Political changeFor nearly 50 years revolution had swept across Europe but although Britain came close to revolution in 1830, political reform was advanced by mainly peaceful means. The Radical Movement campaigned for electoral reform but also for free trade, better working conditions and better treatment of the poor.
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In the Parliament of 1823, the Aristocracy dominated both the Whig and Tory political parties, but the rise in the middle classes, brought about by the industrial revolution led to calls for political reform, providing the middle classes more power through an extension of voting rights and a demise of the Rotten Boroughs. The Great Reform Bill of 1832 gave increased representation to the Radicals and the development of the Liberal Party. |
With a large and developing Empire, Britain was at war, somewhere in the world, during almost every year of the Victorian period, a period that also saw a rise in pacifist agitation and a call for non-military methods of settling disputes. The costs of supporting these military campaigns, although met from industrial expansion and from the Empire, was in stark contrast with the meagre budgets allocated to education and social development. |
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