1979: The Real Year of Revolution

The general election that made Margaret Thatcher prime minister might seem to be the most important event of 1979 to Britons who lived through the subsequent decade, but it is just one of many important political events that marked that year. Throughout the world its crises and changes continue to influence events today.

In the years before 1979, Britain appeared to be drifting out of control and into rapid decline. A turnaround, though not immediately evident, has been attributed to that year’s election of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government, though the extent to which the preceding Callaghan administration anticipated aspects of Thatcherism – notably its rejection of Keynesian deficit financing and the development of North Sea oil – is too often neglected. Callaghan, moreover, had doubts about European integration that matched those of Margaret Thatcher. Even then, whatever the achievements of Thatcher, the fundamental problems of a people and government living beyond their means have returned strongly in the first decade of the 21st century, contributing significantly to the current crisis.