Course:HIST317/Empire Abroad Chronology

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Backround Chronology

Year Event
927 Wessex conquers Northumbria, establishing the kingdom of England
1016-1042 Personal union between England and Denmark. Ended by Edward the Confessor.
1066 Norman conquest
1204 John I (from Robin Hood) looses Normandy to Phillip II of France
1215 Same John forced to sign the Magna Carta, England becomes a Constitutional Monarchy
1282 Wales conquered by Edward I
1301 Custom of heir being Prince of Wales instituted
1337-1453 Hundred Years War. Ends with England only holding Calais
1455-1487 Wars of the Roses. Tudor Dynasty results, beginning with Henry VII (Lancaster) and his wife, Elizabeth (York)
1535-1542 Laws of Wales Acts merges Wales fully with England
1541 Henry VIII Proclaimed King of Ireland by Parliament of Ireland
1558 Calais lost to France by Mary I.
1558-1603 Elizabeth I
1600 British East India Company Founded
1603 James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England, Personal Union between England and Scotland. End of Tudor Dynasty and Beginning of Stuart.
1642-1651 English Civil War
1649 Charles I Executed by parliament. His son Charles flees to Europe.
1649-1660 Interregnum
1660 Restoration - Charles II returns to England
1688 Glorious Revolution ends Stuart Dynasty
1707 Act of Union formally unifies Scotland and England into The Kingdom of Great Britain under one Parliament
1775-1783 American War of independence, 1st empire lost.
1780's Industrial Revolution begins in Britain
1801 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland formed by the Act of Union (1800)
1815 Battle of Waterloo ends Napoleonic period, with Britain taking a leading role
1823-1914 Monroe Doctrine Allows Britain to informally dominate the Americas economically
1837 Victoria ascends the throne
1839-1842 First Anglo-Afghan war -extremely unsuccessful
1846 Repeal of the Corn Laws institutes the era of British Free Trade policy.

Start of our Period

Year Event
1851 March A census shows Welsh support for a non-conformist church.
1854-56 Crimean War
1856-1860 Second Opium War with China leads to the unequal Treaty of Tianjin, which gave Britain , among other powers, greater access to Chinese markets, and legalized the opium trade in China.
1858 Indian Mutiny leads to the British absorption of the lands of the British East India Co. directly under governmental control.
1859 Origin of the species is published
1867, August 15 The Second Reform Act doubles the franchise.
1868,

1874-1880

Benjamin Disraeli

Disraeli's two terms as Prime Minister. Disraeli was staunchly Imperialist

1868-74,

1880-85, 1886, 1892-94

William Gladstone

Gladstone's four terms as Prime minister

1867 Dominion of Canada Created
1869, July Gladstone disestablishes the Church of Ireland
1873-96 The Long Depression, a period of deflation in the industrializing world during which Britain was hardest hit, allowing the other great powers to catch up economically.
1870 Franco-Prussian War. At this time Great Britain is producing 30% of the world's industrial output. With the Fall of Paris, London becomes the financial capital of the world.
1875 Conservative government (Disraeli) purchases Suez Canal from Egypt for £4,000,000. This is the date commonly taken to be the beginning of Britain's involvement in 'New Imperialism.'
1876 Victoria is named Empress of India
1877 Transvaal republic reluctantly agrees to annexation by the British in return for protection from the Zulu
1878 Britain takes control of Cyprus
1879 Germany cancels free trade agreement with Britain
1879-1880 Second Anglo-Afghan War. Again quite unsuccessful.
1880 Britain controls 1/4 of all world trade
1880-1881 First Boer War, concludes in British defeat and granting of home rule to the South African republic (Transvaal and Orange Free State) as a (somewhat un-co-operative)British dominion.
1881 France cancels free trade agreement with Britain
1882 British occupation of Egypt secures full control of Suez Canal
May 2 British Government officials are murdered in Dublin
1885 Rumours circulate that Gladstone supports Irish home rule
1896-86 Conquest of the Sudan
1899-1902 Second Boer War secures British control of South Africa
1901 Death of Victoria, Creation of the Dominion of Australia
1904 British mission to Tibet
1904 Entente Cordiale is signed
1906, February The Dreadnought Battleship is tested
1907 Creation of the Dominions of New Zealand and Newfoundland
1907, August Britain and Russia agree to spheres of influence in Asia.
1910 Creation of the Dominion of South Africa
1911, August The House of Lords loses its ability to veto legislation
1912, April Liberals propose Irish Home Rule
1913 Britain controls 1/6 of world trade
1914 Outbreak of WW1
1916 Easter Rising rebellion in Dublin
1918 End of WW1

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