Building a Nation - an Interactive British AAR

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Well, the most recent election just closed. But the will be a new win before too long.

The Seventh Parliament of the Republic of Britain 1869-1875 (Part 1)

As Gladstone ascended to the station of Prime Minister he did so at the head of a Liberal Party that had been out of government for 11 years and had not so led one for 18. During that long period of decline the party had come close to utter oblivion as its vote collapsed and the party divided. Yet since the rebellion and subsiquent defeat of the 'Progressive' portion of the party the Liberals had returned to their Whiggish routes and in doing so secured their greatest electoral triumph.



Economically the Liberals fared reasonably well. Ending government involvement in industry was always likely to slacken growth however industrial growth remained strong with a consistent annual figure of 6-8% growth (with 11% in the final year of the government). The trend figure of 7.4% average annual industrial growth Gladstone's government saw industry expand at a slower rate than under the 3 previous Prime Ministers (Burt, Harney and Disraeli) all of whom had to some degree supported state involvement in industry.



Yet there was a harsher moral problem that faced the Liberal economic model. Following on from their Whig traditions the Gladstone government used tax exemptions for the wealthy as a means of encouraging investment in industry and keeping the industrial growth rate high. However, under Labour the wealthy had been taxed very highly and contributed a large portion of the budget – the massive cut on taxes for the wealthy made it impossible for the Liberals to maintain their low rate of tax on the poor. Thus, as taxes on the wealthiest plummeted the rate of tax on the poorest rose by 5% whilst the tax rate on middle income earners remained largely stationary. Unsuprisingly these policies enraged Socialists and Labour supporters alike. Things were only made worse by the return of unemployment on a large scale as by 1875 there were 150,000 unemployed craftsmen in British cities – some 4.5% of the industrial workforce.



When the Socialist Party compeeted in the 1869 election it was still a young and developing party that sat on rather unsteady ground. Becoming a significant force within Parliament seemed to solidify the Party's position and it quickly started to search out for deeper roots. Closer links were made with the Trade Union movement, a newspaper was set up (the Red Star) which was to be run by party members and the Socialist Party took part in the creation of a sister organisation in the WSPU. The movement for women's suffrage had been very much a minor middle class agitation for many years, however the Marxist thought that ran through the Socialist Party had always been very supportive of women's rights. Therefore in 1871 the Women's Social and Political Union was founded and the demand of suffrage for all women over the voting age was added to the Socialist Manifesto. Later that year some 20,000 women marched through London in the first major feminist protest of the century – for the first time the issue of women's suffrage started to get national press attention. Although there were calls within the Labour Party for Labour to follow the Socialists in support for women's suffrage the issue was deemed to controversial – it was believed that a half hearted support for women's suffrage would likely mean that most voters supporting the idea would still vote Socialist whilst Labour would alienate those who were against it. After 1869 the party could hardly afford to make controversial decisions.



The Conservative campaign for the 1869 election can be best described as shambolic. This resulted in the loss of half of the Tory seats and their slump to the position of the 5th party in Parliament. A total disaster! Even after former Prime Minister and long term party leader Benjamin Disraeli was restored to the leadership the Tory party's opposition remained pitifully weak. More often than not Gladstone simply brushed off Tory demands and continued to play the opposition parties in Parliament off eachother with easy. They were simply too divided and too weak to have any major influence over the government – despite Gladstone's promise that the other parties would have a say in his government. Disraeli therefore looked to find a solution. Looking at the situation this solution was obvious, there had to be unity on the Right if they were to defeat the Left and be strong before the Liberals.

In truth the British National Union had lost much of its momentum since its inception. Two things had powered its early growth – fear of the 'inevitable' terrors of a Labour government, fear that the Republic would be brought down by socialists and their co-conspirators, dissatisfaction with the weak policy of the Tories towards the Left and the promise that the BNU was at the head of a mass movement. Almost a decade on, 11 years of Labour government provided no terrors and no communist takeover whilst it had become increasingly apparent that the BNU was quite simply unable to compete with the Leftwing parties for support in working class areas. Whatsmore the party's effective lockout from any influence on government throughout its time in Parliament meant that its achievements in Parliamentary politics amounted to very little.



When Disraeli came calling with a generous offer in early 1870 of a reunion between the two parties Admiral Milne decided to gratefully accept the offer – being granted the powerful position of Shadow Chancellor in the new party and being able to take part in the forming of its position on equal terms with the Tories. Both the Coservative Party and the British National Union were disolved and the National Conservative Party was born. The NCP would support a continuation of the old Tory economic policies, would hold a tough and unwavering stance against socialism, would support centralisation in Ireland and stand by a strong and aggressive foreign policy.

