Rods2 I cannot argue with your financial knowledge, but I must correct your understanding of the British Empire with your statement to Cem:
"The UK was the worlds leading nation from about 1550 to 1950, when the US took over"
The British Empire grew rather than appeared at a certain date, with steady growth over 200 years based on capitalism and acquisation. In 1550
England was not a world power. Spain was. France was. But the UK did not exist, and it was England that was fighting for its very survival.
In 1558 Elizabeth I came to the throne, a protestant, daughter of Henry VIII, and as far as the King of Spain, Philip II, along with, more importantly, the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Pius IV was concerned she was a "bastard" and an enemy of the Catholic Church. Indeed Pope Pius V in 1570, whilst Elizabeth was trying to deal with the "difficult" problem of Queen of Mary Scots (a Catholic) she was excommunicated and classed as the "pretended Queen of England, the serpent of wickedness". This would all lead in 1588 to the Spanish Armada, and King Philips attempt to invade England and take the crown.
We all know the outcome of that, and although Spain never recovered from the overall costs of that escapade, it remained a world power, with England greatly boosted in confidence, but still not strong enough to take Spain, and France on. Remember, Henry VIII had spent all the nations wealth on palaces and lavish living, in an even worse way than the Labour Government would do 420+ years later (see history can repeat itself)
It was only in 1603 when James I, VI of Scotland came to power that he brought with him Scotland, Ireland and Wales, to start to form what would become Great Britain. However, it was England that drove the lust for wealth and power through commerce and industry. It really was not until
The Glorious Revolution of 1688 that the early shoots of real Empire started to form with England's commercial power growing in the City Of London, on the back of the aristocracy and landed gentry investing their wealth into expanding industry, leading up to the start of the Industrial Revolution in 1750. Colonies were also being gathered.
It was after 1688 that the Royal Navy started to gain real strength, with the Dutch navy brought under the command of British Admirals. It was from this time that the key battles took place, leading up to Trafalgar on 21st October 1805, when the Royal Navy defeated the combined fleets of France and Spain. This was THE time that the British Empire came into full dominance, being absolutely the supreme naval power across the globe. The land Battle of Waterloo in 1815 was the final defeat of the French Empire, and gave the British Empire full reign to develop business interests around the World. On the back of the Industrial Revolution, which technically did not end until the late nineteenth century, British commercial interests fuelled the power house of the greatest Empire known in history. It was not until Germany came to industrial prominence in the early twentieth century, engaging in an arms race with Britain that led to the complex reasons for the First World War. With American industrial and commercial power growing, the start of the First World War was the zenith of British power. It was in decline thereafter, with Great Britain entering World War Two rather depleted. That war ended with Britain in dire financial straights. A quarter (some £7,000 million) of the national wealth and been lost, she owed £3,000,000,000 to the USA in loans; £152,000,000 had been lost in dollar and gold reserves; there was the cost of £152,000,000 for property damage and destruction; £700,000,000 in shipping losses, and finally £900,000,000 in stock depreciation and write off. Britain also had a military consisting of 9,000,000 personnel, 4 times the pre-war figure. In short Britain could no longer afford to police, maintain, or even retain her Empire. It had to go for Great Britain to survive.
Thus with India going in 1947 and most other dependencies and colonies going thereafter, it is considered by historians that the British Empire ended in 1960.
If you are interested to read further on this subject, the books I recommend are:
Cain, P.J. & Hopkins, A.G.
British Imperialism 1688-2000 Longman (2002)
Hennessy, P.
Never Again Britain 1945-51 Penguin Books (2006)
Hoppit, J.
A Land Of Liberty England 1689-1727 Oxford University Press (2000)
Pocock, T.
Trafalgar An Eye Witness History The Folio Society (2005)
Sked, A. & Cook, C.
A Political History 1945-1992 Penguin Books (1993)
Weir, A.
Elizabeth The Queen Pimlico (1999)
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Topic: Worst ever PM (Read 5126 times)