The United Kingdom is a nation located in the British Isles; made up of
England Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Thousands of years ago the Isles
were inhabited by long-forgotten pre-celtic people known as the beaker culture
named for their distinctive pottery beakers little is known of them but it has
been suggested that these people laid the foundations for the mysterious
stonehenge , a series of heavy standing stones which were transported from 150
miles away, and arranged to form a calendar marking the days of the summer and
winter solstice, over time waves of Celtic speaking people arrived from the
European continent who soon came to form the brittonic Gaelic and Pictish
people , these people were not a unified people but were rather many tribes who
shared a similar pagan religion language and culture.
The Romans invaded, conquering what’s now England and Wales, but
failed to conquer the Pictish tribes to the north, the Romans launched several
campaigns into this land they called Caledonia. However their fortifications
were soon overrun and abandoned , and they retreated to Hadrian’s Wall their
conquered lands were incorporated into the Roman Empire becoming the province
of Britannia. They brought Roman customs and laws improved infrastructure and
connected many towns and cities with Roman roads, when the Romans left there
was a great migration of Germanic tribes, these were the Jutes Angles and
Saxons with their language Old English , their settlement pushed many Britons
to areas in Wales Brittany and a kingdom known as Domino Nia .
While Scotland eventually evolved into four kingdoms, thus most of these
were the Scots who were originally from Ireland. The Britons of Strathclyde the
anglo-saxon kingdom of Benicia and the pics of Alba for unknown reasons the
Jutes disappeared from history ,but the Angles and Saxons eventually formed
Seven Kingdoms: Wessex, Sussex, Kent Essex, East Anglia Murcia and Benicia
became Northumbria after the collapse of Domino Nia . The remaining territory
of Cornwall fought against the powerful kingdom of Wessex corn will eventually
fall under the control of Wessex, but it managed to keep its own culture Wales
at this point was also made up of several separate kingdoms ,the largest being
Gwynedd in the North poets in the East and differed to the south, the British
Isles soon saw numerous Norse raiders from Scandinavia, these were the Vikings
and they began settlement on many of the Scottish Isles.
The Isle of Man and they even founded the city of Dublin in
Ireland, the Scots in the pics, then decided to unite under Kenneth MacAlpine
to form the Kingdom of Alba, the kingdom of albergue grew strong over the
years, and eventually Strathclyde was bought into the fault . Meanwhile Danish
Vikings arrived in the Anglo Saxon kingdoms for conquest after fighting the
king of Wessex. Alfred the Great the Danelaw was formed a land where the
laws of the Danes held influence over the anglo-saxons controlling the region,
and its affairs the anglo-saxons eventually defeated the last Viking king of
York Erich blood acts and Athelstan became the first king of the English.
Although the newly formed Kingdom of Denmark would conquer England and
even found a short-lived Danish dynasty under Knut the Norseman had a dramatic
impact on the Isles .
So it’s no wonder some words in the English language have Norse origin
after defeating formidable sea Raiders from Ireland the Western Isles
Scandinavia and anglo-saxon forces from Murcia were fed up Llewellyn’s subdued
his rivals in southwest Wales Llewellyn became the only Welsh King ever to rule
over the entire territory of Wales. He was defeated by the English Earl
Harold Godwinson and killed by his own men leading to the Welsh kingdoms
splitting apart once more at the death of Edward the Confessor , there was a
succession dispute between four claimants Harold Godwinson was elected as king
and managed to defend England from an invasion by the Norwegian King Harald
Hardrada.
However, Howard had semaj his army south to defend against yook
William of Normandy who could cross the English Channel according to tradition,
at the Battle of Hastings Harald was killed by an arrow to the eye, and the
Norman invaders were victorious, the new King William defeated a number of
rebellions, built a new design of castles called moats and Bailey’s and
introduced a number of reforms like trial by combat and the Domesday book, the
Norman dynasty invaded into South Wales and parts of Ireland creating the
lordship of Ireland at court Nobles spoken conducted sessions in the
anglo-norman language which endured for centuries, and left an incredible mark
in development of modern English.
