The Story of Britain 3. [antikvár]

PREFACE The third and last volume of The Story of Britain covers the main features of British History, in their European setting, from 1714 to the present day. As in earlier volumes, the subject-matter has been broadened to include much besides the merely political and military events. While these receive ample treatment, room has also been found for other elements in our national history: for economic and social developments, for the main outlines of Empire history, for literature, religion, science, and art. Reasons of space, together with the consideration that at this stage many pupils are provided with a separate European history book, have prevented the inclusion of separate chapters on European history as in previous volumes. Instead a brief summary of the European background has been placed before each of the first four parts of the book, thus providing a preliminary view of the four fairly well defined periods into which the European setting can be divided : namely, the Eighteenth Century, the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era, the Age of Unifications, and the Armed Camps before 1914. In addition, frequent reference has been made throughout the text to European events whenever they affect British history. In this as in the other volumes, there are numerous maps and illustrations, together with questions and exercises to test the pupil's reading. The subject-matter has been made sufficiently full to meet the requirements of the Ordinary Level of the General Certificate of Education. Although, moreover, the book is not specifically an Economic History, its generous treatment of economic and social matters will be found to cover much of the subject-matter required by those universities with a special Economic History syllabus. The story has been continued to the present day to dispel the common feeling that history always ends in a cul-de-sac and also to explain in outline the background of the present situation.