Explore all of British history, from the Neolithic to the present day, with this easy-to-use interactive timeline. Browse hundreds of key events and discover how the past has shaped the world we live in today.
• Neolithic and Bronze Ages
• Iron Age
• Roman Britain
• Vikings and Anglo-Saxons
• Norman Britain
• Middle Ages
• Tudors
• Civil War and Revolution
• Empire and Sea Power
• Victorian Britain
• World Wars
• Britain: 1945 to Present
'Take a Journey' when the timeline has loaded to follow themes such as Slavery, Women's Rights and Technology.
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Neolithic and Bronze Ages
6000 BC
Britain becomes separated from the European mainland Following the end of the last Ice Age, around 10,000 years ago, the levels of the North Sea began to rise as waters formerly locked up in great ice sheets melted. Sometime after about 8200 BC the last dry 'land bridge' from Lincolnshire and East Anglia to Holland was taken over by salt marsh. By 6000 BC even the marshes had largely gone, drowned by the sea.
Before circa 4500 BC, Palaeolithic and Mesolithic (Early and Middle Stone Age) people were nomads, hunting and gathering wild plants. In the middle of the fifth millennium BC, a new way of life, based on farming plants and animals, was introduced from the continent. The replacement of hunting and gathering was gradual and wasn't completed until the latter part of the third millennium BC in Britain. Once farming was established, communities began to settle down.
The manufacture of pottery requires the control of high temperatures and is an important early technological development. Pottery arrived in Britain with the first farmers. Early pottery vessels were generally undecorated with heavy rims and rounded bases. From about 3500 BC the upper parts of some pottery vessels were decorated with patterns made while the clay was still soft. Pottery is important to archaeologists because it is very durable, surviving in the soil for thousands of years.
Throughout the Stone Age (Palaeolithic to Neolithic), stone tools were fashioned by chipping or 'knapping'. This involved the removal of flakes using either a hammer stone or a 'soft hammer' of bone or antler. In the Neolithic, axes and knives were first roughed-out by knapping, but were then polished using abrasive sand and water, or a shaped 'polissoir' (rubbing stone). This time-consuming process produced a more durable cutting edge that could easily be sharpened.
Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) houses were mainly light structures suited to a nomadic lifestyle. Neolithic (Late Stone Age) houses were more permanent with thatched roofs and walls of woven hazel or willow rods, wind-proofed with a mixture of clay, straw and dung. Earlier Neolithic houses were often rectangular, but by about 3000 BC roundhouses may have become more important. This coincides with the appearance of circular ritual monuments, such as henges and passage graves.
The hollowing out of trees for log-boats began in the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age), but carpentry (using large structural timbers for building) was a Neolithic (Late Stone Age) innovation. Coppicing is the regular cutting back of a tree or shrub to stimulate the rapid growth of shoots. The polished flint axe was the main tool used. Large trees were felled with axes and split into planks. Smaller rods and poles, cut from coppiced hazel, alder and willow, were woven to make fences and hurdles.
Axes made from polished flint and stone were important throughout the Neolithic (Late Stone Age) and Early Bronze Age. Fine-grained stone was quarried from hillsides in Cumbria, Wales, Cornwall and Northern Ireland. Mined flint is of better quality than surface flint. Mines are known in Northern Ireland, Scotland and East Anglia, but the majority of flint mines were on the chalk hills of southern England, with underground galleries following the seams of flint reached by shafts up to 15m deep.
There are fewer earlier Neolithic (Late Stone Age) settlements in England and Wales - which may reflect a more mobile lifestyle among early farmers in these areas - than in Scotland and Ireland. Most earlier Neolithic settlements in Britain were of about one to three houses with possibly a few outbuildings. They were rarely defended, except in Cornwall. Most settlements were placed at some distance from areas of barrows.
Earlier Neolithic (Late Stone Age) communities buried their dead in chambered tombs. The earliest tradition, from about 4000 BC, of long barrows had chambers made of large stones (megaliths) or timbers inside a long trapezoidal mound with a forecourt in which funerary rites took place. Later (from circa 3000 BC), 'passage' graves developed. Communal burial probably helped to unite communities in thinly-populated landscapes.
The Sweet Track in the Somerset Levels consists of a wooden footpath raised above boggy ground on crossed timber supports. It extended across a marsh between what was then an island and an area of high ground. It was excavated between 1970 and 1982 and its precise age revealed by tree-ring dating (dendrochronology).
The first ceremonial meetings where different communities came together took place inside 'causewayed' enclosures, named from the roughly circular ditches that defined their limits, dug in segments separated by 'causeways'. Most of the ditches were filled in and re-opened at intervals, and the ditch fillings included offerings like human and animal skulls, meat bones, pottery and unused stone axes. In many cases the areas around the enclosures subsequently developed into 'ritual landscapes'.
Although stone circles occur on the European mainland, 'henges' are a uniquely British and Irish phenomenon. They consist of a circular ditch and an external bank, usually surrounding settings of posts or standing stones. They are entered by way of one, two or four entranceways. Most henges lie within specialised 'ritual landscapes' and may be linked to avenues marked out by standing stones or banks and ditches. The best known are at Stonehenge and Avebury in Wiltshire.
The earliest tradition (from circa 4000 BC) was of long barrows, but around 3000 BC 'passage' graves developed. They consisted of a central stone-built 'hall' with three or more side chambers, reached by a long, low passage from which the name is derived. The passage and chambers were concealed within a large round barrow. The passage was often aligned on the midwinter sunrise.
Technology changed at the start of the Bronze Age (2500 BC in Britain), but the basic way of life continued much as before. The greater frequency of known settlements, allied to evidence for increasing clearance of land for farming, indicates steady population growth. From circa 2500 BC, roundhouses were the main form of domestic building. From circa 2000 BC there is evidence of field systems, often aligned on pre-existing barrows which suggests they followed earlier systems of land partition.
From circa 3000 BC some areas that were ritually important in earlier times gained added significance. There is evidence for smaller and more specialised ceremonial sites such as henges. A huge variety of Bronze Age round barrows began to proliferate after 2500 BC. Ritual landscapes were usually in flat or undulating countryside like Salisbury Plain, or in river valleys. They often clustered around earlier causewayed enclosures and there were dozens or even hundreds of different monuments.
The dominant practice of communal burial was overtaken by a new rite of graves within round barrows. The burial for which the barrow was originally made is known as the 'primary', but often a series of secondary burials or cremations were inserted. These suggests that barrows marked an important presence in the landscape and that they were significant to one family, clan or tribe. Sometimes the primary was furnished with valuable grave goods, suggesting an increasingly hierarchical society.
Following the introduction of pottery two millennia previously, the appearance of metalworking was another important technological step in the control of heat and the production of ever-higher temperatures using small furnaces and hide bellows. The earliest British metalwork was made of pure copper, bronze (an alloy of about 90% copper, 10% tin) or gold. Gold was used for ornaments and jewellery, bronze and copper for spearheads, axes, knives and daggers.
Early Bronze Age (2500-1500 BC) saw the regular production of more sophisticated metalwork, consisting mainly of axes, daggers and 'tanged' spearheads (attached to the shaft by a prong).
The introduction of metal tools around 2500 BC did not lead to the sudden abandonment of flint as a material for making the light tools of everyday life. In the late Neolithic (Late Stone Age), flint knapping shifted away from long blades towards shorter flakes that were sharp and strong. After about 1500 BC there was another change, towards piercing and boring implements used to work bone and hide. This tradition may well have continued into the early Iron Age.
Knowledge of Bronze Age woodworking has recently rapidly increased thanks to the discovery of important waterlogged sites across Britain and Ireland. (Waterlogging can preserve wood for centuries.) Timber was the principal building material of the Bronze Age and the introduction of metal axes was a major technological advance. It was originally believed that bronze axes replaced stone gradually and over many centuries, but recent evidence suggests the process was rapid.
While household pottery was probably produced domestically, the appearance of metalwork and new, highly-decorated forms of drinking vessels called (by archaeologists) 'beakers' indicate the presence of 'specialists' in Britain. The very first makers of beaker pottery probably came from the continent, but after a short interval these specialists were local. It seems probable that with metalworking went certain religious practices that may have marked the smiths out from other members of society.
A 2003 excavation at Amesbury in Wiltshire found the body of a man and about 100 artefacts, including copper knives, gold hair ornaments, highly decorated pottery vessels and many flint arrowheads. Analysis of his teeth showed that he grew up in central Europe. Individuals found in two other nearby graves of the same period probably came from west Wales. These discoveries show that long-distance travel was an important part of Early Bronze Age life and belief.
In 1998 a small elliptical 'circle' of 55 oak posts surrounding a large inverted oak tree was discovered at Holme-next-the-Sea. There was a blocked entranceway to the south west which faced onto the midwinter sunset. About 50 different bronze axes had been used and woodchips found within the post sockets showed the timbers had been shaped in situ, probably as part of a communal effort. Tree-rings provided precise felling dates and showed that construction was a single event.
A series of burials of individuals beneath round barrows and with elaborate grave-goods, including special funerary pottery, bronze and copper daggers and gold and amber objects, were discovered in the 19th century in the Wessex area (Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire), and then in the 20th century as far afield as Norfolk. There are strong parallels with Brittany, France, suggesting regular contact between the two areas.
A 1993 excavation in Leicestershire revealed a small barrow cemetery which included a pit with a hoard of Early Bronze Age objects. This came to be known as the Lockington Gold Hoard. These consisted of two pottery vessels, a fine copper dagger (which probably originated in Brittany, France) and two fine decorated gold armlets. The discovery was important because it showed that rich objects of this sort were not confined to Wessex and the area around Stonehenge, as was once believed.
Shortly after 2000 BC the first deep copper mines were dug. Two of the best known are at Mount Gabriel in County Cork, Ireland, and Great Orme, north Wales. Another major area of prehistoric mining was in mid-Wales. Most Bronze Age mines went out of use in the Iron Age. The scale of metal production was truly industrial. Mount Gabriel is thought to have produced about 370 tonnes of copper and Great Orme 175 to 235 tonnes.
In the Middle Bronze Age (1500-1200 BC) smaller forms of axes (palstaves) began to appear alongside the first 'socketed' spearheads (attached to the shaft by a hole in the base). Thrusting weapons (dirks, rapiers) appeared, as well as elaborate bronze pins and bracelets.
Before about 1500 BC, rituals, ceremonies and religion followed practices established in the later Neolithic (Late Stone Age). After that date, burial in round barrows was replaced by cremation in cemeteries, with or without barrows. From about 1500 BC, hoards of metal items occur with increasing frequency, often placed in or near wet places as votive offerings - a practice that continued through the Iron Age.
Prior to the 1970s, the smaller, lighter 'socketed' axes (attached to the shaft through a hole) of the Late Bronze Age were regarded as being functionally inefficient. They are known in huge numbers from hoards found across the British Isles. But recent evidence from preserved timbers and complete wooden hafts (shafts or handles), has shown they were both effective and adaptable tools, with the heavy, well-balanced hafts compensating for the relative lightness of the axe head.
The scale of later Bronze Age settlement was poorly understood until about 1970, when it became possible to differentiate pottery of the period from that of the Iron Age. This coincided with increased aerial survey data and excavation ahead of commercial development. Current knowledge suggests that this was the period when the major lowland river valleys were extensively settled.
In the Late Bronze Age (1200-800 BC) both forms and quantities of metalwork increased rapidly. Major innovations were smaller 'socketed' axes (attached to the shaft through a hole) and swords with leaf-shaped blades intended for slashing.
Changes in religion, ceremonial and burial practices imply social change. The new structure persisted through the Iron Age and has been labelled as 'Celtic'. It seems probable that the later Bronze Age controlling elites comprised a larger proportion of society and may have been centred upon a 'warrior aristocracy'. This is the period when the numerous tribes of Britain began to combine into the larger groupings that became the named tribal kingdoms of the Iron Age.
Roundhouses were the dominant form of house in the later Bronze and Iron Ages. Iron Age houses were usually built without internal roof support posts, so the walls carried the thatch. Many Bronze Age houses were constructed in the same way, but some were built with a circle of internal roof-support posts, suggesting they had a heavier roof-covering such as turf.
Iron Age
Originating in the later Bronze Age (1000 BC - 800 BC), the hill forts of the early Iron Age are found over a wide area of the British Isles: in Scotland (Finavon Fort in Angus), Wales (The Brieddin and Moel y Gaer in Powys) and England (Grimthorpe in Yorkshire, Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire and Bathampton Down in Somerset). Many seem to have been used infrequently and may have been seasonal meeting places and food stores rather than permanently inhabited settlements.
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Iron objects dating from the sixth or even seventh century BC are known from England, Scotland and Wales, but the widespread adoption of iron only became common during the fourth century BC. The skill of Iron Age blacksmiths is demonstrated by the range of tools and weapons recovered from the excavation of sites such as Danebury in Hampshire and Llyn Cerig Bach on Anglesey, North Wales. These include saws, chisels and other carpentry tools very similar in form to modern ones.
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Throughout the Iron Age there is evidence for extensive networks of fields associated with small farming settlements. A mixed farming economy is suggested by cattle, sheep and pig remains and the processing of cereals including wheat, barley and oats. Improved cereal crops and breeds of domestic animal were developed and introduced during the Iron Age. The best surviving areas of Iron Age farming can be seen on Salisbury Plain, the Marlborough Downs, the Cheviot Hills and other upland areas.
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By the fourth century BC, many parts of Britain were dominated by hill forts. In some areas, such as central southern England and the Welsh borders, they were very large with complex earthworks and entrances (Maiden Castle in Dorset). There are significant examples in north Wales, the Borders and eastern regions of Scotland and in Northern Ireland (parts of the Navan complex). Many of these sites supported sizeable populations and acted as service centres for a growing rural population.
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The earliest 'brochs' date from 500-200 BC, and many were still occupied into the first millennium AD. They were built using two concentric, dry-stone walls to create a hollow tower. Between the walls were galleries and stairways leading to upper levels. Wooden upper floors probably provided the main living space, with the ground floor used as a secure store for livestock. Brochs are mainly located in northern and western Scotland, Orkney and Shetland, with the best example at Mousa on Shetland.
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Pytheas of Massilia (now Marseilles), a Greek merchant and explorer, circumnavigated the British Isles between about 330 and 320 BC and produced the first written record of the islands. He described the inhabitants as skilled wheat farmers, usually peaceable, but formidable in war when they used horse-drawn chariots. He also described the Cornish trade in tin with the Mediterranean.
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Built on large timber platforms, these settlements were set on the edge of a now vanished area of marsh and open water. Excavation has recovered thousands of wooden and other organic artefacts that rarely survive from dry-land settlements, and which provide greater insight into the skills of Iron Age woodworkers. In Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, smaller lakeside settlements called 'crannogs' are known. Many of these survived into the Roman period and later.
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The later Iron Age saw the creation of superb bronze and gold objects. Many of these items were deliberately buried or placed in rivers and lakes, probably as religious offerings. Finds from the Thames include the Battersea Shield and the Waterloo Helmet. In eastern England a number of hoards of gold 'torcs' (neck-rings) are known, most notably from Ipswich and Snettisham in Norfolk. There have also been significant later Iron Age finds in Scotland and north Wales.
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The first coins found in Britain were gold and minted in France. Around 80-60 BC, production started in Britain and by 20 BC silver and bronze were used in south east England. Coins began to bear the names of rulers, some titled 'Rex' (Latin for king) and some naming the place they were minted, such as Camulodunum (Colchester). These inscriptions suggest a growing level of literacy and familiarity with Latin. No Iron Age coins were produced in northern England, Wales, Scotland or Ireland.
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After conquering Gaul (modern France and Belgium), Julius Caesar crossed the Channel with two legions - about 10,000 men - probably to carry out reconnaissance and send a warning to the British allies of Gaulish tribes. Local tribes contested his landing on the beach at Deal near Dover, but their war chariots were driven back and they subsequently sought a truce. Caesar returned to the continent for the winter after bad weather damaged his fleet and prevented cavalry reinforcements arriving.
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Julius Caesar invaded Britain for the second time with five legions - about 25,000 men - and won a series of battles before his fleet at Deal was once again wrecked by storms. This delay allowed the British to regroup under Cassivellaunus, ruler of the Catuvellauni tribe. He waged an effective guerrilla war before his betrayal by rival tribes handed Caesar victory. An impending rebellion in Gaul forced him to withdraw, never to return, but Britain was now within Rome's sphere of influence.
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Commius, ruler of the Gaulish Atrebates tribe, fled Gaul and became king of the Atrebates tribe of south-central England, with a capital at Silchester (near Reading). There he issued his own coinage, the earliest examples dating from 30BC. Commius was a former ally of Rome and had accompanied Julius Caesar on both of his expeditions to Britain. He joined the Gaulish revolt under Vercingetorix in 52AD and fled Gaul after a second failed revolt the following year.
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The settlements known as 'oppida’ (from Latin, meaning an administrative centre) were usually very large sites, sometimes defined by rivers or long ditches and banks. Many are associated with centres of tribal power, trade with the Roman world and rich burials. Examples include Colchester, St Albans and Silchester in southern England. By the time of the Roman invasion, they could be found as far north as Stanwick in Yorkshire. No oppida are known in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
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Having defeated the last of his civil war rivals in 31BC, Augustus looked to set secure borders for Rome's empire. Plans were drawn up for an invasion of Britain, but they came to nothing. In his political testament 'Res Gestae', Augustus counts among his deeds that he received supplications from two British kings, Dumnobellaunus and Tincommius. Relations between Rome and Britain remained good for the next two generations, with evidence that Rome had a healthy trade with the Britons.
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Limited trade in Roman goods such as wine had been underway since about 120 BC. From 20 BC this trade intensified with sites such as Colchester, St Albans and Silchester receiving large quantities of imported pottery, wine and metalwork. Britain was exporting too, including slaves, grain, hunting dogs and precious metals. It is possible that some of the tribes in the south east developed diplomatic links with the early Roman empire of Augustus and his immediate successors.
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Cunobelinus (William Shakespeare’s 'Cymbeline'), ruled the Catuvellauni for about 30 years and conquered a huge territory. His name appears on coins issued at Colchester and St Albans and he is described by the Roman historian Suetonius as 'Britannorum rex' - king of the Britons. His core territory was Hertfordshire, but he eventually controlled much of East Anglia and the south east.
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A succession struggle erupted around the throne of the ailing Cunobelinus, king of the powerful Catuvellauni tribe. Adminius, the king's younger son, was exiled and fled to the court of the Roman emperor, Caligula. His elder brothers, Caratacus and Togodumnus, were left in control of the extensive tribal territories stretching over much of East Anglia and the south east of England.
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Emperor Caligula (ruled 37 to 41AD) planned an invasion of Britain in 40AD, but he was so much reviled for his megalomania that objective facts about the campaign are hard to discern. It seems likely, however, that he wanted the prestige of conquering Britain - of succeeding where Julius Caesar failed. But the army refused and the invasion was abandoned. Instead, troops were ordered to collect seashells as 'spoils taken from Neptune’ - a favourite illustration of Caligula's 'madness'.
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After the death of Cunobelinus, king of the Catuvellauni, his ambitious sons and successors Caratacus and Togodumnus expanded into the territory of their tribal neighbours. Verica, king of the Atrebates, was driven out of south-central Britain and eventually fled to Rome. As a 'client king' of Rome, he sought the support of the emperor Claudius in a bid to reclaim his throne. This served as the pretext for the Roman invasion of Britain the following year.
Roman Britain
An army of four legions and approximately 20,000 auxiliaries, commanded by senator Aulus Plautius, landed at Richborough, Kent. The Romans met a large army of Britons, under the Catuvellauni kings Caratacus and his brother Togodumnus, on the River Medway, Kent. The Britons were defeated in a two-day battle, then again shortly afterwards on the Thames. Togodumnus died and Caratacus withdrew to more defensible terrain to the west.
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Following the initial invasion of Britain, the Roman emperor, Claudius, arrived to symbolically lead his army to victory. In August, the Romans captured Camulodunum (Colchester), the capital of the powerful Catuvellauni tribe. With the whole of south east Britain overrun, eleven British kings made their submission. Aulus Plautius, commander of the invasion force, was appointed first Roman governor of Britain, but the majority of the island would not be pacified for at least another 50 years.
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In the second phase of the conquest of Britain, Roman general Vespasian (Titus Flavius Vespasianus - a future emperor) led his II Augusta Legion into Dorset. He fought numerous small-scale battles and captured a string of hill forts, including Maiden Castle and Hod Hill. By 48 AD, the Romans had effectively subdued all territory south of a line from the mouth of the Humber river to the Severn Estuary.
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Aulus Plautius led the Roman invasion of Britain in 42 AD and served as governor of the new province until 47 AD when he returned home to Rome. He was replaced by Publius Ostorius Scapula. Plautius was granted an 'ovatio' - a lesser form of military 'triumph' - during which he walked to the Capitol in the company of the emperor, Claudius.
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The Iceni tribe (based in East Anglia) were allies of Rome and had not been conquered. When ordered to surrender their weapons by the new Roman governor, Publius Ostorius Scapula, some tribesmen resisted. The revolt was quickly put down. The Iceni remained independent, but it seems likely that the pro-Roman king, Prasutagus, was installed at this time.
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With many legionaries due for retirement, the Romans founded a colony for veterans at Camulodunum (Colchester). Barrack-blocks were converted into private houses, public buildings were erected and work was begun on a temple to the imperial cult. Local land was confiscated and parcelled up to make farms for the veterans. Colchester briefly became the capital of the province of Britain.
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Following his defeat in the initial phase of the Roman invasion, Caratacus, the king of Catuvellauni, had fled west to first the Silures, then the Ordovices tribes (in Gloucestershire and Wales). He fought an effective guerrilla war, but was eventually brought to battle and defeated by the Roman governor Publius Ostorius Scapula. He escaped, but was betrayed by the Brigantes tribe and captured. He was nonetheless allowed to live out his days in retirement in Italy.
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Following the capture of Caratacus, who had led the opposition to Rome in the west of Britain, the Silures tribe (in south Wales and Gloucestershire) fought on. Governor Publius Ostorius Scapula had died in 52 AD, apparently worn out by the stress of office. The conflict fizzled out under his successor, Aulus Didius Gallus. But in 58 AD, a new Roman governor, Quintus Veranius Nepos, finally crushed the Silures and pacified the region with a network of roads, forts and garrisons.
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The druids were the priest-scholars of ancient Britain, but 'druid' also tended to be a 'catch all' name used by the Romans for those who resisted their rule. In order to suppress the druids in the far west of Britain, Roman governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus subdued the island of Mona (Anglesey), but he was forced to cut short the campaign to put down the revolt of the Iceni under Boudicca in south east Britain.
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The Romans annexed the territory of the Iceni (in East Anglia) after the death of the tribe's king, Prasutagus. It sparked a rebellion, led by his widow Boudicca, that erupted across south east Britain. The Roman towns of Camulodunum (Colchester), Londinium (London) and Verulamium (St Albans) were burned and thousands killed. Boudicca was eventually defeated by a vastly outnumbered Roman army under governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus at the Battle of Watling Street. She died soon afterwards.
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With the death of the emperor Nero in June 68 AD, four emperors followed in rapid succession - Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian. Vespasian, who had led a legion during the conquest of Britain, emerged victorious to found the Flavian dynasty. With mutinies and uprisings rife across the empire, the military estate of Britain was no different. But no attempts to become emperor were launched from the province.
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The Brigantes tribe of (in northern England) was a Roman ally ruled by Cartimandua and her consort, Venutius. Cartimandua had been responsible for handing over resistance leader Caratacus to the Romans in 51 AD. Shortly afterwards, she divorced Venutius who revolted but was driven off by Roman arms. But in 69 AD, with the Romans in the midst of civil war, Venutius staged a second revolt and successfully overthrew Cartimandua, who fled to the Romans.
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After ten years of comparative peace, Vespasian, first emperor of the new Flavian dynasty, ordered further conquests in Britain. The new governor, Quintus Petilius Cerialis, campaigned against Venutius, rebel leader of the Brigantes tribe, and defeated him. By the end of Cerialis' governorship in 74 AD, he had reached Carlisle where he built the last in a series of garrison forts.
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Sextus Julius Frontinus was appointed governor of Britain in 74 AD. After three years' campaigning - first against the Silures (in south east Wales) and then against the Ordovices (in north Wales) - he had all but completed the conquest and occupation of western Britain. The territory was pacified by placing auxiliary forts on the hills linked by roads. Two legions, one at Caerleon in the south east and the other at Chester in the north east, could respond quickly to any uprising.
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Taking advantage of a change in governor, the recently-conquered Ordovices tribe (in north Wales) revolted. The new governor, Gnaeus Julius Agricola, immediately led an army into their territory and crushed them. He then invaded the island of Mona (Anglesey), effectively destroying the last major druidic centre. The druids left no written texts, but it is known that they were probably animists who practised human sacrifice and may have acknowledged well in excess of 400 gods.
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Marking the emergence of a fully-fledged, self-governing municipality, the opening of the Verulamium (St Albans) civic centre was an event of pomp and ceremony attended by the provincial governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola. The new complex comprised a square (forum) with colonnaded shops, an assembly room with adjoining council offices (basilica) and official cult temples. It became one of the biggest and richest towns in Roman Britain.
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In a bid to do away with the Britons' warlike ways, Roman governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola undertook a campaign to encourage native aristocrats to learn Latin, wear the toga and invest in budding municipalities by donating statues and buildings. Archaeological evidence suggests Romanisation was swift. By the late first century AD, south east Britain had filled with Roman-style towns and villas.
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Having subdued what is now south west Scotland, Roman governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola considered an invasion of Ireland. Agricola reputedly believed a single legion plus auxiliaries (about 10,000 men) would suffice and may even have given refuge to an exiled Irish prince as a pretext for the attempt. The invasion never happened, but regular trading contacts began to develop between Ireland and Roman Britain.
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More than three years after extending Roman rule into what is now Scotland, governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola finally succeeded in bringing the Caledonian tribes to a pitched battle at an unidentified place called Mons Graupius, probably somewhere in the Scottish Highlands. Agricola inflicted a heavy defeat, then withdrew south. He also sent ships around the coast of Scotland to establish that Britain truly was an island.
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Pressure elsewhere on the borders of the Roman empire - possibly in Dacia (modern day Moldova) - compelled the Romans to withdraw troops from the far north of Britain in the late 80s AD. Inconclusive archaeological evidence suggests that the huge legionary fortress at Inchtuthill (in Tayside, Scotland) was systematically dismantled and abandoned in 87 AD, less than four years after it was built.
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The new emperor, Trajan, required stable borders and more troops for a punitive campaign against Dacia (now Moldova). He ordered a complete withdrawal of Roman forces from what is now Scotland. A new frontier, comprising road, forts and signal-stations, was established on an east-west line through modern Northumberland between Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Carlisle on the Solway. Vindolanda was one of the forts on this so-called 'Stanegate Line'.
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Hadrian was a gifted administrator who set in place a policy of creating natural or man-made barriers at the empire's outer limits. Inside he envisaged a commonwealth of peoples set apart from the 'barbarians'. A 73-mile-long stone wall was built by Roman soldiers, stretching from modern Newcastle to Carlisle. It marked the northernmost boundary of the empire, serving as a 'porous' border control for the movement of people and goods, or as a strong defensive fortification in times of strife.
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Shortly after the completion of Hadrian's Wall, the new emperor, Antoninus Pius, commanded his governor in Britain, Quintus Lollius Urbicus, to advance to a much shorter northern border, from the Firth to the Clyde. A 37-mile-long wall of earth and timber was built. It was intended to help subdue the tribes in what are now northern England and southern Scotland.
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Though one of the biggest and richest towns in 2nd century Roman Britain, Verulamium (St Albans) was still largely composed of small timber houses and shops. What probably started as a domestic fire quickly took hold, sweeping across the central part of the town, perhaps fanned by strong winds. Such was the damage, some sites were not redeveloped for over a century.
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After just two decades, Roman policy on the northern frontier of Britain changed again. The greatest conquest of the emperor Antoninus Pius - the southern uplands of Scotland - had been given up almost as soon as he was dead. The army abandoned the Antonine Wall and withdrew south to Hadrian's Wall.
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The tribes of what are now southern Scotland and northern England had never been fully pacified, and outbreaks of violence were relatively frequent. In 182, a war of raids and skirmishes broke out along the line of Hadrian's Wall. Despite repeated attempts by Roman troops to suppress these revolts, fighting continued for years. Around this time, many towns much further south sought security by constructing circuits of earth-and-timber defences.
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Decimus Clodius Albinus sided with his more powerful rival Septimius Severus in the civil war following 192 AD. Severus had defeated and killed his eastern rival, Pescennius Niger, in 194. It seems likely that Clodius Albinus chose to move pre-emptively against Severus by invading Gaul and having himself declared emperor, probably in the autumn of 196 AD.
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After having himself declared emperor by the legions of Britain and Spain in 196 AD, Decimus Clodius Albinus marched against his rival Septimius Severus. Their massed armies met at the Battle of Lugdunum (Lyons) in a lengthy and bloody clash. Clodius Albinus was killed, leaving Severus as the sole claimant to the imperial throne.
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Following the defeat and death of the Britain-based usurper Decimus Clodius Albinus, the undisputed emperor Septimius Severus sent agents and troops to Britain to purge the administration of rival supporters and rebuild the northern defences. Evidence suggests that revolts among local tribes led to the destruction of part of Hadrian's Wall at around this time.
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A generation of frontier conflict prompted Septimius Severus to lead his army in a renewed attempt to subdue the Caledonian tribes in the far north of Britain. But the Caledonians avoided pitched battle and waged guerrilla war, leaving the Romans bogged down in a protracted and inconclusive struggle. Peace treaties were signed, but no sooner had Severus withdrawn south than the Maeatae tribe revolted.
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In an effort to finally subdue Britain and improve its administration, a plan was conceived by emperor Septimius Severus, probably in 197 AD, to split the province in two. It was only put into effect in 211 AD, either by Severus or his son Caracalla. The southern province was named Britannia Superior (Upper Britain) with its capital at Londinium (London), and the northern named Britannia Inferior (Lower Britain), with the capital at Eboracum (York).
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Despite two years' campaigning in the far north of Britain, Septimius Severus failed to crush the Caledonian tribes. He was preparing a new offensive when he died in his bed at his winter-quarters in Eboracum (York). The empire was left to his two sons, Caracalla and Geta, who abandoned further campaigns against the tribes of northern Britain to return to Rome and press their separate claims for the throne.
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In this period, new enemies began to threaten the British Isles. The Scots - possibly from Iberia - raided Ulster and western Scotland. Angles, Saxons and Jutes attacked the eastern coast from Germany. Around this time the records also show the first use of the word 'Picts' to describe an amalgamation of tribes in northern Scotland. The origin of the term is uncertain, but it may come from the Latin for 'painted people'.
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Londinium (London) had been protected by a wall on its landward sides since the early 3rd century. In the mid-4th century, work began on a final stretch along the north bank of the River Thames to completely enclose the city and make it secure from amphibious attack. It is a significant sign of increasingly troubled times, and is mirrored by the building of defensive walls across Britain.
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Postumus declared himself emperor while defending the western empire from incursions by 'barbarian' tribes. He was recognised in Britain, Gaul and Spain - the so-called Gallic Empire - while the 'true' emperor Gallienus retained power in the remaining provinces Postumus was murdered by his soldiers in 268 but the Gallic Empire lasted until 274.
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The breakaway 'Gallic Empire', centred on Britain, Gaul and Spain, had been independent of Rome since the usurper Postumus declared himself emperor in 259 AD. Fifteen years later, the third Gallic emperor, Tetricus, surrendered his provinces to the 'true' Roman emperor Aurelian after losing a decisive battle in Gaul.
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Admiral of the Classis Britannica (Channel fleet), Carausius seized Britain and northern Gaul after being accused of corruption by the emperor Maximian. He seems to have enjoyed strong local support and established an efficient administration. He sought legitimacy by minting his own coins and recognising the legitimate Roman emperors Diocletian and Maximian. They, in turn, rejected his overtures.
