N.K. Silverman
A.P. Comparative Politics
GREAT BRITAIN
§ 1066—William, Duke of Normandy ends Anglo-Saxon rule in the last successful invasion of Britain at the Battle of Hastings. As William I, he introduced Norman-style political and military feudalism to collect taxes, employ the bureaucracy of the Church to strengthen the central government and made the administration of royal justice more efficient.
§ 1215—King John signs the Magna Carta which said the monarch was not absolute and gave some powers to the nobility.
§ 13th Century—First steps in development of Parliament
§ 14th Century—Hundred Years War against France. Black Death first arrives. The War of the Roses ends with ascension of Tudors.
§ 1509-1547—Henry VIII expands power, marries six times, and carries of the English Reformation (separation from Roman Catholic Church to form Church of England [also called C of E or Anglican Church]).
§ 1558-1603—Henry’s youngest daughter Elizabeth I (Virgin Queen for her refusal to marry) is a strong queen who attempts to moderate religious conflict and presides over intellectual and artistic (Shakespeare) achievements.
§ 1588—Spanish Armada defeated resulting in Britain’s navy becoming the most powerful in the world
§ 1603+—Elizabeth dies without heir so cousin James VI of Scotland inherits the throne and unites England and Scotland. He and son Charles I espouse Divine Right of Kings, enforce Anglican religion, use royal courts to persecute opponents, have conflict with Parliament.
§ 1605—November 5: Gun Powder plot (by Guy Fawkes) to blow up Parliament uncovered.
§ 1642-1650—Civil Wars. Charles I beheaded in 1649.
§ 1650-1660—English Interregnum (parliamentary and military rule by Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell.
§ 1660—The monarchy is restored when the oldest son of Charles I, Charles II, is invited to become king in process called the Restoration. He dies without legitimate heir so his brother James II inherits throne.
§ 1688—Second wife of James II gives birth to a Catholic male child causing fears of renewed religious persecution so his eldest daughter, Mary, and her husband William of Orange, are invited to rule in an act called the Glorious Revolution.
§ 1701—Act of Settlement determines succession of English throne.
§ 1720—Collapse of South Sea Company results in London stock market crash with average stock losing 98% of value.
§ 1754-1763—Britain wins French and Indian War (Seven Years War) so becomes possessor of world’s greatest empire.
§ 1776—The thirteen colonies declare their independence and win the war in 1781.
§ Mid 18th-Mid 19th Century—Industrial Revolution: population grows from 7.5 million (1750) to 23 million (1861), urban problems multiply, small farmers deprived of common land.
§ 1807—Slave trade ended
§ 1811-1820—When George III is deemed unfit to rule, his son rules in a period called the Regency.
§ 1815—The British defeat France’s Napoleon at Waterloo.
§ 1832—The Reform Bill enfranchised the middle class. Later reform bills would enfranchise the urban working class (1867), agricultural workers (1884), and women (1918).
§ 1833—Slavery abolished in British Empire.
§ 1837-1901—During the reign of Victoria, Britain’s commercial, political, and industrial leadership is at its greatest. Conquest and expansion in India continued.
§ 1839—Opium War with China.
§ 1853-1856—Crimean War with Russia. Florence Nightingale brought horrid medical conditions to light as nurse in the war.
§ 1899-1902—Britain fought in the South African (Boer) War, and acquired vast territories in Asia and Africa.
§ 1905-1915—Liberals enacted much social legislation including old-age pensions, health and unemployment insurance, child health laws, and more progressive legislation.
§ 1906—Labour Party founded from coalition of labor and socialist movements.
§ 1911—Drastic reduction in power for House of Lords.
§ 1914—Outbreak of World War I. As part of Triple Entente (UK, France, Russia) UK enters hostilities on the side of the Allied Powers against Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire). Grueling trench warfare in Belgium and France.
§ 1918—War ends in November with armistice. Women get right to vote.
§ 1919—The Treaty of Versailles sets up the League of Nations which mandates British acquisition of territory in Africa, Asia, and Middle East.
§ 1921—UK agrees to the foundation of the Irish Free State. Northern Ireland (six counties) remains part of the UK.
§ 1924—First Labour Government under PM Ramsay MacDonald.
§ 1926—General Strike arising from coal dispute fails when middle and upper classes take over most urgent work.
§ 1929—World stock market crash.
§ 1931—Economic crisis. Millions are unemployed. National Government coalition formed.
§ 1936—King Edward VIII abdicates over relationship with an American divorcee, Wallis Simpson.
§ 1938—PM Neville Chamberlain makes Munich. Chamberlain says he has averted war with Germany.
§ 1939—Germany invades Poland. UK declares war on Germany.
§ 1940—Winston Churchill becomes prime minister. Battle of Britain badly damages cities in German bombing raids.
§ 1944—Allied troops invade France from Britain on D-Day (6th June) and begin to fight their way towards Germany.
§ 1945—Germany surrenders on 8 May.
§ Labour leader Clement Atlee is elected PM to replace Winston Churchill. The new Labour government introduces the welfare state.
§ 1945—The UK becomes a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
§ 1947—The former colony India wins independence.
§ 1948—National Health Service is established. Bank of England, coal, communications, civil aviation, electricity, internal transport, and steel all nationalized under Labour.
§ 1949—The UK becomes a founder member of NATO.
§ 1953—Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
§ 1953—Iran attempts to nationalize the oil fields owned by the British, but CIA forces overthrow PM Mossadeq.
§ 1956—UK intervenes in Suez Canal Zone, but withdraws under pressure from the US.
§ 1961—UK application to join European Economic Community vetoed by French President Charles de Gaulle.
§ 1962—The Beatles have their first Top 20 hit in the UK with 'Love Me Do'.
§ 1969—British troops sent to quell unrest in Northern Ireland.
§ 1973—The UK joins the European Economic Community.
§ Industry is on a three-day week because of strike by power workers and miners (Winter of Discontent).
§ 1975—EEC membership is endorsed in a referendum. North Sea oil begins to be pumped ashore.
§ 1979—The Conservative politician Margaret Thatcher becomes PM. She begins to introduce free-market policies.
§ 1981—Thatcher government begins programme of privatisation of state-run industries.
§ 1982—Argentina invades the Falklands Islands in the South Atlantic. The UK dispatches a task force, which re-takes them.
§ 1983—High unemployment, unrest in UK inner cities, continuing violence in Northern Ireland. Thatcher re-elected.
§ 1984—The IRA attempts to assassinate Margaret Thatcher in her hotel in Brighton. Several killed and injured by a bomb blast, but the PM escapes unhurt.
§ 1987—Thatcher re-elected with a slightly reduced majority.
§ 1988—Flight Pan Am 103 explodes in mid-air over Scotland and plunges onto the town of Lockerbie. All 259 people on board as well as a further 11 on the ground are killed.
§ 1990—Thatcher resigns as prime minister after she fails to defeat a challenge to her leadership of the Conservative party. John Major becomes PM.
§ 1991—UK takes part in US-led military campaign to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation.
§ 1992—Major re-elected as PM. Labour party chooses John Smith as its leader.
§ 1993—Downing Street declaration on Northern Ireland--a peace proposal issued jointly with the Irish government.
§ 1994—John Smith dies. Tony Blair becomes Labour leader.
§ 1996—Government announces that BSE, or 'mad cow disease', can be transmitted to humans. Crisis for beef industry follows, with mass slaughtering of animals, collapse of markets and export bans. Many beef farmers face financial ruin.
§ 1997 May—Labour under Blair wins landslide election victory.
§ 1997 August—Diana, Princess of Wales, is killed in a car crash in Paris.
§ 1997 September—Referendums in Scotland and Wales back the creation of separate assemblies in Edinburgh and Cardiff.
§ 1998—Good Friday Agreement on a political settlement for Northern Ireland is approved by voters in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland.
§ 1999—UK forces take part in the air war with Yugoslavia and the consequent multinational force in Kosovo.
§ 1999—Scottish parliament and Welsh assembly inaugurated.
§ 2000—UK forces intervene in Sierra Leone to protect and evacuate foreign citizens caught up in the civil war.
§ 2001—A Libyan intelligence agent is found guilty of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and sentenced at a court in the Netherlands to life in prison.
§ 2001 April—Blair postpones countrywide municipal elections due in May as an outbreak of foot and mouth disease amongst cattle, sheep and pigs continues to spread.
§ 2001 June—Blair's Labour party wins a second successive general election victory.
§ 2001 September/November—Following September 11 attacks on targets in the US, PM Tony Blair offers strong support for US-led campaign against international terrorism. British forces take part in air strikes on targets in Afghanistan.
§ 2003 March—UK joins US-led military campaign against Iraq after UN-based diplomatic efforts to ensure Baghdad has no weapons of mass destruction are perceived to have failed.
§ 2003 August—PM, defence secretary, government officials and aides, BBC managers and journalists testify at Hutton inquiry into death of government scientist at centre of row over claims government embellished case for Iraq war.
§ 2004 January—Lord Hutton delivers findings from inquiry into death of government scientist. His report exonerates government, heavily criticises BBC.
§ 2004 October—Iraq Survey Group concludes that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction in run-up to US-led invasion. Tony Blair acknowledges flaws in pre-war intelligence but stands by case for war.
