HISTORY OF BRITAIN

Prof. CHIKHI
PRE-FEUDAL SOCIETY

• 3000 B.C. – The Iberians sail around west coast into Scotland and Scandinavia
• 750 B.C. – Gaels (Celts) – Scottish language and culture
• 500 B.C. – Britons (Celts) – Welsh culture
– The Britons drove the Gaels to the north (modern Scotland)
• 100 B.C. – The third group comes from Gaul
• The Celts was one of the first civilized cultures in Great Britain with their knowledge of
agriculture and trade.
THE ROMANS (AROUND 2000 YEARS AGO)

• 50 BC – 400 AD Roman rule has a large impact on England, which was the biggest single
influece on Britain.
THE ROMANS

43 A.D. – 410 A.D.

• The Romans moved north and west through British Tribes until they met the fearsome
Picts and the cold weather.
• Constant revolts
• 122 A.D. - Built Hadrian’s Wall
• Came to govern and trade,
not to settle
THE ANGLO-SAXONS

• Originally invited to defend against the Picts and Scots (Celts)

• Celts were defeated and pushed into Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
• 7 Kingdoms fought against each other
• King Alfred united kingdoms against the Danes
• Christianity helped link the kingdoms together
DANES (THE VIKINGS)

• Many battles between Danes and Anglo-Saxons during the 9th and 10th century A.D.
• Alfred (Anglo-Saxon King) defeats Guthrum (Dane) and make and agreement
- Danes allowed to rule the north of England
-Alfred forced the Danes to accept Christianity
• Move towards feudalism and class polarization
NORMANS AND THE RISE OF FEUDALISM

• William of Normandy arrived in 1066 to claim the throne

- The battle of Hastings
- Established strong monarchy
• Feudalism established
MEDIEVAL ENGLAND 1066 - 1485

• King William I confiscated the lands from the English

- The Norman system of land tenure

- Kept the Anglo-saxons system of sheriffs
• The French culture influence

- Using three languages in England

1. Norman-French
II. Latin
III. English
KING JOHN AND THE “THE GREAT CHARTER”

• Henry II – Increases power of British crown, class struggle

• 1213 A.D. – More class struggle
• 1215 A.D. – King John forced to sign the Magna Carta or “The Great Charter”
1- King will not exact extra payments from feudal vassals without their consent
2-Laws not to be modified by the arbitrary action of the king
3-If the king attempts to free himself from the law, vassals (nobles) have the right to
force the king to obey it
PARLIAMENT

• “All Estates Parliament” – 1265

-The beginning of Parliament
-Power of King Henry III is checked

• “Model Parliament” – 1295

-Henry’s son, Edward, recognized the need for change
-Beginning of the “commons” or representation of the middle class
DECLINE OF FEUDALISM

• The 100 Years War

• Economic changes
• The Black Death

-Rising of 1381
-The Lollards: against the abuses of the church
-Poll Tax – Started the rising
-Wat Tyler – Led peasants to London
-Serfs (lowest class) become free peasants or wage laborers
THE WAR OF THE ROSES (1455-1487)

• House of Lancaster and the House of York

-Feudal war in which the families fight over power, money, and land
-The two groups fight against each other and essentially destroy each other
-Weakens the feudal nobilty
THE TUDORS 1485 - 1603

• Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond (Wales) defeated King Richard II

• Henry VII laid the foundations of a powerfull state
• Henry VIII established the national church and built the Royal Navy
• Elizabeth I Kept England on the course of a sea power
GROWTH OF CAPITALISM

• Land market
• Cloth industry (wool)
• Enclosure movement
-Peasants were forced from the land
-People forced into cities
• The accumulation of capital and the supply of cheap labor paved the way for
development of capitalism
STRENGTHENING OF THE GOVERNMENT

• Henry VII (1457-1509)

-Put down revolts
-Strengthened the law courts
-Increased the income of the government
• England was relatively peaceful during this time
REFORMATION

• Discontent over the Catholic Church in Rome

• Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife – The permission was denied
• 1534 “Act of Supremacy” – Henry VIII declared head of the English Church
• Henry VIII took land formerly owned by the church and sold or gave them to his favorite
subjects
• Struggle between the English Church and Catolicism
• After the death of Henry VIII, Mary Tudor, his daughter, known as Bloody Mary, was
crowned Queen of England.
- Tried to recatholicise the country, but in vain.
- Executed hundreds of Protestants who refused to be Catholic again
• Elizabeth I ended the religious struggles
The Elizabethan Settlement
- The English Church is the official Church of England
THE ENGLISH RENAISSANCE

• Sir Thomas More – Humanist and Chancellor of England who was beheaded for refusing
to accept King Henry VIII as head of the Church of England
• William Shakespeare – The renowned English playwright and poet
• John Milton – English poet, pamphleteer, and historian
• Francis Bacon – Lord chancellor of England (1618-1621), lawyer, philosopher, and
master of the English tongue
FOREIGN TRADE AND THE COLONIES

