United Kingdom: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox country|image_flag=Flag of Great Britain (1707–1800).svg|conventional_long_name=United Kingdom of Great Britain|common_name=Britain|capital=London|official_languages=English|common_languages=Scots </br> Welsh </br> Gaelic </br> Cornish </br> Cant|largest_city=London|flag_width=300px|image_coat=Schomberg Royal Arms .png|government_type=Constitutional monarchy}}
{{Nation
|common_name=The United Kingdom
|full_name=
|local_name=
|established=
|capital= London
|largest_city=
|population=
|government_type= Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy
|languages= {{unbulleted_list | English (Official)|
Scots |
Welsh |
Scottish Gaelic |
}}
|currency=Pound Sterling (GBP)
|flag=Flag of the United Kingdom.png}}
 
The '''United Kingdom of Great Britain''', commonly known as '''Britain''' or the ''pars pro toto'' '''England''', is aan sovereignisland country in north-western Europe,. off the north-­westernIt coastconsists of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes themain island of Great Britain and manyseveral smaller islands, such withinas the BritishIsle Islesof Man. The UnitedNorth KingdomSea isborders surroundedthe byarchipelago to the Atlantic Oceannorth, with the NorthEnglish SeaChannel to the eastsouth, the EnglishIrish ChannelSea to the southwest, and the CelticBreton Sea to the south-west. The United Kingdom is a key member of the [[Organization of Democratic Nations|Organization of Democratic States (ODN)]].
==History==
{{Main|History of the United Kingdom}}The [[History of Europe#Second Anglo-Dutch War|Second Anglo-Dutch War]] in 1664 led to [[New Netherland]]'s defeat of Britain. In 1667, [[Henrietta I]], daughter of Charles I, became Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland. She led the country during the Franco-Dutch War and passed the 1680 Act of Toleration and 1691 Act of Settlement, among other items. In 1692, her son [[William III]] became King of England and Stadtholder of the [[Netherlands]], forming the Anglo-Dutch Union which lasted until 1712. In 1696, the Acts of Union united Scotland and England into one state. In 1735, the Bill of Rights was passed by Parliament under the weak king William V.
===Premodern history===
==== Prior to the Treaty of Union ====
Settlement by anatomically modern humans of what was to become the United Kingdom occurred in waves beginning by about 30,000 years ago. By the end of the region's prehistoric period, the population is thought to have belonged, in the main, to a culture termed Insular Celtic, comprising Brittonic Britain and Gaelic Ireland.
 
In the 1750s, British victory in the [[Great Silesian War|Silesian War]] and [[History of New Netherland#Prince Maurice’s War (1750-1755)|Prince Maurice's War]] established Britain as a world power, gaining new territories such as [[Carolina]]. When Queen Elizabeth II died heirless in 1771, William III's great-grandnephew-in-law [[Frederick I|Frederick]] of the Schomberg family became King of Great Britain. The country defeated [[France]] and its allies in the [[History of Europe#The Augustine period|Augustine Wars]] by 1815.
Prior to the Roman conquest, Britain was home to about 30 indigenous tribes. The largest were the Belgae, the Brigantes, the Silures and the Iceni. Historian Edward Gibbon believed that Spain, Gaul and Britain were populated by "the same hardy race of savages", based on the similarity of their "manners and languages". The Roman conquest, beginning in 43 AD, and the 400-year rule of southern Britain, was followed by an invasion by Germanic Anglo-Saxon settlers, reducing the Brittonic area mainly to what was to become Wales, Cornwall and, until the latter stages of the Anglo-Saxon settlement, the Hen Ogledd (northern England and parts of southern Scotland). Most of the region settled by the Anglo-Saxons became unified as the Kingdom of England in the 10th century. Meanwhile, Gaelic-speakers in north-west Britain (with connections to the north-east of Ireland and traditionally supposed to have migrated from there in the 5th century) united with the Picts to create the Kingdom of Scotland in the 9th century.
 
In 1833, Britain abolished slavery, directly leading to [[History of Virginia#First Anglo-Virginian War (1833-1834), Washington's Rebellion and the First Virginian Republic|a war with the colony of Virginia]]. The British-sponsored [[Ottoman Empire#Construction of the Suez Canal|Suez Canal]] opened in 1837. Two decades later, Britain gained Chinese treaty ports in the [[Canton War]] against the Dutch. The [[Ireland#The Great Famine|Irish Famine]] sparked a political crisis and the [[Piedmont#The Montferrat rebellion in Ireland|Montferrat insurrection]], leading to the 1863 Acts of Union with Ireland. Virginia ultimately [[History of Virginia#Second Anglo-Virginian War (1852-1854)|gained independence]] in 1854. By 1861, [[Colonial India#Great Britain|a rebellion in India]] was subdued. In 1877, [[History of Europe#British intervention of 1877|a coup was initiated]] in communard France. Britain waged war on the Ottomans [[Ottoman Empire#Anglo-Turkish War (1885)|in 1885]], taking control of [[Egypt]] and [[Malta]].
In 1066, the Normans and their Breton allies invaded England from northern France. After conquering England, they seized large parts of Wales, conquered much of Ireland and were invited to settle in Scotland, bringing to each country feudalism on the Northern French model and Norman-French culture. The Anglo-Norman ruling class greatly influenced, but eventually assimilated with, each of the local cultures. Subsequent medieval English kings completed the conquest of Wales and made unsuccessful attempts to annex Scotland. Asserting its independence in the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath, Scotland maintained its independence thereafter, albeit in near-constant conflict with England.
 
