An Introduction to American and British Studies | ULIS-VNUH
Handout 1
A BRIEF HISTORY OF BRITAIN
PART 1. HISTORY OF UK FORMATION
Read Chapter 2 – Reading 1 in your textbook and do the following tasks
1. Fill in the blanks with the information about early settlers and invaders in the British history
EARLY SETTLERS AND INVADERS
Period
Prehistory
Roman
Period
(43 AD-410)
Germanic
Invasions
Who came?
● First modern
humans
● Celtic tribes (3500
years ago)
Roman army
● Anglo – Saxons
(400s)
What did they do?
Built Megalithic monuments
Intermingled with the indigenous people and
creating new Celtic cultures
AD 43: The Romans came to invade Britain and
stayed.
- Controlled most of present-day England and
Wales = the province of Britannia
- Founded a large number of cities
AD 410: The Romans left, leaving little impact
behind
- Control nowadays South-eastern England
and founded 7 kingdoms of Anglo-Saxons
- Become Christianity and spread the religion
-
● Vikings (800s)
-
Norman
Invasion
1066: William the
Conqueror & his Norman
army
Invaded the northern and eastern of
nowadays England and halted by king
Anglo-Saxons (Alfred)
England was divided (the Wessex (south &
west) and Danelaw (north and east))
Cutural and religious similarities merged
two divisions into one united kingdom
Norman invasion of England in 1066. Norman
rulers: - William became William I
- Kept their possessions in France, extending
them to the most of Wesstern France
- Established a strict feudal system in England
King  great lords  lesser lords 
peasants
England brought into the mainstream of western
Europe culture
French became the official language
*** Notable event
1066: the battle of Hastings – the last time English
was successfully invaded
2. Fill in the blanks with the information about the unification of the UK. Explain what happened in
each time period.
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An Introduction to American and British Studies | ULIS-VNUH
Handout 1
Kingdom of
Great Britain
(Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histor
y_of_the_formation_of_the_United
_Kingdom)
Map: British Isles Unification 800 A.D. - 1922 A.D.
(Source: http://www.atlasofbritempire.com/britain-and-empire-in-europe.html)
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An Introduction to American and British Studies | ULIS-VNUH
Handout 1
PART 2. CHANGES IN POWER BALANCE BETWEEN THE MONARCH AND THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT
Read Part 2 in the file Extra Reading and do the following task
3. Fill in the blanks with information about the UK government through time. Briefly explain the
causes and effects of each event.
Event
William, the Conqueror, set up a strict
feudal system.
Effects (in terms of POWER allocation)
King’s power extended throughout the
land, powerful monarch
(not absolute monarchy – lords, who had
land, had voice in the court decision. King
had power in theory)
1215
King John (forced to sign)signed the
Magna Carta.
The Great Council was established.
Power given to certain people – feature of
democracy
1265
Simon de Montfort called representatives
of all the shires and towns to Parliament.
Basis of a more representative democracy.
Monarch no longer had absolute power.
1341
the Commons met separately from the
nobility and clergy for the first time.
Parliament gradually grew in power, voice
of ordinary people heard
1509-1547
(Henry VIII’s
reign)
Henry VIII rejected the Roman church (to
centralize his power), made himself head
of the Church of
England.
Power of the church destroyed, power of
the monarchy increased
Parliament controlled by Monarch
1642 -1651
English Civil Wars – victory of Parliament
Charles I was executed; England became a
republic in 10 years.
Power of monarch declined
1688-1689
‘Glorious Revolution’
Prince William of Orange and his wife
accepted the Parliament’s invitation to
become king and queen.
Constitutional monarch established, king
controlled by parliament
Norman
Britain
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An Introduction to American and British Studies | ULIS-VNUH
Handout 1
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/history/uk_through_time/government_through_time/revision/2/
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An Introduction to American and British Studies | ULIS-VNUH
Handout 1
PART 3. THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
Read Part 3 in the file Extra Reading and do the following tasks:
4. Match the time with the period of the British Empire
Time
Period
1. 1583-1783
Colonies
(Name or geographical areas)
North America + West Indies
2. 1783-1815
Australia, Africa
B. Second Empire
A. Imperial Century
3. 1815-1914
C. World Wars
4. 1914-1945
D. First Empire
5. 1945-1997
E. Decolonization & Decline
5. Briefly answer the following questions:
1.What is an empire?
2. Who/What laid the foundation for the British Empire?
3. How did the British Empire expand its territory?
4. What led to the decline of the British Empire?
5. Victorian Era (1837 – 1901):
Why is the Victorian Era called the Golden period in the British history? Major achievements?
Name at least 3 impacts of the Industrial Revolution on British lives?
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An Introduction to American and British Studies | ULIS-VNUH
Handout 2
CHAPTER REVIEW (for self-study)
1. Fill in the table with the information about the history of Britain
Period
Notable monarch/events
(reasons)
Main
language(s
) spoken
Main
religion(s)
Pre-history
Roman Period (43 AD-410)
Germanic Invasions (410-1066)
• Anglo-Saxons (5th century)
• Vikings (9th century)
Medieval Period
• The Normans (1066-1154)
• The Angevins (1154-1216)
• The Plantagenets (1216-1399)
• The Lancastrians (1399-1416)
• The Yorkists (1416-1485)
Sixteenth century
•
The Tudors (1485-1603)
Seventeenth century
• The Stuarts (1603-1649 &
1660-1714)
Eighteenth century
•
The Hanoverians (17141901)
Nineteenth century
•
The Hanoverians (17141901)
Twentieth century
•
•
The Sax-Coburg-Gotha
(1901-1910)
The House of Windsor
(1910 – present)
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An Introduction to American and British Studies | ULIS-VNUH
Handout 2
2. Answer the questions, using letters from the box. You may need to use some letters more than once.
A. Alfred
B. Arthur
C. Charles I
D. Elizabeth I
E. Henry VIII
F. John
G. Victoria
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Who is famous for having six wives?
Who was forced to sign the Magna Carta?
Who was executed after a formal trial?
Who is famous for never having married?
Whose reign witnessed the height of the Industrial Revolution?
Who was the first head of the Church of England?
Who is often known as “the Great”?
8. Who is famous because of Camelot and the knights of the Round Table?
3. Put the following sentences into the correct order to complete the paragraph.
BRITAIN’S DNA MAP
Modern genetic science throws up some worrying questions. But it is at least producing one very valuable
finding. It is showing that national and ethnic differences have very little to do with race and much more to do
with culture instead.
A Then, the Romans conquered it and stayed for nearly four centuries.
B This is why in modern times we talk about England on the one hand and the 'Celtic nations' of Scotland,
Wales, and Ireland on the other.
C And yet all these successive invasions appear to have made little difference to the modern gene pool.
D In 1066, England was invaded again, this time by the Normans from France.
E Moreover, it turns out that the vast majority of people in Britain and Ireland have maternal genes dating
back at least 10,000 years.
F In the next five centuries, first the Anglo-Saxons and then the Vikings arrived.
G Research has found, for example, that around 60% of all men in southern England are directly descended
from Celts.
H Around 700BC, we are told, Britain was invaded by the Celts, who displaced the indigenous people.
I The story goes that, during this time of Germanic invasions, the native Celts were all either killed or driven
north and west.
J Take the story of Britain, for instance, which can seem like one of repeated mass killings and mass
migrations.
The conclusion we must draw from these findings is that history is often less bloody than we assume it to be and
that earlier people in Britain were not all killed or displaced. Instead, most of them were assimilated into the
newly dominant culture.
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