How close to revolution was Great Britain in the 1790’s?
How close to revolution was Great Britain in the 1790’s?
The 1790’s wasn’t the easiest of times for Britain. Revolution overthrowing the monarchy in France caused working-class civilians in Britain to entertain the idea of revolutionizing. This, among other aspects such as the war with France and food supply, meant that Britain, led by Pitt, had to fight off the threat of revolution. It would be a fair statement to make that although Great Britain had big enough threats and factors for revolution to actually happen, the threat lacked a certain spark that could have ignited the revolution, spreading into a full-blown fire across the whole country, helping end the monarchy.
The first key point to look at is the nature of British society at the time. The economy and living conditions can always be catalysts for a revolution- an example is the sorry state of the French economy, one of the major causes of revolution breaking out there, just before they went into revolution. Now, had the economy of Britain in the 1790’s been as crippled as France’s was, then it would have been likely that people in Great Britain would have been feeling desperate for change, and a revolutionary would have been looking likely. However, this was not the case. Although the years 1795 and 1797 were very difficult in terms of high bread prices and unemployment, the situation was simply not severe enough to make revolution a necessity for people in Great Britain. Hunger and famine were very sparse, in comparison to France. In fact, the standard of living of most people in the 1790’s had actually improved due to the industrial revolution taking place at the time. Pitt, thanks to his numerous reforms and changes to the government, such as increasing taxes and the introduction of the sinking fund, meant that the threat of revolution was significantly decreased.
Unions were also an issue that Pitt had to combat. There were many unions in Britain at that time, and they consisted of and
The 1790’s wasn’t the easiest of times for Britain. Revolution overthrowing the monarchy in France caused working-class civilians in Britain to entertain the idea of revolutionizing. This, among other aspects such as the war with France and food supply, meant that Britain, led by Pitt, had to fight off the threat of revolution. It would be a fair statement to make that although Great Britain had big enough threats and factors for revolution to actually happen, the threat lacked a certain spark that could have ignited the revolution, spreading into a full-blown fire across the whole country, helping end the monarchy.
The first key point to look at is the nature of British society at the time. The economy and living conditions can always be catalysts for a revolution- an example is the sorry state of the French economy, one of the major causes of revolution breaking out there, just before they went into revolution. Now, had the economy of Britain in the 1790’s been as crippled as France’s was, then it would have been likely that people in Great Britain would have been feeling desperate for change, and a revolutionary would have been looking likely. However, this was not the case. Although the years 1795 and 1797 were very difficult in terms of high bread prices and unemployment, the situation was simply not severe enough to make revolution a necessity for people in Great Britain. Hunger and famine were very sparse, in comparison to France. In fact, the standard of living of most people in the 1790’s had actually improved due to the industrial revolution taking place at the time. Pitt, thanks to his numerous reforms and changes to the government, such as increasing taxes and the introduction of the sinking fund, meant that the threat of revolution was significantly decreased.
Unions were also an issue that Pitt had to combat. There were many unions in Britain at that time, and they consisted of and