The Twenties and the Thirties of the XX century were characterised by the vote for women, the rise of the Labour Party, new living conditions, technological development and Great Depression. Following the support of women in factories during World War I , women represented by the Women's Suffrage Movement, headed by Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst, claimed the right of vote. So in 1918 all men aged twenty-one and women over thirty were allowed to vote. Most of them were workers that increased the ranks of the Trade Unions and in 1924 the first Labour government was created. In this period the younger generation of the British upper class gradually abandoned the gentlemanly style of their ancestors and took on a loud and obsessive search for fun (Roaring Twenties). This change of lifestyle influenced the family: it became smaller, both parents worked and divorce became more common. During the first postwar, the telephone and electricity expanded on a large scale; the motion picture and radi...

   When George V died in 1936, his son Edward VIII became king of England. The new king abdicated after only ten months in order to marry an American woman, who had divorced, and his brother George VI ovent to the throne ruling country during World war. Because of Versailles' treaty signed in June 1919, Germany underwent a terrible economic crisis in the 1920s, which helped the Nazi Party's rise to the power. In order to avoid another world war, Britain ignored the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), the occupation of Austria by Hitler (1938) and Czechoslovakia, thankin Munich Agreement signed by Britain and France with Germany. When Germany invaded Poland on the 1st of September 1939 France and Britain declared war on Germany. In this way World War II broke out. In the first phase of the conflict Germany occupied France and most European countries, Italy entered the war on Germany's side (1940) and the United States were still neutral. In 1940 Britain had to bear the brunt of the...

After Queen Victoria 's death, her son Edward VII came to the throne in 1901. His reign was characterized by widespread industrialization, the growth of urban areas, an increase in population and the extension of the transport network. On Edward VII's death, his son George V came to the throne in 1910. This period was characterized by Belle Époque which ended with the outbreak of the First World War. In June 1914 the heir to the Austrian throne, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in Sarajevo, Serbia, during an official state visit. Immediately, Austria and Germany declared war on Serbia and, next months, France, Russia and Britain sided with Serbia. According to historians, the economic and political instabilities, which date back to 40 years ago, were real causes of the First World War. These causes are recognizable in the division of the global market (French-English capitalism against German capitalism) by European countries and the affirmation of its political s...

The new ideas of freedom for the individual gave rise to the philosophy of economic liberalism. In the 18th century, economic liberalism took a new meaning: it meant free trade and unrestrained economic activity summed up in the expression “let do”. This concept was illustrated by Adam Smith in his work The wealth of nations . He said the basis of a nation’s wealth is the work of its population, which must be left free to act as it wishes. The Industrial Revolution took place in England from 1760 to 1840. It was a process of change from an handicraft economy to an industrial and manufacturing economy. In fact, the agricultural revolution was an essential prerequisite of the Industrial Revolution: with a remarkable increase in agricultural productivity and a growing availability of primary products, the labour force moved from agriculture to industry. Fundamental to the Industrial Revolution were some technical innovations: the use of new materials like iron and steel as a result of the...

George I After Queen Anne 's death, in 1714 the great grandson of James I  , George I, became king of England and Ireland. He was German and had no knowledge of British customs and traditions. For this reason, the ministers decided to appoint a Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, responsible to the king for the government's policy. George I died due to an illness during a visit to his beloved land of Hanover and George II, George I's son, ascended the throne. George II Under George II, the Jacobite Rebellion broke out during 1745-46. After the fall of Prime minister Walpole, Charles Edward, the last member of Stuarts, made a last attempt to regain the British throne to his father James Francis Edward Stuart. It took place during the War of Austrian succession, when the bulk of the British Army was fighting in mainland Europe, but the Stuarts were beaten at Culloden. Next, when Frederick II of Prussia and George II entered into contrast with all the rest of Europe, a war br...

