Britain in the 20th Century: Responses to Decline, 1895-1914 - Professor Vernon Bogdanor

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  • čas přidán 11. 08. 2011
  • It was during these years that British statesmen first came to appreciate that her international and economic position was under threat. The growth of German and American economic power exposed the fragility of Britain's hitherto unquestioned pre-eminence. Imperialism was the first response to decline, social reform the second. It was these years that saw the first stirrings of a new collectivism in the 'New Liberalism'.
    The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:
    www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and...
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Komentáře • 41

  • @BudFieldsPPTS
    @BudFieldsPPTS Před 10 lety +17

    "We do not insure people against illness. We insure people against insecurity." Lloyd George

    • @VanlifewithAlan
      @VanlifewithAlan Před 9 lety +3

      Bud Fields Surely that is why we buy insurance? Peace of mind.

  • @TheGodlessGuitarist
    @TheGodlessGuitarist Před 12 lety +3

    @TheLiberalKnight "Tell me a bit about yourself, then. What do you believe in?"
    I believe in compassion, our creativity, our natural rights and freedoms, I believe this planet is as much yours and mine as it is anyone else's, and I believe we need to start taking care of it instead of plundering it with reckless abandon because we wont get another. I believe in taking responsibility for what we do, and cleaning up our own yards instead of poking around in other people's. I believe in friendship

  • @TheGodlessGuitarist
    @TheGodlessGuitarist Před 12 lety +3

    @TheLiberalKnight "I also believe that many races and peoples benefited from being ruled"
    Your neighbour might think your wife and children would benefit from him murdering you and enslaving them, and no doubt he will go on telling himself that, if he thinks like you that is.
    This is the example we have been setting for the world that you are so proud of. As I said, overblown pride leads to calousness.

  • @TheGodlessGuitarist
    @TheGodlessGuitarist Před 12 lety +4

    @TheLiberalKnight "Our youngsters are taught to be ashamed of our history whereas we should be proud of it."
    Our own pride and shame are things we need to watch closely in ourselves because unchecked and over blown they lead to calousness and nihilism. I don't believe in indoctrination but in the freedom to explore our own creativity bounded only by the principle of consequence i.e. whatever we, do we should expect others to emulate. If you behave like an empire then expect the same back.

  • @zobielamouche1
    @zobielamouche1 Před 8 lety +4

    the question that arises is not "why the decline" but "how could the english rise to such rulers over the world, from scotland to fiji"!

    • @th8257
      @th8257 Před 4 lety +4

      I suspect your question may be rhetorical, but a short answer might be "geographical and geological luck". The UK was perfectly placed to take advantage of the new trade with the new world, and had an awful lot of the raw material needed to power it all - coal.

  • @TheGodlessGuitarist
    @TheGodlessGuitarist Před 12 lety

    @TheLiberalKnight
    how much did our insitutions benefit the bolshevics we gassed during the Russian revolution?

  • @TheGodlessGuitarist
    @TheGodlessGuitarist Před 12 lety

    @TheLiberalKnight
    PS, I'm not a communist, liberal, socialist, fascist, conservative or a totalitarian. The poverty of your assumptions says a great deal about how well educated you are. Maybe it's time you started expanding your knowledge once again instead of simply regurgitating the imperialist pieties you have picked up and/or have been indoctrined with.

  • @TheGodlessGuitarist
    @TheGodlessGuitarist Před 12 lety

    @TheLiberalKnight "If Britain had not been in India..."
    The ole 'lesser evil' philosophy eh? Still millenia behind modern humans. We a responsible for what we do, not what the Russians or French do.
    "Decreased their freedom, yes. So what?", it was their freedom, and not ours to take. Clearly the concept of freedom and not forcing your will onto others is somekind of alien philosophy to you. Seriously, you have the morality of Gengis Khan.

  • @TheGodlessGuitarist
    @TheGodlessGuitarist Před 12 lety +1

    this is dumbed down codswallop that ignores our ceaseless acts of aggression, subjugation and opression around the world.

