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- This section gives an timeline of southern and central England developing into the United Kingdom. The sub-sections give an outline of the history of northern England (until 954), Wales (until 1542), Scotland (until 1707) and Northern Ireland (until 1922).
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Roman Empire
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Gallic Empire
- 260: Britannia is part of the seccessionist Gallic Empire.
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Roman Empire
- 270: The Gallic Empire is limited to Gaul and Germania.
- 368: A conspiracy by Celtic and Germanic tribes in Britain against Roman rule is defeated.
- 395: After the death of emperor Theodosius I, the Roman Empire is partitioned in the (Eastern) Roman Empire and the (Western) Roman Empire. The province of Britannia becomes part of the Western part of the Empire.
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- c. 410: The Roman Empire withdraws from Britain. Various Celtic feuding kingships, like Dumnonia in Cornwall and Devon, Alt Clut, Bryneich, Deifr, Elmet, Gododdin and Rheged as well as the Welsh kingdoms come to existence.
- 449 and later: Germanic tribes, the Saxons, Angles and Jutes, immigrate into Britain. They establish their kingdoms, like Kent, Sussex, Wessex, Mercia, Essex, East Anglia, Bernicia and Deira.
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Kingdom of Dumnonia
- 400s: Celts in present-day Cornwall and Devon establish the kingdom of Dumnonia[1].
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Kingdom of Kent
- 455: Hengist is recorded as legendary ruler of the Jutes and Saxons in Kent.
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Kingdom of Sussex
- 477: Ælle is recorded as first king of the South-Saxons.
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Kingdom of Wessex
- c. 500: The Wessexian advance is halted by Britons[2]
- 519: Cerdic becomes the first recorded king of West-Saxon Wessex.
- 577: The West Saxons continue their advance, which leads to the permanent separation of Cornwall from Wales.
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Kingdom of Mercia
- 527: Icle becomes the first king of the Anglian Kingdom of Mercia.
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Kingdom of Essex
- 527: Æscwine is listed as the first king of East-Saxon Essex.
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Kingdom of East Anglia
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- 680s: King Cædwalla conquers Sussex and Kent (686).
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Kingdom of Kent
- 690: Wihtred becomes king of Kent and restores independence.
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Kingdom of Sussex
- 710s: Noðhelm is said to be king of independent Sussex.
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- 700s: King Saelred of Essex becomes a sub-king of Mercia.
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- 733: Wessex submits to Mercia.
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- 757: Offa becomes king of Mercia.
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- 752: King Cuthred regains independence.
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- 768: Wessex submits to Mercia.
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- 772: Ofa of Mercia annexes Sussex
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- 785: Ofa of Mercia conquers Kent.
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- 794: King Æthelberht II of East Anglia is killed and East Anglia is conquered by Mercia
- 796: The death of Offa marks the end of Mercian dominance in England.
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Kingdom of Wessex
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Kingdom of Sussex
- 796: Sussex re-emerges as an independent political entity
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Kingdom of Kent
- 796: Kent re-emerges as an political entity, soon to become a client state of Mercia.
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- 807: King Coenwulf of Mercia becomes also king of Kent
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- 825: In the Battle of Ellandun, Ecgbryht defeats the Mercians, making Wessex the leading kingdom of Britain. Duke Sigered cedes Essex to Ecgbryht. Sussex and Kent are incorporated into Wessex.
- 839: Kent becomes an appanage of Wessex.
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Kingdom of East Anglia
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- 871: Ælfrēd assumes the throne and re-incorporates Kent into Wessex.
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- 875: East Anglia is controlled by Norse. Oswald is said to be king.
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- 875: The last recorded king of what is now known as Cornwall, Donyarth, dies. (Most of) the region is annexed to Wessex.
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- 879: After the death of Ceolwulf II, Mercia becomes a client state of Wessex.
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- 881: Ælfrēd I defeats the Danes. Around that time he loses Essex to East Anglia.
- 880s: King Ælfrēd of Wessex and king Guðrum of East Anglia agree agree on the borders.
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Danelaw
- 879: Danish vikings rule East Anglia with their king Guðrum. Somewhere in the 880s Essex becomes part of Danelaw.
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Kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons
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- 918: Wessex incorporates Mercia.
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Kingdom of England
- 927: Æðelstān from Wessex becomes after the unification with minor Anglo-Saxon kingdoms king of England. North Northumbria is annexed by king Æðelstān.
- 954: Under king Eadred England absorbs the whole of Northumbria. Unclear is what happpened with former Goddodin.
- 1013: King Sveinn Tjúguskegg of Denmark and Norway defeats after an invasion king Æðelred and becomes king of England.
- 1014: After five weeks Sveinn Tjúguskegg dies. Æðelred regains the throne of England.
- 1016: Prince Knútr or Cnut of Denmark defeats the son of Æðelred, Edmund, and becomes king of England.
