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| Walter Ware is British Isles History | |||
| {{redirect|History of Britain|the history of the United Kingdom|History of the United Kingdom|other uses|History of Britain (disambiguation)}} | |||
| {{Refimprove|date=September 2015}} | |||
| {{UKHBS}} | |||
| The '''history of the British Isles''' has witnessed intermittent periods of competition and cooperation between the people that occupy the various parts of ], ], and the smaller adjacent islands, which together make up the ]. | |||
| Today, the British Isles contain two ]: the ] and the ]. There are also three ]: ], ] and the ]. The United Kingdom comprises ], ], ], and ], each ] having its own history, with all but Northern Ireland having been independent states at one point. The ] is very complex. | |||
| The ] was ] of all of the countries of the British Isles from the ] in 1603 until the enactment of the ] in 1949, although the term "British Isles" was not used in 1603. Additionally, since the independence of most of Ireland, historians of the region often avoid the term ''British Isles'' due to the complexity of relations between the peoples of the ] (see: '']''). | |||
| ==Prehistoric== | |||
| {{Main|Prehistoric Britain|Prehistoric Ireland}} | |||
| ===Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods=== | |||
| The ] and ], also known as the Old and Middle Stone Ages, were characterised by a ] economy and a reliance on stone tool technologies. | |||
| ====Palaeolithic==== | |||
| The ] saw its first inhabitation by early hominids. | |||
| One of the most prominent archaeological sites dating to this period is that of ] in West Sussex, southern England. | |||
| ====Mesolithic (10,000 to 4,500 BC)==== | |||
| By the Mesolithic, '']'', or modern humans, were the only hominid species to still survive in the British Isles. | |||
| ===Neolithic and Bronze Ages (4500 to 600BC)=== | |||
| In the British Isles, the Neolithic and Bronze Ages saw the transformation of British and Irish society and landscape. It saw the adoption of agriculture, as communities gave up their hunter-gatherer modes of existence to begin farming. | |||
| ===Iron Age (1200BC to 600AD)=== | |||
| As its name suggests, the British Iron Age is also characterised by the adoption of ], a metal which was used to produce a variety of different tools, ornaments and weapons. | |||
| In the course of the first millennium BC, immigration from continental Europe resulted in the establishment of ] in the islands, eventually giving rise to the ] group. What languages were spoken in the islands before is unknown, though they are assumed to have been ]. | |||
| ==Classical period== | |||
| {{main|Roman Britain}} | |||
| From AD 40 to about AD 410, southern Britain was ], with archaeologists referring to this area as "Roman Britain", and this time span the "Romano-British period" or the "Roman Iron Age". | |||
| ==Medieval period== | |||
| {{main|Medieval England|Medieval Scotland|Medieval Wales|Early medieval Ireland|Late medieval Ireland}} | |||
| ===Early medieval=== | |||
| <!--for the sources of this section, see the article Anglo-Saxon England, of which this is a summary.--> | |||
| The Early medieval period saw a series of ] by the ]-speaking ], beginning in the 5th century. Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were formed and, through wars with British states, gradually came to cover the territory of present-day England. Around 600, seven principal kingdoms had emerged, beginning the so-called period of the ]. During that period, the Anglo-Saxon states were ] (the conversion of the British ones had begun much earlier). In the 9th century, ] from ] and ] ]. Only the Kingdom of Wessex under ] survived and even managed to re-conquer and unify England for much of the 10th century, before a new series of Danish raids in the late 10th century and early 11th century culminated in the wholesale subjugation of England to Denmark under ]. Danish rule was overthrown and the local House of Wessex was restored to power under ] for about two decades until his death in 1066. | |||
| ===Late Medieval=== | |||
| ] depicting events leading to the ], which defined much of the subsequent history of the British Isles]] | |||