§ 2005 March—Controversial anti-terrorism bill passed after marathon debate, which includes longest-ever sitting of House of Lords. Bill provides for control orders for suspects, including placing them under what is effectively house arrest.
§ 2005 May—Labour Party's Tony Blair wins a third successive term, albeit with a much-reduced majority in parliament.
§ 2005 7 July—52 people are killed and around 700 are injured in four suicide bomb attacks on London's transport network. Two weeks later, would-be bombers fail to detonate four devices on London's transport network.
§ 2005 28 July—Irish Republican Army (IRA) announces a formal end to its armed campaign.
§ 2005 November—Tony Blair suffers his first House of Commons defeat as prime minister when MPs vote against increasing from 14 to 90 days the length of time terror suspects can be held without charge. Instead, they back increasing it to 28 days.
§ 2006 August—Police say they have thwarted an alleged plot to bring down as many as 10 planes travelling from the UK to the US.
§ 2006 November—Former Russian security service officer Aleksandr Litvinenko, an outspoken critic of the Kremlin living in exile in London, dies there after being poisoned by a radioactive substance.
§ 2007 February—Tony Blair announces the first large-scale withdrawal of British troops from Iraq.
§ 2007 May—Leaders of Northern Ireland Assembly sworn in, ending five years of direct rule from London. Pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) becomes the largest party in the Scottish Parliament following elections.
§ 2007 June—Gordon Brown succeeds Tony Blair as premier.
§ 2007 July—Diplomatic row between London and Moscow over Britain's bid for the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi, an ex-KGB agent accused of Mr. Litvinenko's murder.
§ 2008 February—The government nationalises the troubled mortgage lender Northern Rock. Funding problems at the bank in the second half of 2007 triggered the first run on a British bank in more than a century.
§ 2008 May—Ruling Labour Party suffers its worst local election results in 40 years. Conservative Party candidate, Boris Johnson, elected Mayor of London.
§ 2008 July—Church of England votes by 2-1 majority to allow the ordination of women bishops.
§ 2008 October—The government part-nationalises three leading UK banks with a 37 billion pound rescue package. It also pumps billions into the UK financial system after record stock market falls precipitated by the global "credit crunch".
§ 2008 December—The FTSE 100 closes down by 31.3% since the beginning of 2008, the biggest annual fall in the 24 years since the index was started.
§ 2009 January—The Bank of England cuts interests rates to 1.5%, the lowest level in its 315-year history. The government announces a second package of measures to help Britain's ailing banks, amid surging unemployment and deepening economic gloom.
§ 2009 May—Furore erupts over MPs' expenses when details about what they have been claiming are leaked to a national newspaper.
§ 2009 June—European election: Governing Labour Party slumps to its lowest share of the vote--15.7% (3rd place)--since World War II. Conservative Party comes 1st with 27.7%.
§ House of Commons Speaker Michael Martin stands down after widespread criticism for his reaction to the MPs' expenses scandal.
§ 2009 November—Britain withdraws bulk of its remaining troops in southern Iraq, leaving only a small force tasked with training the Iraqi military.
§ Iraq inquiry chaired by former civil servant Sir John Chilcot opens. Its stated aim is to "learn the lessons" of the Iraq conflict.
§ The UK economy comes out of recession, after figures show it grew by 0.1% in the last quarter of 2009, following six consecutive quarters of economic contraction--the longest such period since quarterly figures were first recorded in 1955.
§ 2010 February—A full list of repayments MPs have been asked to make following the expenses scandal is published in a report from auditor Sir Thomas Legg.
§ 2010 May—General election: Conservative Party wins most seats but fails to gain an absolute majority. Conservative leader David Cameron becomes PM at the head of a coalition with the third-placed Liberal Democrats whose leader Nick Clegg becomes Deputy PM.
§ 2010 October—Coalition announces large-scale public spending cuts aimed at reducing UK's budget deficit, with an average 19% four-year cut in budgets of government departments.
§ 2010 November—UK concludes military and nuclear accord with France. Under the terms of the new treaty, the two countries will cooperate in testing nuclear warheads.
§ 2011 March—Britain plays a prominent part in the international intervention in the conflict in Libya.
§ 2011 April—Prince William and Kate Middleton marry. They receive the titles of Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
§ 2011 May—British voters in a referendum reject plans to replace the first-past-the-post electoral system for the House of Commons with the alternative vote (AV) system. The change was a key aim for the Liberal Democrats, but strongly opposed by the Conservatives—the parties that make up the ruling coalition.
§ 2011—News breaks that a newspaper (News of the World) owned by Rupert Murdoch’s Newscorp has been illegally tapping the phones of sports and entertainment stars, royal family employees, and terrorist/murder victims.
§ 2012—Britain hosted the Summer Olympics.
**Largely adapted from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1038820.stm