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Carausius was defeated by forces loyal to Rome and lost control of northern Gaul. The Britain-based usurper was then assassinated by his treasurer, Allectus, who began building coastal defences in Britain to resist invasion - the so-called 'Saxon shore forts'. To bolster his claim to authority and allegiance, Allectus ordered the construction of a palace in his capital, Londonium (London).
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At this time, the Roman empire was ruled by a group of four emperors called the 'Tetrarchy'. Maximian, the 'senior' emperor in charge of the west, sent his junior, Constantius Chlorus, to reclaim Britain. Constantius defeated and killed the usurper Allectus near Silchester. In line with the policy of the Tetrarchy, Constantius reclassified Britain as a 'diocese' divided it into four provinces - Maxima Caesariensis, Britannia Prima, Flavia Caesariensis and Britannia Secunda.
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When the Roman emperor Constantius died while campaigning in northern Britain, his soldiers at Eboracum (York) hailed his young son, Constantine, emperor. After a period of civil war within the empire, Constantine defeated his remaining rival, Maxentius, at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in AD 312. He restored the rule of a single emperor in the west, overthrowing the 'Tetrarchy' system of rule by four emperors.
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Constantine's Edict of Milan effectively 'legalised' Christianity and is sometimes seen as the point at which the empire and the emperor became Christian. In reality, Constantine maintained an ambiguous stance somewhere between Christianity and paganism, and was only baptised on his death bed. Little is known about early Christianity in Britain. It may have arrived in Scotland as early as 205, then England and Wales a century later. It had penetrated southern Ireland by the early 5th century.
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The Roman emperor Constans came to Britain on a very brief visit in 343 AD. It seems likely that since he risked the crossing in the winter months and only stayed for the shortest time, it is likely to have been in response to a military emergency.
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After the defeat of the usurper Magnentius, the emperor Constantius II sent Paul 'the Chain' (so called for his repressive practices and habit of binding his prisoners in heavy chains) to investigate and purge Magnentius' supporters in Britain. Among the victims was Martinus, 'vicarius' (governor) of the diocese of Britain, who committed suicide rather than face trial.
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Picts from Scotland, Attacotti from the Western Isles, Scots from Ireland and Franks and Anglo Saxons from Germany launched near-simultaneous attacks, overwhelming the frontier defences of Roman Britain. (There was even some suggestion of complicity from the garrison of Hadrian's Wall.) One Roman general was killed and another defeated, allowing the invaders to plunder the province at will. This event is sometimes referred to as the 'Great Conspiracy'.
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Appointed to an emergency military command, Theodosius hurried to Britain to restore Roman control following a massive 'barbarian' incursion. He drove the raiders from southern Britain and restored the frontier defences. Invasions continued, such that by 400, three non-Roman kingdoms were established north of Hadrian's Wall: Strathclyde (south central Scotland), Gododdin (modern Lothian) and Galloway. By now, the Romans had effectively abandoned attempts to control Scotland.
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Magnus Maximus, possibly a 'vicarius' (governor) of Britain was proclaimed emperor by his troops. He campaigned in Gaul, defeating and killing emperor Gratian (of Gaul, Britain and Spain). He then drove emperor Valentinian II (of Illyricum, Africa and Italy) from Rome to secure his position in the western empire. He retained power for five years before being defeated and executed by emperor Theodosius I
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After successful campaigns to defend Britain against Picts, Scots and Anglo Saxon raiders, Stilicho, the commander of the Roman armies in the west, withdrew troops from Britain to defend Italy against the invasion of Alaric the Goth. As a consequence, the garrison of Britain was left too weak to mount an adequate defence against further 'barbarian' raids.
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At this time, the borders of the Roman empire were being frequently breached by 'barbarian' invaders and there was a persistent sense of military crisis. The Rhine frontier had been overrun and emperor Theodosius I responded by withdrawing troops to defend Italy. The garrison in Britain rebelled and proclaimed a general, Constantine III, emperor. He crossed to the continent where he was defeated by an army loyal to Theodosius.
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After the usurper Constantine III crossed to the continent with part of the army to fight for supreme power, Britons may have successfully fought off a Saxon incursion on their own in 408 AD. A year later, they reputedly expelled the Roman administration and began to manage their own affairs.
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By 410, troops were continually being withdrawn from Britain to help fight wars elsewhere in the empire. There was a general and persistent state of military crisis. With incursions on all fronts by Angles, Saxons, Picts and Scots, Britain appealed to emperor Honorius for help. Honorius wrote to them telling them to 'look to their own defences'. This act is often seen as marking the end of Roman Britain, although Roman institutions and their way of life endured.
Vikings and Anglo-Saxons
Ninian was probably the son of a Roman soldier stationed at Hadrian's Wall. After studying in Rome and Gaul, he travelled to Galloway to spread the Christian gospel. By 430 AD his followers had built the first Christian church in Scotland, at Whithorn.
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The chronicle that records Pope Celestine I's order to Palladius is the first evidence of Christian communities in Ireland. There are some indications in our sources that Palladius reached Ireland and carried out missionary work there, but the later fame of St Patrick eclipsed that of Palladius.
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Irish raiders enslaved Patrick, a Romano-Briton, the son and grandson of Christian priests. He escaped after some years, but eventually returned to become the first known Christian missionary active in Ireland. Later chroniclers dated his return to 432 AD, probably because they thought it could not be before Palladius, the first man appointed as bishop of the Christians living in Ireland. He is now the patron saint of Ireland.
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The traditional date of 449 AD for the arrival of the Anglo-Saxon invaders of Britain is taken from the 'Ecclesiastical History of the English', completed by the Venerable Bede, a Benedictine monk, in 731 AD. It is almost certainly wrong, and other sources suggest that the arrival of Angles and Saxons was part of a process of conquest and settlement that began earlier, and continued until later.
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Gildas, a British monk, (circa 504-570 AD) wrote that the Angles and Saxons received a great setback at Mount Badon, possibly somewhere in south west Britain, where they were defeated by the Britons. Gildas does not name the Britons' leader, but centuries later the battle has become associated with the name of the mythical King Arthur. While the battle itself was almost certainly a real event, the date of 516 AD is extremely uncertain.
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Gildas, a British monk, wrote 'The Ruin of Britain', the only near-contemporary source for the collapse of Roman Britain and the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons. Gildas saw these events as God's punishment for the sins of the Britons. Although Gildas' life is generally dated 504-570 AD, some historians think his book may date from as early as the 490s AD.
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After founding the monasteries of Derry and Durrow in Ireland, Columba - a Christian missionary - exiled himself from Ireland, possibly as a penance for some misdemeanour. He founded a monastery at Iona, an island off the Isle of Mull, Scotland. Missionaries trained in Iona and its daughter houses converted much of Scotland and England to Christianity. For the next two centuries, Iona was to be the most famous centre of Christian learning in the Celtic world. Columba was made a saint.
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The Convention of Druim Cett was supposedly held to settle the relationship between the king of Dál Riata, the Irish colony in what is now western Scotland, and the Irish kings of northern Ireland. Dál Riata was the small colony from which the Gaelic conquest and colonisation of much of Scotland began. The status of the Irish colony was reputedly confirmed, and rights to tax and levy agreed between the rulers.
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Columbanus, from Leinster, spent many years in the monastery of Bangor (County Down) before deciding, like other Irish monks at the time, to exile himself from Ireland and embark on missionary work abroad. He went to Gaul (modern France) with 12 companions, and from there founded several influential monasteries in the Frankish and Italian kingdoms. He was made a saint.
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At the instigation of by Pope Gregory I, Augustine led a mission to England in 596 AD, probably as the result of a request of Æthelberht, king of Kent whose wife was Christian. He arrived In 597 AD and Æthelberht gave him land in Canterbury to build a church. Æthelberht became the first Anglo-Saxon king to turn his back on paganism and become Christian. Augustine was made a saint, sometimes termed 'Augustine the Less' to distinguish him from the first St Augustine.
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Æthelberht was one of the most powerful kings in England around 600 AD, although by the time he died he was losing dominance to Redwald, king of the East Angles. One of his lasting legacies was his law code, the first written in English.
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Influenced by his Christian wife Æthelburh, Edwin brought a man called Paulinus to Northumbria. Paulinus, the last of the missionaries sent to Britain by Pope Gregory I, built a wooden church in the old Roman legionary headquarters in York, and baptised Edwin there. Edwin was the first Christian king in northern England.
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Oswald, king of Northumbria, had brought Irish missionaries to northern England. He met his enemy Penda, king of Mercia, in battle at Oswestry (Shropshire). Like his predecessor Edwin, Oswald died in battle, fighting the pagan Penda and was therefore regarded as a Christian martyr. His relics were said to work miracles as far afield as southern Germany.
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Oswiu, king of Northumbria, called a meeting at Whitby to settle which church practices should have precedence in his kingdom - those of the Celtic church (of Wales, Scotland and the north of England - as preached by Irish missionaries) or the Roman church (of the south of England). The matters discussed included how to calculate the date of Easter. It was decided to follow the practice of Rome. As a result, many Irish clergy left Northumbria and returned to Ireland.
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The first Englishman to be chosen as archbishop of Canterbury, Wighard, had travelled to Rome - possibly for his consecration - and had died there. As his replacement, Pope Vitalian chose Theodore, a Greek-speaker from Tarsus. Although elderly, Theodore was in office for 21 years, and did much to strengthen the English church. He made Canterbury a major centre of learning.
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Wilfrid became bishop of Northumbria shortly after the Synod of Whitby in 664 AD. His diocese was one of the largest in Christendom, extending from the Humber to Edinburgh and beyond. His refusal to agree to a division of his diocese was probably the reason for his expulsion by Ecgfrith, king of Northumbria, and the archbishop of Canterbury, Theodore. He spent much of the next 30 years in exile, campaigning for his restoration.
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Ecgfrith, king of Northumbria, invaded northern Scotland - despite the warnings of his advisers - probably in an attempt to finally subdue the tribes on his kingdom's northernmost border. The army of the Picts under King Bruide (Ecgfrith's cousin) met him at a place identified as Dunnichen Moss (in Forfarshire) and inflicted a devastating defeat on Ecgfrith's army. As a result, Anglo-Saxon dominance in Scotland came to an abrupt end.
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Willibrord, from Yorkshire, was inspired to do missionary work by St Egbert, an English priest living in Ireland. In 690 he began working among the pagan Frisians ( in the modern Netherlands). Pope Sergius made him bishop of the new see of Utrecht, and he worked as a missionary for 49 years.
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Loingsech and his grandfather Domnall mac Áedo were the only two kings before the 9th century to be called 'kings of Ireland' by Irish annalists (historians). They were from the Uí Néill (O'Neill) group of dynasties in Ulster, and their claim to supremacy was probably more real than many others who claimed to be 'high kings'. Loingsech's forces were routed and he was killed during an invasion of Connacht.
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Boniface (born Wynfirth) was educated in Exeter and Nursling (Hampshire) became a missionary in 716 AD. He began work in Frisia, assisting the elderly Bishop Willibrord, an English missionary (from Yorkshire). In 722 AD, Pope Gregory II made him bishop to Hesse and Bavaria (in modern Germany). His felling of the pagan shrine 'Thor's Oak' in northern Hesse is often regarded as the start of German Christianisation.
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Ine became king of the West Saxons in 688, when his predecessor, Cædwalla, went to Rome to be baptised and to die. Ine was one of the most powerful of the early kings of Wessex, and is best known for his surviving law-code. He too resigned in order to travel to Rome to die.
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Egbert was a Northumbrian who became a monk at Lindisfarne. He went to study in Ireland in the early 660s AD, and stayed there for almost his entire life. He never himself went to preach to the Germanic cousins of the English on the continent, as he had hoped, but he inspired many other missionaries to do so. Egbert died on Iona in Scotland. He was made a saint.
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The Venerable Bede, who studied and taught for most of his life as a monk in Jarrow and Monkwearmouth (Tyne and Wear), was the author of books that were copied and studied all over Europe. His greatest book was the 'Ecclesiastical History of the English', a major source for the history of Britain in the immediate post-Roman period.
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Boniface, an English missionary, taught and preached in Germany for many years. He was made Archbishop of Mainz in 745 AD and was able to reorganise the whole German church, including founding many bishoprics. The support of the Frankish rulers (in modern day France) was vital to his work. He many even have crowned Pippin the first Carolingian king in 751 AD. He resumed missionary work among the Frisians in 754 AD, but was murdered by them shortly afterwards. He was made a saint.
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After ruling Mercia for 41 years, Æthelbald was murdered by his own bodyguard for reasons unknown. The ensuing civil war saw Offa emerge as his successor and become the most powerful of the English kings of the later 8th century. His name survives to this day in 'Offa's Dyke', the 80-mile-long earthwork which marked his border with the Welsh kingdoms.
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After ruling the West Saxons for 31 years, Cynewulf was attacked by Cyneheard, the brother of a man Cynewulf had exiled. Both men were killed in the battle and the heroism of their bodyguards caused the event to be recorded in the 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle', the oldest surviving piece of narrative prose in English.
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Two papal legates, bishops George of Ostia and Theophylact of Todi, came to England to cement the ties between the English church and the papacy that were established by Pope Gregory I in 597 AD. Between them they visited all the kingdoms and held reforming councils. Offa, king of Mercia, was given an archbishopric for his lands in the short-lived metropolitan see of Lichfield.
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Constantine I (789-820 AD) was one of the greatest kings in Scotland in the pre-Viking period. Later generations of Scottish monarchs claimed Constantine as a king of the Scots, but he seems to have been king of the Picts, a tribe that inhabited much of northern Scotland. The St Andrew's sarcophagus, one of the finest pieces of sculpture from Europe at this time, may belong to his reign.
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The Viking attack on Portland in Dorset is the first of its kind recorded in the British Isles, including Ireland. The reeve of Dorchester (a local high-ranking official) went to greet them after they landed, perhaps accustomed to welcoming Scandinavian merchants. He was killed. Viking attacks increased in intensity over the coming decades, until the Vikings assembled a 'Great Army' equipped for conquest in about 865 AD.
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One surviving contemporary record of the attack comes from Alcuin of York, an Anglo-Saxon scholar at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne. He heard about the attack on the monastery in his native Northumbria and wrote: 'Never before has such an atrocity been seen.' He said it was God's punishment on the kingdom for its fornication, adultery, incest and greed.
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Iona was attacked in 795 AD and again in 802 AD. In the third attack, in 806 AD, 68 monks were killed and most of the rest fled to safety in the monastery of Kells (County Meath, Ireland). They took with them the gospel book now known as the 'Book of Kells', a lavishly illuminated manuscript, which is one of the greatest treasures of Celtic art. 795 AD also saw the first Viking raids on Ireland.
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Egbert, king of the West Saxons, had already established himself as the most powerful ruler in southern England. But in 829 AD he not only conquered Mercia, but forced the Northumbrians to submit as well. From then on, Wessex retained its dominance in England. Egbert's grandson, Alfred, initiated the creation of the single kingdom of England.
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Most of the history of early Scotland is obscure, but it does seem that the reign of Kenneth MacAlpine, or Cináed mac Ailpín, (841?-858 AD) is of particular importance. Some sources suggest that around 843 AD the kingdom of the Scots and the Picts was amalgamated, and that from this date historians can speak of a 'kingdom of Scotland'.
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Egbert, king of Wessex, had made his second son Athelstan king of Kent. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Athelstan fought a sea battle against the Vikings off Sandwich, capturing nine ships and putting the rest to flight. In the same year his brother, Æthelwulf of Mercia, was killed by a Viking raiding party.
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Osberht and Ælle, two rivals for the Northumbrian throne, were engaged in battle outside York when a Viking force arrived. The Vikings - who had assembled a 'Great Army' equipped for conquest rather than raiding - took advantage of the opportunity to defeat and kill both kings. They also slaughtered many people both inside and outside the city, before moving south. The city became Yorvik, the Viking capital in England.
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The Viking army that had captured Yorvik (York) in 867 AD used the area as a stable base for deeper incursions into England. They moved from Mercia into East Anglia, where the king of the East Angles, Edmund, was killed in the fighting. He was beheaded and his head thrown away to prevent proper burial. Much later, his head was finally reunited with the body, and both were buried in the royal residence, which later became known as Bury St Edmunds.
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Dumbarton, 'the fortress of the Britons', also known as Alcuith or Clyde Rock, was at the centre of the kingdom of Strathclyde, in northern Britain. It was captured by Viking forces under Ivarr the Boneless and Olaf the White. They took booty and captives, including the king of Strathclyde, back with them to Dublin, their capital in Ireland.
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A series of bloody clashes between the armies of the Vikings and the kingdom of Wessex, under Æthelred and his brother Alfred, took place at Reading, Ashdown, Basing and elsewhere. None of these battles were decisive. Æthelred died during the campaign and Alfred became king of Wessex.
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In the winter of 873-874 AD, Vikings occupied the royal monastery of Repton, on the river Trent. Their army then moved south from Repton into Mercia where they were met by King Burhred, who was driven overseas and died in Rome.
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Rhodri Mawr, also known as Rhodri the Great, was one of the powerful kings of early Wales, ruling over both Gwynedd and Powys. In 856 AD he had defeated a Viking army, but in 877 AD he was forced to flee to Ireland after the Vikings invaded Anglesey. He returned in 878 AD and was killed, although the precise manner of his death is unclear.
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In January, the Vikings succeeded in taking Wessex. Alfred, king of Wessex, took refuge in the marshes of Athelney (Somerset). After Easter, he called up his troops and defeated the Viking king Guthrum, who he persuaded to be baptised. He later brought Guthrum to terms and created a settlement that divided England.
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Alfred, king of Wessex, had retaken London and now brought the Vikings under King Guthrum to terms. The treaty between Wessex, Guthrum and the East Angles divided England. Alfred and Wessex retained the west, while the east (between the Thames and Tees rivers) was to be Viking territory - later known as the 'Danelaw' - where English and (Danish) Vikings were equal in law.
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Alfred, king of Wessex, was the only English ruler to earn the moniker 'the Great'. At the time of his death, his kingdom was the only English realm that had preserved its independence from the Vikings. Under his son, Edward the Elder, the armies of Wessex began the conquest of the rest of England from the Vikings.
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For seven years, the forces of Mercia were led by Æthelflæd, the widow of Æthelred of Mercia and the daughter of Alfred of Wessex. She built fortresses and pushed into the territory of the Danes (Vikings). Leicester submitted to her without a fight. She died just after receiving a formal offer of allegiance from the men of Yorkshire.
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At the beginning of the 10th century, Ireland suffered a fresh wave of Viking raids. In this crisis, Irish king Niall Glundubh rallied all of Leth Cuinn, (the northern half of Ireland) and all the branches of the Uí Néill (O'Neill) accepted his authority. Decisive victory eluded him, so in 919 AD he advanced into Leinster with a coalition of the Uí Néill, the Airgialla and the Ulaidh, only to be routed by the Vikings on the outskirts of Dublin. Niall was slain along with 12 other kings.
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Olaf Guthfrithson was king of the Dublin Vikings and commanded a large fleet. He joined with the kings of Strathclyde and the Scots to invade England. No one knows where Brunanburh is, but the sources all agree that Athelstan of Wessex, with an army of West Saxons and Mercians, inflicted a crushing defeat on the invaders.
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Athelstan, king of Wessex, pushed the boundaries of his kingdom to their furthest extent, until he could rightfully be described as the king of England. In 927 AD, he took York (Yorvik) from the Vikings, and forced the submission of Constantine of the Scots and of the northern kings. The five Welsh kings submitted to a huge annual tribute and he also subdued Cornwall. In 937 AD, he defeated a combined invasion force at the Battle of Brunanburh. He was buried in Malmesbury Abbey.
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Edmund succeeded his half-brother Athelstan, as king of England in 940 AD. He had taken part in the Battle of Brunanburh, in which an invasion by Dublin Vikings, Welsh and Scots was crushed, and continued his brother's struggle with Olaf Guthfrithson, leader of the Dublin Vikings. He was at the royal manor of Pucklechurch (Gloucestershire) when he tried to stop a brawl among his men and was killed.
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Hywel Dda ('the Good') became king in Dyfed at some time before 918 AD, and he appears in English accounts as a supporter of the English kings. He managed to annex the kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys, and cemented his reputation as one of the greatest Welsh kings of the period by beginning the written codification of Welsh law that went by his name.
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Eric Bloodaxe, an exiled son of Harald Finehair, king of Norway, was invited to take over the kingdom of Yorvik (York) around 946 AD. He was welcomed by Athelstan, king of Wessex, who wanted Eric to protect his kingdom from Scots and Irish invaders. A hard and despotic ruler, Eric reputedly killed many of his brothers in disputes. His rule was repeatedly contested by Viking rivals, until he was eventually driven out of Northumbria and killed as he fled north.
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Dunstan (909-988 AD) was an English monk who had already been abbot of Glastonbury, and bishop of Worcester and London, when he was appointed to the most senior position in the English church by Edgar, king of England. He led Edgar's reforms of the church, known as the '10th-Century Reformation'. Few English churchmen have been so influential. Dunstan was made a saint.
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Edgar ruled England from 959 to 975 AD, but it was not until 973 AD - two years before his death - that he organised a solemn coronation and anointing. Afterwards he took his fleet to Chester, where six kings promised to serve him. A later tradition pictures these kings rowing him down the River Dee. They included the kings of the Scots, of the Strathclyde Britons, and of Gwynedd.
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Edgar of England had two sons, and the elder, Edward, succeeded him in 975 AD. He was not popular and was treacherously murdered at Corfe in Dorset, probably by the followers of his half-brother Æthelred, who became the new king. Edward's body was buried at the convent of Shaftesbury, and miracles were witnessed at the tomb.
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The heroic attempt to deny a party of Danes (Vikings) access to the Essex mainland at Maldon was celebrated by a famous Old English poem, 'The Battle of Maldon'. The poem describes how a chief magistrate named Byrhtnoth died, and how his followers gave their lives to avenge him. Eventually Æthelred paid 22,000 pounds of gold to rid his kingdom of these invaders.
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For 20 years, Swein Forkbeard, son of the Danish king Harold Bluetooth, had taken part in raids on England. Finally he led a large-scale invasion and received the submission of the men of the Danelaw (an area in the east of England where Vikings and English had equality under the law) and then of the south. When London submitted to Swein, Æthelred fled to Normandy, leaving the whole country under Danish control.
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In April 1014, at Clontarf, north of Dublin, Brian Bóru, king of Munster and undisputed high king of Ireland, fought the allied forces of the king of Leinster and the Dublin Vikings. The battle was won by Brian Bóru's army, but he himself was killed and buried in Armagh. Any hopes of Brian Bóru uniting Ireland were dashed, but the political power of the Vikings was finally broken.
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The death of Swein of Denmark in 1014 was a temporary upset to the ambitions of his son Cnut (Canute) in England. But in 1016, Æthelred, king of England, died. His son Edmund Ironside made a truce with Cnut in which they agreed to divide the kingdom between them. Edmund died shortly afterwards and Cnut became king of the whole country. Three years later he became king of Denmark as well.
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In 1005, three kings ruled in the area of modern Scotland: Alba in the north, Lothian in the south-east and Strathclyde in the south-west. These three parts were brought together by Malcolm II, king of Alba, who convincingly defeated the army of Earl Uhtred of Northumbria at the Battle of Carham. Malcolm then annexed Lothian from England and became the first king of a united Scotland, with boundaries approximately the same as the present day. He ruled until his death in 1034.
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The rebel Macbeth's victory over Duncan was followed by a long and relatively successful reign, which seems to have born little relation to the events portrayed in William Shakespeare's play 'Macbeth'. Macbeth and his wife had a reputation for piety, and in 1050 he went on pilgrimage to Rome. In 1054, Macbeth was ousted by Duncan's son Malcolm III (1054-1093), but was not finally killed until the Battle of Lumphanan in 1057.
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Edward II was better known as 'the Confessor' because of his extreme piety. He introduced more regular cultural and political contact with the continent than England had previously experienced, and the Norman influence in the English court increased during this period.
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Edward the Confessor's reign was dominated by the ambitions of his father-in-law and most powerful nobleman, Earl Godwin of Wessex. The earl and his family played a significant role in defending the kingdom and in pacifying the Welsh borders, but in 1051 their quarrels with Edward's authority provoked him into exiling the entire family. They returned the following year, and in 1053 Godwin's son Harold acceded to the earldom of Wessex.
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Harold, earl of Wessex, was crowned king of England on 6 January 1066, the same day as the funeral of his predecessor, Edward the Confessor. He was immediately faced with powerful threats from William, duke of Normandy, and Harold Hardrada, king of Norway, both of whom laid claim to the English throne.
Norman Britain
Hardicanute, King of Denmark, had also been king of England in 1042. His short reign gave his descendents, who included Harald Hardrada, King of Norway, a claim to the English throne. When Harold Godwinson became king of England on the death of Edward the Confessor, Hardrada joined forces with Tostig, Harold's brother, and took an invasion fleet of approximately 300 ships to England to press his own claim. He raided the east coast, burning Scarborough, then sailed up the Humber river.
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The invasion force under Harald Hardrada, King of Norway, and Tostig (brother of Harold II of England) met an English army at Fulford and defeated it. The invaders then marched on York and took it four days later. This was a major crisis for Harold II, who marched north with his army to meet the threat.
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Harold II of England met an invasion force under Harald Hardrada, King of Norway, and Tostig (brother of Harold) at Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire. Harold caught the invaders off guard and defeated them in detail, slaughtering many of them and killing both Tostig and Hardrada. Less than 30 of the invasion fleet of 300 ships returned to Norway.
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William of Normandy was the second claimant to the English throne to challenge Harold II. William believed that Edward the Confessor had promised him the English throne, and that Harold had agreed to back his claim after he was shipwrecked in Normandy and taken prisoner by William in 1064. The invasion force landed unopposed because Harold was still marching south after defeating his rival, Harald Hardrada, King of Norway, at the Battle of Stamford Bridge.
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Harold II met William of Normandy near Hastings. The two armies were evenly matched in numbers, but Harold's men were exhausted after a long march back from the hard-fought Battle of Stamford Bridge. Nonetheless, the battle lasted the whole day. The English defensive shield wall was finally broken by the Norman tactic of using feigned retreats to lure Harold's troops into charging then cutting them down with cavalry. The Norman triumph was total. Harold was killed along with many Saxon nobles.
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Following his victory at the Battle of Hastings, William of Normandy progressed slowly towards London, his forces depleted by battle and hindered by disease. Some attempts were made to resist him, but he gradually received the submission of many Saxon nobles. He was crowned William I (although is more commonly referred to as William the Conqueror) in Westminster Abbey, the burial place of Edward the Confessor, the king from whom William derived his claim to the throne.
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From his base in the south east of England, William imposed Norman rule on the south west, the Midlands and Yorkshire. In 1069, multiple revolts culminated in an invasion by Sven II, King of Denmark. William defeated the rebels and laid waste to the country between Nottingham and York, causing a widespread famine in 1070. In pacifying England, William transformed its social structure. About 4,000 English earls were dispossessed and replaced by about 200 Norman and compliant English barons.
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The Normans quickly advanced into Wales, using castles to subdue the surrounding countryside. Most of the early castles were of the motte-and-bailey type, but around 1070 the earl of Hereford built a stone castle at Chepstow. In the 1090s, the Welsh successfully rose in revolt. Wales was then governed in regions still under native rule, but dominated by powerful Norman lordships known as the 'Marcher Lords'. All were obliged to recognise the overlordship of the king of England.
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After the Battle of Hastings, Waltheof, a Saxon noble, had submitted to William the Conqueror and was made earl of Bamburgh and Northumbria, as well as being given William's niece, Judith, in marriage. But in 1075 he became implicated in the 'Revolt of the Earls' - an uprising planned by a group of nobles. He went to Normandy to expose the plot and seek mercy from William, but was brought back to England and beheaded near Winchester. The revolt was the last serious uprising against William.
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The Bayeux Tapestry is the primary visual source for the Battle of Hastings and the most important pictorial document of the 11th century. Historically it is considered an unreliable account of events. It shows the prelude, the battle and the aftermath entirely from the Norman perspective. The tapestry was probably commissioned in the 1070s by William's half-brother, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, and made in Canterbury. It was completed around 1077, and has been in Bayeux since the 15th century.
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While at court in Gloucester, William decided to undertake a survey of his English realm. The country was divided into circuits, and groups of commissioners gathered information in the counties of individual circuits. Initial returns were probably completed by the summer of 1086. The information gathered came to be known as the Domesday Book (Domesday meaning 'day of judgement'). It was the most complete record of any country at that time and remains a legally valid document.
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The power of the monarch in 11th century kingdoms rested heavily on the relations between a king and his great lords, and ties of loyalty with other influential individuals. At Salisbury in 1086, a large gathering saw not just William the Conqueror's tenants, but also the major landholders swear loyalty to him. William may also have received the returns to the Domesday survey at this occasion.
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William spent most of the last decade of his life in Normandy. He fell ill while on campaign in the summer of 1087 and spent his final days at Rouen. His eldest son, Robert, succeeded to Normandy. No specific succession was determined for England, but it may simply have been assumed that William's second son, known as William Rufus, would succeed. His third son, Henry, received a large sum of money.
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William Rufus, second son of William the Conqueror, left his father a day or two before he died. He had to move swiftly if he was to lay claim to the crown of England, to which he had not been specifically named as heir. Having arrived in England, he met with Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, who performed William's coronation at Westminster Abbey.
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William II's succession was not accepted by all, in particular a group who wanted his brother, Robert, to rule England and Normandy. This group included several barons and William the Conqueror's half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux. Robert of Normandy sent troops to support the rising, but they were driven back by bad weather. William II showed deft political skill to win over supporters, and the rebels were defeated. William defeated another rebellion, led by the earl of Northumbria, in 1095.
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Lanfranc, a Lombard, had been a close associate of William the Conqueror from the 1040s onwards. He was made archbishop of Canterbury in 1070, following the deposition of the Anglo-Saxon archbishop, Stigand. Throughout his archiepiscopate, Lanfranc was central to both the secular and the ecclesiastical affairs of England. He played a key role in detecting the 'Revolt of the Earls', helped maintain the independence of the Church of England and acting as a restraining influence on the monarch.
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Malcolm Canmore (Malcolm III) launched a series of expeditions into northern England during his reign (1058-1093). His ambition was to redraw the border and show his independence from the English king. The expedition caused considerable destruction, reaching as far as Durham. He withdrew and acknowledged the overlordship of the king of England as William II prepared to campaign against him. Malcom was killed in an ambush by Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumbria, in 1093.
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Following the death of Archbishop Lanfranc, William II kept the see of Canterbury vacant for four years, a situation that allowed him to make use of its revenues. In 1093, William fell ill and believing himself close to death, wished to atone for his sin. He chose Anselm, the Burgundian abbot of Bec, to be the new archbishop. Anselm was invested by the king on 6 March 1093. He was a highly influential theologian and philosopher who was later canonised.
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The bishop of Durham, William of St Calais, demonstrated his power in the north of England by replacing his Anglo-Saxon church with a grander building in the Romanesque style. It is one of the finest examples of Norman cathedral-building in Europe.
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Margaret was the daughter of Edward the Ætheling, an Anglo-Saxon claimant to the English throne in 1066. She fled to Scotland after the Norman conquest and married Malcolm Canmore (Malcolm III) of Scotland in about 1070. She had a considerable influence on politics, culture and religion in her new home and was later canonised.
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The exact date of the university's foundation is unclear, but there is evidence of teaching at Oxford by 1096. When Henry II forbade English students to study at the University of Paris in 1167, Oxford began to expand rapidly. A university was established in Cambridge around 1209, probably by scholars fleeing unrest in Oxford.
