History of the United

Kingdom
The History of Invaders, Wars and Rulers
Outline
 Prehistory

 The Roman period (43 – 410)

 The Germanic invasion (410 – 1066)

 The medieval period (1066 – 1485)

 The sixteenth century

 The seventeenth century

 The eighteenth century

 The nineteenth century

 The twentieth century

 Historical Timeline

• 4000 - 1500
stone age man, the first farmers, Stonehenge
BC

• 1500 BC - 43
the age of hill forts and the Celts
AD

• 43 AD - 410 Roman Britain, they came, they saw, they

AD conquered

• 410 - 1066 the Romans left, the Anglo Saxons arrived, the
Normans conquered
Lancaster York
Restoration and Revolution, the
beginning of Empire
The German Georges rule Britain
Peace and prosperity, the
growth of Empire
carnage without a cause
• 1918
The after effects of World
-
War I, the General Strike
1939
 Prehistory
• 4000 - 1500
stone age man, the first farmers, Stonehenge
BC
• 1500 BC - 43 the age of hill forts and the Celts
AD

Iron Age Celtic culture

The Celts
 Arrived from Europe from 8th century B.C
 intermingled with people who were already there
Chief significance: Sense of mystery
 Astonishing monumental architecture
• The Celts (Celtic people) 800 – 400 B.C: introduced
pottery, farming and stone tools
Stonehenge
Remains
mysterious

Silbury Hill

The largest burial

mount in Europe
The Roman period (43-410)

The Roman army invaded

England and Wales

The ancient
Roman Republic
 The Roman period (43-410)
• Roman invasion (55 B.C)
• Julius Caesar

Reconstruction of the first invasion

Julius Caesar
 The Roman period (43-410)
Scotland: The Scots
allied with the Picts
(also Celtic) against the
A Celtic tribe (the Scots) Romans
migrated from Ireland to
Scotland
The Romans built the
Hadrian’s wall to protect
from attacks by the Scots
and the Picts
The Hadrian’s
Wall

(most of) England & Wales:

The Roman province of
Britannia
The Hadrian’s wall
 The Roman period (43-410)
 The Roman Empire in many parts of Europe
bequeathed
 A system of law and administration which forms the basis
of the modern system.
 A language which developed into the Roman family of
languages.
 In Britain: left neither
 Villas, baths, temples, roads, cities (including London
founded by the Roman were soon destroyed or fell into
despair.
• The only lasting reminder: place-names (e.g.
Chester, Lancaster and Gloucester, which
includes the Roman castra – a military camp)
• Reason: Roman influence was confined to
the towns, whereas the countryside largely
remains unchanged
 The Germanic invasion
 Germanic = German?
 Germanic people = early people who included the
Scandinavians, Anglo-Saxons and the Germans.
 The Anglo-Saxons
- The Angles: the modern word for a Germanic-speaking
people in what is now Germany.
- The Saxons: also in what is now Germany.
 Scandinavia: group of countries in northern Europe,
consisting of Norway and Sweden, with Denmark,
Finland and Iceland often included.
The Germanic invasion

Scandinavia

Germany
 5th century
 Invaders: tribes from north-western European
mainland
 The Anglo-Saxons soon had the south-east of
the country in their grasp
 In the west of the country, they were halted by
an army of Britons under the command of King
Arthur
 The Germanic invasion

King Arthur,
who fought
against the
invading
Anglo-
Saxons

Anglo-Saxons
5th century
 By the end of the 6th century, the Anglo-Saxons
predominated in nearly all of England and in parts
of southern Scotland.
 The Celtic Britons were either Saxonized or
driven westward.
 Scotland
 Wales
 Cornwall

Cornwall (in red)

• The Anglo- Saxons had a great effect on the
countryside
 Introduced new farming methods
 Founded thousands of self – sufficient villages –
form of the basis of the English society for the next
thousand or so years.
 The Germanic invasion
 8th century – another wave of Germanic Incasion
 The Vikings conquered and settled
 The extreme north and west of Scotland
 Coastal regions of Ireland
 In England, the Vikings were defeated by King Alfred
 An arrangement which divided England between
 The Wessex (King Alfred’s Saxon Kingdom) in the south
and west
 The “Danelaw” in the north and east
 The Germanic invasion
• King Alfred
• Noted for his defense of his
Kingdom against the Danish
Vikings
• Is the only English King to be
given the Epithet “the Great”

