The history of Great Britain / История Великобритании

The history of Great Britain is long and interesting. The first human inhabitants of Britain appeared on its territory already in prehistoric times. The hunters of the Neolithic Age (New Stone Age) crossed the sea to Britain. They settled on its shores in their search for food. Soon after 700 ВС Britain was occupied by the Celts.

Their language developed into the Celtic language of modern Wales. In AD 43 the Romans began an invasion. It resulted in the Roman occupation of Britain. The Romans built many towns. The largest of the towns was called Londinium. It was on the river Thames, where London is today. It became the capital city.

In the 5th century Britain was attacked by the Germanic tribes of the Jutes, the Saxons, and the Angles. The invaders settled down and formed a number of small kingdoms. The Anglo-Saxons and Jutes gradually became one people. In the 7th — 9th centuries important changes took place in the Anglo-Saxons communities. Land became private property of separate families. It was the beginning of feudal relations. The Danish invasions of the 9th and 10th centuries brought a new wave of the development of feudal relations in England. At the beginning of the 9th century the Danes and Norsemen began to occupy the country. In the 11th century the invasion by the Normans under William the Conqueror began.

The development of the country during the Middle Ages (11th — 15th centuries) was characterized by the exploitation of the peasant by the feudal lords, development of trade, civil wars, the Wars of the Roses (1455—85), a struggle between two most powerful feudal families. But the Wars of the Roses could not prevent the economic development of the country. In the 15th — 16th centuries the clothing industry was well developed. It gave development to capitalistic relations. The English bourgeois revolution took place in a country where capitalism developed faster than in any other country of Europe. As a result of its development England 100 years later after the revolution became the first industrial state in the world, the largest colonial empire. The 18th century brought the Industrial Revolution and social changes. The working-class began to defend their rights.

Britain's relatively peaceful development ended in the year 1914. Britain entered World War I. Strikes and unemployment were the result of it. World War II was another difficult period in the history of Britain. The British people withstood heavy bombing with great courage. London itself was bombed for 76 nights continuously. When the USSR entered the war, the Britain's situation became better. After the war many social reforms and economic development took place Now Britain is one of the leading countries in the world and the history of the country continues.

Словарь

ВС ("before Christ") — до нашей эры

AD (Anno Domini, Latin — "in the year of Christ") — нашей эры

an inhabitant — житель

the Celts — кельты

feudal — феодальный

invasion — вторжение

continuously — постоянно