HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
When King William IV died, he was succeeded by his niece Victoria,
who was only eighteen. She was to reign for sixty-four years and
become the symbol of a whole era, which came to be called the
“Victorian Age”.
Victoria’s reign can be divided into three periods:
1. Early Victorianism (1837-1850) - Influenced by Americans and
French revolutions, Britain carried out a gradual
democratization and found economic prosperity thanks to free
trade and reforms. OPTIMISM
2. Mid-Victorianism (1850-1870) - In this period England was the
best country in the world thanks to its industrial and naval
power, its natural resources, financial stability and reforms. The
climax was the GREAT EXHIBITION OF THE WORKS OF
INDUSTRY OF ALL NATIONS in 1851.
3. Late Victorianism (1870-1901) - Britain supremacy began to be
threatened by new political, economic and social forces like
Trade Unionism and woman suffrage. Victorian liberalism gave
way to liberal socialism. PESSIMISM
QUEEN VICTORIA
Victoria was born on 24th May 1819. She lost her father, Edward the
Duke
of Kent, when she was eight months old. Her childhood was lonely
and unhappy. She was very educated. She married her cousin Albert
of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. She was really in love with her husband and
vice versa. After his death she didn’t go out anymore. Victoria had
hemophilia and she had 9 children, her children had marriages in a
lot of European courts, so Victoria spread hemophilia all over Europe.
DOMESTIC POLICY
When Victoria ascended the throne she had to face a period of bad
crops and, consequently, discontent among the working class.
This crisis set the birth of the Chartist Movement (directed by an
irish lawyer).It demanded a Charter of social reforms. In 1839
