home / Business/ Victorian era in America. Creepy Victorian photos

Victorian era in America. Creepy Victorian photos

Victorian era (1837-1901) - the period of the reign of Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India.

Although this era is, in general, clearly tied to a specific country (Great Britain), it is often linked in general as the steampunk era. And there are reasons for this.

But first, a little about Queen Victoria herself.

Victoria (English Victoria, baptismal names Alexandrina Victoria - English Alexandrina Victoria) (May 24, 1819 - January 22, 1901) - Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from June 20, 1837, Empress of India from May 1, 1876 (proclamation in India - 1 January 1877), the last representative of the Hanoverian dynasty on the throne of Great Britain.

Victoria remained on the throne for more than 63 years, longer than any other British monarch. The Victorian era coincided with the Industrial Revolution and the height of the British Empire. The numerous dynastic marriages of her children and grandchildren strengthened the ties between the royal dynasties of Europe and increased Britain's influence on the continent (she was called the "Grandmother of Europe").

1837 Portrait of the Queen after her coronation.

And this is her classic (one might even say canonical) look.

The Industrial Revolution turned Britain into a country of smoky factories, huge warehouses and shops. The population grew rapidly, cities grew, and in the 1850s the country became covered with a network of railways. Highly productive and leaving other countries far behind, Britain was becoming the “workshop of the world,” which it demonstrated at the first international industrial exhibition in 1851. The country maintained its leading position until the end of the century. Against the backdrop of rapid transformation, negative aspects became increasingly noticeable: unsanitary conditions in workers' homes, child labor, low wages, poor working conditions and exhaustingly long working hours.

World Exhibition of 1851. The first exhibition of this kind.

The British themselves in our time perceive the era of their zenith ambiguously. There were too many different things there, including hypocrisy..

During this period, people belonging to the upper and middle classes adhered to strict values, which included the following:

Sense of duty and hard work;

Respectability: a mixture of morality and hypocrisy, rigor and conformity to social standards (having good manners, owning a comfortable home, regular church attendance and charity), it was this that separated the middle class from the lower;

Charity and philanthropy: activities that attracted many wealthy people, especially women.

Patriarchal orders reigned in the family, so a single woman with a child became marginalized due to the widespread idea of female chastity. Sexuality was suppressed, and affectation and hypocrisy were extremely common.
Colonialism was also an important phenomenon, leading to the spread of patriotism and being influenced by ideas of racial superiority and the concept of the white man's mission.

Rules of conduct and morality were very strict, and violations of them were strongly frowned upon. In families and educational institutions Severe corporal punishment was extremely common. Such phenomena as affectation and excessive moderation, suppression are considered important and very common features of the Victorian era. So, in English language, the word "Victorian" is still synonymous with the words "sanctimonious", "hypocritical".

But such views were challenged by socialist thinkers such as Robert Owen and Karl Marx; their views were condemned by Charles Dickens, William Morris and other prominent writers and artists.

The Victorian era saw the birth and strengthening of the labor movement, from mutual aid and self-education programs (cooperatives, mechanics' schools) to mass action such as the Chartist struggle in the 1830s and 40s. for the expansion of political rights. Trade unions, which were illegal until the 1820s, gained real strength with the growth of socialist sentiments.

Although the Victorians failed to overcome the problem of poverty, the social and economic achievements of the era were significant.

Mass production led to the emergence of new types of products, and the standard of living gradually increased. The development of production opened up new professional opportunities - for example, the growing demand for typists allowed a significant number of literate women to get a job for the first time in their lives. A new type of transport - trains - transported employees from the city home to the suburbs every day, and workers every weekend on excursions to the coast, which over time became an invariable attribute of the English way of life.

English school 1897. Late Victorian era.

Victorian family photo.

Another photograph of a Victorian school.

And here’s what the Victorian era looked like through the eyes of photographic lenses (by the way, photography appeared right then):

Children's photographs from that time:

By the way, back then they went to school at the age of 8-9 years.

Do you want to see how teeth were treated back then? Like this:

Mechanical drill from the Victorian era. Want to try?

Rule Britain over the seas! World map 1897.

Indeed, an empire on which the sun never sets.

This is not a documentary photo at all. But this could very well happen in world history. Advanced steampunk, yes.

This is what it looked like everyday life that era:

A train leaving Paddington station.

And this is the celebration of the 60th anniversary of Victoria's coronation. 1897

Photos of this event:

Would I have wanted to live at that time? And it depends on social status:) Back then the social class division was much sharper than it is today.

Moreover, the average life expectancy in those days was approximately 40 years.

So, most likely, I would not have refused to visit that time, but I most likely would not have liked living there forever. Although, of course, I would adapt :)

They were animated by a firm determination to oppose any further triumph of the democratic principle. New elections, called as a result of the change in monarch, strengthened the Conservative Party. The large cities of England, Scotland and Ireland voted predominantly in favor of the liberal and radical factions, but the English counties for the most part elected opponents of the ministry.

Meanwhile, the policies of previous years created significant difficulties for the government. In Canada, the discord between the mother country and the local parliament has reached dangerous proportions. The Ministry received permission to suspend the Canadian Constitution and sent Earl 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 from his position.

The government's weakness showed itself even more clearly in Irish affairs. The Ministry could achieve approval of the Irish tithe bill only after the complete elimination of the appropriation paragraph.

Chartism

At that time, the radicals formed an extreme faction that developed the “People's Charter” - a petition to parliament, which demanded universal suffrage, secret voting, annually renewed parliaments, etc. Beginning in the fall of 1838, the Chartists launched a strong campaign at meetings, collecting signatures for petitions and convened the so-called national convention in London at the beginning of 1839, looking for supporters among the working population of factory towns. The uprising that took place in the summer of 1839 was suppressed; the main Chartist leaders 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. Habeas Corpus was restored in Ireland; thanks to free trade, revenues generated a surplus of 2 million pounds sterling, while the tax for the benefit of the poor was reduced by 400,000 pounds compared to the previous year.

