Volume III deals with the 'long twentieth century'. Its main themes are: * the contraction of British industrial power and the shift to a service-based economy * the decline of Victorianism and the rise of Modernism * the climax of class society between the wars and the blurring of class lines after the 1960s * the impact of two world wars * the decline of British power and the empire * the partition of Ireland * the devolution of power to Wales and Scotland.