| In 1066, ] said he was the rightful heir to the English throne, invaded England, and defeated King ] at the ]. Proclaiming himself to be King William I, he strengthened his regime by appointing loyal members of the Norman elite to many positions of authority, building a system of castles across the country and ordering a census of his new kingdom, the ]. The Late Medieval period was characterised by many battles between England and France, coming to a head in the Hundred Years' War from which France emerged victorious. The monarchs throughout the Late Medieval period belonged to the houses of Plantaganet, Lancaster and York. | |||
| ==Early modern period== | |||
| {{main|Early modern Britain|History of Ireland (1536–1691)|History of Ireland (1691–1801)}} | |||
| Major historical events in the early modern period include the ], the ] and ], the ], the Restoration of ], the ], the ], the ] and the formation of the ]. | |||
| ==19th century== | |||
| {{main|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland}} | |||
| ===1801 to 1837=== | |||
| {{further|Georgian era|British Regency|Victorian era|British Empire|Georgian society}} | |||
| ====Union of Great Britain and Ireland==== | |||
| The ] was a settler state; the monarch was the incumbent monarch of England and later of Great Britain. The ] headed the government on behalf of the monarch. He was assisted by the ]. Both were responsible to the government in London rather than to the ]. Before the ], the Irish parliament was also ], and decisions in Irish courts could be overturned on appeal to the British ] in London. | |||
| Ireland gained a degree of independence in the 1780s thanks to ]. During this time the effects of the ] on the primarily Roman Catholic population were reduced, and some property-owning Catholics were granted the franchise in 1794; however, they were still excluded from becoming members of the ]. This brief period of limited independence came to an end following the ], which occurred during the ]. The British government's fear of an independent Ireland siding against them with the French resulted in the decision to unite the two countries. This was brought about by ] and came into effect on 1 January 1801. The Irish had been led to believe by the British that their loss of legislative independence would be compensated for with ], i.e. by the removal of civil disabilities placed upon Roman Catholics in both Great Britain and Ireland. However, ] was bitterly opposed to any such Emancipation and succeeded in defeating his government's attempts to introduce it. {{Citation needed|date=September 2013}} | |||
| ====Napoleonic Wars==== | |||
| {{further|Napoleonic Wars}} | |||
| During the ] (1799–1801), Britain occupied most of the French and Dutch overseas possessions, the Netherlands having become a satellite state of France in 1796, but tropical diseases claimed the lives of over 40,000 troops. When the Treaty of Amiens ended the war, Britain agreed to return most of the territories it had seized. The peace settlement was in effect only a ceasefire, and Napoleon continued to provoke the British by attempting a trade embargo on the country and by occupying the city of ], capital of the ], a German-speaking duchy which was in a ] with the United Kingdom. In May 1803, war was declared again. Napoleon's plans to invade Britain failed, chiefly due to the inferiority of his navy, and in 1805 Lord Nelson's ] fleet decisively defeated the French and Spanish at ], ending any hopes Napoleon had to wrest control of the oceans away from the British.<ref>Roy Adkins, ''Nelson's Trafalgar: The Battle That Changed the World'' (2006)</ref> | |||
| ] fires to the French ] '']'' (completely dismasted) into battle off ]. The ''Bucentaure'' also fights ] (behind her) and ] (left side of the picture). In fact, HMS ''Sandwich'' never fought at Trafalgar, it is a mistake from ], the painter.<ref></ref>]] | |||
| In 1806, Napoleon issued the series of ]s, which brought into effect the ]. This policy aimed to eliminate the threat from the British by closing French-controlled territory to foreign trade. The ] remained a minimal threat to France; it maintained a standing strength of just 220,000 men at the height of the Napoleonic Wars, whereas France's armies exceeded a million men—in addition to the armies of numerous allies and several hundred thousand ] that Napoleon could draft into the French armies when they were needed. Although the Royal Navy effectively disrupted France's extra-continental trade—both by seizing and threatening French shipping and by seizing French colonial possessions—it could do nothing about France's trade with the major continental economies and posed little threat to French territory in Europe. France's population and agricultural capacity far outstripped that of Britain.<ref>David A. Bell, ''The First Total War: Napoleon's Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It'' (2007)</ref> | |||
