AS History₇₀₄₁

This option allows students to study in breadth issues of change, continuity, cause and consequence in this period through the following key questions:

• How did democracy and political organisations develop in Britain?
• How important were ideas and ideologies?
• How and with what effects did the economy develop?
• How and with what effects did society and social policy develop?
• How and why did Britain's relationship with Ireland change?
• How important was the role of key individuals and groups and how were they affected by developments?

Victorian and Edwardian Britain, c1851–1914

Reform and challenge, c1851–c1886

• The political system: parliament and the workings of mid-19th century democracy; ruling elites; prime ministers; parties and party realignment to 1867
• Political developments under Gladstone and Disraeli; liberalism, conservatism and the bases of their support; the extension of the franchise
• Economic developments: agriculture, trade and industry; economic ideologies; boom and 'the workshop of the world'; the onset of Depression
• Society and social changes: class and regional division; prosperity and poverty
• Social movements and policies; self-help; trade unions; education and social reform legislation
• The condition of Ireland and Anglo-Irish relations: land agitation and the political response; Home Rule

Challenges to the status quo, c1886–1914

• Political developments: the reasons for Conservative dominance to 1905; the problems of the Liberal Party; socialism, Fabianism and the emergence of the Labour Party
• Politics 1906–1914: the ideology of New Liberalism; political crises and constitutional change; development of the Labour Party
• Economic developments: the Great Depression and its aftermath; problems of British industry and agriculture; staples and new industries, foreign competition; invisible exports; debates over protectionism, tariff reform and free trade
• Social change; trade unions and new unionism; syndicalism; the issue of female emancipation; the growth of the urban population; the expansion of service industries; standards of living
• Social policies: government legislation and local initiatives; taxation and welfare reform by 1914
• The condition of Ireland and Anglo-Irish relations: the Home Rule movement, opposition and the Home Rule Bills