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Britain was as powerful as France. This resulted from the growth of its industries and from the wealth of its large new trading empire. Britain now had the strongest navy in the world; the navy controlled Britain's own trade routes and endangered those of its enemies.
Britain had become wealthy through trade. This wealth, or "capital", made possible both an agricultural and an industrial revolution which made Britain the most advanced economy in the world. -
When Queen Anne, the last of the Stuarts, died in 1714, the Protestant ruler of Hanover, George, became king.
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When George, became king Tories wanted the deposed James II's son to return to Britain as James Ill. The only problem was that he had to give up Catholicism and accept the Anglican religion. But James would not give up his religion or his claim to the throne, so he tried to win it by force.
In 1715 he started a rebellion against George I. But the rebellion was a disaster and, George's army had little difficulty in defeating the English and Scottish "Jacobites", as Stuart supporters were known. -
The South Sea Company was a financial and trading organisation mainly dealing with Spanish America. It received trading rights to the South Seas in return for financing the British government's debt. When it was discovered that the directors of the profitless company had sold out, it sparked a massive panic and a major financial crash occurred in the City of London. Many people lost their fortunes, but Robert Walpole was able to bring back public confidence.
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Walpole never held the actual title of 'prime minister', but was given the powers that came to be associated with the office. George I also gave him 10 Downing Street, still the official residence of the prime minister.
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George I dies and is succeeded by the second Hanoverian king, George II
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Methodism was a new movement which met the needs of the growing industrial working class was led by a remarkable man called John Wesley. He was an Anglican priest who travelled around the country preaching and teaching.
Methodism dealt only with heavenly matters and did not question political or social injustices. -
The threat of a Jacobite rebellion (aimed at re-establishing the Stuart dynasty) continued into George II's reign. It continued to be a source of alarm until its final defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.
Culloden, the last battle fought on British soil, marked the defeat of the Jacobite revolt. Led by 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' - Charles Edward Stuart, the grandson of the deposed king James II - the Jacobites were fighting to restore the exiled Stuarts to the throne. -
Towards the end of the eighteenth century, the clan chiefs began to realise that money could be made from sheep for the wool trade. They began to push the people off the clan lands and to replace them with sheep, a process known as the clearances. The enclosed land was used mixed animal and cereal farms. Hundreds of thousands of Highlanders lost their old way of life so that their chiefs could make a profit from the land. Clan society in the Highlands had gone forever.
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The war between Britain and France that began in May 1756. Britain and her allies fought France in America, India and Europe. In 1762, Spain entered the war on the side of France. Britain emerged from the war victorious in 1763, and under the Treaty of Paris acquired Quebec, Florida, Minorca, large parts of India and the West Indies.
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George Ill came to the throne in 1760. He did not wish to continue an expensive war. In 1763 George III made peace with France in 1963.
During his reign, Britain lost its American colonies but emerged as a leading European power. -
John Wilkes was a member of Parliament who did not like the government of George Ill. Wilkes also believed that politics should be open to free discussion by everyone. Free speech, he believed, was the basic right of every individual.
Wilkes printed a strong attack on the government in his own newspaper, The North Briton. Wilkes was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London.
Wilkes fought back when he was tried in court and he won his case. -
The basic materials of the industrial revolution were cotton and woollen cloth. Better methods of production and new machinery were invented which replaced handwork. The production of cotton goods had been limited by the spinning process, which could not provide enough cotton thread for the weavers. In 1764 the spinning machine was invented which could do the work of several hand spinners.
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In 1764 there was a serious quarrel over taxation between the British government and its colonies in America. Colonists believed that there should be “no taxation without representation ".
In 1773 a group of colonists at the port of Boston threw a shipload of tea into the sea rather than pay tax on it. The event became known as "The Boston Tea Party".
In 1783 the American colonies declared their independence. The war gave strength to the new ideas of democracy and independence. -
In 1785 a power machine for weaving revolutionised cloth making. It allowed Britain to make cloth more cheaply than elsewhere. It also changed what had been a "cottage industry" done at home into a factory industry. Where workers had to keep work hours and rules set down by factory owners.
