the United Kingdom is a nation located in the British Isles made up of England

Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland

thousands of years ago the Isles were inhabited by long-forgotten pre-celtic

people known as the beaker culture named for their distinctive pottery beakers

little is known of them but it has been suggested that these people laid the

foundations for the mysterious stonehenge a series of heavy standing

stones which were transported from 150 miles away and arranged to form a

calendar marking the days of the summer and winter solstice over time waves of

Celtic speaking people arrived from the European continent who soon came to form

the brittonic Gaelic and Pictish people these people were not a unified people

but were rather many tribes who shared a similar pagan religion language and

culture the Romans invaded conquering what's now England and Wales but failed

to conquer the Pictish tribes to the north the Romans launched several

campaigns into this land they called Caledonia however their fortifications

were soon overrun and abandoned and they retreated to Hadrian's Wall their

conquered lands were incorporated into the Roman Empire becoming the province

of Britannia they brought Roman customs and laws

improved infrastructure and connected many towns and cities with Roman roads

when the Romans left there was a great migration of Germanic tribes these were

the Jutes Angles and Saxons with their language Old English their settlement

pushed many Britons to areas in Wales Brittany and a kingdom known as Domino

Nia while Scotland eventually evolved into four kingdoms thus most of these

were the Scots who were originally from Ireland the Britons of Strathclyde the

anglo-saxon kingdom of Benicia and the pics of Alba

for unknown reasons the Jutes disappeared from history but the Angles

and Saxons eventually formed Seven Kingdoms Wessex Sussex Kent Essex East

Anglia Murcia and Benicia became Northumbria after the collapse of Domino

Nia the remaining territory of Cornwall fought against the powerful kingdom of

Wessex corn will eventually fall under the control of Wessex but it managed to

keep its own culture Wales at this point was also made up of several separate

kingdoms the largest being Gwynedd in the North poets in the East and differed

to the south the British Isles soon saw numerous Norse raiders from Scandinavia

these were the Vikings and they began settlement on many of the Scottish Isles

the Isle of Man and they even founded the city of Dublin in Ireland the Scots

in the pics then decided to unite under Kenneth MacAlpine to form the Kingdom of

Alba the kingdom of albergue grew strong over the years and eventually

Strathclyde was bought into the fault meanwhile Danish Vikings arrived in the

Anglo Saxon kingdoms for conquest after fighting the king of Wessex Alfred the

Great the Danelaw was formed a land where the laws of the Danes held

influence over the anglo-saxons controlling the region and its affairs

the anglo-saxons eventually defeated the last Viking king of York Erich blood

acts and Athelstan became the first king of the English although the newly formed

Kingdom of Denmark would conquer England and even found a short-lived Danish

dynasty under Knut the Norseman had a dramatic impact on the Isles so it's no

wonder some words in the English language have Norse origin after

defeating formidable sea Raiders from Ireland the Western Isles Scandinavia

and anglo-saxon forces from Murcia were fed up Llewellyn's subdued his rivals in

southwest Wales Llewellyn became the only Welsh King ever to rule over the

entire territory of Wales he was defeated by the English Earl Harold

Godwinson and killed by his own men leading to the Welsh kingdoms splitting

apart once more at the death of Edward the Confessor there was a succession

dispute between four claimants Harold Godwinson was elected as king and

managed to defend England from an invasion by the Norwegian King Harald

Hardrada however Howard had semaj his army south to defend against yook

William of Normandy who could cross the English Channel according to tradition

at the Battle of Hastings Harald was killed by an arrow to the eye and the

Norman invaders were victorious the new King William defeated a number of

rebellions built a new design of castles called moats and Bailey's and introduced

a number of reforms like trial by combat and the Domesday book the Norman dynasty

