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The Celtic people begin to arrive at the islands and establish their culture
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Julius Caesar arrived on the shores of Britain, but thanks to guerrilla resistance and bad weather, his conquest was not successful (At 44 BC Julius Caesar is murdered in Rome).
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For almost a century afterwards the kingdoms of Britain were kept quiet with gifts and diplomacy. But when anti-Roman rulers came to power, the emperor Claudius launched a full-scale invasion, and makes Britannia a Roman province (Britain’s Roman era began). -
The Romans found the city of Londinium (which later becomes London).
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Romans conquer Wales and the North
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Roman Emperor Hadrian orders the construction of a wall on the Scottish Border (Hadrian's Wall)
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Romans conquer Scotland
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Constantine the Great declared Emperor at York (Emperor Constantius I, his father, died in AD 306 after a campaign against the Picts) -
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The last of the Romans leave Britain
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Anglo Saxons (Angle, Saxon and Jute tibes) migrants begin to Settle. They left their homelands in northern Germany, Denmark and northern Holland and rowed across the North Sea in wooden boats. Britain is divided up into the Seven Kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, Anglia, Wessex, Essex, Sussex and Kent. -
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Christianity is introduced by Saint Augustine from Rome
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King Æthelberht of Kent gave him land in Canterbury to build a church. Æthelberht became the first Anglo-Saxon king to turn his back on paganism and become Christian. -
The kingdom of Northumbria is established as the dominant kingdom.
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Edwin of Northumbria becomes the first Christian king in the north of England
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Mercia becomes the Supreme Kingdom and King Offa builds a Dyke along the Welsh Border
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First recorded Viking attack happens in Dorset
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Vikings attack the monastery of Lindisfarne, Northumbria
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Wessex becomes the Supreme Kingdom Egbert, King of the West Saxons, conquers Mercia and forces the Northumbrians to submit as well. From then on, Wessex retained its dominance in England. Egbert's grandson, Alfred, initiated the creation of the single kingdom of England. -
Some sources suggest that around 843 AD the kingdom of the Scots and the Picts was amalgamated, and that from this date historians can speak of a 'kingdom of Scotland'.
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Athelstan, son of the king of Wessex, defeats a Viking fleet in battle
Egbert, king of Wessex, had made his second son Athelstan king of Kent -
The Vikings kill rival kings of Northumbria and capture York
The city became Yorvik, the Viking capital in England -
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Alfred, King of Wessex, agrees a treaty with Vikings to divide England The Saxons retain the west, while the east (between the Thames and Tees rivers) was to be Viking territory - later known as the 'Danelaw' - where English and (Danish) Vikings were equal in law. -
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Athelstan, king of Wessex, takes York (Yorvik) from the Vikings, and forces the submission of Constantine of the Scots and of the northern kings.
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Eric Bloodaxe, the last Viking king in England, is forced out of Yorvik (York). He was welcomed by Athelstan, king of Wessex, who wanted Eric to protect his kingdom from Scots and Irish invaders.
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Edgar is crowned king of England at Bath, 14 years after taking power Edgar ruled England from 959 to 975 AD, but it was not until 973 AD - two years before his death - that he organised a solemn coronation and anointing. -
Edward, oldest son of Edgar crowned King of England. He was not popular and was treacherously murdered at Corfe in Dorset three years later.
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Swein Forkbeard, son of the Danish king Harold Bluetooth,forces Æthelred the Unready into exile England now under Danish control.
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Edward the Confessor (Edward II) becomes king of England -
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Saxon victory over invading Vikings at the Battle of Stamford Bridge
Harold II defeats and kills Harald Hardrada -
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Harold, earl of Wessex, was crowned king of England. He was immediately faced with powerful threats from William, duke of Normandy, and Harold Hardrada, king of Norway, both of whom laid claim to the English throne. -
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He defeats the English at the Battle of Fulford
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The invading Normans defeat the Saxons at the The Battle of Hastings William of Normandy defeats and kills Harold II with a lucky shot and becomes King of England - Norman Conquest (25 December: William of Normandy is crowned king William I of England) -
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Malcolm Canmore, King of Scotland, unsuccessfully invades England Malcom was killed in an ambush by Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumbria, in 1093.
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Henry I of England marries his daughter Matilda to the German emperor, Henry V. She was only eight years old.
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Henry I's only son, William, drowns while returning from Normandy to England on the 'White Ship'.