Statue of Alfred the Great

Wantage, Oxfordshire
 The Germanic invasion (in graphic)

The Celtic people were 10th century:

Saxonized or driven to Scotland=Gaelic kingdom
• South-west Scotland
Vikings
• Wales
8th century
• Cornwall

Celts
10th century: England Anglo-Saxons
8th century
= Germanic kingdom
B.C.
5th century
 The medieval period
 1066: the successful Norman invasion of
England
 Norman: the adj of Normandy, part of northern
France on the Channel coast
 Brought Britain into the mainstream of western
European culture
 Previously most links had been with Scandinavia
– after the Norman invasions, only in Scotland did
this link survive
 The medieval period
• Normandy
 The medieval period
• Germanic invasions  Norman invasions in the

 Large – scale (both by the medieval period

Anglo-Saxons and the  Small– scale

Vikings, all over Britain)  No Norman village or

 Germanic villages and Norman area of settlement

settlement  Norman soldiers were
given the ownership of land
and of the people living on it
 The medieval period
• A strict feudal system in England

King The beginning of

the English class system

Lesser lords
French-speaking Normans

Barons

Peasants English-speaking Saxons

 The beginning of
the English class system

 Words for living animals, e.g.

King
cow, pig, sheep <= Anglo-
Saxon words Lesser lords

 Words for the meat from the French-speaking

Normans
Barons
animals, e.g. beef, pork, mutton
<= Norman words Peasants English-speaking
Saxons
 Only the Norman normally ate
meat; the poor Anglo-Saxon
peasants did not.
 The medieval period
• Strong system of government
• The Anglo – Norman kingdom was easily the
most powerful political force in the British Isles.
• The authority of the English monarch gradually
extended to other parts of the British Isles in the
next 250 years
 The medieval period
 13th century
 Large part of eastern Ireland was controlled by
the Anglo-Saxon lords in the name of the English
King
 The whole of Wales was under the king’s direct
rule (the custom of naming the monarch’s eldest
son the “Prince of Wales” began)
 Scotland managed to remain politically
independent, but was obliged to fight occasional
wars
 The medieval period
Scotland: A few wars
Eastern Ireland: but still remain
controlled by independent
Anglo-Norman
lords in the name of
the English king England: A strict
feudal system
(king-landlords-
barons-peasants)
brought by the
Norman since
Th sion ry
inv cent
eN s

11th century
a
or 11
ma th

Wales: under the

u

English king’s direct

rule
 The medieval period
Eastern Ireland: controlled by Anglo- Scotland: A few wars
Norman lords in the name of the English
king but still remain
The lords remained loyal to independent
the English king but mostly
adopted the Gaelic language
and custom England: A strict feudal system
(king-landlords-barons-peasants)
brought by the Norman since 11th
century
Wales: under the English king’s • Germanic language,
direct rule
not the Norman
The (Celtic) Welsh language
Th sion ry
inv cent

language and culture • The Anglo-Saxon

eN s
a

remained strong, concept of common

orm 11

e.g. Eisteddfod law, not Roman law

u

an th
 The medieval period
• Parliament began its gradual evolution into the
democratic body which it is today
• “Parliament” <= the French word parler (to
speak)
• First used in the 13th century to describe an
assembly of nobles called together by the king
• In 1295, the Model Parliament set the pattern for
the future by including elected representatives
from urban and rural areas
 The medieval period
 Robin Hood
 Legendary folk hero
 King Richard I (1189-99) was
away; England was rules by his
brother John, who was unpopular
because of the taxes he imposed
 Robin Hood lived with his band of
“merry men” in Sherwood forests
outside Nottingham
 Stole from the rich and gave to
the poor
 Content
 Prehistory

 The Roman period (43 – 410)

 The Germanic invasion (410 – 1066)

 The medieval period (1066 – 1485)

