British Commonwealth (German Heritage)

Commonwealth of Great Britain Cymanwlad Prydain Fawr (Welsh) Timeline: German Heritage
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem:  Land of Hope and Glory
Location of British Commonwealth
Capital		London
Official languages		English Welsh Cornish Manx
Religion		Protestant Christian, Catholics, Islam
Demonym		British; Brit
Government		Federal Parliamentary Republic
-	President	Jack Straw
-	Prime Minister	Andy Burnham (Progressive)
-	Deputy Prime Minister	Caroline Lucas (Greens)
Legislature		Parliament
-	Upper house	Senate
-	Lower house	House of Commons
Establishment
-	Flight of the Royal Family	October 1917
-	First Republican Parliament	April 1918
-	Constitution Created	12 August 1918
Area
-	Total	230,977 km2  89,181 sq mi
Population
-	2016 estimate	60,800,000
Currency		Pound (GBP; £)
Date formats		dd.mm.yyyy
Drives on the		left
Internet TLD		.gb

The Commonwealth of Great Britain, commonly known as the British Commonwealth or Great Britain, is a Sovereign Nation located in Western Europe.

The British Commonwealth consists of two constituent republics: England and Wales. Their capitals are London and Cardiff respectively. These countries have their own parliaments, which decide all affairs excluding broadcasting policy, common markets for British goods and services, the constitution, energy and defence and national security. The nearby Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey are not part of the Commonwealth, being dependencies with the British Government responsible for defence and international representation.

Great Britain became a de facto republic in October 1917, when the Royal Family and Imperial British Government fled Britain to Canada, and became a de jure republic in March 1918 when the position of President was created. A National Assembly was convened in Southampton, where a new constitution for Britain was written and adopted on 12 August 1918. During its early years, the British Republic faced numerous problems, including the rising of food prices, economic downturn, political extremism (with contending paramilitaries) as well as contentious relationships with the victors of the First World War.

In the middle of the 1920s, the Labour Government of Ramsay MacDonald steered Britain closer to the United States in an effort to boost the failing economy. Investment from America flooded into the Republic, and by 1929, many sectors of the British economy were heavily reliant on American support to remain sustainable. While this foreign policy endeavour did temporarily boost the British economy, when the American economy collapsed after the wall street crash, it had the adverse effect of bringing the Commonwealth’s economy crashing down. For the next decade, Britain would deeply feel the impact of the worldwide Great Depression. Britain's world trade fell by three quarters (1929–33), the output of heavy industry fell by a third, and the registered unemployed numbered six million.

The Labour Party, already electorally hurt by the 1926 General Strike, saw a massive decline in popularity as a result of the Great Depression. In 1932, Labour fell to fourth place in the general election and fell out of government. The 1932 Election also saw a rise in anti-government parties, such as the National United and Liberal Parties, and for extreme parties, such as the Communists and Fascists.

The British Commonwealth is a member of NATO, the League of United Nations, the Pan-European Community and Council of Europe.

History

1911-1914: Second Balfour Government and The Great Unrest

For history prior to 1917, see History of the United Kingdom. For history prior to 1707, see History of the British Isles.

Clockwise from top right:Socialist revolts in Glasgow, Scotland, Royalist tanks in the Midlands, communists David Kirkwood and Willie Gallacher being detained, women protesting the end of the war.

After the conflict over the People’s Budget, Asquith attempted to curtail the power of the Lords through constitutional reforms, which were again blocked by the Upper House. A constitutional conference on the reforms broke down in November 1910 after 21 meetings. Asquith and Lord Crewe, Liberal leader in the Lords, asked George V to grant a dissolution, leading to a second general election, and to promise to create sufficient Liberal peers if the Lords blocked the legislation again. Worried about the increasing power of the Commons and rattled by the events of the last year, George V refused, causing a constitutional crisis and leading to the resignation of the Liberal Government. The Conservative leader, Arthur Balfour returned to office as Prime Minister, leading a minority government.

