Editing United Kingdom (section)

=== United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland ===
{{Main|History of the United Kingdom|Acts of Union (1800)|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland}}
[[File:Queen victoria.jpg|thumb|[[Queen Victoria|Victoria]] reigned as [[Monarchy of the United Kingdom|Queen of the United Kingdom]] and [[Empress of India]] during the 19th century.]]
In 1800 the parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland each passed an Act of Union, uniting the two kingdoms and creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on 1 January 1801.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Act of Union |url=http://www.actofunion.ac.uk/actofunion.htm#act |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415061235/http://www.actofunion.ac.uk/actofunion.htm#act |archive-date=15 April 2012 |access-date=15 May 2006 |publisher=Act of Union Virtual Library}}</ref>

After the defeat of France at the end of the [[French Revolutionary Wars]] and [[Napoleonic Wars]] (1792–1815), the United Kingdom emerged as the principal naval and imperial power (with London the largest city in the world from about 1830).<ref>Tellier, L.-N. (2009). ''Urban World History: an Economic and Geographical Perspective''. Quebec: PUQ. p. 463. {{ISBN|978-2-7605-1588-8}}.</ref> [[Royal Navy#1815–1914|Unchallenged at sea]], British dominance was later described as ''[[Pax Britannica]]'' ("British Peace"), a period of [[International relations of the Great Powers (1814–1919)|relative peace among the great powers]] (1815–1914) during which the [[British Empire]] became the global [[hegemon]] and adopted the role of global policeman.<ref>Sondhaus, L. (2004). ''Navies in Modern World History''. London: Reaktion Books. p. 9. {{ISBN|978-1-86189-202-7}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Porter |first=Andrew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oo3F2X8IDeEC |title=The Nineteenth Century, The Oxford History of the British Empire Volume III |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-19-924678-6 |page=332 |ref=refOHBEv3}}</ref> From 1853 to 1856, Britain took part in the [[Crimean War]], allied with the [[Ottoman Empire]] against [[Russian Empire|Tsarist Russia]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Benn |first=David Wedgwood |title=The Crimean War and its lessons for today |journal=[[International Affairs (journal)|International Affairs]] |volume=88 |issue=2 |date=March 2012 |pages=387–391 |jstor=41428613 |publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1111/j.1468-2346.2012.01078.x }}</ref> participating in the naval battles of the [[Baltic Sea]] known as the [[Åland War]] in the [[Gulf of Bothnia]] and the [[Gulf of Finland]], among others.<ref>[https://runeberg.org/nfbs/0252.html ''Nordisk familjebok'' (1913), s. 435] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209123019/https://runeberg.org/nfbs/0252.html |date=9 December 2023 }} (in Swedish)</ref> Following the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|Indian Rebellion in 1857]], the British government led by [[Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston|Lord Palmerston]] assumed [[direct rule]] over [[British Raj|India]]. Alongside the formal control it exerted over its own colonies, British dominance of much of world trade meant that it effectively [[Informal Empire|controlled the economies]] of regions such as [[East Asia]] and [[Latin America]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Porter |first=Andrew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oo3F2X8IDeEC |title=The Nineteenth Century, The Oxford History of the British Empire Volume III |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-19-924678-6 |page=8 |ref=refOHBEv3 }}; {{Cite book |last=Marshall |first=P.J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S2EXN8JTwAEC |title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-521-00254-7 |pages=156–157 |ref=refMarshall |access-date=29 September 2020 |archive-date=16 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230116094154/https://books.google.com/books?id=S2EXN8JTwAEC |url-status=live }}</ref>

Throughout the [[Victorian era]], political attitudes favoured [[free trade]] and [[laissez-faire]] policies. Beginning with the [[Great Reform Act]] in 1832, Parliament gradually [[Reform Acts|widened the voting franchise]], with the [[Representation of the People Act 1884|1884 Reform Act]] championed by [[William Ewart Gladstone|William Gladstone]] granting [[suffrage]] to a majority of males for the first time. The British population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid [[Urbanization|urbanisation]], causing significant social and economic stresses.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tompson |first=Richard S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5kcJqmXk2oC&pg=PA63 |title=Great Britain: a reference guide from the Renaissance to the present |publisher=Facts on File |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8160-4474-0 |location=New York |page=63}}</ref> By the late 19th century, the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]] under [[Benjamin Disraeli]] and [[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury|Lord Salisbury]] initiated a period of [[Scramble for Africa|imperial expansion in Africa]], maintained a policy of [[splendid isolation]] in Europe, and attempted to contain Russian influence in [[Emirate of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]] and [[Qajar Iran|Persia]], in what came to be known as the [[Great Game]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fromkin |first=David |date=1980 |title=The Great Game in Asia |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20040512 |journal=Foreign Affairs |volume=58 |issue=4 |pages=936–951 |doi=10.2307/20040512 |jstor=20040512 |issn=0015-7120 |access-date=4 June 2023 |archive-date=12 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412053528/https://www.jstor.org/stable/20040512 |url-status=live }}</ref> During this time, [[Canada]], [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]] were granted self-governing [[dominion]] status.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hosch, William L. |title=World War I: People, Politics, and Power |publisher=Britannica Educational Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-61530-048-8 |series=America at War |location=New York |page=21}}</ref> At the turn of the century, Britain's industrial dominance became challenged by the [[German Empire]] and the [[United States]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zarembka |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NSrwpggmHigC&pg=PP1 |title=Contradictions: Finance, Greed, and Labor Unequally Paid |date=2013 |publisher=Emerald Group Publishing |isbn=978-1-78190-670-5 |access-date=21 October 2020 |archive-date=28 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240328141231/https://books.google.com/books?id=NSrwpggmHigC&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Edwardian era]] saw [[Liberal welfare reforms|social reform]] and [[Irish Home Rule movement|home rule for Ireland]] become important domestic issues, while the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] emerged from an alliance of [[Trade unions in the United Kingdom|trade unions]] and small socialist groups in 1900, and [[suffragettes]] campaigned for women's right to vote.<ref>Sophia A. Van Wingerden, ''The women's suffrage movement in Britain, 1866–1928'' (1999) ch 1.</ref>