ANGLAIS CPGE
Fiches culturelles
CHAPITRE 52 CINQ HOMMES CLES DE L’HISTOIRE DE LA GRANDE-BRETAGNE -
William The Conqueror (1027-1087), Duke of Normandy
On 14th October 1066 William invaded England and defeated Harold II, king of England at the battle of Hastings. He was then crowned on Christmas day, in 1066. In 1070, William instituted the tithe to the Church. In 1086, he commissioned a detailed survey of his kingdom to levy a tax called Danegeld on landed property. When he died, he left Normandy to his eldest son Robert and England to his younger son MILESTONES William II Rufus. th - 14 October King Henry VIII (1491-1547) second son of Henry VII 1066 : battle of Hastings. He became heir to the throne in 1502 when his elder brother died. Crowned in 1509, he fought - December 1066 : William’s crowning. - 1509 : Henry VIII’s crowning.
several wars against France. He married his brother’s widow Catherine of Aragon and had a daughter named Mary with her in 1516. When the archbishop of Canterbury granted him the divorce, he married Ann Boleyn who gave birth to Elizabeth in 1533. After Ann’s beheading in 1536, he got married with Jane Seymour in 1537, Anne of Cleves in 1540 and then Catherine Howard, also beheaded in 1542. He was succeeded by Edward VI and then by his daughters Mary I and Elizabeth
- 1642-1646 : Civil war opposed Roundheads and Cavaliers. - 1648 : King Charles I’s execution.
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- 1648-1660 : England stopped being a monarchy.
He was elected to Short Parliament and then to the Long parliament from 1640 to 1658. There were several tensions between him and King Charles I. In 1648, the king was captured by the forces of Parliament and he was tried and executed. He defeated a Scottish-royalist army at Preston (1648), an Irish clan resistance (1649-50) and invaded Scotland (1650-51). He was succeeded by his son Richard, who was deposed by a military coup which restored Charles II as king in 1660.
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Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), politician
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- 21 October 1805 : Trafalgar’s battle and Nelson’s death. - May 1940 : Churchill replaces Chamberlain as Prime Minister. - 1951 : Churchill came back in office. - 1953 : Churchill was awarded the 1953 Nobel prize in Literature.
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Horatio Nelson (1758-1805), Great-Britain’s greatest admiral and naval hero
He joined the Navy at the age of 15 and became an officer at 18. In 1794, as one of the British commanders, he lost his right eye off Calvi. In 1797, he defeated the Franco-Spanish fleet at the battle of Cape St Vincent and lost his right arm on the port of Santa Cruz the same year. He blockaded the French fleet in Toulon for 2 years and then on October 21 1805 he destroyed the combined French and Spanish fleets off Cape Trafalgar. He died during the battle and saved Britain from a Napoleonic invasion. -
Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), statesman
He became an officer in 1894 and in 1899 he was sentenced to death by his abductors, the Boers but managed to escape. He served as President of the Board of trade in 1908, Home Secretary in 1910 and First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911. In May 1940 he replaced Chamberlain as Prime Minister. Then in 1945, the Labour Party took the power and in 1951, he came back in office and was also knighted in 1953. He was awarded the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature.
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