British and American History: S1 British and American History: S1
This site is designed primarily for teachers and learners of English at UPPA - Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour
Power Point presentations UK and US history: text only as web pages
Lesson 1: from the beginnings to the Plantagenets
Lesson 2: from the Plantagenets to the Peasant's Revolt
Lesson 3: from the "Wars of the Roses" to the "Glorious Revolution"
Lesson 1: from the beginnings to the Plantagenets
History of Britain and the USA
Michael Parsons, 2005-2006
Reading
David McDowall, An Illustrated History of Britain. London: Longman, 1989
Bryn O'Callaghan, An Illustrated History of the United States.London: Longman, 1990
Several copies in main library.
The challenge
The History of Britain and the United States ... in twelve weeks.
Key issues in British and United States history.
Reading the books is essential. (Or any other good histories of the UK and the US).
Why History?
Difficult to understand the present without knowledge of the past
Historians and others write histories with one eye on the present and one on the past
History is often a narrative written to explain how we got where we are now.
Problems ...
History is not just facts, but an attempt to make sense of the past.
Questions, problems ...
Key themes in British history
The people(s) of Britain.
England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
Forging the nation (English nation, Britain)
Church and State
Towards a liberal democracy?
Constitutional monarchy?
Why no revolution? (??)
More key themes in British history
Britain and the wider world: Britain and Europe, Britain and the Empire, Britain and the United States.
Great Britain and Ireland ...
Britain as a welfare state ...
A British identity/ English/Welsh/Scottish/Irish identity?
Contemporary themes in British history
The Disunited Kingdom of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland?
Multi-ethnic Britain
Britain and the world, Blair and Bush, Britain and Europe ...
Key themes in the history of the United States
Origins (Mayflower, Pilgrims etc)
Thirteen colonies
Independence - why?
Britain and France in North America
Expansion - the frontier/wild west
Manifest destiny and Monroe doctrine
Civil war
More key themes in the history of the United States
Indians
Immigrants
Industrial growth - a (reluctant?) world power.
World War One - getting involved in Europe.
Wilson and Versailles. Retreat into isolation
Prohibition and gangsters
Even more key themes in the history of the United States
Wall Street crash, dustbowl, hungry thirties, New Deal
World War Two
Playing a world role. NATO, Truman doctrine, Marshall aid, ...
Cold War, Korea
Civil rights, assassinations
Vietnam
The United States today
Nixon and Watergate
America in retreat
Reagan: America is back
The Clinton years
9/11 George W. Bush
Contemporary issues ...
British History 1 Britain until the Norman invasion
The people(s) of Britain.
England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
Forging the nation (England ...)
Neolithic England, Iron Age England, Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans.
A timeline - from the beginning up to Roman Britain
5000-2500 BC Neolithic Britain
2500-1600 BC Bronze Age
2200 BC - 1300 BC Stonehenge
1600 BC-43 AD Iron Age
(800 BC —> immigration of Celts)
55 BC Julius Caesar
43 AD Roman invasion
Stonehenge
Maiden Castle - an Iron Age hill Fort, built by the Celts
Maiden Castle - a hill Fort
The Battersea Shield, 1st century BC)
The Roman invasion
British Celts were aiding the Celts of Gaul against the Romans. The Romans responded by invading Britain. Britain also had good farmland.
The Romans had relatively little difficulty conquering the Celts - better army; Celts divided
However Boudicca's revolt (Iceni) (aka Boadicea) (61 AD)
Roman Britain
Roman lifestyle attractive
"Villas"
Hadrian's Wall (c. 100 AD)
Roman Empire weakening in 4th century
Troops out 409. Romano-British alone.
Language: place names (Chester etc, )
Roman roads
Invasions
Germanic tribes raided Britain as Roman hold weakened.
Angles, Saxons and Jutes raided, then started to settle. Celts pushed westwards to the "Celtic fringe".
Anglo-Saxon language - Germanic, many words, especially the most common.
Anglo-Saxon Britain
Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Wessex, Essex, Sussex, Middlesex, Mercia, East Anglia, Northumbria.
Political and social organisation: council to advise king. Shires. Strip-farming.
Christianity and Britain. 597 St. Augustine. Became first Archbishop of Canterbury 601.
Anglo-Saxon Britain
Christian Church (especially Roman "branch") relationship with power.
Trade with Europe.
Late 8th century Viking raids. By late 9th century they had even started to settle. Anglo-Saxon king Alfred able to raise an army against Vikings, defeat them in battle and hold the West (878): Danelaw in East and North.
Settlements
Anglo-Saxon Britain
Alfred (the Great) had been king of the West Saxons.
Succeeded by Edward the elder, king of the Angles and Saxons,
himself succeeded by two sons, Athelstan King of West Saxons and Mercians, and Edmund, King of the English (940-6)
1016 Edmund Ironside King of England.
Viking/Norman/Saxon Britain ...
King Canute (Cnut) king 1016, but with powerful Saxon counsellor(s)
Edward (the Confessor) 1042 (Norman ... with Saxon Godwin pulling the strings ...)
Built church to the West of London (Westminster)
Died 1066 - no son. Who was to succeed him?
Viking/Norman/Saxon Britain ...
Harold Godwinson claimed Edward had held out his hand on his death bed to pass the crown on to him.
Over in Normandy, William claimed Harold had promised not to take the throne during a visit to Normandy a year or two earlier ... In 1066, Harold had to fight a major battle ... in the North, against Danish forces. He won.
Viking/Norman/Saxon Britain ...
Back down south fast: William ... Harold lost.
Bayeux tapestry - Harold swears
Bayeux tapestry - Harold dies
Bayeux tapestry - Harold dies
Norman Britain ...
William of Normandy became King William I of England.
Norman invasion and Anglo-Saxon resistance
1066-1070+ Normans consolidate: castles
Many Anglo-Saxon revolts
North in particular revolted: Norman repression.
William gave land to Norman nobles: many different estates spread across the country
Feudal system developed
Norman invasion and Anglo-Saxon resistance
Domesday book (1086)
Norman French spoken in the court, Anglo-Saxon among the people.
Effect on language ...
William died in 1087; his son William II, known as Rufus because of his red hair, became King.
Norman England
Rufus killed in hunting accident (??) in 1100
Henry I (1100-1135)
Henry modernised English administration
He married a Scottish princess, Matilda (peace with Scotland for a while)
1120 Henry's son died in a shipwreck.
Henry's daughter, Matilda designated as his heir.
Norman England
1125 Matilda married Geoffrey Plantagenet
Henry died 1135, his nephew Stephen seized the throne.
Matilda invaded from Normandy: civil war
King Stephen died: her son Henry king in 1154. His wife: Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Henry II ruled over England, Wales, Normandy, Britanny, Maine, Anjou and Aquitaine. First Plantagenet (Angevin) king.
Plantagenet (Angevin) England
Henry II set up system of trial by jury (12 men)
He challenged immunity for the clergy: came into conflict with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket
In a moment of temper Henry asked "Will no-one rid me of this turbulent priest?"
Plantagenet (Angevin) England
Four knights decided to do Henry's will and murdered the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, in the cathedral, in December 1170.
Also in 1170 Henry II agreed to Norman moves to control Ireland. Essentially only controlled area around Dublin, the "Pale" (see expression "beyond the Pale")
Plantagenet (Angevin) England
Henry also had to resist attacks against Northumbia from Scotland. Captured Scottish king and made him accept superiority of English king.
Henry's military activity was expensive: he needed money.
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