English History 1914-1945 [antikvár]

PREFACE When the Oxford History of England was launched a generation ago, 'England' was still an all-embracing word. It meant indiscriminately England and Wales; Great Britain; the United Kingdom; and even the British Empire. Foreigners used it as the name of a Great Power and indeed continue to do so. Bonar Law, a Scotch Canadian, was not ashamed to describe himself as 'Prime Minister of England', as Disraeli, a Jew by birth, had done before him. One volume in this history treats Scotch universities under the head of English education; others treat the internal affairs of the colonies as part of English history. Now terms have become more rigorous. The use of 'England' except for a geographic area brings protests, especially from the Scotch.^ They seek to impose 'Britain' - the name of a Roman province which perished in the fifth century and which included none of Scotland nor, indeed, all of England. I never use this incorrect term, though it is sometimes slipped past me by sub-editors. 'Great Britain' is correct and has been since 1707. It is not, however, synonymous with the United Kingdom, as the Scotch, forgetting the Irish (or, since 1932, the Northern Irish), seem to think. Again, the United Kingdom does not cover the Commonwealth, the colonial empire, or India. Whatever word we use lands us in a tangle. I have tried to stick to my assignment, which is English history. Where the Welsh, the Scotch, the Irish, or the British overseas have the same history as the English, my book includes them also; where they have a different history, it does not. For instance, Wales is an integral part of the I. Some inhabitants of Scotland now call themselves 'Scots' and their affairs 'Scottish'. They are entitled to do so. The English word for both is 'Scotch', just as we call les français the French, and Deutschland Germany. Being English, I use it 21