British History

Highlights of the History of Great Britain

Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar by William Lionel Wylie
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 image from The National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth

Readings in the histories of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and the United Kingdom as a whole by some of the greatest writers.

Some Years listed below are approximate.

YearTitleAuthor(s)
79 ADRomans Conquer BritainOliver Goldsmith
449-579Germans Conquer BritainJohn R. Green| |Charles Knight
597 ADAugustine’s Missionary Work in EnglandThe Venerable Bede| |John R. Green
c 800Feudalism in France and England BeginsWilliam Stubbs
827 ADEgbert Becomes King of the Anglo-Saxon HeptarchyDavid Hume
871-901Alfred the Great’s ReignThomas Hughes| |John R. Green
1000ChivalryLéon Gautier
1017Canute Becomes King of EnglandDavid Hume
1066Battle of HastingsSir Edward Creasy
1086Domesday Book CompletedCharles Knight
1135Stephen Versus MatildaCharles Knight
1170Becket’s MurderFather John Lingard
1189-1194The Third CrusadeHenry Von Sybel
1202Philip Breaks the Angevin EmpireKate Norgate
1208Zenith of Papal PowerThomas F. Tout
1215The Magna Charta SignedDavid Hume
1258How The House of Commons Began in EnglandJohn Lingard
1290England Expels the JewsHenry Hart Milman
1305William Wallace, BraveheartSir Walter Scott
1314End of the Knights TemplarsFrederick C. Woodhouse| |Henry Hart Milman
1314Battle of BannockburnAndrew Lang
1337The King of England Claims Throne of FranceFrançois P. G. Guizot
1340Battles that Began the 100 Years WarSir John Froissart
1348The Black Death Reaches EuropeJ. F. C. Hecker| |Giovanni Boccaccio
1381Rebellion of Wat TylerJohn Lingard
1382Wycliffe Translates The Bible Into EnglishJ. Paterson Smyth
1399Henry IV Begins Lancaster RuleJohn Lingard
1415The Battle of AgincourtJames Gairdner
1429Joan of Arc at OrleansSir Edward S. Creasy
1431Joan of Arc’s Trial and ExecutionJules Michelet
1455-1485Wars of the RosesDavid Hume
1483Richard III King; Princes MurderedJames Gairdner
1490’sPerkin Warbeck’s RebellionFrancis Bacon
1497Cabots Discover North America MainlandSamuel Edward Dawson
YearTitleAuthor(s)
1520The Field of the Cloth of GoldJohn S. Brewer
1529The English Reformation and Wolsey’s FallJohn Richard Green
1543Henry VIII Makes Himself Head of the Church of EnglandJohn R. Green
1558-
1603
The Reign of Elizabeth I of EnglandHenry R. Cleveland
1558England Looses Her Last French TerritoryCharles Knight
1572John Knox and Scotland’s ReformationThomas Carlyle
1572Scotland’s Presbyterian ReformationPeter Hume Brown
1576Building the First Theatre In EnglandKarl Mantzius
1576Frobisher Searches for the Northwest PassageGeorge Best
1583England’s First Overseas ColonyMoses Harvey
1584Walter Raleigh’s American InvestmentArthur Barlow| |Robert R. Howison
1561-1587The Career of Mary Queen of ScotsAlgernon Charles Swinburne
1587Drake Captures Cartegena; Raids CadizJulian Corbett
1588Defeat of the Spanish ArmadaSir Edward Creasy
1601Hamlet, Drama’s ApexJames Halliwell-Phillipps
1603Earls Flee IrelandJustin McCarthy
1605The Gunpowder PlotSamuel R. Gardiner
1607English Settle VirginiaRobert Reid Howison
YearTitleAuthor(s)
1612The Beginning of British Power in IndiaHenry Beckles Willson
1616Blood Circulation DiscoveredThomas H. Huxley
1619Slavery Injected Into VirginiaCharles Campbell| |John M. Ludlow
c 1620The Birth of Modern Scientific MethodsGeorge Henry Lewes
1630Puritan’s Great Migration to New EnglandJohn G. Palfrey
1641The End of the Star ChamberHenry Hallam| |Thomas Macaulay
1643Westminister Assembly Establishes Presbyterianism in EnglandDavid Masson
1649The English Civil WarLord Thomas Macaulay| |Charles Knight
1649Cromwell’s Ireland CampaignFrederic Harrison
1653Cromwell’s Rule in England and the RestorationThomas Carlyle, John R. Green, and Samuel Pepys
1660When Fighting Sail MaturedAlfred Thayer Mahan
1664British Capture New YorkJohn R. Brodhead
1665Great London PlagueDaniel Defoe
1666Discovery of GravitySir David Brewster
1666London’s Great FireJohn Evelyn
1671Buccaneers Sack PanamaJohann W. Von Archenholz
1672The Dutch Crisis 1672C.M. Davies
1675King Philip’s WarRichard Hildreth
1681William Penn Founds PhiladelphiaGeorge E. Ellis
1685Monmouth’s RebellionGilbert Burnet
1688The Glorious RevolutionGilbert Burnet| |Henry Duff Traill
1689Andros’ Stuart Rule in New England EndedCharles Wyllys Elliott