- 1018: After the death of Harald II, Knútr becomes king of Denmark.
- 1028: King Knútr conquers Norway and becomes also king of Norway.
- 1035: After the death of he is succeeded by Hardeknud in Denmark, Magnús Óláfsson in Norway and Harold I in England.
- 1040: King Hardeknud of Denmark becomes also king of England.
- 1042: After the death of king Hardeknud, the Danish ends and Ēadweard of the House of Wessex becomes king of England. England incorporates Cornwall.
- 1066: After the death of king Ēadweard, duke Williame of Normandy invades England. At the same time a Norwegian army invades England. The Norwegian army led by king Haraldr Sigurðarson is defeated at Stamford Bridge by the English king Harold Godƿinson. Three weeks later Williame of Normandy defeats and kills Harold Godƿinson and becomes the first king of England from the House of Normandy. He annexes the remnants of Dumnonia.
- 1067: Shortly after the Norman conquest of England]], the Norman invasion of Wales starts.
- 1075: A revolt of English nobles is surpressed.
- 1087: After the death of Williame his realm is divided in his native Normandy and recently conquered England. His eldest son Robert becomes duke of Normandy and his second eldest Williame II becomes king of England.
- 1088: A rebellion to bring Robert to the English throne is surpressed.
- 1091: Morgannwg is conquered by the Norman-English warlord Robert Fitzhamon for England.
- 1095-1099: England takes part in the First Crusade against the Seljuks and the Arabs, leading to establishment of the crusader states of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch, and the County of Edessa.
- 1106: King Henri who succeeded Williame Rufus after his murder in 1100, defeats at Tinchebrai duke Robert of Normandy and succeeds him as duke of Normandy.
- 1135: After the death of king Henri, Étienne de Blois becomes king after a coup d'état. A period of Government strife and civil war between the supporters of Étienne and Matilda, daughter of king Henri, starts.
- 1147-1149: England takes part in the Second Crusade that fails to restore the County of Edessa.
- 1153: The civil war ends with the Treaty of Wallingford.
- 1154: Stephen is succeeded by Matilda's son count Henri of Anjou as king Henry II. He is married with Eleanor, who rules the vast territory of Aquitaine.
- 1171: King Henri II lands in Ireland and begins the English claim to and occupation of Ireland. He becomes lord of Ireland as a Papal fief.
- 1173: Henri's wife and three of his sons start a rebellion against him. Scotland intervenes in the civil war in England.
- 1174: Scotland is defeated at Alnwick in 1174. Henri defeats the rebels and they reconcile. King Uilliam mac Eanric of Scotland accepts the feudal lordship of the English crown.
- 1189-1192: England takes part in the Third Crusade that fails to re-conquer Jerusalem.
- 1191: As part of this crusade king Richard I conquers Cyprus. He sells it to the Knights Templar.
- 1199: The personal union with Anjou ends.
- 1204: Normandy is conquered by France.
- 1214: An Anglo–French War ends when king Philippe II of France, supported by claimant-emperor Friedrich von Hohenstaufen defeats at Bouvines an army led by Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV and troops of king Johan of England, in which prince Louis of France supports the rebels and claims the English throne.
- 1215: King Johan has to accept limits on his powers in the Magna Carta. After his refusal to accept and abide by the Magna Carta, Robert Fitzwalter leads an uprising against the king.
- 1216: Johan is succeeded by Henry III. The uprising ends.
- 1217: Prince Louis is defeated in England and in the Treaty of Lambeth he recognizes Henry III as king of England.
- 1237: In the Treaty of York king Henry III of England and king Alaxandair mac Alaxandair of Scotland agree on the borders between their countries.
- 1239-1241: England and France take part in the successful Barons' Crusade, that enlarges the territory of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
- 1257: King Henry III of England accepts the Provisions of Oxford, establishing a new form of government-limited regal authority.
- 1259: England cedes its claim on Normandy, except for the Channel Islands Guernsey and Jersey.
- 1259: With the Treaty of Paris king Henry III and king Louis IX of France end their hostilities. Henry remains duke of Aquitaine.
- 1264-1267: When Henry III repels the provisions, an uprising led by earl Simon de Montfort starts. The uprising is defeated in 1267 and in the Statute of Marlborough royal power is restored.
- 1271-1272: England takes part in the Ninth Crusade, defeated by the Arabs, that foreshadows the collapse of the remaining crusader strongholds.
- 1272: The parliament evolves into a permanent institution.
- 1277: Powys Fadog is dismantled by England. In The Treaty of Aberconwy King Edward of England and prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd of Wales agree that Welsh self-rule upon Llywelyn's death.
- 1282: Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd of Gwynedd is defeated by England. King Edward becomes prince of Wales.
- 1290: The Isle of Man is disputed between England and Scotland.
