History of Great Britain
History is an interweaving of events and people, and its not just about kings and queens, its about ordinary people and how events influenced them. The British Isles have a rich history going back thousands of years.
The first evidence of human life was in 250 000 BC, after 200 000 years there was a new type of human people, who were ancestors of modern British, they were smaller and lived only 30 years.
After the Ice Age about 5 000 BC Britain became an island.
About 3 000 BC (New Stone Age) people arrived on boats, they were more intelligent, because they kept animals, grew corn, crops and knew how to make pottery.
The most interesting building from this period of time is STONEHENGE.
This Celtic place came into being in a few stages between years 3 050 and 1 600 BC. It is situated in the South of England. It is a circle giant of grey rocks. Inside the circle there is a complex in the form of horseshoe. This complex was used as an astronomical observatory. Its meaning and purpose remain a mystery.
And what is Stonehenge?
Aglo-Saxons named this building Stonehenge, which means a ‘hanging stone’.
A British stylist from the 17th century thought that it was a survival of Roman architecture. In the 18th and 19th centuries, people supposed that it was a sanctuary of the Druids who brought human victims there.
Today the majority of people think that Stonehenge is a ceremonial burial place or an astronomic calendar. Others believe that here aliens landed and used Stonehenge as a sensitive surface for their expeditions.
Between 600 and 800 BC Britain was invaded by the CELTS.
They were the ancestors of many people of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. They were tall, had fair or red hair, blue eyes, and came from Central Europe or Russia. They traded with Europe for money, used Roman coins, which are still used in Gall (France). They were ruled by the Druids, who performed ‘barbaric’ rituals, which involved human sacrifice. The Celts believed in an after-life.
They were organised in different tribes and at the head of tribes stood chiefs.
ROMAIN BRITAIN (55 BC – 440 AD)
In AD 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.
Hadrian’s Wall
On the order of Hadrian (117 – 138 AC) a defensive wall, which protected country against the invasion of wild tribes, was built in Northern Britain. Later it became a border between England and Scotland.
In the second half of the 5th century, there where attacks from Germany, led mainly by the 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 beginning of the 9th century, the Danes and the Norsemen attacked England (Vikings).
King Alfred the Great was successful in stopping their influence in the southern parts of the country. He started the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which was one of the most important historical works. In 1066 Harold was elected a new king but he was still only a boy. There William of Normandy (William the Conqueror) saw his chance and he defeated the army of Harold in the battle of Hastings. He controled Normandy (north of France). He was the king in England, too. Henry I,his son, issued a Charter of Liberties. Henry’s only son drowned in the sea.
A very famous king is 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.
Hundred years’ war
Starting in 1337, the Hundred Years’ War was a revival of the fighting between England and France. These two powers had engaged in minor battles against each other, on and off, for than a half dozen times in the past three hundred years. The war was officially fought over the French throne, the two contenders being the actual king of France, Phillip VI, and the king of England, Richard III, who claimed that he was the rightful heir. Realistically, the "heir to the throne" debate was an excuse for England to conquer more land, and thus gain more wealth. In the beginning, the war was a complete disaster for France. The English won three major battles, all of which were fought on French soil.
First came Crecy, in 1346. Here, a larger force of French knights was defeated through use of Britain’s secret weapon – longbow men. Longbow men were middle-class soldiers who trained their whole life using a six-foot bow, which could fire three times as fast as the French crossbows. In 1360, at the battle of Potiers, another large army of French knights was destroyed by English longbow men. Finally, a huge French army was defeated at Agincourt in 1415, once again because its knights made a daring but stupid charge into another formation of longbow men. These battles had a disastrous effect on France, as the thousands of knights who died as a result of these battles were the nobles, the leaders of society. In 1429, a French peasant girl named Joan of Arc lead a relief force that saved the French Army, under siege at Orleans. Even though Joan was captured by the British, accused of heresy and burned at stake, a new French King was crowned and quickly the tide of the war was turned. By 1452, England held only a tiny province in the north of France.
In years 1348 – 1349, Great plague - Black Death reached almost whole country, 33% of population died.
Richard II – Edward’s son, Black Prince’s son. The uncles of the young King Richard II were John, Duke of Lancaster (John of Gaunt), Edmund, Duke of York and Thomas, Duke of Gloucester. In 1399, Richard II was deposed and later murdered in Pontefrat Castle by ambitious nobles. Richard's body was displayed in the old St Paul's Cathedral for all to see that he was really dead, and he was then buried in Kings Langley Church. His body was eventually moved to Westminster Abbey in 1413.
The Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses (1455–1485) were collectively an intermittent civil war fought over the throne of England between adherents of the House of Lancaster and the House of York. Both houses were branches of the Plantagenet royal house, tracing their descent from King Edward III. The name Wars of the Roses was not used at the time, but has its origins in the badges chosen by the two royal houses, the Red Rose of Lancaster, whose retainers tended to favour red coats or red roses as their symbol, and the White Rose of York, whose men often sported white coats or white rose insignia.
The Tudors (1485 - 1603)
The Wars of the Roses ended when Henry Tudor became King Henry VII and married Elizabeth of York, and thus he joined the two houses.
Henry VIII is known as a king who had 6 wives and established the Church of England.
Catherine of Aragon - Henry VIII’s first wife and mother of Mary I
Anne Boleyn - Henry VIII’s second wife and mother of Elizabeth.
Jane Seymour - Henry VIII's third wife and mother or Edward VI.
Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII's fourth wife. She was divorced after six months.
Kathryn Howard, Henry VIII's fifth wife. She was executed for adultery after two years of marriage. Katherine Parr, Henry VIII's sixth wife. She outlived Henry and died in 1548.
He had three children: Mary I (Bloody Mary), Elizabeth I, Edward VI. Edward VI was only 9 years, when he became king and died when he was 16.
Mary I
After him ascended the throne the first queen after Mathilda - Mary I. Mary became Queen in 1553 following the death of her brother Edward and the deposement of Jane Grey. Her nickname was Bloody Mary, because she was very cruel and burnt Protestants.
Elizabeth I (1533-1603) became Queen of England in 1558 after her sister Mary died.
She was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn and had had a troubled childhood. Her mother had been executed when she was three years old and her father had married four more times. She enforced the Protestant religion by law. England became the leading power on the sea, which led to colonial development of the English power in America and East India. The Renaissance came to its height because of the works of many important artists (Shakespeare).
Mary, Queen of Scots
When Elizabeth's sister Mary, a Catholic, came to the throne in 1553 she made England Catholic again and Elizabeth was put into the Tower of London so that she could not lead a Protestant rebellion against Mary and take her place on the throne. In 1558 she married French king’s son. In 1561 she returned to Scotland and became queen and widow. Then she married Lord Darnley, she had him murdered by her lover Bothwell and married him. In 1568 she escaped to England for safety and was prisoner for 19 years by Elizabeth I. In 1603 she died - it was the end of Tudor period.
THE STUARTS ( 1603 – 1714 )
James I, the first Stuart king on the English throne, united England and Scotland. Nevertheless, 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 again 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 beginning of civil war in England. It was won by the Parliament. He was forced to sign Petition of Right. The King could only impose new taxes through parliament consent.
Charles II (1660-1685)
In 1666 was the great fire of London.
James II (1633-1701)
George I (1714-1727)
George II (1727-1760)
George III (1760-1820)
Industrial revolution (1760-1850)
Britain was the workshop of the world.
James Watt built in 1764 his first steam engine.
In 1764 spinning machine was invented and in 1785 a power machine for weaving was invented.
In 1779 John Wilkinson built the first iron bridge in the world over the river Severn.
Robert Fuctam built in 1807 the first steam ship.
George Stevenson built in 1814 first steam locomotive.
Napoleonic wars (1803-1815)
It meant a new struggle between the two traditional rivals, Britain and France. Napoleon’s plan to invade England failed when Admiral Nelson defeated the French at Trafalgar. In 1812 Napoleon was defeated in Russia. The final war was in 1815 in Waterloo when Napoleon was defeated by duke Wellington.
George IV (1820-1830)
William IV (1830-1837)
The cities and towns became overcrowded and unhealthy. In 1832 cholera returned and killed 31000 people.
Victoria ( 1837-1901)
In years 1845,1846,1847 20% of irish populatin died from hunger.
Edward VII
The First World War
The WW I began in 1914. The cause of the war was murder of Ferdinand D’este - successor to the Austrian throne.
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 satellite state) soon afterwards. On September 1, 1939, the Germans invaded Poland and Britain declared war on Germany on September 3.
Casualties
Allies:
Military dead: 5 million
Civilian deaths: 3 million
Total of dead: 8 million Central Powers:
Military dead: 4 million
Civilian deaths: 3 million
Total dead: 7 million
Combatants: Allies: Serbia, Russia, France, Romania, Belgium, British Empire, United States, Italy, others
Central Powers: Germany, Austria – Hungary, Bulgaria and Ottoman Empire
The World War II
The WW II began in 1939. 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 to London and other cities, but it 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.
In WW II 303 000 soldiers and 60 000 civilians were killed.
Today Elizabeth II is the Queen of Great Britain.
