Famous people
British
William the Conqueror
- he ordered a survey to be made[1] of all things in his kingdom: this was to be the famous Domesday Book
Oliver Cromwell
- took power away from the monarchy and gave it to the people in the form of a stronger parliament
- introduced a fashion of clothing that was plain[2]
- is considered as a cruel dictator who massacred many Catholics in Ireland
- became Lord Protector after the king was defeated and executed
Admiral Horatio lord Nelson
- was known to ignore the orders of seniors[3]
- successfully destroyed Napoleon’s fleet and cut off the direct trade route to India
- his most famous victory was at Cape Trafalgar when he saved Britain from invasion by Napoleon
Queen Victoria
- becoming Queen at the age of 18
- was the longest reining English monarch
- after death of her husband she dressed in black for the rest of her life
- was strongly in favour of an imperial Britain
- she became Empress[4] of India and her empire extended[5] to include Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand and large parts of Africa
Winston Churchill
- become Prime minister and refused to surrender[6] to the Nazis
- he was voted out of office[7] – he continued to campaign in opposite and focused on the problems of the Cold War
- coined the term “The Iron Curtain”[8]
Margaret Thatcher
- was Britain’s first female Prime Minister
- served three consecutive terms
- was an advocate of privatisation[9]
- was a close friend of US President Regan
- reformed the trade unions[10], lowered taxes and reduced inflation – on the negative side, unemployment rose rapidly and there were strikes and civil conflicts
USA
- American’s history:
Thomas Jefferson
- was the third President of the United States
- founded the University of Virginia
- was chosen to write the Declaration of Independence in 1776 – the central ideas of the Declaration of Independence, that all men are equal and have the right to life and liberty, continue to influence political thinking to this day
- established a nation that brought together many people with varied political opinions
Abraham Lincoln
- the 16th president of the US
- was known for his anti-slavery and anti-war views
- candidate as the Republican presidential
- soon after his election the southern states left the Union to form the Confederate States of America – in 1861 the Civil War began – the war was not only over the abolition of slavery but also the rights of individual states to make their own decisions on other issues
- issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 – it declared all of the slaves free
- was assassinated[11] on April 15. 1865 by a confederate sympathiser
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- is the only President elected to four terms in office[12]
- had had polio[13] and was not able to walk – he was careful never to be seen in a wheelchair[14] in public
- took office in early 1933 when the US was in the middle of the Great Depression[15]
- introduced a program he called the New Deal[16] – in this program many people got jobs with government
- during the war worked closely[17] with Winston Churchill to create strategy and to plan the post-war world
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
- was a great believer in space program
- the most important event during his term was the Cuban Missile Crisis
- ordered a naval blockade[18] around Cuba – it appeared the US and USSR would go to war
- was assassinated in Dallas
Ronald Regan
- though his economic policies were mostly ineffective
- was very anti-communist
- was very successful in bringing about an end to the Cold War
- during his terms in office, he dramatically increased government spending on defense[19]
[1] nařídil sestavit přehled
[2]jednoduchý
[3] nadřízení
[4] císařovna
[5] rozšířit
[6] vzdát se
[7] nebyl opět zvolen do úřadu
[8] poprvé použil termín železná opona
[9] prosazovala privatizaci
[10] odbory
[11] zavražděn
[12] zvolen na čtyři volební období
[13] obrna
[14] invalidní vozík
[15] Velká hospodářská krize
[16] Nový úděl
[17] úzce spolupracovat
[18] nařídil námořní blokádu
[19] výdaje na obranu