What has been going on in Great Britain for the last 1500+ years? That is, how can such a small country accomplish so much as it has over the centuries?

For example:

1. The "Dark Ages," after the fall of Rome, may not have affected Britain as much as other places; culture, architecture, religion etc. all seem to have just continued on.

2. The Industrial Revolution, which changed the world completely, began there - small island nation.

3. As much as we may not want imperialism in modern times, still the British Empire was a huge accomplishment for a tiny country.

4. Britain stopped Germany in WWII, huge upset, no one believed they could do it. (Exception, FDR - gave them all the matériel he could.) But even the US ambassador said England was a goner, and the US should save its resources and prepare for Nazi invasion.

5. Literature, culture, Shakespeare and the rest, British contribution remarkable.

So amazing for such a small country, how do they do it?

Dear Virginia,

Your question seems very interesting and informative.

They've had their share of talent, Virginia, and they've had their share of internal strife. Perhaps the thing that helped the most was that bloody great moat they dug between themselves and Europe. It protected them from the worst of history's depredations and even helped to keep HItler at bay.

I can't answer your question (doubtless Ray will have something worthwhile to say) but I wonder if Bill the Bard summed it up:

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

In the context of Britain's empire-building, here is the first verse of the poem RECESSIONAL, composed by Rudyard Kipling 1897 for the occasion of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

God of our fathers, known of old,
  Lord of our far-flung battle line,
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
  Dominion over palm and pine—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

And here is Queen Victoria in 1897:

Lot's of Ray Darts over the centuries.

Virginia, I must comment that the fact that English is the most common second language in the world is worthy of note as well.

As I comprehend this chain of history, a great tribute has to be made to the British Navy. Let me touch on that. British supremacy of the seas brought trade and colonization around the globe, while the other major navies, France, Spain and Venice were taking turns warring on each other and lost in vain quests of plunder.

The Empire that the Sun Never Set Upon established commercial and imperial beachheads all over the earth, exporting its rule, language and culture via it's Naval reach and an unmatched eagerness to deploy their men-at-arms anywhere.

Able to exploit the wealth of goods and knowledge virtually anywhere, the British Empire's influence became inescapable everywhere. And so it remains.