A Long and Illustrious History

British history is the longest chapter in the handbook and supplies the largest number of questions on the real exam. The good news is that the dates, names and battles tend to repeat, so disciplined revision pays off quickly. Aim to know the headline event for each century from the Romans onwards, plus a handful of key dates and the monarchs associated with them.

Stone Age to Roman Britain

The first people in Britain arrived during the Stone Age, more than 10,000 years ago. Stonehenge was built around 3,000 BC. The Bronze Age and Iron Age followed, dominated by Celtic-speaking peoples. The Romans invaded under Emperor Claudius in AD 43 and ruled Britain for almost 400 years, building roads, baths and forts including Hadrian's Wall, before withdrawing in AD 410.

Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans

After the Romans left, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms emerged in what is now England, while the Picts and Scots dominated the north. Viking raiders attacked from the late 8th century onwards, with King Alfred the Great defeating them at the Battle of Edington in 878. The Norman Conquest of 1066, won by William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings, marks the last successful invasion of England and reshaped the language, government and feudal system.

Further reading: an in-depth editorial guide that expands on this section with worked examples and historical context.

The Middle Ages

Magna Carta was sealed by King John at Runnymede in 1215, limiting the power of the monarch. The Hundred Years War with France ran from 1337 to 1453, with English victories at Crécy and Agincourt (1415) and an eventual French victory. The Black Death of 1348 killed about a third of the population. The Wars of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York ended in 1485 when Henry Tudor defeated Richard III at Bosworth Field.

Tudors, Stuarts, civil war and restoration

Henry VIII broke with Rome in the 1530s and made himself head of the Church of England. His daughter Elizabeth I (1558–1603) defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588 and presided over the age of Shakespeare. The 17th century was turbulent: civil war (1642–1651), the execution of Charles I in 1649, Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth, and the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 confirmed the supremacy of parliament over the monarch.

Related reference: an external resource we recommend for candidates who want to dig deeper into the official source material.

Industrial Revolution and Empire

During the 18th and 19th centuries Britain became the first industrial nation, with steam power, railways and the world's largest empire. Key scientists include Isaac Newton, James Watt, Michael Faraday and Charles Darwin. The Battle of Trafalgar (1805) and the Battle of Waterloo (1815), won by Nelson and Wellington respectively, ended the Napoleonic threat. The 1833 Slavery Abolition Act, championed by William Wilberforce, banned slavery throughout the British Empire.

World wars and the modern era

The First World War (1914–1918) cost the UK about a million lives. The Second World War (1939–1945) saw Britain stand alone after the fall of France in 1940, with Winston Churchill as wartime prime minister. The post-war years brought the National Health Service in 1948, the loss of the Empire, membership of the European Communities (1973), the Falklands War (1982), devolution to Scotland and Wales (1999) and the Good Friday Agreement (1998) in Northern Ireland.

Test yourself on this chapter

Below are five practice tests built exclusively from A Long and Illustrious History. Each test contains 25 questions in the same multiple-choice format used in the official Life in the UK exam, with a written explanation under every answer.