In the prehistoric era, the Iberians, Beaker people, and Celts arrived in Britain successively. From the 1st to the 5th century AD, the southeastern part of the island of Great Britain was ruled by the Roman Empire. After the Romans withdrew, the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes from northern Europe invaded and settled one after another. The feudal system began to form in the 7th century, and many small states merged into seven kingdoms, competing for dominance for 200 years, a period known as the "Anglo-Saxon era."
In 829, King Egbert of Wessex unified England. At the end of the 8th century, it was invaded by the Danes, and from 1016 to 1042, it was part of the Danish Viking Empire. Following a short period of rule by English kings, the Duke of Normandy crossed the sea to conquer England in 1066. In 1215, King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta, and royal power was curbed. From 1338 to 1453, England and France fought the "Hundred Years' War," in which England initially won but eventually lost. In 1588, England defeated the Spanish "Armada," establishing its maritime hegemony.
In 1640, England became the first country in the world to experience a bourgeois revolution, becoming a pioneer of such revolutions. On May 19, 1649, the Republic was declared. The monarchy was restored in 1660, and the "Glorious Revolution" took place in 1688, establishing a constitutional monarchy. In 1707, England and Scotland merged, and in 1801, they merged with Ireland. From the second half of the 18th century to the first half of the 19th century, the UK became the first country in the world to complete the Industrial Revolution. The 19th century was the heyday of the British Empire; by 1914, it possessed colonies 111 times larger than its own territory, making it the leading colonial power, self-styled as the "Empire on which the sun never sets." It began to decline after World War I.
The UK established Northern Ireland in 1920 and allowed southern Ireland to break away from its rule between 1921 and 1922 to form an independent state. The Statute of Westminster was promulgated in 1931, forcing the UK to recognize the independence of its dominions in domestic and foreign affairs, which shook the colonial system of the British Empire. During World War II, its economic strength was greatly weakened, and its political status declined. With the successive independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, the British colonial system collapsed by the 1960s. It joined the European Community in January 1973.
The above is the relevant content regarding British history; we hope immigrants will take the time to understand it in detail.
