As the capital of the United Kingdom, London has been at the forefront of the world since the first industrial revolution.
It has too many honors, such as being the largest city in the world, the most prosperous city, and the center of world politics, finance, commerce, industry...
Overnight, it seemed to turn into a small rural place, and this sudden change was intolerable to the proud Londoners.
They had the capital to be proud of in that era, just as the British newspapers described:
The plains of North America and Russia are our cornfields;
Austria is our granary;
Canada and the Baltic Sea are our timber yards;
Australia and Argentina are our pastures;
Peru and Mexico send their silver;
The Far East grows tea for us;
Our coffee, sugarcane, and spice plantations spread across the Indonesian Archipelago;
Spain and France are our vineyards;
The Mediterranean is our orchard;
The United States of America is our cotton field;
...
