BRITISH HISTORY

TIMELINE
 9th century – Anglo-Saxons
886 Alfred the Great
• captured London
from invading Danes
• established a legal code
 11th century – Norman Conquest
• The death of king Edward the Confessor –
unrest in England
• Harold, king of England – fighting in the North
of England
• William of Normandy
– attacking the south in the meantime
– defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066
• French - dominating influence
 13th century – Magna Carta
1215 King John
signed Magna Carta
• restricted the power
of the ruler

• centuries later
basis for the
American Bill of Rights
of the US Constitution
 15th century – Wars of the Roses
The Lancastrians vs Yorkists (noble houses)
• 1485 – the last battle of civil war in England
– 30 years of civil war in England
– at Bosworth Field
– Lancastrian Henry Tudor’s army defeated the force
of the Yorkist Richard III.
– marriage between Henry and Elisabeth (Yorkish) –
peace to the country
 16th century – Church of England
The English Reformation
– Tudor Dynasty
– Henry VIII – wanted divorce from Catherine of
Aragon
– Henry founded the Church of England in 1534 and
got divorced (seperated from Roman Catholic
Church – Pope)
• attractive and charismatic
• wanted a male heir
• married Anne Boleyn (daughter Queen Elizabeth I)
17th century – Glorious Revolution
Civil War (1642-1651)
• between Parliamentarians (fought against King Charles
I, led by Oliver Cromwell) and Royalists (supported the
king)
• monarchy was restored in 1660 – Charles II succeeded
to the throne
Glorious Revolution (1688)
• bloodless invasion from Holland
• King James deposed (suspected of imposing the catholic
faith on the English)
• William of Orange + his wife Mary became joint
sovereigns
 18th century – British Empire
Britain and France – rivals

• British victories in West Africa, the West

Indies, and on the battlefields of Europe, India
and Quebec – established the British Empire
“on which the sun never set“
 19th century – Battle of Trafalgar
Admiral Nelson
• defeated French and Spanish fleet
• The battle of Trafalgar in 1805
Napoleon lost at Waterloo in 1815 – Britain
continued her colonial expansion
 Industrial Revolution
• 18th/19th century
• major social and economic changes
• fuelled the prosperity of Britain
– machine-based manufacturing
– canals, improved roads, railways, steam power
– the triumph of middle class of industrialists and businessmen
– population increase
– strict working conditions for poor people
– child labour – poor chance to survive
• workhouses sold children for work
 The Victorian Era
1837-1901
• named after the reign of Queen
Victoria, the longest in British
history
• continued the period of stability and economic
growth
• this period interested in literature (Charles
Dickens, W.M.Thackeray), theatre, music and
arts
 20th century
• after WWII – political and financial stability
• the UK – a founding member of NATO
• since 1973 – EU
• Brexit
 Questions
1. Who created a legal code?
2. When was the Battle of Hastings?
3. Who became the king after this battle?
4. What was Magna Carta?
5. How long did the civil war in the 15th-century England last?
6. Why did Henry VIII found the Church of England?
7. Why was King James II deposed?
8. Which line is the British Empire marked by?
9. What changes came with the Industrial Revolution?
10. Which period was the longest to have one ruler?