| Top French leaders argued that cutting the British off from the European mainland would end their economic hegemony, but ] possessed the greatest industrial capacity in the world, and its mastery of the seas allowed it to build up considerable economic strength through trade to its possessions from its rapidly expanding new Empire. . In terms of economic damage to Great Britain, the blockade was largely ineffective. As Napoleon realized that extensive trade was going through Spain and Russia, he invaded those two countries. He tied down his forces in Spain, and lost very badly in Russia in 1812.<ref>J. M. Thompson, ''Napoleon Bonaparte: His rise and fall '' (1951) pp 235-40</ref> The Spanish uprising in 1808 at last permitted Britain to gain a foothold on the Continent. The Duke of Wellington and his army of British and Portuguese gradually pushed the French out of Spain, and in early 1814, as Napoleon was being driven back in the east by the Prussians, Austrians, and Russians, Wellington invaded southern France. After Napoleon's surrender and exile to the island of Elba, peace appeared to have returned, but when he escaped back into France in 1815, the British and their allies had to fight him again. The armies of Wellington and Blucher defeated Napoleon once and for all at Waterloo.<ref>R.E. Foster, ''Wellington and Waterloo: The Duke, the Battle and Posterity 1815-2015'' (2014)</ref> | |||
| ] With the United States (1814), by A. Forestier ]] | |||
| Simultaneous with the Napoleonic Wars, trade disputes and British impressment of American sailors led to the ] with the United States. A central event in American history, it was little noticed in Britain, where all attention was focused on the struggle with France. The British could devote few resources to the conflict until the fall of Napoleon in 1814. American frigates also inflicted a series of embarrassing defeats on the British navy, which was short on manpower due to the conflict in Europe. | |||
| A stepped-up war effort that year brought about some successes such as the burning of ], but the Duke of Wellington argued that an outright victory over the U.S. was impossible Because the Americans controlled the western Great Lakes and had destroyed the power of Britain's Indian allies. A full-scale British invasion was defeated in upstate New York. Peace was agreed to at the end of 1814, but not before ], unaware of this, won a great victory over the British at the ] in January 1815 (news took several weeks to cross the Atlantic before the advent of steam ships). The Treaty of Ghent subsequently ended the war with no territorial changes. It was the last war between Britain and the United States.<ref>Jeremy Black, ''The War of 1812 in the Age of Napoleon'' (2009)</ref> | |||
| ====George IV and William IV==== | |||
| Britain emerged from the Napoleonic Wars a very different country than it had been in 1793. As industrialisation progressed, society changed, becoming more urban and less rural. The postwar period saw an economic slump, and poor harvests and inflation caused widespread social unrest. Europe after 1815 was on guard against a return of Jacobinism, and even liberal Britain saw the passage of the Six Acts in 1819, which proscribed radical activities. By the end of the 1820s, along with a general economic recovery, many of these repressive laws were repealed and in 1828 new legislation guaranteed the civil rights of religious dissenters. | |||
| A weak ruler as regent (1811–20) and king (1820–30), George IV let his ministers take full charge of government affairs, playing a far lesser role than his father, George III. His governments, with little help from the king, presided over victory in the Napoleonic Wars, negotiated the peace settlement, and attempted to deal with the social and economic malaise that followed.<ref>Kenneth Baker, "George IV: a Sketch," ''History Today'' 2005 55(10): 30–36.</ref> His brother ] ruled (1830–37), but was little involved in politics. His reign saw several reforms: the ] was updated, ] restricted, ] in nearly all the ], and, most important, the ] refashioned the British electoral system.<ref>Brock, Michael (2004) "William IV (1765–1837)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,'' (2004) {{doi|10.1093/ref:odnb/29451}}</ref> | |||