- 1296: King Edward invades and conquers Scotland. In resistance to the occupation the First War of Scottish Independence commences.
- 1298: After an initital The victory at Stitling Bridge in 1297, the Scottish leader Uilleam Uallas is defeated at Falkirk.
- 1303: In the Treaty of Paris Gascony is ceded to king Edward of England by king Philippe IV of France.
- 1306: Roibert a Briuis becomes king of the Scots and leads the resistance.
- 1314: Roibert a Briuis restores de facto the independence of Scotland.
- 1322: After king king Edward II defeated at Boroughbridge an uprising against him and his favourite Hugh Despenser the Younger he responses with a increasingly harsh rule.
- 1327: After the defeat of defeat of Edward II by king Charles IV in 1324, queen Isabelle, daughter of former French king Philippe IV overthrows together with her lover Roger Mortimer and acts as a regent for her son Edward III.
- 1328: After the death of king Charles IV of France, he is succeeded by Philippe VI. This succession is disputed by Charles' nephew, Edward III. In the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton the de jure independence of Scotland is restored.
- 1330: Edward III assumes royal power, arrests his mother Isabelle and executes Roger Mortimer.
- 1332: Edward Balliol, supported by Edward III, claims the Scottish throne. This leads to a civil war between him and king Daibhidh II in Scotland, in which England intervenes.
- 1337: After Philippe VI confiscated the English possessions in Gascony, king Edward III declares himself rightful heir to the French throne. His claim is denied due to the Salic law. Edward III commences the Edwardian War against France[3]. Edward III declares himself rightful heir to the French throne. His claim is denied due to the Salic law. Edward III commences the Edwardian War against France[4]. This marks the beginning of what is rendered as the Hundred Years' War between the House of Plantagenet followed by the House of Lancaster and the House of Valois for the control of France.
- 1341: The commons (representatives of the shires and cities) and the peerage meet separately, therefore establishing a bicameral parliament.
- 1343: Both countries agree on a truce.
- 1346: Daibhidh II is defeated at Neville's Cross and captured by the English. The Scots rally behind Robert Stewart. English forces defeat at Crécy the French forces of Philip VI.
- 1347: King Edward III invades France.
- 1357: The war with Scotland ends with the Treaty of Berwick, in which Daibhidh II is restored to the throne.
- 1360: This fase of the war with France ends with the Treaty of Brétigny, in which Edward agrees to renounce the French crown and obtains full sovereign rights over an expanded Aquitaine and Calais.
- 1369: King Charles V of France resumes the war as the Caroline War.
- 1375: Both countries agree on a truce in the Treaty of Bruges.
- 1377: Edward III is succeeded by his grandson Richard II, ten years old.
- 1381: A peasants' revolt is suppressed and the leaders are executed.
- 1389: The war between England and France ends.
- 1399: King Richard II abdicates the throne to Henry of Bolingbroke, who becomes king Henry IV of the House of Lancaster.
- 1400-1415: Owain Glyndŵr leads an long-running but ultimately unsuccessful uprising in Wales, which is defeated.
- 1415: With king Henry V invading Normandy and defeating at Agincourt a French army, a new phase, the Lancastrian War, commences.
- 1420: Henry V allies with duke Philippe III of Burgundy. In the Treaty of Troyes Charles VI of France agrees that King Henry V of England and his heirs would inherit the throne of France after his death.
- 1422: After the death of king Charles VII, Charles VII claims to be king of France despite the Treaty of Troyes instead of the son of Henry V, Henry VI of England. The war resumes.
- 1429: Jeanne d'Arc leads the defeat at Orléans of the English at the siege of Orléans. Charles VII is crowned king.
- 1431: Henry VI is crowned as rival king of France.
- 1435: In the Treaty of Arras Philippe III of Burgundy switches sides to Charles VII.
- 1450: Duke Richard of Yorks leads an uprising against king Henry VI.
- 1453: King Henri VI is defeated at Castillon by the French, marking the end of the war. England's once vast territories in France is now reduced to only Calais. Aquitaine with Gascony fall to king Charles VII of France.
- 1455: Duke Richard defeats at St. Albans and captures king Henry VI and is appointed Lord Protector of England. This marks the beginning of the War of the Roses over the English throne between the House of Lancaster and the House of York.
- 1461: Edward of York defeats king Henry VI and is crowned as king Edward IV. The war continues.
- 1470: After a revolt and an invasion by supporters of the imprisonned Henry VI, Edward IV flees and Henry is restored as king.
- 1471: Edward IV defeats at Barnet Henry VI and Henry killed. Edward becomes king again.
- 1485: The Yorkist king Richard III dies in battle and Henry Tudor becomes as Henry VII king of England, ending the Wars of the Roses and bringing the Tudors to the throne.
- 1487: A last Yorkist uprising is defeated at Stoke, marking the end of the war.