In the discord between Russia and Austria, on the one hand, and Turkey, on the other, caused by the case of the Hungarian fugitives, England took the side of the Porte. In January 1850, an English squadron unexpectedly 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 response to the refusal of the Greek government was the blockade of all Greek harbors. Greece could only protest against this abuse of force; Envoys of other states expressed their censure of England's mode of action in more or less energetic terms. A month later the blockade was lifted; its consequence was a cooling of relations towards France and Russia. Lord Stanley invited the Upper House to censure the government for its conduct in Greece.

This proposal was accepted, but the lower house, at the suggestion of Roebuck, expressed formal approval of Palmerston's policy. However, the upper house vote was not without consequences. Palmerston realized the need to extricate himself from the isolated position in which he had placed England, and all the more diligently 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.

The sudden death of Robert Peel was a sensitive blow for the ministry. At the same time, the Austrian General Haynau, 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 to Austria, whose policy in Germany, especially the desire to include all Austrian lands in the German Confederation, provoked decisive resistance from England.

The Roman Curia prepared great difficulties for the Whig ministry. The papal breve of September 30 immediately appointed nine Catholic bishops for Great Britain; Cardinal Wiseman received the title of Archbishop of Westminister. This revived in the English clergy and people the deep-rooted hatred and aversion to Rome; the old “No Popery” click sounded again. At the beginning of 1851, Rossel introduced a bill on ecclesiastical titles, which prohibited the assumption of the episcopal title by 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, accepted Lock King's proposal to grant English and Welsh counties the same voting rights as cities. A ministerial crisis ensued, ending with the restoration of the previous cabinet, since Lord Stanley, the leader of the protectionists, failed to form a strong cabinet and attract people like Gladstone to it.

Politics took a back seat 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 the conduct of Lord Palmerston. True, he ensured that the Hungarian fugitives settled in Turkey, including Kossuth, were released; but the outcome of the struggle over Pacifico was a heavy defeat for him. The mediation commission elected on this issue recognized Pacifico's right to a reward of no more than 150 pounds sterling - and because of such a sum, the minister almost caused a European war.

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

The coup d'etat, which 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 his inconvenient 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 form a ministry (in February 1852). In the new cabinet, strictly Tory, he himself took the place of First Lord of the Treasury, Disraeli received the portfolio of finance, and foreign affairs passed to the Earl of Malmesbury.

The protectionist sympathies of the ministry led to the resumption of free trade agitation. The Cobden League has reopened; Rallies were held throughout the country and preparations were made for new elections. The government was in the lower house in an undoubted minority and owed its existence solely to disagreements among the liberal parties. In view of all this, Disraeli spoke in favor of continuing the customs policy of his predecessors.

The long-awaited dissolution of parliament followed in July, and new elections were immediately called. The ministry acquired 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 who entered into an alliance 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 the portfolio of finance, the Whigs in the person of Lord John Rossel, and the radicals in the person of Molesworth and Baines. Palmerston received the Ministry of the Interior.

Crimean War

Events in India were no less favorable. Since the capture of Delhi by the British, the center of gravity of the uprising shifted to Oudh and its capital Lucknow. In March 1858, the main quarters of Lucnow were taken by storm. In vain did the leaders of the insurgents seek help in Nepal, the only Indian state that still retained signs of independence: the ruler of Nepal entered into 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 ended, the board of directors was abolished, and in its place the position of a special minister responsible to parliament was created with a board of 15 members.

Shortly before this, the ministry suffered a severe defeat on the question of the Jews. When the bill for the admission of Jews into Parliament was rejected for the third time by the peers at the insistence of Lord Derby, the opposition, indignant at such disrespect for the resolutions of the lower house, proposed to the house a simple resolution to recognize Baron Rothschild as representative of the City of London. Lord Derby had to yield. He introduced a new bill of oath into the upper house, which made it possible for the admission of Jews. This bill was passed by the Lords, after which Rothschild took his place in the House of Commons.

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

In England itself, reformist agitation assumed impressive proportions in 1859; Shortly before the opening of parliament, Bright came up with a reform project of a purely democratic nature. The ministry decided to introduce its own bill in order to calm 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 the 21st March Lord John Rossel moved the House to declare that the Reform Bill was not suited to the needs of the country; this proposal was adopted by a majority of 39 votes. Following this, the dissolution of parliament was announced.

This step caused great excitement in the country, especially since the foreign policy of the ministry threatened new dangerous complications. At the first signs of a clash between Austria and France in the Italian affair, although the government assumed the guise of complete impartiality, from its statements one could understand that it was leaning more towards the side of Austria, while sincere sympathy for the cause of Italian freedom prevailed among the people. Mediation offered 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 forced to occupy Trieste, the call for the formation of volunteer detachments, even the declaration of neutrality, interpreted in a sense favorable to Austria, all this maintained public distrust of the intentions. ministers and influenced new elections. The fear of being drawn into a war to maintain European absolutism prompted the radicals to forget their dislike of Lord Palmerston.

Lord Rossel was reconciled with his long-time enemy; a coalition was formed of all 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 remaining portfolios were distributed to Whigs, Peelites and Radicals. The ministers included Gladstone and Milner-Jibson. There was no more talk of sabotage into the Adriatic Sea to defend Trieste; in alliance with Russia, an attempt was made to divert the Prussian court from intervention in favor of Austria.

