Britain was the richest country in Europe Essays

Britain was the richest country in Europe Essays Britain was the richest country in Europe Paper Britain was the richest country in Europe Paper What Accounts for the fact that Britain was the richest country in Europe in the 1870 1914 period? In the half century or so before the 1914 war . . . if any nation had truly made a bid for world power, it was Great Britain. In fact, it had more than made a bid for it. It had achieved it. 1. By 1914, Britain was considered as the worlds greatest power; it controlled the worlds largest empire, a fifth of the worlds land surface and a quarter of the worlds population. The British navy was the worlds finest; it was even more powerful and larger than the next two navies combined.In its zenith, Britain was the manufacturing workshop of the world, with one third of all manufactured goods coming from her shores; it produced two thirds of the worlds coal and half of the worlds cotton, cloth and iron2. From this position, it conducted over one quarter of the worlds trade and in 1914; the registered shipping tonnage was more than the whole world combined. Not only was Britain considered economically rich but also politically and socially, she had one of the worlds highest living standards, healthiest population and most progressive governments.The period 1870 1914 in Britain, conjure images of power and expanding empire, however it was these years, which are associated with the beginning of Britains one hundred year decline. This period saw growth in industrial production decrease, as did her share in worlds manufacturing capacity, Germany became the worlds centre of manufactured goods and by 1914 her share in world trade decreased by almost a third of 1870. This period saw Britain caught napping3 whilst the rest of the world was catching up, she had rested on her laurels and did little else aside from watching those laurels begin to wilt.However, although Britain was showing signs of decline this essay shall illustrate that she was still the richest country in Europe and the reasons for this. In 1870, British businessmen looked back at years of unstained economic expansion. At home, British industry moved into a period of remarkable prosperity where growth had averaged 3-4% per annum; agriculture enjoyed a similar Golden age known as high farming and abroad Britannia ruled the seas and the empire brought untold riches to the British homeland.Britain had the worlds most democratically progressive governm ents and the legislation brought forward by government made British society one of the most dynamic and zestful societies of Europe. The end of 1914 had truly established Crown imperial; British assets abroad were enormous. The end of the ninetieth century saw incredible growth, with an extra 60 million people and 4. 5 million square miles added to the empire. The total land under the Raj, was astounding, the dominions of Canada in the West and Australia in the East, India and much of Africa.Every important point on the globe was coloured pink; the Suez Canal safeguarded trade routes to India, Gibraltar guarded the meditation and the British in Aden controlled the mouth of the Red Sea. Britain controlled all of the seas, the Pacific was controlled through naval bases in Singapore and Hong Kong and islands sprinkled all over it, the Atlantic was controlled from the West Indies, Canada and West Africa and the tips of Africa and south America were safeguarded by colonies in Cape Town a nd the Falklands respectively.Kuwait, which was added to the empire in 1899, added control of the Middle East. These colonies not only brought enormous prestige but also enabled Britain to own much of the worlds mineral wealth either directly through the empire, as in the tin of Malaya and the diamonds of South Africa, or indirectly through British companies such as British Companies in South America. London was the worlds financial capital and Britains overseas investment totalled 40% of the world total. The whole world was under the dominance of Great Britain.An example of Britains power and wealth, or even brashness is the buy out of the Egyptian share of the Suez Canal in 1875. The khedive of Egypt looked to sell his 44% share in the Suez Canal, the French government whose companies owned the majority of shares were interested. However, before the French could react, Disraeli had promised Egypt i? 4 million tomorrow. The deal was successful and Britain became the largest shareho lder in the Suez Canal that was so essential to her trade.Disraeli commented the French government has been out-generaled, this illustrated to the rest of Europe that Britain possessed the money, backing and resolve to do whatever she pleased. The Queen was made Empress of India in 1876, as lord Curzon the viceroy to India once stated, as long as we rule India we are the greatest power in the world, if we loose it we shall drop straight away to a third rate power4. Although India was the major market for British cotton imports, Curzon was not referring to this.He like much of the British public felt that Britains economic loftiness lay upon her empire, which instead of being the cause of her power was the consequence of power; the cause being British industrial and economic dominance. The foundations of this economic and colonial bliss had been the mercantile policies followed by politicians for the last 250 years. Since the fifteenth century, Britain had followed a policy of laisse z faire and trade in primary commodities within a world market based upon colonies.This continued throughout the 1870 -1914 period where Tariffs in the UK were 0% compared with Frances 20% and Germanys 13%5 This resulted in British industry being able to buy cheap raw materials and flood the world market with its cheap manufactured goods. Britain was the first nation to industrialise and utilised this with an intelligent division of labour based upon the exchange of primary products for manufactured goods. There was little competition from abroad and therefore European countries were, just as British colonies were, important buyers of British manufacturers.For the early part of the 1870-1914 period, Britain kept at the forefront of technological fields. New processes in the metal industry such as Bessemers converter system, which could produce steel at much lower prices and Siemens open-hearth process, which could produce a stronger type of steel, encouraged growth in engineering in dustries. This combined with the increase in population caused the demand for manufactured goods at home to increase dramatically. Noticeably the railway industry saw enormous injections of investment; the railway boom resulting in a total of 14,510 miles of track in 1880.This not only created extra jobs but also created a large market for the iron industry; coal industry and most importantly enabled the transportation of manufactured goods of all kinds to ports much more quickly. This coupled Britains strangle hold on the seas in merchant shipping played a vital role in the increase of British exports. The great spurt of industrialisation meant Britain not only longer dominated the world economy through its navy and its extensive colonies, but now more importantly through its productivity of its leading industries.