history of britain and the usa

History of Britain and the USA

Michael Parsons, 2006-2007

04/19/23 Parsons UK/US History 2

Reading

• David McDowall, An Illustrated History of Britain. London: Longman, 1989

• Bryn O'Callaghan, An Illustrated History of the United States.London: Longman, 1990

• Several copies in main library.


The challenge

• The History of Britain and the United States ... in twelve weeks.

• Key issues in British and United States history.

• Reading the books is essential. (Or any other good histories of the UK and the US).


Why History?

• Difficult to understand the present without knowledge of the past

• Historians and others write histories with one eye on the present and one on the past

• History is often a narrative written to explain how we got where we are now.


Problems ...

• History is not just facts, but an attempt to make sense of the past.

• Questions, problems ...


Key themes in British history

• The people(s) of Britain.

• England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

• Forging the nation (English nation, Britain)

• Church and State

• Towards a liberal democracy?

• Constitutional monarchy?

• Why no revolution? (??)


More key themes in British history

• Britain and the wider world: Britain and Europe, Britain and the Empire, Britain and the United States.

• Great Britain and Ireland ...

• Britain as a welfare state ...

• A British identity/ English/Welsh/Scottish/Irish identity?


Contemporary themes in British history

• The Disunited Kingdom of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland?

• Multi-ethnic Britain

• Britain and the world, Blair and Bush, Britain and Europe ...


Key themes in the history of the United States

• Origins (Mayflower, Pilgrims etc)

• Thirteen colonies

• Independence - why?

• Britain and France in North America

• Expansion - the frontier/wild west

• Manifest destiny and Monroe doctrine

• Civil war


More key themes in the history of the United States

• Indians• Immigrants• Industrial growth - a (reluctant?) world power. • World War One - getting involved in Europe.• Wilson and Versailles. Retreat into isolation• Prohibition and gangsters


Even more key themes in the history of the United States

• Wall Street crash, dustbowl, hungry thirties, New Deal

• World War Two

• Playing a world role. NATO, Truman doctrine, Marshall aid, ...

• Cold War, Korea

• Civil rights, assassinations

• Vietnam


The United States today

• Nixon and Watergate

• America in retreat

• Reagan: "America is back"

• The Clinton years

• 9/11 George W. Bush

• Contemporary issues ...


British History 1 Britain until the Norman invasion

• The people(s) of Britain.

• England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

• Forging the nation (England ...)

• Neolithic England, Iron Age England, Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans.


A timeline - from the beginning up to Roman Britain

• 5000-2500 BC Neolithic Britain

• 2500-1600 BC Bronze Age

• 2200 BC - 1300 BC Stonehenge

• 1600 BC-43 AD Iron Age

• (800 BC —> immigration of Celts)

• 55 BC Julius Caesar

• 43 AD Roman invasion


Stonehenge


Maiden Castle - an Iron Age hill Fort, built by the Celts


Maiden Castle - a hill Fort


The Battersea Shield, 1st century BC)


The Roman invasion• British Celts were aiding the Celts of Gaul

against the Romans. The Romans responded by invading Britain. Britain also had good farmland.

• The Romans had relatively little difficulty conquering the Celts - better army; Celts divided

• However Boudicca's revolt (Iceni) (aka Boadicea) (61 AD)


Roman Britain

• Roman lifestyle attractive

• "Villas"

• Hadrian's Wall (c. 100 AD)

• Roman Empire weakening in 4th century

• Troops out 409. Romano-British alone.

• Language: place names (Chester etc, )

• Roman roads


Invasions

• Germanic tribes raided Britain as Roman hold weakened.

• Angles, Saxons and Jutes raided, then started to settle. Celts pushed westwards.

• Anglo-Saxon language - Germanic, many words, especially the most common.


Anglo-Saxon Britain

• Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Wessex, Essex, Sussex, Middlesex, Mercia, East Anglia, Northumbria.

• Political and social organisation: council to advise king. Shires. Strip-farming.

• Christianity and Britain. 597 St. Augustine. Became first Archbishop of Canterbury 601.


Anglo-Saxon Britain• Christian Church (especially Roman "branch")

relationship with power.• Trade with Europe.• Late 8th century Viking raids. By late 9th

century they had even started to settle. Anglo-Saxon king Alfred able to raise an army against Vikings, defeat them in battle and hold the West (878): Danelaw in East and North.


Settlements


Anglo-Saxon Britain

• Alfred (the Great) had been king of the West Saxons.

• Succeeded by Edward the elder, king of the Angles and Saxons,

• himself succeeded by two sons, Athelstan King of West Saxons and Mercians, and Edmund, King of the English (940-6)

• 1016 Edmund Ironside King of England.


Viking/Norman/Saxon Britain ...

• King Canute (Cnut) king 1016, but with powerful Saxon counsellor(s)

• Edward (the Confessor) 1042 (Norman ... with Saxon Godwin pulling the strings ...)

• Built church to the West of London (Westminster)

• Died 1066 - no son. Who was to succeed him?


Viking/Norman/Saxon Britain ...Harold Godwinson claimed Edward had held

out his hand on his death bed to pass the crown on to him.

Over in Normandy, William claimed Harold had promised not to take the throne during a visit to Normandy a year or two earlier ...In 1066, Harold had to fight a major battle ... in the North, against Danish forces. He won.


Viking/Norman/Saxon Britain ...

Back down south fast: William ... Harold lost.


Bayeux tapestry - Harold swears


Bayeux tapestry - Harold dies


Norman Britain ...

William of Normandy became King William I of England.


Norman invasion and Anglo-Saxon resistance

1066-1070+ Normans consolidate: castles

Many Anglo-Saxon revolts

North in particular revolted: Norman repression.

William gave land to Norman nobles: many different estates spread across the country

Feudal system developed


Norman invasion and Anglo-Saxon resistance

Domesday book (1086)Norman French spoken in the court, Anglo-

Saxon among the people.Effect on language ...William died in 1087; his son William II,

known as Rufus because of his red hair, became King.


Norman England

Rufus killed in hunting accident (??) in 1100Henry I (1100-1135)Henry modernised English administrationHe married a Scottish princess, Matilda

(peace with Scotland for a while)1120 Henry's son died in a shipwreck.Henry's daughter, Matilda designated as his

heir.


Norman England1125 Matilda married Geoffrey Plantagenet Henry died 1135, his nephew Stephen seized the

throne.Matilda invaded from Normandy: civil warKing Stephen died: Matilda's son Henry king in

1154. His wife: Eleanor of Aquitaine.Henry II ruled over England, Wales, Normandy,

Britanny, Maine, Anjou and Aquitaine. First Plantagenet (Angevin) king.


Plantagenet (Angevin) England

Henry II set up system of trial by jury (12 men)

He challenged immunity for the clergy: came into conflict with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket

In a moment of temper Henry asked "Will no-one rid me of this turbulent priest?"



Four knights decided to do Henry's will and murdered the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, in the cathedral, in December 1170.

Also in 1170 Henry II agreed to Norman moves to control Ireland. Essentially only controlled area around Dublin, the "Pale" (see expression "beyond the Pale")



Henry also had to resist attacks against Northumbia from Scotland. Captured Scottish king and made him accept superiority of English king.

Henry's military activity was expensive: he needed money.

history of britain and the usa

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