HISTORY
UK
Prehistory: Land of the Celts and Celtic culture (since
8th century BC)
Important physical remnant: Stonehenge (built: 3050-
2300 BC) with the mystery of how it was built and its
purposes (ceremony/burial ground, astronomical clock,
sundial,...)
The Roman period (43-410 AD)
- 2 Celtic tribe (the Scots-from Ireland to Scotland, and
the Picts) allied against the Romans
 The Romans built the Hadrian’s wall
- Most of England and Wales: the Roman province of
Britannia
- The Romans had a long occupation of Britain but left
very little impact behind (most of the infrastructure
founded by the Romans were soon destroyed or fell
into disrepair and the only lasting reminder is place-
names)
Reason: The Roman occupation was a matter of
colonial control rather than large-scale settlement and
its influence was largely confined to towns/countryside
where most ppl lived
Germanic invasions (410-1066)
- The 5th century: the Angles & Saxons invaded Britain
and soon ruled the south-east
The Anglo-Saxons had little use of town and cities
BUT had great effects on the countryside:
- Introduce new farming methods
- Founded thousands of self-sufficient villages –
form the basis of English society for the next
thousand or so years
- Brought Christianity to the GB
- The Vikings invasion, halted by King Alfred ->
England was devided
-> 900s: Cultural and religious similarities merged two
divisions into one united kingdom.
Medieval Period I (Norman Britain, 1066-1154)
- Successful Norman invasion of England in 1066,
brought England into the mainstream of western
Europe.
- Formation of language and class division.
Notable event: The Battle of Hastings (1066) – the last
time Britain was successfully invaded.
US
The colonial era
 The first successful English colony was found at
Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. Early settlements
developed in New England, in the Middle Colonies
and the Southern Colonies
 A few years later, English Puritans came to
America.
 In 1620, the Puritans founded Plymouth Colony
(nowadays Massachusetts).
 In 1636 an English clergyman named Roger
William founded the colony of Rhode Island.
 By 1733 English settlers had founded 13
colonies along the Atlantic Coast, from New
Hampshire in the North to Georgia in the South.
 In North America, the French controlled Canada
and Louisiana, which included the vast Mississippi
River watershed.
 The end of the Seven Years' War between
England and France in 1763 left England in
control of Canada and all of North America east of
the Mississippi.
 In 1773 a group of patriots responded by
staging the Boston Tea Party to protest against tea
taxation.
 Revolutionary war broke out on April 19, 1775
 On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress
adopted a Declaration of Independence.
 The war officially ended with the Treaty of
Paris in 1783, by which England recognized
American independence.
A new nation
Avoid central power
 Government: three branches -- legislative
(Congress), executive (the president and the federal
agencies), and judicial (the federal courts)
- Wasington: favor a strong president and central
government
- Jefferson: prefer to allot more power to the state
Civil War (1861-1865)
- 1828: Andrew Jackson became the 7th US president
-> end of a political era dominated by the planter
aristocracy and the commercial aristocracy
- 1820: North & South debated the question of
whether slavery would be legal in western territories
- 1860: Abraham Lincoln became the 16th US
president -> a foe of slavery
- 1860: 11 states left the Union & declared to be
independent nation (The Confederate States of
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 Medieval Period II (1154-1485)
- The Anglo-Norman kingdom: the most powerful
political force in the British Isles -> the spead of
English mornarch to other parts of the British Isles
- English: The dominant language
- Cultural split still existed in the British Isles.
- The Norman culture after 250 years did not gain
predominance:
England: A strict feudal system: The beginning of
English class system
Kings -> Barons/great lords/nobles -> lesser lords ->
peasans (E.speaking Saxons)
- Germanic language, not the Norman language
(=French)
- The Anglo-Saxon concept of common law, not
Roman law
Scotland: Remain independent
a gradual shift to English language and customs (in the
lowlands)  culture split
Eastern Ireland: controlled by Anglo-Norman lords in
the name of the English king
The lords remained loyal to the English king
Wales: under the English king’s direct rule
The (Celtic) Welsh language and culture remained
strong.
Notable events:
- Magna Carta (1215)
- The Black Death (1348-1350 in Britain) -> The
shortage of labour + the increasing importance of
trade in towns => weaken the traditional ties
between the feudal lords and peasants.
- The Wars of the Roses (1455-1485) -> greatly
weakened the strength of great barons.
The 16th century
- The increasing power of the English monarch
- The reign of the Tudor dynasty (1485-1603)
Politics
• A system of government departments was
established
• Feudal barons were no longer needed for
making and implementing government policies
• Parliament was split into 2 ‘Houses’
Religion:
• the formation of the church of England
• The rise of Protestantism – majority religion in
England.
