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geschichte referate |
Late MedievalWelsh uprising 1400 - 1416 | Backed by French military aide, Glyn Dwr took Carmarthen and Cardiff in 1403 and Harlech and Aberystwyth in 1404. With the Papacy in schism, Glyn Dwr was also able to secure Papal sanction from Avignon to separate the Welsh church from its English counterpart. In 1404, Glyn Dwr presided over the first Welsh Parliament but, as Henry IV eliminated English opposition, so superior resources and weaponry were turned on the Welsh under the leadership of the king's son (the future Henry V). By 1409, the revolt was broken. Glyn Dwr lost the towns and castles he had taken and turned to guerrilla warfare until his obscure death in 1416. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opposition to Henry IV 1403 - 1413 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Percies, a great northern family, had supported Henry in 1399, but had not expected Richard to be deposed and murdered. They rebelled in 1403, but Henry 'Hotspur' Percy - acting prematurely and with inadequate support - was defeated and killed by the king at Shrewsbury in 1403. Conspiracies continued: Henry IV arrested and executed Archbishop Scrope of York in 1405, and Hotspur's father, the Earl of Northumberland, was crushed at Bramham Moor in 1408. Even as the Lancastrian regime consolidated, Henry IV faced opposition from Parliament over the composition of the royal council and mismanagement of the royal finances. In 1410, Prince Henry took control of the council and rallied a new generation of aristocrats to his support. However, an attempt in 1411 to force Henry IV's abdication was misconceived and, in December 1411, the king resumed full power. |
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Lollard revolt 1414 | | .The King of France, Charles VI, had fallen under the control of the Burgundians, who negotiated the Peace of Troyes with Henry in 1420. The English king married Charles's daughter Katherine, and was recognised as Regent and heir to the French kingdom in Paris. Henry died in 1422, still trying to implement the treaty by conquering the rest of France. Henry VI and the Dual Monarchy of England and France 1422Succeeding both his father, Henry V, and his grandfather Charles VI, Henry VI (1422-61) became king of both England and France in 1422 - while still under one year of age. England was ruled effectively by a Regency Council, while in France, the king's uncle, John, Duke of Bedford, continued the conquest begun by Henry V. Scots armies played a key role in maintaining French resistance south of the Loire, despite Bedford's great victory at Verneuil in 1424. Following the raising of the siege of Orleans by Joan of Arc in 1429, and the Burgundian desertion of the Dual Monarchy in 1435, the English were forced back into Normandy. James I, King of Scotland 1424
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Lancastrian collapse and the Wars of the Roses 1450 |
Notwithstanding English reluctance to shoulder the financial burden of defending Normandy and Guyenne, public opinion regarded their loss as completely unnecessary. Henry VI's regime never recovered from the loss of credit. In 1450, Kent rebels under Jack Cade seized London and overthrew the ministry of the Duke of Suffolk (who was murdered while fleeing). In 1450 and 1452, Richard, Duke of York, challenged the government but he only managed to take control after Henry went mad in 1453.
Henry VI's servants rallied under Queen Margaret and the Duke of Somerset, and moved against the Duke of York and his allies (after the king recovered his sanity). York resisted and defeated the Lancastrians at St Albans in 1455 as the struggle becameincreasingly embittered. In 1459, the Yorkists were forced to flee when their army would not fight Henry VI at Ludford Bridge.
The Yorkist
Earl of Warwick re-took London in 1460 and captured Henry VI. Subsequently the
Duke of York returned to claim the throne in Parliament but was recognised only
as Protector and heir to the throne. Weeks later he marched north to enforce
this settlement, but was killed at Wakefield. A large Lancastrian army swarmed
south, overwhelming Warwick at Northampton and liberating the mad-again Henry.
Fearful Londoners would not admit the Lancastrian troops, and the Duke of
York's son, Edward, earl of March, arrived to support the capital just in time.
With littleto lose, the Yorkists acclaimed March as Edward IV (1461-83), and he
cemented his accession by annihilating the Lancastrian army at Towton (outside
York) in April 1461 - perhaps the most vicious battle ever fought on English
soil. Henry VI and the other Lancastrian leaders were fugitives.
Edward IV and Warwick the Kingmaker 1464 - 1469 |
Edward IV
suffered the same problems of consolidation as Henry IV. In 1463-64 he crushed
Lancastrian challenges and in 1464 Henry VI was recaptured and sent to the
Tower. Edward owed his throne to his own military prowess in 1460 and 1461,
rather than to his chief ally, his uncle the Earl of Warwick.
However, Warwick was a great magnate and major figure in the government, and
when he became alienated after 1464, serious problems developed. The initial
cause of the rupture was Edward's secret marriage with a widow of Lancastrian
background and little political importance, Elizabeth Wydeville. Warwick could
not be excluded easily from the regime and the breakdown of trust between him
and the king came to dominate politics.
After several conspiracies and rebellions, Warwick and Edward's brother, the Duke of Clarence, fled to France where Louis XI brokered an agreement between them and the Lancastrian exiles, led by Queen Margaret. Backed by Louis, Warwick returned, took London and ruled in Henry VI's name with his uneasy Lancastrian allies. Edward IV fled to Holland and prepared his counterstroke. Henry VI's second reign is known as the 'Readeption'. When Edward IV returned in 1471 he was able to rally the Yorkist party and defeat first Warwick at Barnet, and then the Lancastrians at Tewkesbury. All the Lancastrian leaders of any significance were now dead, most notably Henry VI's son, Edward, Prince of Wales. Henry himself was soon murdered in the Tower.
After regaining the crown, Edward decentralised considerable power to regional councils organised around his most loyal supporters. Thus his brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, became Edward's lieutenant in the north. Edward resumed the French war in 1475, only to allow himself to be bought off with a large French pension. In the 1470s, William Caxton began printing in English at Bruges, and later brought printing to London. Sir John Fortescue wrote The Governance of England, William Worcester wrote Itineraries, and Sir Thomas Mallory wrote the Morte d'Arthur.
When Edward IV died suddenly in April 1483, the Yorkists expected his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, to assume the regency as Protector until the young Edward V (1483) came of age. However, Richard took them by surprise when he seized the young king at Stoney Stratford and executed his companions. He wooed the remainder of his brother's servants by telling them that he was only against the family of his brother's widow, the Wydevilles. But soon after several of the most important were summarily executed in their turn (probably for refusing to support Richard's bid for the throne). Richard III (1483-85) was crowned on 26 June, and, soon after, he probably had his young nephews murdered in the Tower of London.
After the murder of the young princes in 1483, loyal Yorkists began to look for a focus of opposition. A rebellion under Richard's former ally, the Duke of Buckingham, failed in 1483 and, after his execution, many older Yorkists fled abroad. Anti-Richard support gradually gravitated to the last Lancastrian claimant, Henry Tudor - hitherto largely unimportant. Richard's support narrowed, so when he faced a small invasion force at Bosworth Field in 1485, few magnates would fight for him.
TudorsHenry Tudor crowned 1485 |
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A matter of months later, in January 1486, Henry VII married Elizabeth of York, the daughter of Edward IV, helping to unify the two factions of York and Lancaster |
The early modern period of British history is dominated by the Tudors in England and the Stewarts in Scotland. In both realms, as the century progressed, there were new ways of approaching old problems. Henry VIII and James IV were both bellicose, cultured, educated Renaissance princes with a love of learning and architectural splendour. As contemporaries and brothers-in-law, they treated the problems of the Reformation in different ways - James remained staunchly Catholic while Henry broke away from the Catholic Church to form the Church of England (of which he had himself proclaimed Head).By the turn of the century, both realms were strongly Protestant and under the control of two long reigning monarchs - Elizabeth and James VI. The early modern period was definitely an era where women exercised more influence. Despite the odd voice to the contrary, such as John Knox, Catherine de Medici in France, Elizabeth and Mary in England and Mary in Scotland ruled as their male counterparts had done before them - all intent on securing the best political, military and diplomatic outcomes for their respective realms.
Henry VII was not unopposed as king. In May 1487, Lambert Simnel - claiming to be Edward, Earl of Warwick, the nephew of Edward IV - was crowned as King Edward VI of England in Dublin. Formally recognised as the real Warwick by Margaret of Anjou (wife of Henry VI) and backed by Irish troops and German mercenaries, Simnel invaded England but was defeated at the Battle of Stoke in June 1487. Henry considered him harmless and, instead of being executed, he was allowed to live out his life in the royal kitchens.