Following the unification Disraeli's new National Conservative Party held a strong 102 seats in Parliament, this gave it exactly the same number of seats as Labour, but with the Unionists always willing to act as Tory lapdogs in reality the NCP had become the single largest opposition to the Liberal government.



From 1867 Denmark had been involved in a grinding Civil War. After Republican rebels rose up and defeated the King's armies in Jutland most had expected the country's Monarchy to simply collapse. But it hadn't. For two years the Danish fleet – loyal to the King, prevented the numerous Republican armies from taking Copenhagen and ending the war. Over that period agitation in Iceland has gradually grown as the neglectful and incompetent Danish govenors of the island alienated its inhabitants. Finally, in the summer of 1869 several thousand Icelanders rose up and evicted the 400 man Danish garrison from Reykjavik and then proceeded to proclaim the Icelandic Republic which qiuckly received recognition from several states including Britain.



40 years on from the collapse of the British Raj India was once again coming under total domination from foreign powers. But this time the continent was divided between British and French interests. Since returning from India with the annexation of Bengal in the 1830s, the French had expanded their control over much of the East of the country whilst their Dutch and Portuguese clients had also returned to India in a significant way. With the French slowly expanding their tentacles Westward from the Ganges Valley the British had been slow to counter them. However, in 1870 the Princes of Jodpur, Mewar and Indore in the Rajputana joined together to accept British protection. This move would act to further increase the long running tensions between Britain and France – yet the coming years would provide a rare opportunity for the British to finally act upon those tension.

Back in Europe the early 1870s were a time of extreme tensions and rising conflict. Since the collapse of the British Empire the European balance of power had been gradually eroded by the rising might of France and later Prussia. By 1870 the two Kingdoms were the dominant military powers on continental Europe. Yet, whilst in a simple battle between France and Prussia the Prussians would have had every chance of victory Prussia simply lacked the French web of influence and alliances that allowed it to dominate the continent. Switzerland, Piedmont, Portugal, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Greece and even the Papacy were all firmly under the French thumb whilst Russia was closely allied to France (relying upon the French for security following the rapid decline of its ability to defend itself) and Austria had very strong relations with the French, although stopping short of an alliance. In recent years only the persistent failure of the French to force the British out of Belgium and Spain's recent decision to break free of the French and pursue an independent foreign policy had gone against Europe's hegemonic power.

It therefore seems like madness that Prussia would wish to stand against France – but in reality there seemed little choice. With only Prussia standing between France and total dominance in Europe French foreign policy was focussed upon luring the Prussians into a war that they couldn't possibly win. As French baiting continued for years it became increasingly obvious to the Prussian government that it would be impossible to avoid a war entirely. Prussia should therefore strike first and take full advantage of the element of suprise.



In June 1872 around 70% of the entire Prussian army poured across the border into Alsace-Lorraine. Impressively, inspite of the fearsome French border defenses, the Prussians won several victories and even captured the German speaking city of Strasbourg. However at the more important target of Metz – which lay along to the road to Paris – the Prussian war machine ground to an abrupt halt as the city's defenses held fast and a long siege began.

With hopes of a swift overwhelming victory now dashed the Prussians called upon their friends the Spanish for support – Spain responded by assault the French forts along the Pyrennees and sending troops towards French Algeria. The French on the other hand called upon their wide array of European allies – including Russia.



With half of Europe against them it seemed clear that the Prussians had little hope of defeating the French. In Britain the outbreak of war sent the government into a blind panic. The fear of a crushing French defeat of the Prussians gripped Parliament as the National Conservatives demanded immediate action to prevent a French victory. Parliament therefore agreed to send subsidies to the Prussian and Spanish armies that included both money and arms to help them win the war – or atleast hold back the French.



However events were moving far too fast for subsidies to be enough. In July the fighting in East Prussia and Prussian Poland began to intensify in the face of a Russian invasion whilst in Alsace the French began their counteroffensive and in Baden Swiss and Piedmontese troops took Koblenz. But worse was to come as on the 3rd of August the Austrian Empire declared war on Prussia with the aim of reclaiming the long lost province of Silesia and regaining its old position as the protector of the South German states.



The government concluded that if Britain did not go got war now then there was nothing to stop the French from taking over all Europe. William E. Gladstone therefore declared war upon France on August 19th 1872, two days later Belgium followed suite.



The two sides who would fight the Great War had emerged.

To be continued