- 1492: The Peace of Etaples ends an sucessful English invasion of France, launched in order to stop France's support for the pretender Perkin Warbeck.
- 1496-1498: England joins the League of Venice against the French invasion of Italy.
- 1497: A rebellion in Cornwall is suppressed.
- 1500s: Englands starts colonizing the Americas, Africa and Asia.
- 1504: Man becomes a lordship as a crown dependency.
- 1511: The papal-Venetian alliance against France is joined in the Holy League by England.
- 1512: King James IV of Scotland declares war on England.
- 1513: After an invasion Henry VIII defeats at Guinegate the French and conquers part of France. James IV of Scotland is defeated and dies in battle at Flodden Field against the forces of Henry VIII.
- 1518: Henry VIII withdraws from France.
- 1526: England joins the League of Cognac formed by pope Clemens VII, alarmed at the growing power of emperor]Karl V, together with France, Venice, Florence and Milan.
- 1529: With the conclusion of the Treaty of Cambrai, the League collapsed and Karl V wins the war.
- 1532: The Church of England breaks away from the Roman Catholic Church and recognizes king Henry VIII as the head of the Church.
- 1541: King James V of Scotland declares war on king Henry VIII.
- 1542: Scotland is defeated at Solway Moss. Henry VIII annexes Wales to England and changes the Lordship of Ireland into the Kingdom of Ireland.
- 1543: King Henry VIII declares war to Scotland to force a marriage between his son Edward and the infant Mary.
- 1551: Scotland defeats England and at the Treaty of Norham. Englands abandon its holdings in Scotland.
- 1553: After the death of king Edward VI, his catholic half-sister Mary Tudor becomes the first queen regnant of England. She restores the Church of England under Papal authority.
- 1554: Mary imprisons her protestant half-sister Elizabeth for suspicion of being involved in a rebellion. She marries the future king Felipe II of Spain, who becomes king jure uxoris.
- 1558: Mary dies and is succeeded by Elizabeth. The Church of England is separated from the pope again. The same year England loses Calais to France.
- 1570: An rebellion by Catholic nobles to depose queen Elizabeth and replace her with queen Mary of Scotland fails.
- 1585: England supports with a military expedition the rebels in the Netherlands. It leads to a war between England and Spain.
- 1594: A rebellion starts in Ireland, supported by Spanish troops against English rule in Ireland.
- 1601: England defeats at Kinsale Irish and Spanish forces in Ireland, driving the Gaelic aristocracy out of Ireland and destroying the Gaelic clan system.
- 1603: The rebellion in Ireland ends. Queen Elizabeth dies without issue and is succeeded by her cousin King James VI of Scotland as king James I, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England.
- 1604: The Treaty of London ends the hostilities between England and Spain.
- 1605: A consipracy by Catholics against king James I and the protestant aristocracy fails.
- 1625-1630: England intervenes in the Thirty Years' War to support the protestant states in Germany.
- 1629: An English intervention in France in 1627 ends after a French victory with the Treaty of Suza.
- 1640: The civil war with intervention of England over the governance of the Church of Scotland ends in the Treaty of Ripon with a victory of the Covenanters.
- 1641: With an uprising in Ireland a war between catholic Irish and protestant English starts.
- 1642: Under the rule of his son Charles I the English Civil War between the king and the parliaments.
- 1645: King Charles is defeated and captured, but still resists the demands of parliament.
- 1646: King Charles is defeated and flees to the Scottish. The war ends in a victory for Parliament.
- 1648: Royalist uprisings take place and are defeated at Preston by the parliamentary forces of Oliver Cromwell. The commons continue as a unicameral parliament.
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Commonwealth of England
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Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland
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Commonwealth of England
- 1659: England is renamed including Scotland and Ireland, and has no head of state.
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Kingdom of England
- 1660: The monarchy is restored with king Charles II in a personal union with Scotland and Ireland. Both houses of parliament are restored in the pre-1648 setting.
- 1664: England conquers New Netherland from the Netherlands.
- 1665: The Netherlands and England commence a the Second Anglo-Dutch War where England tries to end the Dutch domination of world trade.
- 1667: The Treaty of Breda is signed after a Dutch victory. The Netherlands receive Suriname and cede New Netherland to England.
- 1672: England, France, Münster and Cologne declare war on the Netherlands, the Third Anglo-Dutch War.
- 1674: The Treaty of Westminster ends after a Dutch victory the war between England and the Netherlands.
- 1685: After the death of Charles II his catholic brother James II, VII of Scotland becomes king. The parliamentary elections are the first that leads to representation of political parties in parliament. The Tories become the largest grouping, defeating the Whigs.An uprising against the catholic king James II is suppressed.