The later fifteenth century was an age of maritime discovery. In 1488, the Portuguese Bartholemew Diaz had rounded the Cape of Good Hope (southern Africa); and in 1492, Christopher Columbus, in the service of the King of Spain, had discovered the Caribbean islands of the New World. Not wishing to miss out on any new land (and wealth), Henry VII supported John Cabot in a bid to sail across the Atlantic. Although driven back by poor weather in 1496, Cabot (with his son Sebastian) sailed from Bristol to Cape Breton, Newfoundland, in 1497. In 1498, John Cabot and his fleet of five ships set out on a further voyage but were never heard of again. The following year, Sebastian Cabot, led a search expedition and extensively explored the North American coast from Labrador to the Grand Banks off Carolina.
The Renaissance ('new birth') began in the Mediterranean countries and spread across Europe during the course of the fifteenth century. By the sixteenth century, - as well as heralding a burgeoning of art and culture - it represented the rebirth of learning and of free enquiry, the exaltation of the individual (both in mind and body) and a focus on 'life', instead of the medieval preoccupation with the soul and death. It is arguable how much of this physical and spiritual expansion had immediate effect on the great majority of the population of Britain. However, the Renaissance certainly influenced court life, courtly manners and architectural building, and Henry VII and Henry VIII in England, and James IV, James V and Mary in Scotland, were, in their own ways, Renaissance monarchs.
In August 1503, James IV, King of Scots, married Margaret Tudor, the daughter of Henry VII of England. Celebrated in poetry as the union of the Thistle and the Rose, the event was to lead the accession of James VI, King of Scots, to the English throne in 1603 as the senior living descendent of Henry VII.
While Henry was campaigning on the continent in 1513, the Scottish king broke a Treaty of Perpetual Peace with his uncle, Henry VIII, and invaded England (in French interests). James IV was a popular monarch and took a sizeable army into Northumberland. He was met by English troops under the leadership of the Earl of Surrey. In the ensuing battle, on 9 September 1513, James IV deployed his resources poorly. The Scots were massacred with the king, the Archbishop of St Andrews (James IV's son), eight earls and over twenty lords among the dead.
Wolsey and Henry VIII pursued an aggressive continental foreign policy. Although at war in the early 1510s, by later that same decade a grand alliance between England, France, Spain, the Papacy and the Empire was envisaged. Although the diplomacy ultimately foundered, one of the high points in discussion was the meeting of Henry VIII and Francis I of France at the Field of the Cloth of Gold outside Calais in 1520. The meeting lasted over two weeks, with temporary pavilions and sumptuous tents bedecked in cloth of gold material. Tilts, jousts and other chivalric entertainment occurred daily and temporary fountains were plumbed to flow with red wine for the duration of the meeting.
The Reformation of Parliament 1529 - 1536
A non-contemporary description of the parliament which met throughout the Reformation crisis of the early 1530s. In its first session (November-December 1529), the parliament petitioned Henry to take action against Cardinal Wolsey. Subsequently, the parliament passed acts which defined the nature of the break with Rome and the foundation of the Church of England. In 1532 (a year after Henry VIII had been recognised as Supreme Head of the Church in England), the Commons openly opposed the authority of Church courts and stated that no ecclesiastical laws could be promulgated without the authority of the King.A year later, in the Restraint of Appeals, they codified the legal independence of the realm of England from Rome. As Henry's 'great matter' (his marriage to his brother's widow, Katherine of Aragon) became more problematic, parliament continued to support the wishes of their king over the Pope in Rome.
Henry VIII and the Act of Supremacy 1534
Henry wished to divorce Katherine of Aragon as he was conscious that the Old
Testament forbade a man from lying with his brother's wife. Henry saw his lack
of male heir by Katherine as a judgement from God as to his sinfulness.The
first discussions concerning the subject had taken place in secret in May 1527
but, by July 1529, the Pope had declared that the matter could only be settled
in Rome. After further inquiries, Clement VII refused to grant permission for
divorce, so Henry began the process of a split with the Catholic Church.In May
1533, his marriage to Katherine was annulled - although, the previous January,
he had bigamously (and secretly) married Anne Boleyn. Aided by his new chief administrator,
Thomas Cromwell, Henry was confirmed as 'Supreme Head of the Church of
England'following a parliamentary Act of Supremacy in November 1534.
Wales incorporated into England 1536
An act of parliament in 1536 (followed by a second in 1543) attempted to
regularise the relationship between Wales and England. The Marcher Lordships -
on the border of England and Wales - were abolished; new counties were
established; and Justices of the Peace (on the English model) were empowered to
undertake judicial roles. Although a Council of Wales (with enhanced powers)
was retained, English was made the official language of administration and
daily use.
Between 1536 and 1540, Henry dissolved all the monasteries that had not previously been dissolved. This proved very unpopular, as despite individual abuses, monasteries still played a major role both in the spiritual life of the population and in local economies. Furthermore, it led to exaggerated rumours that Henry intended to despoil the parish churches and to tax cattle and sheep. As a result, in 1536 there were major risings in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire (30,000 strong) and, in 1537, a further rising in Norfolk. The rebels called for an end to the dissolution of the monasteries, for the removal of Cromwell, for the restoration of papal authority and for the Catholic Mary Tudor to be named as successor. Henry's promise of pardon and concessions led the rebels to disband, but the king reneged on his promise and the rebel leaders were executed in 1537. Waltham Abbey was the last monastery to be dissolved in March 1540.
Despite urging from his brother-in-law, James V did not follow the same path as Henry VIII in splitting with the Catholic Church. Indeed, if anything, James V drew himself closer to Rome. With England on the verge of breaking away, James was able to extract financial and religious concessions from the Pope which meant that James was, in his own way, as powerful a leader in terms of the Scottish Church as Henry was in terms of the English.James was certainly open to the same abuses - appointing various of his illegitimate offspring to positions of authority within the Church so that the Crown could extract the annual rentals and income from the benefices.One of the major achievements in the Reformation period was the appointment, in December 1538, of James's chief counsellor, David Beaton (later Archbishop of St Andrews), as a cardinal. Beaton was a cruel persecutor of Lutheran supporters and had personally witnessed several being burned at the stake. Following James's death, Beaton exercised considerable political influence in Scotland but was, almost universally, hated.On March 1 1546, the noted Scottish reformer, George Wishart was burnt at the stake in front of the episcopal palace. Three months later, religious reformers within St Andrews stormed the palace and, in revenge for Wishart's death, killed the cardinal.
The Tudors had always been concerned with the Irish situation. In 1494, Henry VII had sent Edward Poynings to Ireland as deputy in order to strengthen links with England. Within a matter of weeks the Irish Parliament, meeting at Drogheda, had passed Poyning's Law which stated that Irish legislation was only valid when confirmed by the English Privy Council.Despite this, Ireland continued to be a cause of some concern. In the aftermath of the English Reformation, the Irish parliament recognised Henry VIII not as 'Lord of Ireland' (the traditional style) but as 'King of Ireland' and, also, Head of the Irish Church.
Jane
Grey, 'The Nine Day Queen' 1553
In regards to the succession, Edward had dismissed the claims of his half
sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, arguing that they were both illegitimate. Instead
he nominated Lady Jane Grey - Henry VIII's Protestant great-niece - as his
successor. She was married to one of Northumberland's sons and was proclaimed
Queen when Edward died - after horrendous illness - in 1553 (aged fifteen).
However, Mary simultaneously proclaimed herself Queen in Norfolk and began
raising troops. Northumberland set out to defeat her but, as support rallied to
Mary, he surrendered and was executed (as eventually were Lady Jane and her
husband).
Daughter of
the Katherine of Aragon, Mary (1553-58) became queen in 1553. Determined to
return the country to its religious position at the beginning of her father's
reign, Mary agreed to marry Philip II of Spain. By the end of 1554, and despite
protest, England had a Spanish king, and was once again subject to the Pope.
Some 300 people were burnt for heresy including several leading churchmen and
even Archbishop Cranmer of Canterbury (who was burnt at the stake in
Oxford).Mary undertook military action on the continent in support of Spanish
ambition. Although the English forces came close to capturing Paris in August
1557, within six months they had been forced back and, on 7 January 1558,
Calais - the last English continental possession - fell to the French
Elizabeth
(1558-1603), the Protestant daughter of Anne Boleyn, acceded to the throne on
Mary's death in 1558. After she was crowned, her first task was to bring about
a broad religious settlement, accepting those aspects of Protestant doctrine
which were consistent with order, and rejecting those which were not. It was
not until the 1580s that the Reformation gained general acceptance. Elizabeth
did not condemn the contemporary stereotype of women as inferior to men - in
1558, John Knox (a Scottish minister) had published the wonderfully titled
'First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women' (Monstrous
Regiment meaning unnatural rule) - but instead claimed that she was an
exceptional woman, chosen by God as his instrument.
