Books: What We Could Learn From English History

 (Drivebycuriosity) - I like to read about history. There is so much to learn. "The English And Their History" by Robert Tombs, which fills 1074 pages, has so much valuable information which could be used even today (amazon).

Just some highlights of so many:

- After the demise of the Romans (about 400 AD) England needed around 600 years to come back to a kind of organization & civilization.

- Before 1100 AD England was vulnerable to many invasions, including the Romans, Vikings & the French. But the French invasion (1066 by William the Conqueror ) was the last the island suffered.

- In the begin of the second millennium England had mostly a French culture, people spoke French & the English kings lived mostly in France.

- England developed very slowly into a democracy by gradually reducing the power of kings & queens, starting with the Magna Carta (1215). So England could avoid the bloody & messy revolutions France and many other European countries suffered.

- The   bubonic plague (1348 Black Death ) raised living standards of the survivors significantly because a reduced workforce caused higher wages and the diminished population lowered the demand for food and cut food prices.

 - In the middle of the 19th century England adapted to free trade which reduced import & food prices and raised so standard of living. Free trade also supported economic growth.

- Contrary to a common belief the industrial revolution did not cause poverty and slums. Instead it created jobs & raised incomes and helped so England to adapt to a sudden population explosion caused by a better health care.

-  Margaret Thatcher, who had saved nation from immanent collapse, was accused by her many enemies, even inside her party, that she had maliciously ravaged a harmonious and humane society and was kicked out of office by the ungrateful Tories.

Conclusion: In the recent 1000 years England had a round trip from being a not very important island to a global empire and back to not very important island. But those "who have lived in England since 1945 have been among the luckiest people in the existence of Homo Sapiens, rich, peaceful and healthy."