Poster on women's role during Industrial Revolution. (Padlet).

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Britain under the rule of a mentally disease king

Britain under the rule of a mentally diseased king

George III was the king of Great Britain and Ireland from 1760 to 1820. He suffered from several episodes of serious physical and mental  illness throughout his life. It is widely believed nowadays that the King had a hereditary disease called porphyria. The disease has a wide range of symptoms that vary from physical pain, nausea, insomnia and neurological symptoms such as forgetfulness and confusion. The king suffered attacks often, but the most important ones occurred in the early 1780s, 1801 and 1810.

The film “The madness of King George”  is set in the late 1700s when the king had been ruling for several years and started showing the first signs of his illness. At the beginning of the film, we noticed that George seemed very upset by the loss of the American colonies. He began to behave in a strange way and this called the attention of the people surrounding him.

Once it was clear that the King was no longer able to rule effectively, it was time to begin a treatment. In the film, we realized that there were different approaches to treat his disease. There was a physician who thought it was useful to examine his urine to diagnose him and determine how to help him recover. Then there was a doctor, Dr Willis who decided to take what we may call a behavioral approach by restraining the king whenever he misbehaved. What we should point out is that his disease at this point is recurrent and not permanent. He appears to be very ill at times and seems to improve or show lucidity at others. As the disease became worse, the king was taken by doctor Willis to a farm to continue his treatment there.

Meanwhile, one of his sons, the Prince of Wales, not worried by his father’s condition, wanted the parliament to pass a bill so that he would become Prince Regent. This basically means that he would have the power of a king but without being one. For parliament to allow this, he argued that his father could not longer rule, since he was disabled by his disease.

After some time of being in a medical treatment, and with the support of his wife, Queen Charlotte, George started showing signs of improvement. The films shows a "happy" ending in which the king apparently recovers from his illness and is able to rule again, smashing the hopes of people, like his son, who saw the king's moment of weakness as an opportunity to gain power. However, as we know, the illness reappeared years later and he remained seriously ill until his death.

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GEORGE III MINDMAP

GLORIOUS REVOLUTION ESSAY

The Glorious Revolution

The Glorious Revolution ultimately established the supremacy of parliament over the British monarchy.This period of Glorious Revolution refers to the series of events in 1688-1689 which culminated in the exile of king James II and the accession to the throne of  William and Mary.

Similarities between the articles

Both articles describe the Glorious Revolution when Mary came to England to take the power away.It was culminated of king James II and the accession to the throne of William and Mary.James II made important changes in the relationship with catholic religion and English Monarchy.Moreover, the BBC and the House of Commons  mention the Act of Toleration as an act that garanteed religious to insurance Protestant.The articles mention that after William III and his wife Mary were offered the crown they had to share as an obligation the power with the parliament. Another point in which they agree it is in the fact that the revolution war was as much religious  as political.

Differences between the articles:

According to the House of Common, The Glorious Revolution was considered to be a bloodless and peaceful war, in which William lll  and Mary were invited by letter to rule England. Thus , Parliament established supremacy over the crown, and the monarchy lost royal power. William was considered the rescuer of England, Scotland, and Ireland from slavery and popery, but the parliament did not mention that the revolution was only secured in Ireland and Scotland by force with considerable loss of life. Besides parliament ignored  the extent to which the events constituted  a foreign invasion of England by another European power, the Dutch Republican .On the contrary,they sustained  that James ll abdicated the throne and left it vacant because of that William and Mary were called to rule England.

Another point in which BBC and the parliament disagree was related to the idea that William had invaded  England before he received the letter from those who were against James ll.

As far as the BBC’s view is concerned,it may also be mentioned that it gave an incredible importance to the implications of popery. It explained that ”popery” meant more than just a fear of Catholics and the Catholic Church since it reflected a belief that Catholics were actively plotting the overthrow of Church and state. What is said before is in fact related with another relevant past event, the 5th of November,which marked the heavy way of “plotting” and the overthrow of the popey in the past. The British House of Commons instead barely mentioned popery and the 5th of November in its explanation.

Despite the House of Commons said that Parliament invited William to reign, the BBC’s view opposed to this idea.

To sum up, history varies according to the one who writes it and in general it is believed that history facts are written by those who win. That is the reason why, it is so important and necessary for us to read and also compare different versions so that we are able to reach our own conclusions.

According to what we have read about the Glorious Revolution,and taking into account both views, the BBC’s one and the House of Commons,  we may infer that in fact this revolution was not as glorious as it is called.

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