invaded into South Wales and parts of Ireland creating the lordship of Ireland

at court Nobles spoken conducted sessions in the anglo-norman language

which endured for centuries and left an incredible mark in development of modern

English after a brief Civil War henry ii would

marry Eleanor of Aquitaine establishing the Angevin Empire beginning a long

rivalry against France Richard the Lionheart defended much of this

territory and also became a central Christian commander during the Third

Crusade achieving considerable victories against his Muslim counterparts Saladin

under king john heavy taxes were imposed on his barons in order to pay for his

expensive Foreign Wars the Baron's rebelled and forced John to sign the

Magna Carta a charter that established the principle that everyone was subject

to the law even the king guaranteeing the rights of individuals the right to

justice and the right to a fair trial most of North Wales remained

independently ruled by several Welsh princes until twelve sixteen when

Llewellyn the Great became the ruler of the Principality of Wales this would be

the case until it but the first who conquered Wales in 1284 effectively

becoming parts England at the death of King Alexander the third

Scotland was left with 14 rivals for succession to prevent civil war the

Scottish magnates asked Edward the first of England to elect a claimant John

Balliol was elected King but was constantly undermined by Edward who

opposed Scottish independence Edward decided to launch several campaigns to

conquer Scotland and depose King John to which he acquired the nickname hammer of

the Scots under a brave Scottish Knight William Wallace the Scots mounted

resistance against the English defeating them at the Battle of Stirling Bridge

Edward marched north in person and defeated Wallace in battle but Wallace

managed to escape he was later captured and executed but his efforts allowed

Robert the Bruce to rise up and defeat the English securing Scottish

independence when the King of France died without an heir Edward the third

was technically eligible to the crown through his mother the French Court

denied his claim and instead installed Philip of Valois Edward paid homage to

Philip as he owned the lands of Gascony and was essentially a vassal to the King

of France due to disagreements Edward reasserted

his claim to the throne and invaded France beginning the Hundred Years War

the English achieved notable victories at the Battle of Crecy Poitiers and

Agincourt thanks to the technical superiority of the longbow but was

unable to conquer the French with the appearance of Joan of Arc who lifted the

French spirit and turned the tide of the war upon the death of Edward the third

an entire generation was skipped in the line of succession which prompted bitter

rivalry between several claimants most notably were the houses of York and

Lancaster tensions were high until a bloody age of warfare erupted between

these two factions in the Wars of the Roses it's so in-depth and complicated

this period would likely become a video of its own the wars ended with the

arrival of the Tudor dynasty Henry the eighth wanting a divorce split with the

church creating his own Church of England this ultimately led to a series

of religious differences between future English monarchs in between his six

wives and naval adventures Henry gave Wales representation in Parliament and

created the kingdom of Ireland but realistically he only

controlled an area known as the pale in addition Henry's paranoia and suspicion

amounted to tens of thousands of executions including his friends and

wives during the 16th century the largest of most powerful Empire was

Spain under king philip ii england under Elizabeth the first were helping Dutch

rebels reject Spanish rule and many English privateers were also

intercepting Spanish silver on its journey back from the new world this

angered the spanish king and the final straw came when Elizabeth had Mary Queen

of Scots executed because she did not want Scotland falling under Catholicism

the Spanish Armada consisting of 130 ships was deployed to invade England at

the Battle of Gravelines and English victory forced the Spanish fleet to sail

around the British Isles before storms in the north of Scotland destroyed the

remaining ships in metallian the english led by Sir Francis Drake amassed their

own Armada to invade Spain but this too became a failed endeavor born in this

period William Shakespeare became a renowned poet playwright and actor who

contributed significantly to English literature when Queen Elizabeth of

England died without an heir her closest male relative was James the sixth of

Scotland James was elected as King of England and

Scotland in a personal Union although the country's remain separate

political entities as the first monarch to rule the entire island of Great

Britain several assassination attempts were made by Catholic conspirators one

such assassination attempt was the Gunpowder Plot by Guy Fawkes who tried

to blow at Parliament's after a failed colony known as Roanoke England

established a successful colony known as Jamestown which would eventually evolved

