The spring breeze of reform swept across the British Isles, yet Britain failed to take on a new look. It was not that reform itself was unworkable; the key question was how to reform.
The continued domestic economic decline had jolted the British. The elite groups all knew that Britain had reached a crossroads and had to undertake social reform.
Despite its economic troubles, Britain still stood at its peak. The European world did not subscribe to the saying that prosperity must inevitably decline; leaf through Britain's history books, and this was the only time they had ever been this damned impressive.
Had the Holy Roman Empire not risen and placed pressure on them, most Britons probably would not even have possessed a sense of crisis.
In fact, even now, the British did not feel much of a crisis. They simply did not believe that the mighty British Empire faced any risk of collapse.
There was no helping it—the Holy Roman Empire had behaved far too peacefully. Even though it had produced super-dreadnoughts, they had merely sailed out for a lap before returning home.
The anticipated arms race never materialized because the Vienna Government failed to follow up in time, leaving the British without much enthusiasm either.
After all, Britain still had a huge pile of old warships. If they started a "dumpling-dropping contest" now, all those older vessels would have to be scrapped.
Even a landlord had no surplus grain, especially during a domestic economic downturn. Government revenue was falling rather than rising, so the budget had to be spent frugally.
In any case, the Channel protected them. So long as the Royal Navy retained its advantage, no one was too worried.
Without sufficient external pressure, there was naturally no way to unite internally. After all, reform was a