Queen Victoria: The 3 Impacts That Made Her Famous

Born24th of May, 1819
Died22nd of January, 1901
Famous Quote“Beware of artists, they mix with all classes of society and are therefore most dangerous”
Known ForIncrease in British democracy, enlarging the British Empire, reforming British morals.
Region of WorldBritish empire, 19th century.

Queen Victoria remains one of the most famous British monarchs to have ever lived. Her 19th century reign is considered a high water mark for the British empire. A time that coincided with massive expansion in the fields of scientific, humanistic, and government.

Queen Victoria remains famous to this day for three lasting impacts. First, she increased democratic power in the British government. Second, under Victoria the British Empire exploded in size. Third, she strove to reform British morals.

Queen Victoria to this day remains a controversial historical figure. Any potential history graduate students can find a wealth of information surrounding her impacts to write a great thesis.

Here at The History Ace I strive to give easy answers to complex history questions. If you like content like this feel free to share around and subscribe to the newsletter.

Without further ado, here are the 3 impacts that made Queen Victoria famous.

Increasing Democratic Power In The British Government

Queen Victoria’s reign continued the then centuries old process of giving the House of Commons more power over parliament.

This House of Commons could be composed of the ordinary man through a voting system of government. In essence this House of Commons was a form of democratic government.

Up until the mid 19th century however The House of Commons power over government was limited. The House of Lords and the monarch controlled a majority of the British Empire.

However, under Queen Victoria’s reign the power of the House of Commons grew while the power of the House of Lords decreased.

Several important bills that increased democratic power were passed during Queen Victoria’s reign. One such bill was the Reform Act of 1867, a bill that nearly doubled the voting urban power of The House of Commons.

After this bill another would be passed 20 years later called the Representation of the People Act of 1884. This bill sought to give equal enfranchisement rights across the English population.

Both of these bills decreased the power of the monarchy to directly impact the British parliament. Further, these bills drastically increased the democratic power in the British government.

Now the Lords and Monarchy would have to listen to the average person. In previous centuries this was unheard of. Under Queen Victoria the British government became more democratic in nature, a trend that continues to this day.

Across the modern world these democratic reforms have impacted the average man. Today we can see regions of the world that used to be under British rule have democratic style governments.

As such, Queen Victoria remains incredibly famous for overseeing the British Empire’s transition from a powerful monarchy to a democratic government. This has impacted billions of people worldwide.

Under Queen Victoria The Size Of The British Empire Exploded

Queen Victoria’s reign coincided with the largest expansion of the British Empire in history. Many historians call this time period Britain’s “Imperial Century” due to the massive size of the Empire.

This huge British Empire was brought about by the administrative efforts of Queen Victoria over her 63 year reign.

The reason the British Empire was able to expand as far as it did was due to new types of technology. Inventions such as the steamship, railroad, and telegraph made communication and transportation over long distances easy.

Queen Victoria’s reign encouraged people to push the boundaries of science and technology. Due to this modern historians call the 19th century the Victorian Era.

Not only was the British Empire at its peak but also under Victoria it now had the technology to defend its newly acquired territory with ease.

One of the prized territories of the British Empire was India. This was due to the massive economic potential that India represented to the British crown.

In a symbolic gesture in 1877 Queen Victoria was also made the Empress of India.

At its peak the British Empire during the reign of Queen Victoria stretched from North America to Asia. Due to this the British Empire of the 19th century was called “The Empire on which the sun never sets” as at any point the sun was shining on a part of British soil.

Because of this Queen Victoria is incredibly famous for ushering in an age of massively increased technology along with territorial expansion. To this day this former British Empire of the 19th century continues to impact people from all over the world.

Queen Victoria Reformed British Morals

One of the major lasting impacts that made Queen Victoria famous was her near constant push to reform public morals in the British Empire during the 19th century.

Previous British monarchs had been involved in scandals that discretized the monarchy in the people’s eyes. Queen Victoria strove to correct this error by leading by example.

As a result Queen Victoria strove to instill a new type of British morality system. This type of moral code revolved around religion, strong work ethic, family, and personal improvement.

Today we call this moral code “Victorian Morality.” Under Queen Victoria all types of vices were heavily forbidden. From 1869 up until Queen Victoria’s death moral reformation would take place across the British empire.

One such example of this can be seen in the Victorian Temperance Movement. Within this movement alcohol consumption was encouraged to be limited or abstained from completely for moral reasons.

Further, Queen Victoria’s new moral code for her empire would see the outlawing of slavery, child labor, animal cruelty, and other vices of the time.

While liberating for the time, modern historians recognize the often double-sided nature of Victorian morals. One one end Victorian ethics and morals sought for complete freedom from greed and control. One the other hand it outlawed several methods for individuals to express themselves and stuck them into a stratified moral society.

As a result of this moral reformation Queen Victoria was seen by the common man as a maiden of virtue. This made her incredibly famous during her day. Today this fame continues as billions of people around the world are impacted by her views on morality.

Conclusion

The 3 impacts that made Queen Victoria famous are her increasing of democratic power, pushing the boundaries of empire, and reforming the moral code of the British empire.

To this day billions of people around the world have been impacted by Queen Victoria’s reign. As a result her impacts have made her a famous household name that to this day continues to influence people worldwide.

Here at The History Ace I strive to publish the best history articles on the internet. I provide simple answers to complex history problems.

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Further, you can check out some of the other articles below. 

Sincerely,

Nick

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