settlement, and attempted to deal with the social
and economic malaise that
followed. His brother William IV ruled (1830–37), but was little involved in
politics. His reign saw several reforms: the poor law was updated, child
labour restricted, slavery abolished in nearly all the British Empire, and, most
important, the Reform Act 1832 refashioned the British electoral system.
There were no major wars until the Crimean War (1853–56). While
Prussia, Austria, and Russia,
as absolute monarchies, tried to suppress
liberalism wherever it might occur, the British came to terms with new ideas.
Britain intervened in Portugal in 1826 to defend a constitutional government
there and recognising the independence of Spain's American colonies in 1824.
British merchants and financiers,
and later railway builders, played major
roles in the economies of most Latin American nations.
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