1690James II Invades IrelandTobias G. Smollott
1692Salem Witchcraft TrialsRichard Hildreth
1694The Bank of England EstablishedJohn Francis
1704The Battle of BlenheimSir Edward Creasy
1707Union of England and ScotlandJohn Hill Burton
1710Great Britain Acquires Nova ScotiaDuncan Campbell
1720The South Sea Bubble BurstsLouis Adolphe Thiers
1732Settlement of GeorgiaWilliam B. Stevens
1738Wesley Begins MethodismWilliam E.H. Lecky
1740The First Modern NovelEdmund Gosse
1755Exile of the French Settlers in AcadiaWilliam H. Withrow
1755Braddock’s DefeatWinthrop Sargent| |George Washington| |Captain De Contrecoeur
1756-1763The Seven Years WarWolfgang Menzel| |Frederick The Great
1757Clive Establishes British Supremacy in IndiaSir Alexander J. Arbuthnot
1759Britain Captures QuebecArthur G. Bradley
1763Pontiac’s UprisingE.O. Randall
1765American Colonies Oppose the Stamp ActJames Grahame| |George Bancroft
1773The Boston Tea PartyGeorge Bancroft
to 1774Cotton Industry’s DevelopmentThomas F. Henderson
1775French in the Ohio ValleyTheodore Roosevelt
1775Battle of LexingtonRichard Frothingham
1775The Battle of Bunker HillJohn Burgoyne, James Grahame, and John Heneage Jesse
YearTitleAuthor(s)
1777The Battle of SaratogaSir Edward Shepherd Creasy
1779“I Have Not Yet Begun to Fight!”Alexander Slidell Mackenzie
1781Yorktown SurrendersHenry B. Dawson| |Lord Charles Cornwallis
1782The Siege of GibraltarFrederick Sayer
1782How the American Revolutionary War EndedAmerican Diplomatic Commission| |John M. Ludlow
1783After the American Revolution, Where Did the Loyalists Go?Sir John G. Bourinot
1798Napoleon’s Egyptian WarCharles Knight
1798Jenner Introduces VaccinationSir Thomas J. Pettigrew
1800Ireland Joined to United KingdomWilliam O’Connor Morris
1805The Battle of TrafalgarRobert Southey
1806Cape Colony Acquired by Great BritainHenry Bryden
1812Canada Versus USA 1812-1814Agnes M. Machar| |David Ramsay
1808-1813Wellington’s Peninsular CampaignJohn Richard Green
1813Battle of Lake ErieTheodore Roosevelt
1814The Congress of Vienna 1814-15Henry M. Stephens
1814British Burns Washington, D.C.Richard Hildreth| |George R. Gleig
1815The Battle of New OrleansJames Parton
1815The Battle of WaterlooWolfgang Menzel| |William Siborne| |Victor Hugo
1821-1824Lord Byron and the Greek War of IndependenceLewis Sergeant| |John Nichol
1823The Monroe DoctrineAlfred Thayer Mahan
1827The Battle of NavarinoHarriet Martineau
1829The First RailroadSamuel Smiles
1829Catholic Emancipation in IrelandWilliam E. Gladstone| |William E.H. Lecky| |Daniel O’Connell
1832English Reform Bill of 1832 PassesSir Thomas Erskine May
1833The European Slave Trade AbolishedJohn Kells Ingram
1837The 1837 Canadian RebellionGeorge Bryce
1840The Opium War of 1840Demetrius Charles Boulger
1841Upper and Lower Canada UnitedJohn Charles Dent
1846Corn Laws Repealed in EnglandJustin Mccarthy
1846Neptune DiscoveredSir Oliver Lodge
1847Great Potato Famine in IrelandSir Charles Gavan Duffy
1855Capture of Sevastopol Ends Crimean WarEdward B. Hamley| |Evelyn Wood
1857The Sepoy MutinyJ. Talboys Wheeler
1859Darwin’s Theory of Evolution PublishedCharles Robert Darwin
1866The Laying of the Atlantic CableCyrus W. Field
1867Canadian Confederation EstablishedJoseph Edmund Collins
1867Diamonds Discovered in South AfricaGardner F. Williams
1869Fur Companies AbolishedG. Mercer Adam
1869The Suez Canal OpensGardiner Greene Hubbard
1873Communist International 1864-1873Thomas Kirkup
1878The Berlin Congress of 1878Stephen P.H. Duggan
1885 Great Britain Expands Control of EgyptJames Franck Bright
1898Meeting at FashodaWinston S. Churchill
1900The Boer WarArthur Conan Doyle| |James F.J. Archibald| |J. Castell Hopkins
1901Australian Confederation ProclaimedJ. Grattan Grey
1903The Alaskan Boundary SettlementJohn W. Foster| |F. C. Wade| |Goldwin Smith
1909Radios’ First Triumph|Edward J. Wheeler| |Gugllelmo Marconi| |Arthur D. H. Smith
1910Militarism Before World War INorman Angell
1911English House of Lords FallsArthur Ponsonby| |Sydney Brooks| |Captain George Swinton
1912The Sinking of the TitanicWilliam Inglis
c. 1914Women’s Suffrage MovementIda Husted Harper| |Israel Zangwill| |Jane Addams| |David Lloyd-George| |Elbert Hubbard
1914Britain Prepares for World War IWinston S. Churchill
1918How to Handle ArabsLowell Thomas
1944D-Day Summary (infographic)Corey Truman

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