英国国家概况——历史（四）

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七、Britain and the World

(一) Colonial Expansion

English colonial expansion began with the colonization of Newfoundland in 1583. Encouraged by Britain's control of the seas, especially by the rising tide of emigration, British colonialists stepped up their expansion to Canada, Australia and New Zealand in the late 18th and the early 19th centuries. By 1900, Britain had built up a big empire, “on which the sun never set”. It consisted of a vast number of protectorates, Crown colonies, spheres of influence, and self governing dominions. It included 25% of the worlds population and area.

(二) Two World Wars

World War I was fought from 1914 to 1918 primarily between two European Power blocs: “the central power”, Germany, Australia-Hungary and Italy, and the “Allies”, Britain, France and Russia. During the war, the Britain lost much. Apart from the loss of manpower, there had been considerable disruption of the economy and society.

As Adolf Hitler and Nazism showed off their aggressive momentum in Europe, Chamberlain, the Prime Minister, found his policy of appeasement of German aggression was no longer tenable, and was forced to declare war on Germany on September 3, 1939. And World War II was fought from 1939 to 1945.

(三) Postwar Britain

One of the most far reaching consequences of the war was that it hastened the end of Britain's empire In 1952 Princess Elizabeth was crowned Queen Elizabeth II. In January 1973, Britain became a full member of the European Economic Community which was still called the Common Market in 1973.