The previous article talked about the UK cleverly taking advantage of the wind of the heavens and the right place, holding the hammer of human harmony in hand, knocking on the door to Industrial Revolution . Laying a solid foundation for the opening of the empire of the sun never set
This article I will analyze the reasons for the collapse of the empire from 3 stages :
Today, the cause, the result of the next day
- Reformation was a social movement against the Catholic Church that emerged in Western Europe in the 16th century. It destroyed the church power of various countries and negated the control of the politics of various countries
In the late Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church had transformed into a corrupt supra-state authority headed by the Pope, and was separated from its essence as a spiritual institution. Devout Christians inside and outside the church, especially the intellectual class, have called for reform of the Catholic Church, and have a high voice to return to the origin of Christianity. However, since any reform measures will touch the original economic and political privileges of the Catholic Church, the vested interest group led by the Pope has always resisted reforms and adopted a high-pressure policy to reform forces inside and outside the church in the early 16th century, King Henry VIII of England launched the religious reforms, broke away from the pope's rule, and realized the supreme royal power. Established Anglican as the state church, and preserved the bishops, important doctrines and rituals of the Catholic Church. In addition, the confiscation of church property and disbanding the monastery
The action to disband the monastery gave Henry VIII a great profit, and he obtained a total of 1,593 monastery fields, of which 1,527 were sold one after another. The aristocratic class bought part of it, and also bought businessmen, lawyers, and civil servants. And the squire class purchased most of them (about 2/3) to expand their existing industries. Therefore, an emerging class that was different from feudal aristocrats and serfs, namely, the bourgeoisie represented by squire and merchants, gradually took shape
Western European feudal system
html late 116th to the 17th century, the British Puritans launched a fierce religious reform movement, announcing the separation of the state religion and establishing a new church, advocating the removal of the residual influence within the Christian Anglican Church. However, in the mid-17th century, the Royalist Parliament passed the "Belief in the State Church", and the Puritans were cruelly persecuted by the government and church forces. In desperation, they turned their attention to the American
Catholicism maintains the feudal system, and Puritanism maintains the capitalist system. Catholicism safeguards the interests of the feudal ruling class, while Puritanism safeguards the interests of the bourgeoisie. Social and political movements during this period were all disputes of interests among various classes dressed in religious cloaks
1 On September 16, 2020, a wooden sailboat named " Mayflower " left the UK and sailed towards the North American continent. Three months later, it arrived at the Plymouth , Massachusetts, USA today. The 102 passengers on the ship became the first batch of immigrants in the North American continent and are the founder of the United States. As Puritans, they finally got rid of their own control and persecution. The first batch of them were found, and then there was a steady stream of people. Millions of Puritans took root and settled in this place where they could breathe freely
Puritans invited Indians to celebrate the gratitude banquet
Common interests collapsed
1756-1763, Britain and France fought a "seven-year war " for overseas colonies and regional hegemony. On February 10, 11763, the "H Treaty of Paris " was officially signed, marking the official end of the British-French War. France was defeated and ceded colonies in Canada, India, North America, the Caribbean and other regions to Britain. Since then, Britain's maritime hegemony was established, and the "Empire of the Sun Not Set" began to take shape
Versailles Palace
The first error:
- annexed the French Canadian region
Canada is vast, sparsely populated, rich in resources, and has great development prospects.However, the annexation of French Canada itself is unfavorable to the consolidation of the relations between Britain and the colonies. Because of driving away the evil beast that France was staring at the couch, the Thirteenth Colonial and Britain lost their common enemies and there was no need to unite and fight against the enemy. Both will definitely fall into continuous economic and political disputes
The second error:
- In the early stage, in order to save administrative expenses and military expenses, the colonies will be autonomous. In the more than 100 years since the North American colonies were established, Britain did not directly collect taxes from the colonies
- Later, in order to pass on the fiscal losses caused by the war, it imposed a series of new taxes on the colonies, seriously damaging the interests of the people of all classes in the colonies
After the end of the British-French War, although Britain achieved the final victory, it also paid a expensive price. In addition to the large number of soldiers who suffered casualties, the most important thing is that they burned too much money. The British Treasury bonds reached an astonishing £130 million, twice as much as before the war. In order to pass on the financial losses in the war to the people of North American colonies, the British government not only strengthened sanctions on North American colonies, but also legislated a series of new taxes. In 1764, the British government promulgated the Sugar Tax Act. This was the first time in history that the British government collected taxes on North American colonies. It led to strong dissatisfaction among sugar merchants and people in North America. In February 1765, the British Parliament passed the " Stamp Tax Act ". The stamp duty amount was very heavy. Its implementation damaged the economic interests of all classes in the colonies and caused widespread struggle against stamp duty. In 11767, the British Parliament passed the "Donsend Tax Act" and damaged all classes in the colonies. The interests of the colonies aroused great resistance, and merchants also launched a powerful backing movement.
