quinta-feira, 7 de outubro de 2010

ENGLISH: England has its history marked by important political and economic revolutions



The origins of English civilization are closely related to the formation of the Western Roman Empire. For a long time, the Island of Britain occupied only a peripheral position among the various provinces controlled by Rome. However, at the end of antiquity, this situation changed when the Angles and Saxons invaded this territory.
Soon after, the Vikings also invaded the island, imposing another rule that marked the British scene until the Late Middle Ages. In the year 1066, under the leadership of King William, the French Norman conquered the region and thus established the end of the Anglo-American hegemony in the territory. Thus, Britain was divided into counties to be distributed to the militaries that won the conflict.
This division of land marked the installation of feudalizing practices that already took great part of Europe. However, in the 12th century, the rise of the Plantagenet dynasty changed the present political scene with the employment of actions that would contribute to the political centralization of Britain. With the creation of common law and real justice, the British kings would concentrate power in his hands.
The presence of these legal structures allowed several taxes were charged to the population and a regular army would be preserved under the command of the monarch. However, in the passage of the 12th and 13th centuries, the involvement of the Plantagenet kings in wars against France and the organization of the Crusades created a climate of great dissatisfaction among the nobles submitted to collecting of various charges.
In 1215, a revolt organized by British landowners imposed the king to sign the Magna Carta, which stated that the introduction of taxes should first be approved by a council composed of members of the clergy and nobility. In fact, under the historical perspective, we note that the English never got to experience an absolutist political regime.
Such autonomist sentiment gained even more significant proportions with the rise of the bourgeois class in this country. In the 17th century, anticipating future conflicts between the bourgeoisie and the monarchs, England experienced a liberal revolution that banished the substantial interference of royal power. With the English Revolution, the bourgeois class in this country reached the necessary conditions to boost their trade.
The result of these actions was blunted in the next century, when the English nation reached a condition of cradle of the called Industrial Revolution. With technology and government support, England became one of the most influential economic powers throughout history. Soon, the products coming out of that tiny island captured consumers markets in various parts of the planet.
In the 19th century, the expansion of the capitalist economy prompted the English to promote the colonization of territories scattered throughout Africa and Asia. In the so-called neo-colonialism or imperialism, the British interfered in the politics of different regions of the planet in order to broaden their markets, exploit cheap labor and obtain raw materials by low cost.
The major consequence of this policy shifted in the outbreak of the First and Second World War, where we have sparked the fierce competition between the great capitalist countries. Finally, Europe being the big stage of these conflicts, England lost its economic leadership to the United States, its ancient colony during the Modern Age.
The English culture is present today in various areas of Western culture. The English language is now practiced all over the world and has become an indispensable communication apparatus to the present. Moreover, the English created the football, a sport that today mobilizes passions and interest of many people around the world.

Nenhum comentário:

Postar um comentário