After a brief Civil War henry ii would marry Eleanor of Aquitaine
establishing the Angevin Empire beginning a long rivalry against France ,
Richard the Lionheart defended much of this territory, and also became a
central Christian commander during the Third Crusade achieving considerable
victories against his Muslim counterparts Saladin. Under king john heavy
taxes were imposed on his barons in order to pay for his expensive Foreign
Wars, the Baron’s rebelled and forced John to sign the Magna Carta, a charter
that established the principle that everyone was subject to the law ,even the
king guaranteeing the rights of individuals the right to justice and the right
to a fair trial ,most of North Wales remained independently ruled by several
Welsh princes until twelve sixteen when Llewellyn the Great became the ruler of
the Principality of Wales.
This would be the case until it but the first who conquered Wales
in 1284 effectively becoming parts England at the death of King Alexander, the
third Scotland was left with 14 rivals for succession to prevent civil war, the
Scottish magnates asked Edward the first of England to elect a claimant John Balliol
was elected King but was constantly undermined by Edward who opposed Scottish
independence. Edward decided to launch several campaigns to conquer Scotland
and depose King John, to which he acquired the nickname hammer of the Scots
under a brave Scottish Knight William Wallace the Scots mounted resistance
against the English defeating them at the Battle of Stirling Bridge .
Edward marched north in person and defeated Wallace in battle, but
Wallace managed to escape he was later captured and executed, but his efforts
allowed Robert the Bruce to rise up and defeat the English, securing Scottish
independence when the King of France died without an heir Edward the third was
technically eligible to the crown through his mother, the French Court denied
his claim and instead installed Philip of Valois Edward paid homage to Philip
as he owned the lands of Gascony, and was essentially a vassal to the King of
France due to disagreements Edward reasserted his claim to the throne and
invaded France ,beginning the Hundred Years War the English achieved notable
victories at the Battle of Crecy Poitiers and Agincourt .
Thanks to the technical superiority of the longbown but was unable to
conquer the French with the appearance of Joan of Arc who lifted the French
spirit and turned the tide of the war, upon the death of Edward the third an
entire generation was skipped in the line of succession which prompted bitter
rivalry between several claimants, most notably were the houses of York and
Lancaster tensions were high until a bloody age of warfare erupted between
these two factions in the Wars of the Roses it’s so in-depth and complicated
this period would likely become a video of its own the wars ended with the
arrival of the Tudor dynasty.
Henry the eighth wanting a divorce split with the church creating
his own Church of England, this ultimately led to a series of religious
differences between future English monarchs in between his six wives, and naval
adventures Henry gave Wales representation in Parliament and created the
kingdom of Ireland, but realistically he only controlled an area known as the
pale, in addition Henry’s paranoia and suspicion amounted to tens of thousands
of executions including his friends and wives during the 16th century, the
largest of most powerful Empire was Spain under king philip ii , england under
Elizabeth the first were helping Dutch rebels reject Spanish rule and many
English privateers were also intercepting Spanish silver on its journey back
from the new world, this angered the spanish king and the final straw came when
Elizabeth had Mary Queen of Scots executed because she did not want Scotland
falling under Catholicism.
The Spanish Armada consisting of 130 ships was deployed to invade
England at the Battle of Gravelinesn and English victory forced the Spanish
fleet to sail around the British Isles before storms in the north of Scotland
destroyed the remaining ships in metalliann the english led by Sir Francis
Drake amassed their own Armada to invade Spain, but this too became a failed
endeavor born in this period William Shakespeare became a renowned poet
playwright and actor who contributed significantly to English literature. When
Queen Elizabeth of England died without an heir her closest male relative was
James the sixth of Scotland, James was elected as King of England and Scotland
in a personal Union.
Although the country’s remain separate political entities as the
first monarch to rule the entire island of Great Britain, several assassination
attempts were made by Catholic conspirators ,one such assassination attempt was
the Gunpowder Plot by Guy Fawkes who tried to blow at Parliament’s after a
failed colony known as Roanoke , England established a successful colony known
as Jamestown which would eventually evolved into the 13 colonies at first
expeditions to the new world were mainly driven by religious motives which were
predominantly to convert the natives to their faith ,but colonies became more
profitable as demand for new world crops like tobacco and sugar increased British
ships, also made a monopoly on the transportation of captive African slaves
that crossed the Atlantic to the Americas.
Millions of Africans were shipped in cramped horrific conditions
to work on brutal plantation in the Americas, and essentially became property
to their masters, for 300 years this practice continued in the British Empire
until it was fully abolished in 1833, this period also saw a wave of
plantations in Ireland where Irish lands were confiscated and given to English
and Scottish settlers, tensions would rise between Charles the first and
Parliament following disagreements conflicts between Royal and parliamentary
authority within England led to the English Civil War .
The country became divided between parliamentarians known as the Roundheads
and Royalists known as the Cavaliers under Oliver Cromwell, and the New Model
Army the parliamentarians defeated Charles and executed him for treason.
Cromwell became Lord Protector and dissolved the monarchy but shortly
after his death it was restored under Charles ii . Charles ii married Catherine
of Braganza, and when she arrived from Portugal she introduced the greatest
beverage of all the time TEA Tea had been used by China for centuries, but its
arrival in the 17th century captured the interest of the English aristocracy
and soon captivated every other Englishman in 1685 a catholic James ii became
king in a largely Protestant nation James’s daughter Mary and her Dutch husband
William would both Protestant and many Nobles unhappy with the Catholic King
invited William to become King William found considerable support when he
invaded and he was soon crowned King William the third in what became known as
the Glorious Revolution.
Although Williams supporters dominated the government there
remained a significant following for James ii in the scottish highlands clan
MacDonald of Glencoe was one such group who had not been prompt in pledging
allegiance to the new monarch for this reason , alone 38 members of the clan
were murdered in what became known as the massacre of Glencoe , after
Scotland’s failed colonial endeavours in Nova Scotia and Panama and an economic
crisis in the 1690s , there was a union between England and Scotland forming
the United Kingdom of Great Britain , the House of Stuart’s had ruled Britain
for just over a century, but ended with the death of Queen Anne Sophia of
Hanover ,the granddaughter of James the first and her son George became King
Great Britain.
Soon found itself drawn into several European Wars, most notable being
the war of the Spanish Succession and the Seven Years War victories in these
Wars resulted in territory for the Empire , particularly in North America
although it resulted in considerable debts in order to make up for this debt
King George the third ordered heavy taxes be placed on the thirteen colonies,
this among other reasons culminated into the American War of Independence and
with financial help from France and Spain the Americans were victorious . The
East India Company which was founded by Elizabeth the first had grown rapidly,
and even operated its own military and controlled a sizable amount of
territory; the company had set up fortified warehouses where they traded with
many India rulers acquiring important luxuries like textiles and spices; one of
the most important cities of all was Bengal as it had a large taxable
population the governor of Bengal robert clive ordered that the population grow
opium to export to China instead of growing food ,as it proved to be a great
source of income.
However, when a famine struck it resulted in the deaths of
millions of people, meanwhile Captain James Cook arrived at New Zealand and the
southeast coast of Australia , although he wasn’t the first to discover the
area because of past Portuguese and Dutch explorers, however unlike the Dutch
of Portuguese Britain claimed as their new penal colony known as New South
Wales , with the first convicts arriving in 1778 a new threats had emerged from
France French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon had come to dominate most of
Europe but Britain’s advantage was that she was an island and the Royal Navy
had become a major force at sea invasion of Britain was near impossible, and in
a series of coalition’s Napoleon was defeated by the end of the Napoleonic Wars
Britain was growing rapidly into a superpower based on their supremacy of naval
engineering.
Furthermore, in Ireland the great famine struck a disease killing
potato plants Ireland which had merged with Britain relied heavily on this crop
for food , but the British government forced Ireland to export what little food
they had to other areas without any aid or food, Ireland’s population plummeted
by half due to starvation and emigration to countries like the United States ,
things weren’t looking so great in India either as India was rebelling against
company rule the East India Company had employed many Indian soldiers known as
sepoys who were under the command of British soldiers ,these sepoys grew
increasingly unhappy and a revolt soon occurred, yet it quickly failed due to a
lack of unity between Indians after the rebellion the British government took
direct control with Queen Victoria being declared Empress of India during the
19th century the world was forever changed by the Industrial Revolution society
was transformed by technological advances and increasing mechanization and
would launch Britain to global dominance.
Some of the greatest innovations and inventions were the sewing
machine, the fire extinguisher steam powered engines and turbines the electric
motor and photography ,The Telegraph was also a major invention as a message
could now be sent from Britain to India in a matter of hours, the establishment
of railways and trains also transformed transport forever instead of travelling
days by horse and carriage, it now only took a matter of hours by train
engineering and communication advance is not only United the Empire they
triggered a manufacturing boom like no other people flocked from rural areas to
city centres for jobs productivity reached an all-time high but the
consequences of mass migration resulted in extremely cramped and polluted
cities however with these problems that were generated, it resulted in an
improved sewage system Newcastle focused on shipbuilding Manchester the cotton
industry Liverpool became a major trading centre Middlesbrough fixated itself
on iron and steel works the presence of iron ore limestone and large coal
deposits in the West Midlands and southeast Wales prompted the establishment of
ironworks and Scotland boomed in the linen industry.
The Victorian era also saw a major change in society as families
from the poorest backgrounds gained access to education, although it was much
stricter than today’s standards the 1860s also saw the rise of the greatest
food combination ever fish and chips towards the end of the 19th century
European powers came together at the Berlin conference to divide Africa between
them a group in South Africa known as the Boers who originally Dutch settlers
proved difficult for the British the Boers lived in two nations the free orange
states and the Republic of Transvaal and both resisted British rule using
guerilla warfare to counter this the British placed many women and children in
their tens of thousands into concentration camps when many died from starvation
and disease Britain became a major player in the First World War and many men
proudly volunteered to serve and protect their country the Great War as it was
called saw the use of new technology such as dreadnoughts warplanes artillery
machine guns grenades chemical weapons bolt-action rifles and the first use of
the tank many faced horrific conditions in the trenches and witness groups of
battles.
Millions died and many returned home shell shocked by what they had seen
the Empire reached its territorial heights in 1921 ,after gaining territory
from Germany and the crumbling Ottoman Empire the Empire now ruled over 400
million people and controlled one quarter of the world’s land mass but the
reality was Britain could no longer afford to build bases or ships to defend
its empire as it had before Ireland, finally managed to break away from British
rule, and formed the Irish free states and shortly after became a republic the
Second World War was more brutal and horrific than the first most of Europe had
fallen under German occupation and under Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Britain stood strong during the Battle of Britain, and the Blitz Britain were
extremely successful at intercepting and decoding enemy communications with the
likes of Alan Turing who cracked the German Enigma code.
The war ended with an allied victory, but many nations within the Empire
felt a desire for independence and it was clear the Empire was about to break
India was one such nation who were ready to declare their independence Mohandas
Gandhi practiced a nonviolent approach and this proved successful are shortly
after India gained independence the Commonwealth of Nations was formed to
improve relations and economic ties with former colonies, this still remains
today with 53 members united by language history culture and shared values of
democracy.
The British Empire officially ended with Hong Kong Britain’s last colony
being handed over to China in 1997, the Empire committed many atrocities on
many different people imposing their culture and civilization, while often
wiping out native ones on the other hand this brought about globalization and
the uniting of the modern world and without such innovations and
industrialization the world might have been a very different place the United Kingdom
suffered a small economic recession in 2008 but has since recovered it is a
multicultural society with each region retaining a presence of its history and
culture if you ever visit look out for the Welsh cake the haggis the whiskey
the Chelsea bun the par mo the Cumberland sausage the Yorkshire pudding or the
Cornish pasty the UK remains a member of NATO United Nations and the World
Trade Organization and uses the pound currency in 2016 a referendum resulted in
51.9% of voters in favor to leave the European Union although the countries
within the United Kingdom became divided on the matter leading to the many
questions of its future unity.