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The storming of the Bastille prison in Paris is generally held to mark the beginning of the French Revolution. This was a world-shattering event, in which the French monarchy was overthrown, the king, Louis XVI, executed and a republic established.
The French Revolution had created fear all over Europe. -
The European countries were defeated by Napoleon and forced to ally themselves with him. Most of Europe fell under Napoleon's control.
Britain decided to fight France at sea because it had a stronger navy. British policy was to damage French trade by preventing French ships, including their navy, from moving freely in and out of French seaports.
In 1814 after his disastrous invasion of Russia Napoleon surrendered. Finally, Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo in 1815. -
Riots occurred, led by the unemployed who had been replaced in factories by machines. In 1799 some of these rioters, known as Luddites, started to break up the machinery which had put them out of work. The government supported the factory owners and made the breaking of machinery punishable by death. The government was afraid of a revolution like the one in France.
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After the industrial revolution, nineteenth-century Britain was the "workshop" of the world. British factories were producing more than any other country in the world.
The rapid growth of the middle class was part of the enormous rise in the population.
Britain enjoyed a strong place in European councils after the defeat of Napoleon. Britain wanted two main things in Europe: a "balance of power" which would prevent any single nation from becoming too strong, and a free market. -
Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Ireland were formally joined under the Act of Union to create the United Kingdom in 1801. The Irish parliament in Dublin was dissolved. Despite the Union, Catholics were still unable to vote at general elections or to hold parliamentary and most public offices.
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In 1806, parliament passed an act to abolish the supply of slaves on British ships to foreign and conquered colonies. This was followed up by the total abolition of the British slave trade in 1807. It ended more than 200 years of slave trading. The Abolition of Slavery Act, passed in 1833, freed all slaves in the British empire and provided for compensation for their owners.
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George III, the longest-serving Hanoverian monarch, died after occupying the throne for 60 years. His eldest son, who had served as prince regent from 1811 to 1820 when his father was declared insane, became George IV. The new king became deeply unpopular for his extravagant lifestyle and scandalous private life.
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The first public steam railway ran between the north eastern towns of Stockton and Darlington. This ushered in the 'Railway Age', with the building of an extensive railway network in Britain providing a fast and economical means of transport and communication.
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In 1828, parliament had repealed the Test and Corporation Acts which had banned Catholics from holding government and public offices or from attending universities. The Catholic Relief Act of 1829 went further, granting full emancipation to British and Irish Catholics.
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Besides hunger, crime was the mark of poverty. Peel had turned his attention to this problem already, by establishing a regular police force for London in 1829. The new police forces soon proved themselves successful, as much crime was pushed out of the larger cities, then out of towns and then out of the countryside. Peel was able to show that certainty of punishment was far more effective than cruelty of punishment.
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His reign was dominated by the 'Reform Crisis' - political wrangling over reform to parliamentary representation, including issues like extending the franchise (those allowed to vote) and redrawing electoral boundaries. William's personal involvement in the crisis damaged his standing.
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The Great Reform Act made important changes to parliamentary constituencies and extended the franchise (those allowed to vote), but did not introduce parliamentary democracy or a secret ballot.
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Factory Act restricts work hours for women and children in textile mills. Mill owners were required to show that children up to age 13 received two hours of schooling, six days per week.
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Six farm labourers from the Dorset village of Tolpuddle set up a 'friendly society' to campaign for better pay and working conditions. They were put on trial and sent to penal colonies in Australia, but were granted pardons in 1836 following a public outcry. The so-called 'Tolpuddle Martyrs' are credited with helping to launch the trade union movement.
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Victoria became queen at the age of 18 after the death of her uncle, William IV. She reigned for more than 60 years, longer than any other British monarch. Her reign was a period of significant social, economic and technological change, which saw the expansion of Britain's industrial power and of the British empire.
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In 1851 Queen Victoria opened the Great Exhibition of the Industries of All Nations inside the Crystal Palace, in London. The exhibition aimed to show the world the greatness of Britain's industry.
