BRITAIN: PAST & PRESENT

Awe-inspiring stone structures like Stonehenge and Avebury stand as powerful testaments to the sophistication of Britain’s first people. Unfortunately, we know little of these mysterious early Brits, and they were soon conquered (c. 1000 BC) by immigrants from the Continent—the Celts.

When Julius Caesar landed on the misty isle (55 BC), he encountered these Celtic tribes whose druid priests made human sacrifices and worshipped trees. Eventually, the Romans overcame the Celts, building towns and roads and establishing a Roman capital at Londinium (today’s London). But the Celts didn’t go quietly. Rallied by their queen, Boadicea (c. AD 60), they burned Londinium before the Romans finally squelched the revolt.

By AD 100, southern England had become a thriving part of the greater Roman Empire. But on the fringes, the Romans never quite subdued the troublesome Celts—the Gaels, Picts, and Welsh. Eventually, the Romans built Hadrian’s Wall near their northern frontier, hardening a cultural divide that survives to this day: England was connected to the Continent, while Scotland and Wales remained more Celtic and remote.

As Rome fell, so fell Roman Britain—a victim of internal troubles and invading tribes. First came the Angles and Saxons from Germany, who turned south Britain into “Angle-land.” These were the days of King Arthur, possibly a Christianized Roman general who fought valiantly—but in vain—against the invaders.

Next, England was plundered by Vikings from Scandinavia (c. 800-900). It took King Alfred the Great (849-899) to liberate London and reestablish Christianity. This troubled time was marked by wars, plagues, and poverty; the island was plunged into a dark age, lit only by the dim candle of a few learned Christian monks. Early Britain was a stew of peoples: Anglo-Saxons in England, Gaels in Scotland, and the isolated Welsh. But slowly, the Great Britain we know would take shape.

Modern England began with yet another invasion. In 1066, William the Conqueror crossed the English Channel from France, defeated England, and crowned himself king in Westminster Abbey.

Norman (French-speaking) kings would rule both England and France for two centuries, as the two budding nations struggled to define their modern borders. This was the era of the legendary Robin Hood, who robbed from rich Norman oppressors and gave to the Saxon poor during the reign of (French-speaking) King Richard the Lionheart (1157-1199). When Richard’s brother and successor, King John, was forced by England’s barons to sign the Magna Carta (1215), Britain got its first glimmers of self-rule.

England began to thrive, with London as its bustling trade center. Christianity now reigned supreme, and large churches were built.

Under King Edward I (1239-1307), England asserted its dominance over its Celtic neighbors. First, Edward conquered Wales, bringing it permanently into the English sphere. Next, he invaded Scotland and stole the revered Stone of Scone. But the enraged Scots rallied around William Wallace and Robert the Bruce and drove the English back, securing a few more centuries of independence.

England also tried to claim territory in France in the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1443). English longbowmen trounced France at Agincourt (1415), but a few years later Joan of Arc rallied the French to drive the English out (1429). By war’s end, the two weary countries were content to go their separate ways.

Now, who should rule England? That had to be settled in a series of civil wars: the Wars of the Roses (1455-1487). The York family (with Norman/French roots) was defeated by the Lancaster/Tudors (with roots in Wales). Henry VII Tudor emerged as king of a united England...with a baby boy on the way who would change everything.

Henry VIII Tudor—charismatic, highly sexed, scholar, musician, and Renaissance man—thrust England onto the world stage. He was also arrogant, cruel, gluttonous, and paranoid. He went through six wives in 40 years. (To remember each one’s fate, British schoolkids learn this rhyme: “Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived.”)

When the pope refused to allow Henry to marry his mistress Anne Boleyn, Henry “divorced” England from the Catholic Church, “dissolved” England’s once-powerful abbeys, and established the Anglican Church. The Protestant faith seeped into southern Scotland as well, under the reformer John Knox. For a century, Britain endured bitter Protestant/Catholic squabbles.

Henry was eventually succeeded by Queen Elizabeth I, his daughter with Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth reigned for 45 years, making England a great naval power and presiding over a cultural renaissance in the arts and literature. William Shakespeare strutted the stage, Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe, and Sir Walter Raleigh explored America. London’s population swelled.

But when Elizabeth—the Virgin Queen—died childless, her distant cousin, Scotland’s King James, was the only real choice to inherit the English throne. Just like that, mortal enemies Scotland and England became a single country—and they’ve been tied together ever since, however fitfully.

Since the days of the Magna Carta, England’s Parliament of nobles had only grown more powerful. This led to the English Civil Wars (1642-1651) between the Protestant Parliament and the Catholic King Charles I. After a decade of bitter warfare, Parliament won. They beheaded the king and made a mere commoner, Oliver Cromwell, the head of state. When Cromwell died, Parliament was still in charge, though they graciously invited Charles’ son (Charles II) to take the throne in 1660—“restoring the monarchy.”

The turbulent civil wars were followed by back-to-back disasters—the Great Plague of 1665 (which killed 100,000) and the Great Fire of 1666 (which incinerated London). But London rose from the ashes, rebuilt largely by architect Christopher Wren. With a population over 200,000, London was now Europe’s largest city, and England was challenging France as Europe’s greatest nation.

