How Important Are Individuals for Creating History: Thatcher and Thatcherism

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Role of a Personality
Background of the Topic
Margaret Thatcher. General Information
Party Leadership and Prime-Minister Office
International Policy
Domestic Policy
Thatcher and Thatcherism
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

The history of mankind is rather a specific matter to write about due to a number of reasons. First of all, in all times and in all countries, history was written by the “winners”, i. e. by people of political parties who were holding the state power. This explains the fact that historians of different epochs can not come to an agreement about this or that event. They just do not have precise information and must operate with prejudiced data from the previous epochs.

Secondly, knowledge of history presupposes the ability of a person to think critically and not only learn the facts but also analyze them in order to find reasons for certain events or actions of this or that person. Underlying factors can turn out to be much more important than the information accessible to everyone. That is why historians sometimes have to draw hypotheses for certain events and their reasons, but the basic principle of history is that one can trust only the information that is proven factually.

History is such a science that does not recognize any subjunctive moods. It operates with specific dates, events, and personalities that create the above-mentioned events in certain periods of time. To put it simply, these are the three components, good knowledge of which provides a good knowledge of history for any person who has such an aim. And in all times historians from different countries have always argued as to which of the elements is major.

Some theories state that the basic factor that predetermines the direction of the historic development of a certain country is the epoch in which this country achieves the highest point of its power. Supporters of this theory claim that people always stay the same and only the time factors can make leaders out of some people, and make others obey them. Another significant theory states that the course of events and changes in the history of mankind is the result of accidental sets of events.

According to this very theory, people who managed to be in a proper place in a proper time become leaders of communities and this does not depend upon their personal qualities and charisma. But the third theory, which applies to the role of a personality in the creation of history seems to be the most adequate and reliable. Now, let us pay more attention to this very point of view of historians about the historical development of mankind (Roberts, 1997).

Role of a Personality

Needless to say, that personality is the crucial factor in the development of the history of any nation, any community. People have always been excited by some peculiar features that they themselves did not have and their leader possessed. These features helped the leader to win the attention, love, and obedience of masses of people. The role of personality has been widely studied in history, as well as in other sciences.

So, for example, the widely-known Italian scientific, philosopher, and historian Machiavelli dedicated his best work to the issue of a leader, i. e. to the role personalities play in the history of the whole mankind. This work was created in the 14^th century when Italy needed a strong leader, a strong personality who could unite the country. The work is titled “The Prince” and concerns the most important features every political leader must possess to have success among the masses. Machiavelli describes ways and tactics the leader should use in order to become the personality whose decisions can influence the further history of his nation. The Italian scientist enumerates all possible means of reaching goals for a political leader, including war, betrayal, plots, and other (Roberts, 1997).

Another good example is the prominent representative of political science of Germany Max Webber, who developed the theory of the Forms of Leadership which was based on the basic features of the psychology of any human being. Thus, Mr. Webber singles out the following three types of leadership that are experienced by people from time to time, they are traditional, charismatic, and legitimate leadership.

The Traditional type of leadership involves the obedience of people that is based upon their traditions, customs, and religious beliefs. In this case, people are strongly convinced that their leader is given power over them by some divine creature and no one has a right to rebel against it. This very type of leadership is characteristic of the societies of the earliest stage of the development of mankind. In those times people had little knowledge about the world and it was easy to persuade them in the divine character of power they had to obey.

Charismatic leadership is another kind of leadership that is based on some mystical beliefs of people. In this case, the nation believes that its head is the possessor of certain magical powers that allow him to manipulate the will of people and change the course of events according to his own will.

As a rule, charismatic leaders are people that have some unrealized ambitions and transform their powers in other fields of activity. Thus, a person who is scorn by people in childhood can develop into a huge personality with a gift of influencing people and making them act according to his or her orders. The charismatic kind of leadership is typical of the societies that experience some critical periods in their development and a personality with a strong will who can guide the nation through all the problems to another bright page in its history.

