She was the first female leader of a major political party in British History; and its longest continually serving prime minister of the 20th century. She led her country to victory in the Falklands conflict; presided over the decolonisation of a number of former dominions, successfully pressuring warring factions in Rhodesia and the Apartheid regime of South Africa to come to a peaceful transition of power.
She was a major player in the struggle against communism and the eventual breakup of the Soviet Union. But she also instigated a complete overhaul of the British economic system in a process that would eventually be named after her (Thatcherism); in which a massive privatisation and deregulation push of entire industries such as energy, communications, welfare, healthcare and transport into the private sector would cause substantial upheaval to many dependant communities.
Nevertheless, these policies drove a surge in investment, GDP and capital that transformed Britain into a modern, efficient and productive nation that successive governments both left and right would continue to endorse.
She was a conservative who nevertheless drove a number of progressive environmental policies. She was a traditionalist, yet supported free speech and personal liberty. She was a woman who believed herself to be the equal of any man in the arena, yet she was no feminist. In so many ways Margaret Thatcher was full of contradictions, yet most historians agree that in a world of wishy-washy populism, she was perhaps the only truly conviction politician who refused to back down from making the tough decisions that she believed would give individuals the greatest opportunities to thrive and make her nation great once more.