    • @th8257
      @th8257 Před 4 lety +4

      I'm not sure it's meant to cover that - it's looking at the domestic political situation and the internal UK reactions to decline. It's not meant to be a history of the Empire and its ills.

  • @TheGodlessGuitarist
    @TheGodlessGuitarist Před 12 lety

    @TheLiberalKnight
    How much do you think our insitutions benefited the Irish, the Indians and the Iranians we murdered?

  • @TheGodlessGuitarist
    @TheGodlessGuitarist Před 12 lety +2

    @TheLiberalKnight "a world without empires was impossible, and that British rule was by far the greatest alternative?"
    Spoken like a true narcissist
    "But we built schools and hospitals...", that makes apalling excuses for his own and his nation's inhumanity.
    "We increased Indian education rates by 70% from the Mogols." and decreased their freedom by 100%.
    prat

  • @TheGodlessGuitarist
    @TheGodlessGuitarist Před 12 lety

    @TheLiberalKnight "You mean today or in the age of empires?"
    lol, you seem to think that the two are mutually exclusive. The modes of control may have changed but this country still operates as an imperial power, though now as the US's lapdog.
    "The only dictators...". I though you were supposed to be countering.
    "those institutions benefited the citiziens". How much have our institutions benefited the million Iraqis we and the US killed to control Iraqi oil? for example.

  • @SwissCheese112
    @SwissCheese112 Před 8 lety +1

    surely until you begin into your 50s, and keeping in mind a person has exercised (boxing, etc) and ate healthy, not smoked etc his whole life, their should be very few health problems until 50 years of age that common cold medicine and vaccinations wouldn't solve (unless an accident happens of course). and so would an insurance based health system make more sense? more sense than the nhs.

  • @ronaldschultenover7591
    @ronaldschultenover7591 Před 8 lety +6

    The British declined because they became involved in foreign wars, could not defeat germany, became hopelessly indebted to the USA.

    • @joeatlo
      @joeatlo Před 7 lety +1

      anti germen paronia destroyed britian. why whould the kazier invade britian. no reason

    • @magnoem1
      @magnoem1 Před 7 lety +2

      The British also came to power because of foreign wars... The First World War came after the feeling of decline, you missed the point of this video :)

    • @harmlessdrudge
      @harmlessdrudge Před 7 lety +3

      Ronald Schultenover No, Britain declined because its manufacturing industry was inefficient and declining in the face of American and German industry. The bankruptcy from the Second World War was a consequence, not a cause, of Britain's decline.

    • @th8257
      @th8257 Před 4 lety +1

      We also need to look closer to home. The empire was actually costing more than it brought in from around the 1800s onwards. Our preocupation with military spending to defend the empire had huge negative effects on the UK populace. For example, it wasn't until the 1960s that we started spending as much on education as on defence. That kind of thing has a huge impact on the economy - we were overtaken by countries with better training and education and with significantly better levels of investment in industry. In short, we ended up sacrificing our people and our economy in pursuit of a dream of empire.

    • @th8257
      @th8257 Před 4 lety +1

      @@harmlessdrudge very true. The rot had well and truly set in by the 1800s, and Britain has been in industrial decline ever since. A major problem is also with our education system. It wasn't until the 60s that we started spending as much on education as defence. So we had a very poorly educated populace, coupled with industry that was crying out for investment.

  • @josephpanzarella1417
    @josephpanzarella1417 Před 3 lety +2

    This is one of the most interesting periods in British history though, sorry to say, you wouldn't think so based on the professor's remarks which are as dry as reading a building blueprint.

  • @TheGodlessGuitarist
    @TheGodlessGuitarist Před 12 lety

    @TheLiberalKnight
    I have to say you are pretty typical of pro empire types, utterly narcissistic, think you know it all, assume everything that suits you, ignore everything that doesnt.
    Apparently I am a socialist, who is poorly educated and rather dim. I rest my case.