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Robert, Duke of Normandy, responded to Pope Urban II's call for a crusade in 1095. To support his expedition, and to ensure the protection of his lands during his absence, he gave his brother, William II, King of England, custody of the duchy in return for a loan of 10,000 marks.
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Relations between William II and Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, soon deteriorated over several issues. Chief among these was William's refusal to recognise Urban II as the true pope, which in turn prevented Anselm from receiving the pope's endorsement of his archiepiscopate. The matter was resolved, but in 1097 there were fresh disagreements and Anselm departed for Rome to seek papal advice. William then seized all the revenues of the archbishop of Canterbury.
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William II, like most medieval kings, was passionate about hunting. While out hunting in the New Forest, he was shot in the chest with an arrow, probably fired by his friend Walter Tirel, and died of his wounds. Despite various conspiracy theories, it seems most likely that it was an accident. William's brother had himself rapidly crowned Henry I.
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Following the death of his brother, William II, Henry moved swiftly to establish his hold on the English throne. Within days he had seized control of the royal treasure at Winchester and had himself crowned king at Westminster. The coronation was performed by Maurice, Bishop of London, because the archbishop of Canterbury, Anselm, was out of the country as a result of a quarrel with William II.
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Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, had fallen out with William II and left England in 1097 to seek advice from the pope. Soon after his accession, Henry I invited Anselm to return, but they were soon at loggerheads over a long-running dispute about the extent of the king's control of ecclesiastical appointments. Anselm returned to exile. It was not until 1107 that a reconciliation was finally arranged. Anselm spent the last few years of his life in England.
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As in 1088, Robert, Duke of Normandy, again sought to assert his right to the English throne against that of a younger brother, this time Henry I. His expedition proved unsuccessful and the two brothers came to terms in the Treaty of Alton. Robert agreed to recognise Henry as king of England in return for Henry's territories in Normandy and a large annuity. The rapprochement did not last. In 1105, Henry invaded Normandy.
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Muircheartach Ua Briain was one the most powerful figure in Ireland for much of his reign. One of his most serious reverses came in August 1103 when his Leinster and some Dublin followers were outnumbered and slaughtered by the MacLochlainns and allies in a conflict at Mag Coba, somewhere north of Newry.
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Medieval agriculture was always under threat of natural disaster. The chronicles of the time are full of references to cattle plagues and other such devastating phenomena. The storm of 1103 was sufficiently large to have been recorded and was described as having done unprecedented damage to crops.
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William the Conqueror had divided his lands between two of his sons, with Normandy going to Robert and England to William Rufus (William II). On William II's death, the third son, Henry, took the English throne. Robert had unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow him by invading in 1101, but in 1106 Henry turned the tables by defeating his brother at the Battle of Tinchebray, in Normandy. Robert was kept in captivity until his death in 1134. Thus Henry reunited his father's dominions.
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In 1110, Henry I of England married his daughter to the German emperor, Henry V. She was only eight years old. The marriage was clearly was made for diplomatic reasons and conferred much prestige on the English king. Matilda continued to be called empress even after the death of the emperor in 1125. Her son, the future Henry II, would be referred to as 'Henry, son of the empress'.
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Norman settlement had already extended considerably into Wales by the early 12th century. Much of the process was conducted by English nobles, but Henry I also led expeditions - most notably that of 1114. He forced the submission of the princes of Gwynedd and Powys.
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Muircheartach Ua Briain was king of Munster between 1086 and 1119 and dominated Ireland for much of his reign. He was involved in the rebellion against Henry I in 1101, when Robert, Duke of Normandy, had attempted to invade England. Muirchertach had ambitions to wider power in Ireland, but was frustrated by internal politics and reverses like his defeat at Mag Coba.
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Henry I's defeat of his brother, Robert, left him in control of both Normandy and England from 1106. Among the many threats and rebellions Henry faced in Normandy, the most serious was an invasion by Louis VI, King of France, (also known as 'Louis the Fat') in 1119. Henry secured a vital victory against him at the Battle of Brémule.
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Henry I had only one legitimate son and heir, William. The succession was thrown into crisis when William was drowned while returning from Normandy to England on the 'White Ship'. Henry, a widower, married Adeliza, daughter of the duke of Louvain, a few months after the death of his son, but his new wife produced no children.
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Following the death of his only son, William, Henry I was forced to seek an alternative successor. Just before Christmas in 1126, he required his nobles and the clergy, together with David, King of Scotland, to swear to accept his daughter Matilda as his heir. The following year, Matilda, widowed by the death of her husband the German emperor, Henry V, was married to Geoffrey of Anjou, nicknamed 'Plantagenet' (after the broom flower, which he adopted as his emblem). This match served to seal a peace between Anjou and Henry's realms of England and Normandy.
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Henry I had forced his nobles to swear to recognise his daughter Matilda as his heir. But many considered a woman unfit to rule and further resentment was generated by her marriage into the Anjou family in 1127. Henry's nephew, Stephen of Blois, took advantage of the discord and secured support for his own succession from key political and administrative figures in England. He was crowned king by William of Corbel, Archbishop of Canterbury.
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Anglo-Norman power in Wales had expanded considerably under Henry I, who had forced the politically powerful princes of Gwynedd and Powys to submit. In January 1136, the Welsh took advantage of the disputed English succession to rebel against Stephen with significant success, driving back the Anglo-Normans in south and west Wales. In September or October of the same year, Welsh forces inflicted a resounding defeat on a combined army of south Wales Marcher Lords at the Battle of Crug Mawr.
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Stephen was already facing considerable problems in England when his main rival as claimant to the throne - Henry I's daughter the Empress Matilda - landed at Arundel, West Sussex, supported by her half-brother, Robert, Earl of Gloucester. A long civil war followed, but neither side was strong enough for outright victory. In 1148, Matilda withdrew to France, leaving Stephen as king but with only nominal control over a country where lawlessness was rife.
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Malachy was a leading proponent of church reform in Ireland. He also had close connections with St Bernard of Clairvaux and his Cistercian Order. This led to the foundation of the first Cistercian monastery in Ireland, at Mellifont in 1142. Malachy was later canonised.
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Henry of Anjou - the future Henry II of England - married Eleanor of Aquitaine. The marriage brought a vast area of France into Henry's possession.
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When Stephen's son and heir Eustace died in August 1153, it removed the last obstacle to settlement of the dispute between Stephen and Matilda which had led to the long and costly civil war in England between 1139 and 1148. Henry of Anjou had a legitimate claim to the throne, through his mother, Empress Matilda. Henry's accession was confirmed by the so-called Treaty of Wallingford. Stephen died the following year and Henry was crowned Henry II without bloodshed.
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Henry of Anjou arrived in England to pursue his claim to the throne, which he derived from his mother, the Empress Matilda. She was the chosen heir of Henry I, but her title had been usurped by Stephen, Henry I's nephew.
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David I had succeeded to the throne of Scotland in 1124. He was brought up at the court of Henry I. Drawing on his experiences there, he had accelerated the process of introducing Norman practices to Scotland. He brought families such as the Bruces, Fitz-Allans and Comyns to Scotland, giving them lands and titles in return for providing knights to fight for the king. He also took advantage of the civil war between Stephen and Matilda by seizing territory in the north of England.
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Nicholas Breakspear was a reforming monk who spent nearly his entire career on the Continent. He was elected in 1154 and took the name Hadrian IV. He remains the only Englishman ever to become pope
Middle Ages
The accession and coronation of Henry II took place on the same day. He was not only king of England, but also ruled over most of Wales, Normandy, Anjou, Gascony and other parts of France (acquired through his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine). Henry, son of Empress Matilda, established stability after civil war between his mother and her rival Stephen. He asserted his authority over the barons and enforced law and governance. Regular financial rolls of government began in his reign.
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Thomas Becket had been Henry's close friend and his chancellor. But when Henry appointed him archbishop of Canterbury in 1162, Becket began to take the side of the Church against the king, and the two quarrelled. Responding to an outburst of frustration by the king against Becket, four knights murdered Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. Within a few years of his death, Becket was canonised and Canterbury became a site of pilgrimage.
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Unable to help Diarmait Mac Murchada, the exiled king of Leinster, regain his kingdom, Henry directed him towards Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, known as ‘Strongbow’. In 1169-1170, Strongbow and his followers took Wexford, Waterford and Dublin. He then married Mac Murchada’s daughter, allowing Strongbow to claimed the throne of Leinster when the king died. Henry decided to visit Ireland himself to assert his overlordship. Nearly all the kings of Ireland came to submit to him.
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Four years after Thomas Becket's murder, Canterbury Cathedral was ravaged by fire and the eastern end had to be rebuilt. The first master of works was a Frenchman, William of Sens, who planned a structure in the new Gothic style. After an accident on site, Sens was replaced by William the Englishman, who added the Trinity Chapel for the shrine housing Becket's relics. It was a turning point in English cathedral architecture and provided the basis for the greatest shrine in medieval Britain.
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Lord Rhys ap Gruffyd held a winter court at which contests were held between top entertainers of the period. The winner of the 'eisteddfod', or 'session', was to be seated in the bardic chair. Bards, poets, harpists and other music makers engaged in contests in pursuit of the seat of honour.
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Henry II and his wife Eleanor had five sons, who squabbled among themselves and with their parents about who would inherit which part of Henry's kingdom. When Henry died it was Richard (later nicknamed 'Lionheart' for his bravery in battle) the oldest surviving son, who became king of England. The crusades and the state of his French territories preoccupied Richard, such that he spent less than a year of his 10-year reign in England.
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Shortly after his accession, Richard left England to join the Third Crusade. He raised taxes, sold assets and emptied the treasury to raise funds for his army. He took Cyprus and the town of Acre, but was stopped short of his ultimate goal of Jerusalem after Philip Augustus of France withdrew from the crusade. On his return in 1192, he was captured and held prisoner by Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor. A massive ransom was paid, securing his release in early 1194.
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The fifth son of Henry II, John, stayed in England during Richard's crusading absences, where he schemed against his brother. Despite this, Richard forgave him and named John as his successor. John’s young nephew Arthur, who some regarded as the rightful heir, disappeared.
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In 1209, a group of scholars migrated from the established centre of learning at Oxford to Cambridge, where they set up a new university. Social tensions and riots between townspeople and scholars were probably the key motivation for the move.
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The death of Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury, in July 1205 initiated a dispute between the king and the monks of Canterbury over who should name his successor. The pope intervened and overruled John, sparking a series of tit-for-tat exchanges that resulted in John's excommunication in 1209. He later declared his kingdom a papal fief and was readmitted to the favour of the papacy.
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John's alliance with Otto IV of Germany and Count Ferrand of Flanders against Philip Augustus of France culminated in the Battle of Bouvines in 1214. Philip's victory was complete and allowed him to seize Normandy, Anjou and Brittany, among other possessions. John was forced to return to England to face the nobles whose lands he had lost. He also suffered the indignity of nicknames like 'lack land' and 'soft sword'.
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A rebellion by northern barons led to a meeting between John and their leaders at Runnymede on the River Thames. At the meeting, the Magna Carta or 'Great Charter' was signed. It was essentially a list of baronial grievances relating to the king’s exploitation of taxation and privileges. More significantly, it represents the first time that defined limitations to royal rights were established in written law.
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The Magna Carta of 1215 did not prevent fighting between rebel barons and John. The French king, Philip Augustus, sent his son, Louis, to assist the English rebels. Initially the French force was very successful, but when John suddenly died in October 1216 and his nine-year-old son was hastily crowned Henry III, the barons reconsidered. The French withdrew in 1217.
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Henry came to the throne aged nine. At the time, a French force had invaded with the intention of unseating his father, John. With John dead, the rebellious barons who had encouraged French aid, saw the young king as the safer option. Many rejoined the royal cause and eventually the French were defeated at Lincoln in 1217. They withdrew with a large financial payment.
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The Dominican order of friars had arrived in England in 1224. Just over five years later they began their ministry in Scotland. The Franciscan order could be found at Dunblane and Dumfries, while the Dominicans settled in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth and Stirling. They later became associated with Scottish university towns.
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The Treaty of York, signed between Henry III of England and Alexander II of Scotland, fixed the Anglo-Scottish border. It has remained unaltered ever since, with the exception of the disputed town of Berwick. Berwick alternated between English and Scottish control before its final capture by the English in 1482.
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The first abbey at Westminster was built by Edward the Confessor in the 1040s in the Romanesque style. Henry III ordered the rebuilding of the abbey in a Gothic style, with a central shrine to honour Edward the Confessor. Henry was himself very religious, and focusing on a saintly predecessor sanctified his own kingship. Henry was eventually buried in Westminster Abbey.
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Henry III had made himself unpopular with the barons, who objected to the cost of his military campaigns and the influence of his foreign relatives and favourites. One of these rebels was Simon de Montfort, who had married Henry’s sister. In 1258, de Montfort was one of a group of barons who imposed the Provisions of Oxford on the king. These created a council, selected by the barons, to advise Henry. In 1261, Henry obtained a papal dispensation to extricate himself from the Provisions.
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Under the terms of the Treaty of Paris, Henry III broadly agreed with to give up claims to lands his father John had lost in northern France. Normandy, Anjou, Maine, Touraine and Poitou were given up in return for keeping control the Channel Islands and Gascony in the south west. In exchange, Louis IX of France gave up his support for rebellious English barons.
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Alexander III of Scotland defeated Haakon IV Haakonsson, King of Norway, at the Battle of Largs, in North Ayrshire. The victory ended Haakon’s attempt to overrun the Hebrides. In 1266, Haakon's successor, Magnus, signed the Treaty of Perth which surrendered sovereignty of the Western Isles off Scotland to the Scottish crown.
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Frustrated by the poor counsel afforded to Henry III, Simon de Montfort (the king's brother-in-law) led a rebellion. In May 1264, he captured Henry and his son Edward at the Battle of Lewes. Now in control of England, de Montfort summoned an assembly, including two knights from each county and two elected representatives of each borough - a precursor to parliament. Later in 1265, de Montfort was killed at the Battle of Evesham by the forces of Prince Edward, and royal authority was restored.
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Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, a prince of Gwynedd, had defeated his brothers Owain and Dafydd in the 1250s and completed the expansion begun by his grandfather, Llywelyn the Great. Under the terms of the Treaty of Montgomery, Henry III recognised Llywelyn's status as overlord of Wales and acknowledged his title of 'prince of Wales'.
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Since defeating and killing Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, Edward had been a powerful influence on his father. In 1270, he left to fight in the crusades, but on hearing of his father's death he immediately returned to England. He was crowned in August 1274.
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Edward I's Statute of Mortmain exemplifies the struggles of church and state during the Middle Ages. The church owned a great deal of land, and the statute prevented it from acquiring more. Immortal institutions with their 'dead hand', or 'mortmain', did not pass on their estates and thus could not be taxed by the government.
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Relations between the Welsh and the English crown had deteriorated. In 1277, Edward I invaded Wales and forced Llywelyn ap Gruffyd, Prince of Wales, to pay homage. In 1282, Llywelyn and his brother Dafydd rebelled against Edward, who defeated and killed them both. Edward built a network of castles in Wales to emphasise his power and authority. In 1301, he made his eldest son, also Edward, prince of Wales, a title the eldest son of the English monarch continues to take to this day.
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The bulk of the Jewish community in England had arrived from France in the 11th century and acted as bankers to the ruling and business classes. In an atmosphere of growing anti-semitism, Edward I turned against the Jews. In 1275, he prohibited Jewish traders from lending on interest, depriving them of their primary means of earning a living. In 1287, he imprisoned and ransomed 3,000 Jewish people. The ransom was paid, but in 1290 an edict was issued expelling all Jews from England.
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This parliament, summoned by Edward I, has been compared to that of Simon de Montfort 30 years earlier. It included a broader range of members than was usual, extending beyond senior clergy and aristocracy to lower clergy, knights of the shire and representatives of towns. Its main aim, for Edward, was to raise money for his wars against France, Scotland and Wales.
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In 1292, a disputed succession to the Scottish throne allowed Edward I to force the Scots to accept his sovereignty as 'lord paramount' of Scotland. He then nominated John Balliol as king. The Scots objected to these terms and in 1295 turned to the French for help - the earliest documentary evidence of the 'Auld Alliance'. A Scottish army was raised, but it was defeated by Edward, who deposed Balliol and removed the Stone of Scone on which Scottish monarchs were crowned.
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William Wallace organised resistance to the English in Scotland in the late 1290s, defeating them at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in September 1297. He was himself defeated in July of the following year at Falkirk. He continued a guerrilla campaign for a further seven years, but was eventually betrayed, taken to London and executed.
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In 1306, Robert the Bruce was crowned king of Scotland in defiance of Edward I, who died while on his way north to reassert his authority. Edward II was very different from his father, more interested in entertainment than warfare and dependent upon favourites like Piers Gaveston. Two years after Edward's accession, he married Isabella, daughter of the French king.
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Since the death of Edward I, Robert the Bruce had consolidated his hold on Scotland and reclaimed lost territory. The English governor of Stirling was besieged. Edward II led a 20,000-strong relief force, but it was heavily defeated at nearby Bannockburn by a Scottish force half its size. The victory ensured Scotland's survival as an independent country, with Bruce as its king.
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The famine was the product of a cooler and damper climate, coupled with the medieval inability to dry and store grain effectively. Colder winters and wet summers severely affected the harvest. Millions died of starvation. Cannibalism was widely reported from Poland to Ireland and many were trampled to death in bread queues in London.
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At the height of the Great European Famine, Edward Bruce, Robert the Bruce's brother, led an expedition in Ireland to discomfort English interests and to raise a grand 'Celtic' alliance. His timing was unfortunate. The alliance came to nothing and the expedition only succeeded in making the effects of the famine still worse.
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In the Declaration of Arbroath, a letter to Pope John XXII, Scottish barons complained of English invasions and praised their king, Robert the Bruce, but threatened to depose him if he ever subjected Scotland to the English. The declaration can be seen as the founding document of the Scottish nation, or as a clever diplomatic move to explain why Scotland was still fighting its Christian neighbour at the time of the crusades. The pope was unmoved and Scotland remained excommunicated.
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Edward II's wife, Isabella, had left England for France in 1325 on the pretext of helping to settle a dispute over territory. But she had been badly treated by Edward's favourites, the Despensers, and declined to return. Instead, she remained in Paris, where she found a lover, Roger Mortimer. In 1326, she returned to England with a large force, whereupon the king's supporters deserted him. Edward was captured, as were the Despensers who were executed in the autumn of the same year.
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Following the invasion led by his wife, Isabella, Edward II abdicated in favour of his son. He was later murdered at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire on the orders of Isabella and her lover, Roger Mortimer. They ruled the country in the name of Edward II and Isabella's son, now Edward III, who was 14.
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Edward III was just 14 when he became king. His father, Edward II, was forced to abdicate by his mother, Isabella, and her lover Roger Mortimer. In 1330, Edward seized control, executing Mortimer and forcing Isabella to retire. He would go on to rule for 50 years.
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The 'Hundred Years' War' is the name historians have given to a series of related conflicts fought over the course of more than a century between England and France. The causes were complex and varied, but included English territorial and dynastic ambitions in France. The war began with Philip VI's confiscation of Gascony, which led Edward III of England to declare himself the rightful heir to the French throne.
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A crusading fleet assembled in the Mediterranean became redundant after cancellation of the crusade in 1336. The Franco-Castilian elements of the fleet moved to threaten England after the outbreak of the Hundred Years' War in 1337. A much smaller English fleet took advantage of a brisk wind to attack the French-led force in port at Sluys (modern Vlissingen) off Flanders. The French fleet was largely destroyed, and the ensuing war was fought on French and not English soil.
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In July 1346, Edward III invaded Normandy. He marched north, but was unable to outmanoeuvre a large force under Philip VI of France. The two armies met near Crécy. The much larger French force failed to make its numbers count and its piecemeal attacks were repelled with heavy losses by the English and Welsh archers. Crécy was the first great English victory of the Hundred Years' War, the others being Poitiers (1356) and Agincourt (1415).
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The disease later known as the 'Black Death' arrived in Europe in 1347. After the first chronicled outbreak on British soil at Melcombe Regis in Dorset, the plague appeared at various points along England's south coast in the summer of 1348, spreading inland. On average, between 30% and 45% of the general populace died, but in some villages 80-90% of the population succumbed. The plague recurred regularly, if less severely, through the second half of the 14th century and into the 15th century.
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Edward the 'Black Prince' (Edward III's son) invaded France from Gascony in 1356. French and English forces met at Poitiers. Although the French had vastly superior forces, they were humiliatingly defeated by superior English tactics and by the failure of all sections of their army to engage. The French king, John II, was captured. Poitiers was the second of the three great English victories of the Hundred Years' War, the others being Crécy (1346) and Agincourt (1415).
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Edward III's eldest son, Edward the 'Black Prince', had died in 1376, so the succession passed to Edward's grandson, Richard II, who was only 10 years old. His uncle, John of Gaunt, was the most powerful noble during his minority, but the English nobility was by no means united and was riven by internal factions.
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In the aftermath of the catastrophic Black Death, agricultural workers were in demand but landlords were reluctant to pay higher wages or allow migration for work. Coupled with heavy taxation and an unpopular government, it caused an uprising. The rebels converged on London. The Tower of London was stormed and prominent individuals were executed. After rebel leader Wat Tyler was killed, Richard II successfully defused the situation by promising concessions. Reprisals followed instead.
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William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester and chancellor of England, had conceived the idea of establishing a school and university college under the same foundation so scholars could pass easily from one to the other. The aim was to provide an educated clergy to replace the large numbers lost to plague. New College, Oxford, was founded in 1379, and Winchester College three years later.
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John Wyclif believed the bible was the only true religious authority and encouraged its translation into English at a time when only Latin was permitted. He was condemned as a heretic by Pope Urban VI and an English church council. After his death, his books were burned and his body was removed from consecrated ground by order of Pope Martin V. Increasing persecution of the Lollards (as his followers were known) nonetheless showed that his ideas continued to spread in a popular form.
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Geoffrey Chaucer was the first great poet of the English language. Before him, most writers used either French or Latin in preference to the more plebeian English. His best-known work is the unfinished ‘Canterbury Tales’ in which a diverse group of people recount stories to pass the time on a pilgrimage to Canterbury.
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Richard II was the first reigning monarch to visit Ireland since John. He defeated the Irish chieftains in the south east and eighty were forced to pay homage. Richard attempted to create a new alliance between the English crown and the Gaelic Irish by recognising their grievances against absentee Anglo-Irish landowners. He left in 1395. He returned four years later, but this expedition was cut short by a revolt in England, leaving long-term issues of English rule in Ireland unresolved.
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In the late 1380s, Richard II clashed with a group of nobles known as the Lords Appellant, which included his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke. They forced concessions from him, but after several years of moderation Richard took his revenge. He exiled Bolingbroke and seized his vast estates. During Richard’s absence in Ireland in 1399, Bolingbroke returned and took the throne, supported by other nobles fearful of Richard's increasingly autocratic ways. Imprisoned in Pontefract Castle, he died in 1400.
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Owain Glyn Dwr had served in Richard II's army in the 1380s and it may even have been loyalty to the deposed king that encouraged him to lead a revolt against Henry IV. In 1404 he received French support and presided over the first Welsh parliament. As Henry consolidated control over England, his son Henry (the future Henry V) led the campaigning in Wales. By 1409, the revolt was broken. Glyn Dwr turned to guerrilla warfare until his death in around 1416.
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St Andrews University was founded in 1413, followed by Glasgow University in 1451 and King's College Aberdeen in 1495.
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Henry IV’s reign was brief and troubled. He faced internal rebellion after his usurpation and murder of Richard II, including the Percy family's rebellion in 1403. There were Scottish incursions across the border, Wales revolted under Owain Glyn Dwr and the Hundred Years' War with France continued. Henry also had an uneasy relationship with his son and successor, Henry V, who he had discharged from his council in 1411 over political differences.
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After informal toleration under Richard II, Henry IV increased the persecution of Lollards, followers of the 'heretic' church reformer John Wyclif who had died in 1384. The 1414 rebellion of Lollard knights, led by Sir John Oldcastle, was easily suppressed by Henry V. Oldcastle remained at large until he was captured, tried and executed in 1417. Lollardy went underground, and though it continued to make converts, Lollards always remained a religious minority.
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The Council of Constance proclaimed the superiority of councils over popes. It operated as a convention of 'nations' - English, French, German and Italian, with one vote each in decisions. John Wyclif's status as a heretic was reaffirmed. By 1417, when the Council closed, three concurrent popes had been deposed. Another pope, Martin V, was elected.
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The Southampton Plot was intended to overthrow Henry V as he disembarked for France and replace him with Edmund Mortimer, heir to Richard II. Upon learning of the plot, Mortimer immediately told Henry and the conspirators - Richard, Earl of Cambridge, Sir Thomas Grey and Henry, Baron Scrope of Masham - were tried and executed as traitors. Henry's firmness and swiftness of action secured his position.
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In 1414, Henry V renewed England's claims to the French throne while France was vulnerable, ruled as it was by the sick and unstable Charles VI. In 1415, Henry landed in Normandy and besieged the port of Harfleur. The length of the siege allowed the French to summon a significant force to oppose him. The two armies met at Agincourt where the English inflicted a humiliating defeat on the much larger French force. As at Crécy (1346) and Poitiers (1356), English archery was key to victory.
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In the centuries of Anglo-French conflict which followed 1066, Troyes marked the high point of English success. Charles VI of France suffered bouts of insanity that rendered him ineffectual, and victorious Henry V now controlled the whole of Normandy. Under the Treaty of Troyes, Henry V was to become regent of France and marry Charles's daughter Catherine. Their heir (Henry VI) would become joint ruler of England and France. At the same time, England allied with Burgundy.
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In 1422, Henry V died suddenly, leaving his son Henry, who was less than a year old and now king of England and France under the terms of the Treaty of Troyes (1420). England was ruled by a Regency Council. In France, the king's uncle, John, Duke of Bedford, gradually extended English control. Henry VI of England was crowned king of France in Paris in December 1431. The traditional site of French coronations, Rheims, had been recaptured by Joan of Arc the previous year.
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The Treaty of Arras reconciled a long-standing dispute between Charles VII of France and Philip, Duke of Burgundy. It also broke the Anglo-Burgundian alliance that had existed since 1420 and allowed the king of France to consolidate his position against English claims to his throne. England was left isolated and its French territories were lost piecemeal. By 1451, the last part of Henry V's legacy, Normandy, had been retaken.
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Henry VI, who had acceded to the throne before his first birthday, was now considered old enough to rule for himself. But he was not interested in government, preferring to concentrate on founding Eton College and King’s College, Cambridge. In 1444, he married Margaret of Anjou, the niece of Charles VII of France, as part of a short-lived peace deal. Henry’s court became divided through neglect and as English possessions in France shrank, the king lost prestige and authority.
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In 1450, a rebellion broke out in protest at war taxation. It was led by a man called Jack Cade, who commanded an armed force recruited in Kent and Sussex. Cade marched on London, arriving on 3 July, but his rabble army was forced back at London Bridge and dispersed before it had achieved anything of note. Cade was hunted down and killed on 12 July.
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In the autumn of 1452, an English force under John Talbot landed in Bordeaux in an attempt to recapture the province from the French. The following July, Talbot was defeated and killed at the Battle of Castillon with the French using cannon to great effect. This was the last major encounter of the Hundred Years' War. With the English driven out of Bordeaux, their territories in France were reduced to one town - Calais. A fortnight later, Henry VI suffered his first mental breakdown.
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By the 1450s, many considered Henry VI's bouts of insanity to have rendered him incapable of rule. In 1453, Richard, Duke of York, was appointed Lord Protector until Henry briefly recovered. York was then driven out by Henry VI's wife, Margaret. York marched on London and defeated Henry's supporters (the Lancastrians) at St Albans. This relatively small battle marks the beginning of a civil war between two branches of the royal family - York and Lancaster - that lasted intermittently until 1485.
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In six years of civil war, power had shifted backwards and forwards between Yorkists and Lancastrians. Early in 1461, while in control of London, the Yorkists proclaimed Edward (son of the Richard, Duke of York, who had been killed in December 1460) as Edward IV. Edward IV marched north and inflicted a decisive defeat on the Lancastrians at Towton in Yorkshire, the biggest battle thus far in the Wars of the Roses. Henry VI and Margaret fled to Scotland, and Edward was crowned in June 1461.
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Henry VI's wife Margaret was determined to win back the throne for her husband and her son. With assistance from Louis XI of France, she formed an alliance with Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (known as the 'Kingmaker'), formerly an ally of Edward IV. He defeated the Yorkists and restored Henry to the throne, although Warwick remained the real power. Henry VI's second reign is known as the 'Readeption'.
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Following the resumption of the throne by Henry VI, Edward IV returned from exile in Burgundy and defeated Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, at the Battle of Barnet. He then routed a Lancastrian force at Tewkesbury. Among the casualties was Edward, Prince of Wales and heir of Henry VI. Henry VI himself survived little more than a fortnight after the battle. He was murdered, probably in the Tower of London, on 21 May 1471. Edward IV was king of England again.
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William Caxton, a former head of the merchant adventurers in Flanders, published the first printed book in England: 'Dictes of Sayengs of the Philosophres'. He had established his press at Westminster after returning from Bruges in 1476. He subsequently printed some works of the 14th century poets Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower, and chivalric literature including his contemporary Sir Thomas Malory's 'Morte d'Arthur'.
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Edward IV died suddenly in 1483 and his 12-year-old son was proclaimed Edward V. Edward’s uncle, his father’s brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was named protector. Gloucester met the new king on his journey to London and when they reached the capital, lodged him in the Tower of London with his younger brother, also called Richard. In June the boys were declared illegitimate. It was alleged that their father's marriage to their mother, Elizabeth Woodville, had been invalid.
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Richard, Duke of Gloucester, had himself crowned Richard III in July 1483 after having his nephew, Edward V, declared illegitimate the previous month. Both his nephews, the 12-year-old Edward V and his brother, were not seen alive after this time. They had been imprisoned in the Tower of London and were presumed murdered, although it is not clear who was responsible.
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After the disappearance of the 'Princes in the Tower' and a failed rebellion by Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, in 1483, opposition to Richard III now focused on the best available Lancastrian claimant, Henry Tudor. In 1485, Tudor raised an army in Wales. The opposing armies of York and Lancaster met for the final time at Bosworth, where Richard III was killed. In January 1486, Tudor married Elizabeth of York, uniting the two houses and ending the Wars of the Roses.
Tudors
On 4 June 1487, Henry VII's Yorkist enemies landed a small army on the coast of Cumbria. They had crowned the pretender Lambert Simnel as Edward VI in Dublin. Henry intercepted and defeated them at Stoke, near Newark on Trent.
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Chief among Henry VII's achievements was a series of treaties regulating England's foreign trade, which were to remain in effect well into the 17th century. The 'Magnus Intercursus' or 'Great Intercourse', signed with the Netherlands, was the most important of these treaties. The Netherlands was the key market for Tudor England's main export, woollen textiles.
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Only six months after his marriage to Catherine of Aragon on 14 November 1501, the Prince of Wales died suddenly at Ludlow Castle. With the heir to the throne now dead, the 11-year old Henry, Duke of York, became first in line to the throne.
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The marriage of Henry VII's daughter, Margaret Tudor, to James IV of Scotland had been discussed since 1495 as a means of resolving the endemic tension between the English and Scottish crowns. It was finally concluded in 1502, together with the grandiosely-titled Treaty of Perpetual Peace. The marriage would give James IV's descendents a claim to the English throne, but that was a risk Henry was prepared to accept.
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The peaceful succession from father to son was in marked contrast to the turbulence of Henry VII's seizure of power at the end of the Wars of the Roses. Henry VIII came to the throne at the age of 17. He was widely regarded as intelligent, athletic and cultured. Two months after he became king, he married his brother's Spanish widow, Catherine of Aragon. Because Catherine was Henry's sister-in-law, a papal dispensation was required for the union to proceed.
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While Henry VIII's forces were campaigning against the French king Louis XII, James IV of Scotland invaded England. He was met by an army under Thomas Howard. James IV led his army in an attack down the muddy, precipitous slope of Branxton Hill, near Flodden, Northumberland. Although his forces substantially outnumbered those of the English, they were ultimately encircled and massacred. James and many Scottish nobles were killed in the fighting. The infant James V became king.
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Thomas Wolsey rose from humble origins to become Henry VIII's chief minister. In 1515, the pope made him a cardinal and Henry appointed him lord chancellor. In 1518, Wolsey was made papal legate, making him effectively head of the English church. He was the most powerful man in England after the king. But when Wolsey proved unable to arrange the king's divorce from Catherine of Aragon, his fall was swift. He was stripped of his offices and died in 1530 on his way to face a charge of treason.
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The first meeting of Henry VIII and Francis I of France took place just outside the English-held town of Guines near Calais, France. In a fortnight of ceremonies and entertainments, the English and French kings attempted to outshine each other with extravagant clothes and jewels, lavish tents and spectacular feasts, jousts and games. Although its diplomatic consequences were limited, it was dramatic evidence of the curious love-hate relationship between England and France.
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Pope Leo X conferred the title on Henry for his book 'Assertio Septem Sacramentorum' (Defence of the Seven Sacraments), which affirmed the supremacy of the pope. Since 1516, the reforming ideas of German theologian Martin Luther had spread through Europe and were seen as a major threat by the Catholic church. Protestantism reached England very quickly, but its growth was to be dramatically accelerated as a result of Henry's attempts to secure a divorce from Catherine of Aragon.
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By the mid-1520s, Henry VIII was desperate for a male heir. His wife, Catherine of Aragon, now in her 40s, had produced only one surviving child - Mary. He appealed to Pope Clement VII to annul his marriage so that he could marry Ann Boleyn instead. Henry claimed the union was illegitimate because the bible forbade him from marrying his brother's widow. The pope stalled, unwilling to anger Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, the most powerful ruler in Europe and Catherine's nephew.
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Patrick Hamilton studied theology in Europe, where he absorbed the reforming ideas of 'Protestant' German theologian Martin Luther. After returning to Scotland, Hamilton was charged with heresy and burned at St Andrews. There were only a dozen similar executions during the reign of James V. It was not until the minority of James’s daughter Mary (when she was too young to rule directly) that Protestantism really began to take hold in Scotland.
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After considerable pressure from Henry VIII and threats to allow parliament to reform the Church, the convocation of Canterbury province accepted the authority of the king over the English Church. Although only a minority of the members of Convocation actually agreed, this was a vital concession that forced the Church to support the king in his confrontation with the papacy over his wish to divorce Catherine of Aragon.
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Henry VIII's frustration at the pope's refusal to grant him an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon came to a head in January 1533. He commanded Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer to declare the marriage void on the grounds that the union was illegitimate because Catherine was his brother's widow. This act was a major challenge to the authority of the pope. Then, in a secret ceremony at the palace of Whitehall, Henry married the pregnant Anne Boleyn.
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Thomas Fitzgerald, Lord Offaly ('Silken Thomas'), renounced his office as lord deputy and declared himself Henry VIII's enemy as a result of inaccurate rumours that his father, the earl of Kildare, had been executed in London. But there was also growing disquiet in Ireland over Henry VIII's row with the papacy. The ill-planned revolt ended with Fitzgerald's execution, the destruction of the Kildare Fitzgeralds as a force in Irish politics and a permanent English military presence in Ireland.
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The Act of Supremacy confirmed Henry VIII as supreme head of the Church of England and separated the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church. Henry himself was never a Protestant, but the break with Rome was a huge encouragement to Protestants in England.
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Sir Thomas More, humanist scholar and author of 'Utopia', was found guilty of treason for refusing to swear to the Act of Succession (which made Ann Boleyn's daughter Elizabeth heir to the throne) because its preface undermined the authority of the pope. More had found himself increasingly at odds with Henry's stance towards Rome, such that he asked to be allowed to resign as chancellor. He refused to seek clemency and his execution was one of the most notorious acts of the Reformation.
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As supreme head of the Church, Henry VIII began to confiscate monastic property, eventually suppressing all the religious houses in England and Wales. Ten thousand monks, friars, nuns and their servants were made homeless. Much of the property was sold on, mostly to local gentry. The cultural and social impact was significant, particularly as monasteries had been providers of support for the poor. Many parish churches were also stripped of ornament and local shrines were outlawed.
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The Laws in Wales Acts of 1535 and 1542 attempted to regularise the relationship between the two nations, by introducing the English legal system in Wales. The powerful and unruly 'Marcher' lordships which ran along the border were abolished and their territory divided between Welsh and English counties. English became the official language of administration. While effectively an annexation, the acts gave the Welsh parity under the law and were not generally unpopular.
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Hans Holbein the Younger was a German artist whose arrival in England in 1526 had a significant influence in introducing the renaissance in painting from continental Europe. Holbein painted portraits of many members of Henry VIII's court, and in 1536 became painter to the king. His images of Henry have become iconic. Holbein died in London in 1543.
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Henry VIII's desire to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and marry Anne Boleyn was one of the driving factors in the Church of England's break with Rome. Nonetheless, Henry soon tired of her, particularly because she had failed to give him a male heir. Their only surviving child was a daughter, Elizabeth, born in September 1533. In May 1536, Anne was arrested on dubious charges of adultery, incest and treason. Found guilty, she was executed at the Tower of London.
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The publishing of an English-language Bible under the king's patronage was the most radical consequence of Henry VIII's Reformation. The Bible itself was printed in the Netherlands, an operation organised by Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer and Henry's chief minister Thomas Cromwell. Ironically, it included the translation of the New Testament undertaken by the exiled Protestant reformer William Tyndale.
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The summer of 1536 saw a series of popular risings in defence of the old religion, particularly with respect to the monasteries, in the north of England. The main body of the pilgrims marched as far south as Doncaster, where they were met by the duke of Norfolk. Trusting Norfolk's good faith as a mediator with the king they disbanded, only to suffer the king's revenge in subsequent months when the rebel leaders were executed.
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Eleven days after the execution of his second wife, Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII married Jane Seymour. She bore his only legitimate son to survive infancy and resolved the crisis surrounding the Tudor succession. Henry was shattered by her death shortly after Edward's birth. In his will he instructed that he be buried with her at Windsor.
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Under a scheme known as 'Surrender and Regrant', the Irish lords were persuaded to drop their traditional Gaelic titles and give up their lands, receiving them back from Henry VIII with English titles. This was an attempt to persuade them to accept English rule. The scheme enjoyed initial success and in Ulster, Conn Bacach O'Neill led the way by becoming the first Earl of Tyrone.
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Only six days after the birth of his daughter Mary, James V of Scotland, already depressed by his defeat to the English at Solway Moss on 23 November, died suddenly of cholera. His death precipitated a crisis in the government of Scotland. This was exacerbated by Henry VIII's wish to resolve the British succession by marrying Mary to his son Edward, either by treaty or by force.
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In the event of his death, Henry VIII had appointed a Council of Regency to govern the country for his young son. This was led first by Edward's uncle, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, then later by John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. Northumberland and the young king were both in favour of the accelerated reformation of the Church. Protestant orthodoxy was enforced by a new and more stringent Act of Uniformity (1552).
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In order to enforce the marriage of Edward and Mary Stuart, Edward's uncle and lord protector, Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset, invaded Scotland in the summer of 1547. Despite being opposed by a much larger Scottish army along the River Esk, superior English firepower and the incompetence of the Scottish commander, the Earl of Arran (regent to Mary) gave the invaders a dramatic victory. This episode is also known as the 'War of the Rough Wooing'.
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In response to the English success at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, Henry II of France sent substantial military assistance to Scotland. The price was the marriage of Mary to his heir, the Dauphin Francis. The marriage was agreed by the Treaty of Haddington. A month later, French warships transported Mary to France.
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A dispute over hedges in the village of Attleborough near Norwich exploded into possibly the largest Tudor popular rebellion. Having captured Norwich, the rebels were only defeated in a pitched battle by an army sent from London. The rebellion arose over a complex number of issues, some local, some resulting from Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset's policies. Unlike the other popular risings of this period, it did not include a call for the return of the old church.
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Before he died, Edward VI was persuaded by his regent, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland to exclude his sisters Mary and Elizabeth from the succession and nominate Lady Jane Grey, a cousin, as queen. She was also Northumberland's daughter-in-law, which meant that he would remain the power behind the throne when Edward was gone. Four days after Edward died, Jane was proclaimed queen, but widespread popular support for Mary ensured her reign lasted only a matter of days.
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Daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Mary had a difficult upbringing. Following the brief reign of Lady Jane Grey, Mary was proclaimed queen and on 3 August she rode into London unchallenged. Mary was the first woman to be crowned monarch of England in her own right. A devout Catholic, she was determined to halt the growth of Protestantism initiated by her father, and return England to Roman Catholicism.
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Mary's proposed marriage to Philip of Spain provoked widespread discontent over fears that England would be subjugated by the Spanish. In Kent, there was there a popular rising led by Sir Thomas Wyatt. The rebels marched on London, where a handful of key peers who had remained loyal to Mary crushed the insurrection. The deposed queen, Lady Jane Grey and her father, the Duke of Suffolk, were executed to prevent them becoming a focus for future unrest.
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Despite widespread opposition to the marriage, Philip of Spain arrived in England in July. The union was celebrated at Winchester, possibly to avoid disturbances in London. No one, apart from Mary herself, believed there would be any children as a result of the marriage, because for Philip it was an entirely political alliance. His ambitions for the monarchy were regarded with great suspicion in England.
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Mary's desire to return England to Catholicism led to the execution of hundreds of religious dissenters from 1556 on. Many communities went into exile, the most influential of which was the congregation at Geneva, Switzerland, where John Knox, the future leader of the Scottish reformation, became their minister. Their English translation of Protestant theologian John Calvin's service book became the Church of Scotland's Book of Common Order, and the form of worship chosen by English puritans.
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Executions for heresy by Mary I's government began in January 1555, the most famous of which were the burnings in Oxford of three leading church figures of the reign of Edward IV. Bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were burned on 16 October 1555. Thomas Cranmer, who had approved the divorce of Henry VIII from Mary's mother, Catherine of Aragon, went to the stake the following March. Their martyrdom only added to the moral authority of the English Protestant church.
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After a siege lasting only six days, Francis, duke of Guise ordered an assault on the English-held town of Calais on the evening of 6 January 1558. Massively outnumbered and poorly provisioned, the English governor, Lord Wentworth held out until the following morning before surrendering. The outlying fort at Guines held out until the 21 January, but Wentworth's capitulation marked the end of two hundred years of English occupation. The disaster seriously demoralised Mary's government.
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Mary became terminally ill in August 1558 and died early in the morning on 17 November. Soon afterwards the news reached her half-sister Elizabeth, then living at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire. Throughout her reign, Mary had viewed the Protestant Elizabeth as a threat, but she made no effort to prevent her succeeding to the throne, such that parliament had informally recognised her as the future queen the week before Mary's death.
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Protestant theologian John Knox returned to Scotland from exile on 2 May 1559. Days later he preached against idolatry at Perth, sparking a riot in which monasteries were sacked and a number of royal tombs desecrated. Outraged, Mary of Guise, regent for her young daughter Mary Stuart (Mary I of Scotland) determined to restore order by force. Her heavy-handed response triggered a popular rallying in the defence of 'the godly'.
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Under the Act of Uniformity of 1559, only the new hastily-printed Book of Common Prayer, a revision of Edward VI's Protestant prayer book of 1552, was to be used in parish churches in England and Wales after St John's Day (24 June). The Catholic mass or any other form of worship (including the Geneva service book) was henceforth illegal.
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In March 1560, an English army entered Scotland to aid the Scottish rebellion in forcing out the pro-regency French garrison at Leith. After the death of the regent, Mary of Guise, on 11 June, the English and the French agreed a treaty under which the Leith garrison was withdrawn. Mary Stuart (Mary I of Scotland), who as the wife of Francis II had lived at the French court since the age of five, refused to ratify the treaty. This infuriated Elizabeth I and overshadowed their future relations.
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Mary Stuart (Mary I of Scotland) had lived in the French court since the age of five and had married the future king, Francis II, in 1558. Widowed in December 1560, Mary returned from France to Scotland at the age of eighteen. Scotland had been a Protestant country since 1560 and as a Catholic she was regarded with suspicion by many of her subjects. She took her Protestant half-brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray, as chief advisor and initially exercised moderation and religious tolerance.
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On a voyage to West Africa, Captain John Hawkins, a trader and naval commander, became the first English slave trader. Hawkins captured or purchased a number of people in Africa and sold them on as slaves in the Caribbean. It would be nearly 250 years before an act of parliament banned the trade.
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Mary Stuart (Mary I of Scotland) married her cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley in a Catholic ceremony in Edinburgh. He had recently been created Duke of Albany and now acquired the title 'King of Scots'. The marriage took place in the face of opposition from Elizabeth I of England and led to an open revolt by her half-brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray and other Protestant Scottish lords. They were routed in the so-called Chaseabout Raid and went into exile.
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The close friendship of Mary Stuart (Mary I of Scotland) with her Catholic Italian secretary David Rizzio caused jealousy and resentment among some Scottish noblemen. Mary, then around six months pregnant, was having supper with friends at Holyrood House, Edinburgh, when a group of noblemen, including her husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, burst in and stabbed Rizzio to death.
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The husband of Mary Stuart (Mary I of Scotland), Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, was killed in mysterious circumstances when the house in which he was staying was destroyed by a massive explosion. Precisely by whom he was killed and the extent of Mary's involvement remains unclear, but Mary's decision to marry James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell and one of the chief suspects in Darnley's murder, did immense damage to her reputation.
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Following the marriage of Mary Stuart (Mary I of Scotland) to James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, the Scottish nobility rebelled. She was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle and forced to abdicate in favour of her infant son James (crowned James VI). She escaped in May 1568 and raised an army, which was decisively beaten at the Battle of Langside, south of the river Clyde, by forces under the command of her half-brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray.
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After the defeat of Mary Stuart's army at the Battle of Langside, near Glasgow, on 13 May, she fled to England and demanded Elizabeth I's support in reclaiming her throne. Elizabeth refused until Mary had established her innocence in the murder of her husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. The inquiry found that guilt could not be proven, but Mary was nonetheless detained in England where she would become the focus of many plots to overthrow Elizabeth.
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A major issue for discussion at the second Irish parliament of Elizabeth's reign, in January 1569, was the attainder of Shane O' Neill, chief of the Ulster O'Neill clan. A longstanding enemy of England, he had been killed by the rival MacDonell clan on 2 June 1567. The attainder (the forfeiture of O'Neill's lands to the crown) opened Ulster to English colonisation. Its impact on Ireland was as dramatic as the destruction of the Fitzgerald clan in the 1530s.
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The rebellion of northern Catholics was led by Thomas Percy, Earl of Northumberland, and Charles Neville, Earl of Westmorland. Its apparent objective was to replace Elizabeth I as queen of England with Mary Stuart. The rising was crushed, Westmorland fled into exile and Northumberland was captured and executed.
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Pope Pius V signed the bull 'Regnans in Excelsis', excommunicating Elizabeth I and declaring that her subjects owed her no allegiance. It was an attempt by the papacy to throw its weight behind the rebellion of northern earls in 1569. News of the bull arrived after the rebellion had already been put down. It encouraged Elizabeth to abandon religious toleration and allow the Church of England to become more expressly Protestant.
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Between 1566 and 1569, Sir Thomas Gresham and the Corporation of London had erected a shopping and commercial complex in Bishopsgate. It was modelled on the Antwerp bourse (exchange). In January 1571, Elizabeth visited London and renamed Gresham's building the Royal Exchange, a clever gesture associating the crown with the commercial prosperity of London.
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With financial support from the papacy and ships supplied by Philip II of Spain, the exile James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald returned to Ireland to raise a revolt against the English. Fitzmaurice was killed shortly afterwards, but the landing triggered a series of risings, forcing England into an expensive conflict that lasted until 1583. His was also the first rebellion to use the Catholic faith as its explicit justification. The conflict significantly embittered Anglo-Irish relations.
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Elizabeth I's reluctance to marry was a worry to her advisers, who wanted to ensure a peaceful, Protestant succession. Many suitors were proposed, with François, Duke of Anjou and brother of the French king, the most credible. In August 1579 he spent a fortnight visiting Elizabeth at Greenwich and they developed a good rapport. But there was widespread opposition to the match and Anjou returned home disappointed. Elizabeth did have favourites, most notably Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester.
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Francis Drake was commissioned by Elizabeth I to undertake a secret voyage against Spanish interests in the Americas. He left England on 15 November 1577 in his flagship 'Pelican' - soon renamed 'Golden Hind' - in a five-ship fleet. He returned three years later, with 59 surviving crew, as the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. Elizabeth's share of the booty reputedly equalled the crown's annual expenditure for a year. Drake was knighted the following spring.
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On the last day of 1580 the former regent of Scotland and anglophile, James Douglas, Earl of Morton, was arrested and charged with complicity in the murder of Mary Stuart's husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, in 1567. Elizabeth I wanted to save him but may have been given a verbal promise by the young James VI that his life would be spared. Morton was executed on 2 June 1581 and Elizabeth never fully trusted James again.
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Although there were other executions of Catholic priests for treason, the hanging, drawing and quartering of the Catholic missionary Edmund Campion for raising sedition was particularly notorious. Campion arrived in England on 24 June 1580 and boldly ministered to Catholics until his arrest in July 1581. Whether he was deliberately courting martyrdom remains unclear. The campaign against Catholic missionary clergy lasted for another decade.
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The treaty of assistance to the United Provinces (a collection of territories in the Low Countries) was signed at the Palace of Nonsuch in Surrey. It provided English military aid for the relief of Antwerp, which was besieged by Spanish forces. Antwerp fell on 17 August. Nonetheless, the treaty was perceived as an act of war by Philip II of Spain and would lead, by a series of events, to sending of the Armada to invade England.
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In 1586, Mary Stuart had been implicated in the Babington Plot to murder Elizabeth I and found guilty of treason. Mary had been the focus of a number of plots to overthrow Elizabeth, but this was the first that Mary could be shown to have known about and had probably condoned. Elizabeth's advisors knew that while Mary was alive, Elizabeth was in danger. Mary was executed at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire after Elizabeth finally consented to sign the death warrant.
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Elizabeth’s support for Spain's enemies and persistent English raids on Spanish shipping led to war with Spain from 1585. In 1588, Philip II of Spain sent a huge Armada to invade England. English ships harried the Armada up the Channel, then attacked it as it lay at anchor off Calais, France. The Armada was dispersed and could only return home by circumnavigating the British Isles. The voyage shattered the fleet, with at least 30 ships wrecked on the Scottish and Irish coasts.
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The Nine Years War broke out in 1594 when the territorial ambitions of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, clashed with those of England. At the Battle of Yellow Ford in 1598, English forces suffered a heavy defeat, with 2,000 killed, including their commander, Sir Henry Bagenal. In late 1601, the English routed the rebels at the Battle of Kinsale, but it would still take more than a year to finally subdue the rebellion.
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The purpose of the British East India Company was to form trade links with southern and eastern Asia, and challenge Dutch and Portuguese dominance in the spice trade. The company was to become the major force in British imperial expansion in the 17th and 18th centuries. Its influence was particularly important in establishing British control of the Indian sub-continent.
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Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex was a great favourite of Elizabeth I. Throughout the 1590s he traded on his popularity, persuading the queen to appoint him lord lieutenant of Ireland in 1599. His military campaign during the Irish Nine Years' War ended in a humiliating and unauthorised truce with the rebel Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone. Furious, Elizabeth stripped him of his titles. He raised a rebellion, but was captured and executed for treason on 25 February.
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At Mellifont Abbey near Dublin, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone brought to an end the Nine Years' War by formally accepting Elizabeth I's authority. Although the lord deputy, Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy knew the queen had already died, he suppressed the news to prevent Tyrone appealing to the new king, James I, for better terms. In 1607, lands were confiscated from the rebellious earls after they fled Ireland, making way for the plantation of Ulster (a system of colonisation).
Civil War and Revolution
Elizabeth I died childless so was succeeded by her cousin, James VI of Scotland, who henceforth assumed the title of James I of England as well. James's accession meant that the three separate kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland were now united, for the first time, under a single monarch. James was the first Stuart ruler of England.
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One of James I's first acts of foreign policy was to end the long war with Spain, which had continued intermittently for 20 years. The resulting Treaty of London was largely favourable to Spain, but was also an acknowledgement by the Spanish that their hopes of bringing England under Spanish control were over. The end of the war greatly eased the English government's near bankrupt financial state. England and Spain were at peace for the next 50 years.
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In 1604, a group of English Catholics, angered by James I's failure to relax the penal laws against their co-religionists, hatched a plot to blow up the king and parliament by igniting gunpowder barrels concealed in a vault beneath the building. The plot was discovered before it could be carried out. The conspirators, including Guy Fawkes after whom the plot is often known, were either killed resisting arrest, or captured and then executed by being hanged, drawn and quartered.
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Following their defeat in the Nine Years' War, Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone and Rory O’Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnell were treated leniently by the victorious English government of Ireland and allowed to retain their lands and titles. But in 1605, the new lord deputy, Arthur Chichester, began to restrict their authority. Fearing arrest, the two fled to the continent with 90 family members and followers - the 'Flight of the Earls'. This marked the end of the power of Ireland’s Gaelic aristocracy.
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In the wake of the Nine Years' War, James I determined to secure Ulster for the Crown through a systematic settlement programme. Protestants from England and Scotland were encouraged to move to Ulster, cultivate the land and establish towns. These 'planters' moved onto land confiscated from its Gaelic Catholic inhabitants. The plantation was often organised through guilds and corporations. The London companies were granted the city of Derry, thereafter known as Londonderry.
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By the end of the 16th century, there were several different English bibles in circulation and the church authorities felt a definitive version was needed. The 'Authorised Version of the Bible' (also known as the 'King James Bible') was commissioned in 1604. It became the most famous English translation of the scriptures and had a profound impact on the English language.
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The eldest daughter of James I and Anne of Denmark, Princess Elizabeth, was widely admired for her beauty, spirit and charm. She married Frederick V, Elector of the Rhine Palatinate, at the age of 16 and travelled with him to Heidelberg. Six years later, Frederick was elected king of Bohemia, but he and Elizabeth were driven out of the country by Catholic forces soon afterwards. It was through Elizabeth's descendants that the House of Hanover came to inherit the English throne.
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William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, popular in his time but subsequently regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. He wrote numerous sonnets and poems as well as more than 30 plays, including 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'The Merchant of Venice', 'Henry V', 'Richard III', 'Romeo and Juliet, 'Macbeth', 'Hamlet' and 'King Lear'.
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The first Africans who arrived in Jamestown, Virginia were not slaves but indentured servants. However, over the course of the 17th century their status gradually shifted so that more and more became slaves. Race-based slavery soon became central to the economy of the British colonies in North America.
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A group attempting to escape religious persecution in England sailed for the New World and landed at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts. They became known as the 'Pilgrim Fathers', and are often portrayed as the founders of modern America. In reality, the first permanent British colony in North America was Jamestown in Virginia, founded by Captain John Smith in 1607. Jamestown was established on behalf of the London Company, which hoped to make a profit from the new colony for its shareholders.
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James I was struck down by what contemporaries described as 'a tertian ague' and died in his bed at Theobalds, in Hertfordshire, at the age of 57. He was succeeded by his only surviving son, Charles, then 24-years-old, who was proclaimed as king at the gates of Theobalds a few hours later.
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Captain John Powell landed in Barbados in 1625 and claimed the island as a British Caribbean colony. He returned two years later with a group of settlers and Barbados was developed into a sugar plantation economy using at first indentured servants and then slaves captured in West Africa.
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In a bid to help the French Protestants of La Rochelle, who were besieged by Catholic forces, Charles I sent an English army. It was commanded by his chief minister, George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, who attempted to capture the nearby island of Rhé at the approaches to La Rochelle. Despite his best efforts, Buckingham was eventually forced to evacuate the island amid scenes of chaos and confusion.
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Anxious to redeem his honour in the wake of the defeat by the French at the Isle of Rhé, George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, travelled down to Portsmouth in order to prepare for a new expedition to La Rochelle. While conferring with his officers, Buckingham was stabbed by John Felton, a discontented former soldier. The duke was immensely unpopular and few apart from the king mourned his death.
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Already disillusioned with parliaments, Charles I was outraged when, on 2 March 1629, members of parliament first held the Speaker of the House down in his chair and then passed three resolutions condemning the king's financial and religious policies. Eight days later, Charles dissolved the assembly and embarked on a period of government without parliaments, known as the 'Personal Rule'.
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Keen to secure a greater degree of religious conformity across his three kingdoms, Charles I ordered the introduction of a new prayer book in Scotland. The measure backfired badly when, at St Giles church in Edinburgh, an angry crowd protested against the book, shouting: 'The Mass is come amongst us!' - a negative reference to the reintroduction of Catholicism.
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Determined not to accept the new prayer book which Charles I was trying to impose on them, the Scots had drawn up a 'National Covenant' which bound its signatories to resist all religious 'innovations'. On 28 February 1638, leading Scottish gentlemen began signing the document in Grey Friars Church, Edinburgh. Thousands followed. The General Assembly of the Kirk declared episcopacy (bishops) abolished and Charles prepared to send troops into Scotland to restore order.
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Desperate for money to fight the Scots, Charles I was forced to summon a new parliament - his first after 11 years of personal rule. At first, there seemed a good chance that members of parliament might be prepared to set their resentments of the king's domestic policies aside and agree to grant him money. Yet such hopes proved illusory, and Charles was forced to dissolve the parliament within a month.
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Having advanced deep into England, the Scottish army found Charles I's forces waiting for them on the southern bank of the River Tyne at Newburn. Charging across the river under cover of artillery fire, the Scots swiftly put the English infantry to flight. Charles was forced to agree to a humiliating truce.
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With the Scottish army firmly established in Northern England and refusing to leave until its expenses had been paid, Charles I was again forced to summon a parliament. But instead of providing the king with financial assistance, many of the members of parliament - some of whom were zealous Protestants, or Puritans - used it to voice angry complaints against his policies.
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In late 1641, Ireland rebelled. The country's Catholic inhabitants were simultaneously appalled by the prospect of a Puritan parliament achieving political dominance in England, and entranced by the possibility of seizing concessions similar to those which had been won by the Scots. Several thousand English and Scottish Protestant settlers were killed and many more were forced to flee.
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Fearing that his opponents in parliament were not only determined to seize political control, but also to impeach his Catholic wife, Henrietta Maria, Charles I marched into the House of Commons and attempted to arrest five leading members of parliament. Forewarned, they slipped away and Charles was forced to leave empty-handed.
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By setting up his royal standard on the Castle Hill at Nottingham, and by summoning his loyal subjects to join him against his enemies in parliament, Charles effectively signalled the start of the English Civil War. Inauspiciously for him: 'the standard itself was blown down the same night... by a... strong and unruly wind'.
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Although parliament had initially managed to gain control of almost all of southern England, in October 1642 some 10,000 Cornishmen rose up in arms for Charles I and chased parliament's few local supporters across the River Tamar. Thus a new front in the developing English Civil War was opened, with the Cornishmen becoming some of the king's toughest soldiers.
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As Charles I's army advanced on London from the Welsh Marches, its path was blocked by parliament's army under Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, at Edgehill in Warwickshire. The struggle that followed was bloody but indecisive, putting paid to hopes that the English Civil War might be settled by a single battle.
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Having suffered a series of reverses and desperate for more men, Charles I ordered James Butler, Marquis of Ormond, to arrange a ceasefire with the Catholic 'confederates' (or insurgents) in Ireland, so that the English Protestant soldiers fighting there could be shipped home to serve against the Parliamentarians. The so-called 'cessation of arms' outraged the king's English opponents.
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Fearing that they would be unable to beat the Royalist forces without outside help, the Parliamentarians concluded an alliance with the Scots. By the terms of the treaty the Scots agreed to send a powerful army to fight Charles I, in return for church reform in England 'according to the word of God', that is, in keeping with Scottish Protestantism.
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Charles I's northern supporters were besieged in York by a joint force of Parliamentarians and Scots, but were relieved by a Royalist army under the king's nephew, Prince Rupert. Triumph quickly turned to disaster for Rupert when his army was destroyed in a pitched battle at Marston Moor on the following day. Thereafter, the north of England was effectively lost to the king.
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Following the humiliating defeat of its main field army in the Battle of Lostwithiel in Cornwall in 1644, parliament decided a more effective army was required. It passed the 'Self-denying Ordinance' that required all members of both houses of parliament to lay down their commands. The restructured fighting force, established by law on 15 February, was named the 'New Model Army'. Sir Thomas Fairfax was appointed its lord general and Oliver Cromwell his second-in-command.
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Confident that his veteran troops would outfight parliament's newly-raised forces, Charles I launched his main field army of around 9,000 men against Sir Thomas Fairfax's army of around 14,000 men at Naseby in Northamptonshire. The result was a disaster for the king. The superb Royalist infantry were lost, and with them, all chance of winning the war.
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As the Parliamentarian net closed around him, Charles I decided to throw in his lot with the Scots. He made his way to the camp of the Scottish army at Southwell, near Newark, and gave himself up. The Scots eventually handed him over to the Parliamentarians for £400,000. At the end of December 1647, the bulk of the Scottish army marched back across the River Tweed and the king's Scottish guards were replaced by English Parliamentarian ones.
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In mid-1648, England experienced a further eruption of violence known as the Second Civil War. Rebellions in favour of the king broke out in many parts of England and Wales, and a joint force of Scots and English Royalists rode south but were destroyed at Preston by an army under Oliver Cromwell. This marked the end of the Royalist resurgence.
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Enraged by parliament's opposition to their political ideals, officers of the New Model Army decided to remove those members of parliament they regarded as untrustworthy in what was effectively a coup d'etat. Colonel Thomas Pride, after whom the purge is named, accordingly turned away some 180 members, while over 40 more were arrested. The resulting parliament of less than 160 members was derisively known as 'the Rump'.
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In the wake of the Second Civil War, Oliver Cromwell and the other senior commanders of the New Model Army decided that England could never be settled in peace while Charles I remained alive. Accordingly, the king was charged with high treason, tried, found guilty and beheaded. Charles faced his trial and death with remarkable dignity. His last word on the scaffold was: 'Remember'. The execution of a king was greeted across Europe with shock.
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In an atmosphere of greater religious tolerance and lack of censorship during the war, radical political and religious ideas flourished. The New Model Army was a hothouse for many of these ideas. It was particularly influenced by the 'Levellers', a small but vocal group who called for significant changes in society, including an extension of the franchise. The army leadership reacted badly to challenges to their authority, and in May 1649 crushed a Leveller mutiny at Burford in Oxfordshire.
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Determined to subdue 'the rebellious Irish', parliament ordered Oliver Cromwell to lead a powerful expeditionary force across the Irish Sea. After landing at Dublin, Cromwell quickly moved on to storm the nearby town of Drogheda. His troops slaughtered more than 3,000 of the defenders in the process.
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Desperate to recover his father's throne, Charles I's eldest son struck a bargain with the Scots whereby he agreed to take the Covenant himself in return for the promise of Scottish military assistance. Early in 1651, Charles was crowned Charles II of Scotland at Scone Castle.
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Following his coronation as king of the Scots, Charles II raised a Scottish army and invaded England. Many English royalists came in to support him, but in a hard-fought battle at Worcester, the Parliamentarian commander Oliver Cromwell defeated the young king's army. It proved to be the last major battle of the English Civil War. Charles subsequently fled into exile abroad.
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After the execution of Charles I, the various factions in parliament began to squabble amongst themselves. In frustration, Oliver Cromwell dismissed the purged 'Rump' parliament and summoned a new one. This also failed to deal with the complexity of the problems England was now facing. Cromwell’s self-appointment as 'Lord Protector' gave him powers akin to a monarch. His continuing popularity with the army propped up his regime.
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The Spanish had ruled Jamaica since 1509, and introduced African slaves to work in the sugar plantations. The British seized the island and continued to develop the sugar trade. During this period, many slaves escaped into the mountains. These people became known as 'Maroons' and came to control large areas of the Jamaican interior, often launching attacks on the sugar plantations.
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When Oliver Cromwell died, he was succeeded as Lord Protector by his son, Richard. The Commonwealth of England collapsed into financial chaos and arguments between the military and administration increased. Parliament was once again dissolved and Richard Cromwell was overthrown. George Monck, one of the army's most capable officers, realised that only the restoration of the king could end the political chaos, and Charles II was invited to return from exile.
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Samuel Pepys was a naval administrator and later a member of parliament whose diaries, covering the years from 1660-1669, provide a fascinating insight into mid-17th century life. The scope of the diary ranges from private remarks to detailed observations of the events and personalities around him.
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Charles II's official restoration to the English throne - he had already been acknowledged as king in Scotland in 1651 - occurred on 29 May. The king’s restoration was marked by massive celebrations, lesser versions of which continued to be held on Royal Oak Day for centuries to come.
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Towards the end of the winter of 1664-1665, bubonic plague broke out in the poverty-stricken London parish of St Giles-in-the-Fields. Soon the contagion was spreading fast, and over the following months more than 100,000 people died. By the time the epidemic finished in December 1665, a quarter of the capital's inhabitants had perished.
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The fire broke out in a baker's shop in Pudding Lane in the City of London and spread rapidly. Within four days, two-thirds of the city had been destroyed and 65,000 people were homeless. Despite this, the fire did have some positive outcomes. Within three weeks, an architect called Christopher Wren presented plans for rebuilding much of the city. Although his plans were never fully implemented, Wren was responsible for the rebuilding of more than 50 churches, including St Paul's Cathedral.
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In 1667, the Dutch admiral Michiel de Ruyter led a daring raid up the River Medway. Having broken a chain which the English had placed across the river, he attacked the naval dockyard at Chatham, burning and taking many ships. It was a terrible humiliation for the English. The diarist Samuel Pepys wrote: 'Never were people so dejected as they are in the City… this day.'
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Charles II granted the Royal African Company a monopoly on the rapidly expanding slave trade. Rival merchants opposed the monopoly and in 1698 Parliament opened the slave trade to all. Britain would become one of the leading transatlantic slave trading nations. Ships took guns and manufactured goods from Britain to West Africa, where goods were exchanged for people. Captives were taken across the Atlantic and sold into slavery on the plantations of the Caribbean and North America. Cargoes of rum, tobacco, cotton and sugar were then carried to England. This was known as the triangle trade.
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The Test Act required public office holders to accept communion in the Protestant form and swear an oath of allegiance recognising the monarch as the head of the Church of England. The intention of the act was to exclude Catholics and dissenters from public office. Charles II’s brother James, Duke of York, a Catholic himself, was a victim of the act. He was forced to surrender his public office as lord high admiral as he would not take the oath.
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Born in 1662, Mary Stuart was the elder daughter of Charles II's brother, James, Duke of York, and his first wife Anne Hyde. Although both her parents later converted to Catholicism, Mary herself was brought up as a Protestant. Her marriage in 1677 to the Dutch Protestant Prince William of Orange, himself the grandson of Charles I, strengthened William's claim to the English throne.
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Disgraced clergyman Titus Oates claimed he had learned of a Catholic and French conspiracy to kill Charles II, replace him with his Catholic brother James, Duke of York, and transform England into a Catholic-absolutist state. Oates's 'revelations' sparked panic and many innocent people were arrested and tried. The plot was little more than an invention. At the height of the furore a second Test Act was passed requiring members of both houses of parliament to make an anti-Catholic declaration.
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Having suffered a stroke, Charles II converted to Catholicism on his death-bed and passed away a few hours later. He was succeeded by his brother, James, whose adherence to the Catholic faith made many of his staunchly Protestant subjects deeply suspicious. Nevertheless, James enjoyed considerable popularity when he first acceded to the throne as James II.
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Hoping to seize the throne from James II, Charles II's illegitimate son, James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, landed at Lyme Regis in Dorset. As he marched eastwards, hundreds flocked to join him. Yet Monmouth's raw West Country recruits proved no match for James II's experienced soldiers, and when they fought at Sedgemoor on the Somerset Levels, the rebels were cut to pieces. Monmouth was captured and executed at the Tower of London.
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Following the death of his first wife, James II married Mary of Modena, a Catholic, in 1673. The birth of a son to the royal couple in 1688 provoked popular outrage. Many of James II's opponents, furious that their Catholic king now had a male heir, denounced the infant as an imposter, and claimed that the baby had been smuggled into the queen's bedroom in a warming-pan.
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William of Orange, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht, was implored by Protestant conspirators to 'deliver' them from the Catholic James II. William, who had a legitimate claim to the throne through his grandfather, Charles I, raised an army in the Netherlands and transported it across the English Channel to Devon. As nobles and officers defected to William, James II lost his nerve and eventually fled abroad, leaving William free to take the crown.
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In the wake of James II's flight to exile, many felt that William and his wife Mary (James II's daughter) should be termed 'regents', rather than monarchs in their own right, because the former king was still alive. William was not prepared to accept this, and on 6 February 1689 the House of Lords at last conceded the point. The formal declaration of William and Mary as king and queen took place a week later. This became known as the 'Glorious Revolution'.
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Encouraged by Louis XIV of France, James II sailed to Ireland hoping that, with Ireland under his control, he would be able to recover England and Scotland as well. Landing at the head of 20,000 French troops, James quickly found himself reinforced by thousands of eager Irish Catholics. Soon, most of Ireland was in James's hands.
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In Scotland, as in Ireland, many people still supported the Catholic James II against the Protestant William III. When Williamite troops (mostly Lowland Scots) advanced into the Grampian Mountains during the summer of 1689, John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, led his clansmen against them at the Battle of Killiecrankie. Claverhouse himself died on the field. His army was routed by William's forces at the Battle of Dunkeld a month later.
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William and Mary had accepted a Declaration of Rights on 13 February 1689 as an implicit condition of being offered the throne. In December, it was confirmed by an act of parliament, becoming the 'Bill of Rights'. It is a statement of rights of the subject as represented by parliament (whereas Magna Carta is broadly a statement of the rights of the individual). It remains a basic document of English constitutional law and the template for other constitutions around the world.
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James II had landed in Kinsale in 1689 and now controlled most of Ireland. William III sailed to Ireland himself to face his opponent. They met on the River Boyne, where William ordered his forces to cross and attack the joint Irish-French army. The Jacobite troops were routed and James retreated to France soon afterwards, earning himself the Irish nickname 'Séamus á Chaca' ('James the Sh*t'). In less than two years, William's forces had completed the re-conquest of Ireland.
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Despite James II's defeat in Ireland, Jacobite sympathies remained strong in the Scottish Highlands. William III's Scottish supporters resolved to terrorise the Jacobite clans into submission. At 5am on 13 February, Captain Robert Glenlyon and his soldiers, who were then enjoying the hospitality of the MacIain clan of Glencoe, suddenly fell upon their unsuspecting hosts. Some 30-40 people were slaughtered in the massacre.
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England had accrued a considerable national debt on the back of William III's expensive wars. Scottish merchant William Paterson founded the Bank of England to assist the Crown in managing its debt. The Bank became the national reserve, and in 1697 its position of prominence was secured when parliament forbade the formation of any further joint-stock banks in England. The bank has issued bank notes since 1694. A separate Bank of Scotland was established in 1695.
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William III's wife Mary died at the age of 32 leaving no children. William had loved his wife deeply, despite the somewhat tempestuous nature of their relationship, and was grief-stricken at her death.
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Initially, European colonists forced the indigenous people of the Caribbean to work in the sugar plantations. However, they were decimated by European diseases against which they had no immunity, so plantation owners began to buy African slaves. The profits from slavery were potentially very high for European slave traders. In 1708 a slave could be bought in Africa for £5, and sold in the West Indies for £20. The profits for plantation owners from cotton, tobacco and above all sugar were even higher. For the enslaved people, the work was hard, the punishments harsh and the living standards very poor.
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William III was childless, as was James II's last surviving child, Anne. English Protestants wanted to prevent the return of James II (who lived until September 1701) and his Catholic son, also James. Parliament decreed that after the deaths of William, Anne and any children they might yet have, the throne would revert to the heirs of James I's daughter, Elizabeth, the wife of the Elector Palatine. Thus, Sophie, electress of Hanover, and her heirs became next in line to the throne.
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The expansionist policies of Louis XIV of France were threatening to overturn the balance of power in Europe, and his attempts to bring about a future union of the Spanish and French crowns caused the English, Dutch and Austrians to ally against him. The so-called 'War of the Spanish Succession' began the following year.
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William III died two weeks after being thrown from his horse when it tripped over a molehill in Hyde Park, London. Jacobites, gloating at their old enemy's downfall, drank to 'the little gentleman in black velvet' who had inadvertently helped to bring about the king's death. William was succeeded by Anne, who was the younger sister of his wife Mary and the second daughter of James II and Anne Hyde.
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Allied forces under John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, Prince Eugene of Savoy and Prince Lewis of Baden shattered a Franco-Bavarian army under the Duc de Tallard at the Battle of Blenheim on the River Danube in Bavaria. It was a crucial victory in the War of the Spanish Succession and helped to pave the way for the eventual defeat of the French in northern Europe and the frustration of Louis XIV's imperial ambitions.
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Although the Act of Settlement of 1701 ensured that there would eventually be a Protestant succession in England, there was no guarantee that this would be the case in Scotland too. Leading Scots were thus persuaded to agree to a union of the two kingdoms. Once the Act of Union had finally been ratified, England and Scotland officially became one country - Great Britain.
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The English and their Dutch allies came to terms with France at the Treaty of Utrecht, ending ten years of warfare. Many long-standing problems were resolved by the treaty. In particular, the French agreed to abandon their support for the dynastic claims of James II's son, James, to the throne of Great Britain. France also recognised the Hanoverian succession in Britain, which had been established by the Act of Settlement in 1701.
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Anne, the last Stuart monarch, died at Kensington Palace in London aged 49. None of her children survived her, so under the terms of the Act of Succession of 1701 she was succeeded by George, Elector of Hanover, who was proclaimed as George I. He was the first of the Hanoverian monarchs. In dynastic terms at least, Britain had entered a new age.
Empire and Sea Power
In September 1715, John Erskine, Earl of Mar, raised the standard for a 'Jacobite' rising, intended to restore the exiled Stuart monarchy to the throne, and proclaimed James Francis Edward Stuart (James II's son) king of Scotland. The Jacobites were defeated by government forces at the battles of Sheriffmuir and Preston in November 1715. Three months later the rebellion had been quashed. The Jacobite leaders were impeached and some were executed.
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In 1718, the Transportation Act introduced penal transportation. People convicted of capital crimes had their sentences 'commuted' to 14 years or life in the Americas. Convicts found guilty of non-capital crimes received seven-year sentences. Between 1718 and 1776, over 50,000 convicts were transported to Virginia and Maryland in the modern United States. The American Revolution made further transportation impossible.
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The South Sea Company was a financial and trading organisation mainly dealing with Spanish America. It received trading rights to the South Seas in return for financing the British government's debt. Shares were issued and unrealistic expectations cultivated. A monopoly of the slave trade was envisaged. When it was discovered that the directors of the profitless company had sold out, it sparked a massive panic and a major financial crash occurred in the City of London. Huge fortunes were lost.
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In April 1721, Sir Robert Walpole became first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer, in the wake of the South Sea Bubble financial crash of 1720. He confirmed the Whig party's allegiance to the Hanoverian monarchy. He never held the actual title of 'prime minister', but was given the powers that came to be associated with the office. George I also gave him 10 Downing Street, still the official residence of the prime minister.
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Poaching disturbances in Windsor Forest and Park led to clashes between 'blacks' (gangs of bandits and poachers who blackened their faces) hoping to maintain common rights and wardens and gamekeepers. The government issued the Black Act to handle the situation. This made various poaching misdemeanours into capital crimes.
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The threat of a Jacobite rebellion (aimed at re-establishing the Stuart dynasty) continued into George II's reign. It continued to be a source of alarm until its final defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. As the country prospered, the king's early unpopularity - partially caused by his preference for Hanover over England - changed into a general respect.
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In 1733, British prime minister Robert Walpole tried to shift the burden of taxation on imports away from collection at customs. He devised an 'excise' scheme - a system of bonded warehouses for tobacco, wine and brandy, where imported goods could be lodged until the proper duty, or tax, had been paid. The project was abandoned after widespread political opposition.
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John Wesley, George Whitefield and other early adherents to Wesleyan views began preaching in fields. Their aim was to spread the gospels and save souls. They attracted large audiences and many converts to evangelical Christianity. Called 'Methodists' for their focus of rules, this marked the beginning of their mission to the poor.
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Britain declared war on Spain after repeated depredations on British ships by Spanish 'guarda costas'. This was mainly a colonial war in Caribbean waters. It was named after a Captain Robert Jenkins, whose ear had been severed by the Spanish. The War of Jenkins's Ear lasted until 1748, but from 1742 effectively merged into the larger War of the Austrian Succession, which took place from October 1740 until October 1748.
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Between 1740 and 1744 the British naval commander George Anson sailed around the world in HMS 'Centurion'. Anson returned to England with nearly £500,000 of Spanish treasure. His account of the voyage became a bestseller.
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At the 1741 general election, Sir Robert Walpole's majority in the House of Commons numbered fewer than 20 seats. When parliament reassembled in December 1741, he suffered defeats in seven divisions. On 11 February 1742, Walpole resigned as first lord of the treasury after 21 years in power. Although he had effectively been prime minister, that was never his title. He died in 1745.
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George Frideric Handel was one of the foremost baroque composers. Born in Germany, he lived most of his adult life in England and received a number of royal commissions, including 'Water Music' and 'Music for the Royal Fireworks'.
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The Battle of Dettingen, at which the British allies defeated the French, was just one engagement in the War of the Austrian Succession. The war began in 1740, when Prussia invaded the Austrian region of Silesia, but its underlying causes were rival claims for the hereditary lands of the Austrian monarchy, the Habsburgs. Prussia allied with France against Austria, Britain and the Netherlands. The war ended in 1748 with all seized lands returned, except Silesia, which Austria ceded to Prussia.
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Charles Edward Stuart, or 'Bonnie Prince Charlie', was the grandson of the deposed James II. He landed at Eriskay, Scotland, and quickly gathered an army, who proclaimed him 'Charles III'. On 21 September, he defeated the government army in Scotland at the Battle of Prestonpans. He then marched south
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Culloden, the last battle fought on British soil, marked the defeat of the Jacobite revolt of 1745-1746, also known as the '45 Rebellion. Led by 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' - Charles Edward Stuart, the grandson of the deposed king James II - the Jacobites were fighting to restore the exiled Stuarts to the throne. They reached as far south as Derby before being chased back to Scotland, where they were routed by an army under William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and second son of George II.
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From the 1750s, landlords in the Scottish Highlands began to forcibly remove tenants from their land, usually to replace them with more profitable sheep farming. The clearances resulted in whole Highland communities leaving Scotland and emigrating, most of them to North America. Many others moved to growing urban industrial centres such as Glasgow. This was part of a broader process of agricultural change in Britain, but in the Highlands it was marked by particular abruptness and brutality.
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The war between Britain and France that began in May 1756 is arguably the first global war in modern history. Britain and her allies fought France in America, India and Europe. France forged alliances with Austria and Russia against Prussia. In 1762, Spain entered the war on the side of France. Britain emerged from the war victorious in 1763, and under the Treaty of Paris acquired Quebec, Florida, Minorca, large parts of India and the West Indies.
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The Battle of Plassey took place between Siraj Ud Daulah, the last independent ruler of Bengal, and the forces of the British East India Company led by Colonel Robert Clive. The defeat of Daulah, who was backed by the French, led to the entire province of Bengal passing into Company control. This victory, and the enormous wealth of Bengal, are often seen as important factors in establishing eventual British control over all of India.
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Tacky's Revolt was the largest of many slave uprisings in the British West Indies in the 18th century, caused by the dreadful conditions enslaved people had to endure on the sugar plantations. Hundreds of slaves attacked plantations, killing about 60 whites and setting crops and sugar works alight. Tacky was captured and beheaded, and 400 other rebels died or were executed, but skirmishes continued for many months.
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George III was the first of the Hanoverian kings to be born and brought up in Britain. He was nicknamed 'Farmer George' because of his passion for agriculture. During his reign, Britain lost its American colonies but emerged as a leading European power. From 1788, George suffered recurrent mental illness and in 1811 his son was appointed regent.
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John Wilkes, a member of parliament and journalist, was charged with seditious libel for criticism of George III his paper 'The North Briton'. He was released and for the next 15 years campaigned for parliamentary reform. He was frequently in trouble with the authorities, and was expelled from the Commons a number of times, only to be re-elected. After his arrest in 1768, seven were killed in the 'Massacre of St George's Fields' when a crowd demanding his release was fired on by troops.
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In 1765, British Prime Minister George Grenville's administration passed the Stamp Act to raise extra taxes from the North American colonists. The money was intended to pay for the colonists' own military defence against possible future French incursions. Stamp duties were levied on newspapers and legal documents. Six of the 13 American colonies petitioned against the act and riots broke out. The Stamp Act was repealed in March 1766.
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In 1767, Charles Townshend, the chancellor of the exchequer, drew up legislation to raise taxes from North American colonists on selected imports, including glass, paint, lead and tea. As with the repealed Stamp Act of 1765, the intention was to make colonists contribute towards their own defence against French incursions. Colonial protests led to the Revenue Act being repealed in 1770, except for the duty on imported tea.
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In 1768, James Cook led an expedition on HMS 'Endeavour' to observe the astrological phenomenon of the transit of Venus from Tahiti. The voyage continued into the South Pacific Ocean, where Cook circumnavigated New Zealand and charted the east coast of Australia. His team of botanists and scientists brought back to England many important specimens and much scientific information. Cook made two further Pacific voyages. He was killed on the second of these in 1779 by warriors in Hawaii.
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Frederick, Lord North (an honorary title), became prime minister at the end of a decade that had seen six administrations come and go. George III hoped that his friend North could provide political stability. Lord North remained prime minister until 1782.
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The weaving of cotton cloth had become a major industry by the 1760s, with most of the labour being done by people in their homes. In 1771, inventor Richard Arkwright opened the first cotton mill at Cromford, Derbyshire. The spinning of yarn was carried out by his own patented machine, known as a water frame. This was a significant step towards the automation of labour-intensive industries and heralded the beginning of the 'Factory Age' in Britain.
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When the enslaved James Somerset escaped from his owner in London, he was captured and forced on to a ship bound for Jamaica. With the help of abolitionist Granville Sharpe, Somerset's case was taken to court and Lord William Mansfield, the lord chief justice, ruled that Somerset should be freed. This was widely, and mistakenly, believed to mean that slavery was outlawed in England. Slave owners continued to capture their runaway slaves and take them back to the Caribbean, but the case marked a milestone in the struggle to abolish slavery.
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In 1770, taxes on imports to the American Colonies had been repealed on all goods except tea. In 1773, colonists disguised as Native Americans dumped chests of tea from East India Company vessels into Boston harbour in protest against this remaining levy. Political tensions between the American colonists and the British government escalated as a result.
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John Wesley, founder of the Methodist church, was a lifelong opponent of slavery. In 1774 he published a pamphlet entitled 'Thoughts Upon Slavery', which examined how Africans were captured and transported, and proposed legal and moral arguments against slavery and the slave trade. In 1788, at considerable personal risk, he preached a sermon against slavery in Bristol, one of the leading slave trading ports. Nonconformists, particularly Quakers, were very active in the abolition movement, and included other well known individuals such as Joseph Priestley and Josiah Wedgwood.
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On 18 April 1775, a skirmish between British redcoats and the local militia at Lexington, Massachusetts, led to the fighting that began the American War of Independence. No one knows which side fired the first 'shot heard around the world'. About 15 months after the outbreak of war, colonial leader Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, which argued that the goals of the United States of America were 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness'. In September 1783, the Treaty of Paris formally ended the war.
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An investigation into the state of English and Welsh prisons in the mid-1770s by penal reformer John Howard revealed the dreadful conditions, inadequate diet and corrupt administration of many jails. The Penitentiary Act was introduced with the intention of remedying the situation. This was the first British law to authorise state prisons.
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In 1778, parliament passed the Catholic Relief Act, which removed many of the traditional restrictions on Catholics in Britain. George Gordon, leader of the Protestant Association, was leading a huge crowd to parliament with a petition calling for repeal of the act when anti-Catholic violence erupted. The ensuing orgy of property destruction and disorder lasted a week. Hundreds died in fighting between protestors and troops. These were amongst the worst riots in English history.
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British forces were besieged on the Yorktown peninsula, Virginia, by the American continental army in the west and the French fleet closing on Chesapeake Bay. Left in a hopeless situation, General Charles Cornwallis surrendered to American general George Washington, effectively ending the American War of Independence. The victory demonstrated beyond doubt that Britain could not hope to win a war so far from its own shores. The British government was forced into negotiations to end the conflict.
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During a voyage from Africa to Jamaica, the captain of the slave ship 'Zong' ordered 133 slaves to be thrown overboard alive. The ship's owners then filed a fraudulent insurance claim for the value of the dead slaves. In March 1783 the case was heard in London as an insurance dispute rather than a murder trial. The case was widely publicised by outraged abolitionists, particularly Olaudah Equiano and Granville Sharp, and helped to attract new supporters to the abolition cause.
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When it became evident that the American colonists were winning their war of independence, those who had fought for the British faced an uncertain future. These included former slaves who had fought on the understanding that they would gain their freedom at the end of the conflict. Around 75,000 loyalists decided to leave, most of them going to the British North American colonies in what is now Canada, others to the West Indies and some to Britain. In 1792, more than 1,100 freed slaves and their families who had gone to Nova Scotia left Canada to settle in Sierra Leone, West Africa.
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After three brief ministries had failed, the William Pitt the Younger became Britain's prime minister at the age of 23. (His father, William Pitt the Elder had held the office twice, in the 1750-1760s). His critics said that the nation had been 'entrusted to a schoolboy's care'. He successfully curbed the national debt, fought revolutionary France, restructured the government of India and passed the Act of Union with Ireland in 1801. Exhausted and in poor health, he died in 1806.
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Since 1718, Britain had transported convicts to its North American colonies, until this was ended by the American War of Independence. On 13 May 1787, penal transportation resumed with a fleet of convict ships setting out from Portsmouth for Botany Bay. This marked the beginning of transportation to Australia. Between 1787 and 1868, when transportation was abolished, over 150,000 felons were exiled to New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land and Western Australia.
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The committee was formed by 12 men, the majority of them Quakers. The two non-Quakers, Granville Sharp and John Clarkson, devoted their lives to the cause of abolishing slavery. These men provided MP William Wilberforce with material to assist his parliamentary efforts to abolish the slave trade. They wrote books and pamphlets and produced prints and posters to publicise the cause. Clarkson travelled tirelessly through England, organising local abolition committees, rallies and petitions and collecting information on slavery from sailors and others who had been involved in the slave trade.
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Pressure from abolitionists and detailed information gathered on transatlantic slaving resulted in the first parliamentary investigation of the slave trade. Leading abolitionist Thomas Clarkson led the fact-finding mission, while member of parliament William Wilberforce became the leading parliamentary spokesman against the slave trade. In 1792, the House of Commons agreed in principle that the British slave trade should end, but it would take until 1807 for an act to be passed into law.
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Originally founded in 1785 as the 'Daily Universal Register', the publication was re-named 'The Times' three years later. It is Britain's oldest surviving newspaper with continuous daily publication, and for much of its history has been regarded as the newspaper of record. Newspapers have been published in Britain since the early 16th century, but it was not until the early 18th century that regular daily newspapers were produced.
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George III probably suffered from porphyria, a rare hereditary disease marked by severe attacks of pain and mental instability. For four months in 1788-1789 he was incapacitated by his illness, raising the possibility a 'regent' having to rule on his behalf. This regency crisis was averted by the George's sudden recovery.
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Olaudah Equiano was a former slave who settled in London and became closely involved in the abolition movement. His autobiography 'The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano' is one of the earliest known examples of a published work by a black writer. The public was fascinated by the story of a slave who converted to Christianity, learned to read and write and, by trading on the side, earned enough money to buy his freedom. The book became a bestseller.
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The storming of the Bastille prison in Paris is generally held to mark the beginning of the French Revolution. This was a world-shattering event, in which the French monarchy was overthrown, the king, Louis XVI, executed and a republic established. It stimulated political debate in Britain between British Jacobins (pro-revolutionaries, named after the Jacobin Club in Paris), some of whom were republicans, and loyalists, who stressed the virtues of the existing British constitution.
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MP William Wilberforce introduced a bill to abolish the slave trade in May 1789. The bill was stalled and eventually consideration of the question was moved to a select committee. A general election again delayed progress and when the bill eventually came to a vote, it was passed by the Commons but defeated by the Lords. Between 1792 and 1806 a number of further unsuccessful attempts were made to enact parliamentary legislation which would either control or abolish the slave trade.
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The spirit of 'liberty, equality and fraternity' that stemmed from the French Revolution of 1789 had inspired the establishment of radical societies in Britain. In January 1792, the 'London Corresponding Society', the most prominent of these organisations, was formed under the leadership of Thomas Hardy, a Scottish shoemaker. The LCS debated the need for parliamentary reform. It advocated universal male suffrage, a secret ballot and annual parliaments. The government banned the LCS in 1794.
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A British settlement had been established in the area of West Africa now known as Sierra Leone in 1787, but the community was almost entirely wiped out due to failed crops and disease. In 1792 a group of 1,100 people left Nova Scotia to establish a community of free black people in Sierra Leone. Many of these settlers were black men and women who had fought for the British in the American War of Independence.
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The French had been at war in Europe since 1792, but it was not until the execution of Louis XVI, king of France, that Britain joined the anti-French coalition. In 1805, Britain attained complete mastery of the seas at the Battle of Trafalgar, but by 1807 Napoleon Bonaparte, the emperor of France, was master of continental Europe. War continued until the final defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
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St Domingue had the largest slave population and was the wealthiest colony in the Caribbean. When a slave rebellion broke out, panic spread among slave owners all over the region. British troops were ordered to invade St Domingue, but disease and Toussaint L'Ouverture's irregular army forced them to withdraw. In 1802 Napoleon sent a French army to crush the rebellion. Toussaint was captured and imprisoned in France, where he died, but his army triumphed and on 1 January 1804 declared the Republic of Haiti.
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Two mutinies broke out in the Royal Navy after clashes between seamen and officers over pay and conditions. There were fears in that such disturbances might be the trigger for a French-style revolution. The Spithead mutiny (near Portsmouth) ended in a royal pardon for the crew. At the Nore (on the Thames Estuary), the mutiny was starved out and one of the ringleaders, Richard Parker, was hanged. Mutinies occurred in several European navies in the 1790s.
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In 1798, Wolfe Tone, a Protestant lawyer, led the Society of United Irishmen in a rebellion against British rule in Ireland. The SUI recruited supporters among Catholics and Presbyterians, but was beset by internal divisions. After failing to secure French assistance, the rebellion was ruthlessly crushed by British forces. It effectively ended with the capture of Tone in October of the same year. He was sentenced to hang, but took his own life first.
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William Pitt the Younger's government passed two acts making it illegal for working men to form combinations in which their political rights were discussed. They were among several repressive measures designed to stifle any catalysts for a French-style revolution in Britain. The Combination Acts were repealed in 1824 and 1825.
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Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Ireland were formally joined under the Act of Union to create the United Kingdom in 1801. The Irish parliament in Dublin was dissolved. Despite the Union, Catholics were still unable to vote at general elections or to hold parliamentary and most public offices.
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The census was introduced to help the government understand the demographic layout of the country and better utilise the population in times of war. A census of England and Wales, and a separate one of Scotland, has been taken ever since on a ten-yearly basis, with the exception of 1941. In the 1801 census, information was collected on a parish basis and there were no details on individual households. It was not until the 1841 census that more detailed information was requested.
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English naval captain Matthew Flinders carried out the first known circumnavigation of Australia in HMS 'Investigator'. He accurately charted many parts of the Australian coast that had not been surveyed by Captain James Cook on his voyages between 1768 and 1779.
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In 1805, the combined fleets of France and Spain faced the Royal Navy in the last great battle of the age of sail, at Cape Trafalgar off the coast of Spain. British naval hero Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson led the daring British attack in HMS 'Victory', but was killed at the height of the battle. It seems likely that the French emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, had already abandoned his plans for the invasion of England, but the victory nonetheless handed Britain complete control of the seas.
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In 1806, parliament passed an act to abolish the supply of slaves on British ships to foreign and conquered colonies. This was followed up by the total abolition of the British slave trade in 1807. It ended more than 200 years of slave trading. The Abolition of Slavery Act, passed in 1833, freed all slaves in the British empire and provided for compensation for their owners.
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The British West Africa Squadron was established by the Royal Navy to suppress illegal slave trading along the West African coast after the abolition of the slave trade in 1807. By 1865, nearly 150,000 people had been freed by the Squadron's anti-slavery operations. The Squadron continued its work until the early 20th century.
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During two years of high unemployment, textile workers known as Luddites (named after their mythical leader 'Ned Ludd') sabotaged machinery in the woollen, cotton and hosiery industries in Nottinghamshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire. The government infiltrated the protesters with spies and sent 12,000 troops to Yorkshire in 1812 to stop further industrial violence.
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The Hampden clubs were the first major societies devoted to parliamentary reform following the demise of the London Corresponding Society in 1794. (The LCS had advocated universal male suffrage, a secret ballot and annual parliaments.) The clubs were named after John Hampden, a parliamentary opponent of Charles I. They were banned in 1818.
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The Tory government of Robert Banks Jenkinson, Lord Liverpool, introduced the Corn Laws in a bid to protect British agriculture. Corn prices had halved following the end of the Napoleonic wars, creating a panic among farmers. The laws imposed heavy tariffs on imports of foreign grain. They were repealed in 1846.
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The Battle of Waterloo was a decisive victory for Britain and its allies in the Napoleonic wars. The British general who masterminded the victory, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, had once been dismissed by Napoleon Bonaparte as a 'sepoy general' (a derisive reference to his service in India). Napoleon was forced to abdicate as emperor of France a few days later. He was sent into exile on the small Atlantic island of St Helena, where he died.
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Working class men devoted to parliamentary reform began a march from Manchester to London to publicise their case to the government. They were nicknamed 'Blanketeers' after the blankets they carried. The marchers were dispersed by troops before they reached Stockport.
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A huge crowd of people gathered at St Peter's Fields, Manchester, to hear radical orators speak on the subject of parliamentary reform and high food prices. The local yeomanry were ordered to arrest the speakers, but panicked and charged the crowd. Eleven people died and hundreds were injured. The massacre became known as 'Peterloo' - an ironic inversion of the British military triumph at Waterloo.
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George III, the longest-serving Hanoverian monarch, died after occupying the throne for 60 years. His eldest son, who had served as prince regent from 1811 to 1820 when his father was declared insane, became George IV. The new king became deeply unpopular for his extravagant lifestyle and scandalous private life, but he was an enthusiastic supporter of the arts and his residences, particularly Carlton House and Brighton Pavilion, set new standards of taste.
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The first public steam railway ran between the north eastern towns of Stockton and Darlington. This ushered in the 'Railway Age', with the building of an extensive railway network in Britain providing a fast and economical means of transport and communication.
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In 1828, parliament had repealed the Test and Corporation Acts which had banned Catholics from holding government and public offices or from attending universities. The Catholic Relief Act of 1829 went further, granting full emancipation to British and Irish Catholics. This measure split the Tory party into different factions. The prime minister, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, steered the bill through its final stages and secured the assent of George IV.
