Well before the end of the eighteenth century Britain was as powerful as
France. This resulted from the growth of its industries and from the wealth of
its large new trading empire, part of which had been captured from the French.
Britain now had the strongest navy in the world; the navy controlled Britain's
own trade routes and endangered those of its enemies. It was the deliberate
policy of the government to create this trading empire, and to protect it with
a strong navy. This was made possible by the way in which government had
developed during the eighteenth century.
For the first time, it was the king's ministers who were the real policy
and decision-makers. Power now belonged to the groups from which the ministers
came, and their supporters in Parliament. These ministers ruled over a country
which had become wealthy through trade. This wealth, or "capital",
made possible both an agricultural and an industrial revolution which made
Britain the most advanced economy in the world.
However, there was an enormous price to pay, because while a few people
became richer, many others lost their land, their homes and their way of life.
Families were driven off the land in another period of enclosures. They became
the working "proletariat" of the cities that made Britain's trade and
industrial empire of the nineteenth century possible. The invention of
machinery destroyed the old "cottage industries" and created
factories. The development of industry led to the sudden growth of cities like
Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool and other centres in the north
Midlands.