And, finally, the legitimate type of leadership is the one that is based on lawful procedures and people’s voting. This leadership is conditioned by the laws of a certain country and can be easily transferred to another person in case if the one in power resorts to the abuse of power or tries to become a tyrant with the absolute legislative and executive power concentrated in his or her arms. The legitimate leadership is typical of the societies that have already reached one of the highest levels of their development and democracy. In reality, any of these types can be seen in a poor shape, often leaders combine features of all the types thus making out special cases of the role of leadership in history. The theories claim so, but now let us move on to the specific examples from the history of mankind that can prove the above said (Roberts, 1997).

Background of the Topic

As far as the current essay is supposed to deal with the issue of the role of a personality in history, we have to examine this very issue using examples. The history of mankind knows a lot of them when the fate of a certain nation or country was in hands of a single person and did not depend anymore upon the actions of the whole nation. This happened, in most cases, when a crisis embraced this or that nation, and almost all its representatives lost hope for positive changes, and a personality appeared that managed to convince the nation that has a chance to be rescued.

For example, the history of Germany presents an example of the huge role of a personality in it. The events of the 19^th century, when Germany was divide into numerous states and demanded a strong leader to unite the country, facilitated the development of the personality of Otto von Bismarck. This statesman, called the “iron chancellor” managed to unite Germany in the situation when no one else succeeded. He used military force and his political influence to achieve this goal but, due to his activities, Germany became a powerful player in the arena of international relations for long years (Roberts, 1997).

One more bright example of the great role of a personality in the history of the whole nation is the example of Joan of Arc, a young girl that does a lot for the independence of France. This heroic personality lived in the 15th century when a hundred years war was between England and France. The state of France was on the edge of destruction as the British troops conquered almost the whole country. French people lost the least hope for independent living and were preparing to live as vassals of England until Joan appeared out of nowhere and brought hope to France.

Joan of Arc did the men’s work, she headed the army of France and defeated English troops in several battles. The situation changed drastically and it was already England that had to seek peace because its troops were demoralized by the defeat from a woman ahead of the army. Unfortunately, the kings of both countries did not want to give all the glory to a poor girl and as a result of their peace treaty, Joan was proclaimed to be a witch and died in the fire of the inquisition. But her example stayed in centuries and showed the coming generations that the role of a personality in history is really huge (Roberts, 1997).

Joan of Arc’s deeds are not accidentally of the same kind as the actions of another woman whose personality played a great role in the history of her country. This woman is the famous former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who influenced Great Britain and the whole International Community so much that the role of her personality ca not be denied. To my mind, her example is the best one for the analysis of the topic of this essay. In the following paragraphs, we are going to examine the factors of her success as a politician in order to prove once again that personality plays a crucial role in the history of mankind.

Margaret Thatcher. General Information

This British woman is best known all around the world as the first and, up to this time, the only woman to hold the position of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. But her life was not that easy and before she became the Head of the British Government, she had to go a difficult way on the road of political activities.

Margaret Hilda Roberts Thatcher was born on October, 13th, 1925 in Lincolnshire. Her parents gave her a perfect Christian upbringing and wanted her to take up studying. In school, Margaret was a committed and hard-working student but was not noticed among brilliant students.

After finishing school, she applied for study at Oxford University and was enrolled there in 1944 where she studied chemistry and, what is more, relevant to the topic of this essay, became the President of the Oxford University Conservative Association. That is when Thatcher’s political career began. Simultaneously, she worked as the Research Chemist of the BX Plastics company and headed the Conservative Association of Colchester. In that time she started being greatly concerned with the state of her country and with the ideals of the Conservative Party (Evans, 2003).

In 1949 Thatcher came to know that the Conservative Party was selecting candidates for its campaign at the General Elections of that year. To be selected Margaret moved to Dartford where she hoped to win a sit in the Parliament but did not succeed that year and in two following years. In 1953 Thatcher got married and achieved the degree of a barrister of tax law. As her election campaign for a sit in the Parliament in 1954 was not successful either, she earned money working as a lawyer.

Only in 1958, her work was awarded the successful election campaign in the London suburb of Finchley, and Margaret Thatcher became a Member of the Parliament from the Conservative Party. In the following years, Thatcher continued her way to the top of the Conservative Party by taking part in various votes in the Parliament and promoting bills and acts developed by her. As a member of the Parliament, she achieved the adoption of a set of socially oriented laws that included the legalization of male homosexuality, allowance of abortions, and fighting with high taxes that continued their growth while the Labor Government was in power (Evans, 2003).