Mary had
been married to Francis, dauphin of France (son of Henry II) in 1558. Although
Francis became King (and Mary Queen) of France in 1559, he ruled for a little
over a year before dying from an ear infection.Mary, dowager of France, was no
match to the political influence of Henry II's dowager queen, Catherine de
Medici. Before the marriage ceremony in Notre Dame, Mary had secretly signed away
Scotland's sovereignty and declared that, if she died before her husband,
Scotland would become subject to the French crown.Faced with the death of
Francis in 1560, Mary now had to return to her kingdom - a realm she had not
seen since she was five. On her return to Scotland (landing at Leith on 19
August 1561), Mary was faced with a problem concerning the religion of the
nation.For the next four years, while actively Catholic in private, she did
little to oppose the Protestant religion in public. Indeed, in October 1562,
she placed an army in the field to combat her leading Catholic nobleman, George
Gordon, Earl of Huntly. Only with her marriage to Henry, Lord Darnley, in 1565,
can Mary's policies be seen to be going wrong.
Scottish Reformation Parliament 1560
Meeting without the sanction of the Crown, a group of noblemen and burgh
representatives met in Edinburgh in August 1560 to enact bills to define the
Reformation in Scotland. Tensions had been mounting since the mid 1550s with an
active civil war being undertaken by Mary of Guise (the dowager queen and
regent) backed by French forces and the Lords of Congregation (Protestants)
backed by English forces. The confrontation had been settled (with a broadly
neutral result) by the Treaty of Berwick in February 1560 but the death of
Guise four months later effectively left the field clear for the reformers.In
August, the parliament abolished Papal jurisdiction over Scotland and Approved
a Calvinist Confession of Faith. Because the parliament met without the authority
of the Crown, Mary, Queen of Scots, refused to ratify the acts on her return to
the kingdom. Only on Mary's deposition in 1567 were the acts really
implemented.
In May 1565, Mary, Queen of Scots, married her cousin, Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley. This antagonised not only Elizabeth of England but also a group of Scottish noblemen. Although a son, Charles James (the future James VI), was born of the marriage in July 1566, circumstances soon escalated. Darnley was an unpopular, disease-riddled, drunk. Since her return to Scotland, Mary had relied heavily on a group of continental servants and this provoked a reaction from the discontented noblemen (using Darnley as a figurehead). On 9 March 1566 (with Mary five months pregnant), the lords broke into the Queen's chamber at Holyrood and stabbed her Italian secretary, David Rizzio, to death. Although Mary recovered and attempted to reconcile the discontented factions - notably at Prince Charles's baptismal ceremony at Stirling in December 1566 - by early 1567 the situation had only deteriorated. On 10 February 1567, Henry, King of Scots, was strangled and blown up in a house on the outskirts of Edinburgh.Although the Queen claimed innocence, her position was not helped when, three months later, she married the unpopular James, fourth Earl Bothwell - the man widely suspected of killing her former husband. Forces were raised and at Carberry Hill, a month after her marriage, Mary surrendered to the discontented lords. As Bothwell escaped to exile (and imprisonment) in Denmark, Mary was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle, where on 24 July 1567 - the day after she miscarried twins - she was forced to abdicate.
The queen's opponents crowned her one-year old son as James VI (1567-1625). Mary was in prison for eleven months whereupon she escaped and again raised forces. These were decisively beaten at the Battle of Langside (13 May 1568) and Mary fled south.Although she may have been trying to reach France, in the end Mary threw herself on the mercy of Elizabeth of England. Elizabeth imprisoned her for the next nineteen years. Meanwhile in Scotland, the forces still backing Mary and those backing James undertook a frenetic civil war which lasted until the Pacification of Perth and the fall of Edinburgh Castle in 1573.
Plots against Elizabeth I 1569 - 1586 |
Although Elizabeth was the last of the Tudor monarchs, she was occasionally
under threat from dissident factions who sought to depose her and place an
alternative monarch (usually, Mary, Queen of Scots), in her place. In 1569, the
Duke of Norfolk was imprisoned in the Tower for plotting to marry himself to
Mary, Queen of Scots, and thus provide a strong Catholic phalanx within
England. A month later, Durham was seized by the Catholic earls of Westmorland
and Northumberland, thus giving substance to the idea of Catholic plotting. In
September 1571, the Ridolfi plot - to depose Elizabeth, replace her with Mary
and restore Catholicism - was revealed; in 1583, the Throckmorton plot (with
similar aims but the backing of the King of Spain and the Duke of Guise) was
exposed.In 1586, the Babington Plot, which ultimately led to the execution of
Mary, was 'discovered' by Walsingham, only a matter of weeks after the Scots
had signed the Treaty of Berwick.
Drake circumnavigates the globe 1578 - 1580
On 13 December 1577, Francis Drake, on board his ship the Pelican, left
Plymouth on a voyage that would take him round the world. In August 1578, Drake
passed through the Magellan Strait (the south of South America) and entered the
Pacific Ocean. By June 1579, Drake had landed on the coast of modern California
(which he claimed for England as 'New Albion'). On 26 September 1580, the
navigator returned to Plymouth in his ship, renamed as the Golden Hind. The
following April, Drake was knighted by Elizabeth on board ship.
In 1585, 600 English colonists, under the guidance of Walter Raleigh, were established on Roanoke Island on the Carolina Outer Banks. The colony lasted less than a year and, although a further colony was established in Virginia in 1587 (of 110 people), the threat of the Spanish Armada meant that they could not be resupplied. In 1590, when an expedition did attempt to find the settlers, they found the colony had vanished.
Execution
of Mary, Queen of Scots 1587
On 8 February 1587, at Fotheringhay Castle, Elizabeth's heir, Mary, Queen of
Scots, was executed for treason after becoming involved in the Babington Plot.
Mary had been in English custody since her escape from Scotland in 1568. At the
age of forty-four, she was no longer the dazzling beauty she had once been -
disease had filled out her frame and she had lost her strong auburn hair.As
Mary went to the block, she revealed that she was wearing a scarlet smock - the
colour symbolised Catholic martyrdom.
Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex was a dazzling courtier who captivated Elizabeth. The step-son of the Earl of Leicester (one of Elizabeth's earlier favourites), and the husband of Sir Philip Sidney's widow, he tried to draw on the legacies of those around him to increase his favour. Throughout the 1590s, Essex had played on his favour with the Queen and had risen quickly through military ranks to be appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1599. Essex was unable to deploy successfully the fullest and best equipped Tudor army ever sent to Ireland and, in September 1599, he signed an unauthorised truce with the leading Irish rebel, the Earl of Tyrone. Elizabeth was furious, ordered his arrest and stripped him of his titles. In January 1601, the rebel earl led an abortive raid against the Queen and London but was captured and, on 25 February, executed for treason.
Death of
Elizabeth 1603
On 24 March 1603, at Richmond Palace, Elizabeth I died. To the end, she had
resolutely refused to name her heir. The administrators around her, however,
were in no doubt as to her intended successor and James VI, King of Scots, was
proclaimed as James I, King of England.
Upon the death of Elizabeth I, James VI, King of Scots (son of Mary, Queen of Scots), succeeded as James I, King of England, thereupon uniting the crowns but not the governments of England and Scotland. To mark the union of the crowns, a new ensign was designed superimposing the red cross of St George on the white cross of St Andrew. Closer union of the nations parliaments, for example, was rejected by the commons and abandoned after 1607.One of James I's first acts of foreign policy was to bring the long war with Spain to an end. Although this greatly helped the depleted English treasury (and helped enforce James's reputation as rex pacificus), the policy was, in part, unpopular because peace meant that both the English and the Dutch had to acknowledge the Spanish claim to a monopoly of trade between their own South American colonies and the rest of the world.
The Stuarts 1603 - 1713 |
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Charles I, unable to work with Parliament, attempted to rule without it. Eventually he was to raise his standard against the parliamentary forces, leading to civil war and his eventual judicial murder.
kingdoms of England and Scotland became joined in the 1707 Act of Union. |
New
colonies and trading posts 1607
Royal favour was shown to those companies and individuals seeking to establish
settlements in North America. The first permanent British colony in North
America was Jamestown, Virginia, established by Captain John Smith in 1607 with
105 pioneers. This was known as a 'tobacco' colony. Another tobacco colony was
founded in Maryland in 1632. The first British trading post in Africa was
acquired in the Gambia in 1686, during the brief reign of James VII and II.
