A brief lookout on the history of England

Earliest Times
• stone age (central core of flint, flakes of flint)
• neolithic people (farming, pottery)
• 3000 BC – henges
• 2400 BC – “beaker” people (bronze)
• 700 BC – the Celts (iron, tribes, druids, Boadicea (AD 61))
• Romans – reading and writing, Hadrian’s wall, roads, villas)
• AD 430 – Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, Jutes)
- Bede
- King Offa of Mercia
- witan, shires, strips of land, manor, class system
- monk Augustine (archbishop of Cantenbury (601))
- Alfred (monasteries, system of law, AD 878 battle with Vikings)
• AD 856 – the Vikings – treaty with Alfred
• AD 950 – Danish Vikings – Ethelred A-S (regular tax system (paid Vikings to stay away)
- Cnut D-V
• Edward the Confessor – Norman (church, manor)
• Harold – AD 1066 – defeated the Danes in Yorkshire
- William landed in England – battle near Hastings

The Early Middle Ages
• William the Conqueror – feudalism
- the Domesday Book
- sons : Robert (Normandy), William Rufus (England, †hunting accident), Henry (after Rufus’s death took the crown)
• Henry – defeated Rober, united Normandy & England
- daughter Matilda /+ Geoffrey Plantagenet (Henry quarreled with him)/
- nephew Stephen of Blois – after Henry’s death raced to England to claim the crown
> Matilda attacked England what caused civil war> 1153 Matilda’s son Henry will succeed the throne
• Henry II. – manor again became the centre of administration & life
- /+ Eleanor of Aquitaine/ - later on he quarreled with her and his sons Richard & John took their mother’s side and fought against their father
- 1170 Thomas Becket
- conquered Ireland
- trial by jury
- †1189
• Richard I. Lionheart – went to Holy Land to fight the Muslims – on his way back was captured by duke of Austria (England had to pay)
- † 1199 in France
• John – greedy (king’s court, payments of nobles, taxes)
- 1204 French king invaded Normandy> nobles lost their lands
- 1209 quarreled with Pope on who will be the Archbishop of Cant.> closed churches> John gave in in 1214
- 1215 hoped to recapture Normandy – lords did not trust him & together with merchants marched to London> Magna Carta + committee, paid fighters
- †1216
• Henry III. – expensive Pope wars
- Simon de Montfort – 1258 took over government – Parliament, defeated and killed in 1265
- †1272
• Edward I. – House of Commons (mixture of gentry and merchants)
- 1242 Llewelyn ap Gruffydd
- 1282 united Wales and England> baby son becomes the Prince of Wales
- drained Ireland – “the Pale”
- 1290 – Scotland – John de Balliol
- invaded Scotland against rebels – William Wallace’s people’s army 1297 (†Wallace – Scottish nationalism)
+ Robert Bruce – freed Scotland 1314
-†1307
• Edward II. – defeated by Bruce at Bannockbury 1314
- †1327 murdered
The Late Middle Ages
• 1330 struggle against the French Crown + fighting the Scots> “Auld Alliance”
• Flanders! (trade)
• Edward III. – 1337 declared war on France (Hundred Years War)
- victories at Crécy 1346 and at Poitiers 1356> French king taken a prisoner
- accountable to Parliament: House of Commons, House of Lords
- justices of the peace
- 1360 – treaty at Brétigny
- 1364 – the king of Scots attacked England – defeated, imprisoned
- symbol of “code of chivalry” – Order of Garten 1348
- 1348 Black death> end of serfdom + yeoman (farmers)
- †1377
• Richard II. – tax payments for every person over the age of 15 (expensive wars) that was enforcer thrice> 4 weeks revolt in East Anglia & Kent leaded by Wat Tyler> Richard’s promise (not fulfilled)
- “Llolardy” (John Wycliffe (translated bible into English))> 1401 executed by Henry IV. by burning
- 1388 imprisoned his uncle John of Gaunt (died in prison)> 1399 Henry duke of Lancaster (John’s son) deposed Richard
- Wales – Ollain Glyndwr – national war
• Henry IV.
• Henry V. – 1415 renewed war with France – defeated French army at Agincourt> treaty of Troyes at 1420 – Henry is heir to the French king
- /+ Katherine of Valois (French king’s daughter)/
- †1422 before French king did
• Henry VI. – only 9 months old – Henry V.’s brother John duke of Bedford enlarged the area under English control> French national feeling (Joan of Arc)
- 1453 the loss of Gascony – end of war (England lost everything except Calais)
- mentally ill
- the war of the roses – Lancastrians vs. Yorkists (1460 duke of York claimed tht throne but died, his son Edward won throne in 1461)
• Edward IV. – Henry was put into the Tower of London – rescued by Lancastrian army> chased Edward out of the country: in 1471 returned to England and finally defeated the Lancastrians
- †1483 – his sons were put in the Tower and murdered by Edward’s brother Richard of Gloucester
• Richard III. – not popular among both Lancastrians and Yorkists> 1485 Henry Tudor met Richard at Bosworth and defeated him (old nobility was destroyed)