- 1688: James II is ousted by Parliament and the throne is offered jointly to his protestant daughter Mary and her husband Willem III, prince of Orange and Stadtholder in the Netherlands. England becomes a constitutional monarchy. Supporters of James II fight a war against king William II in Ireland. After king Louis XIV of France crosses the Rhine an grand alliance of Austria and the Holy Roman Empire, the Netherlands, Spain, England and Savoy gets into the War of the Grand Alliance with France.
- 1689: England becomes a constitutional monarchy.
- 1690: James II is defeated at Boyne and flees to France. The war in Ireland ends in 1691 with the Treaty of Limerick.
- 1697: The Treaty of Rijswijk ends the War of the Grand Alliance.
- 1701: After the death of king Carlos II of Spain his succession is disputed between Philippe of Anjou and Leopold of Habsburg. In the following War of the Spanish Succession, Philippe is supported by France]. Karl is supported by amongst others England with Scotland.
- 1702: After the death of William III, Anne, daughter of James II, becomes queen.
- 1704: England conquers Gibraltar from Spain.
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Kingdom of Great Britain
- 1707: The parliaments of England and Scotland decide in the Acts of Union to unite the countries with Anne as the first queen of Great Britain. Great Britain gets a bicameral parliament, a House of Commons with members representing the shires and cities, and a House of Lords with hereditary peers and clergy.Minorca becomes a British possession.
- 1713: The Treaty of Utrecht ends the War of the Spanish Succession. Philippe becomes as Felipe V king of Spain, but has to any claim to the throne of France. Spain cedes Gibraltar and Minorca to Great Britain.
- 1714: After her death, Queen Anne is succeeded by Georg Ludwig, elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg, bringing the House of Hanover to the throne. Great Britain joins the Great Northern War against Sweden.
- 1715: A Jacobite rising advocating the claims of James Stuart, son of James II, is defeated at Preston.
- 1718: King Felipe V of Spain claims as grandson of Louis XIV the French throne. This leads to the War of the Quadruple Alliance with an alliance of France, Austria and the Holy Roman Empire, the Netherlands, England and Savoy.
- 1719: A Spanish attempt to restart the Jacobite rising fails.
- 1720/1721: Sweden loses the war against the coalition.
- 1720: The war ends with victory of the alliance, confirmed with the Treaty of The Hague.
- 1727: George II becomes king. Spain and Great Britain commence a war over Gibraltar and possessions in South America.
- 1729: With the Treaty of Seville Great Britain maintains control over Port Mahon at Menorca and Gibraltar.
- 1740: Great Britain supports in the War of the Austrian Succession the succession of Maria Theresia as archduchess of Habsburg Austria and her husband Franz Stefan as Holy Roman Emperor, which is disputed by amongst others France.
- 1745: Charles Edward Stuart, claimant of the throne, starts an uprising in Scotland, which is defeated in 1746.
- 1756: Austria's desire to recover Silesia from Prussia leads France and Austria to put aside their rivalry. A Seven Years' War involving most European great power and affecting Europe, the Americas, West Africa, India and the Philippines commences between two coalitions, led by the Great Britain (incl. Prussia, Portugal, Brunswick-Lüneburg and other small German states) on one side and led by France (incl. Austria, the Holy Roman Empire, Russia, Spain and Sweden on the other. Meanwhile, in India, the Mughal Empire, with the support of the French, tried to crush a British attempt to conquer Bengal. Minorca is conquered by France.
- 1760: George III becomes king of Great Britain.
- 1763: The war ends with a Status quo ante bellum in Europe and a transfer of colonial possessions between Great Britain, France, Spain and Portugal. France cedes possessions east of the Mississippi and Canada as well as in India to Great Britain and cedes Louisiana west of the Mississippi to Spain. Spain cedes Florida to Great Britain. The Treaty of Paris confirms the British-Portuguese victory over France and Spain. British rule over Minorca is restored.
- 1765: King George III becomes lord of Mann.
- 1775: Colonists in the American colonies start a revolutionary war against the British.
- 1776: The American colonies declare independence as the United States of America.
- 1782: Minorca is returned to Spain.
- 1783: The United States of America become independent. The Treaty of Paris is signed formally ending the American Revolutionary War.
- 1793: France declares war on Great Britain and the Netherlands.
- 1794: King George III becomes also king of Corsica
- 1795: Many of the settlements in the Caribbean are conquered by Great Britain until they are returned to France in 1814. The Netherlands cede Ceylon and the Dutch Cape Colony to Great Britain.
- 1796: France defeats the Kingdom of Corsica and annexes Corsica to France. In the Treaty of Ildefonso France allies itself with Spain. Spain declares war on Great Britain.
- 1797: The Treaty of Campo Formio makes an end to the War of the First Coalition against the French revolutionary regime.
- 1798: Despite French support a rebellion fails to overthrow British rule in Ireland. France conquers Malta and invades Ottoman Egypt. Despite the British navy defeating at the Nile the French navy, France conquers large parts of Egypt. A French invasion of Ireland to support Irish rebels against Great Britain is defeated at Ballinamuck. British rule over Minorca is restored after an invasion.
