Otázka: Milestones and Heroes of British History
Jazyk: Angličtina
Přidal(a): nikdo
My topic is Milestones and heroes of British history.
First of all I am going to speak about early middle age.
Next I would like to tell you something about successors of W the C and their wars.
Than I am going to tell you something about the making of UK of GB.
Than I am going to tell you something about modern history of Great Britain.
Finally I am going to speak about important persons.
In the 1st century before Christ Julius Caesar came to Britain. Romans defeated some of the Celtic tribes and brought Britain into contact with the Continent. They mainly established trade in corn, leather, iron and lead. They built Hadrian´s Wall with ditches on both sides and towns with all the amenities for example forum, shops and theatre. The first Anglo – Saxons settled in Britain in the 5th century. Their invasion continued up to the 7th century, they established 7 large kingdoms. End of Anglo – Saxons came with invasion of the Norman duke William the Conqueror at battle of Hastings in the 11th century. William was crowned as the king of England.
Almost one hundred years later grandson of William Henry II. established a Plantagenet empire in England and France. Universities Oxford and Cambridge have been based. In 1215 Magna Carta was granted by John Lackland, son of Henry II. This Great Charter of Liberties says that aristocracy got political privileges and control over state affairs. At the turn of the 14th and 15th century The Hundred Years War was running. The fight was between Britain and France. It started because French denied Edward III. as a successor on the French throne. The government of Edward III. was important for British parliament system. Since this time British parliament consist of two chambers: House of Lords and House of Commons. Right after the end of The Hundred Years War the Wars of the Roses began. It was a fight for the throne between the House of York (that had white rose) and the House of Lancaster (that had red rose). The wars ended by the victory of Henry Tudor, who defeated Richard III. York.
Tudor age in the end of the 15th and in the 16th century brought peace and recovery of exhausted England. Just Henry VIII. was exception. He made himself the head of the Church of England and claimed its independence from the Roman catholic Church. Then he left the country in chaos and on the edge of economic collapse. Fortunately during Elizabeth I.´s reign England became very powerful. The Queen is also known as the “Virgin Queen”. Economy grew very fast, arts were active and England became a world leader in many aspects. After her death in the beginning of the 17th century James I. Stuart got government. This House was the only one in Scotland during the Tudor´s reign. In the middle of the 17th century the Czech exiled reformer Jan Amos Komenský lived and worked in London, where he was invited by the Parliament to reform English schools and education. Still during Stuart´s reign in 1707 The United Kingdom of Great Britain was established. In 1801 The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was established. And in 1922 after separation of Ireland United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was established.
In 1815 were on program Napoleonic wars. Fights with France ended at Waterloo, where England won.
From 1837 to 1901 the Queen Victoria was in power. Her reign of 63 years and seven months is known as the Victorian era. This reign is longer than any other British monarch and the longest of any female monarch in history. It was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific development and also peace and prosperity for the British people. In 1939 Britain entered into the World War II. right after the invasion of German to Poland. In the first year England faced bomb attacks of German planes on British cities. Big areas of cities were destroyed. To defend British Islands against this bombing also many Czech pilots helped. From spring 1940 Winston Churchill leads Great Britain through most of the War. He is considered as one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century. Churchill was also member of parliament, a historian, a writer, and an artist. He is the only British Prime Minister, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He is famous for smoking a large cigars and making a “V – sign” for victory.
Margaret Thatcher was a British politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century and she was 1st British woman, who held the office. Her nickname „Iron Lady“ became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. Under her government UK became strong and self-confident country. Now Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II. is in power. Her reign of 62 years is these years the second longest for a British monarch. Only the Queen Victoria, her great-great grandmother, has reigned longer, at over 63 years. Elizabeth is 87 years old, she has got four children and three grandchildren.