The defeat of rebel Irish earls in the early 1600s, convinced James I that the only way to solve the Irish problem (which had plagued England for over three centuries) was to replace Gaelic culture with English and Scottish protestant culture. Previous attempts at plantation had largely been unsuccessful, so James organised not only settlers (from England and Scotland) but also new government administrators. Land was reserved for the Protestant Church of Ireland, Trinity College, Dublin, and - in Derry - the City of London livery companies (who renamed their chief settlement, Londonderry).Throughout James's reign plantation spread from Ulster further into the south of Ireland, encompassing Leinster and Leitrim.
The 'Authorised Version' of the Bible (or King James Bible) was guaranteed to be found in almost all Protestant British homes from its initial publication until the nineteenth century. Copies can still be purchased today. The version was commissioned following the 1604 Hampton Court Conference between Anglicans and Puritans and took seven years to complete.
In August 1620, a group that became known as the Pilgrim Fathers and that were attempting to escape religious persecution in England, sailed from Southampton for the New World. They landed at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts (although they had been aiming for Virginia). Often portrayed as the founders of the modern United States, they were far from the first British settlers on the North American continent. Indeed, only a year before at Jamestown, a colonial assembly had met - the first of its kind.
Charles I and Parliament 1625 - 1640 |
Charles I (1625-49) inherited a fairly run-down state when he became King of Great Britain and Ireland on his father's death in 1625. Friction between the throne and Parliament began almost at once. The Parliaments of 1625 and 1626 refused to grant funds to the King without redress for their grievances. Charles responded to these demands by dissolving the parliaments and ordering a forced loan. In 1628, Charles was desperate for funds and was forced to call a third parliament. This parliament presented him with the Petition of Right - a bill that declared forced loans, imprisonment without trial and martial law illegal. Charles accepted this bill but, in 1629, after criticism of his illegal taxation and support of the Arminians in the church, he dissolved parliament and imprisoned its leaders. For eleven years, Charles ruled without parliament - a period described as 'the Eleven Years' Tyranny'. Charles's advisers, Strafford and Laud, with the support of the Star Chamber, suppressed opposition by persecuting the Puritans. In 1640, with Scotland already in revolt, the Short Parliament was summoned but it refused to grant money until grievances were redressed. It was speedily dissolved. As Scots forces advanced into England and forced their own terms on Charles, the Long Parliament (beginning in November 1640) rebelled and declared extra-Parliamentary taxation illegal, the Star Chamber abolished and that Parliament could not be dissolved without its own consent. Laud and other ministers were imprisoned, and Strafford condemned to death. |
Science under royal patronage 1628 |
Charles I was a great patron of the Arts and Sciences. A great breakthrough in the research of physiology came in 1628, when a correct explanation of how blood circulated was supplied by William Harvey (1578-1657). During the Civil War, Harvey had been supplied with animals for his research by Charles I, who had taken an intense interest in his work. Harvey became a tutor for Charles's sons and probably made substantial contribution to Charles II's life-long interest in scientific affairs. Charles II was a patron of the arts and science, and both flourished following his succession to the throne. A group of Oxford men formed the nucleus of the Royal Society, founded under royal patronage. These men included Robert Boyle, (1627-1691), who demonstrated that the volume of gases varied in precisely inverse proportion to the pressure upon them.Other scientists of this century included Isaac Newton (1642-1727), who laid the foundations of physics as a modern discipline, making many discoveries (including the law of gravity) and Edmund Halley, the Astronomer Royal, (1656-1742).
The
plantation of Ireland under James I and Charles I had not proved popular with
the indigenous Irish population and with the generations of 'Old English' -
families who had been in the country for generations. Unlike Scotland and
England, those who rose against the King's authority in Ireland tended to be
Catholic. News reached Charles I of the Irish rebellion late in 1641 - at a
period of high tension in England (where the populace was already worried
concerning Popish conspiracies). The rebellion continued throughout the period
of the English Civil War - causing the rebellion to be considered as part of
'The War in Three Kingdoms'. It was only finally subdued during Cromwell's oppressive
campaigns in Ireland.
English Civil War 1642
In 1641/2, parliament was increasing worried concerning the prospects of Charles controlling military action against his Irish rebels. Charles, on the other hand, was confident that he had substantial support (especially among those who felt that parliament was becoming too radical and zealous). In January 1642, the king entered the House of Commons and attempted to arrest five of his staunchest opponents. The Commons stood firm and, in June 1642, presented Charles with Nineteen Propositions seeking to control his authority. The King withdrew from London, and in August 1642, declared war on parliament by raising his standard at Nottingham. The impending conflict caused parliament to split (royal loyalists set up a parliament in Oxford) and families to declare their allegiances. In the first conflicts of the Civil War, Charles's forces (under the command of the King's nephew, Rupert of the Rhine) were largely successful - at Powick Bridge and Edgehill. As time moved on, the confrontation first became more balanced and then swung decisively in favour of the parliamentary forces. However, not until the defeat at Naseby in 1645 was all hope of a royalist victory ended. In 1646, Charles surrendered at Newark, to a Scots army that had been camped in northern England for most of the war. They, in return for £400,000 backpay, agreed to hand him over to parliamentary commissioners on 30 January 1647.On 3 June 1647, George Joyce of the (more republican) army seized the king and carried him off to Newmarket, then Hampton Court, then, from November 1647, Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight.
In November 1647, after intriguing for a Scottish invasion, Charles escaped from imprisonment, and with the assistance of a Scots invasion force took up the Civil War again. Throughout the summer of 1648, Charles attempted to regain some initiative but, despite limited successes with the capture of Pembroke, Berwick and Carlisle, his ambitions were ultimately thwarted at Preston in August 1648. In January 1649, the House of Commons set up a high court of justice, which condemned the King to death by beheading. On 30 January, outside Banqueting House in Whitehall, Charles I was executed.
Oliver Cromwell, Puritan leader of the Parliamentary side of the Civil War, declared England a republic, or the 'Commonwealth', in 1649. As Lord Protector, (he refused the title, 'King'), from 1653, Cromwell established greater religious toleration and raised England's prestige in Europe on the basis of an alliance with France against Spain. He was quick to curb any opposition, and in 1649, he executed the leaders of the Levellers, (an influential democratic party in the English Civil War), following their demand for radical reform. Cromwell also crushed Irish resistance in 1649-50, and defeated the Scots - who had acknowledged Charles I's son as king - at Dunbar in 1650, and in Worcester in 1651. The Scottish parliament was suspended and Scottish representatives attended a united parliament in Westminster.Cromwell's response to opposition became increasingly similar to Charles I's: he tended to expel any member (and dissolve any parliament) which challenged his views. After a period of military dictatorship, his last parliament offered him the crown; he refused because he feared the army's republicanism.When Cromwell died in 1658, he was succeeded as Lord Protector by his son, Richard. As the Commonwealth collapsed into financial chaos and disputes between the military and administration increased, parliament was dissolved and Richard Cromwell was overthrown.
In 1660, parliament accepted the restoration of the monarchy after the collapse of the Commonwealth (along with Charles II's promise in the form of the 'Declaration of Breda' to establish a general amnesty and freedom of conscience). Already King in Scotland since 1651, Charles (1660-85) was proclaimed King of England on 8 May 1660. When a new Westminster parliament was elected, no representatives from Scotland were requested - the Cromwellian Union lapsed. Charles's desire to become absolute caused him to favour Catholicism for his subjects as most consistent with absolute monarchy. In 1672, he issued the Declaration of Indulgence, suspending all penal laws against Catholics and Dissenters. His plans to restore Catholicism in Britain led to war with the Netherlands between 1672-74, in support of Louis XIV of France.In 1673, parliament forced Charles to withdraw the Indulgence and accept a Test Act excluding all Catholics from office, and in 1684 to end the Dutch war. Charles dissolved parliament again in 1681, and Louis XIV then supported Charles financially.
In spring 1665, parishes began to report deaths attributable to the bubonic plague, which had already attacked London several times early in the century (the population would already have been weakened by an exceptionally hard winter during which the River Thames had frozen). By November 1665, when the epidemic ceased in the cold weather, the lives of over 100,000 people had been lost. Read more about the plague in 1665. This contributed to what was arguably the most influential change of the seventeenth century - that of population. For the first half of the century the population continued to grow, reaching a peak of about six to seven million. This put pressure on food resources, land and jobs, and increased price inflation.By contrast, the late seventeenth century saw the easing, if not the disappearance of these problems. Research has placed the most emphasis on family-planning habits as the cause of this change, but new methods of farming, which dramatically increased the yield per acre and the extension of the acreage under plough also played a significant part.From the 1670s, England became an exporter as opposed to a net importer of grain. The seventeenth century is also probably the first in English history in which more people emigrated than immigrated, although there was a massive influx of the Protestant Huguenots in 1685, following persecution in France. (It is thought that over 20,000 Huguenots settled in London, forming five per cent of the population).
