| 翻訳と辞書 |
| Postwar Britain ： ウィキペディア英語版 |
Postwar Britain
Postwar Britain covers the history of the United Kingdom since 1945. For more details on politics and warfare, see History of the United Kingdom (1945–present). The period from 1952 onwards is sometimes known as the Second Elizabethan Era.
Britain was a victor in World War II. It gave independence to India in 1947 and gave up nearly all the rest of the Empire by 1970, ending in 1997 with the handover of Hong Kong to China.〔Piers Brendon, ''The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire'' (2010)〕 It was a founding member of the United Nations in 1945, with a veto in the Security Council. It collaborated closely with the United States during the Cold War after 1947, and in 1949 helped form NATO as a military alliance against the Soviet Union. It fought North Korea and China in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. After a long debate and initial rejection, it joined the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973. Prosperity returned in the 1950s and London remained a world center of finance and culture, but the nation was no longer a superpower.〔Peter Clarke, ''Hope and Glory: Britain 1900–1990'' (1996) chs 7, 8〕
==Austerity, 1945–1950==
The Labour Party victory in 1945 represented pent-up frustrations. The strong sense that all Britons had joined in a "People's War" and all deserved a reward animated voters. But the Treasury was near bankruptcy and Labour's nationalisation programmes were expensive. Prewar levels of prosperity did not return until the 1950s. It was called the Age of Austerity.〔David Kynaston, ''Austerity Britain, 1945-51'' (2008)〕 The most important reform was the founding of the National Health Service on 5 July 1948. It promised to give ''cradle to grave'' care for everyone in the country, regardless of income.〔Kenneth O. Morgan, ''Labour in Power: 1945-1951'' (1984) ch 4〕
Britain was almost bankrupt as a result of the war and yet was still maintaining a global empire, a huge air force and conscript army, in an attempt to remain a global power. When the U.S. suddenly and without warning cut off Lend lease funding in September 1945, bankruptcy loomed. The government pleaded for help and secured a low-interest $3.75 billion loan from the U.S. in December 1945.〔Philip A. Grant Jr., "President Harry S. Truman and the British Loan Act of 1946," ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' (1995) 25#3 pp 489-96〕 The cost of rebuilding necessitated austerity at home in order to maximise export earnings, while Britain's colonies and other client states were required to keep their reserves in pounds as "sterling balances". Additional funds—that did not have to be repaid—came from the Marshall Plan in 1948-50, which also required Britain to modernise its business practices and remove trade barriers. Britain was an enthusiastic supporter of the Marshall Plan, and used it as a lever to more directly promote European unity and the NATO military alliance which formed in 1949.〔Kenneth O. Morgan, ''Labour in Power: 1945-1951'' (1984) pp 269-77〕
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
■ウィキペディアで「Postwar Britain」の詳細全文を読む
スポンサード リンク
| 翻訳と辞書 : 翻訳のためのインターネットリソース |
Copyright(C) kotoba.ne.jp 1997-2016. All Rights Reserved.
|
|