History of Great Britain

Pre – Celtic Period – (before 800 BC)

• Stonehenge

Celtic Period (800 BC – AD 43)

• Iron Age

• Brythons (indigenous peoples inhabiting the island of Great Britain south of the river Forth) – the name Britain

Roman Period (AD 43 – 410)

• network of roads• Hadrian’s Wall

Anglo – Saxon Period (410 – 1066)

• 7th century – 7 kingdoms (Heptarchy) Northumbria, Mercia, Kent, East Anglia, Essex, Sussex and Wessex– various dialects of English

• 829 – Egbert – King of Wessex united them -> 1st English King

• 9th century – Vikings

Norman Period (1066 – 1154)• 1066 – the Battle of Hastings – Normans led

by William, Duke of Normandy (William the Conqueror) defeated the Saxon King Harold

• French nobility – influence on language• William was crowned king on Christmas Day,

1066 at Westminster Abbey

Magna Carta

• signed by King John in 1215• guarantee of rights and rule of law• accept that King‘s will could be

bound by the law

the Hundred’s Year War

• 1338 – 1453• conflict between two royal houses

for the French throne• England (House of Plantagenet)

defeated

the Wars of the Roses

• 1455 – 1485• series of dynastic civil wars• the House of Lancaster (red rose) X the House

of York (white rose)• Henry Tudor (Lanc.) defeated Richard III (York)

-> Henry VII , he married Elizabeth of York -> end of fighting

Other important events

• 1543 – the Church of England separated from the authority of the Pope

• 1558 – 1603 - Queen Elizabeth I – Britain – major sea power

• 1642 – 1649 – Civil War (Charles I against supporters of Parliament) -> Oliver Cromwell established a republic; 1660 – monarchy restored

• 1688 – Glorious Revolution – confirmation of the sovereignty of Parliament

• 1760s – 1850s – the Industrial Revolution – industrialisation and urbanisation (technological innovations, extension of the right to vote, formation of trade unions, development of universal public education)

• 1815 – defeat of Napoleon – Britain’s role strengthened its position as the leading world power

1837 – 1901 – reign of Queen Victoria • 63 years and seven

months, longer than that of any other British monarch

• Victorian era, a time of industrial, political, and military progress within the United Kingdom

• great expansion of the British Empire; large parts of Africa and Asia added

• married her first cousin, Prince Albert (became favourite)

• World War I – huge casualties and economic losses

• 1921 – independence of Ireland

• 1927 – the formal name of the UK changed to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

• World War II – great bombing damage, the Battle of Britain (mainly 1940)