In 1688, Parliament deposed King James II—a Catholic with Scottish Stuart heritage—and replaced him with Dutch monarchs William and Mary, guaranteeing a Protestant succession. With Parliament calling the shots, Britain was becoming a modern nation.

England was a colonial power on the rise. Britannia ruled the waves, trading across the globe and exploiting the wealth and native people of India, Africa, Australia, and America (at least until 1776). At home, powerful England pressured bankrupt Scotland to dissolve its Scottish Parliament and sign the Act of Union (1707). Scotland officially joined England and Wales as part of “Great Britain.” (A century later, Ireland would also join to form the “United Kingdom.”)

This Georgian era—named for a series of kings named George—was one of great wealth (1714-1837). London’s population was now half a million, with a thriving cultural scene filled with painters (William Hogarth, Joshua Reynolds, and Thomas Gainsborough), musicians (George Frideric Handel), and writers (Samuel Johnson). In the countryside, Jane Austen penned witty, romantic tales about the landed gentry.

Edinburgh became one of Europe’s most intellectual cities, home to economist Adam Smith and poet Robert Burns. But while Lowland Scotland thrived, the Highlands—fervently Catholic and still loyal to the recently deposed James II—were seething. The clans launched a fierce rebellion led by Bonnie Prince Charlie (1745-1746). The British army crushed the revolt and brutally suppressed Highland culture.

Despite losing its American colonies, by midcentury Great Britain was overtaking France. When France erupted in chaos in its revolution (1789), Britain seized the moment. Admiral Horatio Nelson defeated Napoleon’s fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar, and the Duke of Wellington stomped Napoleon at Waterloo.

As the next century began, Britain emerged as Europe’s—and the world’s—supreme superpower.

Britain reigned supreme, with a colonial empire that covered one-fifth of the world. Britain led the Industrial Revolution with steam engines, factories, coal mines, gas lights, and a nationwide network of trains. By century’s end, the country had electricity, telephones, and the first underground subway, the “Tube.”

It was all overseen by Queen Victoria, who ruled for 64 years (1837-1901), presiding over an era of unprecedented wealth, peace, and middle-class (“Victorian”) values.

Even in this Industrial Age, the spirit of Romanticism flourished. Romantic poets (like William Wordsworth) reveled in nature’s innocence, while painters (like Turner and Constable) captured its awesome power. Architects looked to the medieval past for inspiration, building “Neo”-Gothic structures like the Halls of Parliament.

Everyday life was changing fast. Farmers left their land for factory work, while others emigrated to America for a better life. Democracy advanced, and the queen’s powers were increasingly restricted. Novelist Charles Dickens educated the rich about the harsh realities of the poor. Rudyard Kipling critiqued the colonial system. Charles Darwin questioned the very nature of humanity with his work on evolution. And Jack the Ripper, a serial killer of sex workers, terrorized East London and was never caught. Not even by Sherlock Holmes—a fictional detective who solved crimes the real Scotland Yard couldn’t.

As Britain turned to the year 1900, she was at the top of the world, and the future looked endlessly rosy.

The 20th century was not kind to Britain. Two world wars and economic decline whittled Britain down from a world empire to an island chain struggling to compete in a global economy.

In World War I, a million British men died. Amid the chaos, Britain lost its grip on Ireland, though Northern Ireland remained part of the UK. This division of the Emerald Isle would result in decades of bitter strife, protests, and terrorist attacks known as the Troubles.

Britain carried on after the war but was rocked again in 1936, when King Edward VIII abdicated to marry a divorced American commoner. He was succeeded by his brother, George VI—the father of Queen Elizabeth II.

When World War II erupted, the Nazi Blitz pulverized London, sending residents into Tube stations for shelter. In its darkest hour, Britain was rallied by stout Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his inspiring radio addresses. Britain emerged from the war victorious but damaged. Its colonial empire was unraveling, leaving Britain a shell of its former superpower self.

The postwar recovery began, aided by the United States and guided by a new young queen—Elizabeth II. Steady Elizabeth ruled for 70 years (1952-2022), during which Britain got its groove back.

Culturally, Britain remained world-class. In the 1960s, “Swinging London” became a center for rock music (the Beatles, the Rolling Stones), film, theater, youth culture, and an Austin Powers-style joie de vivre.

Still, America was now the world’s superpower, and Britain had to adjust. Britain joined other struggling European nations to form the European Union (1973). In the 1970s, Britain suffered through massive unemployment, while the 1980s brought austerity measures under Prime Minister Margaret “Iron Lady” Thatcher.

In 1981, the world was enchanted when then-Prince Charles married Lady Diana in St. Paul’s Cathedral. Their children, Princes William and Harry, grew up in the media spotlight, and when Diana died in a car crash (1997), the nation—and the world—mourned.

Britain faced a new issue—“devolution”—when citizens in both Wales and Scotland began demanding increased independence. In 1998, Parliament granted both countries a measure of self-governance they hadn’t enjoyed for centuries.

