An outline of British history （1500 onward）
(Session 5)
Objectives:
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To help students get a clear outline of the British history
dating from the 16th century to the present day.

To get students to be familiar with some renowned figures
that have once changed the course of the British history.

To enable students to summarize the British history by
following the example displayed on the slides.
Survey of Britain by Zhang Haiyan
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An outline of British history （1500 onward）
(Session 5)
Questions for Discussion:
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Which dynasties was England in before and after 1455?
When did the English Reformation take place? Who carried out the
Reformation and for what reason? What was the result?
When did the English Renaissance begin? Who were the sovereigns then?
How much do you know about Victorian Age?
What made Elizabeth become Queen of Britain?
What contributions did Margaret Thatcher make to British economy?
Who is the present Prime Minister?
What event(s) caused significant changes of the British society since 17th
century? Can you name some?
Survey of Britain by Zhang Haiyan
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An outline of British history （1500 onward）
（Session 5）
Events
Wars of the Roses
Date
1455-1485
Details
*Death blow on Feudalism
*Weakened and discredited. the great
medieval nobility
*Highlighted the King’s power
*Henry Tudor united the two Houses
The English Reformation 16th century *A move from Catholicism to
Protestantism
Edward VI’ reign
1547-1553
*Real religious change was fulfilled
Mary Tudor’s reign
(Bloody Mary)
1553-58
*Persecuted the Protestants to restore
Catholicism
Survey of Britain by Zhang Haiyan
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An outline of British history （1500 onward）
（Session 5）
Events
Elizabeth I’s reign
Date
1558-1603
Details
*Smashed the Catholic conspiracy against
Protestantism by executing Mary Stuart
(1587) and defeating Spanish Armada
(1588)
*English Renaissance
James I’s reign
1603-1625
*Gunpowder Plot, 1605
*Mayflower, 1620
Charles I’s reign
1625-49
*The Civil Wars, 1642-49
*Execution of Charles I by Cromwell and
the Rumps (tyrant, traitor, murderer
and public enemy)
Survey of Britain by Zhang Haiyan
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An outline of British history （1500 onward）
（Session 5）
Events
Date
Details
The Commonwealth
1649-1660
*Cromwell, Lord Protector
The Restoration
1658-1660
*Return of Charles II
The Glorious Revolution 1688
Reform of the monarchy
1689
*Drove away James II
(Charles II’ brother)
*Emerge of the earliest 2 parties:
Whigs & Tories
*William of Orange and Mary co-ruled
under the Bill of Right
*Emerge of the Constitutional
Survey of Britain byMonarchy
Zhang Haiyan
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An outline of British history （1500 onward）
（Session 5）
Events
Date
Details
Agricultural Change
late 18th C
*Open-field system VS Enclosure Act
(Thomas Coke， 1754-1842）
*Introduction of the crop rotation
*Invention of artificial fertilizer and new
agricultural machinery (seed-drill:
Jethro Tull, 1674-1741)
*Emerge of the new class hostility in the
rural relationships
Industrial Revolution
1780-1830
*Mechanization of industry
Changes in social and economic
organization
(Read Cowper, W.1785. Town and Country in The Task (Book 1) [M] in Gu Yueguo (chief ed.) 1998. English
Through Literature [M]. Beijing: Foreign
Language
Teaching
and
Research Press. P356.)
Survey
of Britain
by Zhang
Haiyan
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An outline of British history （1500 onward）
（Session 5）
Industrial Revolution
Inventors
1780-1830
（Inventors and their inventions）
Inventions
Years
Importance
John Kay
Flying shuttle
飞梭
1733
Speeded up hand weaving
James Hargreave
Spinning jenny
詹妮纺纱机
1766
Enabled one had labourer to spin many threads at a
time.
Richard Arkwright
Waterframe
水力纺纱机
1769
Required power to drive.
Samuel Cromton
Mule绽纺机
1779
Thomas Newcomer
Steam engine
James Watt (Scottish)
（1736-1819）
Abraham Darby
Replaced charcoal木炭 with coke
焦碳 to melt iron.
Henry Court
Puddding and rolling processes
搅炼法、滚压法
EdmundCartwright
At the end
of the
17th
century
Devised
1765
Modified and improved the design with rotary
motion that could be applied to textile and other
machinery.
1709
Hugely increased the production of iron.
1784
Enabled vastly increased quantities of high-quality
iron to replace wood and stone in may sectors of
economy.