 The sixteenth century

 The seventeenth century

 The eighteenth century

 The nineteenth century

 The twentieth century

 The 16 th
century

• Politics

• Religion

House of Lords

House of Commons
 The 16th century
• The Wars of the Roses
• The Bubonic Plague (the Black Death)
• The strength of the great barons had been
greatly weakened
• The shortage of labor
• The increasing importance of trade in the
towns
• Weaken the traditional ties between the feudal
lords and peasants
 The 16th century
 A system of government departments was established
 Staffed by professionals who depended for their position
on the monarch
 Feudal barons were no longer needed for
 Implementing government policy
 making government policy
 Parliament was split into 2 “Houses”
 The House of Lords = feudal aristocracy + leaders of the
Church
 The House of Commons = representatives from the towns +
landowners from rural areas
 The 16 th
century

• Politics

• Religion
 The 16th century
 Rejection of the Roman Church by Henry VIII
 Making himself as head of the “Church of England”
 Independent of Rome
 All church lands came under his control
 Gave him a large new source of income
 This rejection was political and personal rather than doctrinal,
unlike in much of the rest of Europe => the rise of
Protestantism
 This rejection accorded with a new spirit of patriotic
confidence in England as an “island nation”
 Exploration of Americas => England was closer to the
geographical center of western civilization instead of being on
the edge of it
 The 16th century
• Henry VIII
Religion in the 16th century
Scotland:
• Lowlands: Calvinism (a
form of Protestantism)
• Highlands: still
Ireland: remained Catholic
Catholic
England:
Protestantism in
the form of
Anglicanism,
both because of
patriotism and
religious
conviction
 Content
 Prehistory

 The Roman period (43 – 410)

 The Germanic invasion (410 – 1066)

 The medieval period (1066 – 1485)

 The sixteenth century

 The seventeenth century

 The eighteenth century

 The nineteenth century

 The twentieth century

 The 17th century
• 1603, James VI of
Scotland became James I
of England
=> Two kingdoms
(Scotland and England)

James I
 The 17 th
century
• Conflicts
 The Stuart Monarchs raised
money without parliament’s
agreement
 The rise of Puritanism
against Anglicanism
- Puritans regarded many Anglican
practices and Anglican hierarchical

Ann of Denmark, structure as immoral

wife of James I
• Conflicts => Civil War
 The 17th century
• Civil War

Aristocratic,
Cavaliers royalist

Puritan,
‘Roundheads’ Parliamentarian

Victory
 The 17th century
• Charles I, 2nd son of
James I
• 1st monarch in Europe to
be executed
• Charged of crimes
against his people

Charles I
 The 17th century
 Cromwell, leader of Parliamentary
army
 The “Lord Protector”
 Britain became a republic for the 1st
and only time
 Unpopular because
 Brutally crushed resistance in Ireland
 Puritan ethics: theatres and other
forms of amusement had been banned Oliver Cromwell
 The 17 th
century
• When Cromwell died, the
son of Charles I was asked to
return and take the throne
• James II, the 2nd surviving
son of Charles I
 Restored the Anglican Church
 Tried to give full rights to
Catholics and promoted them in
his government

James II
 The 17 th
century
 Conflicts between monarch and
Parliament soon re-emerged
 The “Glorious Revolution”
(bloodless)
 Power of the monarch was limited –
the monarch could rule only with the
William III
support of the Parliament
 Prince William of Orange and his
wife accepted the Parliament’s
invitation to become king and queen
(William III) James II
 The 17 th
century
 James II fled to Ireland
 James II in Ireland formed the James II

Catholic Irish army

 Was defeated
 Catholics were forbidden to vote or
even own land
 Division of Ulster
 Anti-Catholic Scottish Presbyterians
 The “native” Irish Catholics
 Formed the tragic split in society in
modern Northern Ireland
 Content
 Prehistory

 The Roman period (43 – 410)

 The Germanic invasion (410 – 1066)

 The medieval period (1066 – 1485)

 The sixteenth century

 The seventeenth century

 The eighteenth century

 The nineteenth century

 The twentieth century

 The 18 th
century
 Politically stable
 2 divisions within Parliament
 The Whigs = Parliamentarian’s “descendants”
• Believed in government by monarch and aristocracy
together
 The Tories
• Greater respect for the idea of the monarchy and the
importance of the Anglican Church
 Said to be the beginning of the party system in
Britain
 The 18th century
• This century was marked by cultural
change
• Britain expanded its empire in
 The Americas
 West African coast
 India
 The 18 th
century
• Increased trades with these new markets
=> Industrial Revolution

