#lifeintheuk
~AD 600 Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms established
AD 789 The Vikings
The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in England united under King Alfred the Great, who defeated the Vikings.
Some Danish kings, like Cnut aka Canute.
In Scotland people united under one king, Kenneth MacAlpin to fight Vikings.
1yrs; 1066-1066 Harold 2 Godwinson Last Anglo-Saxon King of England;
killed at Battle of Hastings 1066, Norman Conquest
BAYEUX TAPESTRY
21yrs; 1066-1087 William 1 Normandy (the Conqueror/the Bastard) King of England
1086 THE DOMESDAY BOOK
[…] 1066- ~ 1485 = MIDDLE AGES
By 1200, the English ruled an area of (so far independent) Ireland known as the Pale, around Dublin.
1215 King John was forced by his noblemen to agree to a number of demands. The result was a charter of rights called the Magna Carta aka Great Charter.
In 1284 King Edward I of England introduced the Statute of Rhuddlan, which annexed Wales to the Crown of England.
In 1314 the Scottish, led by Robert the Bruce, defeated the English at the Battle of Bannockburn.
1348 Black Death plague 1/3 of population died
By 1400, in England, official documents in English, and English as preferred language of the royal court and Parliament.
1415 Battle of Agincourt (Hundred 116 Years War) King Henry V defeated the French and English Army left France in 1450.
1455 Wars of Roses – 1485 Battle of Bosworth Field
King Richard III York was killed by Henry Tudor 7 Lancaster
2yrs; 1483-1485 Richard 3 York King of England, killed in Battle of Bosworth Field (Last Battle of the War of the Roses); C.
24yrs; 1485-1509 Henry 7 Tudor of England& Wales+Lord of Ireland;C.
38yrs; 1509-1547 Henry 8 Tudor of E.+Lord/King of Ireland; C./ANGL.
1534 Church of England established
1536 Act for the Government of Wales, Wales formally united with England.
6yrs; 1547-1553 Edward 6 Tudor of E. & I.; CH.of ENGL.
The Book of Common Prayer
9 DAYS; 1553-1553 Lady Jane Grey/Suffolk (Dudley)of E. & I.; PR.
5yrs; 1553-1558 Mary 1 Tudor of E. & I. BLOODY MARY; ROM.C.
25yrs; 1542-1567 Mary 1 Stuart Queen of Scots; ROM.C.
YEAR 1600 – population just over 4 million.
45yrs; 1559-1603 Elizabeth 1 Tudor of E. & I.; ANGL.
1588 the Spanish Armada defeated (a large fleet of ships)sent by Spain to conquer England and restore Catholicism
'Plantations' in Ireland.
58yrs; 1567-1625 James 6 Stuart* of Scotland; Ch.of SCOT.
1603 UNION OF THE CROWNS
22yrs; 1603-1625 James 1 Stuart* of E. & I.; CH.of ENGL.
The King James Bible
'Plantations' in Ireland.
24yrs; 1625-1649 Charles 1 Stuart of E., I. and Scotland – EXECUTED; ANGL.
The Divine Right of Kings
1642-1646 1st CIVIL WAR Charles 1 against Parliament
1644 Marston Moor Battle
1645 Naseby Battle
1648-1649 2nd CIVIL WAR Charles 1 against Parliament
1649-1651 3rd CIVIL WAR Charles 2 against Parliament (invaded E. from Scotland)
1652 Worchester and Dunbar battle and exile of Charles 2 to Netherlands
4yrs; 1649-1653 Olivier Cromwell as Lord Protector; PURITAN Commonwealth; English REPUBLIC
ENGLISH COUNCIL OF STATE
6yrs; 1653-1659 Olivier Cromwell as Lord protector; PURI. Protectorate
1yrs; 1659-1660 Richard Cromwell as Lord Protector; PURI.
2yrs; 1649-1651 Charles 2 Stuart, KingofScotland;Ch.ofENGL./ROM.C.
25yrs; 1660-1685 Charles 2 Stuart of E., I. and Scotland;
THE RESTORATION (of monarchy) 1660
1665 Plague in London – thousands died
1666 Great Fire in London
1679 HABEAS CORPUS ACT
The Royal Society formed (to promote 'natural knowledge): Halley and Newton.
3yrs; 1685-1688 James 2 Stuart** of E. & I.; ROM. C.
3yrs; 1685-1688 James 7 Stuart**of Scotland; ROM.C.
1688 GLORIOUS REVOLUTION William of Orange (Netherlands)+Mary2
13yrs; 1689-1702 William 3 (Orange) of E., W., I. and William 2 of Scotland; PR.
13yrs; 1689-1702 Mary2 Stuart of England as co-monarch; ANGL.