These tax law accelerated the arrival of the War of Independence to a certain extent, and laid the groundwork for the subsequent American independence
On July 4, 1776, the " Declaration of Independence " drafted by Thomas Jefferson declared the birth of the United States
signed the "Declaration of Independence"
wealth was gone and the order was shattered. The overlord shifted
- family wealth was gone, order collapsed
World War I
fuse: 1914, Austria-Hungarian Empire Crown Ferdinand Grand Duke couple inspected Sarajevo , they were shot dead by Serbian young man Gavrijo Principe
Participants:
Allies: German Empire and Austro-Hungarian Empire, as well as the Ottoman Empire , Bulgaria
Allied countries : Britain, France and Russian Empire and Serbia, Belgium , Italy and the United States
Loss: There are 33 participating countries, more than 70 million troops were invested, 1.5 billion people were involved in the war, more than 10 million people were killed, and more than 20 million people were injured. The economic losses caused by the war reached US$270 billion
World War II
fuse : Japan made in 1931 918th Incident , which opened the prelude to World War II
Participants :
Anti-fascist allies: the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the Republic of China
Fascist Axis: Nazi Germany, the Great Japanese Empire, the Kingdom of Italy
loss : , 60 countries and regions, with more than 2 billion people involved in the war. A total of about 70 million people died and 130 million were injured. The economic losses caused by the war were as high as more than 5 trillion
World War The essence of the outbreak of the world was that the economic development of various imperialists was unbalanced, the order was unequal, and the world-class war broke out to re-dividate the world and fight for global hegemony
Two world wars accelerated the collapse of Britain's colonial system, and the loss of a large number of colonies made Britain, which had originally limited national size, completely lose the qualification to dominate the world. The US dollar took advantage of the trend to replace the hegemony of the pound as an international currency.At the same time, the consumption of the war has caused Britain to lose all the money saved over hundreds of years, bringing a heavy burden to the domestic economy.
Dunkirk retreat
- failed the opportunity, and the overlord shifted
British is the origin of the first industrial revolution . The invention of steam engine injected strong power into industrial manufacturing. Although
steam engine solved the size of the energy system, it did not solve the "quality" problem of the energy system. Although the energy scale of the steam engine is huge, its accuracy, controllability and convenience have serious defects. In the 1860s, Germans Siemens made generators; in the 1970s, actually available generators were released. Electrical appliances began to replace machines and became new energy sources that supplement and replace steam engines. Subsequently, electric lights, trams and movie projectors were launched one after another, and human beings officially entered the " electrical era "
Electric energy far exceeds steam energy in terms of fineness, controllability and convenience, that is, the "quality" of the electrical power system is significantly better than the steam power system. This directly triggered the explosive development of product systems, that is, the rapid increase in the function and complexity of the product. The application of electrical power systems has enabled unprecedented development in scale and quality of manufacturing industry
0. The first industrial development in the UK is complete, so the cost of updating production equipment is very high. This also makes capitalists less keen on updating productivity equipment. As a result, compared with the emerging economy (Germany, the United States), the British equipment was outdated and the productivity was low. At the end of the 19th century, British capitalists turned their attention to emerging markets such as the United States. With the injection of capital, the rapid rise of the United States' economy has made Britain's already stagnant industrial strength grow even weaker
Rich wealth If you are only keen on capital operations and only indulge in the game of "money making money", and do not support the promotion of domestic physical industrial technological revolution, backwardness is inevitable
It can be said that the profit-seeking nature of capital will promote the UK to "cloud", and will also step on the UK into the "mortal world"
I am Time Muyu Friends who like my little friends will follow us next time we see