into the 13 colonies at first expeditions to the new world were mainly

driven by religious motives which were predominantly to convert the natives to

their faith but colonies became more profitable as demand for new world crops

like tobacco and sugar increased British ships also made a monopoly on the

transportation of captive African slaves that crossed the Atlantic to the

Americas millions of Africans were shipped in cramped horrific conditions

to work on brutal plantation in the Americas and essentially became

property to their masters for 300 years this practice continued in the British

Empire until it was fully abolished in 1833 this period also saw a wave of

plantations in Ireland where Irish lands were confiscated and given to English

and Scottish settlers tensions would rise between Charles the first and

Parliament following disagreements conflicts between Royal and

parliamentary authority within England led to the English Civil War the country

became divided between parliamentarians known as the Roundheads and Royalists

known as the Cavaliers under Oliver Cromwell and the New Model Army the

parliamentarians defeated Charles and executed him for treason cromwell became

Lord Protector and dissolved the monarchy but shortly after his death it

was restored under charles ii charles ii married Catherine of Braganza and when

she arrived from Portugal she introduced the greatest beverage of all the time TEA

Tea had been used by China for centuries but its arrival in the 17th century

captured the interest of the English aristocracy and soon captivated every

other Englishman in 1685 a catholic James ii became king in a largely

Protestant nation James's daughter Mary and her Dutch husband William would both

Protestant and many Nobles unhappy with the Catholic King invited William to

become King William found considerable support when he invaded and he was soon

crowned King William the third in what became known as the Glorious Revolution

although Williams supporters dominated the government there remained a

significant following for James ii in the scottish highlands clan MacDonald of

Glencoe was one such group who had not been prompt in pledging allegiance to

the new monarch for this reason alone 38 members of the clan were murdered in

what became known as the massacre of Glencoe after Scotland's failed colonial

endeavours in Nova Scotia and Panama and an economic crisis in the 1690s there

was a union between England and Scotland forming the United Kingdom of Great

Britain the House of Stuart's had ruled Britain for just over a century but

ended with the death of Queen Anne Sophia of Hanover

the granddaughter of James the first and her son George became King Great Britain

soon found itself drawn into several European Wars most notable being the war

of the Spanish Succession and the Seven Years War victories in these Wars

resulted in territory for the Empire particularly in North America although

it resulted in considerable debts in order to make up for this debt King

George the third ordered heavy taxes be placed on the thirteen colonies this

among other reasons culminated into the American War of Independence and with

financial help from France and Spain the Americans were victorious the East

India Company which was founded by Elizabeth the first had grown rapidly

and even operated its own military and controlled a sizable amount of territory

the company had set up fortified warehouses where they traded with many

India rulers acquiring important luxuries like

textiles and spices one of the most important cities of all was Bengal as it

had a large taxable population the governor of Bengal robert clive ordered

that the population grow opium to export to China instead of growing food as it

proved to be a great source of income however when a famine struck it resulted

in the deaths of millions of people meanwhile Captain James Cook arrived at

New Zealand and the southeast coast of Australia although he wasn't the first

to discover the area because of past Portuguese and Dutch explorers however

unlike the Dutch of Portuguese Britain claimed as their new penal colony known

as New South Wales with the first convicts arriving in 1778 a new threats

had emerged from France French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte

Music

Napoleon had come to dominate most of Europe but Britain's advantage was that

she was an island and the Royal Navy had become a major force at sea invasion of

Britain was near impossible and in a series of coalition's Napoleon was

defeated by the end of the Napoleonic Wars Britain was growing rapidly into a

superpower based on their supremacy of naval engineering furthermore in Ireland

the great famine struck a disease killing potato plants Ireland which had

merged with Britain relied heavily on this crop for food but the British

government forced Ireland to export what little food they had to other areas

without any aid or food Ireland's population plummeted by half due to

starvation and emigration to countries like the United States things weren't

looking so great in India either as India was rebelling against company rule

the East India Company had employed many Indian soldiers known as sepoys who

were under the command of British soldiers these sepoys grew increasingly

unhappy and a revolt soon occurred yet it quickly failed due to a lack of unity

between Indians after the rebellion the British government took direct control

with Queen Victoria being declared Empress of India during the 19th century

the world was forever changed by the Industrial Revolution society was

transformed by technological advances and increasing mechanization and would

launch Britain to global dominance some of the greatest innovations and

inventions were the sewing machine the fire extinguisher steam powered engines

and turbines the electric motor and photography The Telegraph was also a

major invention as a message could now be sent from Britain to India in a

matter of hours the establishment of railways and trains also transformed

transport forever instead of travelling days by horse and carriage it now only

took a matter of hours by train engineering and communication advance is

not only United the Empire they triggered a manufacturing boom like no

other people flocked from rural areas to city centres for jobs

productivity reached an all-time high but the consequences of mass migration

resulted in extremely cramped and polluted

cities however with these problems that were generated it resulted in an

improved sewage system Newcastle focused on shipbuilding

Manchester the cotton industry Liverpool became a major trading centre

Middlesbrough fixated itself on iron and steel works the presence of iron ore

limestone and large coal deposits in the West Midlands and southeast Wales

prompted the establishment of ironworks and Scotland boomed in the linen

industry the Victorian era also saw a major change in society as families from

the poorest backgrounds gained access to education although it was much stricter

than today's standards the 1860s also saw the rise of the greatest food

combination ever fish and chips towards the end of the 19th century European

powers came together at the Berlin conference to divide Africa between them

a group in South Africa known as the Boers who originally Dutch settlers

proved difficult for the British the Boers lived in two nations the free

orange states and the Republic of Transvaal and both resisted British rule

using guerilla warfare to counter this the British placed many women and

children in their tens of thousands into concentration camps when many died from

starvation and disease Britain became a major player in the First World War and

many men proudly volunteered to serve and protect their country the Great War

as it was called saw the use of new technology such as dreadnoughts

warplanes artillery machine guns grenades chemical weapons

bolt-action rifles and the first use of the tank many faced horrific conditions

in the trenches and witness groups of battles millions died and many returned

home shell shocked by what they had seen the Empire reached its territorial

heights in 1921 after gaining territory from Germany and the crumbling Ottoman

Empire the Empire now ruled over 400 million people and controlled one

quarter of the world's land mass but the reality was Britain could no longer

afford to build bases or ships to defend its empire as it had before

19:14 Ireland finally managed to break away from British rule and formed the

Irish free states and shortly after became a republic the Second World War

was more brutal and horrific than the first most of Europe had fallen under

German occupation and under Prime Minister Winston Churchill Britain stood

strong during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz Britain were extremely

successful at intercepting and decoding enemy communications with the likes of

Alan Turing who cracked the German Enigma code the war ended with an allied

victory but many nations within the Empire felt a desire for independence

and it was clear the Empire was about to break India was one such nation who were

ready to declare their independence Mohandas Gandhi practiced a nonviolent

approach and this proved successful are shortly after India gained independence

the Commonwealth of Nations was formed to improve relations and economic ties

with former colonies this still remains today with 53 members united by language

history culture and shared values of democracy the British Empire officially

ended with Hong Kong Britain's last colony being handed over to China in

1997 the Empire committed many atrocities on many different people

imposing their culture and civilization while often wiping out native ones on

the other hand this brought about globalization and the uniting of the

modern world and without such innovations and industrialization the

world might have been a very different place the United Kingdom suffered a

small economic recession in 2008 but has since recovered it is a multicultural

society with each region retaining a presence of its history and culture if

you ever visit look out for the Welsh cake the haggis the whiskey the Chelsea

bun the par mo the Cumberland sausage the Yorkshire pudding or the Cornish

pasty the UK remains a member of NATO United

Nations and the World Trade Organization and uses the pound currency in 2016 a

referendum resulted in 51.9% of voters in favor to leave the European Union

although the countries within the United Kingdom became divided on the matter

leading to the many questions of its future unity thank you for watching

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