1689 THE BILL OF RIGHTS = constitutional monarchy
confirmed the rights of Parliament and the limits of the king’s power. Parliament took control of who could be monarch and declared that the king or queen must be a Protestant. A new Parliament had to be elected at least every three years (later this became seven years and now it is five years). Every year the monarch had to ask Parliament to renew funding for the army and the navy.
THE WHIGHS and THE TORIES (late 17century).
Support for James 2/7 in Scotland. Armed rebellion in support of James 2/7 was defeated at Killiecrankie Battle in 1689.
James’ supporters became known as Jacobites (catholics).
James 2/7 wanted to regain the throne and invaded Ireland with the help of a French army. William defeated James 2/7 at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland in 1690, an event which is still celebrated by some in Northern Ireland today. William re-conquered Ireland and James fled back to France.
YEAR 1700 – population 5 million.
5yrs; 1702- 1707 Queen Anne Stuart of E., S. and Ireland; ANGL.
1 MAY 1707 ACTS OF UNION E.+S. = Great Britain
Starts ENLIGHTMENT
7yrs; 1707-1714 Queen Anne LAST STUART of Great Britain and Ireland
13yrs; 1714-1727 George 1 Hanover of GB & I.; LUTHERAN
+ Robert Walpole as Prime Minister; Ch.of ENGL.
When Queen Anne died in 1714, Parliament chose a German, George 1, to be the next king, because he was Anne’s nearest Protestant relative. An attempt by Scottish Jacobites to put James 2’s son (James3) on the throne instead was quickly defeated. George 1 did not speak very good English and this increased his need to rely on his ministers. The most important minister in Parliament became known as the Prime Minister. The first man to be called this was Sir Robert Walpole, who was Prime Minister from 1721 to 1742 (21yrs).
33yrs; 1727-1760 George 2 Hanover of GB & I., Duke of Hanover and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death in 1760; LUTHERAN
In 1745 there was another attempt to put a Stuart king back on the throne in place of George 1’s son, George 2. Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie), the grandson of James 2, landed in Scotland. He was supported by clansmen from the Scottish highlands and raised an army. Charles initially had some successes but was defeated by George 2’s army at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. Charles escaped back to Europe.
‘Highland Clearances’in Scotland -landlords destroyed individual small farms (known as ‘crofts’) to make space for large flocks of sheep and cattle.
60yrs; 1760-1820 George 3 Hanover was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the UNION (1800 Act Of Union) of the two countries GB+IRELAND on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; ANGL.
In 1776, 13 American colonies declared their independence.
Britain recognised the colonies’ independence in 1783.
YEAR 1801 – population 8 million.
Napoleonic wars:
Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 -Admiral Horatio Nelson- against French and Spanish fleets. His HMS Victory, can be visited in Portsmouth.
Battle of Waterloo 1815, the French Wars ended with the defeat of the Emperor Napoleon by the Duke of Wellington- Iron Duke, Later PM- at the Battle of Waterloo.
10yrs; 1820-1830 George 4 Hanover 'REGENT' of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover; ANGL.
7yrs; 1830-1837 William 4 Hanover of of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover; ANGL.
Reform Act of 1832 had greatly increased the number of people with the right to vote.
64yrs; 1837-1901 Victoria (Hanover) of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland+ Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg und Gotha;
more Presbyterian Ch.of SCOT. than Episcopal Ch.of ENGL.
from 1 MAY 1876 EMPRESS OF INDIA
Robert Stephenson pioneered the railway engine and a major expansion of the railways took place in the Victorian period. Railways were built throughout the Empire. Building of bridges by engineers such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel (tunnels, bridges, railway lines and ships).
YEAR 1851 – population 20 million.
1851- the Great Exhibition opened in Hyde Park - the Crystal Palace.
1853-1856, Britain fought with Turkey and France against Russia in the Crimean War – Florence Nightingale.
1867 another Reform Act by Chartists
Acts of Parliament in 1870 and 1882 gave wives the right to keep their own earnings and property.
1889 -Women’s Franchise League Emmeline Pankhurst.
1899-1902 the BOER WAR in South Africa with settlers from the Netherlands called the Boers.
YEAR 1901 – population 40 million.
9yrs; 1901-1910 Edward 7 Saxe-Coburg und Gotha of the United Kingdom, the British Dominions and Emperor of India; ANGL.
1903-the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU='suffragettes'), Emmeline Pankhurst.
26yrs; 1910-1936 George 5 of the United Kingdom & the British Dominions. and EMPEROR OF INDIA; ANGL.