Though the Conservatives had gained a majority, the period 1911-1914 was by no means plain sailing for the Balfour Government. Though many of the Liberal government’s reforms had been reversed, the political discourse that they created had deeply de-stabilised the establishment. Multiple crises hit simultaneously in 1911–1914 with serious social and political instability arising from the Irish crisis, labour unrest, the women's suffrage movements, and partisan and constitutional struggles in Parliament. The Great Unrest that followed 1910 saw over 5,000 strikes in all parts of the country. The response to these strikes often led to violence between the strikers and government - an estimated 500 people were killed as a result of the Great Unrest. In these (mostly-northern) communities, the surging Labour Party became more and more relevant as the working-class became radicalised and turned towards Labour as the left-wing alternative to the Conservatives.

1917-1918: British Revolution

After George V refused to change the royal name from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to a less-German name, the British public started to have negative feelings toward the monarchy. The exile of Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia to Britain caused a revolutionary atmosphere to engulf major urban areas. The socialist anti-war faction of the Labour Party capitalised on this negative feeling and started to encourage a revolution to halt British involvement.

While the beginning of the British Revolution is disputed among historians, it is generally placed in August, when the largest anti-war protest, numbering about 10,000, took place in Glasgow. While it is not known whether it was a warning shot, it caused widespread panic and caused the more rebellious to start to fight against the local units. Some Police and Army units fired into the crowd, leading to 23 deaths and 54 injuries. The conflict, which came to be known as the Battle of George Street, sparked a number of protests and strikes which eventually began to become a real threat to the British government. Various “massacres” by the police and army caused these groups to become more aggressive and armed, especially in Scotland, South Wales and industrial areas in the North-East and West of England. In September 1917, the government provisionally moved from London, which was seeing considerable unrest and revolution, to Canterbury, Kent. Home Secretary George Cave resigned and was replaced by George Curzon, Earl Curzon of Kedleston. While Curzon attempted to destroy the strikes and revolutionary spirit, the damage had been done. By Late October, the situation was critical, and the government fled to Canada.

The Commonwealth of Britain was proclaimed and on the 15th of November, 1917, the new British republic signed for an armistice with the Central Powers. After the signing of the Treaty of Bremen in February 1918, British troops were withdrawn, causing the collapse of much of the Franco-Belgian lines. The Germans broke through the Yser Front, fully occupying Belgium. The last months of the war turned into conventional warfare, with the invading imperial troops soon breaking past the fields and trenches that they had been fighting over for almost four years. The last French defensive at the Second Battle of the Marne in March 1918 failed, leading to the quick capture and occupation of Paris. While various paramilitaries continued fighting, the French government surrendered on the 21st of March, 1918.

1918-1932: Labour Government

In the years immediately following the Labour landslide of 1918, the anti-socialist, middle class vote congregated around the far-right British People’s Party (BPP), led by vicious antisemite Henry Hamilton Beamish. Unlike other countries, where the far-right was largely based around fascism, the BPP can be described as a (admittedly populist) extreme national conservative and nationalist party. The BPP claimed the Britain had been stabbed in the back by two main culprits, the Jews and the socialists, who had supposedly destroyed Britain’s international reputation. The BPP supported a restoration of the British Monarchy and Empire, a “restoration to normality”, and a reversal of most of Labour’s key policies - such as free trade, economic interventionism and higher taxes. By means of its propaganda wing, “The Britons”, the BPP gathered an increasingly dedicated following, leading to it becoming the second largest party after the British general election, 1923, gaining 23.4 percent of the vote.

Conservative electoral poster from 1924.

The new British republic was dominated by the Labour Party, with the joint renaming conservative-liberal coalition as opposition. Many of the government, the House of Lords and richer families had fled with the royal family to Canada leaving a notable void in the mainly wealthier Conservative party. With the most prominent leaders absent, the reins of the Conservative Party were placed into the hands of George Tryon, a relative unknown who had first been elected in 1910. In 1925, the Liberal Party led by Winston Churchill united with the remnants of the Conservatives, forming the Centre Party, which aimed to unify the Anti-Socialist (yet - reformist) vote.

Strikers outside the Miners’ Hall in Tyldesley during the strike.