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Stephen (Henry's nephew) is crowned king after the death of Henry I in Normandy instead of Matilda. Many considered a woman unfit to rule and further resentment was generated by her marriage into the Anjou family in 1127. -
Matilda lands at Arundel, West Sussex, to claim the throne of England (Neither side was strong enough for outright victory).
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With only nominal control over a country where lawlessness was rife.
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He was not only king of England, but also ruled over most of Wales, Normandy, Anjou, Gascony and other parts of France (acquired through his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine). Henry, son of Matilda, established stability after civil war between his mother and her rival Stephen. -
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The Crusades were a series of nine religious wars waged from 1095 to liberate Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Islamic rule.
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He takes the Stone of Destiny from Scone to Westminster
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The Scots under William Wallace defeat the English
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He married Isabella, daughter of the French king. -
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Edward II abdicated in favour of his son and then, he was murdered. -
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The 'Hundred Years' War' is the name historians have given to a series of related conflicts fought over the course of more than a century between England and France.
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The Black Death (bubonic plague) arrives in England flag England and kills nearly half of the population
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Edward the 'Black Prince' (Edward III's son) defeats and captures John II, King of France
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Edward III's eldest son, Edward the 'Black Prince', had died in 1376, so the succession passed to Edward's grandson, Richard II, who was only 10 years old In the first part of his reign, because he was so young, the country was ruled by his uncle, John of Gaunt whose son Henry Bolingbroke eventually murdered Richard and became king as Henry IV. -
In the aftermath of the catastrophic Black Death, agricultural workers were in demand but landlords were reluctant to pay higher wages or allow migration for work. Reprisals followed instead.
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Henry V dies suddenly, leaving his son Henry VI, who was less than a year old and now king of England and France.
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Henry VI, who had acceded to the throne before his first birthday, was now considered old enough to rule for himself. -
York was then driven out by Henry VI's wife, Margaret. York marched on London and defeated Henry's supporters (the Lancastrians) at St Albans. This relatively small battle marks the beginning of a civil war between two branches of the royal family - York and Lancaster.
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Lancastrians are defeated at Towton and Edward IV (Duke of York's son) is proclaimed king. Henry VI and Margaret flee to Scotland. Edward was crowned in June 1461. -
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Yorkists defeat the Lancastrians and kill Edward, Prince of Wales
and heir of Henry VI. Henry VI himself survived little more than a fortnight after the battle. He was murdered, probably in the Tower of London (21 May 1471). -
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Both his nephews, the 12-year-old Edward V and his brother, were not seen alive after this time and were presumed murdered -
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Henry VII marries Elizabeth of York, uniting the two houses and ending the Wars of the Roses.
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Arthur, Prince of Wales dies, leaving his widow, Catherine of Aragon
With the heir to the throne now dead, the 11-year old Henry, Duke of York, became first in line to the throne. -
James IV of Scotland marries Margaret, daughter of Henry VII of England. Although this meant peace between the two countries, the marriage also gives James IV's descendents a claim to the English throne.
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Two months after he became king, he married his brother's Spanish widow, Catherine of Aragon. -
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Henry VIII appeals to the pope to annul his marriage (following divorce from Catherine of Aragon)
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Eleven days after the execution of his second wife, Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII marries Jane Seymour.
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When found guilty of treason to kill Elizabeth
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James's accession meant that the three separate kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland were now united, for the first time, under a single monarch. -
Jamestown in Virginia, founded by Captain John Smith
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England became a Republic for eleven years
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It first arrived in Britain in the 1650s, when it was served as a novelty in London's coffee houses. Back then, tea was a rare drink that very few consumed.
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After of The Glorious Revolution - the overthrow of King James the II, the crowning of William of Orange and his wife Mary II, and the final recognition of parliament supremacy. -
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English Act of Settlement secures the Postestant Succession placing the House of Hanover in line for the English throne
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William III died two weeks after being thrown from his horse when it tripped over a molehill -
The Scottish parliament was dissolved and England and Scotland became one country - Great Britain -
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After the death of her uncle, William IV. -
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India came under direct British government control when the remaining authority of the East India Company was dissolved.
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4 August 1914: Britain declares war on Germany in response to the invasion of Belgium Compulsory military service and food rationing introduced
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Edward VIII abdicates in order to marry Wallace Simpson -
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3 September 1939: Britain declares war on Germany in response to the invasion of Poland
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Argentina invades the islands claiming its sovereignty
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