EASY READ British history
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EASY READ A timeline of British history. (2025). In Q-files Encyclopedia, History, EASY READ British history. Retrieved from
https://www.q-files.com/history/easy-read-british-history/easy-read-a-timeline-of-british-history
"EASY READ A timeline of British history." History, EASY READ British history, Q-files Encyclopedia, 4 Dec. 2025.
https://www.q-files.com/history/easy-read-british-history/easy-read-a-timeline-of-british-history.
Accessed 6 Aug. 2026.
EASY READ A timeline of British history 2025. History, EASY READ British history. Retrieved 6 August 2026, from
https://www.q-files.com/history/easy-read-british-history/easy-read-a-timeline-of-british-history
History, EASY READ British history, s.v. "EASY READ A timeline of British history," accessed August 6, 2026.
https://www.q-files.com/history/easy-read-british-history/easy-read-a-timeline-of-british-history
A timeline of British history
c.3000–2200 BC Stonehenge is constructed.
c.2500 BC Arrival of Beaker Culture in Britain from continental Europe, and beginning of the Bronze Age.
c.700 BC Celtic speakers settle in Britain.
AD 43 Emperor Claudius sends a large army to conquer Britain. Four years later, most of southern England is under Roman rule.
60–61 The Iceni tribe under Queen Boudicca rises in revolt against Roman rule.
122 Building of Hadrian’s Wall on the border between Roman Britain and the lands to the north begins.
410 Roman legions leave Britain.
400s Angles, Saxons and Jutes start to invade England.
597 St Augustine brings Christianity to England.
793 Vikings make their first raids against England.
829 Ecgberht of Wessex is recognized as king of all England.
843 Kenneth MacAlpin crushes the Picts and unites northern Scotland for the first time.
871–899 Alfred the Great rules.
876 Vikings settle in northern England and East Anglia, marking the beginning of the Danelaw.
1016–35 Canute rules England.
1018 Malcolm II of Scotland wins the Battle of Carham. He unites the whole of Scotland after the death of Owain, King of Strathclyde.
1042–66 Edward the Confessor rules England.
1066 William of Normandy defeats King Harold of England at the Battle of Hastings and wins the crown.
1086 The Domesday Book is compiled.
1135–54 Stephen fights a civil war throughout his reign against the rightful queen, Matilda.
1171 Henry II invades Ireland and becomes Lord of Ireland.
1215 King John is forced to sign the Magna Carta.
1265 Simon de Montfort seizes power in England and calls a parliament
1282 Edward I invades Wales: the last Welsh prince is killed.
1296 Edward I invades Scotland.
1301 The future Edward II is created first Prince of Wales.
1306 Robert the Bruce rebels against English rule in Scotland.
1314 The Scots win a victory over the English at Bannockburn.
1328 England recognizes the independence of Scotland.
1337–1453 England fights the 100 Years’ War against France.
1348 Black Death kills millions of people.
1371 Robert II becomes the first Stewart king of Scotland.
1381 The Peasants’ Revolt takes place.
1399 Richard II is deposed by his Lancastrian cousin, Henry IV.
1401 Owain Glyndwr rises in revolt in Wales.
1455–85 The Wars of the Roses are fought between the houses of Lancaster and York.
1461 Edward IV wins the English crown as the first Yorkist king.
1485 Richard III is defeated by Henry Tudor at Bosworth Field. The Tudor dynasty begins.
1534 The Act of Supremacy makes Henry VIII Supreme Head of the English church.
1536–40 The monasteries are dissolved in England.
1553–58 Mary I attempts to restore Catholicism to England.
1556 The first English plantations are set up in Ireland.
1587 Mary, Queen of Scots is executed for treason.
1588 The Spanish Armada is defeated in the English Channel.
1603 James VI of Scotland becomes the first Stuart king of England as James I.
1607 Jamestown becomes the first British colony in North America.
1612 The East India Company establishes its first trading base, Surat, in India.
1620 The Pilgrim Fathers establish a colony in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
1639–49 Civil wars are fought in Scotland, Ireland and England.
1649 Charles I is executed as England becomes a republic.
1649–50 Oliver Cromwell suppresses Ireland.
1653 The Protectorate is established under Oliver Cromwell.
1660 The Restoration of the monarchy: Charles II becomes king.
1665 Plague strikes London.
1666 The Great Fire of London takes place.
1688 The Glorious Revolution overthrows James II.
1689 James II is defeated at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland.
1701–13 The War of the Spanish Succession is fought against France.
1707 Union of Scotland with England as Scottish parliament is abolished.
1715 The Jacobite Rebellion of the Old Pretender takes place.
1721 Robert Walpole becomes the first prime minister of Great Britain.
1745 The Jacobite Rebellion of the Young Pretender takes place.
1756–63 Victory in the Seven Years’ War brings Canada and eastern India under British control.
1775–83 American colonies win the War of Independence against Britain.
1793–1815 Wars against France end in British victory at Waterloo.
1801 The Act of Union with Ireland creates the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1807 The slave trade is abolished in the UK.
1825 The world’s first passenger railway opens between Stockton and Darlington.
1832 The Great Reform Act gives more men the vote.
1833 The Factory Act begins to tackle working conditions in factories.
1834 Slavery is abolished in the British Empire.
1845–49 Famine devastates Ireland.
1851 The Great Exhibition is held in London.
1857–58 The Indian Mutiny takes place against British rule.
1899–1902 The Second Boer War is fought in southern Africa.
1911 The Parliament Act restricts the powers of the House of Lords.
1912 The ocean liner Titanic collides with an iceberg and sinks on her maiden voyage.
1914–18 World War I.
1916 The Easter Rising takes place in Dublin against British rule.
1918 Women over 30 get the vote for the first time.
1918 Irish Sinn Fein MPs set up their own Dáil or parliament in Dublin.
1920 Ireland is partitioned between north and south.
1922 The Irish Free State is established.
1926 General Strike takes place in support of the miners.
1928 Everyone aged 21 or over gets the vote.
1929 The Wall Street crash leads to economic slump in Britain.
1936 Edward VIII abdicates to marry Wallis Simpson.
1939–45 World War II.
1947 India and Pakistan gain their independence.
1948 The National Health Service is set up.
1969 The Troubles break out in Northern Ireland.
1973 Britain joins the European Economic Community (now European Union, or EU).
1979–90 Margaret Thatcher is the first woman prime minister.
1998 The Good Friday Peace agreement is signed in Northern Ireland.
1999 Devolution granted to Scotland and Wales.
2012 The Olympic Games are held in London.
2014 In a referendum, the Scottish people vote "No" to independence.
2016 The British people vote to leave the EU in a referendum.
2020 The UK leaves the EU
2022 Queen Elizabeth II dies
Consultant: Philip Parker
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