section_path: History/United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
section_name: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
paragraph_text: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
  
  In 1800 the parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland each passed an Act of Union, uniting the two kingdoms and creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on 1 January 1801.
  
  After the defeat of France at the end of the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars (1792–1815) the United Kingdom emerged as the principal naval and imperial power (with London the largest city in the world from about 1830). Unchallenged at sea, British dominance was later described as the Pax Britannica ("British Peace"), a period of relative peace amongst the great powers (1815–1914) during which the British Empire became the global hegemon and foremost power and adopted the role of global policeman. From 1853 to 1856 Britain took part in the Crimean War, allied with the Ottoman Empire against Tsarist Russia, participating in the naval battles of the Baltic Sea known as the Åland War in the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland, amongst others. Following the Indian Rebellion of 1857 the British government led by Lord Palmerston assumed direct rule over India. Alongside the formal control it exerted over its own colonies, British dominance of much of world trade meant that it effectively controlled the economies of regions such as East Asia and Latin America.
  
  Throughout the Victorian era (1837–1901) political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies. Beginning with the Great Reform Act in 1832, Parliament gradually widened the voting franchise, with the 1884 Reform Act championed by William Gladstone granting suffrage to a majority of males for the first time. The British population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, causing significant social and economic stresses. By the late 19th century the Conservative Party under Benjamin Disraeli and Lord Salisbury initiated a period of imperial expansion in Africa, maintained a policy of " splendid isolation " in Europe, and attempted to contain the influence of the Russian Empire in Afghanistan and Persia, in what came to be known as the Great Game. During this time Canada, Australia and New Zealand were granted self-governing dominion status. At the turn of the century, Britain's industrial dominance became challenged by the German Empire and the United States. The Edwardian era (1901–1910) included social reform and home rule for Ireland become important domestic issues, while the Labour Party emerged from an alliance of trade unions and small socialist groups in 1900, and suffragettes campaigned for women's right to vote.