James VII and II and the Monmouth rising 1685 - 1688
The second son of Charles I, James VII (0f Scotland) and II (Of England,
1685-88) became a Catholic in 1671, leading to the first attempts to exclude
him from succession. Attempts continued when the Whig opposition tried
unsuccessfully to use the Exclusion Bill to secure the succession for the Duke
of Monmouth, an illegitimate son of Charles II.In 1685, Monmouth's rebellion -
a Protestant rising against James - was crushed at Sedgemoor in Somerset.
Monmouth (an illegitimate son of Charles II) and 320 of his accomplices were
executed. Despite James becoming king in 1685, the Whigs continued to exclude
him, and in 1688, seven Whig and Tory peers invited William of Orange to
'defend the liberties of England'. James fled to France.
'Glorious' Revolution 1688
William of Orange landed in Britain on 5 November 1688. Although he claimed he
was only there to support parliament, it soon became clear that a different
agenda was operating. William marched unopposed to London as James fled
(dumping the Great Seal of the realm in the Thames as he went). By the end of
1688, it was clear that William would accept nothing less than the English
crown, if parliament wished for him to remain and defend Protestantism.
Although the revolution was long considered 'Glorious' and bloodless, this was
only from a narrow English point of view. Catholics and Jacobite Protestants in
Scotland and Ireland, who died for King James between 1688 and 1690 would have
considered the revolution neither Glorious nor bloodless.
William II (Of Scotland) and III (Of England, 1688-1702), a Dutch prince, became joint sovereign with his wife Mary II (1688-94) - the daughter of King James - in 1689. When offered the English crown on 13 February 1689 (Scotland was not consulted), they were presented with a Declaration of Rights drafted by parliament. It stated that parliaments had to meet frequently, that elections should be free and fair, that the debates in parliament should be subject to freedom of speech and that parliamentary consent was required to levy taxation and maintain standing armies.Both monarchs accepted the terms and were subsequently crowned (similar provisions were later made for the Scottish parliament). William spent much of his reign campaigning in Ireland and later against the French at Flanders, and during his absences, Mary took charge of the government. However, she died in 1694, leaving William to continue his reign alone until his death in 1702, when he was succeeded by Anne.
William II and III's policy in Scotland was to force clan chieftains to subscribe an oath of loyalty to the crown. MacIain of Glencoe (a sept of the MacDonald's) was slow in doing so and eventually missed the deadline by a matter of days (he was still willing to swear the oath). Government forces consisting, in part, of the MacDonald's bitterest enemies, the Campbells, billeted themselves upon the Glencoe population, in February 1692, and then turned against the inhabitants, massacring thirty-eight of their number and forcing countless others into the snow-topped Scottish mountains (where many died).The attack was condemned in the Scottish parliament and led to the fall of the government of the Earl of Stair
Although the description was not yet applied, from now on there would invariably be a prime or first minister, surrounding himself with an entourage that was to develop into the Cabinet. The term 'Prime Minister' was first applied as an insult by opponents - indicating someone too closely in touch with royal wishes.
The Georgians 1714 - 1836 |
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The Georgian period was a one of change. There was a new dynasty on the throne and, before long, the very infrastructure of Britain was changing. Agricultural developments were followed by industrial innovation and this, in turn, led to urbanisation and the need for better communications. Britain became the world's first modern society.
Because of its financial, naval and military strength, the British government tended to prevail. |
In 1715, the Earl of Mar (an ousted government minister) raised a royal standard on the Braes of Mar in favour of James Stuart, the son of James VII and II, and also known as James VIII and III or the 'Old Pretender'. Mar led his supporters - the Jacobites - south in an attempt to seize Edinburgh Castle, the government's main arsenal in Scotland. A simultaneous rising occurred in the north of England but was defeated at Preston. The Scottish Jacobites reached as far as Sheriffmuir in Perthshire where they fought with government troops. Although the battle was indecisive, the Jacobites withdrew.In reality, the revolt failed abysmally - principally because of Mar's indecisive leadership - and James (who had landed on the Scottish coast after the battle) fled back to France. Further rebellions were attempted in 1719 (defeated at Glenshiel) and throughout the 1720s. Eventually, however, James settled peacefully in Rome.
The
Flying Shuttle and cotton 1733
Prior to the later eighteenth century, the cotton industry was organised on a
domestic structure with most workers undertaking various processes at home.
During the course of the eighteenth century, a variety of inventions allowed
for greater mechanisation to be applied to the industry and this led in turn to
the industrial structure changing to a factory-based system. In 1733, John Kay
invented the Flying Shuttle (which meant that broader cloth could be woven and
at a quicker rate); in 1764, James Hargreaves invented the Spinning Jenny
(which meant that more than one thread could be produced at a time). Five years
later in 1769, Richard Arkwright invented the water frame (which allowed cotton
to be spun for the first time); in 1779, Samuel Compton's Mule allowed the
spinning of finer cloths, and Edmund Cartwright's Power Loom (1786) completed
the mechanisation of the weaving process.These inventions were the basis for
the increased productivity of the textile industry throughout Britain.
The
Turnpike Trusts, originally set up in 1706 and extended in 1735, led to serious
outbreaks of rioting in 1735 and again in 1750, in which toll-gates and houses
were destroyed - largely because the population objected to paying tolls for
travel on roads which had previously been free. Nevertheless, the Turnpike
Trusts were a success, and the money raised was used in part to finance the
building of new and better roads. The designs of coaches and wagons were also
improved by the new steel spring, and although accidents on corners were
frequent, speeds increased. Between 1750 and 1800, the average time for a
journey from London to Edinburgh was reduced from twelve to four days.Due to
the high cost of horse-drawn road transport, the numerous slow-flowing rivers
of England had been the main transport for heavy goods. To increase the
capacity of the water system, new canals were designed and built, such as the
Bridgewater Canal (1759-61); the Grand Trunk Canal (1766-77); and the Grand
Junction Canal between London and Birmingham (1805).Throughout the nineteenth
century, the British canal network was expanded until the building of the
Manchester Ship Canal (1894).
The '45
and the 'Young Pretender' 1745 - 1746
1745 witnessed another Jacobite uprising aimed at restoring James Stuart to the
throne. This was led by James's son, Charles Edward Stuart (the 'Young
Pretender' or 'Bonnie Prince Charlie'). After several failed attempts to cross
from France, Charles finally landed in Scotland - albeit without the French
support that he had hoped for - on 23 July 1745. Charles raised Stuart
supporting clans - with the cry of 'For King James and No Union' - and marched
to Edinburgh to proclaim his father as King. After a victory over the British
General Sir John Cope at Prestonpans, he penetrated England as far as Derby.
However, support in Northern England was smaller than was hoped for, and
Charles decided to retreat to avoid being caught in a pincer movement as he
attempted to take London(where George II was rumoured to be packing his
bags).Meanwhile, the government had called back troops from the continent and
attempted to follow the Stuart supporters back into Scotland. Charles' army
stood and fought government forces for a second time at Falkirk - and was again
victorious.
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Following George III's accession in 1760, there was a subtle change in policy and, in March 1762, secret peace negotiations were opened. When the final Treaty of Paris was signed in February 1763, Britain had acquired Quebec, Florida, Minorca and large additional parts of India and the West Indies. Although the war was undoubtedly costly in terms of lives and finance - the national debt almost doubled |
to £133,000,000 - it meant, for almost the first time, that Britain was truly a 'world power'. Unfortunately, in the next decade, it was not the heightened status but the depleted finances that proved crucial: as the British government attempted to cover its losses, by acts such as the Stamp Act of 1763, colonial tensions simply increased further.France and England/Britain had always had an uneasy relationship. In the mid-1750s, tensions continued to build between the two countries, specifically in relation to their dealings with the colonies. Britain declared war in May 1756 and the French retaliated by seizing British colonial bases. The conflict took place in a number of spheres - America, India, the Mediterranean and northern Europe.Notable events during the course of the war were Clive's victory at Plessey, India (1757), Wolfe's capture of Quebec, Canada (1759) and Hawkes's naval victory at Quiberon Bay (1759).