House of Saxe-Coburg und Gotha until 1917, House of Windsor after 1917
28 June 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
1914-1918 Great War WW1
On 17 July 1917, George appeased British nationalist feelings by issuing a royal proclamation that changed the name of the British royal house from the German-sounding House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the House of Windsor. He and all his British relatives relinquished their German titles and styles, and adopted British-sounding surnames.
1918- women over the age of 30 were given voting rights and the right to stand for Parliament, partly in recognition of the contribution women made to the war effort during the First World War.
1928- women were given the right to vote at the age of 21, the same as men.
1933 – Hitler comes to power
1yrs; 1936-1936 Edward 8 Windsor of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India; ANGL.
(+Wallis Simpson) – abdicated
16yrs; 1936-1952 George 6 Windsor King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death. Last Emperor of India and the first Head of the Commonwealth; ANGL.
1939 WW2 starts
1940 Churchill as PM
1940 Dunkirk naval operation, also small pleasure and fishing boats used to evacuate over 300 000 men from France to England
1940 SUMMER – Air Battle of Britain
THEN the BLITZ – bombing London at night
D-DAY, 6 June 1944 Allies land in NORMANDY, pass through France to Germany and defeat Germany
1945 Atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
1945 end of WW2
By the second half of the 20th century, there was, for the most part, an orderly transition from Empire to Commonwealth, with countries being granted their independence.
YEAR 1951 – population 50 million.
63yrs+; 1952- Elizabeth 2 Windsor Queen of the United Kingdom and other 16 of the 53 member states in the Commonwealth of Nations. She is Head of the Commonwealth and Supreme Governor of the Church of England; Ch.of ENGL.+Ch. Of SCOT.
Queen of: UK,
Canada,Australia,New Zealand,Jamaica,Barbados,The Bahamas,Grenada,
Papua new Guinea,Solomon IslandsTuvalu,
St. Lucia,St.Vincent and the Grenadines,Belize,Antigua and Barbuda,
St. Kitts and Nevis
1957 – European Economic Community – Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg
+ UK in 1973
1990 Iraqi invasion
YEAR 1998 – population 57 million
Since 2000, British armed forces have been engaged in the global fight against international terrorism and against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, including operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. British combat troops left Iraq in 2009. The UK now operates in Afghanistan as part of the United Nations (UN) mandated 50-nation International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) coalition and at the invitation of the Afghan government.
YEAR 2005 – population just under 60 million
YEAR 2010 – population just over 62 million
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Ireland
At the beginning of the Middle Ages (1066-1485), Ireland was an independent country. The English first went to Ireland as troops to help the Irish king and remained to build their own settlements. By 1200, the English ruled an area of Ireland known as the Pale, around Dublin. Some of the important lords in other parts of Ireland accepted the authority of the English king.
1348 – Black Death - In the north of Scotland and Ireland, land was owned by members of the ‘clans’ (prominent families). In Ireland, the Black Death killed many in the Pale and, for a time, the area controlled by the English became smaller.
The Middle Ages also saw a change in the type of buildings in Britain. Castles were built in many places in Britain and Ireland, partly for defence.
HENRY8
In Ireland, however, attempts by the English to impose Protestantism (alongside efforts to introduce the English system of laws about the inheritance of land) led to rebellion from the Irish chieftains, and much brutal fighting followed.
ELIZABETH1
Elizabeth1 never married and so had no children of her own to inherit her throne. When she died in 1603 her heir was her cousin James VI of Scotland. He became King James I of England, Wales and Ireland but Scotland remained a separate country.
During this period, Ireland was an almost completely Catholic country. Henry7 and Henry8 had extended English control outside the Pale and had established English authority over the whole country. Henry8 took the title ‘King of Ireland’. English laws were introduced and local leaders were expected to follow the instructions of the Lord Lieutenants in Dublin. During the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I, many people in Ireland opposed rule by the Protestant government in England. There were a number of rebellions. The English government encouraged Scottish and English Protestants to settle in Ulster, the northern province of Ireland, taking over the land from Catholic landholders. These settlements were known as plantations. Many of the new settlers came from south-west Scotland and other land was given to companies based in London. James later organised similar plantations in several other parts of Ireland. This had serious long-term consequences for the history of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1640+
Another rebellion began in Ireland because the Roman Catholics in Ireland were afraid of the growing power of the Puritans (CROMWELL). Parliament took this opportunity to demand control of the English army – a change that would have transferred substantial power from the king to Parliament. In response, Charles1(Anglican, Divine Right of Kings) entered the House of Commons and tried to arrest five parliamentary leaders, but they had been warned and were not there. (No monarch has set foot in the Commons since.) Civil war between the king and Parliament could not now be avoided and began in 1642.
