British History Project

About 3000 BC The Iberians inhabited many parts of Europe, including the British Isles. They came from the Spanish peninsula.

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  Used stone axes, tools made of antlers and bones.
  
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  Wooden and stone buildings
  
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  First roads
  
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  Not much is known about them, archaelogical excavations – only source.
  

Invaded the British Isles in two waves:

1. 
   600 BC – Gaels
   
2. 
   300 BC – Britons
   

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  Iberians were unable to fight back
  

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  brought the art of smelting iron
  
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  learned the art of pottery
  
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  lived in villages instead of towns
  
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  built forts on hilltops with ditches and ramparts
  
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  society free of classes, private property, exploitation
  
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  tamed and bred animals, grew wheat, corn, caught fish
  
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  large-scale artwork
  
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  ancestor of Irish, Welsh, Scottish languages
  

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  Stonehenge
  
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  Built in several stages from about 3000 BC
  
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  connected with the sun and the passing of the seasons
  
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  two stones circles and two stone horseshoes
  
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  The Bronze age 2100 -1650
  

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  Julius Caesar reached the channel in 55 BC.
  
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  Two successful raids: 55 and 54 BC
  
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  Forced to withdraw due to a rebellion in Gaul.
  
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  Claudius began the invasion in 43 AD.
  
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  Ruled as a colony, Celts weren’t slaves, had to pay taxes.
  

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  Joined forces with the romans to defeat a rival tribe.
  
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  Then Romans turned on the Iceni, Romans raped Boudicca’s daughters
  
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  Boudicca led a revolt in 61 AD, lost and killed herself with poison
  

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  A network of paved roads
  
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  Many cities and towns
  
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  Aquae Sulis, between 1st and 4th
  
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  Hadrian’s Wall, built in 122 to keep raiding Picts and Scots out, 70 miles long
  
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  Christianity
  

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  Romans left in 410
  
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  Angles, Jutes, Saxons started raiding
  
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  Within 100 years Mercia, Wessex are founded
  
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  Disliked towns, destroyed Roman villas, preferred small farming communities
  
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  By the 7th century trade increased, town sprang up.
  
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  The Celts were driven away to Wales, Scottish Highlands, other remote areas.
  
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  English descended from the language used by the Saxon invaders.
  
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  Anglo-Saxons were agricultural, no shops, self-sufficient.
  
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  The conversion of Anglo-Saxons in the 6th.
  
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  St. Augustine became the Archbishop of Canterbury
  
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  The Venerable Bede, father of English history, „Ecclesiastical History of the English People“
  
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  „Beowulf“
  
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  Wessex and king Egbert at the beginning of the 9th century were the strongest, united England under one rule.
  

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  During the 9th and 10th Vikings first came to plunder, then decided to stay
  
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  The Invasion was successful, Saxons didn’t have a navy nor a standing army
  
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  In 871 Danes invaded Wessex, King Alfred the Great led resistance
  
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  Danelaw was founded in the northern boundary, York was the capital
  

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  Could write and read.
  
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  Many books translated.
  
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  Translated „Eccle...
  
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  Ordered a history of England „The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle“.
  

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  In 1042 Edward the Confessor became king.
  
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  favoured the ducal house of Normandy, Norwegian royal house was displeased.
  

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  Harold Godwin claimed that Edward had promised him the throne on his deathbead.
  
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  Duke William of Normandy argued that he had been promised the throne in 1051.
  
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  Harold Hardraada (King of Norway) also claimed.
  

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  1066
  
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  Harold marched to meet the forces of Harald, won him at Stamford Bridge.
  
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  Duke William landed on the south coast near Hastings.
  
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  Harold collected a new army and marched to Hastings
  
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  Battle was won through deceit: Normans prentended to be retreating.
  
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  King Harold mortally wounded.
  
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  The last successful invasion of Britain
  
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  Depicted on Bayeux Tapestry
  
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  William of Normandy the new ruler, brought French culture, Anglo-Saxons treated as serfs, built White Tower (domination of London)
  
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  Rebellion
  
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  Domesday Book
  
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  William Rufus, Henry, Robert
  
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  Henry married Matilda to Geoffrey Plantagenet.
  

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  The first unquestioned ruler for a hundred years.
  
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  Adopted son of Stephen of Blois
  
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  inherited the English kingdom, Anjou, Maine, Touraine and other vast areas in France through wife Eleanor of Aquitane.
  
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  The struggle between church and king led to the murder of Thomas Becket.
  
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  Sons: John I, Richard II reigned for 7 months, spent most of the time on crusades.
  