In May of 1926, a general strike was was called by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British government to act to prevent wage reduction and worsening conditions for 1.2 million locked-out coal miners. The decision to call a strike against the sitting Labour government can be tied to the historic rivalry between left-wing movements in the aftermath of the 1917 Revolution. A more prominent faction in the TUC disliked Macdonald’s Labour due to its commitment to “gradual socialism”, even during the revolution, which was argued to have been a prime chance for the establishement of a socialist society. Some 1.7 million workers went out, especially in transport and heavy industry. The government was prepared and enlisted middle class volunteers to maintain essential services. There was little violence and the TUC gave up in defeat. Though nine days in, the TUC leadership knew 'the government could hold out longer than the workers', it was perceived at the time as a 'brilliant failure'. Though the Labour Government ultimately won out against the strikers, it marked the beginning of the end for the party. Many unions, the key supporters of the Labour Party, turned against the party due to its passive resistance against the strikers. Labour scraped by a limited victory in the ensuing 1928 British General Election and saw a swing of voters defect to the Scottish Communist Party or the CPGB.

The Great Depression originated in Germany in early 1930 and quickly spread to the world. Britain, under the war reparations of the Treaty of Bremen, was economically tied to the United States to keep the British economy afloat, which caused the economy to plummet. The output of heavy industry fell by a third and employment profits plunged in nearly all sectors. At the depth in summer 1932, registered unemployed numbered 6 million, and many more had only part-time employment. The Labour Party, who was in government during the Great Depression, became blamed for its ineffectiveness, and saw a massive loss in 1932 to the Centre Party. By 1935, the Labour Party had disintegrated and split into its moderate, extreme, and interventionist wings. Many moderates joined with the remainder of Lloyd George’s Liberal Party to form the Free Democratic Party (FDP), while others joined the Centre Party or the CPGB.

Pictured: Anti-Fascists block the road for Scottish Fascists a few minutes before a brawl (top) Members of the fascist SDFP march through Glasgow during the 1930s (bottom)

1932-1942: Churchill Government and Instability

In the 1930s, Britain saw a sharp increase in support for political extremes - many felt disillusioned with the economic and political system and wanted radical change. Unlike the Britain of years prior, the British people were much more inclined toward political change, providing an impetus to radical parties. In the 1932 Election, the CPBG and British Fascists gained 9.6 percent and five percent of the vote respectively. In Scotland, violence erupted on the streets of Glasgow between supporters of the Scottish Communist Party Andy Scottish Democratic Fascist Party.

”Millions of Men died for a futile cause in 1914. Why would Britain put itself through that again? If Britain returns to this expansionist and aggressive path, you will see more fatherless children, more grieving widows and mothers and another “Lost Generation” - why would you support that? - Oswald Mosley, 1942.

As war erupted in Europe in 1941, the British Government was quick to declare neutrality. However, the faction surrounding PM Churchill still supported intervention to help crush the threat of communism. Indeed, the militaristic faction prompted future prime minister Oswald Mosley to resign as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1940 as a protest of the Government’s policy of British rearmament. Throughout the early years of the war, the debate surrounding British intervention was incredibly competitive - often, sides were taken, not due to any political affiliation, but due to personal beliefs, which made the debate more complicated. Ideologically, Britain was also divided as to which side of the conflict to join. On the one side stood France and Russia, at a time when anti-communism was strong, and on the other stood the Germans, whose wartime conduct was still bitterly remembered and resented. The interventionist debate came to a climax in 1942, when the (prescheduled) general election was held. World War II became the key issue in the election campaign -

1947-1952: Bevin and Bevan Governments

Ernest Bevin (1881-1951), Bevin led the Progressives to victory in 1947 and helped establish the new welfare state.

