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指导英国essay On the Rise and Fall of Great Britain
摘要：英国的兴衰史犹如抛弧线一般，从一个不起眼的岛国逐渐发展到崛起到达到顶峰最后又逐渐衰落并回到欧洲，回到开始的地方——大西洋上的岛国。在这起起伏伏的历程中，风云变化，一切都不可预测，万物瞬息变化。到底是什么导致了它的起伏，是日益聚集的国家意识，是集中统一的王权，是暴力的革命，是生产力的大解放，还是战争？也许这一切都是，又或许它们只是冰山一角。
本文将从三个方面来论述英国兴衰的过程并探究其中的因果关系：英国的崛起，顶峰，到回到欧洲。最后从文化中的创新和保守对制度的行与废产生的影响出发，总结全篇。
在英国的崛起过程中，本文强调国家意识的形成和统一国家在这个过程中的作用。毫无疑问的是，英国的封建统治在一定程度上确实为其资本主义的发展创造了条件，起到了铺垫的作用。其中，对商业贸易和海外殖民的扩张政策的鼓励尤为突出。当然，因为本身的民族特点，它在崛起中始终保持着中立与欧洲内陆的外交政策。这些在崛起到到达顶峰的转折过程中都不同程度上发挥着不可替代的作用。
在英国的顶峰时期，本文侧重于两个表现：“日不落帝国”和“世界工厂”。“日不落帝国”是其殖民统治发展到顶峰的表现，也是它在政治上走出欧洲，站立世界的表现，当然也为后文介绍它的衰落做了一个铺垫。“世界工厂”，毫无疑问，点明了它在经济上取得的巨大成就。借此本文进一步探究了英国生产力发展的原因——资产阶级革命和工业革命。
在英国回到欧洲的现状里，本文侧重讲解由于帝国的衰落，殖民地的丧失以及固有文化的保守性而导致英国的衰落。而它衰落的过程又无一不体现在两次世界大战中，之后英国便沦为二流国家。这一切归因于文化中的创新与保守在制度行与废上作用。
Abstract：
Britain's prosperity and decline history is just like throws the arc to some extent-----develops gradually from a commonplace island country to the crest,and then gradually declines, finally returns to Europe, returns to the place - - Atlantic's island country,from which it starts. In this fluctuation's course, the wind and cloud changes, all may not predict that myriad things twinkling change.What has caused its fluctuation, is national consciousness which gathers day by day, or is the centralism unified royal power, or is the violence revolution, or is emancipation of productivity , or is it a war? Perhaps they all played a role, or perhaps they were only the tips of the iceberg.
This article will elaborate the British prosperity and decline process from three aspects : Britain's rising, the crest, returning to Europe. Simultaneously, it will find out its deep causes behind the surface . At length , it will make a summary on the basis of the influence of its cultural conservatism and creativeness which affected whether the policy was applied or not .
On the growth of Great Britain , the article emphasizes the fundamental function of the national consciousness and the unified country . Undoubtedly , Britain's feudal rule, to a certain extent,has created the condition for its capitalism's development and played an upholstery role. Among them, promotion of the development of trade and industry and the encouragement of overseas expansion are outstanding because of their great influence . Of course, foreign policy of preserving the balance of power in Europe is maintaining throughout of the growth owing to its national and cultural characteristics . All of those could not be replaced in the history due to their tremendous benefits on the development of Great Britain.
On the prosperity, it attaches great importance to the two aspects :"the Sun-Never-Setting Empire" and "workshop of the world " . The former one indicated its top colonial rule in the world , as the same time , it showed that Britain had walked out of Europe and stood out in the world. Surely , it also foreshadowed the decline of Britain because of its empire . "workshop of the world " reflected its great achievement on the economy ,which led us to think over its causes :The English Bourgeois Revolution and The Industrial Revolution.
On the Europe's present situation , this article stresses the explanation as a result of the empire decline, colony forfeit as well as the inherent cultural conservative nature on Britain's decline. But its decline manifests in two world wars, afterward Britain then degenerates into the second-class country. All in all , the cultural creativeness and conservatism plays great role in the application and the abandonment of policy .
Key words: growth--prosperity--back to Europe creativeness--conservatism
Content
I Growth of England
1.1The English Nation Awareness
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is made up of Great Britain , Northern Ireland , and a number of smaller islands around them . That is to say , U.K is a island country in the Atlantic ocean , with a population of about 56 million and a total area of some 240000 square kilometres . It is a very small country in the sense of its area and population. But just as this island country , it first stood in the forest of nations , leaving us a trail of questions to evaluate and think about the reason .
As far as I am concerned , in the light of community and peoples , nation awareness takes the priority over other reasons and becomes one of its foundation of strong nation . It is the nation awareness that makes people unite as a whole and fight as an one , which , undoubtedly , will be of great benefit for nation power and country prosperity . I will explain it in the following parts .
