Political Evolution of the UK during the Modern European Period

Like most monarchies, the English monarchy gained power with the decline of feudalism in the 14th and 15th centuries. Strong monarchs such as Elizabeth I brought power to the nation through military achievement, such as the Spanish Armada, and its own national religion began by Henry VIII. However, after a brief abuse of power that included the parliamentary ignorance of James I and Charles I, the radical Oliver Cromwell was able to seize power in the English Civil War. After capturing power and running the country under a military dictatorship for nearly 15 years, Charles II was restored to the throne. However, the people still sought reform and after a brief period the Glorious Revolution ousted Charles and instilled William and Mary as the heads of a constitutional monarchy. As the years progressed, kings and queens such as Anne were muddled in wars, both in Europe and in the Americas. After the American Revolution weakened foreign power, Britain had to deal with the conflict of Napoleon and his growing power in the early 1800's. In a dual struggle to keep out the ideals of the French Revolution and to stop Napoleon from spreading his power, Lloyd George helped to return Europe to conservatism and to restore the balance of power in Europe at the Congress of Vienna. Unfortunately for men like George, chartism and other movements would challenge monarchs and leaders to reform the systems which they had worked hard to build. The politics of Great Britain, however, proved deadly in the events of World War I and II. While there were few major blunders in World War I, the monarchy was tested like others and an economic depression that followed made the politics of England and other countries very cautious. Led by the notorious Neville Chamberlain, Britain allowed Germany to run rampant over the continent in the name of appeasement, only to finally step in after it was nearly too late. At the conclusion of World War II, power for the monarchy, which had already been limited, became nearly non-existent. Though little reform occured, it was clear that the Prime Minister was far more powerful. In the early 1990's, strong ministers such as Margaret Thatcher began to bring Britain back from the power loss it had suffered after World War II and put it back on the political map of major powers. Today, Britain is stable politically under the leadership of a strong prime minister and a parliament that finally gets its say, and uses kings and queens such as the current Elizabeth as figureheads.