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The Metropolitan Police Act was the brainchild of Home Secretary Robert Peel. It established the first paid, uniformed constabulary for the metropolis, excluding the City of London. Before the police there existed an informal system of watchmen, magistrates, volunteer constables and 'thief takers'. Initially unpopular, the police proved a success and by the late 1830s police forces were being set up in many large British cities.
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During his youth, William had served in the Royal Navy and his bluff, unassuming manner - he was nicknamed 'the sailor king' - was in marked contrast to the extravagant, decadent lifestyle of his brother George IV. His reign was dominated by the 'Reform Crisis' - political wrangling over reform to parliamentary representation, including issues like extending the franchise (those allowed to vote) and redrawing electoral boundaries. William's personal involvement in the crisis damaged his standing.
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The Whig Party, elected to power in 1830, introduced a major bill for parliamentary reform. Bristol, Nottingham, Derby and several smaller towns witnessed violent riots after the Reform Bill was rejected by the House of Lords. Nottingham Castle was attacked and the Council House in Bristol was burnt down.
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More than 20,000 slaves seized control of a wide swathe of Jamaican territory. It took a month for the British troops on the island to subdue the rebels. Sam Sharpe was executed. The British public's interest in slavery had declined after the slave trade was abolished in 1807, but Sam Sharpe's rebellion helped to bring it to the forefront again. A campaign for the abolition of slavery began to gain momentum in Britain.
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The third version of the Reform Bill finally received assent from the House of Lords and William IV. Tory peers only backed the bill after William IV said he would create 50 new Whig lords - thereby giving the Whigs a majority from which to vote the issue through. The Great Reform Act made important changes to parliamentary constituencies and extended the franchise (those allowed to vote), but did not introduce parliamentary democracy or a secret ballot.
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The Tory peer and reformer Anthony Ashley Cooper promoted the bill, which restricted the hours of work by women and children in textile mills. Under the terms of the act, mill owners were required to show that children up to age 13 received two hours of schooling, six days per week.
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After years of intense anti-slavery lobbying and pro-abolition public meetings around the country (including an abolitionist march on 10 Downing Street) parliament finally voted to end slavery throughout the British empire. Slaves would initially become 'apprentices' for a six-year term, starting in 1834. This was later shortened to four years. MP William Wilberforce, who had represented the abolitionists in the House of Commons, died just days before the passage of the bill.
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In 1832, a Royal Commission into the Poor Law recommended changes to the system of parish poor relief. Many of its recommendations were incorporated into the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834. This statute maintained outdoor relief (relief given outside a workhouse), but led to more central control of the system.
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Six farm labourers from the Dorset village of Tolpuddle set up a 'friendly society' to campaign for better pay and working conditions. They were put on trial and sent to penal colonies in Australia, but were granted pardons in 1836 following a public outcry. The so-called 'Tolpuddle Martyrs' are credited with helping to launch the trade union movement.
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This legislation gave 178 boroughs the right to have their own town council. All ratepayers were thereafter entitled to vote in borough council elections. The new councils gradually took control of local services such as education, housing and street lighting.
Victorian Britain
Victoria became queen at the age of 18 after the death of her uncle, William IV. She reigned for more than 60 years, longer than any other British monarch. Her reign was a period of significant social, economic and technological change, which saw the expansion of Britain's industrial power and of the British empire.
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Charles Dickens was one of the greatest Victorian novelists. 'Oliver Twist' was, like many of Dickens' other novels, originally published in serial form and brought to public attention contemporary social evils. Dickens' other works included 'The Pickwick Papers', 'A Christmas Carol', 'David Copperfield' and 'Great Expectations'.
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The People's Charter advocated democratic reform on the basis of six points: one man, one vote; equal electoral districts; payment of members of parliament; elections by secret ballot; removal of property qualifications for MPs; and parliaments elected every year. 'Chartism' gained substantial support among working people during the next decade and presented three national petitions to parliament in 1839, 1842 and 1849. It was the most significant radical pressure group of the 19th century.
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In 1834, slaves in the British empire started a four-year period of 'apprenticeship', during which they were obliged to work without pay for their former owners. Abolitionists campaigned against the system and in the Caribbean there were widespread protests. When the apprenticeship period ended in 1838, over 700,000 slaves were freed in the British Caribbean. Plantation owners received about £20 million in government compensation for the loss of their slaves. The former slaves received nothing.
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This line, which connected London to the Midlands for the first time, had been planned since 1833, with sections opened in 1837. The completion of the Kilsby Tunnel enabled the full 112-mile line, designed by the engineer Robert Stephenson, to be opened. London-Birmingham was the first railway line into the capital city, with passengers disembarking in the newly-designed Euston station. The line precipitated the first of the great railway booms.
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When the Whig prime minister, Viscount Melbourne, resigned over a constitutional matter concerning government in Jamaica, Victoria asked Sir Robert Peel, as leader of the Tory opposition, to form a government. Peel refused to do so, apparently because the queen refused to dismiss her pro-Whig ladies of the bedchamber. Melbourne resumed office. Peel was probably waiting for an opportunity to take office in more favourable circumstances, as he did in 1841.
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Britain's postal system was expensive, complex and open to abuse. As a response to widespread discontent, a committee of enquiry was set up in 1835. In 1837, Rowland Hill proposed a uniform post rate of one penny, irrespective of distance. His proposals were implemented three years later. In the decade after the implementation of the 'penny post', the volume of letters sent in Britain increased five-fold to almost 350 million a year.
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Parliament enabled local poor law authorities to provide vaccination at the expense of ratepayers. Battles over the ethical and practical issues involved lasted for the remainder of Victoria's reign. Some authorities were reluctant to pay, even after infant vaccination was made compulsory in 1853. Further tightening of the regulations in 1867 and 1873 saw a number of anti-vaccination campaigns. In 1898, parents were allowed a certificate of exemption for their children on grounds of conscience.
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The Whig government under Viscount Melbourne faced increasing financial and public order difficulties, and Sir Robert Peel forced a general election after defeating the Whigs on a no-confidence motion in the House of Commons. The Conservatives won a Commons majority of more than 70. This was the first election in modern times when one political party with a parliamentary majority was defeated by another which gained a workable majority of its own.
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Income tax was levied for the first time during peace by Sir Robert Peel's Conservative government at a rate of 7d (three pence) in the pound. The tax threshold was an income of £150 per year, thus exempting virtually all the working classes. The tax was not extended to famine-torn Ireland until 1853. Direct taxation was unpopular in Victorian Britain. Many 19th-century finance ministers toyed with the idea of abolishing income tax, but it proved too convenient and too lucrative to lose.
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More than 450 ministers of the Church of Scotland walked out of the church's general assembly in Edinburgh to form the new Free Church of Scotland. Sometimes known as 'the disruption', the split concerned the relationship between church and state in Scotland. Those leaving the church, led by the evangelical Thomas Chalmers, believed that a religious organisation should have a clearly religious head and should reject lay patronage.
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In September 1845, the potato crop which had previously provided approximately 60% of the nation's food needs, began to rot all over Ireland. The potato blight struck again the following year. What began as a natural catastrophe was exacerbated by the actions and inactions of the British government. It is estimated that about a million people died during the four-year famine, and that between 1845 and 1855 another million emigrated, most to Britain and North America.
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Sir Robert Peel's famous reforming Conservative government came to an end shortly after legislation to repeal the Corn Laws was passed. This measure removed protective duties which had helped to keep the price of bread high. He championed it despite opposition from most of his own party, and the motion was carried by Whig votes. Peel never took office again and was remembered as the prime minister who gave the working classes cheaper bread.
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Birkenhead, on the opposite bank of the Mersey Estuary from Liverpool, was the venue for the world's first man-made park, complete with lakes, hillocks and meadows. It was designed by Joseph Paxton, who also designed the Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition of 1851. Many such parks followed as Victorians sought to provide open spaces in or near the centre of urban areas.
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John Mitchel came to prominence during the Irish potato famine. In March 1848 he founded a journal, 'United Irishman', which called for Irish independence and gave practical tips on how to attack British troops. Charged under the Treason Felony Act, he was sentenced to 14 years transportation. This episode helped set Irish resistance to British occupation on a more violent path.
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Following pressure from the administrator Edwin Chadwick and the findings of the Health of Towns Commission, parliament passed legislation to improve urban conditions and reduce death rates. Local boards of health were established in places where the population's death rate exceeded 23 per 1,000. The act was seen as an unwelcome intrusion by central government and proved very unpopular. The central Board of Health was wound up in 1858.
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The Pre-Raphaelites were a group of English artists who rejected what they considered as the effete symbolism and lack of reality of paintings dating from the 16th-century European Renaissance. They aimed to revert to what they saw as the directness and sincerity of medieval painting. The most important artists of the movement were Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais. They were championed by the art critic and writer John Ruskin.
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The Tubular Bridge provided a rail link from the mainland of north Wales, near Bangor, across to Anglesey and on to Holyhead for ferries to Ireland. Its designer, Robert Stephenson, constructed two main spans with rectangular iron tubes 460 feet long. The bridge itself was 1,511 feet overall and novel in construction, since the box sections were constructed on shore and then floated into the straits to be lifted into place.
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In addition to the population census of England and Wales, a census was taken of places of worship. This revealed that around 80% of Welsh worshipers went to Nonconformist chapels and only 20% to the established church. Awareness of this numerical superiority greatly encouraged the demand for the disestablishment of the Church of England in Wales. Partly due to the opposition of the Conservative party and the House of Lords, this did not take place until 1914.
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This event was the brainchild of Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, and was designed to provide a showcase for the world's most advanced inventions, manufactures and works of art. It was housed in the massive 19-acre Crystal Palace, designed by Joseph Paxton. The event attracted almost six million visitors during the five summer months it was open. Many ordinary people travelled to London for the first time on cheap-rate excursion trains.
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The Crimean War was fought between the Russians and an alliance of the British, French and Turks who feared Russian expansion in the Balkans. Notable battles included those at Sebastopol, Balaclava (which saw the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade) and Inkerman. Russia was forced to sue for peace, and the war was ended by the Treaty of Paris in March 1856. British troops casualties were as much from poor equipment and medical care as from fighting the Russians.
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Following a series of insensitive British demands, members of the Bengal army mutinied in Meerut and marched towards Delhi, which they took two days later. It was re-taken in September. Lucknow was twice besieged before being finally relieved in November. British authority was not fully restored until July 1858 and the events of the mutiny were characterised by great brutality on both sides. The mutiny led to the end of East India Company rule in India and its replacement by direct British rule.
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Charles Hallé, the pianist and conductor, founded the orchestra which still bears his name. Based in Manchester, the orchestra gave its first concert in the city's Free Trade Hall. This development indicated the growing importance attached to providing elevating cultural activities for the citizens of Britain's towns and cities.
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Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Saltash railway bridge across the River Tamar was a suspension bridge comprising two huge wrought iron trusses in the form of a parabola. This bridge afforded much speedier transport to England's most remote western county. An unbroken line from London to Penzance was completed in 1867. Opened only four months before Brunel's death, the Saltash became the only suspension bridge to carry main-line trains.
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Charles Darwin's masterwork, which argued that all species evolved on the basis of natural selection, resulted from more than 20 years' research following a five-year journey around Cape Horn in HMS 'Beagle'. The book created an immediate stir, since Darwin's theory appeared to contradict the bible's creation story and call into question ideas of divine providence. Despite the influence of Darwin's work, very few Victorian scientists took up an atheistic position as a result of reading it.
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In the debate that led to the introduction of the Post Office Savings Bank, the chancellor of the exchequer, William Gladstone, stated that the Post Office, which contained almost 3,000 money-order offices, would offer a convenient way of encouraging small sums to accumulate in secure accounts. This initiative accorded with the Liberals' policy of encouraging habits of thrift and industry among what Gladstone called 'the humbler classes throughout the country'.
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Albert's premature death from typhoid plunged Victoria into a long period of mourning and withdrawal from public life, during which a republican movement gained popularity. Albert had been both a restraining and a guiding force on his headstrong wife and, although never popular with the British public partly on account of his German origins, he was an able and energetic man who played an important part in the scientific and intellectual life of his adopted country.
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Since 1833, the state had funded education for the poor in schools run by churches. Expenditure increased rapidly, especially after the first education inspectors were appointed in 1839 and a pupil-teacher scheme of training was implemented from 1847. By the early 1860s, an economy-minded Liberal government wanted the state to get value for money. Grant payments were linked to pupils' success in basic tests in reading, writing and arithmetic. The system was dubbed 'payment by results'.
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Joseph Lister, while Regius Professor of Clinical Surgery at Glasgow University, began experiments designed to reduce high hospital mortality rates from septic inflammation. Working on French biologist Louis Pasteur's germ theory, he used carbolic acid as an antiseptic barrier on patients, reducing mortality on a male accident ward from 45% to 15%. Despite initial scepticism, Lister's methods were refined and then widely adopted. He is regarded as the founder of modern surgical practice.
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This Reform Act was passed by a minority Conservative government led by Frederick, Earl of Derby. Its orchestrator was Benjamin Disraeli, who permitted larger extensions to the franchise than the Liberals would have countenanced. It virtually doubled the electorate, enabling one-third of adult males in Britain and one-sixth in Ireland to vote in parliamentary elections. In a few urban constituencies, working men were an electoral majority. A separate act for Scotland was passed in 1868.
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William Gladstone headed a Liberal government after defeating Benjamin Disraeli's Conservative government in a general election. Gladstone's ministry survived until 1874 and is credited with passing many reforms, especially relating to administration, the army and public health. Gladstone was to form three further administrations, resigning as prime minister for the last time in March 1894.
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The established Church of Ireland was Anglican, although only about 3% of the Irish population belonged to it - the vast majority being Roman Catholic. William Gladstone's legislation put church property into the hands of commissioners, who could use it for 'social schemes', including poverty relief and the expansion of higher education. Irish bishops no longer sat in the House of Lords. The act was designed to reduce tensions and increasing lawlessness in Ireland.
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Britain had opposed the building of the Suez Canal by an international company, but changed its position in 1875 when Benjamin Disraeli's Conservative government bought 40% of the Canal Company's shares. The canal then became of vital strategic interest, particularly as a route to India and the Far East, and was protected by British troops from 1883.
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This bill, introduced by the Liberal member of parliament WE Forster, was to extend opportunities for education available to the children of the poor. The act permitted new school boards to be set up where existing education provision in 'voluntary schools', controlled by the churches, was inadequate. A substantial growth in school building resulted, particularly in urban areas. The act did not make schooling compulsory.
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Ireland's Landlord and Tenant Act, passed by William Gladstone's government, attempted to address a key grievance. The act provided for compensation to tenants evicted by landlords and it gave legal protection to customary tenant right. Tenants were also allowed to purchase their holdings if they could afford the cost.
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This act changed the previous legal situation, in which all property automatically transferred to the control of a husband on marriage. It granted some limited separate protection to a married woman's property and also permitted women to retain up to £200 of their own wages or earnings. Similar changes did not take effect in Scotland until 1877.
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William Gladstone's Liberal government introduced voting by secret ballot five years after the Second Reform Act had substantially increased the size of the electorate. This realised one of the key points of the reforming 'Chartist' petition of 1838. Voting in secret was not uncontroversial. The proposal was fiercely contested by the House of Lords, which considered it 'cowardly' and 'unmanly'. It was first employed at a by-election in Pontefract in August of the same year.
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India came under direct British government control in 1858, when the remaining authority of the East India Company was dissolved. The Conservative prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli, suggested to the queen that she should be proclaimed empress. His motive seems mainly to have been flattery. Despite objections from the Liberal opposition, who were not consulted, the title was endorsed and Victoria used it officially from 1877.
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Britain, represented by Conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli and Robert Cecil, Marquis of Salisbury, signed a European treaty which attempted to settle problems between states in the Balkans and, in particular, to reduce perceived threats to European stability from Russian expansion. Cyprus was leased to Britain from Turkey, strengthening its position in the Mediterranean. Disraeli declared that he had brought back 'peace with honour'.
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During a Force 11 gale on the River Tay, the two-year-old, two-mile railway bridge collapsed and 75 train passengers plunged to their deaths. It was the biggest structural engineering disaster in Britain. The subsequent enquiry apportioned most of the blame to the bridge's builder, Sir Thomas Bouch, for failing to take sufficient account of the effects of wind force. The bridge was rebuilt and opened to rail traffic in July 1887.
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Although WE Forster's act of 1870 had greatly expanded education opportunities, and an act passed in Benjamin Disraeli's government of 1876 had set up school attendance committees, significant gaps remained. AJ Mundella introduced a bill on behalf of William Gladstone's Liberal government which made school attendance compulsory from ages five to 10. State expenditure on education, about £1.25 million a year in 1870, rose to £4 million, and would reach £12 million by the end of Victoria's reign.
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The eisteddfod, as a competition of Welsh bards and minstrels, had a long history dating back to at least the 10th century. In modern times, it developed as a celebration of Welsh culture and identity from the 18th century. After the formation of the National Eisteddfod Association, a national gathering was held annually, alternating between the north and the south of Wales.
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The mansion created at Cragside in Rothbury (Northumberland) by the Scottish architect Richard Norman Shaw was designed to incorporate every modern convenience. Built for the engineering magnate Sir William Armstrong, it was called 'the palace of a modern magician'. Swan's new electric lamps were powered by water from a local stream through a dynamo-electric generator.
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The second Land Act created a Land Commission for Ireland which could decide the level of 'fair rents'. The act also granted free sale of land and security of tenure. William Gladstone's Liberal government hoped, optimistically, that this legislation would take the sting out of violent agitation in Ireland.
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The recently appointed chief secretary of Ireland, Lord Frederick Cavendish, and his under-secretary TH Burke were stabbed to death in Phoenix Park, Dublin. The perpetrators were members of the 'Invincibles', an extremist branch of the 'Fenian' revolutionary organisation. The murders outraged the public in Britain and, much against his will, provoked Prime Minister William Gladstone into maintaining harsh coercive policies in Ireland.
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The 1870 Married Women's Property Act had been widely criticised for failing to provide sufficient safeguards for married women. A further act provided something approaching equality for women since it allowed women to acquire and retain any property deemed separate from that of their husband's. They also received the same legal protection as husbands if they needed to defend their right to property.
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The third Reform Act created a uniform franchise qualification based on the Reform Acts of 1867 and 1868. As a consequence roughly two-thirds of adult males in England and Wales, three-fifths in Scotland and half in Ireland were entitled to vote in parliamentary elections. Large numbers of adult males, such as servants, most members of the armed forces and children living in their parents' houses remained disenfranchised. This act, therefore, stopped some way short of creating a male democracy.
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Acting on information supplied by his son Herbert, newspapers carried reports that Prime Minister William Gladstone would support 'Home Rule' for Ireland. Although Gladstone did not confirm the reports, his Liberal government, which returned to office in February 1886, drew up proposals for Home Rule. These provoked cabinet resignations, a split in the Liberal party and a Conservative election victory in July.
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Under the Local Government Act passed by the Conservatives the previous year, responsibility for poor law relief, roads, bridges and asylum was transferred to newly-created county councils. London had its own county council, while boroughs with populations over 50,000 became 'county boroughs' with the same powers as county councils. Scotland had its own Local Government Act passed on 26 August 1889 and coming into effect in 1890. This established a similar system of county and town councils.
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The Local Government Act required all parishes with a population over 300 to elect parish councils; smaller parishes could apply to their county council to have similar status. Women could vote in parish council elections. Under the act, almost 700 urban sanitary districts were reorganised as urban districts and a similar number of rural districts were established. In Scotland, a separate local government act of 1894 replaced existing 'parochial boards' with elected parish councils.
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Death duties, the predecessor of the present inheritance tax, were proposed by the Liberal chancellor of the exchequer, Sir William Harcourt. They replaced earlier taxes on estates. They also equalised liability between real (estate) and personal property. Duties were paid at a variable rate depending on size. They became an important revenue-raiser but were fiercely resented by many landowners, already feeling the pinch as a result of depressed agricultural prices.
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The Italian-born physicist Guglielmo Marconi conducted a number of communication experiments in southern Britain in 1896-1897, and the award of a patent followed his first communication across water from Lavernock Point, South Wales, to Flat Holm Island in the Bristol Channel. He established the first transatlantic signal in December 1901. His work inaugurated the 'Wireless Age'.
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The first organised activity in support of votes for women dates from the 1860s, but pressure grew rapidly in the late 1880s. A turning point was the merger of the National Central Society for Women's Suffrage and the Central Committee for Women's Suffrage into the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. The NUWSS co-ordinated a range of regional activities. Its president, Millicent Fawcett, opposed violence and promoted her organisation as law-abiding and above party politics.
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After the First Boer War in 1880-1881, the Boers (farmers of European descent) of the Transvaal forced the British government to recognise their independence. But the Boers refused to recognise the rights of the British (many prospecting for gold) in the Transvaal, leading to the Second Boer War. Although the Boers had initial military successes, the war ended in May 1902 with a Boer surrender. It was costly and unpopular war and Britain received much international criticism for its use of concentration camps.
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Victoria died at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight at the age of 81. As queen-empress she had ruled over almost a quarter of the world's population. Although wilful and narrow-minded in some respects, she established firm precedents for a hard-working 'constitutional monarch', operating as a head of state above the fray of party politics. Her death, coming so soon after the end of the 19th century, was truly the end of an era.
World Wars
The Conservatives, benefiting from British success in the Boer War, and from splits in the Liberal Party, were returned to power. Lord Salisbury remained as prime minister and became the last premier to sit in the House of Lords.
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The Taff Vale Railway Company successfully sued a trade union, the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, for the costs of industrial action taken by its members. The Labour Representative Committee, a socialist federation formed in 1900, convinced the trade unions that the political representation of labour was now essential. This organisation later became the Labour party.
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The treaty of Vereeniging confirmed British victory over the Boer republics after three years of war, and laid the foundations for the Union of South Africa. Notably, it still ignored the rights of the black population. The cost and conduct of the war prompted concerns that Britain was no longer fit for its imperial role.
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The Conservatives, led by the Marquess of Salisbury, dominated British politics after the Liberals' split over the issue of 'Home Rule' for Ireland in 1886. Salisbury's successor and nephew, Arthur Balfour, shared with his uncle an interest in foreign imperial policy. He was premier for two-and-a-half years.
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A secret pact was ratified between the Liberal party and the Labour Representative Committee, which in certain constituencies allowed Labour a free run at elections, unimpeded by a Liberal candidate. In the long run, the pact may have done more to destroy the Liberal party than preserve it.
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The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was founded by six women, of whom Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst soon became the most prominent. Frustrated at the lack of progress on women's rights, their activities soon became more confrontational, and included prison hunger strikes.
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This agreement reconciled British and French imperial interests, particularly in Africa, but also marked the end of centuries of intermittent conflict and paved the way for future diplomatic and military cooperation. The two countries were united in their suspicion of Germany's ambitions. Germany, in turn, hoped to persuade Britain to abandon the alliance.
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Wilhelm II visited Tangier to demonstrate German opposition to France's assumption of suzerainty over Morocco, and to test the strength of the Anglo-French entente, which the Germans expected to crumble. It did not, and Britain displayed its commitment to France by initiating military staff talks between the two countries in 1906.
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In November, the Conservative Prime Minister Arthur Balfour tried to expose the divisions within the Liberal opposition by resigning, but his rival Henry Campbell-Bannerman formed a Liberal government and then led it to a smashing success at the polls in January 1906. Armed with an overall majority, the Liberals embarked on a programme of social reform.
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HMS 'Dreadnought', the first of a new class of 'all big-gun' battleships, was launched at Portsmouth. It was by far the most powerful battleship afloat, and raised the stakes in the Anglo-German naval arms race.
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The two countries agreed spheres of influence in Asia, so freeing Britain from its worries about a Russian invasion of India. But an agreement to resolve imperial disputes took on the appearance of a European pact. The 'Triple Alliance' of Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary (also known as the 'Central Powers') was faced by a 'Triple Entente' of Britain, France and Russia (also known as the 'Entente Powers').
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Illness had forced Liberal Prime Minister Henry Campbell-Bannerman to resign, and he was succeeded by Herbert Asquith. In his cabinet reshuffle, Asquith brought in Reginald McKenna and Winston Churchill, and appointed the radical, David Lloyd George, as chancellor of the exchequer.
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The 1908 games were originally to be held in Rome, but were reassigned to London at short notice and held at the purpose-built White City stadium. Famously, the marathon ended in dramatic fashion when the race leader, Dorando Pietri of Italy, was disqualified after he collapsed and had to be helped over the finishing line. Widely recognised as the best organised Games to date, they featured 22 nations, 110 events and more than 2,000 athletes.
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New legislation gave a weekly means-tested pension of a maximum of five shillings to all those aged over 70. Only about half a million people received the pension, and thus the significance of the legislation lay as much in the fact that it established a principle as in its immediate benefits.
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The introduction of the new 'Dreadnought' class battleship and the subsequent naval arms race with Germany prompted David Lloyd George, the chancellor of the exchequer, to introduce a tax on land, to increase income tax, and to propose a 'super-tax' on incomes over £5,000 per annum. He presented these increases as designed to fund social reforms.
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In rejecting Chancellor David Lloyd George's budget, the Conservative-dominated House of Lords broke the parliamentary convention that the upper house should not overturn a financial bill. This ensured that House of Lords reform was one of the issues at stake in the next general election.
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The election precipitated by the Lords' rejection of the 'People's Budget' resulted in 275 seats for the Liberals, 273 for the Conservatives and 40 for Labour. The budget was then passed. The Irish Nationalists, with 82, were now in a position to force Irish 'Home Rule' back up the agenda.
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Both Edward VII, who died in 1910, and his son, George V, ensured that the monarchy was more active than it had been in the latter years of Victoria's reign, but they exercised their influence discreetly. Edward's funeral brought together the royalty of Europe - many of them his relations - for the last time before war broke out in 1914.
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After the general election in February, efforts to broker a deal on parliamentary reform failed, and the Liberals went back to the polls at the end of the year. They and the Conservatives each secured 272 seats, and, with Labour supporting the Liberals, the Irish Nationalists held the balance of power.
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The Germans despatched a gunboat to the Moroccan port of Agadir to assert their rights against the French. A Franco-German settlement was negotiated, but the British were alarmed, fearing the Germans planned to turn Agadir into a naval base. As with the first Moroccan crisis in 1905, Germany only succeeded in strengthening the Entente Cordiale between Britain and France.
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The Liberals finally forced through House of Lords reform, which had been on the cards for two years. The reforms meant that the Lords could not veto legislation that had passed the House of Commons in three successive sessions, and that parliament itself would be dissolved after five years, not seven. In separate legislation, pay for members of parliament was introduced.
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Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George devised a contributory scheme of health insurance for those in employment, which provided payment for medical treatment. Grafted on to the act was a limited plan for unemployment benefit drawn up by Winston Churchill. With this legislation, the Liberals laid the foundations of the Welfare State.
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Reflecting their dependence on Irish Nationalist votes in the House of Commons, the Liberals proposed 'Home Rule' for Ireland. In response, Ulster Protestants and unionists formed the Ulster Volunteer Force, a paramilitary force which threatened the government with civil war if the measure was carried.
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The foundation of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) reflected British recognition of the growing importance of military aviation. In 1918, the RFC was amalgamated with the Royal Naval Air Service to form the Royal Air Force (RAF).
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The White Star liner 'Titanic' was the largest vessel in the world at the time of her launch. Her builders and owners claimed that she was 'practically unsinkable', but on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York she collided with an iceberg and sank within hours, with the loss of 1,503 lives. 'Titanic' could carry over 3,500 people, but was equipped with only enough lifeboats to save 1,178, a fact that contributed to the massive loss of life.
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Emily Wilding Davison was severely injured when she threw herself in front of the king's horse at the Derby, and died in hospital a few days later. The militancy of her organisation, the Women's Social and Political Union, proved counter-productive to the cause of women's rights, but the more moderate National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies also had little to show for its efforts through negotiation.
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The officers of the 6th Cavalry Brigade, stationed outside Dublin, indicated that they would refuse to enforce Irish 'Home Rule' in Ulster if a parliamentary act proposing greater autonomy for Ireland were carried. The army was divided within itself, representing a potential flashpoint for the government. Irish Home Rule was shelved at the outbreak of World War One.
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The heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb terrorist, in Sarajevo. The Austro-Hungarian government blamed Serbia and used the killing as a pretext for war. For most Britons this was an remote and insignificant event, but the conflict would escalate sharply, drawing in the 'Great Powers' and ultimately resulting in the outbreak of World War One.
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On 6 July, Germany effectively gave unconditional backing to any action Austria-Hungary took regarding the recent assassination of its crown prince, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, by a Bosnian Serb in Sarajevo. Austria-Hungary used this 'blank cheque' to deliver an ultimatum to Serbia on 23 July, which was widely recognised as little more than a pretext for war. With Russia standing by Serbia, Britain invited Germany to join a 'Great Power' conference to resolve the conflict, but Germany refused.
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When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia in July, Serbia's ally Russia mobilised its army. Austria-Hungary's ally, Germany, in turn declared war on Russia. Russia's alliance with France now threatened Germany with war on two fronts. Germany acted to quickly neutralise France by a well-planned surprise invasion through neutral Belgium - the 'Schlieffen Plan'. Britain, as guarantor of Belgian neutrality, told Germany to withdraw. The ultimatum expired on 4 August and Britain duly declared war.
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A British Expeditionary Force (BEF) of over 100,000 men was sent to repel the German invasion of France. It retreated after an initial engagement close to the Belgian border at Mons, then took part in a successful counter-attack on the river Marne in early September. This resistance by the BEF, Belgian and French forces frustrated Germany's 'Schlieffen Plan' for quickly neutralising France. Already fighting Russia, Germany now faced a trench-based war of attrition on two fronts.
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For the British army on the Western Front, the town of Ypres in Flanders was crucial, because it screened the Channel ports through which the army was supplied from Britain. The Germans tried unsuccessfully to break the line at Ypres in a battle which lasted until 22 November. British forces suffered 54,000 casualties.
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Germany formed an alliance with the Ottoman Empire on 2 August 1914, but the Turks resisted German pressure to enter the war until the end of October when it shelled Russian ports on the Black Sea. Britain, France and Russia responded with declarations of war. The Ottoman Empire in turn declared a military 'jihad' in November. The implications for Britain, with a vulnerable empire stretching across the Middle East to India and including a large Muslim population, were considerable.
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The failure of British naval efforts to break through the Dardanelles and so threaten Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, led to a decision to land troops on the Gallipoli peninsula. A combined force of British, New Zealand, Australian and French colonial troops were unable to break out of their beachheads and the campaign ultimately ended in defeat, with all troops evacuated by the end of the year.
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The British passenger liner 'Lusitania' was torpedoed by a German submarine and sank with the loss of 1,200 lives. Of those, 124 were American civilians, but despite strong pressure US President Woodrow Wilson declared that the United States was 'too proud to fight'. The sinking aroused widespread anti-German feeling in Britain.
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Liberal Prime Minister Herbert Asquith formed a coalition government following the 'Shell Crisis', which was sparked press reports of shell shortages at the front. The principal beneficiaries of this coalition in terms of the top jobs remained the Liberals rather than the Conservatives.
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While the French attacked further south, the British struck at Loos, using chlorine gas for the first time in their initial attack. However, the wind was not favourable, and gains were limited. The battle continued until mid-October. The first use of poison gas in World War One was by the Germans on 22 April 1915 during the opening engagements of the Second Battle of Ypres.
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In addition to raising a large army, Britain needed to allocate its manpower rationally between military service and wartime production to meet the demands of 'total war'. Conscription enabled it to do both. Opposition to the measure in the House of Commons was limited (36 votes to 383), but parliament still acknowledged the rights of the individual in allowing conscientious objection.
