A overview of what the history of the UK look like.
Foreign Invasions and the United Kingdom
The earliest signs of human presence in Britain date back to 5000 BC; the oldest remaining structures (stone monuments, etc.) date back to 3000 BC. After reaching Britain in 55 BC and invading it in AD 43, the Romans incorporated the area into their empire and stayed until 410, when two Germanic tribes—the Angles and the Saxons—drove them out.
Vikings raided the islands in the late eighth century and dominated Britain for two centuries. Other groups also invaded. The last invasion was in 1066, when William of Normandy won the Battle of Hastings. The Norman Conquest ushered in a new period of great political and social change.
Through acts of union, Wales (1535), Scotland (1707), and Ireland (1801) joined England in a political union that became known as the United Kingdom. England established itself as a great naval power by defeating the mighty Spanish Armada in 1588. In 1689, Parliament passed the Bill of Rights, which established a constitutional monarchy with parliamentary limits on the king and queen.
The Colonial Era and World Wars
The first nation to industrialize and to acquire colonies around the globe, Britain became the most powerful country in the world. Although Britain lost its U.S. colonies in 1776, it subsequently acquired new lands in the Mediterranean, North America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The vastness of the empire during Queen Victoria’s reign (1837–1901) was reflected in the saying “The sun never sets on the British Empire.”
After World War I, most British colonial expansion stopped. During World War II, under the leadership of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the British withstood intense Nazi bombings. After the war, Britain acceded to the demands of most of its colonies for independence and formed the Commonwealth. The majority of colonies remained voluntarily in the Commonwealth, and some even chose to retain Queen Elizabeth II as a nominal head of state. Britain was a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949. It joined the precursor to the European Union (EU) in 1973. The UK established itself as a modern welfare state between 1945 and 1951.
Irish Conflict
In the late 1960s, Northern Ireland entered a prolonged period of violence known as “The Troubles.” Essentially, this was an intensification of a longstanding conflict between Catholics in Northern Ireland who wanted to unite with the Republic of Ireland (Irish Republicans, or Nationalists) and Protestants who supported the existing union with the UK (Unionists, or Loyalists). With no peace in sight, the British government began ruling Northern Ireland directly in 1972.
After many failed negotiations between the two sides, the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 brought relative calm along with the potential of a devolved power-sharing government to the region. In 2005, the main Republican paramilitary group (the Irish Republican Army, or IRA) took the significant step of declaring an end to its armed campaign. In 2007, the IRA’s political wing, Sinn Féin, and the main Unionist party, the Democratic Unionists, agreed to share power.
Economic Problems
Under the Conservative governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, the UK placed greater emphasis on the private sector. Elections in May 1997 brought Tony Blair’s New Labour Party to power, ending 18 years of Conservative rule. Blair’s decision to enter the war in Iraq was highly controversial in the UK. Gordon Brown took Blair’s place as prime minister in 2007. The UK is still healing from the bombings of 7 July 2005, when suicide bombers with al-Qaeda connections attacked three subway trains and a bus, killing over 50 people and injuring 700.
The 2008 global financial crisis hit the UK hard; in January 2009, the country’s economy was officially declared to be in recession for the first time in 18 years. In 2010, Conservative leader David Cameron became prime minister and led a coalition with the Liberal Democrats; his coalition implemented large-scale public spending cuts to reduce the deficit.
Recent Events and Trends
• William and Kate: In 2011, Prince William, who is second in line to the throne, and Kate Middleton were married and became the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The couple had a son, Prince George of Cambridge, who is third in line to the throne, on 22 July 2013.
• Scottish independence: The Scottish government scheduled a referendum on independence from the United Kingdom to take place in 2014. By early 2013, it had created a potential transition plan for Scotland to gain full independence by March 2016, should the referendum be approved. Scotland’s plans for independence have been closely watched internationally.
• Police video cameras: In August 2011, the controversial police killing of a London man led to widespread riots and looting. In January 2014, a court ruled that the killing was lawful, but the Metropolitan Police commissioner announced that armed police would now be required to wear video cameras. The change will allow for more oversight of police action