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  Henry II
  

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  By 1204 had lost the Plantagenet dominions
  
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  Failed to recapture these lands, for that earned the nickname „Lackland“
  
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  Disputes with the pope and nobility
  
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  Magna Carta 1215, established principal rights and obligations of the crown and nobility. John I
  

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  John’s eldest son
  
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  Patronized arts, improvements to Westminster Abbey, construction of Salisbury Cathedral, University of Oxford
  
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  The First Parliament in 1265
  

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  The son of Isabella(daughter of Philip the Fair)
  
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  Claimed the French throne through his mother (male heirs of Philip had died) , but the French nobility recognised Philip IV as their king
  
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  In 1337 the Hundred Years’ War began.
  
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  In 1348 the Order of the Garter
  
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  From 1431 French started winning their territories back thanks to Joan of Arc.
  
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  Joan was burnt at the stake, but the French continued to dominate.
  
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  By 1453 only Calais was still under English control.
  

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  Had to face the Peasant’s Revolt
  
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  Wasn’t skilful, wasn’t popular among the people.
  
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  Leader of the peasants Wat Tyler
  
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  Peasants revolted because of taxes.
  
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  The revolt was put down.
  
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  Edward III
  

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  1455-1485
  
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  The returning English noblemen became unemployed.
  
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  The houses of Lancaster and York fought over the throne.
  
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  Richard II was forced from the throne.
  
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  Many Battles were fought between the two houses.
  
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  In 1485 Henry VII defeated Richard III.
  
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  Henry Tudor was crowned king as Henry VII, married Edward’s IV daughter, united the two houses.
  

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  1457 – 1509
  
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  founder of the Tudor dynasty
  
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  United the Lancasters and Yorks
  
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  Married Elizabeth of York
  

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  1491 – 1547
  
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  Formed the Anglican Church
  
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  the Act of Supremacy in 1534
  
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  Had six wives
  
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  Henry VIII
  

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  1516 - 1558
  
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  Tried to restore Catholicism
  
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  Married to Felipe II
  
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  Daughter of Henry VIII and Isabella
  

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  1533 – 1603
  
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  England became a superpower
  
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  the English Renaissance
  
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  Establishment of Virginia
  
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  The victory over Armada
  
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  William Shakespeare, culture and literature fluorishes.
  
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  Elizabeth I
  

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  1542 – 1567
  
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  Queen of Scotland
  
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  Was Catholic
  
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  Married to Francis II, Henry Darnley
  
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  Suspected of treason against Elizabeth
  

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  1566 – 1625
  
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  First king of England and Scotland
  
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  the Gunpowder plot
  
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  Paranoid
  

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  1600 – 1649
  
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  English Civil War
  
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  Executed by the Parliament
  
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  1599 – 1658
  
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  Civil War
  
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  Lord Protector of England
  
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  The English Republic, The Commonwealth
  
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  1630 - 1685
  
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  Son of Charles I
  
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  The Declaration of Breda in 1660
  
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  The Great Plague in 1665
  
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  The Great Fire in 1666
  
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  James II and the Glorious Revolution
  

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  1660 – 1727
  
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  First of the Hanoverian dynasty
  
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  A figure-head, didn’t speak English,
  
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  Parliament truly governed instead of him
  

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  1760 – 1820
  
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  Spoke English without an accent
  
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  Loss of American colonies
  
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  Napoleonic wars
  
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  Went insane
  
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  1676 - 1745
  
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  First Prime Minister of England
  
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  Led the political cabinet and made most of the decisions
  
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  A Whig
  
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  Tories vs Whigs
  
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  The Cabinet, the economy
  
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  New colonies
  

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  1688 – 1746
  
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  To restore the Stuart dynasty.
  
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  Organized by Jacobite movement.
  
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  Was crushed at the battle of Culloden
  

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  1803 – 1815
  
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  One of the greatest military conflicts
  
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  New revolutionary tactics and weapons
  
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  Ended with the banishment of Napoleon and the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty
  

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  1819 – 1901
  
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  Longest reigning British monarch
  
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  Mother of many children, „The Grandmother of Europe“
  
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  The last Hanover Monarch
  

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  1819 – 1861
  
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  Beloved husband
  
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  Profound influence on politics
  

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  Began in Britain
  
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  Manual labor was replaced
  
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  Beginning of the railways
  
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  Trade expansion
  
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  Had a profound effect on society
  

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  „Origin of Species“
  
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  The Great Exhibition in 1851
  
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  Antiseptic surgery
  
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  The rise of family values
  
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  electrical lighting
  
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  Charles Dickens, brought about a revolution of social ideas
  

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  1901 – 1910
  
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  British social class system was very rigid
  
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  1/3 of the population was poverty stricken
  
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  characterised by great and ostentatious displays of wealth, great optimism
  
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  The church no longer played a vital role
  

Edward VII

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  1914-1918
  
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  Prewar arms race
  
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  Trench and submarine warfare
  
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  3 mln total casualties
  
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  Severe economic damage
  

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  Britain increased in size
  
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  The Great Depression
  
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  Britain could no longer afford to keep an empire, statute of 1931
  
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  The British Commonwealth in 1947
  

Flag of British Commonwealth