The transition from pre-monopolistic capitalism to imperialism took place at the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century. This new stage of capitalist development was described by V. I. Lenin in his work Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. The five essential features of imperialism pointed out by V. I. […]

Changes in the position of British capitalism led to the revival of the labour movement and trade union militancy in the 1880s. The long depression of the seventies brought an end to a long period of steady wage increases. The main advantages of this process were enjoyed by the labour aristocracy. Now the golden age […]

The First World War was the result of the imperialist monopoly stage of capitalist development and imperialist rivalry between the two main capitalist camps headed by Britain and Germany; V. I. Lenin pointed out that in the war the imperialists aimed at seizing new colonies, pliftfderin^the riva^f’yHuntries and weakening the proletarian movement by setting the […]

The First World War of 1914 — 18 was a dramatic expression of the general crisis of capitalism. Imperialist rivalries over trade and colonies threatened the supremacy of Britain, and in fact it was this supremacy that was lost in the course of the war. Though still the centre of the largest empire in the […]

The Second World War was precipitated by the policies of the Western powers who did their utmost to direct fascist aggression against the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union on its part consistently urged Britain and France to undertake collective measures to halt the advance of fascism and defeat its aggressive aims. The Chamberlain government however, […]

Britain emerged from the war in a weakened position both economically and politically. ‘Her losses in human lives were comparatively small, about three hundred thousand, which was four times less than in 1914 —18. Material damage and losses were much more substantial, about 25 billion pounds. British exports fell drastically too, while high imports continued […]

In 1950 the United Kingdom’s gross national product (GNP) was the second largest in the capitalist world after the USA, and in terms of GNP per head it ranked fifth. In the 1980s Britain stands only fifth in terms of total GNP and twentieth in terms of GNP per head. Britain’s share of visible world […]

The British Isles are situated on the continental shelf off the north-west coast of Europe and comprise a group of islands lying between latitudes 50° and 61° North and longitudes 1°45′ East and 8°10′ West, the prime meridian of 0° passing through the old observatory of Greenwich (London). The total area of the British Isles […]

The British Isles are of the continental origin. Situated off the north-west coast of Europe, they once formed part of that continent. They only became islands when they were separated from it. The separation took place thousands of years, ago, after the last Ice Age. When the ice melted, the level of the oceans rose […]

Britain has a great diversity of physical characteristics and, despite its small area, contains rocks of nearly all the main geological periods. There is a contrast between the generally high relief of western and northern Britain and the lowland areas of the south and east. In general, the oldest rocks appear in the highland regions […]