Industrial mode of production

Advances in agriculture
James Watt, who
invented the 1st
steam engine
Greatest upheaval in the pattern of
everyday life since the Anglo-Saxon
invasions
 The 18 th
century
Greatest upheaval in the pattern of
everyday life since the Anglo-Saxon invasions

Areas of common lands Hundreds of thousands

disappeared of people moved from
as landowners turned them rural areas into new
into larger, more efficient towns and cities
farms

Social power and prestige

Urban development
rested on the possession
However
of land in the countryside
 The 18th century

Lowland Scotland:
industrialization took
place
Northern
England
became the
industrial
heartland

London
dominated South
South Wales: England as a
industrializatio business and
n took place trading centre,
NOT as an
industrial one
 Content
 Prehistory

 The Roman period (43 – 410)

 The Germanic invasion (410 – 1066)

 The medieval period (1066 – 1485)

 The sixteenth century

 The seventeenth century

 The eighteenth century

 The nineteenth century

 The twentieth century

 The 19 th
century

• Expansion of the British Empire => the white

man’s burden
• Great changes in social structure
• Reforms in politics and human rights
• Nostalgia and protests against new lifestyle
 The 19 th
century
• Expansion of the British Empire
• Biggest empire the world has ever seen
 The 19th century
India: British officials
developed a distinctive
Ireland: British Anglo-Indian way of
culture and life, imposing British
way of life institution and methods
predominated of government

Canada, Australia
and New Zealand: Africa: most colonies
self-governed but started as trading bases
recognized the on the coast and had
overall authority of little British settlement,
British government except for South Africa
 The 19 th
century
• An enormous increase of wealth during the
century
• British developed a sense of supreme
confidence, even arrogance, about their culture
and civilization
• “The white man’s burden”
 A poem by Rudyard Kipling
 Content: other races are wild and have a “need” to be
civilized
 The 19th century

The white man’s burden This advertisement for soap uses the
– a satiric take theme of the White Man's Burden,
encouraging white people to teach
cleanliness to members of other races
 The 19th century
• Changes in social structure
In the past In the 19th century

Most people live in rural Most people lived in

areas towns and cities

Depended on landowners Depended on factory

for their living owners for their living

Together with the middle class of tradespeople

Victorian values Held the REAL POWER in

the country
 The 19th century
 One of the most memorable and
endearing of the English monarchs
 Usually associated with the
Victorian Era
 Scientific and technological
development
 Impressive economic development,
the Industrial Revolution
 Improvement of human rights
Queen Victoria
 Arts, architecture, literature flourished (1837-1901)
 The 19 th
century
• Reforms in politics and human rights
 Britain gradually turned into something
resembling a modern state
 Slavery and laws against people on
the basis of religion were abolished
 Laws were made to protect workers
 Public services such as the police
Sir Robert Peel
force was set up Prime Minister of the
U.K. (1834-1835)
Established the
London police force
 The 19th century
• Nostalgia and protests
against new lifestyle
 Writers and intellectuals
protested against the horrors of
the new lifestyle (Dickens)
 Many poets praised the
Charles Dickens
simplicity and beauty of the
Acclaimed as one of history’s
countryside greatest novelists
A reformist writer
(one who wrote about bad things
in order to change society for the
better)
 Content
 Prehistory

 The Roman period (43 – 410)

 The Germanic invasion (410 – 1066)

 The medieval period (1066 – 1485)

 The sixteenth century

 The seventeenth century

 The eighteenth century

 The nineteenth century

 The twentieth century

 The 20th century
 The first 20 years of the century: a period of
extremism
 From the beginning of this century, the urban
working finally began to make its voice head
 The Labor Party gradually replaced the Liberals
(“descendants” of the Whigs)
 The Conservatives (“descendants” of the Tories)
 Trade Union gathered momentum
 The 20th century

Winston
Churchill Margaret
Prime Minister Thatcher

In office: 1940- Prime Minister Tony Blair

1945 In office: 1979- Prime Minister
Political party: 1990
In office:
Conservative Political party: 1997-now
and Liberal Conservative
Political party: Queen
Labour Elizabeth II
(1926-)