BRITISH HISTORY
The first people inhabited Britain when it still was a part of the continent and although we don´t know much about them, Stonehenge and Salisbury are probably from those times. The first Celts came to the British Isles in about 750 BC. Two centuries later came also Britons after who was the country called Britain. In AD 43 Julius Caesar invaded British Islands and the Roman occupation lasted nearly 400 years.With Romans came to England also Christianity. In the middle of the 5th century the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes invaded from the Continent and pressed the Celts up to Wales and Scotland. One of the best-known Kings of England was Alfred the Great † 901, who stopped the Scandinavian invasion to England and made a peace with the Danes. After his death England became a part of the Danish Empire.In the 11th century William the Conqueror defeated the Saxon King Harold in the Battle of Hastings 1066 and established a strong kingdom with the Normans in high positions. Richard, the Lion-Heart (1189-99) spent a lot of time abroad on crusade expeditions. His brother John I. lost almost all the English possessions in France and he signed the Magna Charta in 1215. It limited the absolute power of king and helped to develop parliamentary system. There was The Hundred Year’s War between England and France (1338-1453) in this period because of Flanders in France. At the end French led by Joan d’Arc changed the situation and England definitely lost its power in France. The winner of the Wars of Roses (1455-85) between the House of York (white rose) and the House of Lancaster (red rose) was Henry Tudor (as king Henry VII) who joined two houses of Roses and founded a new dynasty.During the Tudor Period (1485 – 1603) became England because of geographical discoveries and expansion a world leader in trade and sea power. Henry VIII well-known for his six wives carried out the Reformation in 1534, broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and founded the Anglican Church.Under his daughter Queen Elizabeth I. after who the whole era is called ‘the Elizabethan Age’, was defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588, Britain became a major sea power and England prospered in many ways. Elizabeth I. died without an heir and King of Scotland James was crowned James I. King of England – the Scotland was united with England. In about 1640 there was a Civil War between the Parliament and Charles I. In 1649 Oliver Cromwell won, Charles I. was executed and Cromwell established a republic – the Commonwealth – where he had title Lord Protector. After his death in 1660 the monarchy was restored by Charles II., Charles´s I. son.When in 1668 the new king James II wanted to restore Catholicism and absolute monarchy, the parliament decided to depose him and offer the crown to William of Orange and sister of Charles II.This events is called ‘The Glorious Revolution’and it confirmed the sovereignity of the Parliament. In the Seven Years War (1756-63) Britain defeated France and Spain and gained Canada, Florida, Gibraltar and other areas. In 1776 the British colonial Empire lost the 13 North American colonies when the USA was founded.Also the situation in Ireland – after many centuries of fighting between England and Irish – was very bad in 18th century and there were several serious rebellions against British rule. Britain was in the Napoleonic Wars with France between 1803-15. In October 1805 Admiral Nelson defeated the Spanish and French near Trafalgar. In the 19th century England prepared the way to the Industrial Revolution and there were many innovations – in 1769 steam engine by James Watt, steam locomotive by George Stephenson in 1814 etc. The period of 2nd half of the 19th century is called Victorian era after Queen Victoria and is full of great changes and reforms. In this era is Britain the strongest world power and India, Australia, New Zealand and many Africans and Asiatics areas are joined to it.In The First World War 1914-18 died 1 million and also British economic became weeker. In 1938 British Prime Minister Chamberlain, France and Italy signed the pact with Hitler in Munich allowing Germany to annex the Sudetenland in CR and later the rest of Bohemia and Moravia. On 1.9.1939 the Germans invaded Poland and Britain declared war on Germany two days later. The biggest British personality during the Second World War was the British Prime Minister sir Winston Churchill under whom Britain fought. The air battle – Battle of Britain in 1940 – gone down into history (many of British pilots were from Czechoslovakia and became the British national heroes). In the Second World War died about 390 000 British. In the Post-World-War period was Great Britain one of the founding members of OSN and NATO at the end of 1940s. Queen Elizabeth II. became Queen after her father’s death in the 1952. Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, is the Queen’s eldest son and the heir to the throne. In the 1981 he married Lady Diana Spencer, the Princess of Wales. They have two sons, Prince William and Prince Henry. In 1993 Charles and Diana separated. The Princess Diana died in the 1997 in the car crash. During the 1960s Britain recognised most of its colonies independent. Between 1979-92 there was the first women Prime Minister Lady Margaret Thacher. In the spring 1997 The Labour Party won the elections and Tony Blair became the British Prime Minister.