Oliver Cromwell (PURITAN), was sent to Ireland, where the revolt which had begun in 1641 still continued and where there was still a Royalist army. Cromwell was successful in establishing the authority of the English Parliament but did this with such violence that even today Cromwell remains a controversial figure in Ireland.
Charles2 had no legitimate children. He died in 1685 and his brother, James, who was a Roman Catholic, became King James2 in England, Wales and Ireland and King James7 of Scotland. James2/7 favoured Roman Catholics and allowed them to be army officers, which an Act of Parliament had forbidden. JAMES 2/7 WAS ROMAN CATHOLIC.
1688 – Glorious Revolution
James 2/7 wanted to regain the throne and invaded Ireland with the help of a French army. William3 (ORANGE) defeated James 2/7 at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland in 1690, an event which is still celebrated by some in Northern Ireland today. William re-conquered Ireland and James fled back to France. Many restrictions were placed on the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland and Irish Catholics were unable to take part in the government.
1689 – Bill of Rights
This was a time when many people left Britain and Ireland to settle in new colonies in America and elsewhere, but others came to live in Britain.
1707 - The Act of Union, known as the Treaty of Union in Scotland, created the Kingdom of Great Britain (Queen Ann last Stuart).
1801 - Although Ireland had had the same monarch as England and Wales since Henry VIII, it had remained a separate country. In 1801, Ireland became unified with England, Scotland and Wales after the Act of Union of 1800. This created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
19century -
Conditions in Ireland were not as good as in the rest of the UK. Two-thirds of the population still depended on farming to make their living, often on very small plots of land. Many depended on potatoes as a large part of their diet. In the middle of the century the potato crop failed, and Ireland suffered a famine. A million people died from disease and starvation. Another million and a half left Ireland. Some emigrated to the United States and others came to England. By 1861 there were large populations of Irish people in cities such as Liverpool, London, Manchester and Glasgow.
The Irish Nationalist movement had grown strongly through the 19th century. Some, such as the Fenians, favoured complete independence. Others, such as Charles Stuart Parnell, advocated ‘Home Rule’, in which Ireland would remain in the UK but have its own parliament.
The partition of Ireland In 1913, the British government promised ‘Home Rule’ for Ireland. The proposal was to have a self-governing Ireland with its own parliament but still part of the UK. A Home Rule Bill was introduced in Parliament. It was opposed by the Protestants in the north of Ireland, who threatened to resist Home Rule by force. /NO WONDER, THEY WOULD HAVE SUFFERED HARDSHIP UNDER THE IRISH./ The outbreak of the First World War led the British government to postpone any changes in Ireland. Irish Nationalists were not willing to wait and in 1916 there was an uprising (the Easter Rising) against the British in Dublin. The leaders of the uprising were executed under military law. A guerrilla war against the British army and the police in Ireland followed. In 1921 a peace treaty was signed and in 1922 Ireland became two countries. The six counties in the north which were mainly Protestant remained part of the UK under the name Northern Ireland. The rest of Ireland became the Irish Free State. It had its own government and became a republic in 1949.There were people in both parts of Ireland who were displeased*.
Rebuilding Britain after the Second World War was a huge task. There were labour shortages and the British government encouraged workers from Ireland and other parts of Europe to come to the UK and help with the reconstruction.
The 1970s were also a time of serious unrest in Northern Ireland. In 1972, the Northern Ireland Parliament was suspended and Northern Ireland was directly ruled by the UK government. Some 3,000 people lost their lives in the decades after 1969 in the violence in Northern Ireland.
Mary Peters (1939–)Born in Manchester, Mary Peters moved to Northern Ireland as a child. She was a talented athlete who won an Olympic gold medal in the pentathlon in 1972. After this, she raised money for local athletics and became the team manager for the women’s British Olympic team. She continues to promote sport and tourism in Northern Ireland and was made a Dame of the British Empire in 2000 in recognition of her work.
John Major (1990-97) was Prime Minister after Mrs Thatcher (1979-90), and helped establish the Northern Ireland peace process.
1997 Tony Blair MP -
In Northern Ireland, the Blair government was able to build on the peace process, resulting in the Good Friday Agreement signed in 1998. The Northern Ireland Assembly was elected in 1999 but suspended in 2002. It was not reinstated until 2007.
Most paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland have decommissioned their arms and are inactive. Gordon Brown took over as Prime Minister in 2007 disagreed with the split between the North and the South (in NORTHERN IRELAND). They still wanted Ireland to be one independent country. Years of disagreement led to a terror campaign in Northern Ireland and elsewhere. The conflict between those wishing for full Irish independence and those wishing to remain loyal to the British government is often referred to as ‘the Troubles’*.