Dating back to ancient times , it was more like a history of being invaded and plundered. For instance, the Roman army, commanded by Julius Caesar , invades England in the first century B.C.. In the first century A.D., the Roman army invaded it for the second time. After that , invaders from Ireland and Scotland began to plunder and kill the weak and defenseless Britons in England . Finally came to Anglo-Saxons , who helped English fight against its enemy ,but refused to go and settled down finally . It was not an end of invasion . There came a new wave of invasion and colonization which produced lasting influence on parts of Britain . It was an invasion by the Danes from North Europe. What should be emphasized is that those invaded Britain not at the same time . They came stringing along for more than one hundred and fifty years, a few boatloads at a time . Each batch of invaders had a chieftain or king, so England at that time was divided into many kingdoms . Though warring and fighting , the number of kingdoms was gradually reduced and finally all England was united under one king .
The reduction of kingdoms takes a very small part of wakening nation awareness . It was the Hundred Years' War between England and France that made a big difference of nation awareness . Briefly speaking , because of the appearance of Parliament , the England gradually developed into a strong nation and the bourgeoisie had gained more say on state affairs. Since trade was still the main source of wealth for the new-born bourgeoisie , it certainly desired to expand markets while the nobility was covetous of rich land on the Continent . During about the same time , France had also become a strong state. It also wanted t enlarge its spheres of influence. Hence the conflict between these two countries along with the English king's desire to regain lost territory led to the Hundred Years' War.
The result of the war deprived the English king of his possessions on the continent . But it wakened the nation awareness in the English people's mind . After losing their territory on the continent, the ruling Normans began to regard England as their home and think of themselves as belonging to the English nation.
From then on , the English people did not take "England" just as a name of geography for granted , they knew they were different from those states in the continent . They were civilians of the same country . That meant a lot . That is to say , they were not separated as thousand but united as an one , no matter what they were going to pursue or what they were to confront with , they would be bound up together for their common interests and the future of their generations . As the saying of President Lincoln "united as we stand , divided as we fall ." . That is the magic of nation awareness --- Unity.
1.2 Concentration of State Power
As I have mentioned , in the Hundred Years' War , the nation awareness has been increased greatly , simultaneously , as the end of the Wars of the Roses came to the new age in English history . Simply speaking , the war has greatly reduced the power of nobles and destroyed many big feudal households , hence , the position of the Tudor Monarchy , which ascended the throne in the person of King Henry VII, was greatly strengthened . The advantages of this were the concentration of state power , which , in the other hand , was of benefit to the Growth of England . We can have a short look from its policies .
Promotion of the development of trade and industry
Foreign policy of preserving the balance of power in Europe
Encouragement of piracy
Encouragement of overseas expansion
Those policies played a great role in the growth of England , not only in international market , but also in the accumulation of wealth . It helped to prepare the conditions for the establishment of the capitalist mode of production in England and need for capitalist development .
Taken the two factors into consideration , the Tudor Monarchy served as the transitional stage from feudalism to capitalism in English history . It prepared soil for a centralized government and helped the increase of bourgeoisie .#p#分页标题#e#
1.3 Transition
With the awareness of nation and the concentration of power, the England has come to its new stage . At that stage, many adventures had happened , among which we should pay attention to three events related three aspects of its growth . That is the fast development of clothing industry,the discovery of New Lands and the Renaissance in England .
Development of clothing
Owing to its warm moist climate and lush grasslands, the clothing industry has developed rapidly , under the ruling of the Tudor Monarchy . What should be emphasized is that the clothing industry showed its capitalist nature -----Property right was separated from production and labour was divided into several parts . Its development encouraged other industries growth and renewed the national economy . The immediate industry was the sheep-farming industry ,which ,directly aroused the appearance of Enclosures .
Tudor Monarchy did not forbid the action , on the contrary , in some degree , promoted the development of clothing industry and the Enclosures . It is the transition from attachment of mercantilism to industry. As a result , the accumulation of capital rapid . A new class , the capitalist class , was growing rapidly .
Discovery of New Lands
With the development of commodity production and international trade , England felt the impact resulting from the shortage of gold and silver , as well as the market. They desperately need to strength the links with Asia and else where .But the traditional routes from Europe to Asia were cut off because of the robbery started by the Mongols and the Turks who captured Constantinople in 1453. In order to solve the problem , during the 15th century and 16th century , many explorers flocked from Europe to Asia and America.
The discovery of New Lands and adventurous voyages enlarged man's field of vision and broke the old traditional mentality, speeding up social and economic development . During this time , the England has increased its social stature around the world . It is the transition of the beginning of the world power and nation statures .
Renaissance in England
The Renaissance was not started in the England firstly, and , to some degree , it came to England very late compared to European countries . It was during the Tudor Monarchy that Renaissance finally found its way to England and played a great role in the mental field of English . As a matter of fact, Tudor Monarchy supported and witnessed the spreading of the Renaissance .
The Renaissance was a great emancipation movement in the spiritual world. It attached great importance to the human happiness and power . From that on , people discovered their creative power and began to believe that man could make wonders through their own efforts. And they had the right to enjoy beauty in the life and strive to make it happier . It is the transition of humans knowledge and beliefs .
1.4 Conflict
Generally speaking , the England has gradually grown and everything has been prepared for its prosperity but the feudalism . Even though the Tudor Monarchy seemed done much to its capitalism development, its descent chose an upright down road , which leaves us a trail of imagination of the future .