- 1799: The French army in the Middle East is stopped in Palestine.
- 1800: The British navy conquers Malta.
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United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- 1801: Great-Britain and Ireland unite under king George III. The British parliament is enlarged with Irish members to form the parliament of the United Kingdom. The French army in Egypt is decisively defeated at Alexandria by a British army. The Treaty of Lunéville confirms the French victory in the War of the Second Coalition with Austria and Russia, marking the end of the war with only the United Kingdom left fighting France.
- 1802: The Treaty of Amiens between France and the United Kingdom ends the War of the Second Coalition. The United Kingdom loses the occupied Dutch colonies to the Batavian Republic. The United Kingdom cedes Minorca to Spain.
- 1803: War breaks out between the United Kingdom and France. Another rebellion in Ireland fails.
- 1806: The United Kingdom defeats the Batavian Republic at the Battle of Blaauwberg and re-conquers the Cape Colony.
- 1807: France is victorious at the decisive Battle of Friedland which marks the end of the War of the Fourth Coalition with Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom takes Heligoland from Denmark.
- 1808: The French invasion of Spain leads to a Peninsular War between Spain, the United Kingdom and Portugal against the newly installed government of Spain and France. France defeats at Évora a Spanish-Portuguese army.
- 1809: A following War of the Fifth Coalition]] between France and allies with Austria and the United Kingdom ends with a French victory at Wagram.
- 1810: The United Kingdom conquers French Mauritius.
- 1814: France is finally defeated in the War of the Sixth Coalition. Napoleon is forced to go into exile on Elba. France loses the annexed territories. George III is also king of Hanover. Malta becomes a crown colony.
- 1815: In the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna, the United Kingdom, the Austrian Empire, France, Portugal, Prussia, Russia and Sweden agree on the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the re-division of Europe. The United Kingdom is was confirmed in control of the Cape Colony in Southern Africa, Tobago, Ceylon and various other colonies in Africa and Asia. Other colonies, most notably the Dutch East Indies and Martinique, are restored to their previous owners. Napoleon Bonaparte overthrows Louis XVIII and restores the empire. He is [Battle of Waterloo|defeated at Waterloo]] by the allied forces and abdicates. The United Kingdom establish a protectorate over the Islands.
- 1820: King George III is succeeded by his son George IV. A conspiracy is discovered and fails. The same year an insurrection in Scotland is suppressed.
- 1831: An uprising in South Wales is suppressed. A campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience in Ireland, punctuated by sporadic violent episodes takes place in reaction to the enforcement of tithes.
- 1832: Parliament passes the electoral reform acts. The members of the House of Commons are to be elected in free multi-party elections on a limited suffrage. The government remains responsible to the House of Commons.
- 1833: Parliament abolishes slavery.
- 1836: The campaign against the tithes in Ireland is defeated.
- 1837: The personal union with Hanover ends with the death of king William IV, he is succeeded by his cousin Victoria. Her reign lasts until 1901.
- 1843: The United Kingdom annexes Natalia.
- 1848: The Young Irelanders stage a rebellion during the Great Famine. The rebellion is suppressed.
- 1850: The United Kingdom adds the Danish Gold Coast to the Gold Coast.
- 1852: The South African Republic becomes independent.
- 1853: France and the United Kingdom start the Crimean War with Russia over Crimea. The Ottoman Empire and Sardinia join France and the United Kingdom.
- 1854: The Orange Free State becomes independent.
- 1856: The war is lost by Russia, which is confirmed with the Treaty of Paris.
- 1864: With the Treaty of London the Ionian Islands are ceded to Greece.
- 1867: Canada becomes a dominion. The Irish Republican Brotherhood stage a failed uprising against British rule.
- 1872: The United Kingdom adds the Dutch Gold Coast to the British Gold Coast.
- 1876: Queen Victoria becomes also Empress of India.
- 1877-1881: The United Kingdom occupies Transvaal.
- 1878: In the Cyprus Convention the Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom in return for military support against Russia. Cyprus is as a protectorate a tribute of the Ottoman Empire (1878-1914), ruled directly (1914-1925) and becomes a crown colony in 1914.
- 1882: Ottoman Egypt is occupied by the United Kingdom.
- 1884: The United Kingdom establishes British Somaliland.
- 1890: <span class="anchor" id="1890))The United Kingdom cedes Heligoland to Prussia inside the German Empire.
- 1894: The Mosquito Coast is ceded to Nicaragua.
- 1900: The United Kingdom conquers the Orange Free State and Transvaal.
- 1901: Australia becomes a dominion.
- 1902: The United Kingdom annexes the Orange Free State and Transvaal.
- 1904: The United Kingdom and France ally themselves in the Entente cordiale.
