131-242/342 From Great Exhibition To Great War: British Society 1850-1918

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This subject examines British society from its optimistic mid-Victorian 'High Noon' in which its continual progress seemed to be symbolised by the Great Exhibition in 1851, to the very different society which emerged traumatised from the trenches of Flanders with its confidence and beliefs badly shaken. Central themes of the course include: the major social, economic and political changes in this society, including the move, in the early 20th Century, to a political democracy and the beginnings of a welfare state; the role and status of women in Victorian Britain, and the development of the first feminist and suffragist movements; the development of the modern labour movement and Labour Party; the relationship between Britain and Ireland, and the major challenges (including the Home Rule movement and the Easter Rising) to the political union of the two countries; Britain's role within the 'New Imperialism' from the 1880s (including the Boer War and its effects); and the major changes to British society brought about by the impact of World War I.

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