In 1775,
during George III's reign, the British North American colonies revolted - due
mainly to their opposition to British economic exploitation and also their
unwillingness to pay for a standing army. Anti-monarchist sentiment was strong,
as the colonists wanted to participate in the politics affecting them. On 4
July 1776, a Declaration of Independence was signed. Initial confrontations
were mixed - the British being successful at Brandywine but suffering badly at
Saratoga - but the situation improved for the colonists when France (1778),
Spain (1779) and the Netherlands (1780) all utilised the opportunity caused by
the confrontation to declare war on Britain as well. By 1782, the British
campaign was crumbling. Parliament demanded an end to the war, largely due to
its expense. The Prime Minister, now Lord North, resigned and, on 3 September
1783, treaties were signed at Versailles. Britain retained Canada and the West
Indian Islands but the thirteen rebellious states were formally recognised as
the United States of America. France retained their West Indian Islands and were
given Tobago in addition; Spain recovered Florida after twenty years of British
control (but later sold it to the U.S.A.).
Gordon
Riots 1780
In 1778, parliament had passed the Relief Act which repealed harsh
anti-Catholic legislation from the seventeenth century. In June 1780, violent
anti-Catholic riots broke out in London as Lord George Gordon marched on
parliament to present a petition requesting the repeal of the Relief Act and a
return to Catholic repression. (Edinburgh and Glasgow had already seen similar
riots).Chapels, known Catholic houses, prisons, public buildings and even
Catholics in the street were attacked. There were running battles between the
demonstrators and the authorities.It took the government and London authorities
ten days to restore order in the capital. By that time, 12,000 troops had been
deployed and over 700 had been killed. Gordon was tried for high treason but
acquitted. The Lord Mayor of London was fined £1,000 for negligence of his
duties.
The union with Ireland and adoption of the Union Flag 1801 |
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After bribery of the Commons and gentry, Britain and Ireland were formally united, with seats for 100 Irish members in the Commons and thirty-two peers in the Lords. The red saltire of St Patrick was incorporated in the Union flag to give the present flag of the United Kingdom (only properly called the Union Jack when used aboard ship). |
In Britain, the census was introduced to help the government understand the country and better utilise the population in times of war. In 1801, in England and Wales, the population was nearly nine million while, in Scotland, the figure was a little over 1,600,000. (Ireland was not included until 1821, when her population was over 6,800,000). The census has been taken in the first year of the decade ever since (with the exception of 1941).
Following the French Revolution, Napoleon I of France began a series of European wars. His aim was the conquest of Europe. In 1803, Britain resumed war against France, following an appeal from the Maltese (objecting to Napoleon's seizure of the island in 1798). In 1805, Napoleon's planned invasion of Britain from Boulogne ended with Nelson's victory at Trafalgar, and in 1806, Napoleon instituted an attempted blockade - 'the Continental System' - to isolate Britain from Europe. This finally collapsed after its rejection by Russia. Napoleon then made the fatal decision to invade Russia and was defeated by the Russian resistance, losing some 380,000 men. Britain, Prussia, Russia, Austria and Sweden formed a new coalition, which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig, Germany. Napoleon abdicated and was exiled to the island of Elba.He returned to Paris in 1815, but was finally defeated at Waterloo by Wellington and his Prussian allies, on 18 June that year.
Peterloo Massacre 1819
On 16 August 1819, a crowd of over 50,000 gathered in St Peter's Fields in
Manchester to hear a speech on parliamentary reform by Henry Hunt. The crowds
were well behaved but the local authorities panicked and attempted to arrest
Hunt and disperse the crowd. Eleven people were killed and around 400 injured
in the melee.
Victoria (1837-1901) succeeded her uncle, William IV in 1837, aged eighteen. Her reign would dominate the rest of the century and she would go on to be the longest reigning British monarch. In 1840, Victoria married her first cousin, Albert of Saxe-Coburg Gotha and for the next twenty years they instituted several constitutional changes. Some of these changes - such as the move (in the 1840s and 1850s) to a more constitutional monarchy above party faction - caught the spirit of the age. On 1 May 1838, a people's charter was published which constituted six demands: a demand for universal manhood suffrage (but not votes for women); secret ballot; annual parliamentary elections; equal electoral districts; the abolition of the property qualification for MPs; and the payment of MPs (to allow working-class representatives to sit in parliament).A public campaign was mounted to back the charter and over 1,250,000 people signed up to its aspirations. It was presented to parliament in June 1839 but rejected by a majority of almost five to one. The Chartist Movement continued to agitate and expand and, in 1848 (a year of revolutions across Europe) had over 5,000,000 signatures. This marked the high-water mark of the movement - the petition was again rejected. Although Chartist conferences continued for a further decade, the movement slipped into decline.Ironically, in 1999, all but the annual election of MPs are accepted parts of the British constitution.
During Victoria's reign, the revolution in industrial practices continued to change British life. With it came increased urbanisation and a burgeoning communications network. The industrial expansion also brought wealth and, in the nineteenth century, Britain became a champion of Free Trade across her massive Empire. Both industrialisation and trade were glorified in the Great Exhibitions, however by the turn of the century, Britain's industrial advantage was being challenged successfully by other nations such as the USA and Germany. The Empire too witnessed renewed conflict, although Victoria' reign can be seen as the imperial Golden Age
Penny
Black Stamp 1840
In Britain, the Post Office had been founded as early as 1635. With improved
communication routes in the seventeenth and eighteen centuries, services
improved. This largely matched an increase in popular literacy. The modern
postal service dates from 1840 when Sir Rowland Hill achieved parliament's
backing for a 'Penny Post'. This involved adhesive, pre-paid penny stamps for
all letters (of a certain weight). The first stamps were printed with black ink
and so became known as 'Penny Blacks'. From 1846 until 1864, Rowland Hill held
office as postmaster-general and implemented a series of expansions to the
scheme.
The Corn Law Act had been passed in 1815 as a measure to protect the interests of landowners who looked as if they were about to lose out when highly inflated prices for coorn ceased with the ending of the Napoleonic Wars. This kept the price of not only corn but also bread artificially high. Although an Anti-Corn Law League formed to oppose the legislation, it was not until the potato famine in Ireland that repeal was enacted in a belated attempt to alleviate some of the suffering. The repeal marked an end to protectionist policies and can be seen as a major stepping stone in turning Britain into a free trading nation.
As a result of a growing Sanitary Reform Movement, parliament passed a series of acts in an attempt to improve sanitary conditions in the thriving urban areas. The act of 1848 (the first of its kind) provided for a Central Board of Health with powers to supervise street cleaning, refuse collection, water supply and sewerage disposal. The later acts passed responsibility to local boards of health and extended their powers to include drainage and sanitation.
Factory legislation had first passed parliament in 1819 - limiting those aged nine and above to a twelve hour day. Further legislation in 1833 prohibited the employment of under nines in mills and further restricted the time over nines could work. An act of 1844 moved the position further but, in 1850, the Factory Act restricted all women and young people to no more than ten-and-a-half hours work a day.From the 1850s, Britain was the leading industrial power in the world. Superseding the early dominance of textiles, railway, construction, iron- and steel-working soon gave new impetus to the British economy.
The Indian Mutiny 1857 - 1858 |
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In 1857, Indian soldiers - Hindu and Muslim - opposed their British commanders following a series of insensitive military demands which disrespected traditional beliefs. The opposition mutated into rebellion and several communities in northern India and Bengal were attacked and their populations killed. In some areas, the military revolt was supported by peasant uprisings. The rebels even managed to seize Delhi (although the British regained the city). The mutiny led to the end of East India Company rule in India and its replacement by direct British governmental rule. |
The 1867 Reform Act attempted to redistribute parliamentary seats in a more equitable manner. Virtually all men living in urban areas were enfranchised (renting or owning property valued over £10) and some males with long leases in the countryside were also included in the reform. Reform of the franchise was not the only social change in the Victorian era. The last public hangings took place in 1868; Elizabeth Garrett Anderson became the first licensed female doctor in 1865, part of the increased visibility of women in society; and there was a growth in both leisure time and leisure activities - seaside holidays, football, rugby, cricket and golf all boomed
Foundation of Trades Union Congress 1868
In May 1868, thirty-four union representatives from the north and midlands of
England met in Manchester for the first Trades Union Congress. At their second
annual meeting a year later, also in Manchester, forty representatives attended
- speaking for over a quarter of a million workers.
Jack the Ripper 1888
Between 8 August and 9 November, five prostitutes were murdered in the
Whitechapel area of London. The murderer was never found and has haunted the
popular imagination since as 'Jack the Ripper'. Several theories abound as to
the identity of the killer(including one claim that it was a member of the
royal family) but, despite a plethora of evidence, the case has never been
solved.
Following the death of Albert in 1861, Victoria had increasingly withdrawn from national affairs. It took until the later 1870s for her Prime Minister, Disraeli to encourage her active participation in public life. Criticism of the Queen lessened and she resumed her interest in constitutional and imperial affairs - being created Empress of India in 1877. Victoria's Golden (1887) and Diamond (1897) Jubilees were excuses for massive outpourings of public affection. The monarchy was perceived as a ceremonial necessity and her death in January 1901 was an occasion of national mourning.
In 1877, Britain annexed the (bankrupt) Transvaal Republic in southern Africa. This annexation was followed by successful military expansion in Natal (the Zulu War). In December 1880, the Boers of the Transvaal revolted against British rule, defeated an imperial force and forced the British government, under Gladstone, to recognise their independence. Gold was found in Transvaal in 1886 and, ten years later Cecil Rhodes backed the abortive Jameson Raid to overthrow the Transvaal government. A failure to secure rights for British citizens in Transvaal led to a second Boer War in 1899-1902. The Boers invaded Cape Colony and besieged towns such as Ladysmith, Mafeking and Kimberley. Massive British and imperial forces were deployed and, under the leadership of Kitchener, concentration camps were used to house Boer resisters and their families. In oppressive conditions, many died from disease provoking a national scandal back in Britain. The peace of Vereeniging in May 1902 annexed the Boer Republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State to the British Empire (which, in 1910, became part of the Union of South Africa).
In 1901, Marconi made his first transatlantic airwave transmission of a message in Morse code, and the subsequent development of radio led to the British Broadcasting Company being established in 1922. This became a corporation (the BBC) in 1927 and was given a Royal Charter requiring news programmes to be impartial. Television was developed by the EMI-Marconi Corporation and by John Logie Baird, with the first continuous television service started by the BBC from London in 1936. Cinema remained a popular form of entertainment as well during this period, offering newsreels as well as films and cartoons.
In medicine, one of the major advances of this period was penicillin, discovered to kill bacteria by Alexander Fleming in 1928 and isolated for clinical use during the Second World War. With other antibiotics it continues to treat a variety of diseases. During the period, physicists such as Ernest Rutherford explored the structure of the atom. Work in this area led to the first atom bombs being built in the US during the Second World War, and to the development of nuclearenergy After the First World War, air transport routes began to be set up, first from London to Paris and then around the world, with Imperial Airways offering services to Singapore and the Cape (though this took thirty-three staged 'hops' in 1932). The Second World War brought accelerated air technology, benefiting from the invention of radar in 1935, and commercial services grew rapidly afterwards, with the Comet, the first civilian jet plane, built in 1949.
World War One 1914 - 1918
On 28th June 1914, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the
Austro-Hungarian empire, was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia. One month later
Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. This was rapidly followed by other
declarations of war, as the system of alliances which had formed in an effort
to maintain the balance of power in Europe followed its inevitable course.
Germany's decision to invade France through neutral Belgium led to the British
declaration of war on Germany on the 4 August. The 'Great War' which developed
between the allied powers (led by France, Russia, Britain and, from 1917, the
United States) and the Central Powers (led by Germany and Austria-Hungary)
lasted until 1918. On the western front, the two sides rapidly became
entrenched, and the technology of warfare at the time made it difficult to
overcome the ensuing stalemate.Although a variety of strategies were employed,
including poison gas from 1915 and tanks from 1916, World War One was
remarkable for the extraordinary loss of life in these trenches.
Because of the importance of the European empires at this time, the war was fought on a global level. Ultimately, however, the loss of life and costs of supplying troops made this a war of attrition. This became evident in 1917, when the Russian Empire collapsed in revolution. Morale was also collapsing among the people of Germany.Although the German army was not defeated in the west, the Central Powers surrendered, signing an armistice on 11 November 1918. In June 1919 the Treaty of Versailles was signed with Germany. Its harsh terms, insisted upon by the French and Lloyd George, would prove to be the source of enormous bitterness in Germany after the war. An estimated 10,000,000 lives had been lost, of which some 750,000 were British. Twice that number were wounded
World War
Two in Europe began on 3 September 1939 when Britain and France declared war on
Germany after Hitler had refused to abort his invasion of Poland, the
territorial integrity of which had been guaranteed by Britain and France in
March 1939. Following several months of 'phoney war', Hitler invaded
France and the BeNeLux countries, which fell to him in June 1940. Britain
endured the Blitz and feared invasion until the Battle of Britain in September
1940 secured superiority of the skies. In June 1941, Hitler extended the war to
the east by invading the Soviet Union, thereby making war on two fronts. The
war further escalated on 7 December 1941 when America declared war on the
Japanese after they bombed the American naval base at Pearl Harbour. Hitler's
declaration of war on America proved to be his undoing. With American entry
into the war, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill felt certain of ultimate
victory.During 1942 Britain fought the Germans and the Italians in North Africa
for control of the Eastern Mediterranean, oil and the Suez canal, achieving
victory at El Alamein in October 1942. Thereafter, the British and Americans fought
their way through Italy and drove the Germans out of the Balkans.On 6 June
1944, a second Western front was opened with the invasion of Normandy - D-day.
Soon the Russians had control of Eastern Europe and were on the outskirts of
Berlin and the Western Allies had driven the Germans back into Germany. The war
in Europe ended on 8 May 1945 when Admiral Doenitz surrendered (Hitler having
committed suicide a week earlier on 30 April). In August 1945 the Japanese
surrendered after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The
losses of World War Two were as horrendous as its earlier counterpart - out of
a total of 60,000,000 dead - at least 20,000,000 Soviet citizens alone -
Britain and her Empire escaped relatively lightly with less than 500,000
Imperial troops killed (of which 144,000 were from the United Kingdom).
The Labour Party came to power in the general election of July 1945, with its first overall majority. In spite of the reforming enthusiasm and experience of many members of prime minister Clement Attlee's cabinet, however, this was still an era of austerity, as the devastating economic impact of the war became evident. The best remembered achievements of the Labour period include the founding of the National Health Service in 1946, and the nationalisation of many |
industries including coal in 1946,electricity in 1947 and the railways in 1948. Consumer choice remained limited, however, as the rationing of food, petrol and many other items had to continue after the war had ended.A series of economic crises, including the failed attempt to make the pound convertible with the dollar in 1947, and the drastic devaluation of the pound against the dollar (from $4.03 to $2.80) in 1949, was sombre evidence of Britain's economic decline and her new relationship of dependence on the USA.
The end of the Second World War brought a new Labour government and the expansion of the welfare state including the establishment of a National Health Service. The creation of an independent India and Pakistan heightened the desire for independence on behalf of almost all of Britain's colonies - although most retained ties with Britain through the Commonwealth.
Britain's economic position relative to many other industrialised countries continued to decline, although external trade remained extremely important to the country (signified by the entering of the European Community in 1973). Although Britain's political and economic history in the latter half of the twentieth century has been somewhat mixed, in some areas, the country and its population have continued to lead the world. The 1960s are, perhaps, the totem decade for modern Britain with a more permissive society, increased consumer confidence, radical political protest and a blossoming of popular music which spread across the world, principally the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
The 1970s saw a number of firsts - Concorde (an Anglo-French collaborative supersonic aeroplane); test tube babies (Joy Brown, the first, was born 25 July 1978); the Open University (a university mainly carried out through television broadcasts); electronic technology; and commercial radio.The 1980s witnessed a number of notable events - IRA hunger strikes in Northern Ireland; a Papal visit (1982); Sunday football for the first time; a popular fitness craze with major events such as the London Marathon proving successful; the completion of the Thames Barrier; the beginning of the Channel Tunnel; the spread of personal computers; and satellite television.
By the end of the Second World War, Britain had seen her pre-war status as a global superpower eroded. Britain, with her Imperial interests, remained a power, but not a superpower. Britain also emerged from the Second World War deeply in debt to the Americans, with rebuilding after the was and aspirations for social reform to be funded. Although Anglo-Americcan research had produced the atomic bombs which devastated Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the US McMahon Act of 1946 had precluded Britain from further participation in the research. Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin resolved that Britain would build her own bomb, correctly perceiving that nuclear capability would secure Britain a place 'at the top table' in international affairs. This bomb was tested on 3 October 1952.The Communisation of Eastern Europe increased post-war tensions and rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States, generally referred to as the Cold War.
Fear of Soviet domination of Europe induced the Americans to join with Britain, France, Italy and the BeNeLux countries in setting up the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) for the defence of Europe (Germany became a member in 1955). Thereafter, UK-American co-operation and nuclear deterrence have underpinned Britain's foreign and defence policies.
Conservatives in power 1951 - 1964
The Conservative Party was returned to power with a small majority. It remained
in office for thirteen years - increasing its majority when Anthony Eden
replaced Churchill as prime minister in 1955. In 1957, Harold Macmillan
replaced Eden following the Suez Crisis. 'Supermac' as he was subsequently
nicknamed, went on to win the election of 1959, and was briefly succeeded by
Alec Douglas-Home in 1963. The early 1960s are remembered as an age of economic
affluence and continued full employment. The standard of living improved
steadily throughout the decade, as the global economy enjoyed boom conditions.
The British economy, however, continued to decline in relative terms. By the end of this period there was widespread pessimism about Britain's 'stagnant' economic performance.
Her eldest son, Charles, is heir to the throne. The Crown remains at the centre of the British constitution and government and the monarch remains as the head of state, the head of the executive, judiciary and legislature, as well as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and the 'supreme governor of the Church of England'. |
Nevertheless, the actual powers of the reigning monarch have been falling into disuse, with the government of the day exercising the powers of the Crown on the monarch's behalf. Now, the monarch is expected to be politically neutral and act only on the advice of political ministers. Even so, the monarch is entitled to advise, warn and encourage ministers (both in Britain and in countries which acknowledge the British monarch as head of state, such as Canada, New Zealand and Australia).The monarchy under Elizabeth balances between traditional and modernising trends and the British public continues to support the system of constitutional monarchy (a worldwide television audience of 750,000,000 watched the Prince of Wales marry lady Diana Spencer in 1981), even though the role of the monarch and the behaviour of some of the younger members of the Royal Family has been known to attract criticism.
In 1957, the Treaty of Rome was signed by six European countries (France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) and this established the European Economic Community or the Common Market, which sought to abolish tariffs and trade restrictions between member countries. The dilemma for Britain lay in the fact that it retained considerable extra-European trading links and a strong relationship with the |
United
States (although it thought it would clearly benefit from closer trade with
Western Europe). In response, in 1959, Britain formed the European Free Trade
Area (consisting of seven members, including the Scandinavian countries and
Switzerland). Britain attempted to join the EEC in 1961 and 1967, but both
applications were vetoed by French President Charles de Gaulle. Following the
election of a Conservative government in 1970, Prime Minister Edward Heath
re-opened negotiations with the EEC and, in 1973, Britain became a member of
the Community, along with the Irish Republic and Denmark. The drive for deeper
integration has continued and the Maastricht Treaty of 1991 - which promotes
closer economic and political union through the establishment of a European
currency and central bank, and harmonisation of defence, foreign and social
policies - has resulted in the transformation of the EEC to the European Union
(EU).
Harold Wilson and Labour 1964 - 1970
Labour came
back to power in 1964 under the leadership of Harold Wilson, whose government
was re-elected in 1966. The Wilson Governments instituted a series of
permissive measures, broadly reflecting the changing social climate at home.
These include the 1967 Sexual Offences Act which decriminalised homosexual
practices above the age of consent; the 1967 Abortion Act, which legalised
abortion under certain conditions; and the 1969 Divorce Reform Act, which
relaxed the conditions surrounding the ending of marriage. The Wilson years are
also remembered for the deteriorating relations between the trades unions and
the government and for the failure of the Government's determination not to
devalue the pound. When devaluation came, in 1967, it was accompanied by sharp
deflation and public spending cuts.
Civil Rights campaign in Northern Ireland 1968
In Northern Ireland, over the summer of 1968, a civil rights movement established itself, with marches and demonstrations continuing to the end of the year. Rioting in Londonderry and Belfast in the following year led to the deployment of British troops on peacekeeping duties. As the violence escalated in the early 1970s, internment without trial began (in 1971), followed by widespread rioting. Thirteen demonstrators were shot dead by British troops in January 1972 on what would become known as 'Bloody Sunday'. The Northern Ireland |
Government resigned after prime minister Edward Heath announced the commencement of direct rule from Westminster. In 1973, at the Sunningdale Conference, representatives from Britain, the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland agreed that the constitutional status of the North should only be changed with the consent of the majority of the people. It was not until 1985 that further developments were evident, when the Anglo-Irish Agreement was signed - providing for increased cross border co-operation and greater consultation between the British and Irish governments.
Between 1970 and 1979 Britain was led by three prime ministers: Edward Heath (1970-74); Harold Wilson (1974-76); and James Callaghan (1976-79). The period was one of increasing unrest and discontent, as the economy continued to decline, and inflation seemed, at times, to be spiralling out of control. In December 1973, Heath introduced a three-day working week to attempt to restrict energy use during a period of acute power crisis (industrial output remained virtually unaffected). By the end of the summer of 1976, the economy had become so weakened that the Labour Government was forced to seek a loan from the International Monetary Fund. This was accompanied by harsh conditions which included deep cuts in public spending. By August 1977, unemployment levels had surpassed 1,600,000. Labour unrest reached a peak in the 'Winter of Discontent' in 1978/9 when a number of key trade unions went on strike.
Following the 1979 general election, the Conservative Party gained power and Margaret Thatcher became Britain's first woman Prime Minister. During her period in office, which lasted until 1990, her style of leadership and the policies she promoted came to be known as Thatcherism. This was a loose concept which encompassed her policies of strengthening the powers of central government, curbing the powers of trades unions and local government, and the active promotion of individualism and private enterprise.
Thatcher systematically undermined trade union power, especially during the 1984-5 coal miners' strike. Local government power was eroded by the abolition of certain metropolitan councils (such as the Greater London Council in 1986) and control of local government expenditure through 'rate capping' and the introduction of the controversial community charge (or 'Poll Tax') in 1989. Her government also privatised previously nationalised industries such as British Telecom, British Steel and British Gas. The government hoped to promote consumer culture and individualism. Thatcherism is also identified with a strong tendency towards nationalism which was particularly evident during the 1982 Falklands Conflict. Thatcher fell from power in 1990 as a result of cabinet splits over the issue of Europe, London Poll Tax Riots and her autocratic style as Prime Minister. The economy experienced a boom in the late 1980s but was followed, after she left office, by a severe economic recession and high unemployment. |
Iraq has laid claims to Kuwait, a small oil-rich state in the Persian Gulf, ever since its creation in the late 1950s, when Britain granted it independence. Mounting war debts incurred by an internecine war with neighbouring Iran, the falling world price of oil, and the arguable provocation of a build-up of American troops in Saudi Arabia, led Iraq to invade and annex Kuwait on 2 August 1990. A coalition of 28 nations, led by the USA and including Britain, France and Egypt, embarked upon an air offensive lasting six weeks. During a 100-hour ground war the 200,000 strong Iraqi army holding Kuwait was driven back. The conflict was to create between two and three million refugees and resulted in severe environmental damage as the retreating Iraqi army blew up oil wells and allowed them to burn, and oil spills affected large areas of the region.Despite the result, the conflict (like the Falklands before) is a further example of Britain 'punching above her weight' in international politics due to belligerent governments, heavy reliance on US foreign policy decisions and her nuclear capability.
Tony Blair became prime minister in May 1997. The Labour landslide gave the party a greater opportunity than at any time since 1945. Blair's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, proved to be fiscally conservative, and the generally favourable economic conditions inherited from the previous administration helped to ensure that the Government did not experience the economic difficulties which had challenged previous Labour administrations. Blair was far from constitutionally conservative, however. As a result of manifesto promises (and subsequent referenda) both Scotland and Wales were granted forms of administrative and political devolution as the millennium closed.
The Good Friday agreement of 1998 resulted from negotiations between representatives of a broad cross-section of political groups in Northern Ireland. It provided for no change in the status of the North except by majority consent; the devolution of a variety of powers to a Northern Ireland Assembly; a North-South Ministerial Council; and a British-Irish Council, which would also include representatives from other parts of the British Isles. The constitution of the Irish Republic was to be be altered to renounce its territorial claim to Northern Ireland. A referendum held in both the north and the south of the island on 22 May 1998 endorsed this agreement.
In early 1998 large-scale fighting broke out in Kosovo, formerly an autonomous region within Serbia, between the Serbian government and Kosovar Albanians seeking independence. Although a ceasefire was agreed in October 1998 to allow refugees to find shelter and a European verification mission was deployed, violence continued. A peace conference, held in Paris, broke up on 19 March 1999 with the refusal of the Serbian delegation to accept the proposed settlement. On 24 March, NATO forces led by Britain and the United States began air attacks on Serbia - transforming NATO from a defensive to an offensive alliance.
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