Ireland: Remained Catholic
Scotland: Calvinism ( a form of Protestantism) in
lowlands; highland still remained Catholic
America) >>The Civil War began
- The Civil War ended in 1865, put an end to slavery
and decided that the country was not a collection of
semi-independent states but an indivisible whole.
19th century
 Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865
 Andrew Johnson was the 17th president of
the United States in 1865
 A few years after the end of the Civil War,
the United States became a leading industrial
power, and shrewd businessmen made great
fortunes
 Unrestrained economic growth brought
dangers
 The late 19th century was a period of heavy
immigration, and many of the workers in the
new industries were foreign-born.
 Food prices were falling, and farmers had to
bear the costs of high shipping rates,
expensive mortgages, high taxes, and tariffs
on consumer goods.
 In 1867, the USA purchased Alaska from
Russia.
 In 1898, the war between the US and Spain
began.
 When the war was over, the United States
had gained a number of possessions from
Spain: Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico,
and Guam.
 In 1902 American troops left Cuba
 The Philippines obtained limited self-
government in 1907 and complete
independence in 1946.
 Puerto Rico became a self-governing
commonwealth within the United States.
 Hawaii became a state in 1959 (as did
Alaska).
WW1 (1914-1918)
 World War I in Europe in 1914, Woodrow
Wilson (28th) urged a policy of strict
American neutrality.
 In 1919, because of the failure of the Treaty
of Versailles, Americans were becoming
hostile to foreigners in their midst.
 1919: a series of terrorist bombings produced
the "Red Scare.“
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England: Anglicanism
- Britain was closer to the geographical centre of the
western civilization (not on the edge) because: The
country became an “island nation” + The exploration of
the Americas and other parts of the world
 The 17th century
- The Civil Wars (1642 - 1651)
Context:
- During 16 century, Parliament established its
th
supremacy over the monarchy in Britain.
- The rise of the Stuart dynasty.
- Conflict between the parliament and the Stuart
monarchs about their way of raising money.
- Puritanism and its classification of
immorality.
2 sides of the war:
- Cavaliers: Fun-loving, aristocratic royalist
- Roundheads: Over-serious, puritan The Great Depression
Parliamentarian -> WIN
Results:
- Execution of Charles I, the 2 nd son of James I
(1649)
- the exile of his son Charles II
- Cromwell, leader of the Parliamentary army
became ‘Lord Protector’ of the republic with a
military government
 Britain became a republic for the 1st and only
time.
- Powers of the monarch was limited: the monarch
could rule only with the support of Parliament.
- Origin of the split in society in modern Northern
Ireland
The 18th century
a. A politically stable period.
- Establishment of annual budget system.
- Two divisions in Parliament: The Whigs & The
Tories => be the beginning of the party system in
Britain
• 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
- Colonization & industrialization.
- The 1707 Act of Union created the United Kingdom.
The 1920s
 The age of Prohibition: in 1920 a
constitutional amendment outlawed the sale
of alcoholic beverages.
 The Roaring Twenties: the age of jazz and
spectacular silent movies and such fads as
flagpole-sitting and goldfish-swallowing.
 For big business, the 1920s were golden
years with booming markets for radios, home
appliances, synthetic textiles, and plastics.
 By 1932 thousands of American banks and
over 100,000 businesses had failed.
 Industrial production was cut in half, wages
had decreased 60 percent.
 One out of every four workers was
unemployed.
 Franklin D. Roosevelt the 32nd president of
the United States (1933-1945) had rushed
through Congress a great number of laws to
help the economy recover.
 Although Roosevelt's New Deal programs
did not end the Depression, the economy
improved.
WW2 (1939-1945)
 The bombing Pearl Harbor naval in Hawaii
in 1941 brought the US to the war.
 British and American forces landed in North
Africa in November 1942, proceeded to
Sicily and the Italian mainland in 1943, and
liberated Rome on June 4, 1944.
 In June 6, 1944, D-Day, allied forces landed
in Normandy.
 The Germans finally surrendered on May 5,
1945.
 In August of 1945, the USA used atomic
bombs against the cities of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki.
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b. Territory expansion
• This century was marked by cultural change
• Britain expanded its empire (for new market) in
– The Americas
– West African coast
– India
c. The 1st industrial revolution
• Causes: new markets + technological
innovations in manufacturing & transports…
• Industrial growth and urban development.
• The North being the industrial centre, the
reverse of today situation.