All other interests were relegated to the background due to the North American crisis that broke out in early 1861. If the seemingly inevitable collapse of the proud republic aroused a certain sense of schadenfreude in the British aristocracy, then the influence of the internecine war on cotton production, which fed a significant part of the working population of England, inspired serious fears. Gladstone's budget indicated continued improvement in finances. Revenues promised a surplus of almost 2 million, which is why the Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed not only the abolition of the paper tax, but also a reduction in 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 submitted to the upper house not separately, but together with the budget, and although the lords protested against this, they, on the advice of Lord Derby, did not bring matters to a collision with the House of Commons.

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 if necessary military force, indicated the Allies' intention to take advantage of the critical situation of the alliance to intervene in American affairs.

Thanks to an unexpected incident, matters suddenly became so acute that one could fear a decisive break. The English mail steamer Trent, on which the commissioners of the southern states of Mason and Slidel were traveling, was detained by an American military corvette under the command of Captain Wilkes, who arrested the commissioners and took them to New York. The news of this caused great indignation in England. The British envoy in Washington, Lord Lyons, immediately received orders 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 these conditions, a break with England could have the most fatal consequences for the union. It condemned the action of its officer and released the prisoners. The peaceful outcome of the clash was partly Prince Albert's business. This was the last service he rendered to his second fatherland. He died on December 14, 1861, sincerely mourned by the British nation.

The joint intervention undertaken by England, France and Spain in Mexican affairs had a completely unexpected outcome. Spain and England were not slow to realize that the plans of the French emperor went much further than the original goal of the expedition. First English and then Spanish troops left Mexico. This step could not help but touch the heart of 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 London and St. Petersburg courts to take measures to end the internecine war in America, transparently hinting at the possibility of armed intervention. But the St. Petersburg court decisively rejected the French invitation, and Lord Rossel followed his example.

The revolution in Greece, which cost King Otto the throne (October 1862), produced a new turn in England's eastern policy. In order to prevent the election of the Prince of Leuchtenberg, the nephew of the Russian emperor, as king, it was decided to make 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 a London prison to free Fenian prisoners again brought the Irish question to the fore. Realizing the impossibility of resolving it through persecution alone, Gladstone, at the very beginning of the 1868 session, introduced three famous resolutions into 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 due to Derby's illness, decided to remain in office and appeal to the people. Divorced on July 31 last parliament, elected under the Act of 1832.

By this time, the war with Abyssinia, caused by the refusal to release British prisoners, had 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 members of the former Liberal cabinet, the ministry included John Bright and Adulamite Low, who managed to make peace with the Liberals.

The 1869 session opened with the release of a significant number of Fenians and the announcement of the impending restoration of Habeas corpus in Ireland. On March 1, Gladstone introduced his Irish Church Bill into the Lower House. He proposed to immediately stop the payment of allowances to Irish priests and to transfer all church property into the hands of a royal commission, which would undertake the payment of lifetime income to the owners of ecclesiastical 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 value of the property of the Irish Church, it retained the right to only 6.5 million, while the remaining 10 million were to be used partly for general useful purposes, partly for benefits to Catholics and Presbyterians. The Lower House adopted this bill with a majority of 361 votes to 247. Although the House of Lords approved it in the third reading, it did so with many amendments. Since these amendments were rejected by the lower house, and the Lords did not yield, fears arose at one time that the reform would not take place; but the conflict was removed by a compromise between the Earl of Granville and Lord Cairns, the leader of the opposition.

After the resolution of the Irish church question, another reform, which was in connection with the Irish unrest, should have 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 into the lower house. It was supposed to recognize farmers at the end of the lease period as having the right to compensation for all improvements and buildings they had made; to make it easier for farmers, through benefits from the state treasury, to purchase land property, and for farmers to cultivate infertile lands; finally, establish arbitration courts to resolve all disputes and misunderstandings between farmers and landowners. The bill passed both houses and became law on August 1. In addition, both houses approved the new law on public education proposed by Forster (initially for England and Wallis). The whole country was supposed to be divided into school districts and then found out how the existing schools in each district corresponded to the true needs of the population. Those districts in which the condition of the schools turned out to be satisfactory were to remain in the same position, while in the rest it was planned to open a corresponding number of new schools. The following three basic rules were established for these new schools:

1) compliance of teaching with the program approved by parliament,
2) supervision of government inspectors regardless of religious differences,
3) complete freedom of conscience, due to which none of the students can be forced, against the will of the parents, to participate in religious teaching.

The acceptance or non-acceptance of these rules is left to the good will of the school authorities, but only if they are accepted does the school become entitled to benefits from Parliament.

The English commissioners were greeted in London with noisy rejoicings, as messengers of an “honorable peace.” peace with honor). Lord Hartington's proposal to vote censure on 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 predominant importance of foreign policy. The Home Ruler Party resumed its obstructive tactics on various occasions, but refrained from repeating scenes like last year. An important event in history was the break between its moderate and revolutionary elements over the debate about the murder of a large landowner, the Earl of Leitrim.

Late Victorian period

Soon after the closure of parliament, news arrived 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 that his predecessors adhered to. 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 to Kabul.

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

In Ireland the general excitement was maintained by huge rallies. Parnell proposed a system of public ostracism against anyone who dared to lease lands from which the previous tenants had been expelled, or who in any way acted contrary to the land league. A whole series of violence was committed against court officials, land agents, farmers who remained faithful to the contracts, and in general against all persons who for some reason were unpleasant to the league. All this aroused all the greater fears because the perpetrators were not found and the police were powerless.