At that time much attention was directed at Thatcher as she was the youngest member of the Parliament and one of the strictest opponents of the Labor Government policies in respect of the social sphere and tax growth. She called that policy a right way to Communism, and as she has always been a political enemy of that direction she could see all the dangers of the Labor policies. Such active participation could not stay out of sight of the Conservative Leaders and soon Thatcher became a Parliamentary Spokesman for Conservatives.

Before the general elections of 1970, she was appointed Secretary of the State for Transport and began preparations for her Party Parliamentary contest. After the Conservative Party won the majority of sits in the Parliament and its leader Edward Heath became Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher got the position of the Secretary of State for Education and Science (Evans, 2003).

While in office, she made several controversial decisions, like the abolition of free milk for school children aged from seven to eleven, but the general impression made by her work in this position was positive. She successfully resisted the Labor Party’s trying to launch charges for library books and won the preservation of the Open University that was supposed to give chances for higher education to all people irrespective of their age or income level.

One more victory of Thatcher as the Secretary of State for Education and Science was the abolition of grammar schools and launching the system of comprehensive secondary schools. But in 1974 the real success attended Thatcher when Keith Joseph, one of the Conservative Party Members, became unsatisfied with the work of Heath as the Prime Minister and promoted his own candidature for the position of the Party Leader. And suddenly, when the majority of the Party was ready to support him he withdrew and Thatcher became the leading pretender for this position (Evans, 2003).

Party Leadership and Prime-Minister Office

The vote of the Party, unexpectedly, confirmed that the role of this personality was permanently increasing in the political life of Great Britain. Margaret Thatcher became the head of the Conservative Party in 1975 and at once pronounced her famous speech in the Kensington Town Hall. This very speech was directed against the USSR and reflected once again her anti-communist beliefs. Thatcher claimed that the Soviet Union was a great danger to the world as it planned to get world supremacy and was increasing its military forces from it. This speech had a great resonance in the world and showed everyone the direction of future Thatcher’s policy in case if she became Prime Minister according to the results of the coming elections (Kavanagh, 1997).

By 1979, when the next General Elections were planned, the Labor Government continued its falling. The nation was dissatisfied with the tax policy and social initiatives of the Labor Party and before the election, the Government had to resign. In the Election of 1979, Conservative Party headed by Margaret Thatcher was considered the major favorite and won the majority in the Parliament. Thatcher became the first, and still the only, female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and began to introduce her monetarist policy in the life of the country.

International Policy

The main purposes of Thatcher as the Prime-Minister of the United Kingdom were to stop the economic decline that was developing in the country, make the intervention of the state into economic and finance of the country lower, and to increase the rate of the country’s activity at the arena of the international relationships. Thatcher started with the limiting of the functions of the Civil Service that was considered by Thatcher to be the main reason for the crisis in the social sphere of the country’s economy.

Another important step in the international policy of Margaret Thatcher was the establishment of partner relations with the United States of America and namely with its President Ronald Raegan who was elected in 1980. This was a positive step in respect of the improvements that were to be made in the domestic policies and in the image of the United Kingdom in the international community. An interesting fact is that during her work as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was said to sleep not more than four hours a night, she was completely absorbed by h work and by the future of the country (Sharp, 1997).

Domestic Policy

Strikes and Conflicts

Margaret Thatcher’s first steps in the domestic policy presented has a strict and self-confident politician who has goals set and will not stop before anything in order to reach them. Her strict, sometimes even cruel policies in respect of separatists and paramilitary organizations on the territory of The United Kingdom won her the fame of a demanding and determined politician ready for any sacrifice in favor of the wealth of the country. For example, we can consider the story of the 1981 hunger strike which took place in Ireland. The setting of the strike was one of the Irish prisons where the convicts demanded that they should be proclaimed political prisoners and promised to strike until the Government returned the demanded status to them.

