Britain is an island off the north-west coast of Europe, north of France. The Romans called it Britannia.
Terms:
Britain: the large island north of France. It has three kingdoms: England, Wales and Scotland. The English, Welsh and Scottish are all British, because they are from the island of Britain. Only the English are English. Britain is also called Great Britain (same thing).
United Kingdom: UK for short, is made up of Northern Ireland and the three kingdoms of Britain. But people often say Britain when they mean the UK.
The British Isles means the two islands of Britain and Ireland together.
Britain, which was at the edge of the world in Roman times, became the centre of the world in the 1800s when it was the seat of the British Empire.
Through its empire, it has spread its ways of doing things to other countries. Its language, English, is now the most widely known language in the world. Its way of life of big cities and big business in place of farms and small towns has taken over the world.
Its people settled in America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa. They wiped out the people in North America and Australia and brought African slaves to North America and the Caribbean.
As an island, the warships of its navy are far more important than its army. By the 1700s it had the best navy in the world.
Today Britain is no longer the top power in the world, as it was in the years between Napoleon and Hitler (1815-1939). It still has an excellent military, but no longer the most powerful.
With the rise of the European Union, Britain has divided loyalties between Europe and America. So far it has never had to choose. But if it came to a choice right now, it would probably choose America, a daughter nation which saved its neck in the Second World War.
Britain as an island has been spared the worst of the European wars that have taken place down through the ages. Julius Caesar, Napoleon and Hitler were not able to take over the island. It has not seen a foreign enemy on its soil in almost a thousand years. The last time was in 1066 when William the Conqueror took over England.
Britain has been less war-torn than most of Europe. It has not had civil war or revolution since the 1600s. The government itself has not been successfully overturned since 1485. True, a king was put to death in 1649, but the king’s men won in the end.
Unlike France, Britain has progressed not by killing its kings but by slow, bit-by-bit change down through the years. This might seem too slow for some, but it is faster in the long run because the country is always moving forwards, never back.
Britain was backward in science and invention till the 1500s but then became one of the leading countries, giving us Francis Bacon, Newton, Darwin and the industrial revolution.
See also:
Nice one ! good summary I think. There are two items on my ‘current affairs’ category you might like to see ?!
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With the rise of the European Union, Britain has divided loyalties between Europe and America. So far it has never had to choose. But if it came to a choice right now, it would probably choose America, its strong daughter, over its divided friends in Europe.
You really think so?
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[…] Other nuclear-armed states: Britain, France, Israel, Pakistan. […]
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“it would probably choose America, which saved its neck in Second World War.”
Deffinitely an American take on history there.
Someone from Britain would not usually see things in those terms.
The rest of it seemed fairly neutral, so that bit really stood out as showing the authors own cultural bias.
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Britain has just voted to exit the EU.
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Perhaps Britain did choose its Five Eyes Alliance (with the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) over the Eurozone after all.
Are there any lurkers who can add clarity and depth to the reasons behind the Brexit? I would love to learn more from an insider.
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I have a feeling the wave of migration had something to do with it, ie the latest one from syria, in that the eu was determining x-hundred thousand people go to germany, sweden, the uk etc.
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Think you are right v8driver about that. Nigel Farage UKIP and their followers tapped in with the right message at the right time.
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It looks like i am endorsing UKIP but just to say I certainly don’t follow that parties belief’s
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Are you going to move to Ireland now that the break-up of great Britain is imminent?
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I can’t wait for Ireland to become a Protestant country! Don’t go to Quebec, tabernac!
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yay montreal great if you like 4′ of snow all day. but there’s always global warming!
that’s interesting about NI
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Sometimes I think Lord of Mirkwood comes by here just so he can feel oppressed.
Apparently being a white heterosexual cis American male isn’t fully satisfying unless one can occasionally indulge in experiencing oppression — in a safe internet venue, of course.
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@Solitaire
Oooh, no you didn’t! Someone is on (a very sharp) point today.
LOL!!!!!
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@ Lord of Mirkwood
I’d be a lot more impressed if you took your rhetoric and pictures over to an Orange Order blog and fought the good fight there.
What you’re engaging in here is just more pointless Oppression Olympics.
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2016/05/21/oppression-olympics/
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@mirkwood, those signs — on, what is that, a giant bonfire made out of pallets — don’t seem to be talking about white irish catholics, you are confusing me again.
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@Mirkwood:
What are you on about?
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@Mirkwood:
What are you on about?
.
Absolutely NOTHING… as usual!
I’d bet he enjoys listening to the sound of his own constant squawking!
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@mirkwood are you saying that NI protestants use the ‘n-word’ to refer to catholics there? that does not compute in that the signs up there say what they do about racism, i don’t think anyone uses ‘racism’ to describe the schism between catholic and protestant in ireland.
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i dont have time for that all, but tres inapropos!
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@ v8driver
I’m going to back LoM up on at least one point: the “schism” in Ireland is at its root an ethnic conflict between Celts (Irish) and Germanics (English). The conflict started well before the Reformation, but it has gained a religious aspect because the majority of the English became Protestant while the majority of the Irish remained Catholic. Historically there have been numerous Irish Protestants who fought to liberate Ireland, including a few prominent leaders.
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@ v8driver
That said, I don’t have a clue who the n-word in the photo refers to. TAG and “I Ran Away” obviously reference the Irish nationalists. I suppose LoM may be right that the n-word in the photo refers to them as well, but conceivably it could also refer to PoC living in Antrim. Wouldn’t be the first time that bigots slurred multiple groups at once.
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*KAT, not TAG. I’m too sleepy to be posting…
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sorry bout that, it’s a little bit of esoteric ethnic lore, i reckon; no matter what, even though i have british, scottish, and scotch irish blood in me i still will identify as irish
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damn, i don’t like to share pix like that. but it does show how huge that is, and i would not feel safe within 30′ of that thing if it was fully engulfed in flame, i didn’t know it would have a preview pic on that posting, i guess wp has a lot more ‘linkeages’ now to other social media sites
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@ Lord of Mirkwood
Corbyn will be lucky to last the week. It seems that much of his shadow cabinet has resigned post-Brexit.
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