HISTORICAL CONTEXT 1945- present day
The cold war
Britain in 1945
British politics after the war
Queen Elizabeth II
The new youth culture
The Irish problem
Disillusion and the search for new ideals
A cosmopolitan Britain post WW2
recent political picture
Margareth Thatcher PM 1979-1990
North Atlantic Treaty Organization 1949 (NATO)
Britain no longer a world power (3rd position)
1957 European Economic Community (UK 1973)
Marshall Plan
colonies wanted independence
The British Commonwealth
....
capitalism/communism
US: atom bomb. Russia: satellite States
EAST/WEST
Berlin wall 1961-1989
Churchill lost 1945 elections
Labour party wins
National Health Service 1946
social agenda
welfare state
....
...
illusion. PM Eden, Suez Canal crisis
1952, optimism (Elizabeth I)
UK + FR vs Egypt. protests, troops withdrawn
loss of power and prestige
different national image
new atomic age fear
spread of TV - cultural exchanges
drugs, sexual freedom, permessiveness
popular culture - teenagers - imported music
women liberation movement
advertising + mass media = consumer society
1950s, 1960s thousands of families from Carribeans, India and Pakistan
more cosmopolitan cities
economic boom, workers needed (manual labour)
racial tensions grew, riots
British troops sent to Ulster (Northern Ireland) in 1969
January 1972 Bloody Sunday: 13 killed
1960s, 1970s terrorist activities
IRA targeted Britain
Irish Free State 1921
ceasefire on 31st August 1994
big changes
elected 3 times
strongly conservative, called "The Iron Lady"
first woman Prime Minister
Falkland conflict (vs Argentina)
1984 miners strike
cold war ended
Berlin wall fell 1989
RUSSIA: Gorbacev (openness and restructuring)
1980s, 1990s financial boom , high unemployment, poverty
Thatcher resigned (controversial poll tax)
UK PM: labourist Tony Blair 1997-2007; then Conservative David Cameron
Afghanistan invaded in 2001, Iraq in 2003 to destroy Al Qaeda
9/11/2001 Twin towers attacked. New enemy: terrorism