The Stuarts

1. William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury. He tried

to bring back into the Anglican Church many Catholic
practices which were extreamly unpopular,
provocing, anti Catolic feeling.
2. Guy Fawkes lead a small group of Catholics that had
been caught trying to blow up the Houses of
Parliament with king James inside. G.F was captured
in the celler under the House. On 5th November,
British people commemorate that day with fireworks
and bonfires.
3. In 1701 Parliament passed the Act of Settlement, to
make sure only a Protestant could inherit the crown.
The Act of Settlement was important and has
remained in force ever since. If a son or daughter of
a monarch becomes a Catholic, he or she cannot
inherit the throne.
4. Roundhead were armed groups of London
apprentices who fought on the side of Parliament in
the Civil War. Their short hair gave these
Parlamentarian soldiers their popular name of
Roundheads. (1642-1645)
5. Cavaliers or the Royalists were in the service of king
Charles in the Civil War(1642-1645).
6. Oliver Cromwell created a new model army into
which he invited educated men who wanted to fight
for their beliefs. He imposed Parlimentary rule and
from 1649-1660 Britain was a republic. He got rid of
the monarchy, House of Lords and the Aglican
church. After Cromwells death the republic was over.
7. There was the Glorious revolution. Parliament made
kings, not by inheritance but by their choise. So,
parliament was more powerfull than the king.

8. The great religious writers during the Stuart period

were John Bunyan who wrote the Pilgrims Progress
and John Milton who wrote Paradise Lost, they were
both Puritans.
9. Edmund Halley is mostly remembered for tracking a
comet (Halleys comet). Christopher Wren was the
greatest British arhitect of the time. In 1666,
following a year of terrible plague, a fire distroyed
most of the city of London including 87 churches and
the great medieval cathedral of St. Paul. C.V rebuilt
them in the modern style.
10.
Isaac Newton was the Cambridge profesor of
mathematics. He studied gravity. Newtons work
remained the basis of physics until Einsteins
discoveries in the 20th century. Francis Bacon a
politician, but better known for his work on scientific
metod. Every scientific idea, he argued must be
tested by experiment.

18th century
11.
Robert Walpole was king Georges minister who
remained the greatest politican leader for 20 years.
He is considered Britains first Prime Minister.
12.
John Wilkes was an member of parliament. He
believed that politics should be opet to free
discussion by everyone. Free speech, he believed,
was the basic right of every individual. He was tried
in court, won he case and was released. As a result of
his victory, people began to organise politican
activity.
13.
The Boston Tea Party 1773, was one of the
famous events leading to opet rebellion by the
American colonists. It was a protest against British
taxation. American colonists, dressed as native
americans through shipload of tea into the sea.

14.
John Wilkinson was a men with a total belief in
iron. He built the largest ironworks in the country. He
built the first iron bridge and he himself was burried
in an iron coffin.
15.
Steam engine, spinning machine, power
machines for weaning.
16.
John Wesley was an aglican priest who travelled
around the country preaching and teaching. Having
in mind social and spiritual needs, he preached
Methodism to give ordinary people a sense of
purpose and dignity. John Wesleys Methodism was
above all a personal or emotional form of religion.
17.
In 1805 Britain decided to fight France at sea
because it had a stronger navy. Admiral Horation
Nelson won brilliant victories over the french navy
and finally near Spain, at Trafalgar in 1805 where he
distroyed the french-spanish fleet. Nelson was
himself killed at trafalgar, but become one of britains
greatest national heroes.
18.
In 1700 towns including London smelled bad,
there were no drains, streets were used as lavatories
and the dirt was seldom removed. The streets were
muddy and narrow, some only 2 metres wide. The
towns were centers of disease. During the 18 th
century, efforts were made to make towns healtier,
streets were built wider. London had a street lighting
and cleaning system. Each house had to pay a local
tax.
The 19th century
1. Robert Peel was the Prime Minister in the middle of
the 19th century. At that time the government
feared that the poor might take the power and
establish a republic. Peel believed that changes
should be made slowly but steadily. He abolished
the unpopular Corn Law, which suited the rich. He
also established a regural police force.

2. In 1851 Queen Victoria opened the great Exhibition

of the Industries which aimed to show the world
the greatness of Britains history. Britain had
become powerful because it had enough coal, iron
and steel for its own industry and could export
them in large quantities.

3. Queen Victoria came to the throne as a young

woman in 1837 and reigned until her death in
1901. Victoria married a German, Prince Albert of
Saxe-Coburg. Apart from having more than enough
coal, iron and steel, Britain could produce new
heavy industrial goods and machinary. So, Britain
had enourmous heavy industry, shipping which
was supported by a strong banking system. The
railway also grew rapidly. There were important
changes in the society, beautifully discribed in
Charles Dickens books. Darwin published the
Origin of Species.
4. In India, the bad treatment of Indian soldiers
resulted in revolt in 1857. Known as the Indian
Mutiny, this revolt quickly became a national
movement against foreign rule. Both British and
Indians behaved with great violence, and the
British cruelly punished the defeated rebels.
5. Two sports, cricet and football became very
popular in the 19th century. Cricet, which started as
a gentleman sport had became popular village
game. Football had also started as a middle-class
or gentleman sport, but it quickly became popular
among all classes.

6. Adam Smith was the Scottish economist, who

wrote the book Enquiry into the Wealth of
Nations in which he insisted that everyone had
the right to personal freedom, without much
inteference from the government. These ideas
were accepted by the growing middle class.
7. Robert Owen was a factory owner in Scotland who
gave his workers shorter working hours, good
housing near the factories and education for the
workers children. He also encourages trade unions.

The 20th century

1. A man thought of his wife and daughter as his
property. It was almost imposible for women to
get divorced. Until the end of the 19th century,
woman had to give up all her property to her
husband when she married him. Husbands were
also allowed to beat their wives with stick. At
the beginning of 20th century situation began to
improve. In 1918 some women of the age of 30
gained the right to vote after a long struggle.
Very small number of women started even to
study at Oxford and Cambridge.
2. Winston Churchill Britains extreamly successful
Prime Minister WW2. He told the nation there
could be no thought of surrender or peace
negotiation with German. He offered his
countrymen nothing but blood, toil, tears and
sweat.
3. After WW2, young people had more money in
their pockets than ever before. They began to
influence fashion and music, pop culture with

the Beatles became powerful. But, the young

people started questioning autorithy. They
rebelled against the sexual rules and started
living together without getting married. Divorce
became much easier and birth control was
widely accepted.
4. Britain has always had special relationship
with the US. This special relationship rested
almost entirely on a common language and on
its wartime alliance with the USA and the Cold
War which followed.
5. Margaret Thacher was one of the most
successful British Prime Ministers, her style and
her views were welcome by common people
who had lost confidence in the government. In
some ways she was the first genuine leader, the
nation had had after Churchill. She was elected
in 1979 because she promised the new
beginning for Britain. She came to power calling
on the nation for hard work, patriotism an selfhelp.