In the British general election, 1947, the Centre Party, now led by Ernest Brown, faced the first truly competitive election since 1928. After 15 years of Centre Party rule, voters were experiencing a level of voter fatigue, and the Progressive Party, led by Ernest Bevin, had firmly established itself as the predominant left-wing opposition in Britain. The Centre Party’s campaign was mostly based on its previous good record during the 1930s, as well as a large use of anti-socialist rhetoric, in an attempt to capitalise on public fears after World War II - Brown claimed that the Progressives “would have to use some form of Cheka to impose socialism on Britain”. The Progressive campaign was based around the plans for the new welfare state, such as modern housing, full employment, and the creation of a National Health Service. Bevin also stressed his lifelong opposition to communism and commitment to democracy in an attempt to calm anti-socialist fears. The Country Party attempted to distance itself from Brown and developed an unusually right-wing manifesto, positioning itself as the main opponent of totalitarian socialism. Ultimately, the Progressive Party was successful in the election, gaining 45.5 percent of the vote and forming a new government.

The party quickly nationalised critical sectors of the economy, especially declining industries. The Bank of England was nationalised along with railways (see Transport Act 1947), coal mining, public utilities and heavy industry. The most controversial case was the takeover of the highly profitable iron and steel industry, which was opposed and finally reversed by the Centre Party. A comprehensive welfare state was created also with the National Insurance Act 1948, in which people in work paid a flat rate of national insurance. In return, they (and the wives of male contributors) were eligible for flat-rate pensions, sickness benefit, unemployment benefit, and funeral benefit. Various other pieces of legislation provided for child benefit and support for people with no other source of income.

“The collective principle asserts that ... no society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means” - Bevan In 1952

Health Minister “Nye” Bevan visiting a patient in a hospital in Manchester on the first functioning day of the NHS (1949)

In the estimation of historians, and later politicians of the major parties, the most successful and permanent program was the creation of a National Health Service which started operations in 1949. It entitled all citizens to healthcare, which, funded by taxation, was free at the point of delivery. The opposition from physicians was bought off by allowing them to keep lucrative private practices on the side. All hospitals were nationalized and brought into the system. Michael Foot states that Minister for Health Aneurin Bevan had to persuade "the most conservative and respected profession in the country to accept and operate the Progressive government's most intrinsically socialist proposition”. In the end, many historians give Bevan the major credit for the success.

Another of the main achievements of Bevin government was the maintenance of near full employment. The government increased control over the economy, including control over the allocation of materials and manpower, and unemployment rarely rose above 500,000, or three percent of the total workforce. In fact, labour shortages proved to be more of a problem.

In February 1951, Bevin stepped down as Prime Minister and Progressive Party leader due to failing health (he died two months later in April, aged 70) and was temporarily replaced by Clement Attlee, the Deputy Prime Minister. His resignation resulted in a leadership election, marking the first time that a party’s leadership election would directly decide the next Prime Minister. Two main challengers emerged: the Health Minister Bevan, the popular left-wing candidate, and Hugh Gaitskall, the young standard-bearer for the right-wing of the Party. The election had three voting blocs, which consisted of the affiliated trade unions, MPs, and the general membership vote. Bevan won a majority in all three electoral blocs cementing his position as Progressive leader.

1952-1966: Mosley Government

In 1957, with the strong backing of a cabinet grouping surrounding the Foreign Secretary Harold Macmillan, the British Government supported its ally, Egypt, in the Suez Conflict. Britain sent 5,000 men, the first active use of the British army since the end of WWII. The Suez Conflict, one of the first crises of the Cold War, helped reestablish Britain on the international stage for the first time since 1917, spurring a wave in British nationalism. After 1957, Britain became aligned with the United States and established direct diplomatic communication with Canada and the rest of the former Empire, resulting in an economic boom as better foreign relations coincided with vast foreign investment.

The Opposition to the government had become increasingly divided after the 1981 election. Michael Foot became Progressive leader in 1981, and under his tenure, the Progressive Party became dominated by its "hard left" that had emerged from the 1970s union militancy, and in opposition its policies had swung very sharply to the left while the Conservatives had drifted further to the right. This drove a significant number of right wing Labour members and MPs to form a breakaway party in 1983, the Social Democratic Party. The policies of the SDP emphasised a middle position between perceived extremes of Thatcherism and the Labour Party. Its constitution argued for "the fostering of a strong public sector and a strong private sector without frequent frontier changes". The SDP favoured some neoliberal Thatcherite reforms during the 1980s, such as legislation aimed at reforming the trade unions (although the parliamentary SDP actually split three ways on Norman Tebbit's 1983 Industrial Relations Bill, most voting for, some against, and others abstaining), but took a more welfarist position than the Conservative Party, being more sceptical of Conservative welfare reforms (particularly regarding the National Health Service). Throughout the 1983-1986 Parliament, the SDP continued to gain support and won numerous by-elections.