- 1907: New Zealand and Newfoundland become dominions.
- 1910: South Africa becomes a dominion.
- 1913: The Irish Volunteers are founded.
- 1914: After Austria-Hungary declarez war on Serbia, Germany attacks France, Belgium and Luxembourg. The United Kingdom declares war on Germany. Russia declares war on Austria-Hungary and Germany. The Ottoman Empire joins the Central Powers alliance of Austria-Hungary and Germany. World War I is a fact. Montenegro and Japan join the Allied Powers. Egypt is also de jure separated from the Ottoman Empire and becomes a British protectorate.
- 1915: The same year Bulgaria joins the Central Powers and Italy joins the allied powers.
- 1916: Portugal joins the allied powers. A rising in which the Irish Republic is proclaimed, is defeated. Most of its leaders are executed.
- 1917: The United States and Greece join the allied powers.
- 1918: The Central Powers are defeated and an armistice is agreed. The United Kingdom introduces universal male suffrage and limited female suffrage.
- 1919: After the declaration of independence of the Irish Republic, the Irish War of Independence starts. Following the defeat and the occupation of the Ottoman Empire, Mustafa Kemal leads the Turkish War of Independence against the United Kingdom and others. The war between the Allied Powers and the Central Powers ends with Treaty of Versailles with Germany, the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye with German-Austria, the Treaty of Trianon with Hungary and the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine with Bulgaria. Austria-Hungary is dissolved. Germany, Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria and lose areas.
- 1920: The Treaty of Sèvres between the France, the United Kingdom and Italy and other allied powers with the Ottoman Empire ends World War I. The Ottoman Empire is partitioned and it loses huge parts of the country to its (partially new) neighbors in the Middle East. The Turkish independence war continues. The United Kingdom is a founding member of the League of Nations. The Kingdom of Iraq, former Ottoman territory, becomes a British protectorate.
- 1921: The Anglo-Irish Treaty ends the Irish War of Independence."><span class="anchor" id="United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- 1922: The Irish Free State secedes as a dominion, but Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom. Egypt becomes independent. Kamerun and Togoland are divided in a French and a British League of Nations mandate. German East Africa is divided in a British (Tanganyika) and Belgian mandate (Ruanda-Urundi). All trust territories are continued in 1946 as UN trustships.
- 1923: Palestine, former Ottoman territory, becomes a British League of Nations mandate.
- 1925: Cyprus becomes a crown colony.
- 1928: The United Kingdom introduces universal suffrage.
- 1930: Wei-hai-Wei is ceded to China.
- 1931: The Statute of Westminster creates the British Commonwealth of Nations and changes the relations between the United Kingdom and its overseas dependencies. Ireland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa and Newfoundland become fully independent as dominions, since 1949 commonwealth realms. The dominion status of Ireland ends in 1949, of South Africa in 1961.
- 1932: Iraq becomes independent.
- 1934: Newfoundland is reversed to the status of crown colony.
- {[anchor">1939: World War II starts with the invasion by Nazi Germany of Poland. France and the United Kingdom declare war on Nazi Germany, followed by Australia, Canada, British India, New Zealand and South Africa. Nazi Germany annexes Danzig. The Soviet Union invades Poland. Poland is divided between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
- 1940: Nazi Germany invades and conquers Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands as well as the Northern and Western part of France. The United Kingdom occupies the Faroe Islands and Iceland. Italy declares war on France and the United Kingdom. It invades from Libya Egypt, starting the war in North Africa. Italy conquers British Somaliland. France surrenders, Alsace-Lorraine is occupied by and de facto annexed to Germany. The French republic continues as the dictatorial French State, a German puppet state. In exile an exile-government of Free France is created. Guernsey and Jersey are occupied by Nazi Germany. Italy invades Greece. Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact. Hungary, Romania and Slovakia join the pact. Ireland, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain and Portugal remain neutral during World War II.
- Nazi Germany attacks Malta. Bulgaria and Yugoslavia join the Tripartite Pact with Nazi Germany, but Yugoslavia leaves the pact shortly after. The allied forces defeat Italy in Italian East Africa. Nazi Germany and its allies Hungary and Romania invade the Soviet Union and conquer part of the union, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine and present-day Belarus. Finland resumes the war with the Soviet Union. After the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, Germany and Italy declare war on the United States. China declares war on Nazi Germany, as did many South-American countries the same year.
- 1943: German forces in the Soviet Union are defeated at Stalingrad, marking the beginning of the Nazi-German collapse in the Soviet Union. The German and Italian forces in North Africa, Tunisia are defeated, followed by the invasion of Italy by the United States and the United Kingdom. After a coup d'état Italy declares war on Germany and Nazi Germany invades Italy.
- 1944: The allied forces of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Free French and Poland launch an invasion of Normandy, creating a third Front. The same year Romania and Bulgaria quit the alliance with Nazi Germany and declare war on Nazi Germany.
