Birth of the Union
The Kingdom of Great Britain came into being on 1 May 1707, as a result of the political union of the Kingdom of England (which included Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland under … See more

Victoria ascended the throne in 1837 at age 18. Her long reign until 1901 saw Britain reach the zenith of its economic and political power. Exciting new technologies such … See more

Prime Ministers from 1900 to 1945: Marquess of Salisbury, Arthur Balfour, Henry Campbell-Bannerman, H. H. Asquith See more

The King declared war on Nazi Germany in September 1939, after the German invasion of Poland. During the quiet period of "phoney war", the British sent to France the most highly … See more

Union with Ireland
On 1 January 1801, the first day of the 19th century, the Great Britain and Ireland joined to form the See more

Historian Arthur Marwick sees a radical transformation of British society resulting from the Great War, a deluge that swept away many old attitudes and brought in a more equalitarian … See more

Britain had won the war, but it lost India in 1947 and nearly all the rest of the Empire by the 1960s. It debated its role in world affairs and joined the See more