By the year 2000, Britain was finally emerging from decades of economic stagnation and social turmoil, and once again taking its place on the global stage.

In the new millennium, the issues Britain dealt with echoed those of the world at large: the Iraq War (under PM Tony Blair), Islamic terrorist attacks, and the global recession of 2008. Thankfully, one hot spot—Northern Ireland—was healed, when a peace agreement was reached (2007), ending almost 40 years of the Troubles.

In 2011, Prince William married commoner Kate Middleton, soon followed by William’s younger brother Harry marrying American actress Meghan Markle. The two couples, along with their children, stirred renewed interest (and controversy) in the monarchy.

In 2016, Britain faced its greatest challenge since World War II—Brexit. Brits narrowly voted to leave the European Union. And in 2020, after 47 years as a member, they did just that.

Leaving Europe left Britain with an uncertain future. But you wouldn’t know it by the flurry of renovation that’s taken place recently. Cities are booming, and former urban wastelands have been transformed into hip, thriving people zones.

Britain is one of the richest, freest, best-educated, and most culturally powerful nations on earth. Its people are vibrant and alive.

Though geographically small, and no longer the superpower it once was, Britain is still a major player. It’s the world’s fifth-biggest economy, sixth-biggest manufacturer, and largest financial center (London). Twenty-six of the world’s 500 largest companies are headquartered here. The population is a fifth that of the United States.

Britain still retains echoes of its once-vast empire. There are a few token colonial scraps (the Falklands, Gibraltar, Northern Ireland), as well as a loose association of friendly former colonies (Canada, Australia, India) called the British Commonwealth.

Even as it sets trends for the 21st century, Britain treasures its heritage and takes great pains to preserve its historic districts and “listed” (government-protected) buildings. With a booming tourist trade, these quaint reminders of the past are now a valuable part of the British economy.

Politically, Britain is a constitutional monarchy, ruled by the House of Commons, with some guidance from the mostly figurehead monarch and House of Lords. King Charles III—the son of the popular and long-serving Queen Elizabeth II—has the difficult task of upholding tradition in a fast-changing world.

The prime minister is the chief executive but is not elected directly by voters; rather, the PM assumes power as the head of the party that wins a majority in parliamentary elections. Current prime minister Keir Starmer is leader of the Labour Party; his 2024 victory marked the end of 14 years of Conservative government.

Two parties have traditionally dominated Britain’s Parliament: left-leaning Labour and right-leaning Conservative (Tories). The dividing lines between them are familiar: Should government nurture the economy through spending on social programs (Labour’s platform), or cut programs and taxes to allow businesses to thrive (as Conservatives say)?

Third parties have made gains, including the Liberal Democrats (center-left), the Scottish National Party (advocating for Scottish concerns), and the ecology-minded Greens. If no single party wins an outright majority, whoever rules must form a coalition, making compromise and deal-making essential to governing.

Britain has its challenges. The consequences of Brexit continue to affect Brits’ relationship with the rest of Europe and with each other. They’re still figuring out new arrangements on trade, travel, and immigration. And culturally, Brexit sharpened the class divide between the working class (who generally supported Brexit) and the well-off (who opposed it).

Immigration remains divisive. Some argue that excess immigration dilutes British culture and takes jobs and financial aid away from citizens, while the post-Brexit exodus of foreign workers from Britain actually caused labor shortages.

The United Kingdom also struggles to balance the demands of its four members: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Though Scotland and Wales have a measure of self-governance, many Scots favor out-and-out independence. Brexit intensified those tensions, as England and Wales were generally pro-Brexit, while Scotland and Northern Ireland hoped to remain in the EU.

Then there’s the eternal question of the royals. Is having a monarch (who’s politically irrelevant) and a royal family (who fill the tabloids with scandals) worth it? Recent polls suggest two in five Brits want to toss the whole lot of them. On the other hand, aren’t the little princes and princesses adorable? With a new generation and a hardworking king, there may still be hope for the royals.

For a fun glimpse at Britain today, after a hard day of sightseeing, kick back and watch the telly over tea. You’ll see some familiar fare: period dramas (like Downton Abbey) comedies (like classic Monty Python or The Office), sci-fi (Doctor Who), and crime shows (Morse, Luther). But to really tap into middle Britain, check out their ever-popular quiz shows, reality shows, and slice-of-life soap operas (like long-running EastEnders and Coronation Street). Notice the many regional accents—Scottish, Irish, Geordie—that are celebrated in Britain. But beware: After 21:00, some nudity and profanity are allowed.

All in all, the defining feature of Britain today is the outsized impact it still has on planet Earth. This tiny island nation is a global superpower of heritage, culture, and tradition. It’s a major exporter of actors, writers, musicians, and cutting-edge artists. People from all continents flock here to enjoy its castles, cathedrals, and half-timbered charm as well as its lively pubs, afternoon teas, lads in kilts, glitzy musicals, and chatty locals. After 4,000 years of tradition, timeless Britain is still the perfect place to make your own history.

For more about British history, consider Europe 101: History and Art for the Traveler by Rick Steves and Gene Openshaw, available at ricksteves.com.