry began.

During this period, the young She ascended the throne and was not only wise, but also a very beautiful woman, as her contemporaries noted. Unfortunately, we mostly know of her portraits, where she is in mourning and no longer young. She wore lifelong mourning for her husband, Prince Albert, with whom she lived happy years. The subjects called their marriage ideal, but revered. dreamed of being like the queen respected by all.

An interesting fact is that during the reign of Queen Victoria, a custom arose for Christmas to decorate the Christmas tree and give gifts to children. The initiator of this innovation was the Queen's husband.

Why is the Victorian era famous, why do we often remember it, what was so special about it? First of all, it is an industrial boom that began in England and led to rapid changes in the country. The Victorian era in England forever destroyed the old, familiar, old and very stable way of life. There was literally no trace left of it before our eyes, it uncontrollably disintegrated, changing the attitude of the inhabitants. At that time, mass production was developing in the country, the first photography studios, the first postcards and souvenirs in the form of porcelain dogs appeared.

The Victorian era is also the rapid development of education. For example, in 1837, 43% of the population in England were illiterate, but in 1894 only 3% remained. At that time, the printing industry also developed at a rapid pace. It is known that the growth of popular periodicals has grown 60 times. The Victorian era is characterized by rapid social progress, it made the inhabitants of their country feel at the very center of world events.

It is noteworthy that at that time the writers were the most respected people in the country. For example, Charles Dickens, a typical Victorian writer, left a huge number of works in which moral principles are subtly noticed. In many of his works, defenseless children are depicted and retribution is necessarily shown to those who unfairly treated them. Vice is always punishable - this is the main direction of social thought of that time. This was the Victorian era in England.

This time was characterized not only by the flourishing of science and art, but also by a special style in clothing and architecture. In society, everything is subject to the rules of "decency". Suits and dresses, both for men and women, were strict but refined. Women, going to the ball, could wear jewelry, but they could not afford to put on makeup, as this was considered the lot of women of easy virtue.

Victorian architecture is a special property of that time. This style is loved and popular so far. It has luxury and a variety of decorative elements, it is attractive to modern designers. The furniture of that time was solemn, with stucco lush forms, and many chairs with high backs and curved legs are still called "Victorian".

A lot of small tables with oddly shaped ottomans and, of course, paintings and photographs were an indispensable attribute of every decent house. Tables were always covered with long lace tablecloths, and heavy, multi-layered curtains covered the windows. It was a style of luxury and comfort. This is how the stable and prosperous middle class lived in the Victorian era, which ensured the prosperity of England for many years.

Victorian architecture is, first of all, a successful mixture of such styles as: neo-gothic, styles, and also there are elements in it. Architects used rich details with pleasure, used bright decorative techniques. This style is characterized by very high windows that resembled an inverted shield, elegant wood paneling, traditional granite fireplaces, and fences with majestic Gothic spiers.