The government increased the number of troops and brought 14 leading members of the Land League, including Parnell, to trial on charges of sedition. The extent to which the Irish people took to heart the means of social ostracism recommended by Parnell 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 real terror, received the name of boycott. Soon in Ireland, except Ulster, there was not a single corner left where the league did not have its own branches and secret courts, the members of which had at their disposal the terrible weapon of boycott. In the case of the Land League members, the jury could not reach an agreement, and the trial remained without result. At the beginning of 1881, a bill was proposed to parliament to suppress anarchy in Ireland and a land bill tending to transform agrarian relations. Home Rulers declared their firm intention to slow down the first of these bills at all costs. The debate dragged on for 42 hours straight. Finally the bill passed its first reading; but already on the same day, regarding the proposal for a second reading, the home rules resumed their obstructive tactics.

The need for changes in the charter of the chamber itself became absolutely clear. Gladstone's proposal in this regard caused new stormy scenes. It was adopted, but the Irish deputies still managed to delay the approval of the bill for as many as 12 meetings. Then came the turn of the Land Bill. It contained the following main regulations: restriction of the landowner’s right to refuse the farmer further maintenance of the lease; providing farmers with the cost of all improvements they have made on the leased plot; review of excessively high rents by special assessment 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 rented estates, for the raising 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 being examined by the Lords he returned to the lower house unrecognized. The Ministry expressed its readiness to make concessions, but rejected all amendments that violated the main objective bill. The lords stood their ground. Gladstone made several 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 Boer uprising broke out in the Transvaal. Through the Orange Republic, negotiations were opened, which ended in peace, which was based on the recognition of the sovereign rights of the Queen and 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 agreement concluded by Cobden in 1860, in which Charles Dilck took an outstanding part from the English side, were defeated by the resistance of French protectionists.

The Irish Land League was closed by the government; assessment presences for rent review opened their activities, reviving hopes for a better future. But already in the first days of 1882, a new ferment of hostile elements was discovered. Fenian secret societies tried to occupy the gap left by the destruction of the land league; they were supported by cash benefits and emissaries from America.

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

The Lords nevertheless elected a commission, but without the assistance of the government, it remained stillborn. The Tories themselves found it necessary to meet the demands of the Land League and made a proposal to assist farmers in purchasing their leased plots with benefits from the treasury, while at the same time demanding stricter measures against secret societies. The conciliatory mood was disturbed by the news of the murder of the new Secretary of State for Ireland, Lord Frederick Cavendish, and his comrade Bork in Phoenix Park, Dublin (May 6). This murder was the work of secret societies who did not want to hear about the agreement. Already on May 11, Garcourt introduced a crime prevention bill into the lower house, which, among 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 gatherings. The bill was passed by both houses. Following this, Gladstone passed another law aimed at helping the poorest Irish tenants.

In the sphere of foreign policy, Egyptian affairs were of main interest. Back in the fall 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, and the British consul was wounded. On June 15, Gladstone formulated in parliament his Egyptian policy in 3 main points: 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 reluctance of France to intervene armed, and the increasingly provocative manner of Arabi's actions soon forced England to a more energetic course of action. On July 6, the English 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, Wolseley, was sent to Egypt, and on August 13 he 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 statutes were adopted. The most important of them was the so-called. closure rule closure), by which the speaker was given 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 hitherto been discussed in the full sitting of the House. These two regulations 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 portfolio of finance to Childers, reserving only the post of First Minister, and new members joined 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. A bill against the manufacture and sale of explosives passed both houses on the same day. Thanks to large committees elected on the basis of the new parliamentary statute, the chamber with unusual speed adopted laws introduced by the ministry on insolvency, on abuses in parliamentary elections and on protecting the rights of inventors. In the same way, a law was passed, although not without strong resistance, to improve the living conditions of English and Scottish farmers.

In Ireland things continued as before. How far the network of Fenian conspiracies spread was demonstrated by the murder of Carey, one of the crown witnesses in the trial against the murderers in Phoenix Park; he was killed on a British steamer just as he was about to land on the African shore.

In Egypt, matters became more complicated due to unrest that broke out in 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 brutal defeat at Suakim. The outburst of indignation that gripped the entire nation forced Gladstone to agree to send 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 completely 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 overcrowded 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 Wolsley to his rescue. But before the vanguard of the new army reached Khartoum, the city surrendered to starvation and Gordon was killed (January 26, 1885). Wolseley was ordered to retreat. By the end of May, all British military forces had returned to Upper Egypt.

If, despite the dismal outcome of Egyptian affairs, the House rejected the Tories' proposed censure of the ministry, this is explained by 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; In addition, the right to vote was granted to servants with a qualification of 10 pounds. In this way, 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 on the distribution of electoral districts. Gladstone did not agree to this demand.

Under pressure from the press, the lords yielded; the electoral bill was adopted by them. Soon after this, 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 of approximately equal population. Gladstone's weak successes in the field of foreign policy, and on the other hand, his courtesy to the radicals and Irish autonomists, had long caused an estrangement between him and the moderate Whigs. This led to the fact that when on June 3, 1885, regarding the budget, Gix Beach introduced a resolution expressing no confidence in the government, the latter was defeated and resigned.

The creation of a 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 this time passed with the title of Lord Iddesley into the upper house, became president of the privy council, Gix Beach received control of finance, and Lord Churchill received the Ministry of Indian Affairs.

The new cabinet pursued its foreign policy quite happily: relations with Germany, shaken by the latter’s successes 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 annexation of Burma to British Empire.

Meanwhile, at the beginning of December 1885, parliamentary elections took place on the basis of the new electoral law, giving the liberals a significant number of votes thanks to the assistance of rural voters who wished to express their gratitude to Gladstone and his friends for the political rights granted to them. In total, 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 resigned.

