Roman Britain (0)

British history
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between 43 and about 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia . Prior to the Roman invasion, Iron Age Britain already had cultural and economic links with Continental Europe , but the invaders introduced new developments in agriculture, urbanization, industry and architecture , leaving a legacy that is still apparent today .
Historical records beyond the initial invasion are sparse, although many Roman historians mention the province in passing. Most of the knowledge of the period stems from archaeological investigations and especially epigraphic evidence .
The invasion force in AD 43 was led by Aulus Plautius.It is not known how many Roman legions were sent ; only one legion , the II Augusta , commanded by the future emperor Vespasian, is directly attested to have taken part . The IX Hispana,the XIV Gemina ( later styled Martia Victrix) and the XX are attested in 60/61 during the Boudican Revolt, and are likely to have been there since the initial invasion. However , the Roman army was flexible, with units being used and moved whenever necessary , so this is not certain. Only the Legio IX Hispana is likely to have stayed there, as it is attested to being in residence at Eburacum ( York ) in AD 71 and on a building inscription there dated AD 108, before its eventual destruction fighting in the East , likely during the Bar Kochba Revolt.
The invasion was delayed by a mutiny of the troops, who were eventually persuaded by an imperial freedman to overcome their fear of crossing the Ocean and campaigning beyond the limits of the known world. They sailed in three divisions, and probably landed at Richborough in Kent , although some suggest that at least part of the invasion force landed on the south coast, in the Fishbourne area of West Sussex.
The Romans defeated the Catuvellauni and their allies in two battles : the first , assuming a Richborough landing, on the river Medway, the second on the Thames . One of the Catuvellaunian leaders, Togodumnus, was killed , but his brother Caratacus survived to continue resistance elsewhere. Plautius halted at the Thames and sent for Claudius , who arrived with reinforcements, including artillery and elephants, for the final march to the Catuvellaunian capital, Camulodunum . The future emperor Vespasian subdued the southwest,Cogidubnus was set up as a friendly king of several territories, and treaties were made with tribes outside the area under direct Roman control .Romans built many roads and also many great bulidings like the Hadrians wall.
Anglo-Saxons and Normans
The history of Anglo- Saxon England broadly covers early medieval England from the end of Roman rule and the establishment of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the 5th century until the Conquest by the Normans in 1066.
Christianisation of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms began around 600 and was essentially complete by the mid 8th century. Throughout the 7th and 8th centuries , power fluctuated between the larger kingdoms. Bede records Aethelbert of Kent as being dominant at the close of the 6th century, but power seems to have shifted northwards to the kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria .
Aethelbert and some of the later kings of the other kingdoms were recognised by their fellow kings as Bretwalda. The so-called 'Mercian Supremacy' dominated the 8th century, though again it was not constant . Aethelbald and Offa, the two most powerful kings, achieved high status . This period has been described as the Heptarchy, though this term has now fallen out of academic use.
The word arose on the basis that the seven kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, Kent, East Anglia, Essex, Sussex and Wessex were the main polities of south Britain. More recent scholarship has shown that theories of the 'heptarchy' are not grounded in evidence, and it is far more likely that power fluctuated between many more 'kingdoms'. Other politically important 'kingdoms' across this period include : Hwicce, Magonsaete, Kingdom of Lindsey and Middle Anglia.
In the 9th century, the Viking challenge grew to serious proportions. Alfred the Great's victory at Edington, Wiltshire, in 878 brought intermittent peace , but with their possession of Jorvik the Danes gained a solid foothold in England.
An important development in the 9th century was the rise of the Kingdom of Wessex; by the end of his reign Alfred was recognised as overlord by several southern kingdoms.
Near the end of the 10th century, there was renewed Scandinavian interest in England, with the conquests of Sweyn of Denmark and his son Canute. By 1066 there were three lords with claims to the English throne, resulting in two invasions and the battles of Stamford Bridge and Hastings , the results of which established Anglo-Norman rule in England.
Tudor England
Tudor period was between 1485- 1603 . First King of Tudor period was Henry VII. He won the House of Lancaster in the War of Roses . On his reign Britain started to improve financially . Also people started to live in the cities, mostly middle class people.Renaissance was revived and education improved , because of the printing press.
In 1509 Henry VIII became king. He is of course one of the most famous rulers in Britain. Most people know him because he had many wievs, from who he killed most. But actually he did many other things worth remembering. He made the Reformation what made him the head of english Anglican church. He wanted to extend his power and also Pope did not let him divorce . English Royal Navy was his creation .
Elizabeth I reign is also called the Golden Age of England. On her reign tradeing improved and English fleet was one of the biggest in the world. At her time Spanish Armada was destroyed in 1588 . England had great naval commanders who discovered land for Britain. They were the first to reach northen coast of New World and also they developed in India. East-Indias tradeing company was made and it was very rich and powerful. Britain had a lot of land so British Empire was made.