Enabled weaving to catch up with spinning
Power loom力织机 Survey of Britain by Zhang Haiyan
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Town and Country
God made the country and man made the town1
1The
What wonder then that health and virtue, gifts
largely the result of centuries of agriculture.
That can alone make sweet the bitter draught2
That life holds out to all, should most abound
And least is threaten’d in the fields and groves?
Possess ye3, therefore, ye who borne about
In chariots and sedans4, know no fatigue
But that of idleness, and taste no scenes
But such as art contrives5, possess ye still
countryside of the 18th century England was
2Cowper
thinks life as fundamentally an unhappy
experience—the beauty of the countryside at least
makes it easier to bear.
3An
old form of plural you.
4Cowper
puts traffic as the first of the unpleasant
features of town life.
Your element; there only can ye shine,
There only minds like yours’ can do no harm
Our groves were planted to console at noon
5All
these things are available to city dwellers, but
are no match for the real scenes of the countryside.
The pensive wand’rer in their shades. At eve
(Cowper, W.1785. Town and Country in The Task (Book 1) [M] in Gu Yueguo (chief ed.) 1998. English
Through Literature [M]. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. P356.)
Survey of Britain by Zhang Haiyan
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Town and Country
The moonbeam sliding softly in between
6Cowper
The sleeping leaves, is all the light they wish,
with the country, which has only the light of the
Birds’ warbling all their music. We can spare
moon.
The splendour of your lamps6; they but eclipse
7the
contrasts the well-lit streets of the city
moon
Our softer satellite7 your songs confound
Our more harmonious notes; the thrush departs
Scar’d and th’ offended nightingale is mute
There is public mischief in your mirth
8The
city enjoyments such as shopping, theatres,
concerts, drama, are morally damaging to
society.
It plagues your country8 Folly such as yours
9City
Grac’d with a sward, and worthier of a fan9
only for women, but are enjoyed by men. They
Has made, what enemies never could have done,
will destroy the power and greatness of Britain,
Our arch of empire, steadfast but for you,
as her political enemies have never succeeded
A mutilated structure, soon to fall.
in doing.
entertainments are trivial. They are fit
(Cowper, W.1785. Town and Country in The Task (Book 1) [M] in Gu Yueguo (chief ed.) 1998. English
Through Literature [M]. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. P356.)
Survey of Britain by Zhang Haiyan
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An outline of British history （1500 onward）
（Session 5）
Events
Date
Details
Colonial Expansion
late 18th C.
*Newfoundland (1583), India (1600),
early 19th C. Jamestown, Virginia (1607),
Australia (1788), Canada (1763), etc.
The Chartist Movement
1836-1848
*Emergence of the working class
(proletarian), the Trade Unions (TUC, 1868),
the LP (1906)
Parliamentary reform
1911
*the Parliament Act reallocating the power
WWI
1914
*Great loss of manpower (>1 million)
*Considerable disruption of the economy and
society
*Establishment of League of Nations 国际联
盟 (Paris Conference, 1919)
Roaring Twenties
1920s
*American import---music and Jazz.
Great Depression
1931
Survey of Britain by Zhang Haiyan
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An outline of British history （1500 onward）
（Session 5）
Events
Date
Edward VIII after George V
1936
George VI
1937
WWII
1939
Elizabeth II was crowned.
1952
Invasion of Egypt with France
1956
Swinging Sixties
1960s
Details
Abdication of Edward VIII
*pop music and Beatles (Liverpool)
Survey of Britain by Zhang Haiyan
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An outline of British history （1500 onward）
（Session 5）
Survey of Britain by Zhang Haiyan
12
An outline of British history （1500 onward）
（Session 5）
Events
Date
Details
Member of the EC
1973
*Common Market (Treaty of Rome, 1957)
Margaret Thatcher
1979
*Conservative Party
Thatcherism---the theory put forward by the British Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher, a belief in self-reliance and privatization.
Rapid growth in economy Late 1980s
John Major
1990-1997
Tony Blair
1997-2007
Gordon Brown
2007Survey of Britain by Zhang Haiyan
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An outline of British history （1500 onward）
（Session 5）
Assignment
1) Watch the document Elizabeth II and depict
the separate roles of the royal family and the
government. How would you react to Diana’s
death if you were Elizabeth II or Tony Blair?
Why?
2) Do research work on the British Prime
Ministers and make a namelist of them.
Survey of Britain by Zhang Haiyan
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