During 19th century the relationship between England and Ireland deteriorated due to the potato blight of 1845. Since the Irish economy and people's diet were based on potatoes, when the crops failed, emigration to the USA or to England was the only alternative to starvation. A movement for Irish independence began, led by Charles Parnell, who convinced Prime Minister Gladstone to present the Irish Home Rule Bill in the Houses of Parliament (1886), but it was twice rejected. Britain assumed an important political and military role during Crimean War, due to a dispute between Turkey and Russia over their border. Florence Nightingale, an Englishwoman, went to Crimea to organize hospitals and to relieve soldiers' sufferings; her work had a great influence on the foundation of the Red Cross in Geneva. Empire building and Propaganda During the reign of Queen Victoria the British Empire expanded in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Indian sub-continent and the Caribbean. Austral...

Queen Victoria came to the throne during a difficult political and economical period. The Reform Bill of 1832 satisfied the middle-class but not the working class who endured very poor conditions. The largest workers' movement was that of the Chartists, so called because they drew up a People's Charter asking for the extension of the right to vote to the working class. So, in 1867 a Second Reform Bill guaranteed the right to vote to town workers, excluded miners and agricultural workers. These were finally granted franchise (i.e., the right to vote in an election) with a third Reform Bill (1884) by which suffrage was extended to all male workers. The change from the traditional policy of protectionism to the free trade was an important commercial reform. In this period, the Great International Exhibition of London opened by Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, displayed the wonders of industry and science in order to show England as a lively country, the world's ...

The original inhabitants of Britain were a Celtic-speaking people called Britons, whose culture is a mistery as it dates back to the Neolithic period. The Celts were Indo-European tribes from Europe and Asia Minor in pre-Roman times. The Celts that settled in England were split into many different clans, each ruled by a leader. Leader was warrior and good administrator to work out disagreements with other clans. The Celts were an advanced society: they made iron weapons, wove their clothes and were experienced farmers and hunters. They lived in hill forts surrounded by strong walls. The Celts believed that every natural element had a deity living in it. They counted on Druids, who understood nature and the world around them. Celtic art in Britain survives in a few artefacts and monuments, but hardly at all in a literary form as runes. In 55-54 B.C. Julius Caesar made military expeditions to Britain, but the Roman Conquest of Britain only began in 43 A.D. under Emperor Claudius. The Rom...

Agincourt battle In 1337, war between England and France broke out when Edward III claimed the vacant throne of France. One of the most famous victories in English history was achieved by Henry V at Agincourt. The conflict was interrupted by other tragic events such as the Bubonic plague or Black Death. Under Henry VI's reign, the French obtained spectacular victories thanks to Joan of Arc. In the end, the English kings had lost all their continental possessions. Opposition to the Church developed in the second half of the 14th century under the leadership of John Wycliffe, a member of Oxford University who attacked the supremacy of the Pope. From 1454 to 1485 there was a civil war between the two noble houses of York and Lancaster. It was called the War of the Roses because symbols of Lancaster and York families were respectively red rose and white rose. The war was won by Henry Tudor of the Lancastrian dynasty, and he became Henry VII of England.

William the Conqueror In 1066 duke William of Normandy conquered England after the Battle of Hastings. Normans were Vikings who had settled on the north coast of France. They introduced in England a feudal system. Besides the feudal system, there was the Church when was organized hierarchically and it had both spiritual and temporal powers. Under Henry II there came the first great clash between the Crown and the Church in England. Henry II's eldest son Richard I, better known as the Lionheart , was celebrated as a legendary figure for his courage and personal charm. John I, known as Lackland because of the loss of Normandy and most of his French territories, succeeded his brother as king of England. His policy of heavy taxation met the resistance of feudal nobility. In 1215 king John I was forced to grant the Magna Carta , which guaranteed rights and freedom to English people. Under Henry III Parliament was formed, a feudal assembly composed by noblemen and high clergy; in the yea...

