6 - Twentieth-century Britain

Summary

Just as some historians have argued for a ‘long eighteenth century’, extending to 1832, so claims have been made for a ‘long nineteenth century’, ending after the chronological terminus of 1900. Certainly the case for commencing the history of Britain in the twentieth century with the general election of 1906 has its attractions, while a stronger claim still can be made for stretching the Victorian period to include the Edwardian and even the pre-war years which came to an abrupt end in 1914. Undoubtedly the First World War was, and was seen as, a watershed in British history. Nevertheless the earlier war with which the twentieth century opened, the conflict with the Boers in southern Africa, also marked enough of a turning point to justify starting an account of post-Victorian Britain around the time of the death of Queen Victoria herself.

For the Boer War jolted Victorian confidence in progress. The brash assumptions, verging on arrogance, that history, if not providence, had singled out the British to be its favoured children, to provide the rest of the world with the model of material and moral improvement, had received some hard knocks since its heyday in 1851, the year of the Great Exhibition. The challenge of economic competitors, particularly Germany and the United States, had raised doubts about their material superiority, while the perceived decadence of the nineties undermined claims to moral leadership.