The event attracted almost six million visitors during the five summer months it was open. Many ordinary people travelled to London for the first time on cheap-rate excursion trains. -
In 1851, an official population survey was carried out for the first time. It showed that the nation was not as religious as its people had believed. Only 60 percent of the population went to church. The survey also showed that of these only 5.2 million called themselves Anglicans, compared with 4.5 million Nonconformists and almost half a million Catholics.
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Britain feared that Russia would destroy the weak Ottoman Empire, which controlled Turkey and the Arab countries. This would change the balance of power in Europe, and be a danger to Britain's sea and land routes to India. When Russia and Ottoman Turkey went to war Britain joined the Turks against Russia in Crimea in 1854, in order to stop Russian expansion into Asiatic Turkey in the Black Sea area.
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William Gladstone's Liberal government introduced voting by secret ballot five years after the Second Reform Act had substantially increased the size of the electorate. This realised one of the key points of the reforming 'Chartist' petition of 1838. Voting in secret was not uncontroversial. The proposal was fiercely contested by the House of Lords, which considered it 'cowardly' and 'unmanly'. It was first employed at a by-election in Pontefract in August of the same year.
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A man thought of his wife and daughters as his property, and so did the law. It was almost impossible for women to get a divorce, even for those rich enough to pay the legal costs. Until 1882, a woman had to give up all her property to her husband when she married him. And until 1891, husbands were still allowed by law to beat their wives with a stick and to lock them up in a room if they wished.
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In 1897 women started to demand the right to vote in national elections. Within ten years these women, the "suffragettes", had become famous for the extreme methods they were willing to use.
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At the start of the twentieth century, Britain was still the greatest world power. By the middle of the century, although still one of the "Big Three", Britain was clearly weaker than either the United States or the Soviet Union. By the end of the seventies, Britain was no longer a world power at all and was not even among the richest European powers.
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Although it was formally established in 1900, its beginnings dated from 1874, as part of the trade union movement. The trade unions themselves had grown enormously.
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Both Edward VII, who died in 1910, and his son, George V, ensured that the monarchy was more active than it had been in the latter years of Victoria's reign, but they exercised their influence discreetly. Edward's funeral brought together the royalty of Europe - many of them his relations - for the last time before war broke out in 1914.
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The heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb terrorist, in Sarajevo. The Austro-Hungarian government blamed Serbia and used the killing as a pretext for war. For most Britons, this was a remote and insignificant event, but the conflict would escalate sharply, drawing in the 'Great Powers' and ultimately resulting in the outbreak of World War One.
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When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia in July, Serbia's ally Russia mobilised its army. Austria-Hungary's ally, Germany, in turn, declared war on Russia. Russia's alliance with France now threatened Germany with war on two fronts. Germany acted to quickly neutralise France by a well-planned surprise invasion through neutral Belgium - the 'Schlieffen Plan'. Britain, as guarantor of Belgian neutrality, told Germany to withdraw. The ultimatum expired on 4 August and Britain duly declared war.
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Conscription was not started until 1916. Until then the British army was made up of volunteers. Different kinds of pressure were put on young men to join up. Some women began giving white feathers to young men in the street who were not in uniform. Posters were issued and music-hall songs were composed which carried the same message.
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Irish nationalists, supplied with German rifles, rebelled at Easter and seized key buildings in Dublin, including the post office where their final stand was made. Most of the population was unsupportive and the rebellion was crushed within a week. The British executed the leaders, inadvertently making martyrs of the rebels and inspiring those who followed.
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On 30 May 1916, the German fleet left port with the cruisers leading the way as a bait to lure out the British fleet. On the same day Admiral Jellicoe, leading the British fleet, put to sea. The two fleets, 259 ships in all met off the coast of Denmark in the Battle of Jutland. Smoke, mist and nightfall prevented a really decisive outcome. Both fleets returned home, the British having lost fourteen ships and 6,000 men. German losses were eleven ships and 2,500 men.
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The static trench warfare of the Western Front prompted the British to develop a self-propelled vehicle that could cross barbed wire and trenches and protect those inside from enemy fire. The 'Mark 1' tank was first employed during the Battle of the Somme, at Flers-Courcelette, but it was not until November 1917 that they were employed in decisive numbers. Once problems with reliability were overcome, the British and French used their new weapon to considerable effect against the Germans.
