British History: From Prehistoric Times to the Present Day. Featuring Culture, Politics and Religion (Micropedia S.)

This profusely illustrated book edited by Professor Eric Evans takes the reader through The Ancient World, The Middle Ages, The Fifteenth Century, The Sixteenth Century, The Seventeenth Century, The Eighteenth Century, the Nineteenth Century, and The Twentieth Century (up to 2002), looking at six specific themes in each period: Power and Politics; Ordinary Lives; Britain in the World; Industry and Invention; Culture, Arts and Leisure; and Religions, Belief and Thought. Introduction to the book and coverage: No area of comparable size has had such a varied and distinguished history as have the British Isles. During the past two thousand years, most of Britain was first occupied as part of the Roman Empire, then became the site of frequent conflict between Celts, Angles, Jutes, Saxons and Danes. The Norman Conquest of 1066 established a new type of leadership on England, and it stuck. Since 1066, no successful invasion on England has taken place, and the politicial stability, which has been such a pronounced feature of the country's development, owes much to the long thread of continuity that has been woven in a nation whose borders have not been breached. The themes of integration and diversity are crucial to understanding British history. Out of the frequently warring groups which struggled for supremacy after the retreat of the Roman armies early in the fifth century AD emerged four significant states: England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. All had their separate histories, but they have been closely interconnected throughout the last millennium. Whereas historians outside Scotland, Wales and Ireland used to write 'the history of Britain' as if it were basically the history of England, the story of these islands is now more frequently (and more appropriately) understood as a genuinely British one