: Martin Johnes
: Wales: England's Colony
: Parthian Books
: 9781912681563
: 1
: CHF 7.50
:
: Geschichte
: English
: 230
: Wasserzeichen
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
The Conquest, Assimilation, and Re-birth of a NationFROM THE VERY BEGINNINGS OF WALES, ITS PEOPLE HAVE DEFINED THEMSELVES AGAINST THEIR LARGE NEIGHBOUR. That relationship has defined both what it has meant to be Welsh and Wales as a nation. Yet the relationship has not always been a happy one and never one between equals. Wales was England's first colony and its conquest was by military force. It was later formally annexed, ending its separate legal status. Yet most of the Welsh reconciled themselves to their position and embraced the economic and individual opportunities being part of Britain and its Empire offered. Only in the later half of the twentieth century, in response to the decline of the Welsh language and traditional industry, did Welsh nationalism grow.This book tells the fascinating story of an uneasy and unequal relationship between two nations living side-by-side. It examines Wales' story from its creation to the present day, considering key moments such as medieval conquest, industrial exploitation, the Blue Books, and the flooding of Cwm Tryweryn.Wales: England's Colony? challenges us to reconsider Wales' historical relationship with England and its place in the world.

Martin Johnes grew up in Pembrokeshire, lives in Cardiff and works at Swansea University, where he is Professor of Modern History. His research explores questions of identity in sport, politics and popular culture and has included studies of football, archery, popular music, Christmas, disasters, and local government. His other books include Wales since 1939 (2012) and A History of Sport in Wales (2005), and, with Iain McLean, Aberfan: Government and Disasters (2000).
Introduction
Anyone looking up Wales in the 1888 edition ofEncyclopaedia Britannicawould have found the simple entry ‘See England’. In contrast, had they turned to the entry for Scotland they would have found a passage running to seventy-four pages. The phrase ‘For Wales see England’ has become notorious. For some, it sums up how Wales is invisible to the wider world. More commonly, it is seen as an example of English arrogance and a tendency to dismiss the idea of Wales as a separate nation. Both these things have sometimes been true, but the entry also hints unintentionally at a different truth: understanding Wales without looking at England is impossible. From the very beginnings of Wales, its people have defined themselves against their large neighbour. As this book shows, that relationship has not only defined what it has meant to be Welsh, it has also been central to making and defining Wales as a nation.
This might be an uncomfortable idea since it could suggest that somehow Wales is not a nation in its own right. But all nations look to others to define themselves. As historian Linda Colley has put it, ‘Men and women decide who they are by reference to who and what they are not’. The sense of difference from someone or something else creates a common bond amongst what are often disparate people, and their loose sense of unity is turned into something more visceral. In some cases, an unequal relationship makes the sense of difference very powerful and puts it at the heart of an identity. Canada, for example, cannot be understood without reference to its relationship with the USA: so much of its culture and politics is defined by consciously being different to the country to its south. But even for nations not overshadowed by a powerful neighbour, a sense of difference from others is often central. The USA’s belief in its importance and power over other nations illustrates that. So, too, does the UK’s 2016 vote in favour of leaving the EU. Yet, as both these examples illustrate, a nation’s sense of difference can owe more to imagination than reality.
The idea that Wales has been defined by its relationship with England is also uncomfortable because the relationship between the two nations has not always been a happy one and never one between equals. Wales was England’s first colony. Its conquest was by military force and led to a process of colonisation whereby the Welsh were denied what today would be called civil rights. It was accompanied by implantations of foreigners, the abolition of some traditional customs, and the introduction of new taxes. The phrase ‘imperial exploitation’ might be a modern one but it is applicable to medieval Wales. England then formally annexed Wales through what today are known as the Acts of Union. Its separate legal status came to an end and assimilation into England gathered pace. Skip forward a few centuries and an enquiry into Welsh education revealed hostile prejudices towards the Welsh language and the Welsh character, illustrating how political assimilation had not brought cultural equality. Some schools in the nineteenth century physically punished children for speaking Welsh, leading to subsequent accusations that the language was beaten out of children. In the 1950s and 60s, there was an outcry when a rural Welsh-speaking community was destroyed to supply an English city with water. There was anger too at governance from London when Welsh industry went into retreat. In the 1980s, a year-long miners’ strike across the UK was widely interpreted within Wales as a desperate struggle to keep the Welsh coal industry alive in the face of English indifference. Some even maintain that the coal industry typifies how Wales has been robbed of its natural resources to feed the English economy. If this is the sum of Wales’ history, it is little wonder that some want to throw off ‘the English yoke’.
When we sit under a tree and gaze upwards, our eyes are drawn to the gaps where the sunlight shines through and not the mass of leaves closer to us. Much