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UK Acts of union
were parallel acts of the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland (previously in personal union) to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The acts came into force on 1 January 1801, and the merged Parliament of the United Kingdom had its first meeting on 22 January 1801. -
Defeating Napoleon's French Empire leads to Britain becoming pre-eminent imperial power.
For Britain, the defeat of Napoleon after 20 years of war and peace at Vienna in 1815 ended the latest stage of a prolonged global conflict. The growth of Britain's empire in Africa, India and elsewhere in the eastern hemisphere by 1815 has often been seen as the result of a systematic search for a new empire to replace the wealth of the lost American colonies. -
British industrial power
British industrial power harnessing technological change and boosts free trade and investment worldwide, reaching its peak in the second half of the 19th century.
By the 1840s the Industrial Revolution had changed the socio-economic and cultural structure of the nation forever. The population had nearly doubled since the original census of 1801 and the census had to move with the changing times. -
Devolved government for Ireland becomes a major political issue
The United Kingdom general election of 1880 was a general election in the United Kingdom held from March to April 1880.
Intense rhetoric of the election was provided by the Midlothian campaign of the Liberals, led by the fierce oratory of Liberal leader William Ewart Gladstone. Gladstone vehemently attacked the foreign policy of the government of Disraeli (Lord Beaconsfield) as utterly immoral
This provoked the split Liberal Party and reviving a violent Irish separatist movement. -
Outbreak of First World War.
UK enters hostilities against Germany. Gruelling trench warfare in Belgium and France. fighting against the Central Powers (the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Bulgaria). -
War ends in November with armistice.
World War I ends: Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside Compiègne in France. -
UK agrees to the foundation of the Irish Free State
The Irish War of Independence was a guerrilla war fought between the Irish Republican Army and the British security forces in Ireland. In May, Ireland was partitioned under British law by the Government of Ireland Act, which created Northern Ireland.
After three-years Irish war of independence. Northern Ireland remains part of the UK. -
World stock market crash. Unemployment begins to rise in UK.
The Great Depression in the United Kingdom, also known as the Great Slump, was a period of national economic downturn in the 1930s, which had its origins in the global Great Depression. It was Britain's largest and most profound economic depression of the 20th century. -
Economic crisis.
Particularly hardest hit by economic problems were the industrial and mining areas in the north of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Unemployment reached 70% in some areas at the start of the 1930s (with more than 3 million out of work nationally) and many families depended entirely on payments from local government known as the dole. -
Germany invades Poland.
Germany invades Poland. UK declares war on Germany. -
Winston Churchill
He becomes prime minister. Fighter pilots repel German air attacks in the Battle of Britain. London and other cities badly damaged in German bombing raids. -
Germany surrenders
The German Instrument of Surrender ended World War II in Europe. The definitive text was signed in Karlshorst, Berlin, on the night of 8 May 1945 by representatives of the three armed services of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) and the Allied Expeditionary Force together with the Supreme High Command of the Red Army, with further French and US representatives signing as witnesses. -
The UK joins the European Economic Community.
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Conservatives in power
The Conservative politician Margaret Thatcher becomes prime minister. She begins to introduce free-market policies. -
IRA attempts to Margaret Thatcher
The IRA attempts to assassinate Margaret Thatcher in her hotel in Brighton. Several killed and injured by a bomb blast, but the prime minister escapes unhurt. -
Princess Diana.
On 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died as a result of injuries sustained in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris, France. Her companion, Dodi Fayed, and the driver of the Mercedes S280, Henri Paul, were pronounced dead at the scene. A fourth passenger in the car, bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, was seriously injured but survived. -
London bombings
Were a series of coordinated terrorist suicide attacks in London, United Kingdom, which targeted civilians travelling on the city's public transport system during the morning rush hour.
52 people, all UK residents but of 18 different nationalities, were killed and more than 700 were injured in the attacks, making it Britain's deadliest terrorist incident since the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, as well as the country's first ever Islamic suicide attack. -
Financial crisis
The financial crisis of 2008, is considered by many economists to have been the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s
The government part-nationalises three leading UK banks with a 37 billion pound rescue package. It also pumps billions into the UK financial system after record stock market falls precipitated by the global "credit crunch". -
United Kingdom coalition government
May - General election: Conservative Party wins most seats but fails to gain an absolute majority. Conservative leader David Cameron heads first post-war coalition with the third-placed Liberal Democrats.
October - Coalition announces large-scale public spending cuts aimed at reducing UK's budget deficit, with an average 19% four-year cut in budgets of government departments. -
Period: to
Scottish referendum
2012 British and Scottish governments agree on terms for a Scottish referendum on independence in autumn 2014.
2014 Voters in a referendum in Scotland reject independence, with 55% opting to remain part of the United Kingdom and 45% favouring independence.
2015 Conservative Party confounds polls by winning majority in general election for first time since 1992.
Scottish National Party wins all but three seats in Scotland. -
Period: to
Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics, formally the Games of the XXX Olympiad[2] and commonly known as London 2012, was a major international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Olympic Games, as governed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It took place in London and to a lesser extent across the United Kingdom from 25 July to 12 August 2012. -
Vote to leave European Union
Prime Minister David Cameron proposes a referendum on whether to leave the European Union after the next election.
Political crisis after voters in a referendum opt to quit the European Union. David Cameron resigns, succeeded as prime minister by his home secretary, Theresa May.
Early elections, called by Prime Minister Theresa May to strength her hand in negotiating Britain's exit from the European Union, results in a hung parliament and a fragile Conservative minority government.