The strike was so firm that one of the strikers, their leader Bobby Sands, died of hunger several days before it became known that he was elected a Member of Parliament. After this, the strike continued and the strikers were confident about their aim, no one gave up. The Government headed by Thatcher refused to make any concessions to the striking prisoners and the strike continued until the other nine prisoners died. At that moment Thatcher had to agree partially on the terms of strikers and some of their rights as political prisoners were restored.

In 1980, the Prime Minister had to demonstrate her vigor once again, in the situation with the siege of the Iranian embassy, where the British military forces had to resort to power in order to solve the conflict in the British capital. But, on the other hand, Margaret Thatcher demonstrated herself as a politician who can find compromises and conclude agreements in order to achieve her goals with as little loss as possible.

For instance, the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland evidenced that Thatcher was not absorbed by the idea of solving all possible problems by force. This very agreement, for the first time in the history of Anglo-Irish relations, allowed the Irish Republic to take part in the governance of Northern Ireland. The decision was severely protested against by the Unionists of Northern Ireland but, nevertheless, it was adopted and never changed during Thatcher’s work in the office.

These decisive steps taken by Margaret Thatcher in the first years of her work in the then Government gave her respect in her own Party and from the side of her political opponents. Some of them even acquired fear for this “Iron Lady” as the propaganda of the Soviet Union called Thatcher in trying to undermine her international image and authority. But they did not succeed and the name they gave to the British Prime Minister as an offensive one became her sign and is used even more often nowadays to indicate Margaret Thatcher than her own name.

From here we can clearly see that the role of Thatcher’s personality was much larger than the role of all political parties and movements in all spheres of life of the British society. This proves once again that the role of a personality is of crucial importance, as no circumstances could prevent Thatcher from becoming the leader of the nation, as well as no circumstances could facilitate her development into a leader if she were not a born one (Kavanagh, 1997).

Economy

The same is true about the economic policy of Thatcher’s Government. The ideas Margaret Thatcher learned in the early years of her political activities and developed during the whole way to the top-ranking position in the country’s authority, dominated her policy throughout the term of her being in office. Thatcher’s ability and courage to make decisions and put them into practice brought her lots of enemies but gained respect and was fruitful for the economy of the United Kingdom.

Thus, the importance of a personality in creating history was proven again – no one could invent or practically realize the ideas which Thatcher indicated as the major directions of her work and attributed primary importance to them. We can not say that circumstances facilitated her work, even vice versa people opposed it when it did not bring instant results in the initial stage. But such a strong personality could not give up under the pressure of social thought and she did not. Thatcher continued to keep to her set ideas and the results prove her being right.

Among the most important economic initiatives of Margaret Thatcher we can single out the following ones: fight with the huge inflation that was developing in the country, change of the taxation policy, reduction of the intervention of the state into markets and private business sphere. As for the first point, inflation was fought successfully by the methods used by Thatcher. Although her critics claim that it was a mistake to give the Government so much control over the money flows in the country, even they can not deny that the economic rise of the United Kingdom was the result of, exclusively, Thatcher’s reforms.

They started with the analysis of the situation and continued with the increase of interest rates in banks which allowed to stop the speed at which the money supply grew in the country and thus, to stop the inflation. After the inflation level began to fall and resulted in a decrease of almost 7% the interest rates were dropped again, so the population of the country did not feel the serious consequences of this method (Kavanagh, 1997).

Taxes were also treated differently during the rule of Thatcher as the situation in the country changed often. When the inflation was high Thatcher was not afraid to substitute traditional taxes with indirect ones, i. e. with Value Added Taxes, and this brought its results. The inflation fell, and after this traditional taxes were restored, although increased.

The economic philosophy of Margaret Thatcher was oriented also at the freedom of individuals, and consequently, at the reduction of state interference into the matters of private entrepreneurs in the free markets. Thatcher considered every manifestation of the increasing state control over the business to be a step towards “dependency” of companies and firms from the state, which in its turn meant that the economy became bound and vulnerable. Also, according to Thatcher, markets, as well as individuals and whole countries should not be afraid of change. These lines reflect the mind of the born leader who managed to lead the United Kingdom out of the great crisis alone without any help from the outside and showed the whole world how personalities can change history.