In 1914, London passed the [[New England#1914 Home Rule in America Act|Home Rule Act]], granting several colonies self-rule. The [[European Economic Crisis|Economic Crisis]] of the 1920s placed strain on Britain and its empire. In 1927, Ireland [[Ireland#The Dominion of Ireland|became a dominion]]. Starting from 1935, the United Kingdom entered [[Great War|the Great War]] alongside [[Russia]], [[Portugal]], and [[Venice]], eventually emerging victorious.
The English monarchs, through inheritance of substantial territories in France and claims to the French crown, were also heavily involved in conflicts in France, most notably the Hundred Years War, while the Kings of Scots were in an alliance with the French during this period. Early modern Britain saw religious conflict resulting from the Reformation and the introduction of Protestant state churches in each country. Wales was fully incorporated into the Kingdom of England, and Ireland was constituted as a kingdom in personal union with the English crown. In what was to become Northern Ireland, the lands of the independent Catholic Gaelic nobility were confiscated and given to Protestant settlers from England and Scotland.
 
In the aftermath of Great War, the United Kingdom found itself entrenched in a geopolitical rivalry with Russia, a period known as the [[Silent War]]. This era was defined by proxy conflicts and an ideological struggle; the United Kingdom perceived Russia's fervent promotion of [[national republicanism]] as a direct challenge to liberal democratic values. In response this perceived threat, the United Kingdom established the [[Organization of Democratic Nations|Organization of Democratic Nations (ODN)]] to help contain the spread of national republicanism and maintain international stability.
In 1603, the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland were united in a personal union when James VI, King of Scots, inherited the crowns of England and Ireland and moved his court from Edinburgh to London; each country nevertheless remained a separate political entity and retained its separate political, legal, and religious institutions.
 
=== TheOverseas Anglo-DutchTerritories Union ===
 
=== KingdomBritish ofOverseas GreatCollectivities Britain(BOC) ===
British Overseas Collectivities (BOCs) were established in 1964 as a unit of overseas territories that are under the British administration. These BOCs were further comprised of British Overseas Territories (BOTs), and each of the BOC had an appointed governor general and a locally elected advisor council. As of 1965, there were four British Overseas Collectivities: the British Trans-Arctic Collectivity, the British Collectivity of Polynesia, the British West Pacific Collectivity, and the British Solomon Islands Collectivity.
{| class="wikitable"
|+British Overseas Collectivities (BOCs) as of 1964
!Name
!Territories
|-
|'''The British Trans-Arctic Collectivity'''
|
* ''Crown Colony of Greenland''
* ''British Arctic Territories''
* ''Crown Colony of Rupertsland & the Hudson Bay''
* ''The Overseas Territory of Spitsbergen''
|-
|'''The British Collectivity of Polynesia'''
|
* ''The Hicks Islands Territories''
* ''British South Pacific Territories''
* ''The Dependency of British Tahiti''
|-
|'''The British West Pacific Collectivity'''
|
* ''The Overseas Territory of Futuna''
* ''The Kingsmill Island Territories''
* ''The Territories of British Micronesia''
* ''The Dependency of Tokelau & Christmas Island''
|-
|'''The British Solomon Islands Collectivity'''
|
* ''The Territories of New Britain & New Ireland''
* ''The Dependency of Le Maire Island''
* ''The Dependency of Guadalcanal''
* ''The South Solomon Territories''
|}
 
=== Other overseas territories ===
====Great Silesian War (1750-1755)====
There are certain overseas territories of Britain that do not fall under the British Overseas Collectivities system and instead have their distinct and individual relationship with the Crown, such as ''Mandate State of Cyprus, Mandate State of Saint Augustine, Crown Colony of the Comoros, and the Crown Dependency of Bermuda''.
{{Main|Great Silesian War}}
 
=== BritainList inof theleaders 19th century ===
{{Main|List of British leaders}}
 
==See also==
===British imperialism===
====In the Americas====
====In Oceania====
 
* [[Organization of Democratic Nations]]
==== In Asia ====
 
=====The Canton War=====
{{Main|Canton War}}
====In Africa====
===The Great War===
{{Main|The Great War}}
==Government and Politics==
==Demographics==
==Culture==
==See also==
{{Nations of the World}}
__FORCETOC__
Bureaucrats, rtl-contributors, Administrators
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