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In 1917, the USA entered the war on the Allied side. Americans had been angered by the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 and furious when the Germans announced early in 1917 that their U-boats would attack any ship trading with Britain. This was the main reason they decided to declare war on Germany. The old links between the United States and Britain and a shared belief in democracy also played a part. President Woodrow Wilson said that he wanted to make a world safe for democracy'.
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In February 1917, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia was forced to abdicate after serious reverses in the war against Germany. A provisional government of liberals and moderate socialists was established, but it also failed on the battlefield and was overthrown in a carefully planned coup by the Bolsheviks, who promised 'peace, bread and land' to the war-weary Russian people. Inspired by the writings of Karl Mar, the Bolsheviks established a government based on the 'soviet'.
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Seeking peace at virtually any cost, the new communist Russian government under Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire). The terms were humiliating. Russia handed over massive swathes of territory, constituting a third of its population, 50% of its industry and 90% of its coal mines. Opposition to the treaty helped ignite the Russian Civil War, which lasted until 1922.
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By September 1918, Germany was exhausted and saw no prospect of victory. The Allies' terms became progressively harsher as they pressed their advantage on the Western Front, both to ensure the removal of Kaiser Wilhelm II as head of state and to guard against the future renewal of hostilities by Germany. Despite onerous terms, Germany eventually capitulated and signed an armistice that brought the fighting on the Western Front to a halt at 11 am on 11 November 1918.
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Seventy delegates representing the 32 allied and associated powers met to decide on peace treaties following the end of World War One. In reality, the treaties were mainly the work of the British, French, Italian and US leaders. One of the treaties prepared at the conference, the Treaty of Versailles, imposed harsh reparations on Germany, and is widely considered to have contributed to the eventual outbreak of World War Two.
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In 1920 the Allies had created The League of Nations which would enable nations to cooperate with each other. Although the League did not forbid war, its members agreed to respect and preserve the borders and territory of all other members. ´
The aims of the League were:
1. to deal with disputes among nations;
2. to prevent war;
3. to protect the independence of countries and safeguard their borders;
4. to encourage each country to reduce its armaments. -
The Anglo -Irish Treaty of 1921 led to civil war between the Irish themselves. By this treaty the new "Irish Free State" accepted continued British use of certain ports, the sovereignty of the British Crown, and most important of all, the loss of Northern Ireland, which remained under British control. The pro-Treaty forces won, and the Republicans, who insisted that all Ireland, including Northern Ireland, should be an independent republic, were defeated.
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The Stresa Conference was intended to form a united front against Adolf Hitler's Germany, but Italian leader Benito Mussolini had more in common with Hitler than with the western democracies. On 2 October, he invaded Ethiopia. Despite public sanctions, in a secret agreement dubbed the Hoare-Laval Pact, France and Britain devised a partition plan which gave Italy two-thirds of Ethiopia.
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The crash of the American Wall Street financial markets in 1929 crippled the economies of the US and Europe, resulting in the Great Depression. In Britain, unemployment had peaked just below three million by 1932. It was only with rearmament in the period immediately before the outbreak of World War Two that the worst of the Depression could be said to be over.
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On 1 September, German forces invaded Poland. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain still hoped to avoid declaring war on Germany, but a threatened revolt in the cabinet and strong public feeling that Hitler should be confronted forced him to honour the Anglo-Polish Treaty. Britain was at war with Germany for the second time in 25 years.
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People seemed more stirred by the Abdication Crisis of 1936. In January of that year, King George V died. The new King, Edward VIII, was relaxed, informal, fun-loving and unmarried. He had also shown some sympathy for the unemployed in South Wales, following a visit there. Later in 1936, he declared that he wanted to marry an American divorcee, Mrs Wallis Simpson. Edward abdicated in order to marry her, and his brother became King George VI.
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Edward VIII's younger brother, the Duke of York, was crowned George VI. He and his wife Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother), became inspirational figures for Britain during World War Two. The monarch visited his armies on several battlefronts and founded the George Cross for 'acts of the greatest heroism or of the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger'.
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This guarantee formally ended the policy of appeasement, and the British government reluctantly began to prepare for war. Conscription was introduced for the first time in peacetime on 27 April, with little protest. On 23 August, the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact put paid to British hopes of a Russian ally. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain warned Adolf Hitler that Britain would support Poland if it was attacked by Germany.
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Following the disastrous Norwegian campaign, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain faced heavy criticism at home. By early May, Chamberlain had lost the confidence of the House of Commons. Labour ministers refused to serve in a national coalition with Chamberlain as leader, so he resigned. Churchill became prime minister on 10 May, the same day Germany invaded Holland and Belgium.
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America entered the war on the Allied side in 1941, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and subsequent German declaration of war on the United States. Millions of men and thousands of planes and tanks were deployed to Britain, which became a base for American airmen flying bombing raids over Europe, a staging post for American troops on their way to fight in North Africa, and crucially the launching point for the D-Day invasions that began the liberation of Western Europe.
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The war leaders agreed that Germany should be forced to surrender unconditionally and would be divided into four zones between Britain, the Soviet Union, France and the United States. It was also agreed that the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan after Germany was defeated.
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German forces had been utterly defeated by the end of April 1945. Adolf Hitler committed suicide on 30 April as Soviet forces closed in on his Berlin bunker. The German Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz surrendered to Allied General Dwight Eisenhower in France on 7 May. The following day was officially celebrated in Britain as Victory in Europe Day. The entire country came to a standstill as people celebrated the end of war.
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On 6 August, an atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima by the American bomber 'Enola Gay'. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on the port city of Nagasaki. In all, 140,000 people perished. Less than a week later, the Japanese leadership agreed to an unconditional surrender, and the Emperor Hirohito broadcast his nation's the capitulation over the radio. Victory over Japan day also marked the end of World War Two.
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At the Yalta Conference in early 1945, the 'Big Three' of Britain's Winston Churchill, US President Franklin D Roosevelt and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin agreed to establish a new global organisation. The structure and charter of the organisation were established at another conference in San Francisco. Britain became one of the five 'security council' members, with a power of veto. On 24 October, the UN officially came into existence when its members ratified its charter.
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The Republic of Ireland Act (1948) came into force on Easter Monday, April 1949, ending vestigial British authority in Eire. Under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, the British crown had retained some authority in the Irish Free State, although this was limited by the 1937 constitution. The 1948 Act repealed the External Relations Act and took Eire out of the Commonwealth.
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Princess Elizabeth was in Kenya when news of her father's death reached her. She immediately returned to Britain and was crowned on 2 June 1953. Elizabeth II proved an experienced and skilful adviser of successive prime ministers, but was careful to main constitutional conventions and not take a political stand publicly. Nonetheless, she held strong opinions, not least a belief in the Commonwealth. Under Elizabeth, members of the royal family maintained their important charitable role.
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Winston Churchill was by now 80 and his health was declining. He was succeeded as prime minister by Anthony Eden, who had also served as Churchill's Foreign Secretary and was widely recognised as his 'heir apparent'.
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Britain, Ireland and Denmark joined the European Economic Community (EEC), bringing the total number of member states to nine. The three countries, together with Norway, signed an accession treaty in 1972, but Norwegians rejected the treaty in a referendum. Britain held a referendum on the matter in 1975, after renegotiating its terms of entry, and 67% voted in favour of staying in the EEC.
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Margaret Thatcher, party leader since 1975, became Britain's first female prime minister with a majority of 43 seats. The Conservatives won 43.9% of the votes and 339 seats, Labour 36.9% and 269 seats, and Liberals 13.8%. She came to power on the promise that the Conservatives would cut income tax, reduce public expenditure, make it easier for people to buy their own homes and curb the power of the unions.
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Three days after the invasion, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sent a naval task force to liberate the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. The subsequent conflict cost the lives of 655 Argentine and 255 British servicemen, many of them sailors who died during attacks on Royal Navy warships. The conflict ended on 14 June when the commander of the Argentine garrison at Port Stanley surrendered to British troops.