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Irish nationalists, supplied with German rifles, rebelled at Easter and seized key buildings in Dublin, including the post office where their final stand was made. Most of the population was unsupportive and the rebellion was crushed within a week. The British executed the leaders, inadvertently making martyrs of the rebels and inspiring those who followed.
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British troops invaded Mesopotamia (Iraq), then part of the Ottoman Empire, at the end of 1914. The rapid advance on Baghdad outstripped itself and the troops fell back to Kut-el-Amara, where they were encircled. Efforts to relieve the garrison failed and it surrendered. British prestige in the Middle East plummeted.
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The British Grand Fleet clashed with the German High Seas Fleet at Jutland in the North Sea, but the heavily outnumbered Germans managed to escape in the night. The British lost more ships than the Germans, but the German fleet was rendered unable to put to sea again, thereby ensuring British naval supremacy remained intact.
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The Allies planned a series of coordinated offensives for 1916. On the Western Front, the French and British attacked astride the river Somme, where their two armies met. On 1 July, the British army suffered its worst casualties in a single day - 57,470 men, of whom nearly 20,000 were killed. The battle continued until 18 November 1916.
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The static trench warfare of the Western Front prompted the British to develop a self-propelled vehicle that could cross barbed wire and trenches and protect those inside from enemy fire. The 'Mark 1' tank was first employed during the Battle of the Somme, at Flers-Courcelette, but it was not until November 1917 that they were employed in decisive numbers. Once problems with reliability were overcome, the British and French used their new weapon to considerable effect against the Germans.
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Prime Minister Herbert Asquith opposed the creation of a smaller war committee to run the war effort on a daily basis. His Liberal colleague and Minister for Munitions David Lloyd George, with the support of the Conservatives, used the split to force Asquith out and replace him as prime minister. Lloyd George set up a war cabinet whose members were freed from other cabinet duties.
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Faith in the original commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, Sir John French, had been dwindling - not least owing to his belated release of the reserves in the Battle of Loos. Partly thanks to the intervention of George V, Sir Douglas Haig was appointed to succeed French.
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By sinking all merchant ships, regardless of nationality, the Germans hoped to starve the British into submission in six months. They failed and the campaign prompted the United States, the principal neutral power, to declare war on Germany on 6 April 1917.
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The main British offensive for 1917 was designed to clear the German threat to the Channel ports and to break through to the Germans' own communications. The fighting continued until 18 November, ending on the ridge at Passchendaele. By then, unusually heavy rains and the destruction of the landscape by heavy shelling had turned the ground to an impassable morass of mud.
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In a letter to a leading member of the British Jewish community, Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour stated the British government's support for a Jewish national home in Palestine, the first such declaration by a world power. It is believed that similar promises were made to the Arabs prior to the publication of the Balfour Declaration in correspondence between Sir Arthur Henry McMahon, British high commissioner in Egypt, and the Hashemite Hussein Ibn Ali, the Sharif of Mecca.
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In February 1917, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia was forced to abdicate after serious reverses in the war against Germany. A provisional government of liberals and moderate socialists was established, but it also failed on the battlefield and was overthrown in a carefully planned coup by the Bolsheviks, who promised 'peace, bread and land' to the war-weary Russian people. Inspired by the writings of Karl Mar, the Bolsheviks established a government based on the 'soviet' (governing council).
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After seizing Beersheba and Gaza in the first week of November, British forces under General Edmund Allenby forced the Turks to abandon Jerusalem. Prime Minister David Lloyd George described this as a 'Christmas present' for the British people at the end of a year when a conclusion to the war seemed remote.
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The Representation of the People Act enfranchised all men over the age of 21, and propertied women over 30. The electorate increased to 21 million, of which 8 million were women, but it excluded working class women who mostly failed the property qualification.
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Seeking peace at virtually any cost, the new communist Russian government under Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire). The terms were humiliating. Russia handed over massive swathes of territory, constituting a third of its population, 50% of its industry and 90% of its coal mines. Opposition to the treaty helped ignite the Russian Civil War, which lasted until 1922.
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Following peace with Russia, German commanders planned to use fresh troops from the Eastern Front to attack before American troops began to arrive in the west. After a short but stunning bombardment, the Germans attacked across the old Somme battlefields and made the greatest advance on the Western Front since 1914. It was eventually halted east of Amiens, France. In response, the Allies gave French general Ferdinand Foch overall responsibility for coordinating their armies on the Western Front.
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The second German offensive of 1918 made three major incursions into the Allied line and precipitated a crisis on the Western Front. British Field Marshal Douglas Haig's order of the day on 11 April famously told his men that they must stand and fight 'with their backs to the wall'. Despite the stunning success of the offensive, the German army had significantly overstretched itself without achieving a decisive victory - a factor that would contribute to its eventual defeat.
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The 1918-1919 'Spanish flu' epidemic killed more than 200,000 people in Britain and up to 50 million worldwide. Despite its name, the virus seems to have originated in the United States, but quickly spread around the world, infecting up to 30% of the world's population.
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The British and French, using the greatest concentration of tanks in World War One, advanced up to six miles in a single day. So many German soldiers were forced to surrender that their commander-in-chief General Erich Ludendorff called it 'the black day of the German army'.
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General Ferdinand Foch, who had been appointed the supreme commander of the Allied armies on the Western Front on 26 March 1918, coordinated attacks by British, French and American forces. The British broke through the principal German fortified defences, the formidable Hindenburg line, on the following day, and the advance continued unabated into October 1918.
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With the Ottoman army in retreat on three of its four fronts - in Bulgaria, Syria and Iraq - the Turks opened negotiations to surrender. Unlike the negotiations with the other enemy powers, these were bilateral talks between the British and the Turks, with no French or Russian involvement.
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By September 1918, Germany was exhausted and saw no prospect of victory. The Allies' terms became progressively harsher as they pressed their advantage on the Western Front, both to ensure the removal of Kaiser Wilhelm II as head of state and to guard against the future renewal of hostilities by Germany. Despite onerous terms, Germany eventually capitulated and signed an armistice that brought the fighting on the Western Front to a halt at 11am on 11 November 1918.
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This was the first election in which women voted. The results were Conservative and Coalition Liberals 509, Labour 72, Independent Liberals (former Liberal Prime Minister Herbert Asquith's followers) 36, others 27. Although 73 members of Sinn Fein were elected, who included among their number Britain's first woman member of parliament Countess Constance Markievicz, they refused to take their seats.
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A distinguished lawyer who had been a member of the Governor General's Council in India, Sir Satyenda Prassano Sinha had been knighted in 1914 for his services to the British government. In 1919, he advised on the Government of India Act. He became Baron Sinha of Raipur.
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Seventy delegates representing the 32 allied and associated powers met to decide on peace treaties following the end of World War One. In reality, the treaties were mainly the work of the British, French, Italian and US leaders. One of the treaties prepared at the conference, the Treaty of Versailles, imposed harsh reparations on Germany, and is widely considered to have contributed to the eventual outbreak of World War Two.
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The harsh British reaction to the 1916 Easter Rising allowed Sinn Fein and the 'revolutionaries' to triumph over the moderate Home Rulers in the 1918 election. The Sinn Fein members of parliament - having refused to take their seats in the British House of Commons - announced that they constituted an independent Irish parliament called the 'Dáil Eireann'. A provisional government was elected with Éamon De Valera as president.
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Glasgow had a history of radicalism, and World War One turned it into a centre for organised protest against poor working conditions. The Liberal government feared this mass rally was the beginning of a working class revolution along the lines of the Russian Revolution of 1917. The rally was broken up by police, and troops and tanks were deployed on Clydeside. In reality, the protesters objectives were not that revolutionary - a 40-hour working week and a living wage.
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The Rowlatt Act extended wartime 'emergency measures', such as detention without trial. Mohandas Gandhi of the Indian Congress Party asked Indians to use non-violent civil disobedience in protest against the act, and to refuse to cooperate with the British government. The 1918 Montagu-Chelmsford Report offered reform, but not self-rule - despite the sacrifices India had made in the war and US President Woodrow Wilson's declaration regarding national self-determination.
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A large crowd attending a Sikh religious festival in defiance of British martial law was fired on without warning by troops under the command of Brigadier General Reginald Dyer. More than 300 people were killed. The 'Amritsar Massacre' crystallised growing Indian discontent with British rule, which was only heightened when Dyer faced no other punishment than an official censure. Led by Mohandas Gandhi, the Indian Congress Party now became a nationwide movement committed to independence.
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When the British government outlawed Sinn Fein's Dáil Eireann, it sparked a vicious two-year guerrilla war between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in southern Ireland and British forces, which included the hated 'Black and Tan' auxiliaries. With the IRA unable to deliver a decisive victory, and the British government increasingly worried about rising casualties and international criticism over its conduct of the war, a truce was called in July 1921.
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In 1918, a British force had been sent to Archangel in Russia to prevent Allied stores falling into Bolshevik or German hands and to take pressure off the Western Front after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk had taken Russia out of World War One. The evacuation of Murmansk in 1919, and the evacuation of Archangel two weeks previously, ended the British attempt to intervene on the anti-Bolshevik ('White Russian') side in the civil war in northern Russia.
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American-born Nancy Astor was not the first British woman member of parliament (MP), but she was the first one to take her seat. Constance Markievicz became the first woman MP in 1918, but as a member of Sinn Fein she had refused to take her seat.
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The Government of India Act further angered Indians already disillusioned by the Rowlatt Act and the Amritsar Massacre. The act created a bicameral parliament, with power shared between British and Indian politicians (the so-called 'diarchy'), but the most important ministries were held by Britons. More reforms were to be discussed in ten years. The Congress Party responded with strikes and boycotts of British goods. This was declared illegal and Congress leader Mohandas Gandhi was imprisoned.
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The Sex Disqualification Removal Act made it illegal for women to be excluded from most jobs, and allowed them to hold judicial office and enter the professions. Women could now become magistrates, solicitors and barristers.
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Academic halls for women were first established at Oxford in the 19th century, but although women had been able to attend degree level courses, they could not receive degrees until 1920.
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The mandate system was conceived by US President Woodrow Wilson. France and Britain were commanded to govern their mandates in the interests of their inhabitants, until these territories were ready to be admitted to the League of Nations. The British took over two areas that had previously formed part of the now defunct Ottoman Empire.
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In 1917, the Balfour Declaration had given official British support for a Jewish national home in Palestine. The territory's new high commissioner, former Home Secretary Sir Herbert Samuel, was Jewish, but he was determined to deal even-handedly with the Palestinian Arabs and the increasing numbers of Jewish immigrants. In May 1921, Arab unrest caused Samuel to halt Jewish immigration.
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Prime Minister David Lloyd George had promised 'a land fit for heroes' following World War One, but after a short post-war boom, demobilised soldiers found it increasingly difficult to get work. Deprivation was widespread and industrial relations deteriorated. War debts to the United States and non-payment of European allies' war debts meant the government could not pay for many planned reforms. The 1922 Geddes Report recommended heavy cuts in education, public health and workers' benefits.
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The three former Ottoman provinces of Baghdad, Basra and Mosul, named Iraq by the British, were in a state of revolt. In an effort to quell the unrest, Emir Faisal was made king and administrator of the country. King Faisal was a member of the Hashemite family, who had been important British allies against the Ottoman Empire.
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This treaty ended the war between the breakaway southern Irish Republic and Britain, and was supposed to resolve the sectarian 'Ulster problem' by partitioning Ireland. It turned southern Ireland into a dominion - rather than a republic - called the 'Irish Free State', with the British sovereign as head of state. The fact that the treaty still bound Ireland to Britain caused deep conflict and led to the outbreak of the Irish Civil War.
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The civil war was ignited by the Anglo-Irish Peace Treaty, which created a partitioned Irish 'Free State' within the British Empire. The pro-treaty faction under Michael Collins accepted partition and believed the treaty would eventually lead to a republic. The anti-treaty faction, led by Éamon de Valera, rejected partition and wanted a republic immediately. The war ended in victory for the pro-treaty Free State government under Collins (who was assassinated) but caused lasting bitterness.
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The wartime coalition of Conservatives and David Lloyd George's Liberals won the 1918 general election and began the work of national recovery after World War One. But in 1922, Tory backbenchers overruled their own party leader and voted to leave the coalition, resuming independence as Conservatives. They were disgusted by Lloyd George's Anglo-Irish Treaty and fearful he was about to go to war with Turkey. With his government fatally compromised, Lloyd George resigned.
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Having precipitated the fall of David Lloyd George's Liberal-Conservative coalition government with a brilliant speech to his Conservative colleagues, Andrew Bonar Law was invited by George V to form a government. Law called a general election on 15 November 1922. The Conservatives won 344 seats, Labour 142, National Liberals (Lloyd George's party) approximately 53, Liberals (under Herbert Asquith) approximately 62. Ill health forced Bonar Law to retire in 1923. He died six months later.
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The mandate for Palestine was divided along the River Jordan, with 'Transjordan' on the eastern side. The Hashemite Emir Abdullah, eldest son of Britain's ally the Sharif Hussein of Mecca, became ruler of the territory. In 1946, Transjordan received independence and Abdullah became King Abdullah I of Jordan.
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Conservative Stanley Baldwin became prime minister, with Neville Chamberlain as chancellor of the exchequer, after Andrew Bonar Law resigned due to ill health. Baldwin proposed to abandon free trade, hoping that tariff reform would help to beat unemployment - an unpopular measure. Following the elections of December 1923, the reunited Liberals joined Labour to extinguish tariff reform by a vote of no confidence. Baldwin resigned.
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After the vote of no confidence that saw Stanley Baldwin resign as prime minister, the leader of the largest opposition party, Ramsay Macdonald, was called on to form a minority Labour government. Labour was unable to realise its more radical ambitions because of its reliance on Liberal support. This helped Macdonald allay fears that a party representing the working class must be revolutionary, but disappointed many supporters on the left.
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In February 1924, the Labour government formally recognised the Soviet Union, despite nervousness about Communist ambitions. In October, MI5 intercepted an apparently seditious letter from a Soviet official to British communists. Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald agreed to the suppression of the 'Zinoviev letter', but it was leaked just before the election. Stanley Baldwin's Conservatives won by a landslide. Labour's share of the vote actually increased, but the Liberals were totally eclipsed.
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In his first budget as chancellor of the exchequer, Winston Churchill returned Britain to its pre-1914 monetary system, whereby sterling was fixed at a price reflecting the country's gold reserves. The move resulted in massive deflation and overvaluing of the pound. This made British manufacturing industries uncompetitive, which in turn exacerbated the massive economic problems Britain was to face in the 1930s.
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Although the party was initially formed to promote Welsh language and culture, by the 1930s it had a political agenda and was determined that Wales should achieve independent status as a dominion.
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John Logie Baird, a Scottish engineer and inventor, gave a demonstration of a machine for the transmission of pictures, which he called 'television'. Around 50 scientists assembled in his attic workshop in London to witness the event. It was not until after the World War Two that televisions became widely available.
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The Samuel Report sought to rationalise the British coal industry, whose coal had become too expensive, through pay cuts and increased hours. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) ordered a general strike. Well-organised government emergency measures and the lack of widespread public support for the strikers meant it was called off after nine days.
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The Irish Civil War made the Irish Free State a reality. Éamon de Valera, who had fought against the treaty that established the Free State, now created the Fianna Fáil party to participate in its political life. Fianna Fáil members elected to the Free State's Dáil (parliament) initially refused to take their seats unless the oath of allegiance to the British sovereign was abolished. Faced with exclusion from politics, Fianna Fáil eventually took the oath, dismissing it as an 'empty formula'.
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In 1923, a dominion's right to make a treaty with a foreign power had been accepted. The Imperial Conference in London went further towards legally defining a dominion by recognising that the dominions (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) were autonomous and equal in status, a decision that was later affirmed by the 1931 Statute of Westminster.
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A group of radio manufacturers, including radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi, set up the British Broadcasting Company in 1922. In 1927 the company was granted a Royal Charter, becoming the British Broadcasting Corporation under John Reith. Reith's mission was improve Britain through broadcasting, and he famously instructed the corporation to 'inform, educate and entertain'.
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The fifth Reform Act brought in by the Conservative government altered the 1918 Representation of the People Act, which had only allowed women over 30 who owned property to be enfranchised. The new act gave women the vote on the same terms as men.
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British audiences were introduced to talking pictures when the 'The Jazz Singer', opened in London. Cinema-going was immensely popular during the 1920s and 1930s and virtually every town, suburb and major housing development had at least one cinema. There was often a double bill of a main and 'B' feature, supported by a newsreel.
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While working at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London, Alexander Fleming noticed that a mould growing on a dish had stopped bacteria developing. Howard Florey and Ernst Chain developed penicillin further so it could be used as a drug, but it was not until World War Two that it began to be mass produced.
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Ramsay Macdonald headed the first Labour government with a clear majority. It lasted for two years. Labour won 287 seats, the Conservatives 262 and the Liberals 59. Macdonald's administration coincided with the Great Depression, a global economic slump triggered by the Wall Street Crash. Unemployment jumped by one million in 1930, and in some industrial towns reached 75%.
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The crash of the American Wall Street financial markets in 1929 crippled the economies of the US and Europe, resulting in the Great Depression. In Britain, unemployment had peaked just below three million by 1932. It was only with rearmament in the period immediately before the outbreak of World War Two that the worst of the Depression could be said to be over.
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A powerful disarmament movement reached the peak of its activities in the 1930s. Ramsay Macdonald, a committed internationalist and pacifist, was an enthusiastic believer that the League of Nations could make the world disarm through dialogue. But in 1931, Japan seized Manchuria and pulled out of the League. The rise of militarist regimes across Europe meant that by 1933 the idea of 'collective security' was looking increasingly unworkable.
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Mohandas Gandhi defied the British government, which had a monopoly on salt-making, by leading a 400km march to the sea to make his own salt. Five million Indians copied him in defiance of the government. Gandhi was imprisoned from 1930-1931, as were approximately 60,000 others.
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In 1927, a parliamentary commission headed by Sir John Simon was sent to India to investigate grievances and make recommendations on the future of the country. Notably, the commission did not have any Indian members. Although the commission recommended representative government in the provinces (provincial assemblies), it advised that power should remain with the British Viceroy. The Indian National Congress, which wanted dominion status granted immediately, organised huge demonstrations.
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Three of these conferences took place from 1930-1933, the last of which failed to include any Indian members. The collapse of the Round Table talks led to further mass non-cooperation in India. A new Government of India Act was passed in 1935, granting Indians an elected assembly and extending the powers of the eleven provincial assemblies.
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With popular protests causing significant problems, the viceroy of India, Lord Irwin, agreed the Delhi Pact, under which political prisoners would be released in return for suspension of the civil disobedience movement. In the same year, Mohandas Gandhi attended a Round Table conference as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress (INC). Gandhi was promised dominion status for India, but it was rejected by the INC because he had failed to consult its minority leaders.
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Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald asked a commission, headed by Sir George May, to investigate Britain's dire economic situation. The May Committee recommended slashing government expenditure, including unemployment benefit. Macdonald agreed, but the measures were voted down by his cabinet colleagues. He offered his resignation to the king, George V, but was instead persuaded to lead a 'national government' coalition, which included Conservatives and Liberals, but only three Labour ministers.
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Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald called a general election to seek legitimacy for his 'national government' coalition. He was returned to power with 556 pro-national government MPs, of which 471 were Conservatives. The Labour Party expelled Macdonald for what was perceived as treachery. The new national government forced through the measures that Macdonald's Labour colleagues had vehemently opposed.
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Once the champion of armed opposition to the Irish Free State, Éamon De Valera now rose to lead it with this general election victory. After a second general election win in 1933, De Valera began unilaterally dismantling the Irish Free State's relationship with Britain. A trade war began after Fianna Fáil reneged on a £100 million loan from the British government.
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Oswald Mosley, formerly a Conservative and then Labour member of parliament, modelled his party along Italian fascist lines. The party never became part of the political mainstream and was banned in 1940. Moseley was interned during the war and twice attempted unsuccessfully to return to parliament in post-war Britain. He died in 1980.
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Iraq became independent under King Faisal, who died in 1933. Its strategic importance and oil reserves ensured that Britain maintained a military presence there. During World War Two the British occupied Iraq, as the pro-Axis government intended to cut oil supplies and British access between Egypt and India.
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Scottish 'Home Rule' had been supported by both 19th-century Liberals and 20th-century Labour, but had made no progress. The Scottish Nationalist Party was an amalgam of the left-leaning National Party of Scotland (NPS) and the more right-wing Scottish Party. Its objective was to secede from the United Kingdom.
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In 1933, German leader Adolf Hitler had withdrawn from the Disarmament Conference and the League of Nations in order to begin re-arming. Despite a 1935 League of Nations 'peace ballot' that showed 90% of the British public favoured multilateral disarmament, the British government reluctantly began to re-arm. There remained a strong political determination to avoid war at all costs.
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This explosion, which killed 266 men, was one of the worst disasters in British mining history. Two hundred children were left fatherless in an area of North Wales where a 40% unemployment rate had already caused widespread poverty.
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The Stresa Conference was intended to form a united front against Adolf Hitler's Germany, but Italian leader Benito Mussolini had more in common with Hitler than with the western democracies. On 2 October, he invaded Ethiopia. Despite public sanctions, in a secret agreement dubbed the Hoare-Laval Pact, France and Britain devised a partition plan which gave Italy two-thirds of Ethiopia.
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Stanley Baldwin became prime minister after Ramsay Macdonald resigned due to ill health. The 'power behind the throne' during Macdonald's premiership, Baldwin remained prime minister until 28 May 1937, when he was succeeded by Neville Chamberlain.
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Publisher Allen Lane felt there was a need for cheap, easily available editions of quality contemporary writing. The first ten Penguins included works by Ernest Hemingway and Agatha Christie. They cost just sixpence, the same price as a packet of cigarettes, and were available in traditional bookshops, but also in railway stations and tobacconists. Three million Penguin paperbacks were sold within a year. It was a revolution in publishing that massively widened public access to literature.
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As Prince of Wales, Edward had visited many parts of the country hit by the prolonged economic depression. These visits, his apparently genuine concern for the underprivileged and his official overseas tours on behalf of his father made him popular in Britain and abroad. But his choice of bride would spark a constitutional crisis. He had fallen in love with a married American woman, Wallis Simpson. When she obtained a divorce in October 1936, it opened the way for her to marry Edward.
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Britain was reluctant to end its occupation of Egypt because the Suez Canal provided a vital sea route to India. The treaty allowed the British to retain control of the Suez Canal for the next 20 years, and for Britain to reoccupy the country in the event of any threat to British interests.
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Poverty and mass unemployment (as high as 70%) in the north east of England drove 200 men from Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, to march 300 miles to London to deliver a petition to parliament asking for a steel works to replace the local shipyard that had recently closed down. The marchers attracted considerable public sympathy, but the crusade ultimately made little real impact. In heavy industry areas like the north east the Depression continued until the rearmament boom of World War Two.
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Edward VIII wished to marry American Wallis Simpson. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin advised him that the British people would not accept her because she was a divorcee. Faced with losing the woman he loved, Edward chose instead to abdicate. On 11 December, he broadcast his decision to the nation. He married Wallace Simpson in France in June 1937. They became the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Baldwin was widely credited with averting a constitutional crisis that could have ended the monarchy.
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Edward VIII's younger brother, the Duke of York, was crowned George VI. He and his wife Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother), became inspirational figures for Britain during World War Two. The monarch visited his armies on several battle fronts and founded the George Cross for 'acts of the greatest heroism or of the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger'.
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The idea of partitioning Palestine between its Arab and Jewish inhabitants was rejected by both sides, and by January 1938 a new report had been commissioned. In 1939, a government white paper recommended that the final number of Jewish immigrants should be limited to 75,000, and Palestine should become independent under majority Arab rule. The outbreak of World War Two put the issue on hold.
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With the British government distracted by the constitutional crisis of Edward VIII's abdication, Irish Free State leader Éamon De Valera seized the opportunity to draw up a new constitution for Ireland that omitted any references to its place within the British Empire. In addition to making Ireland a de facto republic, the constitution laid claim to the whole of Ireland, including Ulster. De Valera became the 'Taoiseach', the equivalent of prime minister.
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A total of 10,000 Jewish children between the ages of five and 17 were sent from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia to Britain between December 1938 and the outbreak of war in September 1939. Many were given homes by British families, or lived in hostels. Very few of them saw their parents again.
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With overt militarism on the rise across Europe, Britain persisted with its policy of 'appeasement' - making concessions to avoid provoking a wider scale war. Notably, Britain had not intervened in the brutal Spanish Civil War in order to avoid antagonising Italy. The decision of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to recognise the king of Italy as emperor of Ethiopia following the Italians' unprovoked invasion was a concession too far for Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, who resigned.
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The union of Austria and Germany was forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty was deeply resented by both countries for its allocation of 'war guilt' and imposition of heavy reparations. When the German army marched into Austria in March 1938, they were welcomed by cheering crowds of Austrians.
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The Munich Conference between Britain's Neville Chamberlain, Germany's Adolf Hitler, Italy's Benito Mussolini and Edouard Daladier of France agreed that the Czechoslovakian territory of the Sudetenland and its three million ethnic Germans should be joined with Germany. Chamberlain returned to Britain claiming he had achieved 'peace in our time'. In fact, it would come to be a clear demonstration that appeasement did not work, as by March 1939 Hitler had seized the rest of Czechoslovakia.
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This guarantee formally ended the policy of appeasement, and the British government reluctantly began to prepare for war. Conscription was introduced for the first time in peacetime on 27 April, with little protest. On 23 August, the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact put paid to British hopes of a Russian ally. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain warned Adolf Hitler that Britain would support Poland if it was attacked by Germany.
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On 1 September, German forces invaded Poland. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain still hoped to avoid declaring war on Germany, but a threatened revolt in the cabinet and strong public feeling that Hitler should be confronted forced him to honour the Anglo-Polish Treaty. Britain was at war with Germany for the second time in 25 years.
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Germany invaded neighbouring Denmark on 7 April, and the Danes surrendered after two days. Denmark provided a land route to neutral Norway, which was invaded on 9 April. The small Norwegian army mounted fierce resistance, with the help of 12,000 British and French troops. The campaign in Norway ended when the German invasion of France and the Low Countries changed the focus of the war. The Allies were forced to evacuate.
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Following the disastrous Norwegian campaign, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain faced heavy criticism at home. By early May, Chamberlain had lost the confidence of the House of Commons. Labour ministers refused to serve in a national coalition with Chamberlain as leader, so he resigned. Churchill became prime minister on 10 May, the same day Germany invaded Holland and Belgium.
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The German army rapidly defeated France with a strategy called 'blitzkrieg', or 'lightning war', which used speed, flexibility and surprise to execute huge outflanking manoeuvres. Paris fell on 14 June and France capitulated on 25 June. Hitler had achieved in a matter of weeks what the German army had failed to do after four years of desperate fighting on the Western Front of World War One.
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Allied forces were utterly overwhelmed by the German 'blitzkrieg' in France. Thousands of soldiers were trapped in a shrinking pocket of territory centred around the French seaside town of Dunkirk. The Royal Navy's Operation Dynamo succeeded in evacuating approximately 338,000 British and French troops in destroyers and hundreds of 'little ships' - volunteers who sailed to France in their own vessels - over a period of ten days, while under constant attack from the Luftwaffe (German air force).
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Britain had taken the decision not to defend the Channel Islands in the event of a German invasion. As German forces overran France in June 1940, about 30,000 people were evacuated from the islands, with about twice that number choosing to remain. Jersey and Guernsey were bombed on 28 June with the loss of 44 lives. The German occupation began two days later. The Channel Islands were the only part of the British Isles to be occupied during the war.
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The attack on the French fleet at the Algerian port of Mers-el-Kébir left almost 1,300 Frenchmen dead and the fleet immobilised. Prime Minister Winston Churchill personally ordered the fleet destroyed if it refused to fight alongside British, following France's capitulation to the Germans. Despite the cost in lives, Churchill could not allow the fleet to become a threat to British naval dominance in the Mediterranean.
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In July 1940, German leader Adolf Hitler ordered preparations for Operation Sealion - the invasion of Britain. The Luftwaffe (German air force) first had to destroy the Royal Air Force. Vastly outnumbered, the RAF nonetheless consistently inflicted heavy losses on the German squadrons, thanks to excellent aircraft, determined pilots and radar technology. On 17 September, two days after the Luftwaffe sustained its heaviest single day of losses, Hitler postponed the invasion.
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In September 1940, US President Franklin Roosevelt signed an agreement to give Britain 50 obsolete American destroyers in exchange for the use of naval and air bases in eight British possessions. The lease was guaranteed for the duration of 99 years 'free from all rent and charges'. Nonetheless, the US showed no sign yet of entering the war on the Allied side, as many in Britain hoped they would.
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German bombing raids had already targeted Liverpool and Birmingham during August, but on 7 September the 'Blitz' intensified as 950 aircraft attacked London. It was the start of 57 consecutive nights of heavy bombing. The raid caused some 300 civilian deaths and a further 1,300 serious injuries. By the end of the Blitz, around 30,000 Londoners had been killed with another 50,000 injured.
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No city, save London, suffered more loss of life in one night raid than Belfast, after 180 German bombers attacked the city. At the height of the raid an appeal was sent to the Irish leader Éamon De Valera, who sent fire engines to help fight the fires raging in the city.
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German and Italian troops had overrun Greece in three weeks, starting on 6 April. Commonwealth troops were rushed there from Egypt to help the Greek resistance, but had to be evacuated. Many were sent to Crete in an effort to prevent the Axis powers dominating the eastern Mediterranean. Crete was attacked by the Germans on 20 May, and the Allied forces there were defeated and evacuated by the end of the month.
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The British battlecruiser 'Hood' was sunk during the Battle of Denmark Strait, probably by a single shell from the German battleship 'Bismarck'. The ship sank so quickly that only three of the 1,418 man crew survived. 'Hood' was a well-known symbol of British imperial power and its loss was a significant psychological blow to Britain. The 'Bismarck' was itself sunk by the Royal Navy on 27 May 1941.
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The Atlantic Charter, agreed by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and US President Franklin Roosevelt, set out the principles that would shape the struggle against German aggression. It was drawn up during a secret meeting aboard the USS 'Augusta', off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The charter was supported by 26 countries, including the Soviet Union, and after the war formed the basis of the United Nations Declaration. America entered the war four months later.
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America entered the war on the Allied side in December 1941, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and subsequent German declaration of war on the United States. Millions of men and thousands of planes and tanks were deployed to Britain, which became a base for American airmen flying bombing raids over Europe, a staging post for American troops on their way to fight in North Africa, and crucially the launching point for the D-Day invasions that began the liberation of Western Europe.
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This catastrophic defeat was a fatal blow to British prestige and signalled the fall of the empire in the Far East. The Japanese unexpectedly attacked down the Malay Peninsula instead of from the sea, where Singapore's defences were concentrated. About 70,000 men were taken prisoner, many of whom would not survive the war due to the brutal conditions of their incarceration.
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Sir Richard Stafford Cripps was sent to India in March 1942 to win the co-operation of Indian political groups. The Japanese had occupied Burma, and were at the border of India. Stafford Cripps effectively offered post-war independence, which Mohandas Gandhi described as a 'post-dated cheque on a crashing bank'. The Indian National Congress insisted on immediate independence, which Stafford Cripps refused. Gandhi launched a last civil disobedience campaign, for which he was imprisoned.
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Air Marshall Arthur Harris took command of the Royal Air Force's bomber force in February 1942. He wanted to demonstrate the effectiveness of Bomber Command with massive, concentrated raids ('area bombing') on key German cities. The first 'thousand bomber raid' was on Cologne, with a second, two nights later, on Essen. A third raid, this time on Bremen, took place on 25 June. The raids caused massive destruction, particularly in Cologne.