Greatest upheaval in the pattern of everyday life
since the Anglo-Saxon invasions:
- Areas of common lands disappeared as landowners
turned them into larger, more efficient farms Social
power and prestige rested on the possession of land in
the countryside
- Hundreds of thousands of people moved from rural
areas into new towns and cities Urban development
The 19th century
- The biggest empire in the world after the end of the
century
Ireland: British culture and way of life predominated
Canada, Australia and New Zealand: self-governed
but recognized the overall authority of British
government
India: British officials developed a distinctive Anglo-
Indian way of life, imposing British institution and
methods of government
Africa: most colonies started as trading bases on the
coast and had little British settlement, except for South Demonstrations protesting American involvement
Africa
- An enormous increase of wealth
- A change in attitude towards colonization (the white
man’s burden): British developed a sense of supreme
confidence, even arrogance, about their culture and
civilization
- Reform in political (more of a modern state) and
public life (human rights recognized in laws).
- A turn from industrial life-style to the country-side.
- The change in social structure
Victorian values:
- Most people lived in towns or cities.
- Set of moral values built.
- Depended on factory owners for their living ->
factory owners held the real power in the UK
The 20th century
a. World war (1901-1945)
- No longer the world’s richest country.
- A period of extremism during the first 20 years.
- Two major problems resolved:
Women’s right to vote – the Suffragettes
The Cold War (1946-1991)
 The cold war was between the United States and
its wartime ally the Soviet Union.
 In April 1949, the United States had allied with
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland,
Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway,
Portugal, and the United Kingdom to form the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
 On June 25, 1950, armed with Soviet weapons
and acting with Stalin's approval, North Korea's
army invaded South Korea. -> a commitment
from the United Nations to defend South Korea
was secured.
 The war lasted three years, and the final
settlement left Korea divided.
 From 1945 until 1970 the United States enjoyed a
long period of economic growth
- In 1960 John F. Kennedy was elected president
- In July of 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped
out of the Apollo 11 spacecraft and onto the
moon's surface
 Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.
 Lyndon B. Johnson managed to push through
Congress a number of new laws establishing
social programs including preschool education for
poor children, vocational training for dropouts
from school, and community service for slum
youths.
Vietnam War
 By 1968, 500,000 American troops were fighting
in Vietnam.
broke out on college campuses.
 Richard Nixon was elected president in 1968.
 He pursued a policy of Vietnamization, gradually
replacing American soldiers with Vietnamese.
 He re-established U.S. relations with the People's
Republic of China and negotiate the first Strategic
Arms Limitation Treaty with the Soviet Union.
 In 1972 he easily won re-election
The Watergate
 During that presidential campaign, however, five
men had been arrested for breaking into
Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate
office building in Washington.
 Tape recordings made by the president himself
revealed that he had been involved in that
scandal.
 On August 9, Richard Nixon became the only
U.S. president to resign from office.
Decades of change
 In late 1991, the Cold War came to an end.
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 New types and levels of taxation
- Urban working class made their voice heard.
(The Labour Party gradually replaced the Liberals
(‘descendants’ of the Whigs) as the main oppositions to
the Conservatives (‘descendants of the Tories))
- Trade unions able to self-organize.
- Divided community in Northern Ireland
b. 1945 onwards
- End of the British Empire
- Part of the Commonwealth, NATO and EU
- A major growth in population & large-scale
immigration
- Changing moral codes (people became more
individualistic and less differential)
- Labour Party and its Conservative rival alternating in
power
 After World War II, Democrats held majorities in
the Congress in both the House of
Representatives and the Senate.
 In 1980, Republican Ronald Reagan was elected
president .
 In 1988, Republican George Bush became the
next US president.
 When Iraq invaded oil-rich Kuwait in 1990, Bush
put together a multinational coalition that
liberated Kuwait early in 1991.
 Bill Clinton, a Democrat, is the 42th president.
 The economy was strong in the mid-1990s.
The war against terrorism
The Bush administration
 On September 11, 2001, terrorists carried out
a devastating attack on the World Trade
Center in New York City and the Pentagon
in Washington, D.C.
 Bush focused on tax cuts, education reform,
and an expanded role for church-based
charities in running social programs.
War of Afghanistan
 In early October the United States went to
war, bombing al-Qaeda training camps and
missile installations in Afghanistan
 Although the first phase of military action in
Afghanistan ended quickly, President Bush
warned Americans that the war against
terrorism would likely be a long one
involving many other countries.
War with Irag
 In early 2003 the United States and Britain
claimed that Iraq was not cooperating with
UN weapons inspectors, and they sought UN
authorization of force against Iraq.
 In March 2003 U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq