C4: UK's History

• First people who lived in Britain were hunter-gatherers
• Britain was first connected to the continent but became permanently separated by the Channel about 10,000 years ago
• First farmers arrived about 6,000 years ago
• Their ancestors were believed to be from south-east Europe
• People built houses, tombs, monuments
• Most famous landmarks
  • Stonehenge in Wiltshire - used for special ceremonies
  • Skara Brae in Orkney, Scotland - best preserved prehistoric village, helped archaeologists to understand more about people lived near the end of Stone Age

• People learned to make bronze 4,000 years ago.
• People lived in roundhouses and and made tombs (called round barrows), tools, ornaments and weapons made from bronze and gold.
• People in this age are accomplished metalworkers.

• People learned to make weapons and tools out of iron
• People lived in roundhouses, grouped together into larger settlements, and sometimes defended sites called hill forts
• Most famous hill fort:
  • Maiden Castle in Dorset
• Most people were farmers, craft workers, or warriors
• They used Celtic language
• They made the first coins to be minted in Britain
  • This marks the beginnings of British history

• Julius Caesar
  • Led Roman invasion of Britain in 55 BC and was unsuccesful
• Emperor Claudius
  • Led Roman invasion of Britain in 43 AD
  • There was resistance but was successful
• Boudica, Queen of Iceni (now Eastern England)
  • One of the Tribal leaders who fought against the Romans

• Scotland - never conquered by the Romans
• Emperor Hadrian
  • Built a wall in North of England to keep out the Picts (ancestors of Scottish people)
  • The wall consists of forts
• Parts of Hadrian's Wall that still exists:
  • Forts of Housesteads and Vindolanda
  • Is a UNESCO (United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage
• Romans remained for 400 years and built roads and public buildings, created a structure of law, and introduced new plants and animals.

• Romans left in 410 AD.
• Britain was invaded by northen Europe tribes: the Jutes, the Angles and the Saxons.
• About 600 AD, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were established mainly in England (now).
• Burial place of one of the kings: Sutton Hoo in modern Suffolk.
• Parts of Britain (now Wales and Scotland) remained free from Anglo - Saxon rule.

• The Anglo-Saxons were not Christians but missionaries came to preach Christianity.
• Most famous missionaries:
  • St. Patrick - patron saint of Ireland
  • St. Columba - founded a monastery on the island of Iona, off the coast of Scotland
  • St Augustine - first Archbishop of Canterbury

• Vikings came from Denmark and Sweden
• First visited Britain in 789 AD to raid coastal towns and take away goods and slaves
• King Alfred the Great
  • Anglo-Saxon kingdoms united under him and he defeated the Vikings
• Many vikings remained in Britain and lived in an area known as the Danelaw (consists of places such as Grimsby and Scunthorpe which comes from Viking language)
• Cnut or Canute
  • The first of the Danish kings who defeated the last Anglo-Saxon king
• Kenneth MacAlpin
  • A king
  • People (who lived in what is now Scotland) united under him due to threat of Viking attacks

• William, Duke of Normandy
  • Normandy - now Northern France
  • Led invasion in 1066
  • Defeated Harold, the Saxon King in the Battle of Hastings
  • Became the King of England and is also known as William the Conqueror
• Bayeux Tapestry
  • Great piece of embroidery that commemorates the Battle of Hastings
• The Norman Conquest
  • Last successful foreign invasion of England
  • Led to many changes in the government and social structures in England
• Norman French
  • Language used of new ruling class
  • Influenced the development of the English language
• Wales - Initially conquered by the Normans but gradually fought it back
• Scotland - Normans took over some land on the border but didn't invade Scotland
• Domesday Book
  • Contains list of all towns and villages, people who lived there, who owned the land and what animals they owned.

• Middle Ages - period after Norman Conquest til about 1845
• English Kings fought with the Welsh, Scottish and Irish. Won against Wales, Lost against Scots.
• King Edward I of England
  • Introduced the Statue of Rhuddan in 1284 - annexed Wales to the Crown of England
  • Castles (Cowny and Caernarvon) - built to maintain this power
• Mid 15th century - last Welsh rebellions had been defeated.
• English laws and language were introduced.
• Robert the Bruce
  • Defeated the English at the Battle of Bannockburn
    
  • Scotland remained unconquered.
• Ireland - independent country at first
  • English troops went to Ireland to help Irish king and some remained there
  • In 1200, the English ruled area in Ireland called the Pale, around Dublin.
  • Authority of the English King was accepted by some important lord in other parts of Ireland.

• Kings fought wars abroad
• Knights took part in the crusades

• Hundred Years War
  • Lasted for 116 years
  • Battle of Agincourt in 1415
    • One of the famous battles in the Hundred Years War
    • King Henry V won against France

• The English left France in 1450s.

• Feudalism (A system of land ownership)
  • The King gave land to his lords in return for help in war (e.g. sending men to serve in the army)
  • Some peasants had their own land but most were serfs
    • Serfs had their own area in their lord's land where they could grow food.
    • In return, they had to work for their lord and couldn't move away.
  • Same system is used in southern Scotland
  • North of Scotland and Ireland - land was owned by members of clans (prominent families)
• Black Death (form of plague)
  • Came to Britain in 1348
  • 1/3 of population died in ENG, and similar proportion in Scotland and Wales
  • Many also died in Pale in Ireland
  • Due to smaller population, there were labour shortages and peasants began to demand higher wages
  • New social classes appeared including owners of large areas of land (called gentry)
  • People left the countryside to live in towns where growing wealth led to development of strong middle class.

• Parliament began to develop into the institution today
• Its origins can be traced to the king's council of advisers, which include important noblemen and the leaders of the Church
• Few formal limits to the king's power until 1215
• King John
  • was forced by his noblemen to agree to a number of demands
• Magna Carta (The Great Charter)
  • A charter of rights
  • Established the idea that the king was subject to the law
  • Protected the rights of the nobility and restricted the king's power to collect taxes or change laws
  • The king needs to involve his noblemen in decisions
• Parliaments - were called for the king to consult his nobles, particularly in raising money
  • This happens in England

• Houses
  • House of Lords - consists of nobility, great landowners and bishops
  • House of Commons - consists of knights (small landowners), wealthy people from towns and cities
• Similar Parliament developed in Scotland - consists of 3 houses called Estates
  • Consists of the lords, the commons, and the clergy
• Judges are independent of the government began to be established
• In England, judges developed common law by process of precedence
• In Scotland, laws were codified (written down)

• The King and his noblemen - spoke Norman French
• Peasants - spoke Anglo-Saxon
• Norman French + Anglo-Saxon = one English language
• e.g. 'Demand' (French), 'Ask' (Anglo-Saxon) both have same meaning.
• e.g. park and beauty - based on Norman French
• e.g. apple, cow, summer - based on Anglo-Saxon
• English - preferred language of the royal court and Parliament in 1400.

• Geoffrey Chaucer (1400)
  • The Canterbury Tales - series of English poems he wrote about group of people going to Canterbury on a pilgrimage
• William Caxton
  • First person in England to print books using a printing press
• John Barbour
  • Wrote The Bruce about the Battle of Bannockburn

• Scotland - people continued to speak Gaelic and the Scots language developed

• Castles - built partly for defence in GBR and IRL
  • e.g. Windsor and Edinburgh
• Cathedrals - built for worship
  • e.g. Lincoln Cathedral
  • Window stained glass - tells stories from the Bible. (e.g. Glass in York Minster)

• During this period, England was an important trading nation
• English wool - important export
• People came to England to work and trade
  • Weavers (France), Engineers (Germany), Glass manufacturers (Italy), Canal builders (Holland)

• War of the Roses
  • Civil war in 1455 between House of Lancaster (symbol: red rose) and House of York (symbol: white rose)
  • Ended in Battle of Bosworth Field (1485)
    • King Richard III of House of York died
    • Henry Tudor of House of Lancaster won, became King Henry VII.

• King Henry VII
  • Married Elizabeth of York, King Richard's niece, uniting both families

• Henry VII strengthened the central administration of England and reduced the power of the nobles.
• Henry VIII
  • Is Henry VII's son who took over the policy of centralising power when his father died
  • Broke away from Church of Rome and married 6 times.
  • The Pope refused Henry to divorce his first wife.
  • Therefore, Henry VIII established Church of England where the King would have the power to appoint bishops and order how people should worship.
• Reformation
  • A movement against the authority of the Pope and the ideas and practices of the Roman Catholic Church.
  • Protestants
    • Formed their own church
    • Read the bible in their own language
    • Didn't pray to saints or shrines
    • Believed that a person's own relationship with God was more important than submitting to the authority of the Church
    • Their ideas gained strength in England, Scotland and Wales during the 16th century

• Protestanism imposition in Ireland led to rebellion from the Irish chieftains and brutal fighting followed.
• Wales became united with England by the Act for the Government of Wales
  • Welsh representatives were sent to the House of Commons and the Welsh legal system was reformed.

• Edward VI
  • Henry VIII's son who reigned after his father
  • Strongly protestant
  • the Book of Common Prayer was written to be used in the Church of England.
  • Died at the age of 15 after ruling for 6 years.
• Mary
  • Edward's half sister took over but died after short reign
  • Devout Catholic
  • She persecuted Protestants (because of this, she's known as "Bloody Mary")
• Elizabeth
  • Mary's half sister
  • Daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.

• Catherine of Aragon (Spanish Princess)
  • Had number of children with Henry VIII but only Mary survived
  • Divorced by Henry because she was too old to give him a son.
• Anne Boleyn
  • English
  • One daughter - Elizabeth
  • Accused of taking lovers, therefore, executed at Tower of London
• Jane Seymour
  • Got married after Anne's execution
  • One son - Edward
  • Died after their son's birth
• Anne of Cleves (German Princess)
  • Got married for political reasons but divorced soon after
• Catherine Howard (Anne Boleyn's cousin)
  • Accused of taking lovers, therefore, executed.
• Catherine Parr
  • Widow and married Henry when he was old
  • Survived him and married again but died soon after

• Queen Elizabeth I
  • Protestant
  • Re-established the Church of England as the official Church in England
  • Everyone had to attend their local church and there were laws about the type of religious services and prayers that could be siad.
  • She found balance bet. the views of Catholics and more extreme Protestants. Thus, avoiding conflict within England.
  • Became most popular monarchs in English history
    • English defeated the Spanish armada (a large fleet of ships) which was sent by Spain to conquer England and restore Catholicism.

• 1560 - Protestant Scottish Parliament abolished the authority of the Pope in Scotland & Roman Catholic religious services became illegal
• Protestant Church of Scotland - was established but not a state Church
• Mary Stuart (aka Mary, Queen of Scots)
  • Catholic
  • Became queen at only a week old when her father died
  • She was the centre of power struggle between different groups
  • Her husband was murdered, she was suspected of involvment and fled to England
  • She's Elizabeth I's cousin
  • Was suspected by Elizabeth of wanting to take over the English throne and was imprisoned for 20 years.
  • Was eventually executed, accused of plotting against Elizabeth I

• Elizabethan period (England) - time of growing patriotism (feeling of pride in being English)
• Sir Francis Drake
  • One of the commanders in the defeat of the Spanish Armada
  • Founder of England's naval tradition
  • The Golden Hind - his ship was one of the first sail around the world (circumnavigate)
• Elizabeth's time or Elizabethan Period
  • English settlers first began to colonise the eastern coast of America
  • Remembered for poetry and drama
    • Especially plays and poems of William Shakespeare

• William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
  • Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England
  • Was playwright and actor and wrote many poems
  • Most famous plays:
    • A Midsummer Night's Dream
    • Hamlet
    • Macbeth
    • Romeo and Juliet
  • Had a great influence on the English language
  • Common lines that are quoted today:
    • Once more unto the breach (Henry V)
    • To be or not to be (Hamlet)
    • A rose by any other name (Romeo and Juliet)
    • All the world's a stage (As You Like It)
    • This darling buds of May (Sonnet 18 - Shall I Compare Thee To a Summer's Day)
  • His plays and poems are still performed and studied worldwide
  • The Globe Theatre in London - modern copy of the theatres in which his plays were first performed

• Elizabeth I
  • Never married and had no children
  • Died in 1603
  • Her heir was her cousin, James VI of Scotland
• James VI of Scotland
  • Became James I of England
  • One of his achievement - new translation of the Bible into English
    • King James Version or Authorised Version - name of the translation

• Ireland - was almost completely Catholic
• During Henry VII and Henry VIII's reign
  • English authority was established in Ireland
  • Local leaders - expected to follow instructions of the Lord Lieutenants in Dublin
  • Henry VIII - took the title King of Ireland

• During Elizabeth I and James I's reign
  • People in Ireland opposed rule by the Protestant government in England
  • English government - encouraged Scottish and English Protestants to settle in Ulster, northern province of Ireland, taking over the land from Catholic landholders
  • Plantations - name of the settlements
  • James later organised similar plantations in several other parts of Ireland
  • This had a serious long-term consequences for the history of England, Scotland and Ireland

• Elizabeth I
  • Successful in balancing her wishes and views against those of the House of Lords and those of the House of Commons
• James I and his son Charles I
  • Less skilled politically
  • Both believed in the Divine Right of Kings - idea that the king was directly appointed by God to rule.
  • Both thought that their actions don't need approval from the Parliament
• Charles I
  • Ruled the UK by sticking with the Divine Right of Kings principle
  • Parliament didn't agree with his religious and foreign policies
  • Tried to rule without Parliament for 11 years and managed to raise money
  • Eventually recalled Parliament because Scotland was in trouble

• Charles I
  • Wanted the worship of the Church of England to include more ceremony and introduced a revised Prayer Book and imposed this on the Presbyterian Church in Scotland.
  • Scottish Army was formed. Charles I wanted to form his but he doesn't have funds.
  • In 1640, he recalled the Parliament (who are mostly Protestants) to ask it for funds but they refused even if the Scots invaded England. They didn't agree with the king's religious views and disliked his reforms of the Church of England.
  • Puritans - a group of Protestants whose advocated strict and simple religious doctrine and worship.
• Rebellion started in Ireland when the Catholics were afraid of the growing power of Puritans
• Parliament then demanded control of the England army (transferring substantial power from the king to Parliament) 
• Charles I entered the House of Commons and tried to arrest 5 parliamentary leaders but they were warned and were not there.
• Civil War (1642) - War between the king and the Parliament.
• The Cavaliers - King's supporters.
• The Roundheads - Parliament's supporters.

• Battles of Marston Moor and Naseby
  • Battles where Charles I's army was defeated by Parliament's army
  • Parliament won by 1646
  • Charles I - held prisoner and was unwilling to reach any agreement with Parliament
  • Charles I - executed in 1649
• England - declared itself a republic called the Commonwealth (no more monarchy)
  
• The army was in control of the republic.
• Oliver Cromwell
  • One of the army's generals that was sent to Ireland.
  • 1641 - Beginning of the revolt until there was still a Royalist army.
  • Cromwell was successful in establishing the authority of the English Parliament but did it with such violence 
  • Cromwell remains a controversial figure in Ireland.

• Scots didn't agree to Charles I's execution and declared his son, Charles II to be king.
• Charles II
  • Crowned King of Scotland and led Scottish army to England
  • Got defeated by Cromwell in the Battles of Dunbar and Worcester
  • He escaped in Worcester and hid in an oak tree on one occasion and eventually fled to Europe.
  • Due to this, Parliament controlled Scotland, England and Wales
• Oliver Cromwell
  • Cromwell was recognised as the leader of the new republic after his victory over Charles II and campaign in Ireland.
  • Lord Protector - his title
  • Ruled until his death in 1658.
  • Richard - Cromwell's son, became Lord Protector after his death but wasn't able to control the army or government
  • Britain had been republic for 11 years without Oliver Cromwell but there wasn't any clear leader or system of government.
  • People wanted stability and began to talk about the need for a king.

• 1660
  • Parliament invited Charles II to come back from exile in the Netherlands
  • He was crowned King Charles II of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland
  • He understood that he couldn't always do as he wished but would sometimes need to reach agreement with Parliament.
  • Parliament supported his policies.
  • Church of England became the established official Church.
• 1665
  • Major outbreak of plague in London
  • Thousands died especially in poorer areas
• 1666
  • Great fire destroyed much of the city including St. Paul's Cathedral
  • Sir Christopher Wren - designed the new St Paul's Cathedral
  • Samuel Peyps - wrote about these events in a diary, was published and still read today

• Habeas Corpus Act
  • Became a law in 1679
  • Habeas Corpus means 'you must present the person in court'
  • This guaranteed that no one could be held prisoner unlawfully.
  • Every prisoner has a right to a court hearing
• Royal Society - oldest surviving scientific society in the world
  • Formed to promote natural knowledge
  • Sir Edmond Halley
    • among its early members
    • successfully predicted the return of the comet now called Halley's Comet
  • Sir Isaac Newton (1643 - 1727)
    • Born in Lincolnshire, eastern England
    • Studied at Cambridge uni and became interested in Science.
    • Most famous published work: Philosophiae Naturalis Principi Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy) - showed how gravity is applied to the universe
    • Also discovered that white light is made up of the colours of the rainbow

• Charles II
  • Had no legitimate children and died in 1685
• James
  • Charles II's brother and became king after Charles' death
  • Known as King James II in England, Wales and Ireland and King James VII of Scotland
  • Is a Roman Catholic, favoured Roman Catholics and allowed them to be army officers which an Act of Parliament had forbidden.
  • Didn't seek agreements with the Parliament and arrested some of the bishops of the Church of England
  • People thought that the country will become Catholic but his two heirs (daughters) are firmly Protestants
  • When his son was born, it seemed that the next monarch wouldn't be Protestant after all.

• Mary
  • James II's eldest daughter
  • Married to her cousin William of Orange, the Protestant ruler of the Netherlands
• William of Orange
  • Was asked by important Protestants to invade England and proclaim himself King, and he did without resistance
  • James II fled to France and William became king
• Glorious Revolution
  • William became William III in England, Wales and Ireland, and William II of Scotland
  • William ruled jointly with Mary, and this was called Glorious revolution because there was no fighting in England and it guaranteed the power of Parliament, ending the threat of a monarch ruling on his or her own as he or she wished.
• James II
  • Invaded Ireland with the help of a French army.
  • He was defeated by William II at the Battle of Boyne in Ireland in 1690 (which is still remembered by some in Northern Ireland today)

• James II
  • Fled back to France
  • William re-conquered Ireland and placed many restrictions on the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland and Irish Catholics were unable to take part in the government
  • James had supporters in Ireland and an attempt at an armed rebellion in support of him was defeated at Killiecrankie

• All Scottish clans were required to formally accept William as king by taking an oath
• MacDonalds of Glencoe
  • Were late in taking the oath and were all killed
  • The massacre meant some Scots distrusted the new government.

• Some believed James as the rightful King and joined him in exile in France.
• Some were secret supporters.
• Jacobites
  • Name of James' supporters

• Bill of Rights (1689)
  
  • Confirmed the rights of Parliament and the limits of the king's power
  • Parliament took control of who could be monarch and declared that the king or queen must be a Protestant
  • A new Parliament had to be elected at least every 3 years (later this became 7 years and now it's 5 years)
  • Every year the monarch had to ask Parliament to renew funding for the army and the navy.
  • This meant that the monarch needed to have advisers or ministers who would be able to ensure a majority of votes in the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
  • 2 main groups in Parliament
    • The Whigs
    • The Tories - The modern Conservative Party is sometimes referred to as the Tories.
  • This was the beginning of party politics

• This was an important time for the development of a free press (newspapers and other publications which are not controlled by the government)
• From 1695, newspapers were allowed to operate without government licence
• Constitutional Monarchy
  • The monarch remained very important but was no longer able to insist on particular policies or actions if Parliament did not agree.
  • Voting:
    • Only men who owned property of a certain value were able to vote
    • Women are not allowed to vote
    • Pocket boroughs - Some constituencies were controlled by a single wealthy family
    • Rotten boroughs - Other constituencies had hardly any voters

• This was the time when many people left Britain and Ireland to go to new colonies in America and elsewhere
• Some people came to live in Britain
• First Jews to come to Britain since the Middle Ages settled in London in 1656.
• 1680 - 1720
  • Huguenots - Refugees came from France
  • They were Protestants and many were prosecuted for their religion
  • Many were educated and skilled and worked as a scientists, in banking, or in weaving or in other crafts.

• Queen Anne
  • William and Mary's successor
  • Had no children
  • This created uncertainty over thte sucession in England, Wales and Ireland and in Scotland
• The Act of Union or the Treaty of Union
  • Agreed in 1707, creating the Kingdom of Great Britain
  • Scotland was no longer an independent country but still kept its own legal and education system and Presbyterian church.

• George I
  • Chosen by the Parliament to rule after Queen Anne died in 1714
  • Queen Anne's nearest Protestant relative
  • He is German
  • Did not speak very good English so he relied on his ministers
• Scottish Jacobites attempted to put James II's son on the throne but was quickly defeated
• Prime Minister
  • The most important minister in the Parliament
• Robert Walpole
  • First Prime Minister
  • PM from 1721 to 1742

• Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie)
  • Grandson of James II
  • Was attempted to be put into the throne in 1745 in place of George I's son, George II
  • Went to Scotland and was supported by clansmen from Scottish highlands and raised an army
  • Initially had some successes
• Battle of Culloden (1746)
  • Charles army was defeated by George II's army.
  • Charles fled back to Europe
  • Clans lost a lot of their power and influence after the battle
  • Chieftains became landlords if they had favour of the English king
  • Clansmen became tenants who had to pay for the land they used
• Highland Clearances
  • Many Scottish landlords destroyed individual small farms called crofts to make space for large flocks of sheep and cattle.
  • Evictions were common in the early 19th century. Many Scottish people left for North America at this time

• Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)
  • Known in Scotland as The Bard
  • Was a Scottish poet
  • Wrote in Scots language, English with some Scottish words, and standard English
  • Auld Lang Syne
    • Best-known work (a song)
    • Sung by people in the UK and other countries when they are celebrating the New Year or Hogmanay as it is called in Scotland

• The Enlightenment
  • New ideas about politics, philosophy and science were developed
  • Many of the great thinkers of the Enlightenment were Scottish

• Adam Smith - Developed ideas about economics which are still referred to today
• David Hume - Had ideas about human nature continue to influence philosophers
• Scientific discoveries:
  • James Watt - work on steam power helped the progress of the Industrial Revolution

• One of the most important principles of the Enlightenment was that everyone should have the right to their own political and religious beliefs and that the state should not try to dictate to them.
• This continues to be an important principle in the UK today.

• Agriculture - biggest source of employment in Britain before the 18th century
• Goods produced: cloth and lace

• Industrial Revolution
  • The rapid development of industry in Britain in the 18th and 19th century.
  • Britain was the first country to industrialise on a large scale
  • It happened because of the development of machinery and the use of steam power
  • Agriculture and manufacturing of goods became mechanised
    • This made things more efficient and increased production
  • Coal and other raw materials - needed to power the new factories
  • Mining and manufacturing industries - located in the countryside and people moved there to work
  • The development of the Bessemer process for mass production of steel - led to the development of the shipbuilding industry and the railways.
  • Manufacturing jobs - became main source of employment  in Britain

• Better transport links - needed to transport raw materials and manufactured goods
• Canals - were built to link factories to towns and cities and to the ports, particularly in the new industrial areas in the middle and north of England
• Working conditions:
  • Were very poor and no laws to protect employees (who were often forced to woek long hours in dangerous situations)
  • Children worked and were treated in the same way as adults, and sometimes even more harshly
• Captain James Cook
  • Mapped the coast of Australia and few colonies were established there
  • Britain gained control over Canada and the East India Company, originally set up to trade, gained control of large parts of India
  • Colonies were established in southern Africa
• Britain traded all over the world and began to import more goods.
• Sugar and tobacco came from N.America and the West Indies; textiles, tea and spices from India and the area that is today called Indonesia.
• There were conflicts in trading and settlements overseas sometimes, particularly in France which was expanding and trading in similar way.

• Richard Arkwright (1732 - 1792)
  • Worked as a barber
  • Was able to dye hair and make wigs
  • When wigs became less popular, he move to textiles
  • He improved the original carding machine
    • Carding - the process of preparing fibres for spinning into yarn and fabric
  • Also developed horse - driven spinning mills that used only one machine
    • This increased the efficiency of production
    • Later used steam engine to power machinery
  • Was particularly remembered for the efficient and profitable way that he rans his factories

• Sake Dean Mahomet (1759 - 1851)
  • Grew up in the Bengal region of India
  • Served in the Bengal army and came to Britain in 1782
  • Moved to Ireland and eloped with an Irish girl called Jane Daly in 1786, returning to England at the turn of the century
  • Hindoostane Coffee House
    • Opened in 1810 in George Street, London
    • The first curry house to open in Britain
    • He and his wife introduced shampooing, the Indian art of head massage, to Britain

• Slave trade
  • Boomed and sustained commercial expansion and prosperity
  • Was illegal in Britain but by 18th century, became a fully established overseas industry, dominated by Britain and American colonies
• Slaves
  • Came primarily from West Africa
  • Travelled on British ships in horrible conditions, were taken to America and Carribean where they made to work on tobacco and sugar plantations
  • Living and working conditions were very bad
  • Many tried to escape and others revolted against their owners in protest at their terrible treatment.
  • First formal anti-slavery group were formed in the late 1700s by the Quakers and they petitioned Parliament  to ban the practice

• William Wilberforce
  • An evangelical Christian who succeeded in turning public opinion against slave trade.
  • In 1807, slave trade became illegal
  • In 1833, the Emancipation Act abolished slavery throughout British empire.
  • The Navy stopped slave ships from other countries, freed the slaves and punished the slave traders.
  • After 1833, 2 million Indian and Chinese workers were employed to replace the freed slaves
  • They worked on sugar plantations in the Carribean, in the mines in South Africa, on railways in East Africa, and in the army in Kenya.

• By the 1760s, there were substantial British colonies in North America
• The colonies were wealthy and largely in control of their own affairs.
• Many colonist families (well educated and interested in ideas of liberty) had originally gone to N.America to have religious freedoms
• British government wanted to tax the colonies and they saw this as an attack on their freedom and said there should be no taxation without representations in the British Parliament
• Relationship between the Parliament and colonies continue to worsen and a fight broke between the colonists and British forces.
• In 1776, 13 American colonies declared independence, stating that people had a right to establish their own governments
• Colonists eventually defeated the British army and Britain recognised the colonies' independence in 1783.

• In 1789, there was a French revolution and declared war on Britain
• Napoleon, Emperor of France - continued the war
• Battle of Trafalgar (1805)
  • Britain's navy won against French and Spanish fleets
  • Admiral Nelson - in charge of the British fleet at this battle, was killed.
  • His monument can be seen at Trafalgar Square, London
  • HMS Victory - his ship, can be visited in Portsmouth
• Battle of Waterloo (1815)
  • Emperor Napoleon was defeated by the Duke of Wellington
  • This ended the French Wars
• Duke of Wellington
  • Also known as Iron Duke
  • Later became Prime Minister 

• Act of Union (1800)
  • Unified Ireland with England, Scotland and Wales
  • This created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
• The Union Flag consists of 3 crosses:
  • The cross of St George - patron saint of England, is a red cross on a white ground
  • The cross of St Andrew - patron saint of Scotland, is a diagonal white cross on a blue ground
  • The cross of St Patrick - patron saint of Ireland, is a diagonal red cross on a white ground
  • Union Flag is also known as Union Jack
• Official Welsh flag - shows a Welsh dragon
• Isn't shown on the union flag because when it was created in 1606 from the flags of Scotland and England, the Principality of Wales was already united with England.

• Queen Victoria
  • Became queen in 1837 at the age of 18
  • Reigned until 1901, almost 64 years
  • This is the longest reign of British monarch (at the date of writing in 2013)
  • Her reign is called the Victorian Age
    • It was a time when Britain increased in power and influence abroad
    • The middle classes in the UK became increasingly significant and a number of reformers led moves to improve conditions of life for the poor

• British Empire
  • Grew during the Victorian period and covered all of India, Australia and large parts of Africa
  • Became the largest empire the world has ever seen with an estimated population of more than 400 million people
  • Between 1853 and 1913, 13 million British citizens left the country.
  • Between 1870 and 1914, around 120,000 Russians and Polish Jews came to Britain to escape persecution.
  • People from the Empire, inc. India and Africa, came to Britain to live, work and study.

• Corn Laws (repealed in 1846)
  • Prevented the import of cheap grain
  • The reforms helped the development of British industry because raw materials can now be imported more cheaply
• Working conditions in factories improved.
• In 1847, the number of hours women and children could work was limited by law to 10 hours per day
• Better housing began to be built for workers.
• Transport links improved, enabling goods and people to move more easily around the country
• George and Robert Stephenson
  • Father and son, pioneered the railway engine and major expansion of the railways took place in the Victorian period.
• The UK produced more than half of the world's iron, coal and cotton cloth
• The UK became a centre for financial services including insurance and banking
• Great Exhibition
  • Opened in Hyde Park in the Crystal Palace, a huge building made of steel and glass

• Isambard Kingdom Brunel
  • Originally from Portsmouth
  • An engineer who built tunnels, bridges, railway lines, and ships
  • Responsible for constructing the Great Western Railway - the first major railway in Britain.
  • Runs from Paddington to the SW of England, West Midlands and Wales
  • He designed the Clifton Suspension Bridge spanning the Avon Gorge

• Crimean War
  • War in 1853 to 1856 between Britain, Turkey and France vs Russia
  • First war extensively covered by the media
  • Conditions were very poor and many soldiers died from illnesses caught in the hospital
  • Queen Victoria introduced the Victoria Cross medal during this war
  • It honours acts of valour by soldiers

• Florence Nightingale (1820 - 1910)
  • Born in Italy to English parents
  • Trained as a nurse in Germany at the age of 31
  • Went to Turkey and worked in military hospital, treating soldiers who fought in the Crimean war
  • She and her fellow nurses improved the conditions in the hospital and reduced mortality rate
  • She established the Nightingale Training School for nurses at St Thomas' Hospital
  • She is often regarded as the founder of modern nursing

• Ireland
  • 2/3 of the population relied on farming on very small plots of land.
  • They depended on potatoes as a large part of their diet.
  • Potato crop failed
  • A million people died from disease and starvation
  • Another 1.5 million left Ireland to the US and England
  • 1861
    • There were large populations of Irish people in Liverpool, London, Manchester and Glasgow
  • 19th century
    • Irish Nationalist movement grew strongly
    • Fenians - favoured complete independence
    • Charles Stuart Parnell - advocated Home Rule, in which Ireland would remain in the UK but have its own parliament.

• The Reform Act of 1832
  • Increased the number of people with the right to vote
  • Abolished the old pocket and rotten boroughs
  • More parliamentary seats were given to the towns and cities
  • Voting was still based on ownership of property, thus, working class were still unable to vote

• The Chartists
  • Campaigners that presented petitions to the Parliament
  • 1867
    • Another Reform Act was made which created more urban seats in Parliament and reduced the amount of property that people needed to have before they could vote.
    • Majority of men still didn't have the right to vote and no women could vote.

• Universal suffrage
  • The right of every adult, male or female, to vote
  • This followed in the next century

• 19th century
  • Women had fewer rights than men
  • Until 1870, when a woman got married, her earnings, property and money automatically belongs to her husband.

• Acts of Parliament in 1870 and 1882
  • Gave wives the right to keep their own earnings and property

• Suffragettes
  • Formed the women's suffrage movement which campaigned and demonstrated for greater women's rights, in particular, the right to vote.

• Emmeline Pankhurst (1858 - 1928)
  • Born in Manchester
  • Set up the Women's Franchise League in 1889 which fought to get the vote in local elections for married woman
  • Helped found the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1903
    • This was the first group whose members were called suffragettes
    • Used civil disobedience as part of their protest to gain the vote for women
      • They chained themselves to railings, smashed windows and committed arson
      • Many went on hunger strike including Emmeline
  • In 1918, women over the age of 30 were given voting rights and the right to stand for Parliament
  • Women were given the right to vote at the age of 21, same as men, before Emmeline's death

• British Empire continued to grow until 1920s
• Supporters of expansion believed that the Empire benefited Britain through increased trade and commerce.
• Some thought it had become over-expanded and frequent conflicts, such as India's north-west frontier or southern Africa, were a drain on resources

• The Boer War (1899 - 1902)
  • Made the discussions about the future of the Empire more urgent
  • Boers - settlers from Netherlands
  • British went to war with the Boers for over 3 years
  • Many died in fighting and from disease
  • People began to question whether the Empire should continue

• Different parts of the Empire developed and they won greater freedom and autonomy from Britain.
• By the second half of the 20th century, there was an orderly transition from Empire to Commowealth, with countries being granted their independence

• Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936)
  • Born in India, later lived in India, UK and USA
  • Wrote books and poems set both in India and UK, and reflected the idea that the British Empire was a force for good
  • Awarded Nobel Price in Literature in 1907
    
  • Books that are still popular:
    • The Jungle Book
    • Just So Stories
  • Poem voted among UK's favourites' poems
    • If

It begins with:

'If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourseld when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;'

• Time of optimism and social progress
• 'Global Superpower'
  • The nation with its expansive Empire, well-admired navy, thriving industry, strong political institutions.
• Measures introduced:
  • Financial help for the unemployed
  • Old - age pensions
  • Free school meals
  • Laws passed to improve workplace safety
  • Town planning rules were tightened to prevent further development of slums
  • Better support were given to mothers and their children after divorce or separation.
  • Local government became more democratic and salary for MPs was introduced for the first time

• Era of optimism and progress - cut short due to war
• Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
  • Assassinated on 28 June 1914
  • This led to the First World War (1914 - 1918)
• Other triggers for WWI:
  • Growing sense of nationalism in many European states
  • Increasing militarism
  • Imperialism
  • Division of the major European powers into two camps
• Allied Powers
  • Britain, France, Russia, Japan, Belgium, Serbia, and later Greece, Italy, Romania, US
  • Men from West Indies, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada fought with the British
  • Whole British Empire was involved:
    • More than a million Indians fought on behalf of Britain and around 40,000 were killed.
• Central Powers
  • Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and later Bulgaria

• Millions of people were killed or wounded
• 2 million British casualties

• Battle of Somme (July 1916)
  • 60,000 casualties on the first day alone

• First World War
  • Ended at 11.00 am on 11 November 1918
  • Britain and its allies won

• Home Rule
  • Proposed in 1913 for Ireland
  • To have a self-governing Ireland with its own parliament but still part of the UK
• Home Rule Bill
  • Introduced in Parliament but was opposed and threatened to resist by force by the Protestants in the north of Ireland
• Changes were postponed due to WWI and Irish Nationalists were not willing to wait.
• Uprising began (the Easter Rising) in 1916 against the British in Dublin and the leaders were executed under military law
• Guerilla war against British army and the police in Ireland followed
• 1921 - Peace treaty was signed
• 1922 - Ireland became two countries 
• 6 countries in the north which were mainly Protestant remained part of the UK
• The rest of Ireland became the Irish Free State (had its own governments and became republic in 1949)
• People disagreed about the split and wanted Ireland to become one country
• The Troubles - those wishing for full Irish independence and those wishing to remain loyal to British government

• 1920s
  • Improvements were made in people's living conditions, public housing and new homes
• Great Depression
  • Started in 1929
  • Some parts of UK suffered mass unemployment
  • Other effects:
    • Shipbuilding industries - badly affected
    • Automobile and aviation industries - developed
  • Prices generally fell and those who had work had more money to spend
  • Car ownership doubled from 1 million to 2 million between 1930 and 1939
  • Many houses were built
  • A time for cultural blossoming
    • Graham Greene and Evelyn Waughn became prominent
    • John Maynard Keynes - an economist who published influential new theories of economics
  • BBC started radio broadcasts in 1922 and began world's first regular television service in 1936

• Adolf Hitler
  • Came to power in Germany in 1933
  • Believed that the conditions imposed on Germany by the Allies after WWI were unfair
  • Wanted to conquer more land for the German people
  • He renegotiated treaties, building up arms and testing Germany's military strength
  • Invaded Poland in 1939, Britain and France declared war in order to stop his aggression

• Poland invasion - was initially fought between the Axis powers and the Allies
  • Axis powers - fascist Germany and Italy, and the Empire of Japan
  • Allies - UK, France, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the Union of South Africa

• Hitler occupied Austria and invaded Czechoslovakia and followed Poland invasion by taking control of Belgium and the Netherlands
• In 1940, German forces defeated allied troops and advanced through France. At this time Winston Churchill became Prime Minister and Britain's war leader

• The Dunkirk spirit
  • The phrase used to call the evacuation of British and French soldiers from France in a huge naval operation
  • Civilian volunteers from Britain in small pleasure and fishing boats helped rescue more than 300,000 men from beaches around Dunkirk
• End of June 1940 until German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941
  • Britain and the Empire stood almost alone against Nazi Germany
• The Battle of Britain
  • British won the crucial aerial battle with their fighter planes against the Germans in summer 1940.
  • The Spitfire and the Hurricane - planes used by the RAF that were both designed and built in Britain
• The Blitz
  • After the Battle of Britain, Germans continued to bomb London and other British cities at night
  • Coventry was almost totally destroyed and great deal of damage was done in East End of London
  • The Blitz Spirit - describes Britons pulling together in the face of adversity

• In Singapore, the Japanese defeated the British and then occupied Burma, threatening India.
• US entered the war when the Japanese bombed its naval base at Pearl Harbor in December 1941
• German Invasion of Soviet Union (1941)
  • Fierce conflict with huge losses on both sides
  • Germans were ultimately repelled by the Soviets and the damage they sustained proved to be a pivotal point in the war
• Allied forces won in North Africa and Italy
• With the support of US, the Allies were strong enough to attack Hitler's forces in Western Europe
• 'D-Day'
  • On 6 June 1944, the Allies landed in Normandy
  • They won on the beaches of Normandy, and then went through France and eventually Germany
  • The Allies defeated Germany in May 1945
• War in Japan
  • Ended in August 1945
  • US dropped newly developed atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

• Ernest Rutherford
  • Led other scientists and worked at Manchester and then Cambridge University, were the first to 'split the atom' and took part in the Manhattan Project in the US, which developed atomic bomb
  • After this, the war was finally over
• Alexander Fleming (1881 - 1955)
  • Born in Scotland
  • Moved to London as a teenager
  • Later qualified as a doctor
  • Discovered penicillin while researching influenza (the 'flu')
  • Howard Florey and Ernst Chain
    • Further developed pencillin into a usable drug
    • By 1940s, it was in mass production
  • Fleming won the Nobel Price in Medicine in 1945
  • Penicillin - still used to treat bacterial infections

• Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
  • Was the son of a politician
  • Was a soldier and journalist before becoming a Conservative MP in 1900
  • Became Prime Minister in 1940
  • Refused to surrender to the Nazis and was an inspirational leader to the Brits in a time of great hardship
  • Lost the General Election in 1945 but returned as Prime Minister in 1951
  • Was an MP until he stood down at the 1964 General Election
  • Died in 1965 and was given a state funeral
  • Voted the Greatest Briton of all time by the public in 2002
• Famous speeches:
  • 'I have nothing to offer but blood, oil, tears and sweat'
  • 'Never in the filed of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few' - Speech to the House of Commons during hte Battle of Britain, 1940

• Labour government was elected by the Brits in 1945 where Clement Atlee was the new Prime Minister who promised to introduce the welfare outlined in the Beveridge Report
• Aneurin (Nye) Bevan
  • Minister of Health
  • Led the establishment of the National Health Service (NHS) which guaranteed a minimum standard of health care for all, free at the point of use.
• A national system of benefits was introduced to provide social security so that the population would be protected from the cradle to the grave
• The government nationalised the railways, coal mines and gas, water and electricity supplies
•  Independence was granted to 9 countries inc. India, Pakistan and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)
• Colonies in Africa, the Carribean and the Pacific achieved independence ove the next 20 years
• UK developed its own atomic bomb and joined the new North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) - alliance of nations set up to resist the perceived threat of invasion by the Soviet Union and its allies
• Britain had Conservative government from 1951 to 1964
• 1950s - period of economic recovery after the war and increasing prosperity for working people

• Harold Macmillan - Prime Minister, was famous ofr his 'wind of change' speech about decolonisation and independence for the countries of the Empire
• Clement Attlee (1883 - 1967)
  • Born in London
  • Father was solicitor
  • Studied in Oxford uni and became a barrister
  • Gave up being a barrister to do social work in East London and eventually became a Labour MP
  • He was Churchill's Deputy Prime Minister in the wartime coalition government and became PM after the Labour Party won the 1945 election
  • He was PM from 1945 - 1951 and led Labour Party for 20 years
  • His government undertook the nationalisation of coal and steel industries, created the NHS and implemented many of Beveridge's plan for a stronger welfare state
  • Also introduced measures to improve the conditions of workers

• William Beveridge (1879 - 1963)
  • Later called Lord Beveridge
  • British economist and social reformer
  • Briefly served as a Liberal MP and was subsequently the leader of the Liberals in the House of Lords
  • Best known for the 1942 report Social Insurance and Allied Service (aka Beveridge Reports) which was commissioned by the wartime government in 1941
    • It recommended that the government should find ways of fighting the five Giant Evils of Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness and provided the basis of modern welfare state

• Richard Austen Butler (1902 - 1982)
  • Later known as Lord Butler
  • Became Conservative MP in 1923 and held several positions before becoming responsible for education in 1941
    • He oversaw the introduction of the Education Act 1944 (often called The Butler Act)
      • Free secondary education in England and Wales
    • Education system changed significantly since the Act was introduced but the division between primary and secondary schools that it enforced still remains in most areas of Britain

• Dylan Thomas (1914 - 1953)
  • Welsh poet and writer
  • Most well-known works:
    • The radio play Under Milk Wood - first performed after his death in 1954
    • The poem Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night - he wrote for his dying father in 1952
  • Died at the age of 39 in New York
  • Memorials to him in his birthplace, Swansea:
    • a statue
    • the Dylan Thomas Centre

• Post-War Britain
  • There were labour shortages and the British government encouraged workers from Ireland and other parts of EU to come to the UK and help with the reconstruction
  • People from West Indies were invited to come and work in 1948
  • 1950s
    • There were still labour shortages
    • Immigration was encouraged and many industries advertised for workers from overseas.
    • e.g.
      • Centres were set up in West Indies to recruit bus drivers
      • Textile and engineering firms from the north of England and the Midlands sent agents to India and Pakistan to find workers
      • For 25 years, people from the West Indies, India, Pakistan andlater Bangladesh travelled to work and settle in Britain

• Swinging Sixties (The decade of 1960s)
  • Period of social change
  • There was a growth in British fashion, cinema and popular music
  • Two well-known pop music groups at the time: The Beatles and The Rolling Stone
  • People started to become better off and many bought cars and other consumer goods
  • Social laws were liberalised (e.g. in relation to divorce and to abortion in GBR)
  • Women's position in the workplace also improved.
    • Parliament passed new laws giving women the right to equal pay and made it illegal for employers to discriminate against women because of their gender.
  • Time for technological progress
    • Concorde - the world's only supersonic commercial airliner developed by Britain and France
    • New styles of architecture, including high-rise buildings and the use of concrete and steel became common.
  • The government passed new laws to restrict immigration to Britain. Hence why migration from West Indies, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh fell in the late 1960s.
  • Immigrants were required to have strong connection to Britain through birth or ancestry
  • During the early 1970s, 28,000 people of Indian origin who had been forced to leave Uganda were admitted in Britain.

• Television
  • Developed by Scotsman John Logie Baird (1888-1946) in 1920s.
  • In 1932, he made the first TV broadcast between London and Glasgow
• Radar
  • Developed by Scotsman Sir Robert Watson-Watt (1892-1973) who proposed that enemy aircraft could be detected by radio waes
  • First successful radar test was in 1935
• Turing machine
  • Theoretical mathematical device invented by Alan Turing (1912-1954) in 1930s
  • Alan Turing - British mathematician
  • The theory was influential in the development of computer science and the modern day computer
• Structure of DNA molecule
  • Discovered in 1953 through work at British universities in London and Cambridge
  • This discovery contributed to many scientific advances, particularly in medicine and fighting crime
  • Francis Circk (1916-2004) - a Brit; one of those awarded the Nobel Price for this discovery

• Jet engine
  • Developed in Britain in 1930s
  • Developed by Sir Frank Whittle (1907-1996), a Brit RAF engineer officer
• Hovercraft
  • Invented in Britain in 1950s by a British inventor Sir Christopher Cockerell (1910-1999)
• Concorde
  • Developed in Britain and France
  • It is the world's only supersonic passenger aircraft
  • First flew in 1969 and began carrying passengers in 1976
  • It retired from service in 2003
• Harriet jump jet
  • An aircraft capable of taking off vertically
  • Was designed and developed in UK
• Cash-dispensing ATM
  • Also known as automatic teller machine or cashpoint
  • Invented in the 1960s by James Goodfellow (1937- ) 
  • First used by Barclays Bank in Enfield, North London in 1967

• IVF (in-vitro fertilisation) therapy
  • Treatment of infertility
  • Pioneered in Britain by Sir Robert Edwards (1925-2013) and gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe (1913-1988)
  • World's first test-tube baby was born in Oldham, Lancashire in 1978
• Cloning
  • British scientists, Sir Ian Wilmut (1944 - ) and Keith Campbell (1954-2012) led a team which was the first to succeed in cloning a mammal, Dolly the Sheep
  • This led to further research into the possible use of cloning to preserve endangered species and for medical purposes
• MRI (Magnetic resonance imaging)
  • Sir Peter Mansfield (1933 - ), a British scientish, is a co-inventor of MRI
  • Enables to obtain exact and non-invasive images of human internal organs and has revolutionised diagnostic medice
• World Wide Web (WWW)
  • Invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee (1955 - )
  • Information was successfully transferred via web for the first time on 25 December 1990

• Late 1970s - Post-war economic boom ended
• Prices of goods and raw materials began to rise sharply
• Exhange rate between the pound and other currencies was unstable
• Cause problems with the balance of payments:
• Imports of goods were valued at more than the price paid for exports
• Strikes affected industries and services and caused problems between the trade unions and the government
• People began to argue that the unions were too powerful and that their activities were harming the UK
• 1970s in Northern Ireland - Time of serious unrest
  • Northern Ireland Parliament was suspended and was directly ruled by the UK government in 1972
  • Some 3,000people lost their lives in the decades after 1969 in the violence in Northern Ireland
• Mary Peters (1939 - )
  • Olympic gold medalist in pentathlon in 1972 and after this, she raised money for local athletics and became team manager for women's British Olympic team
  • Promotes sport and tourism in N.Ireland and was made a Dame of the British Empire in 2000

• European Economic Community (EEC)
  • Formed by West Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in 1957
  • UK didn't wish to join at first but eventually joined in 1973
  • UK - full member of the European Union but doesn't use the Euro currency

• Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013)
  • Britain's first woman Prime Minister
  • Longest-serving PM of the 20th century
  • Led the Conservative government from 1979-1990
  • Trained as a chemist and lawyer
  • Elected as a Conservative MP in 1959
  • Became cabinet minister in 1970 as the Secretary of State for Education and Science
  • Elected as leader of the Conservative Party and became Leader of the Opposition
  • Government made structural changes to the economy through the privatisation of nationalised industries and imposed legal controls on trade union powers
  • Deregulation saw great increase in the role of the City of London as an international centre for investments, insurance and other financial services
  • Shipbuilding and coal mining has been declined
  • Falkland Island was invaded by Argentina in 1982
  • Naval task force from the UK was sent and military action led to the recovery of the island

• Margaret Thatcher
  • Worked closely with the US President, Ronald Reagan, and was one of the first Western leaders to recognise and welcome the changes in the leadership of the Soviet Union which eventually led to the end of the Cold War.
• John Major
  • Prime Minister after Mrs Thatcher and helped establish the Northern Ireland peace process
• Roald Dahl (1916-1990)
  • Born in Wales to Norwegian parents
  • Served in the RAF during the Second World War
  • Began to publish books and stories in the 1940s
  • Well known for his children's books but he also wrote for adults
  • Best-known works:
    • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
    • George's Marvellous Medicine

• Tony Blair
  • Led the Labour Party in 1997
  • Introduced a Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly
  • Scottish Parliament - has substantial powers to legislate
  • Welsh Assembly - given fewer legislative powers but considerable control over public services
  • Blair government was able to build on the peace process in Northern Ireland
  • This resulted to the Good Friday Agreement signed in 1998
  • Northern Ireland Assembly - elected in 1999, suspended in 2002 and was not reinstated until 2007
  • Most paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland have decommissioned their arms and are inactive.
• Gordon Brown
  • Became Prime Minister after Tony Blair in 2007

• Britain
  • Played leading role in coalition forces involved in the libreation of Kuwait, following the Iraqi invasion in 1990 and the conflict in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia
  • Since 2000, British armed forces have been engaged in the global fight against international terrorism and against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, including operations in Afghanistan and Iraq
  • British combat troops left Iraq in 2009
  • UK now operates in Afghanistan as part of the UN madated 50-nation International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) coalition and at the invitation of the Afghan government
  • ISAF is working to ensure that Afghan territory can never again be used as a safe haven for international terrorism where groups such as Al Qa'ida could plan attacks on the international community
  • ISAF is building up the Afghan National Security Forces and is helping to create a secure environment in which governance and development can be extended
  • Afghans have the full security responsibility in all provinces by the end of 2014.

• May 2010
  • No political party won on an overall majority in the General elections for the first time in the UK since February 1974
  • The Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties formed a coalition and the leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron, became Prime Minister