From all the above-given examples it can be clearly seen that the role of personality, namely the personality of Margaret Thatcher, is really huge in the process of creating history. We can observe how this woman changed what other people tried to change during long years but did not succeed. A strong personality did not invent anything revolutionary new in politics, she just was not afraid of making a straight decision and did not pay attention to what other people said. That is why her influence upon the political life of the United Kingdom and of the whole world. Margaret Thatcher was such a prominent figure in the arena of international relationships that her policy was called by her name.

Thatcher and Thatcherism

There is a great controversy as to the definition of this direction in politics as different scientists keep to different points of view. Some of them consider this direction to be an absolutely new one that can be compared to Marxism, of course not in its ideology but in its significance. Others stick to the point that it is not new, they consider Thatcherism to use properly the ideas that have been formed long before Thatcher became the Prime Minister. As we see, there is no unity about Thatcherism, so only Margaret Thatcher herself can bring clarity to the question.

According to her own words, then cited by the author of the book “Thatcher and Thatcherism” Eric Evans, “Thatcherism is not really an economic doctrine at all. It is a powerful collection of beliefs about the capacities of human beings in political society.” From these lines it is evident that Thatcher did not invent values, she kept to already existing ones but was rather firm in her decision to put them into practice. She was brought up in a hard-working family, so the values of work and trust in God were basic for her and she promoted them in her policies. For everyone, according to Evans, it is evident that Thatcherism always kept to these principles which can be formulated in short as follows. Thatcherites are against:

state interference into individual freedoms;
state initiatives directed at creating “dependency” upon the state;
woolly consensuality;
high levels of taxation;
distortion of market forces;
reluctance to be “pushed around”.

On the contrary, the initiatives of the Thatcher Government are the reflection of her beliefs and life principles. The Conservative Party headed by this prominent leader pursued the following goals:

establishment of a private enterprise within a free market;
individual rights;
firm leadership of the state in all other questions;
lowering of the taxation rates;
simple patriotism of the citizens of the UK. (Evans, 2003)

Even in these principles, we can observe the importance that was attributed to the personality of Thatcher and her supporters. Personal freedoms are the basis of any highly-developed democratic society and Thatcher understood this. Her people-oriented policy proved with its every step that history is created by personalities only. They create circumstances, make people obey them and events go in the direction they plan it. Thatcherism was based on the two main life principles of Thatcher. She really believed in the ideas that seemed to be foolish and impossible for others and achieved their realization, and she preferred hard work and prudence in everything to words and complaints. This, together with her straightforward manner of public speaking, comprises the bulk of what is now called Thatcherism.

Conclusion

All the above-considered information draws us to the logical conclusion of this essay. In this work, we tried to understand what role is played by a personality in the process of creating history using specific examples. We considered the problem and its reflection in the past and moved to the main topic of the essay – Thatcher, and Thatcherism as the proof to the theory of personality in history. The essay gives details of Thatcher’s life and political activity, as well as explains the basics of her policies in different spheres of the life of her country. We tried to understand what the charismatic and professional qualities of Margaret Thatcher are which helped her to become such a prominent leader of the nation.

We found out that the basic principles of Thatcher’s life and work have always been the ideals she got from her family and brought into the ideology of the Conservative Party and then of the whole country. These ideals are hard work, prudence, and trust in one’s own power. Thatcher was not afraid to make decisions that at first seemed to de inadequate and succeeded because strongly believed that she was right. In one of her interviews, Margaret Thatcher was asked a question about the changes she made in the life of the country. The reporter wanted to know specifically what she changed and her answer was worthy of the leader of the nation and of the personality that influenced greatly the world politics: ”I changed everything.” (Evans, 2003)

Works Cited

Evans, E. J. Thatcher and Thatcherism: Making of the Contemporary World. Routledge, 2003.

Kavanagh, D. The Reordering of British Politics. Oxford University Press, USA 1997.

Roberts J. M. The History of Europe. Viking Adult; 1st American edition, 1997.

Sharp, P. Thatcher’s Diplomacy. London: Macmillan, 1997.

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