Parliament, Empire and Industry
When TV correspondents report on important events in the UK, they often do so with the famous skyline of the Houses of Parliament, also called the Palace of Westminster, in the background. The building itself is actually not as old as it looks – it was built in the 19th century, but in an older Gothic style. Today Westminster is seen as the centre of political power in Britain. However, this was not always so. Once it was little more than an administrative tool of the monarch. The struggle for parliamentary power is one of the defining developments of British history and one that laid the foundations of modern democracy.
Read more in Access to English: Social Studies, pp. 26-36. Then do the tasks in the textbook and on this website.
Visual Material
Web resources
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Civil War and Revolution
(bbc.co. uk) -
Civil War
(nationalarchives.gov. uk) -
Stuart England
(historylearningsite.co. uk) -
Audio: The Glorious Revolution (BBC Radio - In Our Time)
(bbc.co. uk) -
Empire and Sea Power
(bbc.co. uk) -
The Amazing Life and Strange Death of Captain Cook: Crash Course World History #27
(youtube.com) -
British Empire
(nationalarchives.gov. uk) -
Audio: The Industrial Revolution (BBC Radio - In Our Time)
(bbc.co. uk) -
Coal, Steam, and The Industrial Revolution: Crash Course World History #32
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Audio: Consequences of the Industrial Revolution (BBC Radio - In Our Time)
(bbc.co. uk) -
Victorian Britain
(bbc.co. uk) -
Imperialism: Crash Course World History #35
(youtube.com) -
Victorians
(bbc.co. uk) -
Victorians Audio Clips
(bbc.co. uk) -
Great Britain 1700 to 1900
(historylearningsite.co. uk)