Tallinn French School

British History Project

Siim Artur Juht

XB

Viimsi 2011

Pre-historic Britain

About 3000 BC The Iberians inhabited

many parts of Europe, including the British

Isles. They came from the Spanish

peninsula.

Used stone axes, tools made of

antlers and bones.

Wooden and stone buildings

First roads

Not much is known about them,

archaelogical excavations – only

source.

The Celts

Invaded the British Isles in two waves:

1. 600 BC – Gaels

2. 300 BC – Britons

The Celts:

Iberians were unable to fight back

brought the art of smelting iron

learned the art of pottery

lived in villages instead of towns

built forts on hilltops with ditches

and ramparts

society free of classes, private

property, exploitation

tamed and bred animals, grew

wheat, corn, caught fish

large-scale artwork

ancestor of Irish, Welsh, Scottish

languages

Stonehenge

Built in several stages from

about 3000 BC

connected with the sun and

the passing of the seasons

two stones circles and two

stone horseshoes

The Bronze age 2100 -1650

Roman Britain

Julius Caesar reached the channel

in 55 BC.

Two successful raids: 55 and 54 BC

Forced to withdraw due to a

rebellion in Gaul.

Claudius began the invasion in 43

AD.

Ruled as a colony, Celts weren’t

slaves, had to pay taxes.

Boudicca (the Iceni tribe)

Joined forces with the romans to

defeat a rival tribe.

Then Romans turned on the Iceni,

Romans raped Boudicca’s

daughters

Boudicca led a revolt in 61 AD, lost

and killed herself with poison

Roman achievements:

A network of paved roads

Many cities and towns

Aquae Sulis, between 1st and 4th

Hadrian’s Wall, built in 122 to keep

raiding Picts and Scots out, 70

miles long

Christianity

Anglo-Saxon Britain

Romans left in 410

Angles, Jutes, Saxons started

raiding

Within 100 years Mercia, Wessex

are founded

Disliked towns, destroyed Roman

villas, preferred small farming

communities

By the 7th century trade increased,

town sprang up.

The Celts were driven away to

Wales, Scottish Highlands, other

remote areas.

English descended from the

language used by the Saxon

invaders.

Anglo-Saxons were agricultural, no

shops, self-sufficient.

The conversion of Anglo-Saxons in

the 6th.

St. Augustine became the

Archbishop of Canterbury

The Venerable Bede, father of

English history, „Ecclesiastical

History of the English People“

„Beowulf“

Wessex and king Egbert at the

beginning of the 9th century were

the strongest, united England

under one rule.

Danelaw

During the 9th and 10th Vikings

first came to plunder, then decided

to stay

The Invasion was successful,

Saxons didn’t have a navy nor a

standing army

In 871 Danes invaded Wessex, King

Alfred the Great led resistance

Danelaw was founded in the

northern boundary, York was the

capital

Alfred the Great

Could write and read.

Many books translated.

Translated „Eccle...

Ordered a history of England „The

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle“.

The Norman Invasion

In 1042 Edward the

Confessor became king.

favoured the ducal house of

Normandy, Norwegian

royal house was displeased.

Claimants:

Harold Godwin claimed that

Edward had promised him the

throne on his deathbead.

Duke William of Normandy argued

that he had been promised the

throne in 1051.

William of Normandy

Harold Hardraada (King of Norway)

also claimed.

Battle of Hastings:

1066

Harold marched to meet the forces

of Harald, won him at Stamford

Bridge.

Duke William landed on the south

coast near Hastings.

Harold collected a new army and

marched to Hastings

Battle was won through deceit:

Normans prentended to be

retreating.

King Harold mortally wounded.

The last successful invasion of

Britain

Depicted on Bayeux Tapestry

William of Normandy the new

ruler, brought French culture,

Anglo-Saxons treated as serfs, built

White Tower (domination of

London)

Rebellion

Domesday Book

William Rufus, Henry, Robert

Henry married Matilda to Geoffrey

Plantagenet.

The Early Middle Ages / The

Plantagenets

Henry II

The first unquestioned ruler for a

hundred years.

Adopted son of Stephen of Blois

inherited the English kingdom,

Anjou, Maine, Touraine and other

vast areas in France through wife

Eleanor of Aquitane.

The struggle between church and

king led to the murder of Thomas

Becket.

Sons: John I, Richard II reigned for

7 months, spent most of the time

on crusades.

Henry II

John I Lackland

By 1204 had lost the Plantagenet

dominions

Failed to recapture these lands, for

that earned the nickname

„Lackland“

Disputes with the pope and

nobility

Magna Carta 1215, established

principal rights and obligations of

the crown and nobility.

John I

Henry III

John’s eldest son

Patronized arts, improvements to

Westminster Abbey, construction

of Salisbury Cathedral, University

of Oxford

The First Parliament in 1265

Edward III

The son of Isabella(daughter of

Philip the Fair)

Claimed the French throne through

his mother (male heirs of Philip

had died) , but the French nobility

recognised Philip IV as their king

In 1337 the Hundred Years’ War

began.

In 1348 the Order of the Garter

From 1431 French started winning

their territories back thanks to

Joan of Arc.

Joan was burnt at the stake, but

the French continued to dominate.

By 1453 only Calais was still under

English control.

Richard II

Had to face the Peasant’s Revolt

Wasn’t skilful, wasn’t popular

among the people.

Leader of the peasants Wat Tyler

Peasants revolted because of

taxes.

The revolt was put down.

Edward III

The War of the Roses / Tudors

1455-1485

The returning English noblemen

became unemployed.

The houses of Lancaster and York

fought over the throne.

Richard II was forced from the

throne.

Many Battles were fought between

the two houses.

In 1485 Henry VII defeated Richard

III.

Henry Tudor was crowned king as

Henry VII, married Edward’s IV

daughter, united the two houses.

Henry VII

1457 – 1509

founder of the Tudor dynasty

United the Lancasters and Yorks

Married Elizabeth of York

Henry VIII

1491 – 1547

Formed the Anglican Church

the Act of Supremacy in 1534

Had six wives

Henry VIII

Mary Tudor

1516 - 1558

Tried to restore Catholicism

Married to Felipe II

Daughter of Henry VIII and Isabella

Elizabeth I

1533 – 1603

England became a superpower

the English Renaissance

Establishment of Virginia

The victory over Armada

William Shakespeare, culture and

literature fluorishes.

Elizabeth I

The Stuarts

Mary Stuart

1542 – 1567

Queen of Scotland

Was Catholic

Married to Francis II, Henry

Darnley

Suspected of treason against

Elizabeth

James I

1566 – 1625

First king of England and Scotland

the Gunpowder plot

Paranoid

Charles I

1600 – 1649

English Civil War

Executed by the Parliament

Charles I

Oliver Cromwell

1599 – 1658

Civil War

Lord Protector of England

The English Republic, The

Commonwealth

Oliver Cromwell

Charles II

1630 - 1685

Son of Charles I

The Declaration of Breda in 1660

The Great Plague in 1665

The Great Fire in 1666

James II and the Glorious

Revolution

Georgian Era

George I

1660 – 1727

First of the Hanoverian dynasty

A figure-head, didn’t speak English,

Parliament truly governed instead

of him

George III

1760 – 1820

Spoke English without an accent

Loss of American colonies

Napoleonic wars

Went insane

George III

Robert Walpole

1676 - 1745

First Prime Minister of England

Led the political cabinet and made

most of the decisions

A Whig

Robert Walpole

Politics

Tories vs Whigs

The Cabinet, the economy

New colonies

The Jacobite Rebellions

1688 – 1746

To restore the Stuart dynasty.

Organized by Jacobite movement.

Was crushed at the battle of

Culloden

The Napoleonic Wars

1803 – 1815

One of the greatest military

conflicts

New revolutionary tactics and

weapons

Ended with the banishment of

Napoleon and the restoration of

the Bourbon dynasty

Victorian Era

Queen Victoria

1819 – 1901

Longest reigning British monarch

Mother of many children, „The

Grandmother of Europe“

The last Hanover Monarch

Albert

1819 – 1861

Beloved husband

Profound influence on politics

The Industrial Revolution

Began in Britain

Manual labor was replaced

Beginning of the railways

Trade expansion

Had a profound effect on society

Scientific, cultural and economical

achievements

„Origin of Species“

The Great Exhibition in 1851

Antiseptic surgery

The rise of family values

electrical lighting

Charles Dickens, brought about a

revolution of social ideas

The Edwardian Age, World War I

and the Post-War Years

The Edwardian Age

1901 – 1910

British social class system was very

rigid

1/3 of the population was poverty

stricken

characterised by great and

ostentatious displays of wealth,

great optimism

The church no longer played a vital

role

Edward VII

World War I

1914-1918

Prewar arms race

Trench and submarine warfare

3 mln total casualties

Severe economic damage

Post-War Years

Britain increased in size

The Great Depression

Britain could no longer afford to

keep an empire, statute of 1931

The British Commonwealth in 1947

Flag of British Commonwealth