- 1945: Nazi Germany is defeated and occupied by the allied forces (Soviet Union, the United States, France and the United Kingdom). They divide Germany in occupation zones with Berlin having a separate status. The Allied Powers secede Austria from Germany and occupy the country. The Italian Aegean Islands are conquered by the United Kingdom. The occupation of Faroe Islands and Iceland ends. The United Kingdom is a founding member of the United Nations.
- 1946: Transjordan becomes independent.
- 1947: India (dominion until 1950) and Pakistan (dominion until 1956) become independent. The Aegean Islands are incorporated into Greece.
- 1948: Israel, Burma and Ceylon (dominion/commonwealth realm until 1972) become independent. Plural voting in the United Kingdom is abolished.
- 1949: The British occupation zone of Germany becomes part of the Federal Republic of Germany. The United Kingdom is a founding member of the Council of Europe the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Newfoundland becomes part of Canada.
- 1955: The Austrian State Treaty ends the occupation and re-establishes a sovereign and democratic
Austria.
- 1956: Sudan becomes independent. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) stages a guerrilla warfare campaign against targets in Northern Ireland, with the aim of overthrowing British rule there and creating a united Ireland.
- 1957: The Gold Coast becomes independent as Ghana (commonwealth realm until 1960).
- 1958: Life peers can be appointed to the House of Lords.
- 1960: Cyprus (Akrotiri and Dhekelia remain British), Nigeria (commonwealth realm until 1963) and British Somaliland become independent. Somaliland becomes part of Somalia.
- 1960: The United Kingdom is a founding member of the European Free Trade Association.
- 1961: Kuwait (1961), Tanganyika (commonwealth realm until 1972) and Sierra Leone (commonwealth realm until 1971) become independent.
- 1962: Jamaica (commonwealth realm), Trinidad and Tobago (commonwealth realm until 1976) and Uganda (1962, commonwealth realm until 1963) become independent. The IRA campaign is defeated.
- 1963: Kenya (commonwealth realm until 1964), Malaysia and Zanzibar become independent.
- 1964: Northern Rhodesia as Zambia, Malta (commonwealth realm until 1974), Nyassaland as Malawi (commonwealth realm until 1966) become independent.
- 1965: Rhodesia (1965 unilateral), The Gambia (commonwealth realm until 1970) becomes independent. Rhodesia declares unrecognized its independence.
- 1966: Basutoland as Lesotho, Bechuanaland as Botswana, Barbados (commonwealth realm) and British Guyana (commonwealth realm until 1970) become independent. The Ulster Volunteer Force is created by militant protestants to wage war against the IRA and the catholic community.
- 1968: Mauritius (commonwealth realm until 1992) and Swaziland become independent. The Northern Ireland civil rights movement starts a campaign for equal rights of catholics in Northern Ireland.
- 1969: Attacks of protestants against civil rights demonstrations lead to riots and the beginning of a civil war (the Troubles) in Northern Ireland, in which the Provisional Irish Republican Army and other republican paramilitaries wage an armed campaign against British security forces and protestant forces like the UVF in an attempt to bring about a United Ireland.
- 1970: Aden and Hadramaut as South Yemen, Fiji (commonwealth realm until 1987) become independent.
- 1971: The Trucial Coast becomes independent as Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
- 1972: The civil war in Northern Ireland escale after an [[Bloody Sunday (1962)|incident in Derry, when British soldiers shot 26 unarmed civilians during a peaceful protest march. The Irish Republican Army, the Provisional Irish Republican Army and the Irish National Liberation Army become violently active against the government.
- 1973: The Bahamas become a commonwealth realm. The United Kingdom joins the European Communities, predecessors of the European Union.[5] and withdraws from the European Free Trade Association.
- 1978: The Seychelles, the Ellice Islands as Tuvalu (commonwealth realm) and Dominica become independent.
- 1979: Saint Lucia (commonwealth realm), the Gilbert Islands as Kiribati and, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (commonwealth realm) become independent.
- 1980: The New Hebrides become independent as Vanuatu.
- 1981: British Honduras as Belize and Antigua and Barbuda become commonwealth realms.
- 1983: Saint Christopher and Nevis becomes a commonwealth realm.
- 1997: Hong Kong is ceded to China.
- 1998: The civil war in Northern Ireland comes to an end with the Good Friday Agreements between the governments of the United Kingdom and Ireland and between most of Northern Ireland's political parties. An agreement is reached that Northern Ireland eemains part of the United
Kingdom until a majority both of the people of Northern Ireland and of the Republic of Ireland wish otherwise.
- 1999: Most hereditary peers are by law expelled.
- 2005: The IRA ends its military campaign in Northern Ireland.
- 2016: In a referendum the United Kingdom decides to leave the European Union.
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