Henry VII In 1485 the Wars of the Roses came to an end with the victory of Henry Tudor, who  was crowned king Henry VII of England. Under his rule England enjoyed a long peaceful and rich period: the army, the navy and the whole machine of the State administration were reorganized and put under the direct control of the king. He also laid the foundation of English Humanism . In his search for powerful political alliances, Henry VII gave his eldest son Arthur in marriage to Catherine of Aragon, the aunt of the future Emperor Charles V of Spain. Next, Henry VII's son, king Henry VIII, continued what his father had begun. His accession was welcomed by humanist scholars; in fact, he had all the gifts of body and mind that had a prince: he was poet, soldier and musician. Henry VIII Henry VIII 's allegiance to the Catholic cause against Martin Luther was so strong that he was proclaimed defensor fidei by the Pope. However, King Henry VIII broke with Catholic Church when pope Clement...

When Elizabeth I came to the throne , the country needed a period of internal peace and to put up with its Catholic enemies as Spain. Queen Elizabeth I managed to steer the Church of England between the two poles of Catholicism and of Protestantism, in the form of Puritanism , in order to purify England Church from all statements which weren't foreseen by the Holy Scriptures. In this way England was united and there was a period of peace. The most powerful factor of unity was patriotism, which was particurarly strong during the years of the conflict with Spain. It was also evident in  Renaissance  art: Englishmen, following the continental explame, wanted to create a literary counterpart to England's victories on sea and land. Some examples were  Chronicle  by Edward Hall and  Chronicles  by Raphael Holinshed, which formed the historical background to some of  William Shakespeare 's historical  plays .  In this period, the  Elizabethan t...

Renaissance is a French term which means rebirth. It signified the rebirth of Classical literature, Greek and Latin, after the centuries in which it had been neglected (from 476 A.D. to 1492). According to men of the Renaissance, during the Middle Ages the loss of classical learning and art (painting, sculpture and architecture) had meant the death of civilization. Renaissance contemplated the development of man's capacities not just for artistic but also for social purposes. The English Renaissance was late in comparison with other European movements which supported Classical tradition. The new learning (as Humanism) was established in the network of Grammar schools as the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Humanists played a major role in shaping the new Church of England, particularly with regard to the translation of the Bible and the  Psalms . Humanism had made the study of Greek in order to translate the Old and New Testaments  into English. This cultural movement cul...

After Oliver Cromwell 's death, from 1658 to 1660 there was a period called Restoration because it implied as form of government the passage from Republic to Monarchy. For this reason, king Charles II ( Charles I 's son) ruled England. He decided to reassert the predominance of the Church of England and also dissolved Parliament. The early ages of the Restoration were characterized by two important events: the Great Plague  (1665), which caused the death of 70.000 Londoners, and the Great Fire of London (1666), which led to most of the City. During the Restoration the Stuarts brought back to England from their exile in France French tastes in fashion and manners. They enjoyed themselves in Old and new forms of entertainment and their love of pleasure was exemplified in Charles II’s nickname: the “Merry Monarch”. After the Great Fire of 1666, it was the rebuilding of London. It became a modern cultural and political centre of the country. During the rebuilding of London many se...

When Queen Elizabeth I died without leaving a direct heir, the throne of England went to James I, who ruled at the same time Scotland as James VI. He believed in the divine right of kings to rule and in the subjection of Parliament to the king's will. Moreover, he imposed as requisite to hold public office the conformity of a person to the rites of Anglican Church. In result of it, Catholics and Puritans were excluded. For this reason, English Catholics organized the Gunpowder Plot , so-called because they tried to blow up the king and Parliament session. The plot was denounced and Catholics were executed. Meanwhile, Puritans were persecuted and a group of them, called the Pilgrim Fathers, sailed to America, where they founded New Plymouth in Massachusetts. Charles I, James I 's son and  successor, continued his father's policy. He dissolved Parliament and ruled the country as an absolute monarch. Foreign difficulties obliged king to establish a Parliament in April 1640 fo...