England is only part of a tiny island shared with Wales and Scotland, with France next door to the east via the English channel, then Ireland to the west via the Irish sea. England is actually smaller than many individual states in the US but is much more crowded. Great Britain includes Wales and Scotland but excludes the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. In the UK, which is England, Scotland, Wales plus Northern Ireland, we currently have 59 million people. Compare this with the larger area of the mid west US state of Iowa which has only 3 million people. Yes today England is a little crowded!
England has in the past ruled more countries and more land (at one time more than ¼ of the world) than any other of the famous conquering nations such as the Romans, the Greeks, the Persians, the Vikings, the French, Spanish, Dutch and Portuguese
How did the English who once ruled even North America get to be such a powerful nation? Were we a cruel ruthless people? Did we have the best army and navy? Were we starving and had to find more land? Did we have the best guns or were our men better trained? How and why did we travel around the world and who was trying to stop us? These questions will be discussed later in these texts.
We will look at those who previously invaded and ruled England; 3000 years ago the Celts from central Europe 2000 years ago the Romans from central Italy 1500 years ago the Angles, Saxons and Jutes from northern Germany and then the Vikings from Scandinavia. 1000 years ago the Norman's - who were Vikings who had settled in Western France 200 years previously.
After the Norman's invaded 1000 years ago no peoples have ruled the English other than the English. Indeed no other nation has even managed to land on English soil.
We will look at the powerful people who tried to teach us good and bad things (Right and wrong) particularly the various Christian churches and some other religious groups who have operated in England or effected us from afar. (Like for example the Muslims who were at war with most of Europe on and off for more than three quarters of the last millennium.)
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The British Empire
- 50 years ago the huge British Empire was finally about to die. So had it lasted about the same time as the Roman Empire? No, only about 200 years compared with the Roman empire of 500 years or more.
- 50 years ago the British Empire stretched from British Columbia in the West of Canada right round the world to Australia and New Zealand in the East. World War Two
- 50 years ago this Empire was simultaneously attacked by Germany who tried to invade the centre of the empire, England it’s self and then by Japan in the East of the empire notably in Burma and Malaya for our rubber plantations and Singapore for our Naval base.
- 50 years ago the Germans exterminated 5 million Jews. (They were safe in England)
- 50 years ago aeroplanes which had only invented 40 years previously (1912) had been developed into formidable fighting machines. Aeroplanes at this time were not jets but were driven by powerful car engines (petrol).
- 50 years ago tanks also only invented 40 years previously had been developed into powerful fighting machines by the English and the Germans. (The French were still relying on the horse!)
- 50 years ago the Atomic Bomb was invented (1946 by the Americans) which was so powerful that one bomb could destroy a whole city and worse no humans could live in that city for many years due to lethal radiation pollution.
- 50 years ago the horse, which for the previous 3000 years had been the main transporter of man was finally outmoded as a means of serious transport other than for recreational purposes. Replaced by planes, cars, trains and trucks. All these new methods of transport produce nasty polluting gasses. (Green house gasses and worse and thence global warming)
- 50 years ago the majority of trains were still powered by steam heated by a coal fire.
- 50 years ago was the (so called) Battle of Britain where the English with only a small Air Force but with brilliant fighter planes (Spitfires and Hurricanes) shot the massive German air force (Luftwaffe) out of the sky. (“This was our finest hour”)
- 50 years ago the Americans had grown to be the most powerful nation in the world taking over from England and after a lot of talking were persuaded to help England to fight the Germans in the West and the Japanese in the East. Their decision was helped by the Japanese making a really stupid mistake when they bombed the American Naval fleet which happened to be at anchor in mid-Pacific (Pearl Harbour, Hawaii) within range of the Japanese Aircraft carriers. This was almost like a wasp stinging an elephant.
- 50 years ago the Germans, with the help of their U boats, (Submarines) came close to starving the English into submission by sinking the majority of the English supply ships in the Atlantic. (One of the reasons for the European Common Agricultural Policy was the develop domestic food production so that individual member states could support themselves) Fortunately Britisher Sir Robert Alexander Watson Watt developed Radar and the German U boats, which had to attack on the surface as they were too slow submerged, could be spotted with the newly developed Radar and blown out of the sea with on-ship guns.
- 50 years ago the English, with the help of the Americans and men from the British Empire, finally beat the Germans (1945) and with the help of the Americans and their atomic bomb beat the Japanese (1946). The Atomic bomb which is now produced by many countries has never again been used in battle as everybody knows the world destruction would be incalculable. Perhaps this would be similar in destructive power to the catastrophe which caused the death of all Dinosaurs some 70 million years ago.
Technology This period also saw the start of so many new products and ideas partly fuelled by the huge efforts in America, England, Germany and Japan to build ultimate war weapons.
Jets
The jet engine was invented in England. (Frank Whittle 1941). Now, the skies are full of jets not propeller-driven planes. 50 years ago however more people were travelling to the US by ship than by plane.
Nuclear Power
Nuclear Fission and Nuclear Fusion the basis of city eliminating bombs and Nuclear energy for power stations and submarines. Scientist are still trying to develop Nuclear fusion into the basis of a non polluting energy source for the future.
Computer chips
The transistor and its cousin the silicon chip was invented in America (Bell labs NY 1952). This made the following possible; The computer (PC etc) , the cell phone, the play station and many more.
Man made textiles
50 years ago women were fighting for the new fashion item “Nylons” (Nylon stockings) one of the first items of clothing not created from natural materials like animal firs, cotton or wool but new materials invented by man mainly as a by-product of oil.
Men cease to dominate Women
At the same time (the sixties) the life of women was revolutionised by the invention of the "Pill". Which taken daily would allow women to control when they had children. Up to this time women found it difficult to have both a paid working career and bring up young children. Women were seen by their employees and husbands alike as the little woman back home who looks after the kids and prepares the evening meal for the man when he comes home. Now women and men have equal status and earning potential in the work place. Men have not got used to this even now. In England the benefits to the wealth of the nation by doubling the potential work force came faster than in some countries where religion still preaches that women should not work and indeed should not even have access to the Pill. (EG the Roman Catholic Irish and the Islamic Arabs and Asians.)
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