Stuart England
Stuart period was between 1603-1714. First king was James I. He was not as powerful as Elizabeth and people didnt like him. Thats why Guy Fawkes and some more people planned the Gunpowder plot to kill the king. The plot failed and Guy Fawkes was hanged . James I raised taxes and he didnt cooperate with the Parliament , what led to civil war in 1641 . English civil war was between the parliament and the king. It was during the reign of Charles I. Civil war was ended in 1651 and led to execution of Charles I. After that the commonwealth of Britain became but most of the people took Oliver Cromwell as a dictator. So he was killed. After that monarchy was restored in England and Charles II became king. When the commonwealth was in England he escaped, so he survived it.
The House of Hanover
It succeeded the House of Stuart as monarchs of Great Britain and Ireland in 1714 and held that office until the death of Victoria in 1901. They are sometimes referred to as the House of Brunswick and Lüneburg, Hanover line.
First ruler of the Hanovers was George I. He was a good ruler but he did not do many things. Biggest threat to his throne was The Scottish Jocobite Rebellion. It was the attempt of Stuart restoration but it failed. When the Hanovers ruled there was the Napoleon war and also conolization was done all over the world. Biggest names of the time are of course Horatio Nelson and James Cook .
Admiral Nelson defeated the French in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Captain Cook New Zealand , Australia, Tonga and some parts of Antarctica .
Victorian Age
The Victorian era of the United Kingdom was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from June 1837 until her death on the 22nd of January 1901. The reign was a long period of prosperity for the British people, as profits gained from the overseas British Empire, as well as from industrial improvements at home, allowed an educated middle class to develop . Her middle class wiews were called „Victorian values “. They were discipline in the family, the sobriety and puritanism of the public life. Some scholars extend the beginning of the period—as defined by a variety of sensibilities and political games that have come to be associated with the Victorians— back five years to the passage of the Reform Act 1832 .
Calls for reform had been mooted long before 1832, but perennially without success . The Act which finally succeeded was proposed by the Whigs led by the Prime Minister Lord Grey. It met with significant opposition from the Tories, especially in the House of Lords. Nevertheless, as a result of public pressure, the bill was eventually passed. The Act granted seats in the House of Commons to large cities that had sprung up during the Industrial Revolution, and took away seats from the "rotten boroughs"—those with very small populations. The Act also increased the number of individuals entitled to vote , increasing the size of electorate by 50–80%, and allowing a total of one out of six adult males to vote, in a population of some 14 million.
Up to nowadays
Queen Victoria was married to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha – son of Duke Ernst I of the small German duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Her descendants were also members of the ducal family of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a minor branch of the thousand -year-old House of Wettin. It was Victoria's desire that her son rule as a member of the House of Wettin, instead of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, because she felt the older name would conjure images of the shared Saxon heritage of Germany and England. However, the name Wettin was never widely accepted. Victoria's son, Edward VII, and, in turn , his son, George V, reigned as members of this house.High anti-German sentiment amongst the people of the British Empire during World War I reached a peak in March 1917, when the Gotha G.IV, a heavy aircraft capable of crossing the English Channel began bombing London directly. The aircraft became a household name, and coincidently was part of the name of the royal family. These bombings were coupled with the abdication of King George's first cousin, Nicholas II, the Tsar of Russia on 15 March 1917, which raised the specter of the eventual abolition of all the monarchies in Europe. The King and his family were finally convinced to abandon all titles held under the German Crown, and to change German titles and house names to anglicized versions. Hence , on 17 July 1917, a Royal Proclamation issued by George V declared
The name had a long association with British royalty, through the town of Windsor , Berkshire and Windsor Castle, a link reflected in the Round Tower of Windsor Castle being the basis of the badge of the House of Windsor. At the same time, Prince Louis of Battenberg adopted the surname Mountbatten, a partial translation into English. Prince Louis is the maternal grandfather of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Only a single person , Alastair Windsor, 2nd Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, who was not a descendant of George V, ever bore the surname Windsor, and he died without issue . So today the only living royal Windsors are the agnatic descendants of George V.
Edward VII was the next monarch of Britain. Only months into his reign, Edward caused a constitutional crisis by proposing marriage to the American divorcée Wallis Simpson . The prime ministers of the United Kingdom and the Dominions opposed the marriage, arguing that the people would never accept her as queen. Edward knew that the government led by British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin would resign if the marriage went ahead , which could have dragged the King into a general election and ruined irreparably his status as a politically neutral constitutional monarch. Rather than give up Mrs. Simpson, Edward chose to abdicate. He was succeeded by his younger brother, George VI. With a reign of 325 days , Edward is one of the shortest-reigning monarchs in British and Commonwealth history, and was never crowned. He was the last British monarch to serve his entire reign as the Emperor of India.After his abdication, he reverted to the style of a son of the Sovereign, The Prince Edward, and was created Duke of Windsor on 8 March 1937.
In 1939 the WW II began. It was the biggest war there has ever been. Britain was also involved in the WW II. Britain was allied with USA, France and later with the Soviet Union.
After Edward VIII abdictation next monarch was his brother George VI. Nowadays monarch is Elizabeth II who is very old. On her reign there has been nothing much. Only some conflicts between Britain and Ireland. In those fights and rebellions Ireland fought most of its country indipendent.