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The Allied attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe, on the northern French coast, had a variety of purposes. It would raise morale at a time when the war was going badly, it would show the Soviets that the western Allies could open a second front, and it would teach valuable lessons for the eventual full-scale invasion of Europe. It was a disaster. Of the 6,000 mainly Canadian troops who made it ashore, more than 4,000 were killed, wounded or taken prisoner.
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General Claude Auchinleck had stopped the Axis forces (mainly German and Italian troops) during the First Battle of El Alamein in early July 1942, but the Allied position was still precarious. When General Bernard Montgomery took command of 8th Army, he built up its strength to a level of superiority before smashing the Axis forces in a carefully coordinated assault, driving them all the way back to Tunisia. By May 1943, the Axis had been completely cleared out of North Africa.
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Sir William Beveridge's report gave a summary of principles aimed at banishing poverty from Britain, including a system of social security that would be operated by the government, and would come into effect when war ended. Beveridge argued that the war gave Britain a unique opportunity to make revolutionary changes. Beveridge's recommendations for the creation of a Welfare State were implemented by Clement Attlee after the war, including the creation of the National Health Service in 1948.
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Malta's position in the Mediterranean made it strategically vital for the Allies. It was effectively under siege from 1940 and suffered devastating Axis (Italian and German) bombing. From January to July 1942 there was only one 24-hour period when no bombs fell on the island. In summer 1942, George VI awarded the island of Malta the George Cross in acknowledgement of the bravery of its inhabitants. The siege was finally lifted when Axis forces capitulated in North Africa on 13 May 1943, .
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This Royal Air Force raid by 19 Lancasters utilised a 'bouncing bomb', developed by British scientist Barnes Wallis, in an attempt to destroy three major dams supplying water and power to the important German industrial region of the Ruhr. Two of the dams were breached, but 53 of the 133 aircrew were killed. Severe flooding killed over 1,000 people, but the damage to the Ruhr's industrial capability was relatively minor. Nonetheless, the raids were a major propaganda victory.
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Allied merchant shipping losses to German 'U-boats' in the Atlantic had reached crisis levels in late 1942 to early 1943. At the Casablanca Conference in January 1943, Allied leaders allocated more resources to the battle. In March 1943, after a 'blackout' of several months, German U-boat ciphers were once again broken, allowing the new resources to be deployed to devastating effect. By May 1943, U-boat losses were so heavy that Kriegsmarine commander Admiral Karl Dönitz called off the battle.
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When British and American troops landed on the south eastern tip of Sicily, it was the first significant Allied landing on European soil in two years. After a prolonged battle, Axis forces started withdrawing from the island on 11 August. The island of Sicily gave the Allies a foothold for the invasion of mainland Italy, which began in September.
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RA Butler, the progressive Conservative chancellor of the exchequer, created universal free secondary education to the age of 15, something people had campaigned for since the 19th century. There were three types of schools - grammar, secondary modern and technical, entrance to which was determined by the '11 plus' examination.
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The battle centred on the ancient Italian monastery of Monte Cassino. The Allies were attempting to break through the German 'Gustav Line', which ran across Italy, south of Rome. The Germans sought to halt the Allied advance north by holding them at Monte Cassino. The bitter fighting lasted over five months, during which the monastery was reduced to rubble. By the time the Allies broke through, casualties numbered more than 54,000 Allied and 20,000 Germans troops.
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The invasion of Europe - the largest amphibious invasion in history - succeeded in landing 150,000 troops on the beaches of Normandy on the first day, through a massive combined operation requiring hundreds of ships and total air superiority. Behind the lines, Allied paratroops seized key strategic targets, while the French resistance sabotaged rail and communication links. By the end of D-Day, five beachheads were secured, and the Allies had a foothold in France.
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Since the start of the Burma campaign in 1941, Allied forces had done little but retreat to the point that Japanese forces stood ready to invade north east India. When the command of 14th Army passed to Lieutenant General William Slim, he imbued it with a new fighting spirit and developed a strategy of air support that allowed besieged positions to hold out against Japanese assault. He used Kohima and Imphal to break the Japanese in Burma and by June 1945, 14th Army had retaken Rangoon.
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Operation Market Garden was a bold plan to land 30,000 Allied troops behind enemy lines and capture eight bridges spanning a network of waterways on the Dutch-German border near Arnhem. It would allow the Allies to outflank German border defences, opening the way for an advance into Germany and an early end to the war. A combination of factors, including faulty intelligence about German strength and bad weather, resulted in failure. More than 1,130 Allied troops were killed and 6,000 captured.
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The war leaders agreed that Germany should be forced to surrender unconditionally and would be divided into four zones between Britain, the Soviet Union, France and the United States. It was also agreed that the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan after Germany was defeated.
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The liberation of Bergen-Belsen brought the horrors of Nazi genocide home to the British public when film and photographs of the camp appeared in British newspapers and cinemas. Conditions at Bergen-Belsen were so desperate that more than 10,000 prisoners died in the weeks after the liberation of the camp, despite the best efforts of the Allies to keep them alive. Millions were murdered to satisfy Nazi theories about racial-biological purity, at least six million of whom were Jews.
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German forces had been utterly defeated by the end of April 1945. Adolf Hitler committed suicide on 30 April as Soviet forces closed in on his Berlin bunker. The German Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz surrendered to Allied General Dwight Eisenhower in France on 7 May. The following day was officially celebrated in Britain as Victory in Europe Day. The entire country came to a standstill as people celebrated the end of war.
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On 23 May the wartime coalition government ended. Winston Churchill headed a temporary Conservative government until the July general elections, which Labour won with a majority of 146. Returning soldiers wanted social reforms and had rejected the 'war leader' Churchill in favour of Labour's Clement Attlee. The post-war years saw the implementation of many of the reforms recommended by Sir William Beveridge in 1942, and the creation of the Welfare State.
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On 6 August, an atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima by the American bomber 'Enola Gay'. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on the port city of Nagasaki. In all, 140,000 people perished. Less than a week later, the Japanese leadership agreed to an unconditional surrender, and the Emperor Hirohito broadcast his nation's the capitulation over the radio. Victory over Japan day also marked the end of World War Two.
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At the Yalta Conference in early 1945, the 'Big Three' of Britain's Winston Churchill, US President Franklin D Roosevelt and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin agreed to establish a new global organisation - the United Nations. The structure and charter of the organisation were established at another conference in San Francisco. Britain became one of the five 'security council' members, with a power of veto. On 24 October, the UN officially came into existence when its members ratified its charter.
Britain: 1945 to Present
The nationalisation of the coal industry represents a major shift in industrial policy. It allowed for the rationalisation of the coal industry, with the closure of many small pits, although the nationalised industry soon came to need state subsidies in order to delay further restructuring and closures.
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India was regarded as the most valuable British imperial possession. World War Two forced Britain to realise that it could not maintain a global empire and the British agreed to Indian self-government. However, they could not find a political solution that was acceptable to both Hindus and Muslims, and the country was partitioned into India and Pakistan. The British were unable to prevent the resulting inter-communal violence which resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths.
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The liner 'SS Empire Windrush' docked at Tilbury carrying nearly 500 Caribbean immigrants to Britain, many attracted by offers of work. This arrival represented the beginning of significant immigration to Britain from the Commonwealth, particularly the Caribbean, and later the Indian subcontinent.
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The National Health Service, established by the post-war Labour government, represented a fundamental change in the provision of medical services. The General Practitioner (GP) service became organised on the basis of a 'capitation fee' paid by the government on every patient registered with a doctor. Voluntary and municipal hospitals were integrated under state control, exercised by the Ministry of Health
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In June 1948, the Soviet Union began a blockade of Berlin, which had been divided into occupation zones by the victorious Allies at the end of the war. They hoped to drive the western Allies out of Berlin. The following month, British and American aircraft began to airlift supplies to West Berliners. In total, there were more than 277,000 flights to deliver food, fuel and medicine. In May 1949, the Soviets backed down and lifted their blockade.
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The so-called 'Austerity Games' were held in London while rationing was still in force in Britain. Fifty nine nations took part, but the defeated powers of Germany and Japan were excluded. London saw the first Olympic photo finish, in the 100 metres, and the introduction of starting blocks for sprinters. These were the first Games since Berlin in 1936. The 1940 Games went to Tokyo, then Stockholm, but were cancelled - as were the 1944 games - due to World War Two.
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The Republic of Ireland Act (1948) came into force on Easter Monday, April 1949, ending vestigial British authority in Eire. Under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, the British crown had retained some authority in the Irish Free State, although this was limited by the 1937 constitution. The 1948 Act repealed the External Relations Act and took Eire out of the Commonwealth.
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Orwell's novel was a bleak political account of the future, in which big government had created a destructive totalitarianism which denied both human values and the truth. The novel made a major impact - such that it contributed the phrase 'Big Brother' to the language - and was seen as an attack on the Soviet Union.
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Labour remained in government but its majority fell greatly, to only five seats, as the electorate's enthusiasm for Labour's post-war vision dwindled away.
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British troops were sent to help the US-led United Nations force repel the Communist invasion of South Korea by North Korea. The conflict set the pattern for the Cold War, with South Korea backed by the US and its allies, and North Korea backed by the Soviet Union and China. An armistice was agreed in July 1953 and Korea was partitioned. Approximately two million Korean civilians, 1.5 million Communist troops and 450,000 UN and South Korean troops were killed. No peace treaty was ever agreed.
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The Festival sought to sustain a mood of post-war optimism and confidence - or at least interest - in new solutions. The site chosen for the Festival, on the South Bank of the Thames, London, had been extensively bombed in World War Two. The dominant artistic mood of the Festival was neo-Romantic, apt for the traditionalist 1950s, although the Royal Festival Hall itself was a Modernistic work.
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The Labour government fell as the Conservatives won a clear majority. Remarkably, Winston Churchill became prime minister again at the age of 76. He focused on foreign affairs, including reducing escalating Cold War tensions and maintaining the 'special relationship' with America, which he had done so much to develop during World War Two. Other foreign concerns included the Malayan emergency and the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya.
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Princess Elizabeth was in Kenya when news of her father's death reached her. She immediately returned to Britain and was crowned on 2 June 1953. Elizabeth II proved an experienced and skilful adviser of successive prime ministers, but was careful to main constitutional conventions and not take a political stand publicly. Nonetheless, she held strong opinions, not least a belief in the Commonwealth. Under Elizabeth, members of the royal family maintained their important charitable role.
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Scientists James Watson and Francis Crick were the first to describe the structure of a chemical called deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, which makes up the genes that pass hereditary characteristics from parent to child. They received the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, which they shared with another DNA pioneer, Maurice Wilkins. A hugely important discovery, it has since formed the basis for a wide range of scientific advances.
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Winston Churchill was by now 80 and his health was declining. He was succeeded as prime minister by Anthony Eden, who had also served as Churchill's Foreign Secretary and was widely recognised as his 'heir apparent'.
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This Conservative victory, with 345 seats to Labour's 277, strengthened the Conservatives' parliamentary position.
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The monopoly of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was broken when commercial television companies, financed by advertising, began broadcasting under the name of Independent Television (ITV) following the Television Act of 1954. The BBC started broadcasting a second channel, BBC Two, in 1964, and Channel 4 started broadcasting in 1982.
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Two British diplomats, Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, were among five men recruited by the Soviet secret service, the KGB, at Cambridge University in the 1930s. The others were Harold (Kim) Philby, Anthony Blunt and John Cairncross. All had been involved in passing to the Soviets highly damaging military information, and the identities of British agents. Burgess and Maclean, who had fled Britain five years before, suddenly reappeared in the Soviet Union where they denied being spies.
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The 'Angry Young Men' generation of writers rejected what they saw as Britain's vulgar 'materialist' society, which they believed was disagreeable in itself and frustrating to them as individuals. Social values were lacerated by Osborne's play and in the novels 'Room at the Top' (1957) by John Braine, 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning' (1958) by Alan Sillitoe, and 'This Sporting Life' (1960) by David Storey.
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The Clean Air Act was part of a general move towards a cleaner environment, directed in particular against the burning of coal in urban areas. The Act was in response to the severe London smog of 1952, which killed more than 4,000 people. Another Clean Air Act followed in 1968.
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Calder Hall, Britain's first nuclear power station - and the first in the world to supply substantial quantities of electricity to a national system - was opened by Elizabeth II.
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The Suez Crisis was sparked when Britain and France, allied with Israel, invaded Egypt over its decision to nationalise the Suez Canal - a vital waterway connecting the Mediterranean with the Red Sea. Under American pressure, the canal was handed back to Egypt and the invasion force was withdrawn. The crisis revealed Britain's declining world status and its subordination to the US.
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The Suez Crisis of 1956 ruined Anthony Eden's reputation and fatally compromised his political career. His health seriously diminished as a result. His successor, Harold Macmillan, had been chancellor of the exchequer under Eden. Macmillan was the third Conservative prime minister in as many years.
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The British colony of Gold Coast gained its independence, with Kwame Nkrumah as its first leader, following election victories for Nkrumah's nationalist Convention People's Party (CPP). The country was renamed Ghana in the declaration of independence. This event marked the beginning of rapid decolonisation in Africa.
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Following tests over Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean, the government announced that Britain had joined the Soviet Union and the US as a nuclear power, with its own hydrogen bomb. The tests led to a debate in Britain about the dangers of nuclear weapons, and to the foundation in 1958 of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).
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The opening of the M6 Preston bypass by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was the first stage in the motorway system. The following year, the M1 was punched through the Midlands from Watford to Birmingham. The developing motorway system encouraged a major rise in long-distance private and goods travel by road.
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In a massive personal triumph for Harold Macmillan, the Conservatives won by 365 seats (and 49.3% of the vote) to 258 for Labour. The Conservative campaign slogan 'you've never had it so good' reflected the growing affluence of the electorate.
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President of France Charles de Gaulle announced the French veto on Britain's application to join the European Common Market, the forerunner of the European Union. De Gaulle said the British government lacked 'commitment' to European integration.
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The Robbins Report on Higher Education (1963) was followed by the state-funded growth of universities. Government support was seen as necessary, not least in order to change the social composition of the student body. State-paid fees and maintenance were designed to help increase the percentage of working-class students. New universities were established, including Essex, Lancaster, Kent and Sussex.
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Sir Alec Douglas-Home became Conservative party leader and prime minister following the resignation of Harold Macmillan on health grounds. He became the fourth Conservative prime minister since 1951. The preceeding three - Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden and Macmillan - all resigned for a variety of reasons.
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Resale Price Maintenance (RPM) obliged shops to sell goods at standard prices set by suppliers, and thus prevented the search for better business through undercutting. This helped small independent shopkeepers in their resistance to larger traders. Abolition of RPM opened the way to the rise of supermarkets and the transformation of the retail industry.
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Labour, under Harold Wilson, narrowly won the general election, by 317 seats to 304 for the Conservatives. Considered something of an intellectual, Wilson successfully contrasted his 'meritocratic' beliefs against his 'establishment' opponent, Conservative Alec Douglas-Home.
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Circular 10/65', issued by the Labour government's education secretary, Anthony Crosland, obliged local education authorities to draw up plans for replacing the existing division between 'grammar' and 'secondary modern' schools in order to create all-inclusive 'comprehensive' schools. It represented the first step towards a comprehensive education system that served all pupils on an equal basis.
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The abolition of the death penalty for murder - one of the few remaining crimes for which capital punishment could still be handed down - effectively meant the final abolition of the death penalty. This was a major symbolic act in the reduction of the power of the state. The death sentence for treason and piracy with violence remained on the statue books until 1998 when they were abolished by the Crime and Disorder Act.
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Labour's share of the vote went up from 44.1% in the 1964 general election to 48%, and the Conservatives down from 43.4 to 41.9. The shift in seats, from 317 to 364, compared with 304 to 253, was more dramatic, leaving Harold Wilson, the Labour prime minister, with a much-improved majority of nearly 100.
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England defeated West Germany in the World Cup final, which was held at Wembley and watched by 93,000 people in the stadium and 400 million people around the world on television. Geoff Hurst became the first - and thusfar only - player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final when he powered home his third goal in the final moments of extra time, giving England a decisive 4-2 victory.
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A number of Acts of Parliament in this period reflected the changing social climate. As well as the 1967 Sexual Offences Act, which legalised homosexuality between men over 21, and the 1967 Abortion Act which legalised abortion under certain conditions, there was also the 1969 Divorce Reform Act and the 1970 Equal Pay Act.
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This was the Beatles' eighth album, and is widely recongnised as one of the most influential records ever released. The album was heavily influenced by the group's increasing use of drugs, and enjoyed immediate critical and popular success at the start of the 'psychedelic era'. Peter Blake's collage for the album cover has become iconic.
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The first supersonic (above the speed of sound) airliner was developed jointly by Britain and France. It did not begin commercial flights until 1976. The fleet was grounded in 2000 after Concorde's first and only major fatal accident in July of that year. Concorde was finally retired in 2003.
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The Conservatives won the general election by 330 seats to 287 for Labour. This unexpected result appears to have reflected doubts about Labour's economic management, a view focused by a poor set of trade figures. The failure of Labour to motivate its own supporters was also important. Evidence suggested that voters had turned against Harold Wilson, rather than towards the uncharismatic Edward Heath.
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The first British soldier, Gunner Robert Curtis (aged 20), was killed in Northern Ireland's 'Troubles' by the self-styled 'Irish Republican Army' (IRA). He was shot while on foot patrol in North Belfast. British troops had been sent to Northern Ireland in 1969 in a 'limited operation' to restore law and order.
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The old sterling denominations of pounds, shillings and pennies were phased out over a period of 18 months, and replaced with decimal pounds and pennies. The decimalisation of the pound came to be blamed for an increase in inflation.
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The discovery of oil under the North Sea was a major boost to British public finances. Drilling and exploration concessions were auctioned to maximise government income, and the first oil was piped ashore at Teesside in 1975. Full scale exploitation of the fields would not begin until the 1980s, when rising oil prices made it economically viable.
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British troops opened fire on a crowd of civil rights protestors in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, killing 14 civilians and injuring a further 17. The crowd of between 7,000 and 10,000 people had been marching in protest at the policy of detention without trial. The sequence of events on 'Bloody Sunday' remains highly controversial, with accusations that senior IRA figures were present on the day and shot at British troops.
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On 4 August, Ugandan President Idi Amin gave his country's Asian population just 90 days to leave, claiming god had told him to do it in a dream. Over half of the 55,000 Asians expelled from Uganda came to Britain and many settled permanently. Their resettlement came to be viewed as a success story. In 1991, President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni invited them to 'return home' to help the Ugandan economy.
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Britain, Ireland and Denmark joined the European Economic Community (EEC), bringing the total number of member states to nine. The three countries, together with Norway, signed an accession treaty in 1972, but Norwegians rejected the treaty in a referendum. Britain held a referendum on the matter in 1975, after renegotiating its terms of entry, and 67% voted in favour of staying in the EEC.
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The Conservatives won more votes than Labour (37.9% of the popular vote to 37.1%), but Labour won more seats (301 to 297). Neither party had achieved an outright majority, resulting in a 'hung parliament'. The Liberals, with 19.3% and 14 seats, held the balance of power. Edward Heath initially held on to office in the hope of persuading the Liberals to enter into a coalition, but the Liberals rejected this idea and Harold Wilson returned to head a minority administration.
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In order to tackle his party's minority status following the 'hung parliament' produced by the general election of February 1974, Harold Wilson called a new election, which he won with a small overall majority. Labour's percentage of the vote went up from 37.1 to 39.2, while Conservative percentage fell from 37.9 to 35.8.
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Harold Wilson's resignation after 13 years as Labour leader and nearly eight as prime minister was completely unexpected, and has never been properly explained. It was probably related to his awareness of the early onset of Alzheimer's disease and a feeling that he was losing control. On 5 April, James Callaghan was elected Labour Party leader and became the new prime minister.
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A crisis in sterling forced the Labour government to turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), making Britain the first major Western state to be forced into this humiliating course of action. In return for the loan, the IMF demanded cuts in government spending. After a political battle within the British government, the IMF terms were accepted and imposed in December.
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Louise Brown, the first 'test-tube baby', was a success for 'in vitro' fertilisation (IVF), a method by which egg and sperm are mixed in a glass dish, and the embryos inserted into the womb. By the end of the 20th century, about 1,400 IVF babies were being born each year.
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Industrial action by petrol tanker and lorry drivers was followed by hospital ancillary staff, ambulance men and dustmen going on strike. Hospitals were picketed, the dead left unburied, and troops called in to control rats swarming around heaps of uncollected rubbish. The large number of simultaneous strikes, the violence and perceived mean-mindedness of the picketing (which included the turning away of ambulances) created a sense of alarm in the electorate about the decline of British society.
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The referenda required the support of 40% of the electorate, not simply the majority of votes. This was not obtained in Scotland, although the majority of votes were in favour of devolution. Devolution was heavily defeated in Wales. As a result of the referenda, the Scottish Nationalists joined the Conservatives and Liberals in passing a vote of no confidence in the government, and Labour lost control of the House of Commons - a bad prelude to the general election.
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Margaret Thatcher, party leader since 1975, became Britain's first female prime minister with a majority of 43 seats. The Conservatives won 43.9% of the votes and 339 seats, Labour 36.9% and 269 seats, and Liberals 13.8%. She came to power on the promise that the Conservatives would cut income tax, reduce public expenditure, make it easier for people to buy their own homes and curb the power of the unions.
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Elizabeth II's cousin, Lord Louis Mountbatten, one of his teenage grandsons and two others were killed by a bomb on his boat at Mullaghmore in county Sligo, Ireland. On the same day the IRA also killed 18 soldiers at Warrenpoint in County Down.
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Serious rioting in Brixton following the arrest of a local black man marked the start of violent unrest across England. In London's Southall, Toxteth in Liverpool, Moss Side in Manchester, and to a lesser extent other centres such as Derby, crowds rioted, looted, and fought the police. Many of the riots reflected specific local problems, especially poor relations between predominantly black communities and the police.
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The Humber Bridge was built between 1972 and 1980. At the time, it was the longest single-span bridge in the world at nearly 2,200m.
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Republican prisoners at the Maze prison near Belfast had begun their hunger strike over the right to be treated as political prisoners rather than criminals. A first strike, begun in late 1980, was called off with no deaths. But failure to secure concessions resulted in a second, led by Bobby Sands. It began in March 1981. The British government refused to concede. Ten men, including Sands, starved themselves to death, while 61 people were killed outside the prison in related violence.
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Unemployment breached the psychologically significant barrier of three million as manufacturing was hard hit by a deep economic recession.
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Three days after the invasion, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sent a naval task force to liberate the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. The subsequent conflict cost the lives of 655 Argentine and 255 British servicemen, many of them sailors who died during attacks on Royal Navy warships. The conflict ended on 14 June when the commander of the Argentine garrison at Port Stanley surrendered to British troops.
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The Conservatives were re-elected with 379 seats and an enormous majority of 144 seats. Labour's share crashed to 209 seats. The Social Democratic-Liberal 'Alliance' won 23 seats. The Conservatives benefited from division among their opponents and doubts about Labour's competence on the economy and defence. Thatcher's government used its majority to embark on a radical programme of privatisation and deregulation, trade union reform and tax cuts.
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A local strike on 5 March over a threatened pit closure in Yorkshire had, within a week, broadened into a national miners' strike. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher pitted her personal authority against that of the militant socialist president of the National Union of Mineworkers, Arthur Scargill. There were violent clashes between striking miners and policemen. The strike failed and was called off after a year, allowing the pit closures to go ahead. The strike left a legacy of deep bitterness.
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The bombing by Irish Republican Army terrorists of the Grand Hotel Brighton during the Conservative Party conference killed five and left more than 30 injured. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher narrowly escaped the blast. It was the closest the IRA had come to killing a British prime minister.
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The privatisation of British Gas was a major step in the Conservative government's policy of privatisation. It paved the way for the privatisation of British Aerospace, Cable and Wireless, Britoil, the National Bus Company, British Airways, Rolls Royce, British Steel, British Telecom, the electricity-generating industry and the water companies. These sales cut government expenditure, by bringing in large sums of money and by reducing the need for state subsidies.
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Margaret Thatcher was re-elected for an historic third term, with an overall majority of 101 - less than in 1983, but still significant. The Conservatives had 376 seats (42.3 % of the vote), Labour 229 (30.8%) and Alliance 22 (22.5%). It paved the way for Thatcher to become the longest serving prime minister for more than 150 years. Signs of a Labour recovery appeared in Scotland, where they won 50 of the 72 seats.
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In 1989, while working at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory in Switzerland, Tim Berners-Lee came up with the idea of the World Wide Web, a new way of using existing internet technology to share information. He wrote the first web browser the following year, and went on to found the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in 1994.
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The Conservative plans for a 'poll tax', introduced in England and Wales on 1 April 1990, provoked vocal opposition across Britain in the form of anti-poll tax rallies and acts of civil disobedience. A largely peaceful march in London, attended by 70,000 people, degenerated into serious rioting centred on Trafalgar Square. The unpopularity of the tax contributed to the downfall of Margaret Thatcher. Her successor John Major replaced the poll tax with the council tax.
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Faced by large-scale opposition within her own parliamentary party, Margaret Thatcher, who was widely seen as remote and autocratic, resigned as prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party. The crisis of confidence in her leadership had been sparked by her attitude to Europe, while her support for the so-called 'poll tax' had undermined her standing with the electorate. Five days later, John Major succeeded her as party leader and prime minister.
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Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 and refused to withdraw. Following a massive military build up, US-led forces backed by a United Nations mandate launched 'Operation Desert Storm' to liberate Kuwait. A huge aerial bombardment preceded the ground attack on 24 February. The Iraqi army fell into headlong retreat and on 27 February, US President George Bush declared that Kuwait had been liberated. Saddam Hussein remained in power in Iraq.
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A poor Labour campaign by leader Neil Kinnock squandered significant support for the opposition and helped Conservative John Major to a surprise general election victory, with a slim overall majority of 21. The Conservatives won 326 seats, Labour 271.
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The Channel Tunnel provided an unprecedented rail link between London and Paris, something that had been planned for over a century. The tunnel became the longest undersea tunnel in the world, measuring 50km in total, with 39km of it under the sea. Three tunnels - two for trains and one for service - lie an average of 40m below the sea bed.
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Sterling, under strong financial pressure from speculation on the money markets, was pulled out of the European Union's Exchange Rate Mechanism. This was a major blow to the Conservatives' reputation for economic competence, but it relieved pressure on Britain's economy by ensuring that the currency could float independently.
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The decision to ordain women to the priesthood in the Church of England was taken in 1992 and implemented in 1994. It was a controversial step, welcomed by most of the church but rejected by traditionalists, some of whom joined the Catholic Church in protest.
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Tony Blair had become leader of the Labour Party in 1994 after the sudden death of John Smith. Blair continued the modernisation of the party begun by Smith. Voters responded to 'New Labour' in the 1997 election, giving the party a huge majority of 179 seats. One of the new Labour government's first acts was to give the Bank of England control of interest rates. It also embarked on a programme of far-reaching constitutional reform.
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After more than 150 years of British rule, Hong Kong was returned to Chinese control. Britain had held the New Territories north of Hong Kong under a 99-year lease that expired in 1997, requiring the 'handing back' of the colony to China. Under the 'One Country, Two Systems' policy, Hong Kong retained its own legal system, currency, customs policy and immigration laws for a minimum 50 years after the handover.
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Diana was the ex-wife of the heir to the British throne, Charles, Prince of Wales. A controversial figure in life, Diana's death in a car crash in Paris provoked widespread public mourning. On 6 September, one million people lined the streets of London for her funeral. It was later discovered that the driver of the car in which he, Diana and her friend Dodi Al Fayed were killed had more than the legal limit of alcohol in his blood and was travelling at over 100mph.
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In two referenda, a large majority in Scotland (74.9% of those who voted), and a smaller one in Wales (50.3%), provided the basis for the creation of national assemblies with legislative powers. The assemblies first met in 1999, with the Scottish Parliament, but not the Welsh Assembly, gaining tax-varying powers.
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An agreement between Northern Ireland's nationalists and unionists was reached after 30 years of conflict, as a result British government negotiations and US pressure on Sinn Féin, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army. It set out plans for devolved government and provided for the early release of terrorist prisoners and the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons. Referenda in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland endorsed the agreement on 22 May. The assembly met on 1 July.
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Widespread British unease about the European single currency obliged Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was keen on the project, to stay out. The 'euro' was launched as an electronic currency used by banks, foreign exchange dealers, big firms and stock markets in 1999. Euro coins first hit the streets of the 12 'eurozone' countries on 1 January 2002.
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There were widespread celebrations of the new millennium and relief that the 'millennium bug', which had been predicted to cause global computer meltdown, failed to materialise. Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair joined a party at the ill-starred Millennium Dome in Greenwich, east London. The controversial dome was considered a massive flop and only stayed open until December 2000.
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The late 1990s saw a profusion of start-up companies selling products or services either using or related to the internet. There was a speculative frenzy of investment in these 'dotcom' companies, much of it by small investors. The bursting of the 'dotcom bubble' saw the collapse of many of these companies and marked the beginning of a mild yet lengthy recession.
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The nine-month epidemic of 'foot-and-mouth' disease resulted in the culling of millions of animals and devastated large sections of the rural economy. The crisis brought the countryside to a virtual standstill and the cost to British farming was put between £800 million and £2.4 billion. The Labour government was heavily criticised for its handling of the crisis.
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Labour won a commanding majority of 167 seats. Prime Minister Tony Blair's second term came to be dominated by controversial foreign policy issues, mainly the 'war on terror' begun after the terror attacks in the United States on 11 September. The Conservative leader, William Hague, resigned after the party showed little sign of electoral recovery.
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Nineteen mainly Saudi Arabian terrorists used hijacked planes to destroy the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York and part of the Pentagon building in Washington. A fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania, killing all on board. Among the approximately 3,000 people killed in the attacks were 67 Britons. In response, US President George W Bush declared a worldwide 'war on terror'.
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British forces contributed to the initial US military strikes against the Islamic fundamentalist Taleban regime in Afghanistan - the first retaliation to the terrorist attacks of '9/11'. The Taleban, who had allowed the terrorist organisation al-Qaeda to use Afghanistan as a base, was overthrown and replaced with a US-backed administration. Coalition forces, including British troops, remain in Afghanistan. Osama Bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader responsible for the '9/11' attacks, was not found.
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Despite significant opposition at home, the British government gave military support to the controversial United States-led invasion of Iraq. Crucially, the action was not backed by a United Nations mandate, sparking debate over the legality of the invasion. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was overthrown and captured. Iraq now has a democratically elected government, but the country remains deeply unstable as a result of the deliberate stoking of sectarian tensions by terrorist groups.
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Ten new states from eastern and southern Europe joined the European Union, making it the largest trading bloc in the world by population. Their inclusion sparked fears, stoked by lurid media stories, of a huge influx of 'economic migrants' from the poorer eastern countries to the wealthier western countries such as Britain.
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The agreement required countries to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by 5.2% by 2012. The treaty was signed by 141 countries but the world's largest economy - and largest polluter - the United States, did not ratify it. Climate scientists argued that the 5.2% target was far too low, and a 60% cut was needed to make an impact on climate change caused by human activity.
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Labour won, but with a substantially reduced majority. Tony Blair joined Margaret Thatcher as the only post-war prime ministers to have won three successive general elections. Nonetheless, he quickly announced his intention not to stand for a fourth term, sparking ongoing speculation about when he would hand over to his annointed successor, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. Conservative leader Michael Howard resigned to make way for a younger leader.
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Three men blew themselves up on London Underground trains, while a fourth exploded his bomb on a double-decker bus. Fifty two people were killed and more than 700 injured. On 21 July there were four more attempted suicide bombings in London, but none of the devices exploded. Islamic terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility, but it is thought that the bombers, all British Muslims, acted alone.
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Civil partnerships between same-sex couples were introduced in the 2004 Civil Partnership Act and came into law in December 2005. Partnered couples gained the same legal rights as married couples and were permitted to hold wedding-style 'civil union' ceremonies.
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