II The Prosperity of England
As we have discussed in the previous parts, the nation awareness ,the unity of a British kingdom and the polices during the Tudor Monarchy have prepared soil for the development of England , but its peak time is not coming yet , until the Industrial Revolution. Of course , there are more reasons contributing to its prosperity . In the following parts, we will continue discussing about some important events in the British history , together with analyses behind the surface .
This part will be divided into three small parts---the English Bourgeois Revolution ,Industrial Revolution , the expansion of colonization .The English Bourgeois Revolution , politically , ended the feudalism and started the establishment of capital management . While the Industrial Revolution , basically , promoted the productivity , which absolutely has an entire impact on its society both politically and economically ,as long as culturally . The expansion of colonization , is the direct reason of being a sun-never-setting empire . Its influence will be discussed in the following part, owing to its immediate relationship with England decline .
2.1 The English Bourgeois Revolution
It broke out in the 17th century. On one hand , the Wars of the Roses , the Enclosures, the Reformation and the geographical discovery of the New World had greatly weakened the feudal noble class and sped up "primitive accumulation of capital". On the other hand , the relations between the Monarchy and the bourgeoisie became worse after the Elizabeth's reign .
James I was capable , knowledge , vigorous and energetic but very despotic . His "Diving Right of Kings " was not good for the development of capitalism . He alienated himself from so many people that class contradictions became acute and complicated because of his behaviours and stubborn beliefs . But yet , he managed his reign . However , after his death , Charles I was not that lucky like his father , JameI. Charles I was incapable , stubborn , war-like , despotic and tyranny . http://www.ukassignment.org/dxygessay/2012/0301/19294.html During those years , economic conditions were deteriorating. Finally , the English Bourgeois Revolution broke out .
The revolution was not soothing but complicated . Until the parliament declared the throne vacant and proclaimed Williarm and Mary t be joint sovereign . This is called Glorious Revolution . As a matter of fact , this marked the real beginning of the constitutional monarchy in the England . After that , the main concern in the kingdom was shifted from internal political struggle to economic problems and foreign expansion .
2.2 the Industrial Revolution
Starting in the textile industry in the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution is an emancipation of productivity . It began after the Bourgeois Revolution ,partly because the Britain focused its effort on economic development . It means the invention and appliance of various machines in production and the changes which transformed Britain from a predominantly rural and agricultural country into a mainly urban and manufacturing one.
As a matter of fact , the Industrial Revolution changed the whole England , ranging from the industrial transition to the social life and culture . But at this part , we focus more on the production capacity . After the revolution , England was entitled as the "workshop of the world " . English products flooded the world market . At that time , no country was strong enough to match England in the 19th century . And this is what I called "Peak".
2.3 the Sun-Never-Setting Empire
The Industrial Revolution had greatly promoted its productivity . More factories had been built . More goods had been produced . But capital class found it hard to make them satisfied because of the shortage of market . What's more, with the application of machines , the higher unemployment gave birth to the viewpoint that Britain was overpopulated . So the expansion of colony was put on the table . As a result , England tried everything they could to expense its colony . It suppressed the revolt of the Canadians , started the Opium War against China in 1840,fought the Russians in the crimea War, and took over the control in India and so forth . At that time , England was named "the Sun-Never-Setting Empire". This is another evidence that England had reached its peak .
2.4 Party's polity
Politically , England reached its peak because of being the first country of Party's polity . If we call America as the top powerful country in the world nowadays , then we could call Britian as a leader at that time .
III Back to Europe
We have discussed the growth and prosperity in the previous parts , and we will discus its decline in the following parts .
Owing to its culture , Britain people are conservative. This character does no good when it comes to reforming and apply new theory . When the second industrial revolution took place, Britain was too addicted into its previous success and its glory , thus it did not catch the opportunity well . What's more , the sun-never-setting empire pulled its pace back due to the complexity of colonies and the extend of power control . Finally , it became a burden of its development because Britain thought it could rely on the colonies and achieved what other countries did . To some degree , it is true , but just in short terms.
The War I and War II proved the decline of Britain. After that , Britain became the second-classed developed country , even nowadays .
During its growth , Britain started to walk out of itself and the Europe ; at its peak, Britain dominated the world and became the leader of the world ; now, it came back to Europe and itself .
IV Conclusion and Reflection
Throughout the Rise and Fall of Great Britain, there is a rule all over its history . The rule is conservatism and creativeness . When we view the history , we could find that during its growth and prosperity , it is the creativeness that lead its development . Its obvious application was the policies' establishment and abandonment . While during its decline , it is the conservatism that played the big picture . Similarly , we could find clues in the application of new theory .
Studying the history will help us find our own way of developing and adjusting as we could learn lessons from it ,whether it is a success or failure . According to the rise and fall of Britain ,what we should do , as a developing country at the challenge and opportunity filling stage , is to catch the opportunity and encourage reforming and study new theory . On in this way can we pace with fast developing world and make a difference right now and in the future .
Reference: An Outline Introduction to Britain and America#p#分页标题#e#
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