The Tudors
• Henry VII. – avoided quarrels with Scotland & France (for business)
- forbade everyone to keep an army
- “Court of Star Chamber” – dealing with lawless nobels
- new nobility
- †1509
• Henry VIII. – powerful France & Spain – waste of money
- disliked Church of England (no control)
- /+1510 Catherine of Aragon/ - asked Pope for divorce (forbidden (Charles V. was the king of Spain, Catherine’s nephew and a Holy Roman Emperor))
- 1534 Act of Supremacy – head of Church of England (divorced Catherine and married Anne Boleyn/> England became Protestant
- Thomas Cromwell as new king’s chief minister after death of Cardinal Wosley – survey of Church’s property> 560 monasteries & other religious houses closed
• Edward VI. – died as 16 years old in 1553
• Mary – catholic
- succeeded in entering London and took control of England before Jane Grey (protestant)
- /+ King Philip of Spain/ - rebellion in Kent (leader Wyatt)> Mary asked for Parliament’s opinion about the marriage (Philip will be king only during Mary’s lifetime)
- burning Protestants
- son James VI.
• Elizabeth I. – 1559 Protestanism was agreed to remain closer to the Catholic religion
- kept Mary of Scots as a prisoner – 1587 Mary’s execution
- 1585 helped the Duth rebelt with money and soldiers to attack Spanish ships> declaration of war on Spain
- Philip decided to conquer England 1587 with Armada – 1587 attacked in Cadiz harbour by Francis Drake
- Armada reached England in 1588 – defeated
- encouraged traders to settle abroad and to create colonies
- †1603

The Stuarts
• James I. – divine rights of king
- quarreling with Parliament
- Sir Edward Coke became the Chief Justice> “king is not above the law” (Magna Carta reminded)
- 1618 Thirty Years War – did not agree to go to war against Catholics
- Guy Fawkes
- Puritans
- †1625
• Charles I. – dissolved Parliament, but as he needed money he recalled it – Petition of Rights 1628 (money raised by Act of Parliament, no one will be imprisoned without lawful reason)
- decided to prevent it being used by dissolving Parliament the following year
- /+ catholic from France/
- Puritans wanted democratic church
- Archbishop Laud (Puritans enemy) – 1637 Scottish national resistance (new prayer book)
- 1638 faced a rebel Scottish army – without the help of Parliament he was not able to put together experienced army> agreed to respect all Scottish freedoms and payed them to return home
- 1641 Irish rebellion> quarrel of who should control an army to defeat rebels> 1642 tried to arrest 5 MPs but was unsuccessful> London refused to let the king in (left for Nottingham)> the start of the Civil War (two groups: Royalists (no money) & Parliamentarians)
- 1645 Naseby – Royalists were defeated – king imprisoned
• Oliver Cromwell – 1649 Charles I. was executed
- defeated Scots and Charles II. (escaped to France)> Scotland was brought under English republican rule
- punishment in Ireland for killing Protestants in 1641
- 1653 Parliaments’s dissolution (disagreement between army and parl.)> “Lord Protector”
- Levellers rebellion (new equality among all) – defeated
- †1658 – his son Richard lead the country – 1660 commanders arranged for free elections> Charles II. Returned to throne
• Charles II. – attracted to the Catholic church
- 1673 Parliament passed Test Act (prevented any Catholic from holding public office)
- first political parties: Whigs (afraid of absolute monarchy & catholics, no army) and Tories (upheld the authority of Crown and the Church)
- †1685
• James II. – disliked Protestants (“killing times”) and tried to bring back the Catholic church
- mental breakdown
- daughter Mary /+ William of Orange/
- Parliament invited William to invade Britain (James’s son was borne)> Glorious Revolution 1688
• William III. & Mary II. – 1689 Bill of Rights (king is unable to raise taxes, keep an army or act against any MP)
- 1690 James’s army defeated at Boyne
- 1701 Act of Settlement (only a Protestant could inherit the crown)
- 1707 Great Britain (England + Scotland)
- war against France – British army won at Blenheim, Raunllies, Dudenarde, Malplaquet> 1713 treaty of Utrecht (Queen Anne accepted as a monarch)
• Anne - †1714
The Eighteenth Century
• George I. – 1715 defeated Jacobits (James’s III. supporters)
- Robert Walpole – 1st Prime Minister – “cabinet”
- 1697 Bank of England
- 1733 France & Spain alliance
- Lord Chatman – 1756 war with France’s trade – 1759 Quebec, Montreal, India (Bengal, Madras)
• George III. – 1763 made peace with France (money)
- John Wilkes (free speech) – imprisoned, tried at court, freed
- 1773 “the Boston Teaparty”
- 1775 – 1783 war in America
- Industrial Revolution – mass production, coal & steel, Watt, Wilkinson, Stephenson, cotton, china goods, transport – 1799 Luddites (workers breaking machines)
- John Wesley’s Methodism
- 1802 Factory Act (child labour work 12 hours a day)
- 1793 war after France invaded the Low Countries (Napoleon Bonaparte)
+ Admiral Horatio Nelson – Copenhagen, 1805 Trafalgar
+ Wellington 1805 in Portugal
+ 1814 Napoleon surrendered
+ 1815 N.B. assembled an army in France
+ June 1815 final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo

The Nineteenth Century
- 1838 Britain promised to protect Belgium – “balance of power”
- 1815 people lost their jobs + landowning farmers suffered from cheap imported corn
- 1829 Peel established a regular police force in London
- 1830 riot of starving farmworkers
- 1834 new poor law – workhouses
- 1832 Lords accepted the Reform Bill (decreased power of Lords, spread voters rights)> three main parties: Tories (parliament should represent property), Whigs (Lord Grey) and Radicals (parl. should represent people)
- since 1824 – unions
- 1834 Tolpuddle Martyrs (6 farmworkers from Dorset promised loyalty to Union – judged)
- 1838 Chartists (unions + workers + radicals)> People’s Charter 1828 & 1829 Catholics & Nonconformists could enter government service and parliament
- Whigs became Liberals
- 1872 first secret voting
- 1844 Co-operative Movement by Chartists and Unionists (self-help among members (shops))
- 1869 Trade Union Congress established parliamentary committee> later: the Labour Party
- 1867 free and compulsory education
- /+ Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg (†1864 – Queen refused to be seen in public – 1868 Queen’s book)/
- British “areas of interest” – colonial wars – China 1839 (opium wars), Afghanistan 1839 – 42 (Russia), India (Indian Mutiny (rebellion)), Ottoman Empire 1845 (Russia), Egypt 1882, Sudan 1884, Africa (areas (the Boers)), Crimean wars> settlers (Commonwealth)
- 1907 new Liberal’s government improved social conditions – “Welfare State”
• George V. – 1911 Parliament Act (Lords could not prevent financial acts, 2 years delay for legislation)
- 1914 “chain of events” – start of the WWI.
The Twentieth Century
- 1. July 1916 – Britain attacked German positions on the river Somme
- compulsory joining of men> acceptance of refusal
- 1917 drove back the Turks after fights in Iraq, Palestine & Dardanelles
- 1916 Germany offered to make peace – refused! (public feeling)
- 1916 battle of Jutland (adm. Jellicoe draw back German submarines that were sinking supply ships)
- 1917 Russia made peace with Germany (Bolshevik revolution)
- November 1918 the arrival of American troops made Germany surrender – end of the WWI.
- 1919 Versailles (J.M. Keynes (not to punish Germans) – refused)
- 1897 suffragettes
- 1918 men older than 21 and women over 30 were allowed to vote
- 1926 general strike by all workers – ended in 9 days
- 1930s economy back on track in the Midland and the south (motor industry and fear of another war)
- 1920 the League of Nations
- 1935 Italy attacked Ethiopia – no action was taken

- 1938 Neville Chamberlain – Czechoslovakia (Munich)
- 1939 Poland> Britain entered the war + Winston Churchil became a new prime minister> start of the WWII.
- 1940 France & British Air Force
- 1941 Japan attacked British colonies (surrendered Singapore)
- Germany attacked Soviet Union and Japan attacked USA
- July 1943 Italy surrendered
- May 1945 Germany surrendered
- Japan surrendered after Hiroshima & Nagasaki> the end of the WWII.
- United Nations
- 2 blocks: Western (NATO) and Eastern (Warsaw Pact)
- 1848 – 48 Soviet Union tried to capture West Berlin
- 1950s research into space, design of nuclear weapon & international ballistic missiles
- 1960s interest in joining EC
- 1956 Suez Canal – political defeat
- new ideas about basic human right (NHS, free secondary education, NAA…)
- nationalized industry
- US Marshall Aid Programme
- youthful pop culture

• Edward VIII. – gave up the throne and married a divorced American women in 1936
• George VI. – visits to bombed areas in Britain
• Elizabeth II. – since 1952

- the loss of empire – UN Charter 1945, India 1947 (Ghandi), Suez, Commonwealth, Flaklands 1982 (Argentina), Palestine, Ceylon
- 1949 Britain joined European countries to form the Council of Europe
- 1957 refused to join European Common Market
- 1973 member of the EC
- loyalty to USA
- immigrant’s problem
- 1980s riots in Liverpool, Bristol and London
- 1984 steel mills and coal mines closed> strike (defeated after a year)
- Margaret Thacher – 1979, reelected 1983 “Falklands factor”, returned national industry to private sector
- 1981 Social Democratic Party
- 1982 Alliance