| There were no major wars until the ] (1853–56).<ref>Jeremy Black, ''A military history of Britain: from 1775 to the present'' (2008), pp. 74–77</ref> While Prussia, Austria, and Russia, as absolute monarchies, tried to suppress liberalism wherever it might occur, the British came to terms with new ideas. Britain intervened in Portugal in 1826 to defend a constitutional government there and recognising the independence of Spain's American colonies in 1824.<ref>William W. Kaufmann, ''British policy and the independence of Latin America, 1804–1828'' (1967)</ref> British merchants and financiers, and later railway builders, played major roles in the economies of most Latin American nations.<ref>Will Kaufman and Heidi Slettedahl Macpherson (eds). ''Britain and the Americas: culture, politics, and history'' (2004), pp. 465–68</ref> | |||
| ====Whig reforms of the 1830s==== | |||
| The ] recovered its strength and unity by supporting moral reforms, especially the reform of the electoral system, the abolition of slavery and emancipation of the Catholics. ] was secured in the Catholic Relief Act of 1829, which removed the most substantial restrictions on Roman Catholics in Great Britain and Ireland.<ref name="L. Woodward, 1938 pp 325–30">E. L. Woodward, ''The Age of Reform, 1815–1870'' (1938), pp. 325–30</ref> | |||
| The Whigs became champions of Parliamentary reform. They made ] prime minister 1830–1834, and the ] became their signature measure. It broadened the franchise and ended the system of "rotten borough" and "pocket boroughs" (where elections were controlled by powerful families), and instead redistributed power on the basis of population. It added 217,000 voters to an electorate of 435,000 in England and Wales. The main effect of the act was to weaken the power of the landed gentry, and enlarge the power of the professional and business middle-class, which now for the first time had a significant voice in Parliament. However, the great majority of manual workers, clerks, and farmers did not have enough property to qualify to vote. The aristocracy continued to dominate the government, the Army and Royal Navy, and high society.<ref name="L. Woodward, 1938 pp 325–30"/> After parliamentary investigations demonstrated the horrors of child labour, limited reforms were passed in 1833. | |||
| ] emerged after the 1832 Reform Bill failed to give the vote to the working class. Activists denounced the "betrayal" of the working classes and the "sacrificing" of their "interests" by the "misconduct" of the government. In 1838, Chartists issued the People's Charter demanding manhood suffrage, equal sized election districts, voting by ballots, payment of Members of Parliament (so that poor men could serve), annual Parliaments, and abolition of property requirements. The ] saw the movement as pathological, {{Clarify|date=September 2013}} so the Chartists were unable to force serious constitutional debate. Historians see Chartism as both a continuation of the 18th century fight against corruption and as a new stage in demands for democracy in an industrial society.<ref>Malcolm Chase. ''Chartism: A New History'' (2007)</ref> In 1832 Parliament abolished slavery in the Empire with the ]. The government purchased the slaves for £20,000,000 (the money went to rich plantation owners who mostly lived in England), and freed the slaves, especially those in the Caribbean sugar islands.<ref>E. L. Woodward. ''The Age of Reform, 1815–1870'' (1938), pp. 354–57.<!-- ISBN needed --></ref> | |||
| ====Leadership==== | |||
| Prime Ministers of the period included: ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and ]. | |||
| ===Victorian era=== | |||
| {{main|Victorian era}} | |||
| ] | |||
| The Victorian era was the period of ] rule between 1837 and 1901 which signified the height of the British ] and the apex of the ]. Scholars debate whether the Victorian period—as defined by a variety of sensibilities and political concerns that have come to be associated with the Victorians—actually begins with the passage of the ]. The era was preceded by the ] and succeeded by the ]. Victoria became queen in 1837 at age 18. Her long reign saw Britain reach the zenith of its economic and political power, with the introduction of steam ships, railroads, photography, and the telegraph. Britain again remained mostly inactive in Continental politics. {{Citation needed|date=September 2013}} | |||
| ====Foreign policy==== | |||
| ====Free trade imperialism==== | |||
| The Great London Exhibition of 1851 clearly demonstrated Britain's dominance in engineering and industry; that lasted until the rise of the United States and Germany in the 1890s. Using the imperial tools of free trade and financial investment,<ref>Bernard Semmel, ''The Rise of Free Trade Imperialism'' (Cambridge University Press, 1970) ch 1</ref> it exerted major influence on many countries outside Europe, especially in ] and ]. Thus Britain had both a formal Empire based on British rule as well as an informal one based on the British pound.<ref>David McLean. "Finance and "Informal Empire" before the First World War", , at jstor.org</ref> | |||
| ====Russia, France and the Ottoman Empire==== | |||
| One nagging fear was the possible collapse of the Ottoman Empire. It was well understood that a collapse of that country would set off a scramble for its territory and possibly plunge Britain into war. To head that off Britain sought to keep the Russians from occupying Constantinople and taking over the ], as well as from ].<ref>Roman Golicz. "The Russians Shall Not Have Constantinople", ''History Today'' (2003) 53#9, pp. 39–45</ref> In 1853, Britain and France intervened in the ] against Russia. Despite mediocre generalship, they managed to capture the Russian port of ], compelling ] to ask for peace.<ref>Orlando Figes. ''The Crimean War: A History'' (2012)<!-- ISBN needed --></ref> | |||
| The ] in 1877 led to another European intervention, although this time at the negotiating table. The ] blocked Russia from imposing the harsh Treaty of San Stefano on the Ottoman Empire.<ref>Richard Millman, ''Britain and the Eastern Question 1875–1878'' (1979)<!-- ISBN needed --></ref> Despite its alliance with the French in the Crimean War, Britain viewed the Second Empire of ] with some distrust, especially as the emperor constructed ironclad warships and began returning France to a more active foreign policy. {{Citation needed|date=September 2013}} | |||
| ====American Civil War==== | |||
| During the ] (1861–1865), British leaders favoured the Confederacy, a major source of cotton for textile mills. Prince Albert was effective in defusing a ]. The British people, however, who depended heavily on American food imports, generally favoured the Union. What little cotton was available came from New York, as the blockade by the US Navy shut down 95% of Southern exports to Britain. In September 1862, ] announced the ]. Since support of the Confederacy now meant supporting the institution of slavery, there was no possibility of European intervention.<ref>Amanda Foreman. ''A World on Fire: Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War'' (2012)<!-- ISBN needed --></ref> The British sold arms to both sides, built blockade runners for a lucrative trade with the Confederacy, and surreptitiously allowed warships to be built for the Confederacy. The warships caused a major diplomatic row that was resolved in the ] in 1872, in the Americans' favour.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Frank J. Merli|author2=David M. Fahey|title=The Alabama, British Neutrality, and the American Civil War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OXsE5usQFDcC&pg=PA19|year=2004|publisher=Indiana U.P.|page=19|isbn=0253344735}}</ref> | |||
| ====Empire expands==== | |||
| In 1867, Britain united most of its ]n colonies as the ], giving it self-government and responsibility for its own defence, but Canada did not have an independent foreign policy until 1931. Several of the colonies temporarily refused to join the Dominion despite pressure from both Canada and Britain; the last one, ], held out until 1949. The second half of the 19th century saw a ] of Britain's colonial empire, mostly in ]. A talk of the Union Jack flying "from Cairo to Cape Town" only became a reality at the end of ]. Having possessions on six continents, Britain had to defend all of its empire and did so with a volunteer army, the only ] in Europe to have no conscription. Some questioned whether the country was overstretched. | |||
| The rise of the ] since its creation in 1871 posed a new challenge, for it (along with the United States), threatened to usurp Britain's place as the world's foremost industrial power. Germany acquired a number of colonies in Africa and the Pacific, but Chancellor ] succeeded in achieving general peace through his balance of power strategy. When ] became emperor in 1888, he discarded Bismarck, began using bellicose language, and planned to build a navy to rival Britain's.<ref>A. J. P. Taylor. ''The Struggle for Mastery in Europe: 1848–1918'' (1953), Chapter 12.<!-- isbn needed --></ref> | |||
| Ever since Britain had wrested control of the ] from the Netherlands during the ], it had co-existed with Dutch settlers who had migrated further away from the Cape and created two republics of their own. The British imperial vision called for control over these new countries, and the Dutch-speaking "Boers" (or "Afrikaners") fought back in the ]. Outgunned by a mighty empire, the Boers waged a guerrilla war (which certain other British territories would later employ to attain independence). This gave the British regulars a difficult fight, but their weight of numbers, superior equipment, and often brutal tactics, eventually brought about a British victory. The war had been costly in human rights and was widely criticised by Liberals in Britain and worldwide. However, the United States gave its support. The Boer republics were merged into the ] in 1910; this had internal self-government, but its foreign policy was controlled by London and it was an integral part of the British Empire.<ref>Denis Judd. ''Boer War'' (2003)<!-- ISBN needed --></ref> | |||
| ====Ireland and the move to Home Rule==== | |||
| {{main|History of Ireland (1801–1922)|Great Famine (Ireland)|Irish Home Rule movement}} | |||
| Part of the agreement which led to the ] stipulated that the Penal Laws in Ireland were to be repealed and ] granted. However King ] blocked emancipation, arguing that to grant it would break his ] to defend the ]. A campaign by the lawyer ], and the death of George III, led to the concession of Catholic Emancipation in 1829, allowing Roman Catholics to sit in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. But Catholic Emancipation was not O'Connell's ultimate goal, which was Repeal of the Act of Union with Great Britain. On 1 January 1843 O'Connell confidently, but wrongly, declared that Repeal would be achieved that year. When ] hit the island in 1846, much of the rural population was left without food, because ]s were being exported to pay rents.<ref>Christine Kinealy. ''This Great Calamity: The Irish Famine 1845–52'', Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 1994; ISBN 0-7171-1832-0, p. 354</ref><ref>]. ''The Great Hunger: Ireland 1845–1849'' (1962), London, Hamish Hamilton: 31</ref> | |||
| British politicians such as the ] ] were at this time wedded to the ] of ], which argued against state intervention. While funds were raised by private individuals and charities, lack of adequate action let the problem become a catastrophe. Cottiers (or farm labourers) were largely wiped out during what is known in Ireland as the "]". A significant minority elected ], who championed the Union. A ] former ] barrister turned nationalist campaigner, ], established a new moderate nationalist movement, the ], in the 1870s. After Butt's death the Home Rule Movement, or the ] as it had become known, was turned into a major political force under the guidance of ] and a radical young Protestant landowner, ]. {{Citation needed|date=September 2013}} | |||
| Parnell's movement campaigned for "Home Rule", by which they meant that Ireland would govern itself as a region within the United Kingdom. Two Home Rule Bills (1886 and 1893) were introduced by Liberal Prime Minister ], but neither became law, mainly due to opposition from the Conservative Party and the ]. The issue was a source of contention throughout Ireland, as a significant majority of ] (largely but not exclusively based in ]), opposed Home Rule, fearing that a ] ("Rome Rule") Parliament in Dublin would discriminate or retaliate against them, impose Roman Catholic doctrine, and impose tariffs on industry. While most of Ireland was primarily agricultural, six of the counties in Ulster were the location of heavy industry and would be affected by any tariff barriers imposed. {{Citation needed|date=September 2013}} | |||
| ==20th century to present== | |||
| {{main|History of the United Kingdom|History of the Republic of Ireland}} | |||
| ===1900–1945=== | |||
| At the turn of the century, Britain was involved in the ] in ]. | |||
| ], who had reigned since 1837, died in 1901 and was succeeded by her son, ], who, in turn, was succeeded by ] in 1910. | |||
| In 1914, Britain entered the ] by declaring war on ]. Nearly a million Britons were killed in the war, which lasted until Germany's surrender on 11 November 1918. | |||
| Home Rule in Ireland, which had been a major political issue since the late 19th century but put on hold by the war, was somewhat resolved after the ] brought the British Government to a stalemate in 1922. Negotiations led to the formation of the ]. However, in order to appease Unionists in the north, the north-eastern six counties remained as part of the U.K., with its own Parliament at Stormont in Belfast. | |||
| Having been in power for much of the early 20th century under Prime Ministers ], ] and ], the ] suffered a sharp decline from 1922; the newly formed ], whose leader ] led two minority governments, swiftly became the ]' main opposition, and Britain's largest party of the left. | |||
| King ] succeeded his father George V in January 1936, but was quickly met with difficulties due to his love affair with ], an American who had already been married twice. In December, he decided to abdicate in order to be able to marry Simpson, and his brother ] was crowned king. | |||
| In order to avoid another European conflict, Prime Minister ] attempted to appease German Chancellor ], who was expanding his country's territory across Central Europe. Despite proclaiming that he has achieved "peace for our time", Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, following Hitler's invasion of Poland two days earlier. The U.K. thus joined the ] in opposition to the Axis forces of ] and ]. For the first time, civilians were not exempt from the war, as London suffered nightly bombings during the Blitz. At the war's end in 1945, however, the U.K. emerged as one of the victorious nations. | |||
| ===1945–1997=== | |||
| ], who had been leader of the wartime coalition government, suffered a surprising landslide defeat to ]'s Labour party in 1945 elections. Attlee created a ] in Britain, which most notably provided free healthcare under the ]. By the late 1940s, the ] was underway, which would dominate British foreign policy for another 40 years. | |||
| In 1951, Churchill and the Tories returned to power; they would govern uninterrupted for the next 13 years. King ] died in 1952, and was succeeded by his eldest daughter, ]. | |||
| Churchill was succeeded in 1955 by ], whose premiership was dominated by the ], in which Britain, France and Israel plotted to bomb Egypt after its President ] nationalised the ]. Eden's successor, Harold Macmillan, split the Conservatives when Britain applied to join the ], but French President ] vetoed the application. | |||
| Labour returned to power in 1964 under ], who brought in a number of social reforms, including the legalisation of abortion, the abolition of capital punishment and the decriminalisation of homosexuality. Wilson, having lost the 1970 election to ], returned to power in 1974; however, Labour's reputation was harmed by the ] of 1978-9 under Jim Callaghan, which enabled the Conservatives to re-take control of Parliament in 1979, under ], Britain's first female Prime Minister. | |||
| Although Thatcher's economic reforms made her initially unpopular, her decision in 1982 to retake the ] from invading ] forces, in what would become known as the ], changed her fortunes and enabled a landslide election victory in 1983. After winning an unprecedented third election in 1987, however, Thatcher's popularity began to fade and she was replaced by former chancellor ] in 1990. | |||
| Tensions between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland came to a head in the late 1960s, when nationalist participants in a civil rights march were shot by members of the ], a reserve police force manned almost exclusively by unionists. From this point the ], also known as the Provos or simply the IRA, began a bombing campaign throughout the U.K., beginning a period known as ], which lasted until the late 1990s. | |||
| ], the Prince of Wales and Elizabeth's eldest son married ] in 1981; the couple had two children, William and Harry, but divorced in 1992, during which year Prince Andrew and Princess Anne also separated from their spouses, leading the Queen to call the year her ']'. In 1997, Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris, leading to a mass outpouring of grief across the United Kingdom, and indeed the world. | |||
| On the international stage, the second half of the 20th century was dominated by the ] between the Soviet Union and its socialist allies and the United States and its capitalist allies; the U.K. was a key supporter of the latter, joining the anti-Soviet military alliance ] in 1949. During this period, the U.K. became involved in several Cold War conflicts, such as the ] (1950–1953). In contrast, the Republic of Ireland remained neutral and provided troops to U.N. peace-keeping missions. | |||
| ===1997–present=== | |||
| In 1997, ] was elected prime minister in a landslide victory for the so-called ']', economically following ']' programmes. Blair won re-election in 2001 and 2005, before handing over power to his chancellor ] in 2007. After a decade of prosperity both the U.K. and the Irish Republic were affected by the global recession, which began in 2008. In 2010, the Conservative party formed a coalition government with the ], with Tory leader ] as Prime Minister. In 2015 polling suggested a ] was the most likely outcome in the General Election; however the Conservatives secured a slim majority. | |||
| After ], the U.K. supported the U.S. in their "]", and joined them in the ] and the ]. London was attacked in ]. The UK also took a leading role in the ]. | |||
| ==Periods== | |||
| {{See also| History of Ireland }} | |||
| * ] (Prehistory–AD 43) | |||
| ** ] | |||
| ** ] | |||
| * ] (44–407) | |||
| * ] (407–597) | |||
| * ] (597-1485) | |||
| ** ] (597–1066) | |||
| ** ] (400–900) | |||
| ** ] (900-1286) | |||
| ** ] (1066) | |||
| ** ] (1286–1513) | |||
| *** ] (1296–1357) | |||
| * ] | |||
| ** ] (1485–1603) | |||
| ***] | |||
| *** ] | |||
| *** ] (1558–1603) | |||
| ** ] (1583–1783) | |||
| ** ] (1567–1625) | |||
| ** ] (1603) | |||
| ** ] (1625–1642) | |||
| ** ] (1642–1651) | |||
| ** ] (1651–1660) | |||
| ** ] (1660) | |||
| ** ] (1688) | |||
| ** ] | |||
| ** ] (1707–1800) | |||
| ** ] (1783–1815) | |||
| ** ] | |||
| * ] (1801- ) | |||
| ** ] (1801–1922) | |||
| *** ] (1815–1914) | |||
| *** ] (1811–1820) | |||
| *** ] (1837–1901) | |||
| *** ] (1901–1910) | |||
| *** ] (1914–1918) | |||
| *** ] | |||
| **] (1922 - ) | |||
| ***] | |||
| ***] | |||
| ***] | |||
| ***] (1931–1940) | |||
| ***] (1939–1945) | |||
| ***] | |||
| ***] (1979–1990) | |||
| ***] (1997–2007) | |||
| ***] | |||
| ***] | |||
| *] (1922 to present) | |||
| **] | |||
| ==Timeline history of the British Isles== | |||
| {{Timeline history of the British Isles}} | |||
| ==Geographic== | |||
| * ] (]) | |||
| ** ] | |||
| ** ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| ** ] | |||
| ** ] (]) | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| ===States=== | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] (to 1707) | |||
| * ] (to 1707) | |||
| * ] (1541–1801) | |||
| * ] (1707–1801) | |||
| * ] (1801–1927) | |||
| * ] (1927 – ) | |||
| * ] (unrecorded date to present) | |||
| ===Supranational=== | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| ==See also== | |||
| * ] | |||
| *] | |||
| **] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] - for history before human occupation | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| ==References== | |||
| {{reflist}} | |||
| ==Further reading== | |||
| *<cite>]: At the Edge of the World, 3500 BC - 1603 AD</cite> by ], Hyperion Books, 2000 ISBN 0-7868-6675-6 | |||
| *<cite>A History of Britain, Volume 2: The Wars of the British 1603-1776</cite> by ], Hyperion Books, 2001 ISBN 0-7868-6675-6 | |||
| *''A History of Britain III: The Fate of Empire 1776-2000'' by ] | |||
| *<cite>The British Isles: A History of Four Nations</cite> by Hugh Kearney, Cambridge University Press 2nd edition 2006, ISBN 978-0-521-84600-4 | |||
| *<cite>A History of Britain - The Complete Collection</cite> on DVD by ], BBC 2002 | |||
| *<cite>The Isles, A History</cite> by ], Oxford University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-19-513442-7 | |||
| *<cite>Shortened History of England</cite> by ] Penguin Books ISBN 0-14-023323-7 | |||
| *<cite>]: 55BC-1901 </cite> by ] Penguin Books ISBN 0-14-026133-8 (originally a radio series ) | |||
| *<cite>The Reduced History of Britain</cite> - by ] | |||
| * ''The Great Heritage: a History of Britain for Canadians'', by Richard S. Lambert, House of Grant, 1964 (and earlier editions and/or printings) | |||
| ==External links== | |||
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| * with # | |||
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| * The History Files | |||
| {{British Isles}} | |||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:History Of The British Isles}} | |||
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Revision as of 18:43, 30 March 2016
Walter Ware is British Isles History