• By the 15th century, cloth became the bulk of Britain’s trade

• Needed to find new trading routes
• John Hawkins (1532-1595) – Started skave trade in the second part of the 16th century
• Francis Drake (1545-1595) – Chartered Companies
East India Company
Eastland Company (Mediterranean)
Moscow Company (Russia and Central Asia)
THE STUARTS

• James I – Insisted on the “Divine Right of Kings”

• Charles I and Civil war – Conflict between the King and Parliament
- Tried to arrest members of Parliament
- Civil war begins January 5th, 1642
- Oliver Cromwell, leader of Parliaments army, won the war
THE COMMONWEALTH

• May 1649 – England declared a “Commonwealth”

-Ireland
-Scotland
-1653 – Cromwell is proclaimed “Lord Protector”
• Bourgeoisie wanted restoration of monarchy

-1660 Charles II proclaimed King of England

• William and Mary and “The Glorious Revolution”

-1689 – The Bill of Rights – Limited powers of the crown

BRITAIN AFTER THE REVOLUTION

• Foreign affairs
-Britain becomes a stronger sea and colonial power
-13 Colonies in America
-Seven Years (1756-1763) War with France in America and India
-Treaty of Paris
• House of Hanover and increasing power of Parliament
• Economy
DEVELOPING GREAT BRITAIN
GEORGE III
• After the wars with France (and Napoleon)
-HUGE debt from the war
-Fall in demand for manufactured goods
-Many factories closed
-300.000 soldiers in need of work
THE VICTORIAN AGE

• Protest and Reform

• The Corn Laws
-Imported corn is taxed
-The government wanted to protect its own economic interests
THE PETERLOO MASSACRE AND THE SIX ACTS

• Strikes and mass meetings were common

• In August 1819, a demonstration against the Corn Laws and a push for universal suffrage
was organised in Manchester
• The demonstration was suppressed and 11 people were killed and 400 injured
• After this incident, the government passed the “Six Acts”
- Stop radical newspapers
- Prevent large meetings
THE REFORM BILL – 1832

• Changes in Parliament
• The first Reform Bill primarily served to transfer voting privileges from the small
boroughs controlled by the nobility and gentry to the heavily populated industrial towns.
• No represantation within Parliament from the middle or lower class
• The Factory Act – 1833
- Limited the children’s working hours
• The Mines Act – 1842
- The work of Women and children under ten in mines is illegal
COLONIALISM

• The workshop of the world

-Goods were produced in mass quantities, markets were needed
-Britain expanded its colonies
EXPANSION

• Britain was an ‘empire on which the sun never set’

• India (increased control)
• China (The Opium Wars)
• Asia (Singapore and Burma)
• Africa
• Dominions of Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa
SOCIAL LIFE IN VICTORIAN BRITAIN

• Queen Victoria regained the monarchy its popularity

-She was made Empress of India
-She had conservative ideas over the crown
• The Darwin’s “The Origin of Species” was published and accepted
EDUCATION

• Oxford and Cambridge regained their popularity

-Produce Christian gentlemen
• Generally, to succed, the man had to have thrift, character, self-help, and duty
THE 20TH CENTURY TO 1960

• Britain and the great war

-After Victoria’s death, her son Edward VII became king
High living standards – Lower wages
Strikes
WORLD WAR I – 1914

• Two main changes in Britain

- Southern Ireland gained its independence
- Women won the right to vote
• Edward VIII was obliged to abdicate by the parliament after his attempts to marry an
American divorcee.
• His brother, George VI (Elizabeth II’s father) became king and ruled until 1952
WORLD WAR II

• Britain declared war on Germany.

• The then Soviet Union and the United States ranged on Britain’s side
- The British defeated the Germans
Bad living conditions
Financial problems
Political problems
• Remove Churchill and C. Atlee became prime minister
- Nationalized 20% of the British economy
- The Butler Education Act (1944), provided secondary education up to the age 15
- The National Health Act (1946), guaranteed free medical treatment and medecine
- The Free Insurance Act (1946), provided sickness and unemployment benefits and
retirement pensions
INTERNATIONAL LEVEL

• Pakistan and India got there independence

• The Council of Europe was founded
• The NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was set up
THE FIFTIES

• Britain and France decided to fight Egypt after Jamal Abdennasser’s decision to
nationalize the Suez Canal and refusal of the agreement made in 1956.
• Israel, too, attacked Egypt
THE SIXTIES & BEYOND

• Economically, there was a prosperity, there were higher wages, more freedom, more
tolerance
• Sex Discrimination Act – equality between man and women
• The Abortions Act – Abortions became legal
• The death penalty was abolished
70’S

• Britain became the ‘sick man of Europe’ as general consequences to the economic
problems
• Strikes, inflation, and unemployment
• Britain entered the EEC (European Economic Community) in 1973
• Britain discovered oil reserves and gas in the North Sea
• Britain’s first woman Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher ‘The Iron Lady’ in 1979
80’S

• Race riots
• Lack of trust between immigrant communities and the police
• Unemployment
• Discrimination among the blacks
• The violence of North Ireland attacks stretched over the sea
• But Britain remained a neighborly, organic, and closely-knit community