Since moderate Whigs, like Lord Hartington and Goshen, stood aside, the cabinet was composed mainly of Gladstone's friends and radicals - Lord Rosbury, Childers, Morley, Chamberlain. Gladstone immediately introduced two bills to pacify Ireland in the lower house. One of them intended, with the help of a redemption operation, to convert large land property, which was exclusively in the hands of the British, into free peasant ownership, and the other - to grant Ireland a native government and a special people's parliament. The new Irish Parliament was to consist of ²/3 elected members and 1/3 members appointed by the English government. All matters relating to Ireland were to be subject to his jurisdiction, with the exception of foreign policy, customs and military matters; in return, Irish members would lose their seats in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

There was a violent opposition in the country against this last bill; Not only all the conservatives, but also the moderate Whigs, led by Lord Hartington, took up arms against him; 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 addition to 86 Irish autonomists, only 191 Gladstone supporters got into the new parliament, while the Tories received 317 seats and the liberal unionists 76.

Since Hartington refused to join the cabinet, Salisbury formed a purely Tory ministry, which included, among other things, Lord Iddesley, Gicks 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, leaders of the national league that was formed in place of the former land league, recruited supporters everywhere for their “plan for a new campaign.” By this plan it was proposed to appoint trustees from the league to fix the rents of every private estate in Ireland; If the landlords do not accept the assessments made by these trustees, then the tenants must stop paying rent altogether. Irish MPs tried to challenge the government in the lower house, but Parnell's amendment to the address was rejected along with his Land Bill, which would have reduced rents 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 Goschen to join the ministry as Chancellor of the Exchequer. This marked the beginning of a rapprochement with the moderate Whigs. Lord Iddesley and Geeks Beach then left the ministry; the latter's place was taken by Balfour, Salisbury's nephew.

The unrest in Ireland forced the government, at the end of March 1887, to introduce a draft of a new pacification law. Despite strong opposition from Gladstone's supporters and Irish MPs, the ministry's proposal received a majority and came into force 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 disturbances.

In April, the Imperial Conference opened in London. Imperial conference) of all British colonies with the aim of more closely linking the ties between the colonies and the mother country.

In the field of foreign policy, disagreement arose with France over the New Hebrides Islands, which was soon settled; There were misunderstandings with Russia on issues of the Afghan borders and 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 accede to this demand, and the meeting of Queen Victoria with Emperor Franz Joseph in April 1888, apparently, did not remain without influence on the fact that Austria and England took a hostile position in the Bulgarian question Russia.

In Ireland, despite special laws and emergency courts, agrarian unrest did not stop. The statement of the Roman Curia (1888), which in harsh terms condemned the boycott system, caused great irritation in the country. The Irish replied that they did not intend to borrow their policy from either Italy or England, and flatly refused to stop the measures of violence condemned by the Pope. In August, Parliament discussed a proposal to set a trial for Parnell, accused by the Times newspaper of being an accomplice to the murderers of Cavendish and Borke. Parnell, without waiting for the decision of the commission appointed by Parliament, began legal action against the Times for libel; Pigot, who delivered 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 increasingly losing ground. The new trial of Parnell, who was convicted of illegal cohabitation with a married woman (whom, however, he later married), alienated Gladstone’s supporters from him and created a split within the Irish autonomists themselves, who demanded that Parnell temporarily renounce the leadership of the party and the parliamentary parliament in general. activities. The most important internal measure that marked the reign of the Conservative Ministry for last years, consisted of transforming local government on a more democratic basis.

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 purchasing their leased estates; in 1891 a new bill was passed to the same end, allowing tenants who were forcibly removed for non-payment of rent to sell their tenancy to others within a period of five years. 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 to 163. Budgetary the surplus, however, is used to develop public education and improve 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) met with opposition from the leaders of the radical party, Labouchere and Morley. The House of Commons agreed only to a slight increase in the funds allocated to the Queen personally (August 1889).

In both 1889 and 1890 there were major workers' strikes 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 over freedom of navigation in the Bering Sea, and between France and England over fishing off the coast of Newfoundland (1890). England recognized the rights of France to Madagascar, France - the rights of England to Zanzibar (established under 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 issue 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 received the island of Heligoland from England.

In Africa, there were reasons for 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

The values professed by the middle class and supported by both the Anglican Church and the opinion of the bourgeois elite of society began to prevail in society. Middle-class values and energy underpinned all the achievements of the Victorian era.

Sobriety, punctuality, hard work, frugality and thrift were valued even before Victoria's reign, but it was during her era that these qualities became the dominant norm. The queen herself set an example: her life, completely subordinate to duty and family, was strikingly different from the life of her two predecessors. Most of the aristocracy followed suit, abandoning the flashy lifestyle of the previous generation. The qualified part did the same - 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 Age of James is the conventional name for the period of English and Scottish history, coinciding with the reign of King James VI (reigned: 1567 1625), ruler of Scotland, who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I. The Age of James... ... Wikipedia

- (second half of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century) a period in English history in which art and poetry, music and theater flourished; people 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 whose mask of royal equanimity hid a unique, strong personality with an amazing destiny. She climbed...

The British who lived in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, that is, in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, witnessed rapid changes and scientific discoveries that changed their way of life at the very core.

Some of the innovations brought about by the new century had unexpected and sometimes dire consequences.

Cheap bread with alum

To feed the rapidly growing population of London and other large cities and at the same time make as much profit as possible, bakery owners invented ways to reduce the cost of production.

Gypsum, bean flour, chalk or alum began to be added to the dough. Alum is an inorganic substance containing aluminum atoms, today used as a detergent.

In those days, they were used to make bread white, replacing part of the flour with alum. A person who ate such surrogate bread suffered from malnutrition. Alum was also the cause of digestive tract diseases in children, often fatal.

Boric acid in milk

It wasn't just the bread recipe that was changing—an analysis of twenty thousand milk samples taken in 1882 found foreign substances in every fifth sample. The composition of milk was changed not by traders, but by farmers themselves - it was believed that boric acid eliminates the characteristic smell and taste of sour milk. Buyers were assured that this was a completely harmless additive, but this was a mistake.

Even small amounts of boric acid cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea. But that was not the point main danger. Before the discovery of the pasteurization process, milk often contained bovine tuberculosis pathogens, and boric acid creates an environment favorable for the growth of bacteria.

Bovine tuberculosis affects internal organs and bones of the spine. During the Victorian era, approximately half a million children died from bovine tuberculosis contracted in milk. On the website you can read about the most famous epidemics in the world.

Dangerous bathrooms

As we know, the bathroom in the home is a Victorian invention that has taken root around the world, but it could initially be a very dangerous place. In the bathroom, you could not only get burned by boiling water, but even fly into the air.

The explosions were caused by accumulations of methane and hydrogen sulfide released by waste, rising to the upper floors and exploding from the fire of candles or kerosene lamps. Later changes in sewer pipe designs solved this problem.

Killer stairs

The number of floors in houses increased rapidly, but staircases, especially those intended for servants, remained unchanged since the days of two- and three-story buildings. Excessively steep and narrow, with unequal intervals between steps, they were often deadly. A maid with a heavy tray, tangled in a long skirt, could easily become a victim of the negligence of the builders.

Flammable parksin

The now-forgotten British chemist Alexander Parkes invented an easily moldable material that today we would call plastic. The discoverer dubbed the substance parksin, but it soon became known under the American trade name “celluloid.”

Industry welcomed new material- everything was made from it, from brooches to combs and billiard balls, previously available only to a few and made from Ivory. Celluloid collars and cuffs were easy to clean from dirt.

Unfortunately, it turned out that parksin is highly flammable, and if partially decomposed, it can spontaneously ignite and even explode on impact. To put it mildly, it is not an ideal raw material for billiard balls.

Phenol poisoning

The Victorians considered cleanliness a concomitant of morality and respectability. The opinion is deeply rooted that external neatness is an indispensable attribute of piety. Advances in science only increased the zeal of housewives in the war against microbes, which, as they now knew, were invisible to the eye.

New household chemicals were heavily advertised and were very effective, but their toxic ingredients, such as phenol, or carbolic acid, were often found in the home next to harmless substances. Baking powder could easily be confused with caustic soda.

In September 1888, the Aberdeen Evening Express reported mass phenol poisoning with five deaths. It wasn't until 1902 that a special act banned the sale of hazardous chemicals in the same bottles as regular products.

Radium

In Edwardian times, a magical new element was discovered, a source of energy and light that delighted the public - radium. The authorship of the discovery belongs to Marie Skłodowska-Curie and her husband. It quickly became fashionable and found its way into cigarettes, condoms, cosmetics, toothpaste and even chocolate.

In addition, watches with luminous dials have become fashionable. As we all now know, radium is a source of radioactive radiation. Once inside the body, it causes anemia, bone fragility, jaw necrosis and leukemia. It is known that Marie Curie herself wore a radium medallion on her chest, and eventually died of cancer.

Miracle material

Edwardian engineers thought they had discovered a miracle material - a non-flammable, cheap and pure mineral. It was used to make everything - hair dryers, floor tiles, toys, oven mitts, insulation, even clothing.

As it turned out later, the miracle material, or simply asbestos, is deadly. Asbestos fibers lead to the destruction of lung tissue. We still don’t know how many deaths were caused by the use of asbestos, because you can suffer from it in our time.

Refrigerators

Home refrigerators appeared in ordinary homes during the Edwardian era. They were a symbol of progress and prosperity, but they were far from reliable. Leaks of poisonous gases such as ammonia, methyl chloride and sulfur dioxide could easily cause fatal poisoning.

Electricity

Electricity in the house was a remarkable innovation. At first, people did not understand how to use it - warning signs advised them not to approach the electrical panel with matches.

At the beginning of the 20th century, electric companies decided to interest consumers in the use of electricity not only for lighting. Some of these attempts failed - the electric tablecloth, which could be directly connected to incandescent light bulbs, did not interact well with spilled water.

But the real danger was caused by users trying to connect several devices to one outlet or fix the problem themselves. The newspapers were full of reports of deaths.

Even such a wonderful thing as progress can become a real danger. Insufficiently researched discoveries often lead to tragic consequences. The editors of the site invite you to read about the largest man-made disasters in the world.
Subscribe to our channel in Yandex.Zen

The Victorian era, or the era of the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) was a strange time when some traditions were broken and others were born - strange and repulsive. Perhaps the reason was that the British were crazy about their kings, and with the death of Victoria's husband, Prince Albert in 1861, widespread, continuous mourning began in the country. In conditions of eternal grief, you begin to look at the death of a loved one from a different angle. What now terrifies and causes unpleasant movement of the hair on the head was then not obvious, but the norm...

Attention: the article contains shocking images and is not recommended for viewing by site visitors under 18 years of age, as well as by people with a traumatized psyche!

Posthumous portraits

Until 1839, portraits were painted with a brush on canvas (or wood) - this was a long and expensive task, not accessible to everyone, but with the invention of the daguerreotype, acquiring your own portrait, or a portrait of loved ones, became accessible to almost everyone. True, the middle class often did not think about this, and grabbed their heads only after family members “played the box.”

Post-mortem portraits began to become very popular. And with the invention of the carte de visite in the middle of the century, photographs could be printed in any quantity and distributed to all close and distant relatives and friends.

Given the high infant mortality rate, postmortem photographs of infants of all ages have become especially popular. At that time, such images were not perceived as taboo, but were a kind of norm.

The idea of post-mortem photographs caught on so well that it eventually reached a new level. Photographers tried to add “life” to the portraits, and corpses were photographed surrounded by family.

The deceased children had their favorite toys shoved into their hands, and their eyes were forcibly opened and propped up with something so that they would not accidentally slam shut during the slow filming process. Sometimes the photographer's students added rosy cheeks to the corpse.

Sad decorations

The only acceptable thing for women was to wear items made of brown coal as mourning jewelry - dark and gloomy, it was supposed to represent longing for the departed. Jewelers, it must be said, took no less money for products made from coal than for jewelry with rubies or emeralds.

This was worn during the first stage of mourning. A year and a half. On the second, the woman could afford to wear some jewelry. But with one caveat - they had to contain hair. Human. Hair from the head of the deceased.

Brooches, bracelets, rings, chains, everything was made from hair - sometimes they were included in gold or silver jewelry, sometimes the jewelry itself was made exclusively from hair cut from a corpse.

The widow was required to wear a heavy black veil that hid her face for the first three months after her husband's death. After three months, the veil was allowed to be lifted onto the hat, which, of course, significantly facilitated the movement of women in space.

Almost nothing was visible through the mourning veil. The woman wore a veil on her hat for another nine months. In total, the woman did not have the right to remove her mourning for two years. But the majority, along with the queen, preferred not to take it off for the rest of their lives.

Haunted houses

When a family member died, the mirrors in the house were covered with dark cloth. For some reason, this norm took root in Russia, but not in such a global time frame - in Victorian England, mirrors were kept closed for at least a year.

If a mirror fell and broke in the house, this was considered a sure sign that someone in the family would definitely die one of these days. And if someone did die, the clocks in the whole house were stopped exactly at the moment of his death. People sincerely believed that if this was not done, it would bring more deaths and troubles.

But they carried the dead out of the house head first, so that the rest of the family would not “follow” him.

With all this, coffins with bells were especially popular in the Victorian era. So, it seemed, he died and died, but just in case, the corpses were not buried for almost a week, and then they hung a bell over the grave, in case the deceased, by coincidence of circumstances, turned out to be alive and well and, waking up in the grave, would be able to tell the whole world, that it needs to be dug up.

The fear of being buried alive was so great that bells were attached just in case to everyone who was buried in the ground, even to a corpse with obvious signs of decomposition. To make the task completely easier for a potential living person, the bell was connected by a chain to a ring, which was placed on the index finger of the deceased.

Well, and for a snack – completely unrealistic photographs of people without heads from the Victorian era. If you believe all sorts of archives, this method of photo manipulation was exactly in second place after post-mortem photography. Damn these Englishmen...

During Queen Victoria's long reign, British society underwent significant changes: industrialization, imperial expansion and the emergence of democracy. Although poverty has not disappeared, many people's lives have become more prosperous.

Victorian era

Queen Victoria ascended the throne in 1837 at the age of eighteen and reigned for 63 years, until 1901. Although this period was a time of unprecedented change, the foundations of society remained unchanged throughout the second century. half of XIX V. - an era named after the Victorian queen who personified it.

Peace Workshop

The Industrial Revolution turned Britain into a country of smoky factories, huge warehouses and shops. The population grew rapidly, cities grew, and in the 1850s the country was covered by a network of railroads. High performance and leaving

far behind other countries, Britain was becoming the "workshop of the world", which it demonstrated at the first international industrial exhibition in 1851. The country maintained its leading position until the end of the century. Against the backdrop of rapid transformation, negative aspects became increasingly noticeable: unsanitary conditions in workers' homes, child labor, low wages, poor working conditions and exhaustingly long working hours.

Victorian values

During the time of Queen Victoria, the middle class came into its own. The values professed by the middle class began to dominate in society. Sobriety, punctuality, hard work, frugality and thrift were valued even before Victoria's reign, but it was in her era that these qualities became the norm. This was natural, since they were the ones who proved most useful in the new industrial world. The queen herself set an example: her life, completely subordinate to duty and family, was strikingly different from the life of her two predecessors. Much of the aristocracy followed suit, abandoning the flashy, often scandalous lifestyle of the previous generation. The highly skilled part of the working class did the same.

Middle-class values and energy undoubtedly underpinned all the achievements of the Victorian era. True, its representatives also possessed unattractive traits: the bourgeois confidence that prosperity is the reward for virtue (and therefore, losers simply do not deserve better); by puritanism in family life taken to the extreme, which gave rise to feelings of guilt and hypocrisy.
Religion played an important role in the Victorian era, but a surprisingly large proportion of the vast urban population had little contact with it. Protestant movements such as Methodists and Congregationalists, as well as the evangelical wing of the Anglican Church, had undeniable influence in the country. At the same time, there was a revival of the Roman Catholic faith and the Anglo-Catholic movement within the Church of England, committed to ritual and dogma.

Foundations and doubts

The Victorian era was, among other things, a period of doubt and disappointment, as the progress of science undermined faith in the inviolability of biblical truths. But still, atheism remained an unacceptable system of views for society and the church, which is why the avowed atheist Charles Bradlow managed to get a seat in the House of Commons (the lower house of the British Parliament) only in 1880, after a number of unsuccessful attempts.
The event that more than any other overthrew religious dogma was the publication in 1859 of Charles Darwin's "Origin of Species", since his theory of evolution implied that man is not the result of divine creation, which gave him supremacy over all other forms of life, but developed in the process of evolution of natural peace. Throughout most of the Victorian era, the church rejected this and similar scientific hypotheses, which it had to come to terms with in the 20th century.

Parties and politics

The Victorian Parliament was more representative than its predecessors and listened more to public opinion. In 1832, before Victoria's accession to the throne, parliamentary reform had given large sections of the middle class the right to vote (later laws in 1867 and 1884 granted suffrage to most adult men; the women's suffrage movement also began at the same time).
The subordination of government to the reigning monarch was ended under William IV (1830-37), and despite all the respect for Queen Victoria, she had only minor influence over cabinet ministers and their political decisions. Ministers were accountable to parliament, especially the House of Commons, and since party discipline was not yet sufficiently strict, they were not always able to carry out their decisions. By the 1860s The Whigs and Tories formed into much more clearly organized Liberal and Conservative parties, led respectively by Gladstone and Disraeli. But the discipline in both parties was too liberal to keep them from splitting. The policy pursued by Parliament was constantly influenced by the problem of Ireland. Famine of 1845-46 forced Robert Peel to reconsider grain trade laws supporting high prices for British agricultural products. The Free Trade Act was introduced as part of a general Victorian movement to create a more open, competitive society.
Meanwhile, Peel's decision to repeal the Corn Laws divided the Conservative Party. And twenty years later, William Gladstone's efforts to "pacify" (his own phrase) Ireland and his commitment to Home Rule caused a split among liberals.
During this reformist period, the foreign policy situation remained relatively calm. The conflict came to a head in 1854-56, when Britain and France unleashed Crimean War with Russia. But this conflict was only local in nature: the campaign was waged with the goal of curbing Russian imperial aspirations in the Balkans. In fact, this was just one round in the long-running Eastern Question (a diplomatic problem related to the decline of the Turkish Ottoman Empire) is the only thing that seriously affected Britain in the pan-European politics of the Victorian era. In 1878, England found itself on the brink of another war with Russia, but remained aloof from the European alliances that would later split the continent. British Prime Minister Salisbury called this policy of rejecting long-term alliances with other powers “brilliant isolation.”

Imperial expansion

Meanwhile, the British Empire, which by 1837 included vast territories across the planet, continued to expand. Colonies settled by Europeans, particularly Canada and Australia, gradually transitioned to self-government. At the same time, significant spaces on political map the world, especially in Africa, acquired a red color, indicating that they belonged to British possessions.
In England, the imperial worldview took shape surprisingly slowly, even after Disraeli made a purely ostentatious gesture in 1876, proclaiming Victoria Empress of India. But by the 1890s, the British finally realized that their empire was the greatest that had ever existed in history. Thanks to the successes of domestic and foreign policy, the government enjoyed enormous confidence of the people. It was only partially shaken at the end of the Victorian era due to setbacks during the Boer War, when it took three years (1899-1902) to pacify South African farmers, descendants of Dutch settlers. The hostility of Europeans to this campaign called into question the further expediency of the “splendid isolation” and became the reason for the changes that took place at the beginning of the 20th century.

At the service of the new society

A fundamental social value of the period was the deep conviction that the individual should be as free as possible from government control or interference. But although outdated legal restrictions have been eliminated, the role of the state in industrial society has actually increased. Thus, government health regulations and factory laws protected workers from poverty and exploitation.
To increase the efficiency of organization and functioning, the new society needed such public services, like mail (postage stamps and the principle of a fixed fee regardless of distance were innovations of this era). Due to the increasing demand for skilled labor, a state educational system was introduced in 1870, which guaranteed primary education. Universal secondary education was introduced only in 1902.

The problem of poverty

Despite the efforts of the state to streamline economic life, the industrialization of society also had its negative consequences. Unthinkable poverty may not have increased compared to the old days, but it became a real problem for society when masses of the poor migrated to urban slums. People's uncertainty about the future grew, because under the new economic system, ups and downs alternated, as a result of which workers lost their jobs and joined the ranks of the poor. Defenders of the system argued that nothing could be done, since these were the “iron laws” of economics. But such views were challenged by socialist thinkers such as Robert Owen and Karl Marx; their views were condemned by Charles Dickens, William Morris and other prominent writers and artists.
The Victorian era saw the birth and strengthening of the labor movement, from mutual aid and self-education programs (cooperatives, mechanics' schools) to mass action such as the Chartist struggle in the 1830s and 40s. for the expansion of political rights. Trade unions, which were illegal until the 1820s, gained real strength with the growth of socialist sentiments.

Achievements of the era

Although the Victorians failed to overcome the problem of poverty, the social and economic achievements of the era were significant.
Mass production led to the emergence of new types of products, and the standard of living gradually increased. The development of production opened up new professional opportunities - for example, the growing demand for typists allowed a significant number of literate women to get a job for the first time in their lives. A new type of transport - trains - transported employees from the city home to the suburbs every day, and workers every weekend on excursions to the coast, which over time became an invariable attribute of the English way of life.
Despite the enormous changes, the Victorian era did not shake the confidence and optimism of the nation. The British believed that they could and should maintain their status as the world's leading power, and only the outbreak of the First World War made them doubt this.

Victorianism. D. M. W. Turner. Rain, steam and speed. 1844

KEY DATES

1837 Victoria becomes queen
1840 Introduction of postage stamps. Victoria marries Albert
1846 Repeal of the Corn Laws
1851 First World Exhibition
1854-56 Crimean War
1861 Death of Prince Albert
1867 Second parliamentary reform
1870 Education Bill: introducing government school reform
1872 Introduction of secret ballot
1876 Victoria is proclaimed Empress of India
1884 Universal male suffrage
1886 Liberal Party split over Irish Home Rule
1893 Gladstone's last Home Rule Bill
1899-1902 Boer War
1901 Death of Queen Victoria