Flags

Flag of the British Commonwealth

Name	The Republican Tricolour
Use	National flag and civil and state ensign
Proportion	1:2
Adopted	1917
Design	A horizontal triband of red, white, and green.
Designed by	Unknown (c.1816)

The national flag of Britain, frequently referred to as the British tricolour, is the national flag of the British Commonwealth. The flag itself is a horizontal tricolour of red, white and green. The proportions of the flag are 1:2 (that is to say, flown horizontally, the flag is half as high as it is wide).

While the true historical meaning and symbolism behind the flag is debated, its official symbolism was outlined in the Proclamation of a British Republic:

“The British Republic uses the historical symbol of republicanism and worker revolution...the Red-White-Green Tricolour of Chartist fame...the red symbolises the workers of our islands...the white, the desire for peace...the green symbolises the green fields of our islands and those who live and work on them”

Federal Divisions

The British Constitution of 1918 created “a fundamentally federal union of equal republics”, made up of the three republics of England, Wales and Scotland, as well as the directly administered islands of Mann, Jersey and Guernsey. The Constitution made provision for “home rule for any of the republics” in the form of a “regional parliament”. The first regional assemblies became established in 1923.

Wales established the Senedd Cymru (Welsh Assembly) in 1970, and England re-established its own parliament in 1999. Both the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man gained recognition as union republics in 1994, as a result of the then-Prime Minister David Owen’s pledged devolution reforms. The Manx Tynwald was reestablished, and National Assemblies were created for the Channel Islands, which collectively runs all the seven Channel Islands. Since the 2016 Scottish Withdrawal, there are only four republics - England, Wales, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. Though London and Cornwall are not republics, they effectively function as fifth and sixth republics of the commonwealth through the devolved London Assembly and Cornish Assembly (Senedh Kernow).

Notable Acts:

• Regional Assemblies Act 1923
• Scotland Act 1976
• Wales Act 1976
• Regional Assemblies Act 1984
• Regional Assemblies Act 1992

Flag	State	Head of government	Image	Government coalition	Last election	Area (km²)	Population	Capital
	Cornwall (Kernow)	Tim Andrewes (Greens; St Ives)		Greens – SDP – DSLP	2018	78,866 km²	10,541,466	Truro
	South West England	Neil Parish (National; North Somerset)		National – SDP	2018	49,035 km²	5,415,949	Bristol

Politics

Political Parties

	Party	Ideology	Period
	National Party	Conservatism British Unionism Economic Liberalism	1967-
	Social Democratic Party (SDP)	Social Liberalism Social Democracy Pro-Europeanism	1983-
	Democratic Socialist and Labour Party (DSLP)	Social Democracy Democratic Socialism Left-wing Populism	1991-
	Green Party	Green Politics Social Liberalism	1975-
	British Reform Party (BRP)	British Nationalism Right-wing Populism Euroscepticism	1997-

Former Political Parties

Centre Party

British Commonwealth (German Heritage)
Leaders:	Winston Churchill Ernest Brown Oswald Mosley Rab Butler Enoch Powell
Formed from:	Conservative Party Liberal Party
Succeeded by:	National Party New Democratic Party
Founded	1 July 1925
Dissolved	2 November 1968
Ideology	One-Nation Conservatism New Liberalism Keynesian economics Factions: Conservatism Social Democracy
Political position	Big tent (1925-1967) Right-Wing (1967-)
Colors	Green
Parliament of 1937	1 / 1 (56.6%)

The British Centre Party was a centre-left-leaning political party in Britain.

• 1928:
• 1932: 53.6 percent
• 1937: 56.6 percent
• 1942: 40.3 percent
• 1947: 48.2 percent
• 1952:
• 1957:
• 1962:
• 1967: