A Brief History of

Britain

Ilham Boutob
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Islands!!

▰ The sea is really important to

British culture as well as the
idea of sea power. (Navy,
Trade)
▰ Really temperate climate
▰ England itself is the best farm
land.

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Things that have happened in their past!

▰ Invasions!

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 Neolithic People

▰ Also called the Pre-Celtic period (before 800BC)

▰ Stonehenge – comes from that time,
▰ Settlers from Europe arrived between 3500BC
and 3000BC - introduced pottery, farming and
stone tools

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Stonehenge

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 The Celtic Period (800BC-43AD)

▰ The Celts started to invade

Britain from the 10th century BC
▰ One of their tribes was called
the Britons,
▰ The most important survival is
the existence of three Celtic
languages: Welsh, Irish and
Gaelic.

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The Romans

▰ 50BCE to 400CE
▰ Built roads, towns, and more.
▰ Mostly, only the rich adopted
Roman customs.
▰ The Celts became Christian.

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But Rome fell … !

▰The Celts went back to acting like Celts.

▰ Everybody else in Europe went back to pillaging
and warring.

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The Anglo-Saxon

▰They came from Germany and Denmark and the

Netherlands in the 5th century
First they came as pirates, then mercenaries, then
colonists.
King Vortigen hired them to protect him from other
warring Celtic kingdoms, but instead they took over.
▰the best known king was Alfred the Great –
translated books from Latin to English, well educated
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England= Angle-land

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 Anglo-Saxon England

▰The Angles lived in small groups,

each with a king, they became
christians.
▰They also had to deal with
different invadors!

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The Vikings

▰ They arrived from Scandinavia

throughout the 9th century

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The Normans!

 In 1066, William of Normandy

or William the Conqueror
invaded England and set up a
new kingdom.

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.

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What the Normans did …

▰ There were considerable changes in the social

structure of the British kingdoms as a new
aristocracy was introduced
▰ The “English” language disappeared in official
documents, it was replaced by Latin, then by
Norman-French.
▰ Written English slowly reappeared in the 13th
century

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 The period of Feudalism 1066

▰Feudalism originated in France, and was

brought to England by the Normans
▰English langauge and nation came into being
▰A period of frequent wars and suffering,
prepared the way for England´s rise as a real
power

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 The Middle Ages ( 1216-1347)
▰ During the thirteenth century,
England and Scotland
developed clearer self-
identities.
▰ In England's case, this was as
a result of the loss of most of
her continental possessions
which focused the monarchy's
attention closer to home.
▰ There were large constitutional
changes and the period saw the
beginning of parliament to advise the
king.
▰ Wales was conquered by the
military campaigns of Edward I but
his wars in France, Scotland and
Ireland were less successful.
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 Before the Middle Ages ! 1086

▰ The Domesday Book was the

result of a great survey by William I
▰ He sent officials to 13,418 places
to find out who lived there and what
they owned.
▰ The purpose of the survey was for
tax collection, or possibly as a way
of resolving disputed titles and
lands.
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 14th and 15th centuries!

▰Hundred Year´s War with France (1348-1452)-

England´s defeat
▰the Black Death – a violent epidemic of plague
in 1348, the number of pop. was reduced from 4
mil. to two million
▰The Wars of Roses a struggle for the Crown
between the house of York and the House of
Lancaster, whose emblems were a white and a
red rose
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The Tudors (1485-1602)
▰Known as the “Early Modern”
period of British history.
▰The Tudors ruled in England
and the Stuarts in Scotland. In
both realms, as the century
progressed, there were new
ways of approaching old
problems.
▰Henry VIII of England and
James IV of Scotland were both
cultured, educated Renaissance
princes with a love of learning
and architectural splendour.
▰Henry broke away from the
Catholic Church to form the
Church of England (of which he
had himself proclaimed Head).
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Henry VIII

▰ Had six wives

▰ Proclaimed himself the head
of the Church of England
▰ Despotic rule
▰ Beheaded two of his wives
▰ Sir Thomas More executed
(disapproved of the King´s
policies)
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 The Stuarts (1603 – 1713)
▰King Charles I was unable to
work with Parliament so he
attempted to rule without it.
▰This lead to a civil war, and the
execution of Charles I.
▰England became a republic (no
Kings or Queens) for a short time
until the restoration of the
monarchy 1660.
▰Shortly afterwards, a devastating plague
swept through the country followed by the
Great Fire of London 1666.
▰Compromise between the crown and
Parliament finally achieved a balanced
government and the two kingdoms of
England and Scotland were joined in the
1707 Act of Union
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Elisabeth I (16th Century)

▰ Elizabethan Age – a popular

monarch
▰ Encouraged trading
expeditions often combined
with piracy (e.g. Sir Walter
Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake)
▰ Big prosperity

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 Industrial Revolution 18th Century
(1750s-1950s)

▰Britain – the first industrial power in

the
world
▰ Colonial expansion
▰ Important inventions:
( steamships, railways)
▰ Decline of feudalism

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The Napoleonic wars 1803 - 1815

▰Britain, Prussia, Russia, Austria and Sweden

formed a new coalition, which defeated Napoleon.
▰He returned to Paris in 1815, but was finally
defeated at Waterloo by Wellington and his
Prussian allies, on 18 June.

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The Victorians (1837 – 1900)
▰During Queen Victoria's reign,
the revolution in industrial
practices continued to change
British life.
▰With it came increased
urbanisation and a burgeoning
communications network
(Railways, canals, telegraph).
▰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 1900, Britain's
industrial advantage was being
challenged successfully by
other nations such as the USA
and Germany.
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 The British Empire
▰The British Empire was the world's first global power
▰It was a product of the “European Age of Exploration”
following the discovery of the Americas in the 15th century.
▰By 1921, the British Empire governed a population of
about 470–570 million people (1/4 of the world's
population)
▰It covered about 37 million square kilometers, almost a
third of the world's total land area. 31
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THANKS!

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