The history of the United Kingdom

The history of the United Kingdom is the story of an island on the edge of Europe that, within a few centuries, became the first industrial power and the centre of the largest empire in history, and that today, after decolonisation and Brexit, is seeking a new role in the world. Here are the main stages, from the beginnings to the present day.

From prehistory to the Romans

The British Isles have been inhabited for almost a million years, with long gaps caused by the ice ages. Around 3000 BC Neolithic peoples built monuments such as Stonehenge and the stone villages of Orkney. In the Iron Age the island was home to Celtic peoples, the Britons. Julius Caesar landed in 55 and 54 BC, but the Roman conquest began only in AD 43 under the Emperor Claudius. For almost four centuries Britannia was a Roman province, with towns such as Londinium, Eboracum (York) and Aquae Sulis (Bath), roads and villas; in the north the Emperor Hadrian had his famous Wall built in 122 to separate the province from the tribes of Caledonia (see the Romans and Scotland).

Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans

After the legions withdrew in 410, Angles, Saxons and Jutes arrived from the continent and founded a series of kingdoms, while the Celtic Britons held out in the west, in Wales and Cornwall; this is the age of the legends of King Arthur (see in the footsteps of Arthur). From the late 8th century Viking raids devastated the island; Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, held them back, and his successors unified England in the 10th century. In 1066 Duke William of Normandy defeated King Harold at Hastings: the Norman Conquest brought a new French-speaking aristocracy, castles, cathedrals and the Domesday Book survey.

The Middle Ages

In 1215 the barons forced King John to accept Magna Carta, which limited the monarch's power and became a symbol of English liberties; in the 13th century Parliament was born. Edward I conquered Wales and tried to subdue Scotland, which defended its independence under Wallace and Robert the Bruce. Then came the Hundred Years' War against France (1337-1453), the Black Death of 1348, which killed perhaps a third of the population, and the Wars of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York, ended in 1485 by Henry Tudor's victory at Bosworth.

The Tudors and the Reformation

The second Tudor king, Henry VIII, broke with the Church of Rome in order to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and in 1534 declared himself head of the Church of England (see the history of the Church of England). After the short reigns of Edward VI and the Catholic Mary I, Henry's daughter Elizabeth I (1558-1603) consolidated the Anglican Church, defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588 and presided over a golden age of culture, the age of Shakespeare.

The 17th century: revolutions and the union of the crowns

In 1603 King James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne, uniting the two crowns. The conflict between his son Charles I and Parliament led to the Civil War (1642-1651): the king was beheaded in 1649 and for eleven years the country was a republic led by Oliver Cromwell. After the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the Glorious Revolution of 1688 deposed the Catholic James II and brought William of Orange and Mary to the throne; the Bill of Rights of 1689 established the supremacy of Parliament. In 1707 the Act of Union merged England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain.

The 18th and 19th centuries: industry and empire

In the 18th century Britain, led by parliamentary governments and prime ministers such as Robert Walpole, became a great commercial and naval power, lost its American colonies in 1783 but won India. At the end of the century the Industrial Revolution began (see the Industrial Revolution), turning the country into the "workshop of the world". In 1801 Ireland was joined to the kingdom, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. After victory over Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815, the long reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) coincided with the height of the British Empire, with reforms that gradually extended the vote and with deep social change.

The 20th century: wars, decline and renewal

The First World War cost the UK almost a million dead; in 1918 women over thirty voted for the first time, and in 1922 most of Ireland became independent (see the Irish question). In the Second World War, led by Winston Churchill, the country stood alone against Nazi Germany in 1940, during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government created the welfare state and the National Health Service (NHS, 1948), while the empire dissolved, beginning with Indian independence in 1947. The country joined the European Community in 1973; Margaret Thatcher's 1980s brought privatisation and the end of traditional industry; 1998 saw the Northern Ireland peace agreement and 1999 the birth of the Scottish and Welsh parliaments.

The 21st century

The new century opened with participation in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the 2008 financial crisis and the years of austerity. In 2014 Scotland voted to stay in the UK, but in 2016 the country decided by 52% to leave the European Union, departing on 31 January 2020 (see the Brexit special). The pandemic followed, then the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 after seventy years on the throne, and a long period of political instability, with seven prime ministers in ten years, up to Andy Burnham in 2026.

See also the British monarchy, the prime ministers, the history of Scotland, the history of Wales and the history of Northern Ireland.