The Britons who were the original inhabitants of Great Britain had no written history before 55 B.C. They were Celts by race and were divided into many tribes. They worshiped many gods and their priests were called druids. In A.D. 43 the Romans began an invasion which resulted in the Roman occupation of Britain, which lasted over 400 years. To prevent attacks from the north the Romans built Hadrian’s Wall in 122, which was 117 km long. Despite the Roman occupation, the old Celtic social system was not completely destroyed and the British language existed side by side with Latin. The Romans left in the first half of the 5th century. In the second half of the 5th century there where attacks from Gremany, led mainly by Angles, Saxons and Jutes. They settled on the east and south-east coast and began to spread across the island , driving back the original Britons into the western part. At the biginning of the 9th century the Danes and the Norsemen attacked England. King Alfred the Great was successful in stopping their influence in the southern parts of the country. In 1066 Harold was elected as a new king but his was still only a boy. There William of Normandy (William the Conqueror) saw his chance and he defeated the army of Harold. He was crowned 1066. Henry I. issued a Charter of Liberties.
The first king of the line of Plantagenets was Henry II who ruled in 12th century.
Very famous is king Richard the Lion-Heart, who was a crusader. After his death in war in France, his brother John I Lackland lost almost all the English possessions in France, including Normandy. In conflict with barons he was forced to sign the Magna Charta in 1215.
The basis of Hundred Years’ War (1338-1453) was in Edwards III‘s (one of the kings ruling after John I. Lackland) feudal claim to the French crown and the economic problems concerning English wool export to France. It began as a war between kings, but later on it became a wasr between two nations. It includes victories on both sides, either British or French. In the end, the French led by Joan from Arc won and made English lose their power in France. The Wars of the Roses took place in the 15th century. They were the wars between the House of York and the House of Lancaster. These wars ended when Henry Tudor became King Henry VII and married Elizabeth of York, and thus he joined the two houses.

The Tudor age can be characterised by the consolidation of royal power, the repression of any opposition and the great wealth of king. Henry VIII(1509-1547) was intellectually brilliant, though inclined towards pride, ambition and brutality. He is known as a king who had 6 wives and established the Church odf England. He had three children: Mary I (Bloody Mary), Elizabeth I, Edward VI.
Elizabeth I(1558-1603) is the most important of his successors. In her age - called Elizabethan Age – England prospered in many ways. She enforced the Protestant religion by law. England became the leading power on the sea, which led to colonial developement of the Engllish power in America and East India. The Rennaissance came its height because of the works of many important artists (Shakespeare). Also the trade prospered. James I, the first Stuart king on the English throre, united England and Scotland. Neverthless the next period was full of political and military fighting. Charles I had to oppose the growing power of the Parliament. Because of this he dissolved the Parliament in 1629. But then he needed money for his wars, so he had to summon the Parliament gaing in 1640. But instead of giving him money, they petitioned for a peaceful settlement with Scotland. So it was dissolved again. But a few years later the Parliament was summoned again and it opposed the king very much. Charles I tried to arrest some leaders of the Parliament and this was the biginning of civil war in England. It was won by the Parliament.
During the following period England was ruled by Oliver Cromwell as the Lord Protector and from 1649 to 1660 England was a republic. But after Oliver Cromwell’s death there was no suitable man for the leading position, so the monarchy was renewed. Charles II became the king. The 18th century was marked by the growing power of Britain in world policy. Britain took part in several important wars that decided not only about Europe, but also about the overseas territories. One of the wars which were very important for Britain was the Seven Years’ War, after which it received Canada, Florida, Dominika, Tobago, Grenada and some African settlements. At the end of the 18th century England became the richest country in the world and fully recovered from the loss of the American colonies. It was transformed from an agricultural to a manufactural country. The Napoleonic War (1803-1815) meant a new struggle between the two traditional rivals, Britain and France.

Napoleons plan to invade England failed when Admiral Nelson defeated the French at Trafalgar. The 19th century was marked also with wars: the Crimean War, The Second Afghan War and The Boer Wars. The WW I began in 1914. During the first two years the Germans invaded Belgium, swept through France, and were turned back by Marshall Foch. The Allies and the Germans then engaged in trench warfare on the west front. The Russian attacked Germany but weren’t very successful. In 1917 the USA entered the war and the Soviet Russia withdrew from the conflict. The Allies led by Marshall Foch won in 1918. The terms of peace were dictated at the Treaty of Paris which was signed on January 25, 1919. In 1938 Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain together with the representatives of France and Italy signed a pact with Hitler in Munich allowing Germany to have the Sudetenland. This did not prevent the Germans from seizing the rest of Bohemia and Moravia (Slovakia became a satelite state) soon afterwards. On September 1, 1939, the Germans invaded Poland and Britain declared war on Germany on September 3. The WW II began. In 1940 German forces seized Denmark, Norway, Belgium and Holland. Britain was not able to prevent this because of her weak land forces. Italy entered the war on Germany’s side. France capitulated. Winston Churchill became the Prime Minister of Britain. In the Battle of Britain the German Luftwaffe inflicted great damage of London and other cities, but was defeated by the Royal Air Force. In 1941 Germany conquered Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete and invaded Russia. At the same time when the Germans were defeated in front of Moscow, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the USA entered the war. In 1944 the Allies landed in Italy and in France(Normandy). In 1945 Germany was defeated by the Allies and Japan capitulated shortly after the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The WW II ended on September 2, 1945. The Postdam Conference declared that Germany, including Berlin, should be divided into 4 zones governed by the British, French, American and Russian authorities. During the decade after the WW II Britain had to recognize the independence of the majority of its colonies. Nevertheless, most remained members of the Commonwealth.

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History of Great Britain