Understanding English History

Our course is genuinely introductory for the beginner, but it will prompt the student to do some individual reading. You will learn which events were most important in the formation of modern Britain, and you will understand how these events were responsible for the political and social changes which have shaped our society today.

The Early Times

The ingredients of England. The prehistoric races. Changes during the thousand years between the Roman invasion and the Norman.

The Middle Ages

The characteristics of Feudal Christendom. The glories of the 13^th century. Economic changes: the Peasants’ Revolt. England’s part in Mediaeval civilisation.

Tudor Times

The age of Renaissance, Reformation and Discovery. How the Tudors unified England. The land problem; the religious problem; the Spanish problem. Greatness of the Elizabethan Age.

The English Revolution

From despotism to parliamentary control in the 17^th century. Civil War and Puritan victory. Restoration and Stuart failure. The ‘Glorious Revolution’.

The Eighteenth Century

The Age of Reason. A nation of businessmen. The first Empire and the loss of the American Colonies. Aristocratic rule. Some reformers.

The Industrial Revolution

The new machines. The age of steampower. The 22-years’ War against France. Post-war riots and repression. Working-class leaders. The Whig reforms of the 1830s.

The Victorian Age

England’s great age of peace and prosperity, fertility and expansion, piety and philanthropy. Free Trade, Imperial problems. The Working-class Movement.

The Early Twentieth Century

Democratic reforms. The First World War. Post-war problems: unemployment, the General Strike, the economic crisis – the end of laissez-faire. The Second World War. 

The Post-War Era

Russian aggression – Churchill rejected – Education – Federation of European States – Decline of British Empire.