46. What new social classes appeared in the 18th century? What caused social unrest in the country? What do you know about Chartism?

IR caused vast social changes. People began to move from the land to the industrial cities. A new industrial working class appeared.

Mechanization led to the growth of social inequality. The wealth of the few and the misery and poverty of the Majority were increasing equally rapidly . The poor had to work long hours for very low wages. The French bourgeois revolution was welcomed in Britain but the ruling classis were frightened that similar events might happened in Britain and the government took tough measures against the working class movement and organizations. People were outraged, they smashed machines at the factories and blamed factory owners for exploitation. In 1836 the 1st association of workers : London Working Men’s Association was formed. In 1838 they drew up a set of 6 demands and called it the Peoples Charter. These demands were:

1. Every man should have the vote

2. People should vote in secret

3. An equal number of people should vote in each district

4. Men should not need to be property owners id they wish to stand for parliament

5. MPs should be paid

6. Parliament should be elected every year

The Charter was rejected by Parliament twice and the chartists leaders were arrested. Even saw the first 4 chartists demands became law within the next 17 years.

47. What disasters did Ireland suffer in 1845, 1846 and 1847? What country did many Irish emigrate to?

Ireland suffered from the Great Famine which began as a natural catastrophe of extraordinary magnitude, but its effects were severely worsened by the actions of the Whig Government. The Irish Famine killed nearly ⅛ of the entire population. It was the most destructive famine for all the time. The famine happened because Ireland’s population had rapidly grown in the 19th century. This meant that the large families needed large amounts of food, but the land situation in Ireland wasn't able to support them. Potatoes were the staple diet of the rural population, but this crop is vulnerable to diseases and there was no cure against the happened “potato blight”. Many Irish emigrated to America and Britain. They got there by ships, but people were weak and sick and thousands of them died during this journeys. Also, people suffered from the rise of the rent. Landlords had debts, that's why they started to rise the rent for their lands. But not all Irish could pay, they just abandoned the lands. After 2 lean years the epidemics burst out. Typhus(тайфэс сыпной тиф), scurvy(скёви, цинга), dysentery. Also cholera (колэрэ) of 1849 killed about 36000 people. Finally, the next year’s harvests урожаи were all right, epidemics ended and life became better.

48. What were the greatest cultural achievements of the Victorian Age?

Queen Victoria was Queen on the UK and Ireland from 1837 until her death in 1901.She succeeded to the throne after George 4(1820-1830) and William 4(1830-1837)She became the Queen when she was 18. The UK was an established monarchy, in which the sovereign (сОвэрин-монарх) held relatively little direct political power. She married Prince Albert and they had 9 children. Albert was irreplaceable for her and his death in 1861 shocked her. She started to avoid public appearances. Victoria became a national icon with strict standards of morality. Her reign lasted 63 years and its known as the Victorian Era. It was a period of political, economical, scientific and cultural changes and achievements. Albert convinced Victoria of the necessity of cultural development. He organized The Great Exhibition in 1851.

The education Act made education to a certain extend compulsory and there was great demand for books, the most popular form was novel .The 19 th century was the great age of novel . “Oliver Twist”, “David Cooperfield” by Charles Dickens, '”Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte, “The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde are some of the novels. There were many poets like Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning, great painters like Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Holman Hunt. Also were build many museums such as “Victoria and Albert Museum”, “Royal Albert Hall.” The qualities such as soberness, punctuality, frugality (фругЭлити-бережливость) were valued before the Victoria’s reign too, but during her reign these values became the most important.