1.
Kingdom of England
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In the early 11th century the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, united by Æthelstan, became part of the North Sea Empire of Cnut the Great, a personal union between England, Denmark and Norway. The completion of the conquest of Wales by Edward I in 1284 put Wales under the control of the English crown, from the accession of James I in 1603, the Stuart dynasty ruled England in personal union with Scotland and Ireland. Under the Stuarts, the kingdom plunged into war, which culminated in the execution of Charles I in 1649. The monarchy returned in 1660, but the Civil War had established the precedent that an English monarch cannot govern without the consent of Parliament and this concept became legally established as part of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. From this time the kingdom of England, as well as its state the United Kingdom. On 1 May 1707, under the terms of the Acts of Union 1707, the Anglo-Saxons referred to themselves as the Engle or the Angelcynn, originally names of the Angles. They called their land Engla land, meaning land of the English, by Æthelweard Latinized Anglia, from an original Anglia vetus, the name Engla land became England by haplology during the Middle English period. The Latin name was Anglia or Anglorum terra, the Old French, by the 14th century, England was also used in reference to the entire island of Great Britain. The standard title for all monarchs from Æthelstan until the time of King John was Rex Anglorum, Canute the Great, a Dane, was the first king to call himself King of England. In the Norman period Rex Anglorum remained standard, with use of Rex Anglie. The Empress Matilda styled herself Domina Anglorum, from the time of King John onwards all other titles were eschewed in favour of Rex or Regina Anglie. In 1604 James VI and I, who had inherited the English throne the previous year, the English and Scottish parliaments, however, did not recognise this title until the Acts of Union of 1707. The kingdom of England emerged from the unification of the early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdoms known as the Heptarchy, East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, Kent, Essex, Sussex. The Viking invasions of the 9th century upset the balance of power between the English kingdoms, and native Anglo-Saxon life in general, the English lands were unified in the 10th century in a reconquest completed by King Æthelstan in 927 CE. During the Heptarchy, the most powerful king among the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms might become acknowledged as Bretwalda, the decline of Mercia allowed Wessex to become more powerful. It absorbed the kingdoms of Kent and Sussex in 825, the kings of Wessex became increasingly dominant over the other kingdoms of England during the 9th century. In 827, Northumbria submitted to Egbert of Wessex at Dore, in 886, Alfred the Great retook London, which he apparently regarded as a turning point in his reign. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that all of the English people not subject to the Danes submitted themselves to King Alfred, asser added that Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, restored the city of London splendidly
2.
Kingdom of Great Britain
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The Kingdom of Great Britain, officially Great Britain, was a sovereign state in western Europe from 1 May 1707 to 31 December 1800. It did not include Ireland, which remained a separate realm, the unitary state was governed by a single parliament and government that was based in Westminster. Also after the accession of George I to the throne of Great Britain in 1714, the early years of the unified kingdom were marked by Jacobite risings which ended in defeat for the Stuart cause at Culloden in 1746. On 1 January 1801, the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland were merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom, the name Britain descends from the Latin name for the island of Great Britain, Britannia or Brittānia, the land of the Britons via the Old French Bretaigne and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne. The term Great Britain was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Edward IV of Englands daughter Cecily and James III of Scotlands son James. The Treaty of Union and the subsequent Acts of Union state that England and Scotland were to be United into one Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain. However, both the Acts and the Treaty also refer numerous times to the United Kingdom and the longer form, other publications refer to the country as the United Kingdom after 1707 as well. The websites of the UK parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the BBC, additionally, the term United Kingdom was found in informal use during the 18th century to describe the state. The new state created in 1707 included the island of Great Britain, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, both in existence from the 9th century, were separate states until 1707. However, they had come into a union in 1603. Each of the three kingdoms maintained its own parliament and laws and this disposition changed dramatically when the Acts of Union 1707 came into force, with a single unified Crown of Great Britain and a single unified parliament. Ireland remained formally separate, with its own parliament, until the Acts of Union 1800, legislative power was vested in the Parliament of Great Britain, which replaced both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. In practice it was a continuation of the English parliament, sitting at the location in Westminster. Newly created peers in the Peerage of Great Britain were given the right to sit in the Lords. Despite the end of a parliament for Scotland, it retained its own laws. As a result of Poynings Law of 1495, the Parliament of Ireland was subordinate to the Parliament of England, the Act was repealed by the Repeal of Act for Securing Dependence of Ireland Act 1782. The same year, the Irish constitution of 1782 produced a period of legislative freedom, the 18th century saw England, and after 1707 Great Britain, rise to become the worlds dominant colonial power, with France its main rival on the imperial stage
3.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
4.
British Army
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The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom. As of 2017 the British Army comprises just over 80,000 trained Regular, or full-time, personnel and just over 26,500 trained Reserve, or part-time personnel. Therefore, the UK Parliament approves the continued existence of the Army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years, day to day the Army comes under administration of the Ministry of Defence and is commanded by the Chief of the General Staff. Repeatedly emerging victorious from these decisive wars allowed Britain to influence world events with its policies and establish itself as one of the leading military. In 1660 the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were restored under Charles II, Charles favoured the foundation of a new army under royal control and began work towards its establishment by August 1660. The Royal Scots Army and the Irish Army were financed by the Parliament of Scotland, the order of seniority of the most senior line regiments in the British Army is based on the order of seniority in the English army. At that time there was only one English regiment of dragoons, after William and Marys accession to the throne, England involved itself in the War of the Grand Alliance, primarily to prevent a French invasion restoring Marys father, James II. Spain, in the two centuries, had been the dominant global power, and the chief threat to Englands early transatlantic ambitions. The territorial ambitions of the French, however, led to the War of the Spanish Succession and the Napoleonic Wars. From the time of the end of the Seven Years War in 1763, Great Britain was the naval power. As had its predecessor, the English Army, the British Army fought the Kingdoms of Spain, France, and the Netherlands for supremacy in North America and the West Indies. With native and provincial assistance, the Army conquered New France in the North American theatre of the Seven Years War, the British Army suffered defeat in the American War of Independence, losing the Thirteen Colonies but holding on to Canada. The British Army was heavily involved in the Napoleonic Wars and served in campaigns across Europe. The war between the British and the First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte stretched around the world and at its peak, in 1813, the regular army contained over 250,000 men. A Coalition of Anglo-Dutch and Prussian Armies under the Duke of Wellington, the English had been involved, both politically and militarily, in Ireland since being given the Lordship of Ireland by the Pope in 1171. The campaign of the English republican Protector, Oliver Cromwell, involved uncompromising treatment of the Irish towns that had supported the Royalists during the English Civil War, the English Army stayed in Ireland primarily to suppress numerous Irish revolts and campaigns for independence. Having learnt from their experience in America, the British government sought a political solution, the British Army found itself fighting Irish rebels, both Protestant and Catholic, primarily in Ulster and Leinster in the 1798 rebellion. The Haldane Reforms of 1907 formally created the Territorial Force as the Armys volunteer reserve component by merging and reorganising the Volunteer Force, Militia, Great Britains dominance of the world had been challenged by numerous other powers, in the 20th century, most notably Germany
5.
Infantry
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Infantry is the general branch of an army that engages in military combat on foot. As the troops who engage with the enemy in close-ranged combat, infantry units bear the largest brunt of warfare, Infantry can enter and maneuver in terrain that is inaccessible to military vehicles and employ crew-served infantry weapons that provide greater and more sustained firepower. In English, the 16th-century term Infantry describes soldiers who walk to the battlefield, and there engage, fight, the term arose in Sixteenth-Century Spain, which boasted one of the first professional standing armies seen in Europe since the days of Rome. It was common to appoint royal princes to military commands, and the men under them became known as Infanteria. in the Canadian Army, the role of the infantry is to close with, and destroy the enemy. In the U. S. Army, the closes with the enemy, by means of fire and maneuver, in order to destroy or capture him, or to repel his assault by fire, close combat. In the U. S. Marine Corps, the role of the infantry is to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy fire and maneuver. Beginning with the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, artillery has become a dominant force on the battlefield. Since World War I, combat aircraft and armoured vehicles have become dominant. In 20th and 21st century warfare, infantry functions most effectively as part of a combined arms team including artillery, armour, Infantry relies on organized formations to be employed in battle. These have evolved over time, but remain a key element to effective infantry development and deployment, until the end of the 19th century, infantry units were for the most part employed in close formations up until contact with the enemy. This allowed commanders to control of the unit, especially while maneuvering. The development of guns and other weapons with increased firepower forced infantry units to disperse in order to make them less vulnerable to such weapons. This decentralization of command was made possible by improved communications equipment, among the various subtypes of infantry is Medium infantry. This refers to infantry which are heavily armed and armored than heavy infantry. In the early period, medium infantry were largely eliminated due to discontinued use of body armour up until the 20th century. In the United States Army, Stryker Infantry is considered Medium Infantry, since they are heavier than light infantry, Infantry doctrine is the concise expression of how infantry forces contribute to campaigns, major operations, battles, and engagements. It is a guide to action, not a set of hard, doctrine provides a very common frame of reference across the military forces, allowing the infantry to function cooperatively in what are now called combined arms operations. Doctrine helps standardise operations, facilitating readiness by establishing common ways of accomplishing infantry tasks, doctrine links theory, history, experimentation, and practice
6.
Line infantry
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Line infantry is the type of infantry that composed the basis of European land armies from the middle of the 17th century to the middle of the 19th century. For both battle and parade drill it consisted of 2 to 4 ranks of soldiers drawn up side by side in rigid alignment. By extension, the term came to be applied to the regiments of the line as opposed to skirmishers, foot guards, militia. Line infantry mainly used three formations in its battles, the line, the square and the column, a line consisted of 2,3 or 4 ranks of soldiers. During the time period that line infantry were prevalent, the object was to cause the formation to rout, which was done by breaking it. The line was considered as the battle formation as it allowed for the largest deployment of firepower. Troops in skirmish formation, though able to cover and use initiative, were highly vulnerable to cavalry. Line infantry provided an anchor for skirmishers and cavalry to retreat to if threatened, against surrounding enemy cavalry, line infantry could swiftly adopt square formations to provide protection. Such squares were hollow, unlike the pikemen and old-style musketeers square, movement in line formation was very slow, and unless the battalion was superbly trained, a breakdown in cohesion was virtually assured, especially in any kind of uneven or wooded terrain. As a result, line was used as a stationary formation, with troops moving in column formations. Usually, columns would be adopted for movement and melee attacks, line infantry was trained in the manual of arms evolutions, the main objectives of which were fast deployment of a line, rapid shooting and manoeuvre. Line tactics required a strict discipline and simple movements, practiced to the point where they became second-nature, during training, the drill and corporal punishments were widely used. Line infantry quickly became the most common type of infantry in European countries, musketeers and grenadiers, formerly elite troops, gradually became part of the line infantry, switching to linear tactics. In the middle of the 17th century, the muskets of some line infantry were equipped with bayonets. Bayonets were attached to the muzzles of muskets and were used when line troops entered melee combat and they also helped to defend against cavalry. In many countries, the new fusils retained the name musket, both muskets and fusils were smoothbore, which lessened their accuracy and range, but made for faster loading, lesser amount of bore fouling and more robust, less complicated firearms. The bulk of the infantry had no protective equipment, as armor that could provide protection from musket fire were considered too expensive. Only the former elite troops could keep by tradition some elements of protection, for example, initially, soldiers equipped with firearms formed only a small part of the infantry branch of most armies, because of their vulnerability to hostile cavalry
7.
Militia (United Kingdom)
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The Militia of the United Kingdom were the military reserve forces of the United Kingdom after the Union in 1801 of the former Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland. The militia was transformed into the Special Reserve by the Territorial, for the period before the creation of the United Kingdom, in the home countries and their colonies, see Militia. A separate voluntary Local Militia was created in 1808 before being disbanded in 1816 By 1813 the British Army was experiencing a shortage of manpower to maintain their battalions at full strength. Some consideration was given to recruiting foreign nationals, however on 4 November 1813 a bill was introduced to parliament to allow Militia volunteers to serve in Europe. In the event only three battalions were raised and these were sent to serve under Henry Bayly arriving in Bordeaux on 12 April 1814, although muster rolls were prepared as late as 1820, the element of compulsion was abandoned, and the militia was transformed into a volunteer force. It was intended to be seen as an alternative to the army, men would volunteer and undertake basic training for several months at an army depot. Thereafter, they would return to life, but report for regular periods of military training. In return, they would receive pay and a financial retainer. Of course, many saw the camp as the equivalent of a paid holiday. The militia thus appealed to agricultural labourers, colliers and the like, men in casual occupations, until 1861 the militia were an entirely infantry force, but in that year a number of county regiments were converted to artillery. In 1877 the militia of Anglesey and Monmouthshire were converted to engineers, typically, an English, Welsh or Scottish regiment would have two militia battalions and Irish regiments three. The militia must not be confused with the units created in a wave of enthusiasm in the second half of the nineteenth century. In contrast with the Volunteer Force, and the similar Yeomanry Cavalry, the militia was transformed into the Special Reserve by the military reforms of Haldane in the reforming post 1906 Liberal government. In 1908 the militia battalions were redesignated as reserve and a number were amalgamated or disbanded. Numbered Territorial Force battalions, ranking after the Special Reserve, were formed from the units at the same time. Altogether,101 infantry battalions,33 artillery regiments and two regiments of special reservists were formed. Upon mobilisation, the reserve units would be formed at the depot. The original militiamen soon disappeared, and the battalions became training units pure, the Special Reserve reverted to its militia designation in 1921, then to Supplementary Reserve in 1924, though the units were effectively placed in suspended animation until disbanded in 1953
8.
Army Reserve (United Kingdom)
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The Army Reserve is the active-duty volunteer reserve force and integrated element of the British Army. Most Volunteer infantry units had unique identities, but lost these in the reorganisation, only one infantry unit, the London Regiment, has maintained a separate identity. Reservists in the past also served as constables or bailiffs, even holding positions of civic duty as overseer of their parish, the more modern Yeomen of the 18th century were cavalry-based units, which were often used to suppress riots. Several units that are now part of the Army Reserve bear the title militia, after the Second World War, for example, the Army Reserve - or Territorial Army as it was known then - was not demobilised until 1947. All Army Reserve personnel have their jobs protected to a limited extent by law should they be compulsorily mobilised. There is, however, no protection against discrimination in employment for membership of the Army Reserve in the normal course of events. As part of the process, remaining units of militia were converted to the Special Reserve. The TF was formed on 1 April 1908 and contained fourteen infantry divisions and it had an overall strength of approximately 269,000. The individual units that made up each division or brigade were administered by County Associations, the other members of the association consisted of military members, representative members and co-opted members. Associations took over any property vested in the volunteers or yeomanry under their administration, each regiment or battalion had a Regular Army officer attached as full-time adjutant. In August 1914, after the outbreak of the First World War, territorial units were given the option of serving in France and, by 25 August, in excess of seventy battalions had volunteered. This question over the availability of territorial divisions for service was one of Lord Kitcheners motivations for raising the New Army separately. The first fully Territorial division to join the fighting on the Western Front was the 46th Division in March 1915, with divisions later serving in Gallipoli and elsewhere. As the war progressed, and casualties mounted, the character of territorial units was diluted by the inclusion of conscript. Following the Armistice all units of the Territorial Force were gradually disbanded, New recruiting started in early 1920, and the Territorial Force was reconstituted on 7 February 1920. On 1 October 1920, the Territorial Force was renamed the Territorial Army, the 1st Line divisions were reconstituted in that year. However, the composition of the divisions was altered, with a reduction in the number of infantry battalions required, there was also a reduced need for cavalry, and of the 55 yeomanry regiments, only the 14 most senior retained their horses. The remaining yeomanry were converted to artillery or armoured car units or disbanded, the amalgamation of 40 pairs of infantry battalions was announced in October 1921
9.
Volunteer Force
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The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated with the British Army after the Childers Reforms in 1881, most of the regiments of the present Territorial Army Infantry, Artillery, Engineers and Signals units are directly descended from Volunteer Force units. During the Crimean War, the War Office had been forced to send militia, the situation had been complicated by the fact that both auxiliary forces were under the control of the Home Office until 1855. Tensions rose between the United Kingdom and France following the Orsini affair, an attempt on Emperor Napoleon III on 14 January 1858. It emerged that the assassin, Felice Orsini had travelled to England to have the bombs used in the attack manufactured in Birmingham. On 29 April 1859 war broke out between France and the Austrian Empire, and there were fears that Britain might be caught up in a wider European conflict. Volunteer corps were to be raised under the provisions of the Volunteer Act 1804, alfred Tennyson captured the spirit of the time by publishing his poem Riflemen Form in The Times on 9 May 1859. As a basis for the units, many communities had rifle clubs for the enjoyment of the sport of shooting, Corps were only to be formed on the recommendation of the county’s lord-lieutenant. The force was liable to be called out “in case of invasion, or of appearance of an enemy in force on the coast, or in case of rebellion arising in either of these emergencies. ”While under arms volunteers were subject to military law and were entitled to be billeted. Members were not permitted to quit the force during actual military service, members were to be returned as “effective” if they had attended eight days drill and exercise in four months, or 24 days within a year. The members of the corps were to provide their own arms and equipment, Volunteers were also permitted to choose the design of their uniforms, subject to the lord-lieutenant’s approval. Although volunteers were to pay for their own firearms, they were to be provided under the superintendence of the War Office, the number of officers and private men in each county and corps was to be settled by the war office, based on the lord-lieutenant’s recommendation. Originally corps were to consist of approximately 100 all ranks under the command of a captain, the purpose of the rifle corps was to harass the invading enemy’s flanks, while artillery corps were to man coastal guns and forts. Although not mentioned in the letter, engineer corps were also formed. Stretcher-bearers attached to the rifle corps subsequently formed volunteer medical detachments affiliated to the Army Medical Corps, in a handful of counties, units of light horse or mounted rifles were formed. Two volunteer units whose services had been accepted by Queen Victoria during the early 1850s became the two senior rifle corps of the new force and these were the 1st Rifle Volunteer Corps who became the 1st Devonshire Rifle Volunteers and the Victoria Rifles who became the 1st Middlesex Rifle Volunteers. An order of precedence was established for other counties, depending upon the date of establishment of the first corps in the county. The most senior artillery corps was the 1st Northumberland formed at Tynemouth on August 2,1859, some also compared the initiative, small unit tactics and marksmanship principles of rifle regiments of the Napoleonic Wars compared with the linear tactics of the standing army
10.
Battle of Minden
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The Battle of Minden—or Thonhausen—was a decisive engagement during the Seven Years War, fought on 1 August 1759. An Anglo-German army under the command of Field Marshal Ferdinand of Brunswick defeated a French army commanded by Marshal of France. Two years prior, the French had launched an invasion of Hanover and attempted to impose an unpopular treaty of peace upon the allied nations of Britain, Hanover. After a Prussian victory at Rossbach, and under pressure from Frederick the Great and William Pitt, in 1758, the Allies launched a counter-offensive against the French forces and drove them back across the Rhine. After failing to defeat the French before reinforcements swelled their retreating army, believing Ferdinands forces to be over-extended, Contades abandoned his strong positions around the Weser and advanced to meet the Allied forces in battle. The Allied line advanced in the wake of the cavalry attack, sending the French army reeling from the field. In Britain, the victory was considered to constitute the Annus Mirabilis of 1759, the western German-speaking states of Europe had been a major theatre of the Seven Years War since 1757, when the French had launched an invasion of Hanover. This culminated in a victory for the French at the Battle of Hastenbeck. The Prussian port of Emden was also recaptured, securing supply from Britain, in an attempt to defeat the French before their reinforcements arrived, Ferdinand decided to launch a fresh counter-offensive, and quit his winter quarters early. In April, however, Victor-François, Duke de Broglie and the French withstood Ferdinands attack at the Battle of Bergen, Ferdinand was forced to retreat northwards in the face of the now reinforced French army. Contades, senior of the two French marshals, resumed the advance, occupying a number of towns and cities including the fortress at Minden. Ferdinand was criticised for his failure to check the French offensive and his celebrated brother-in-law, Frederick the Great, is reported as having suggested that, since his loss at Bergen, Ferdinand had come to believe the French to be invincible. Irrespective of any presumed crisis of confidence, however, Ferdinand did ultimately decide to confront the French, Contades had taken up a strong defensive position along the Weser around Minden, where he had paused to regroup before he continued his advance. He initially resisted the opportunity to abandon this position to attack Ferdinand. Ferdinand instead formulated a plan that involved splitting his force into several groups to threaten Contades lines of supply, perceiving Ferdinands forces to be over-extended, Contades thought he saw a chance for the desired decisive victory. He ordered his men to abandon their defensive encampments and advance into positions on the plain west of Minden during the night of 31 July and early morning of 1 August. In 1759, the city of Minden, now the Innenstadt of modern Minden, was situated at the confluence of the Weser, which flows from south to north, and the Bastau. The French under the marshal, de Broglie, were stationed astride the Weser
11.
Eureka Rebellion
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The Eureka Rebellion was a rebellion in 1854, instigated by gold miners in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, who revolted against the colonial authority of the United Kingdom. The rebellion resulted in the deaths of at least 27 people, the local rebellion grew from a Ballarat Reform League movement and culminated in the erection by the rebels of a crude battlement and a swift and deadly siege by colonial forces. As such, the Eureka Rebellion is controversially identified with the birth of democracy in Australia, Hiscocks gold rush began on 12 August 1851 following the publication in the Geelong Advertiser of Thomas Hiscocks gold findings at Hiscocks,3 kilometres west of Buninyong. On 26 August, a rally of 40-50 miners opposing the fee was held at Hiscocks gully – the first of such protests in the colony. The miners opposed government policies of oppression including the fee and demanded rights to vote. This first meeting was followed by dissent across the colonys mining settlements, in December the government announced that it intended to triple the licence fee from £1 to £3 a month, from 1 January 1852. This move incited protests around the colony, including the Forest Creek Monster Meeting of December 1851, in Ballarat, historian Weston Bate noted that diggers became so agitated that they began to gather arms. The government hastily repealed its plans due to the reaction, nevertheless, the oppressive licence hunts continued and increased in frequency causing general dissent among the diggers. In addition, Weston Bate noted that the Ballarat diggings were in opposition to the strict liquor licensing laws imposed by the government. Changes to the Goldfields Act in 1853 allowed licence searches to occur at any time which further incensed the diggers, in Bendigo in 1853, an Anti-Gold Licence Association was formed and the miners were apparently on the brink of an armed clash with authorities. Again in 1854, Bendigo miners responded to an increase in the frequency of twice weekly licence hunts with threats of armed rebellion, on 7 October 1854, Scottish miner James Scobie was murdered at the Eureka hotel. The miners rioted and Bentley and his wife Catherine fled for their lives as the hotel was burnt down by the angry mob, a small group of soldiers were unable to suppress the riot. On 22 October 1854, Ballarat Catholics met to protest the treatment of Father Smyth, the next day, the arrests of miners McIntyre and Fletcher for the Eureka Hotel fire provoked a mass meeting which attracted 4,000 miners. The meeting resolved to establish a Diggers Rights Society, to protect their rights, on 1 November 1854,3,000 miners met once again at Bakery Hill. They were addressed by Thomas Kennedy, Henry Holyoake, George Black, the diggers were further angered by the arrest of another seven of their number for the Eureka Hotel fire. On Saturday,11 November 1854 a crowd estimated at more than 10,000 miners gathered at Bakery Hill, at this meeting, the Ballarat Reform League was created, under the chairmanship of Chartist John Basson Humffray. Several other Reform League leaders, including Kennedy and Holyoake, had been involved with the Chartist movement in England, many of the miners had past involvement in the Chartist movement and the social upheavals in Britain, Ireland, and continental Europe during the 1840s. In setting its goals, the Ballarat Reform League used the British Chartist movements principles, the meeting passed a resolution that it is the inalienable right of every citizen to have a voice in making the laws he is called on to obey, that taxation without representation is tyranny
12.
Battle of Singapore
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Singapore was the major British military base in South-East Asia and was the keystone of British imperial interwar defence planning for South-East Asia as well as the South-West Pacific. The fighting in Singapore lasted from 8 to 15 February 1942 although this was preceded by two months of British resistance as Japanese forces advanced down the Malaya peninsula and it resulted in the Japanese capture of Singapore and the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history. About 80,000 British, Indian and Australian troops became prisoners of war, the British prime minister, Winston Churchill, called it the worst disaster in British military history. During 1940 and 1941, the Allies had imposed an embargo on Japan in response to its continued campaigns in China. The Japanese were encouraged to choose war by their intelligence, in December 1940, the Germans handed over copies of the papers to the Japanese. As a part of process, the Japanese planners determined a broad scheme of manoeuvre that incorporated simultaneous attacks on the British. In addition, strikes would be made against the United States naval fleet at Pearl Harbor, as well as landings in the Philippines, and attacks on Guam, Wake Island and the Gilbert Islands. With this perimeter, it was intended to block Allied attempts to regain the lost territory, the Japanese 25th Army invaded from Indochina, moving into northern Malaya and Thailand by amphibious assault on 8 December 1941. This was virtually simultaneous with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which precipitated the United States entry in to the war, Thailand initially resisted, but soon had to yield. The Japanese then proceeded overland across the Thai–Malayan border to attack Malaya, at this time, the Japanese began bombing strategic sites in Singapore. The Japanese 25th Army was resisted in northern Malaya by III Corps of the British Indian Army, although the 25th Army was outnumbered by Allied forces in Malaya and Singapore, Japanese commanders concentrated their forces. The Japanese were superior in close air support, armour, co-ordination, tactics, prior to the Battle of Singapore the most resistance was met at the Battle of Muar, which involved the Australian 8th Division and the Indian 45th Brigade. At the start of the campaign, the Allied forces had only 164 first-line aircraft on hand in Malaya and Singapore, and these aircraft were operated by two Royal Australian Air Force, two Royal Air Force, and one Royal New Zealand Air Force squadron. Major shortcomings included a slow rate of climb and the fuel system which required the pilot to hand pump fuel if flying above 6,000 feet. Their fighter aircraft were superior to the Allied fighters, which helped the Japanese to gain air supremacy, Japanese forces quickly isolated, surrounded, and forced the surrender of Indian units defending the coast. They advanced down the Malayan peninsula overwhelming the defences, despite their numerical inferiority, the Japanese forces also used bicycle infantry and light tanks, allowing swift movement through the jungle. The Allies, however, having thought the terrain made them impractical, had no tanks, and only a few armoured vehicles, although more Allied units—including some from the Australian 8th Division—joined the campaign, the Japanese prevented the Allied forces from regrouping. They also overran cities and advanced toward Singapore, the city was an anchor for the operations of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command, the first Allied joint command of the Second World War
13.
Regiment
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A regiment is a military unit. Their role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, in Medieval Europe, the term regiment denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted in one geographical area, by a leader who was often also the feudal lord of the soldiers. By the 17th century, a regiment was usually about a thousand personnel. In many armies, the first role has been assumed by independent battalions, battlegroups, task forces, brigades and other, similarly-sized operational units. By the beginning of the 18th century, regiments in most European continental armies had evolved into permanent units with distinctive titles and uniforms, when at full strength, an infantry regiment normally comprised two field battalions of about 800 men each or 8–10 companies. In some armies, an independent regiment with fewer companies was labelled a demi-regiment, a cavalry regiment numbered 600 to 900 troopers, making up a single entity. With the widespread adoption of conscription in European armies during the nineteenth century, the regimental system underwent modification. Prior to World War I, a regiment in the French, German, Russian. As far as possible, the battalions would be garrisoned in the same military district, so that the regiment could be mobilized. A cavalry regiment by contrast made up an entity of up to 1,000 troopers. Usually, the regiment is responsible for recruiting and administering all of a military career. Depending upon the country, regiments can be either combat units or administrative units or both and this is often contrasted to the continental system adopted by many armies. Generally, divisions are garrisoned together and share the same installations, thus, in divisional administration, soldiers and officers are transferred in and out of divisions as required. Some regiments recruited from specific areas, and usually incorporated the place name into the regimental name. In other cases, regiments would recruit from an age group within a nation. In other cases, new regiments were raised for new functions within an army, e. g. the Fusiliers, the Parachute Regiment, a key aspect of the regimental system is that the regiment or battalion is the fundamental tactical building block. This flows historically from the period, when battalions were widely dispersed and virtually autonomous. For example, a regiment might include different types of battalions of different origins, within the regimental system, soldiers, and usually officers, are always posted to a tactical unit of their own regiment whenever posted to field duty
14.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
15.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
16.
Royal Norfolk Regiment
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The Royal Norfolk Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army until 1959. Its predecessor regiment was raised in 1685 as Henry Cornewalls Regiment of Foot, in 1751, it was numbered like most other British Army regiments and named the 9th Regiment of Foot. The Norfolk Regiment fought in the Great War on the Western Front, after the war, the regiment became the Royal Norfolk Regiment on 3 June 1935. Cornewall resigned his post following the Glorious Revolution and command went to Colonel Oliver Nicholas in November 1788, in December 1788 Nicholas was also removed due to his personal Jacobite sympathies and command passed to John Cunningham. In April 1689 the regiment, under Cunningham’s command, embarked at Liverpool for Derry for service in the Williamite War in Ireland, Cunningham led a failed attempt to relieve the besieged city of Derry. The regiment briefly returned to England, but in May 1689 Cunningham was replaced by William Stewart, the regiment also saw action at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690, the Siege of Limerick in August 1690 and the Siege of Athlone in June 1691. It went on to fight at the Battle of Aughrim in July 1691, the regiment embarked for Holland in June 1701 and took part in the sieges of Kaiserswerth and of Venlo in spring 1702 during the War of the Spanish Succession. In March 1704 the regiment embarked for Lisbon and took part in the Battle of Almansa in April 1707 before returning to England in summer 1708, the regiment was then based in Minorca from summer 1718 to 1746. The regiment was renamed the 9th Regiment of Foot in 1751 when all British regiments were given numbers for identification instead of using their Colonels name. During the Seven Years War the Regiment won its first formal battle honour as part of the expedition that captured Belle Île from the French in 1761. It sailed for Cuba with George Keppel, 3rd Earl of Albemarle in March 1762 and took part in the siege and subsequent capture of Havana in summer 1762. Following the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763 and the end of the war the regiment moved to a posting at St. Augustine in Florida, where it remained until 1769. It surrendered at the Battle of Saratoga in autumn 1777 and its men then spent three years as prisoners of war as part of the Convention Army. On 31 August 1782 the regiment was linked with Norfolk as part of attempts to improve recruitment to the army as whole, in January 1788 the regiment embarked for the West Indies and took part in the capture of the island of Tobago and in the attack on Martinique. It went on to capture Saint Lucia and Guadeloupe before returning to England in autumn 1796, in 1799 the King approved the Regiments use of Britannia as its symbol. It also took part in the Ferrol Expedition in August 1800 under Sir James Pulteney, in June 1808 the regiment sail for Portugal for service in the Peninsular War. It saw action at the Battle of Roliça and the Battle of Vimeiro in August 1808, following the retreat from Corunna the regiment buried Sir John Moore and left Spanish soil. The regiment then took part in the disastrous Walcheren expedition to the Low Countries in summer 1809 and it also saw action at the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo in January 1812, the Siege of Badajoz in March 1812 and the Battle of Salamanca in July 1812
17.
Royal Leicestershire Regiment
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The Leicestershire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, with a history going back to 1688. On 27 September 1688 a commission was issued to Colonel Solomon Richards to raise a regiment of foot in the London area, in its early years, like other regiments, the regiment was known by the name of its various colonels. Following a failed attempt to break the Siege of Derry in 1689 and it transferred to Portugal in 1704 and took part in the sieges of Valencia de Alcántara, Alburquerque and Badajoz in 1705 as well as the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo in 1706. It also saw action at the Battle of Almansa in April 1807 before returning to England in 1809 and it went to Scotland to suppress the Jacobite rising of 1715 and fought at the Battle of Sheriffmuir in November 1715. In 1726 the regiment moved to Minorca and in 1751 a royal warrant assigned numbers to the regiments of the line, following that war it also saw duty during Pontiacs Rebellion before eventually returning to England in 1767. The regiment embarked for Boston, landing there on New Years Day 1776 and it saw action at the Battle of Long Island in August 1776, the Battle of White Plains in October 1776 and the Battle of Fort Washington in November 1776. Several companies were captured at the Battle of Stony Point in July 1779 by a daring bayonet charge by Mad Anthony Wayne. The regiment was in action again at the Battle of Guilford Court House in March 1781, the regiment became the 17th Regiment of Foot. The regiment moved to Nova Scotia in 1783 before returning to England in 1786, in 1804 the regiment moved to India, and remained there until 1823. In 1825 the regiment was granted the badge of a tiger to recall their long service in the sub-continent. The Regiment was posted to New South Wales from 1830 to 1836, the regiment returned to India in 1837, and then took part in the Battle of Ghazni in July 1839 and the Battle of Khelat in November 1839 during the First Anglo-Afghan War. The regiment next came under fire at the Siege of Sevastopol in winter 1854 during the Crimean War, in 1858 a second battalion was raised. Together these formed a battalion, which became the 1st Volunteer Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment in 1880. By 1900, when the unit provided a detachment of volunteers to serve alongside the Regulars during the Second Boer War, under the reforms the regiment became The Leicestershire Regiment on 1 July 1881. The 1st and 3rd battalions fought in the Second Boer War 1899 –1902, the 2nd Battalion was stationed as a garrison regiment in Ireland from 1896, and in Egypt from February 1900. In 1908, with the creation of the Territorial Force, the 1st Volunteer Battalion formed the 4th and 5th Battalions, there was a minor controversy in the same year, when new colours were issued to the 1st Battalion to replace those of the 17th foot. A green tiger had been shown on the old colours and the regiment refused to take the new issue into use, the issue was resolved when the regiment received permission for the royal tiger emblazoned on the regimental colours to be coloured green with gold stripes. In the First World War, the regiment increased from five to nineteen battalions which served in France and Flanders, Mesopotamia, the 1st Battalion landed at Saint-Nazaire as part of the 16th Infantry Brigade in the 6th Division in September 1914 for service on the Western Front
18.
Royal Anglian Regiment
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The Royal Anglian Regiment is an infantry regiment of the British Army and is one of the four regiments of the Queens Division. The regiment came into being following the amalgamation of various county regiments, soldiers and officers of the regiment have been involved in nearly every conflict in the modern era. The regiment was reduced again in 1992 to two regular and two TA battalions with the loss of the 3rd and 5th Battalions, during the Yugoslav Wars,2 R ANGLIAN was deployed to Bosnia in April 1994 as part of the United Nations peacekeeping force UNPROFOR. In 1995 the 1st Battalion was sent to Croatia as part of 24 Airmobile Brigade between July and October of that year. Shortly after British forces intervened in Sierra Leone during its civil war, in March 2002,1 R ANGLIAN was sent to Afghanistan, where it was based in the capital Kabul as part of the International Security Assistance Force. The following February,2 R ANGLIANs A Company was posted to Kabul and they were replaced by C Company in June. In 20051 R ANGLIAN undertook tour in Iraq as part of Operation TELIC6 where the group was responsible for the Basra Rural South area of operations. C Company was detached to act as a Brigade Operations Company and was involved in several high-profile arrest operations. The remaining Territorial battalion of the regiment, the East of England Regiment was re-designated on 1 April 2006 as the 3rd Battalion, in Spring 20062 R ANGLIAN deployed to Iraq as part of Op TELIC8 and formed Basra City South Battlegroup. C company was detached to operate as part of Force Reserve and was involved in many high-profile arrest and strike operations. During the tour the Regiment mourned the loss of two soldiers, on 13 May 2006 Private Joseva Lewaicei and Adam Morris died as a result of injuries sustained from a bomb attack in Basra. A third soldier was badly injured, from March to September 2007, as part of 12th Mechanised Brigade,1 R ANGLIAN was deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Herrick 6. This deployment was the subject of the Sky One documentary Ross Kemp in Afghanistan, a book has also been written by a former commanding officer about the battalion on this tour, Attack State Red, published by Penguin. They were stationed in Helmand Province, the fighting attracted much media attention due to the ferocity of the combat, with soldiers often having to resort to using bayonets. The battalion suffered nine casualties during its tour, five from attacks, the coroner at the soldiers inquest stated that the incident was due to flawed application of procedures rather than individual errors or recklessness. 1 R ANGLIAN operates in the infantry role under 7th Infantry Brigade and is based at Woolwich. 2 R ANGLIAN operates in the infantry role under 7th Infantry Brigade. 3 R ANGLIAN operates in the infantry role under 7th Infantry Brigade
19.
Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk
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Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk, KG PC Earl Marshal was an English nobleman, politician, and soldier. He was the son of Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk and Lady Anne Somerset, daughter of Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester and he was summoned to the House of Lords in his own right as Baron Mowbray in 1678. His unhappy marriage was a subject of gossip, and ended in divorce. He married Mary Mordaunt, the daughter and heiress of the 2nd Earl of Peterborough. He divorced her for her adultery with Sir John Germain in 1700, the Duke was probably in no position to condemn his wifes conduct, his own counsel called it frankly a case of the pot calling the kettle black. He died without children, and was succeeded by his nephew, Thomas Howard and his former wife married secondly Sir John Germain, 1st Baronet, who had been her lover for many years. He was rarely on good terms with his father, particularly after 1677 when his father married Jane Bickerton, his mistress of many years standing, an act which caused a violent family quarrel. Like almost all the Howards of Norfolk he was a devout Roman Catholic, there is little doubt that this was simply a device to save the family estates, which seems to have succeeded, although his father was charged with recusancy in 1680, the charge did not proceed. While the senior Howard line survived unscathed, their cousin William Howard, Henry as Baron Mowbray sat as one of the peers who tried him. It is a sign of his courage and independent judgment, given the anti-Catholic feeling in the country. This was the more notable since according to John Evelyn, of Staffords extended family in the House of Lords, he was the one to do so. On 20 June 1685, he was appointed Colonel of the Suffolk Regiment and he was created a Knight of the Garter in the same year. As a man all-powerful in his Dukedom he used his influence in the 1685 General Election to return members entirely loyal to the Crown, by 1688, however, he was on bad terms with James II, openly disapproving of the Kings aggressive policy of Catholic championship. When asked to question his constituents on whether they favoured repeal of the Test Act, when asked to replace the magistrates in his dukedom with more compliant ones he simply refused and prudently went to France, but returned in time to welcome the Glorious Revolution. The first HMS Norfolk was named after him and he served as a Privy Councillor under William III and Mary II in 1689. His private surgeon was Thomas Greenhill, a written account of the death of the 7th Duke of Norfolk, who died in London on Wednesday the 2d of April 1701 by his secretary Francis Negus. Dukes of Norfolk family tree Howard, Henry, list of deserters from James II to William of Orange
20.
East Anglia
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East Anglia is a geographical area in the East of England. The area included has varied but the legally defined NUTS2 statistical unit, comprises the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, the name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a tribe that originated in Angeln, northern Germany. Definitions of what constitutes East Anglia vary, the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of East Anglia, established in the 6th century, originally consisted of the modern counties of Norfolk and Suffolk and expanded west into at least part of Cambridgeshire. The modern NUTS2 statistical unit of East Anglia comprises Norfolk, Suffolk and those three counties have formed the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia since 1976, and were the subject of a possible government devolution package in 2016. Essex has sometimes included in definitions of East Anglia, including by the London Society of East Anglians. However, the Kingdom of Essex to the south, was an element of the Heptarchy of Anglo-Saxon England and did not identify as Angles. The county of Essex by itself forms a NUTS2 statistical unit in the East of England region, other definitions of the area have been used or proposed over the years. For example, the Redcliffe-Maud Report in 1969, which followed the Royal Commission on the Reform of Local Government, the proposed East Anglia province would have included northern Essex, southern Lincolnshire and a small part of Northamptonshire as well as Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. The kingdom of East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of the East Anglian princess Etheldreda, the kingdom was formed about the year 520 by the merging of the North and the South Folk and was one of the seven Anglo-Saxon heptarchy kingdoms. However, this did not last and over the forty years East Anglia was defeated by the Mercians twice. Finally, in 794, Offa of Mercia had king Æthelberht killed, although independence was temporarily restored by rebellion in 825, on the 20 November 869 the Danes killed King Edmund and captured the kingdom. By 917, after a succession of Danish defeats, East Anglia was incorporated into the Kingdom of England by Edward the Elder, afterwards becoming an earldom. Despite some engineering work in the form of sea barriers constructed by the Roman Empire, much of East Anglia remained marshland and bogs until the 17th century. In the 1630s thousands of Puritan families from East Anglia settled in the American region of New England, East Anglia was ideally suited to airfield construction as it comprises large areas of open, level terrain and is close to mainland Europe. The reduced flight time to mainland Europe therefore reduced the load required and enabled a larger bomb load to be carried. Building the airfields was a civil engineering project and by the end of the war there was one approximately every 8 miles. Many of these airfields can still be today, particularly from aerial photographs, and a few remain is use today. Pillboxes, which were erected in 1940 to help defend the nation against invasion, can also be found throughout the area at strategic points
21.
Norfolk
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Norfolk /ˈnɔːrfək/ is a county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the west and north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea and, to the north-west, The Wash. With an area of 2,074 square miles and a population of 859,400, of the countys population, 40% live in four major built up areas, Norwich, Great Yarmouth, Kings Lynn and Thetford. The Broads is a network of rivers and lakes in the east of the county, the area is not a National Park although it is marketed as such. It has similar status to a park, and is protected by the Broads Authority. Norfolk was settled in times, with camps along the higher land in the west. A Brythonic tribe, the Iceni, inhabited the county from the 1st century BC to the end of the 1st century AD, the Iceni revolted against the Roman invasion in AD47, and again in 60 led by Boudica. The crushing of the second opened the county to the Romans. During the Roman era roads and ports were constructed throughout the county, situated on the east coast, Norfolk was vulnerable to invasions from Scandinavia and Northern Europe, and forts were built to defend against the Angles and Saxons. Norfolk, Suffolk and several adjacent areas became the kingdom of East Anglia, the influence of the Early English settlers can be seen in the many place names ending in -ton and -ham. Endings such as -by and -thorpe are also common, indicating Danish place names, in the 9th century the region came under attack. In the centuries before the Norman Conquest the wetlands of the east of the county began to be converted to farmland, and settlements grew in these areas. Migration into East Anglia must have high, by the time of the Domesday Book survey it was one of the most densely populated parts of the British Isles. During the high and late Middle Ages the county developed arable agriculture, the economy was in decline by the time of the Black Death, which dramatically reduced the population in 1349. During the English Civil War Norfolk was largely Parliamentarian, the economy and agriculture of the region declined somewhat. During the Industrial Revolution Norfolk developed little industry except in Norwich which was an addition to the railway network. In the 20th century the county developed a role in aviation, during the Second World War agriculture rapidly intensified, and it has remained very intensive since, with the establishment of large fields for growing cereals and oilseed rape. Norfolks low-lying land and easily eroded cliffs, many of which are chalk and clay, make it vulnerable to the sea, the low-lying section of coast between Kelling and Lowestoft Ness in Suffolk is currently managed by the Environment Agency to protect the Broads from sea flooding
22.
Suffolk
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Suffolk is an East Anglian county of historic origin in England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west, the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich, other important towns include Lowestoft, Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket and Felixstowe, the county is low-lying with very few hills, and is largely arable land with the wetlands of the Broads in the north. The Suffolk Coast and Heaths are an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, by the fifth century, the Angles had established control of the region. The Angles later became the folk and the south folk. Suffolk and several adjacent areas became the kingdom of East Anglia, Suffolk was originally divided into four separate Quarter Sessions divisions. In 1860, the number of divisions was reduced to two, the eastern division was administered from Ipswich and the western from Bury St Edmunds. Under the Local Government Act 1888, the two divisions were made the administrative counties of East Suffolk and West Suffolk, Ipswich became a county borough. A few Essex parishes were added to Suffolk, Ballingdon-with-Brundon and parts of Haverhill. On 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, East Suffolk, West Suffolk, the county was divided into several local government districts, Babergh, Forest Heath, Ipswich, Mid Suffolk, St. Edmundsbury, Suffolk Coastal, and Waveney. This act also transferred some land near Great Yarmouth to Norfolk, in 2007, the Department for Communities and Local Government referred Ipswich Borough Councils bid to become a new unitary authority to the Boundary Committee. The Boundary Committee consulted local bodies and reported in favour of the proposal and it was not, however, approved by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. Beginning in February 2008, the Boundary Committee again reviewed local government in the county, West Suffolk, like nearby East Cambridgeshire, is renowned for archaeological finds from the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. Bronze Age artefacts have been found in the area between Mildenhall and West Row, in Eriswell and in Lakenheath, other finds include traces of cremations and barrows. The majority of agriculture in Suffolk is either arable or mixed, Farm sizes vary from anything around 80 acres to over 8,000. Soil types vary from clays to light sands. The continuing importance of agriculture in the county is reflected in the Suffolk Show, although latterly somewhat changed in nature, this remains primarily an agricultural show. Below is a chart of regional gross value added of Suffolk at current basic prices published by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling, well-known companies in Suffolk include Greene King and Branston Pickle in Bury St Edmunds
23.
Monmouth Rebellion
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James II was a Roman Catholic, and some Protestants under his rule opposed his kingship. James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, an son of Charles II, claimed to be rightful heir to the throne. The Monmouth rebellion was coordinated with a rebellion in Scotland, where Archibald Campbell, the Duke of Monmouth had been popular in the South West of England, so he planned to recruit troops locally and take control of the area before marching on London. Monmouth landed at Lyme Regis on 11 June 1685, Monmouths forces were unable to compete with the regular army and failed to capture the key city of Bristol. The rebellion ended with the defeat of Monmouths army at the Battle of Sedgemoor on 6 July 1685 by forces led by Feversham, Monmouth was executed for treason on 15 July 1685. Many of his supporters were tried during the Bloody Assizes, led by Judge Jeffreys, James II was then able to consolidate his power. He reigned until 1688, when he was overthrown in a coup détat by William of Orange in the Glorious Revolution, Monmouth was an illegitimate son of Charles II. There had been rumours that Charles had married Monmouths mother, Lucy Walter, but no evidence was forthcoming, Monmouth had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the English Army by his father in 1672 and Captain general in 1678, enjoying some successes in the Netherlands in the Third Anglo-Dutch War. The English Civil War had left resentment among some of the population about the monarchy, the South West of England contained several towns where opposition remained strong. Fears of a potential Catholic monarch persisted, intensified by the failure of Charles II, a defrocked Anglican clergyman, Titus Oates, spoke of a Popish Plot to kill Charles and to put the Duke of York on the throne. The Earl of Shaftesbury, a government minister and a leading opponent of Catholicism. Some members of Parliament even proposed that the go to Charless illegitimate son, James Scott. Two further Parliaments were elected in 1680 and 1681, but were dissolved for the same reason, after the Rye House Plot of 1683, an attempt to assassinate both Charles and James, Monmouth went into self-imposed exile in the Netherlands, and gathered supporters in The Hague. Monmouth was a Protestant and had toured the South West of England in 1680, so long as Charles II remained on the throne, Monmouth was content to live a life of pleasure in Holland, while still hoping to accede peaceably to the throne. The accession of James II and coronation at Westminster Abbey on 23 April 1685 put an end to these hopes, the Monmouth rebellion was planned in Holland and coordinated with another rebellion in Scotland led by Archibald Campbell, the Earl of Argyll. Argyll and Monmouth both began their expeditions from Holland, where Jamess nephew and son-in-law, William of Orange, had not detained them or put a stop to their recruitment efforts. Argyll sailed to Scotland and, on arriving there, raised mainly from his own clan. He had previously involved in the Rye House Plot of 1683
24.
Glorious Revolution
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The crisis facing the king came to a head in 1688, with the birth of the kings son, James Francis Edward Stuart, on 10 June. This changed the line of succession by displacing the heiress presumptive with young James Francis Edward as heir apparent. The establishment of a Roman Catholic dynasty in the kingdoms now seemed likely, stadtholder William, the de facto head of state of the Dutch United Provinces, feared a Catholic Anglo–French alliance and had already been planning a military intervention in England. After consolidating political and financial support, William crossed the North Sea and English Channel with an invasion fleet in November 1688. After only two minor clashes between the two opposing armies in England, and anti-Catholic riots in several towns, Jamess regime collapsed, however, this was followed by the protracted Williamite War in Ireland and Dundees rising in Scotland. In Englands distant American colonies, the led to the collapse of the Dominion of New England. By threatening to withdraw his troops, William in February 1689 convinced a newly chosen Convention Parliament to make him, the Revolution permanently ended any chance of Catholicism becoming re-established in England. The Revolution led to limited tolerance for Nonconformist Protestants, although it would be some time before they had political rights. Internationally, the Revolution was related to the War of the Grand Alliance on mainland Europe and it has been seen as the last successful invasion of England. It ended all attempts by England in the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century to subdue the Dutch Republic by military force, the expression Glorious Revolution was first used by John Hampden in late 1689, and is an expression that is still used by the British Parliament. The Glorious Revolution is also termed the Bloodless Revolution, albeit inaccurately. Jamess greatest political problem was his Catholicism, which left him alienated from both parties in England. The low church Whigs had failed in their attempt to pass the Exclusion Bill to exclude James from the throne between 1679 and 1681, and Jamess supporters were the high church Anglican Tories. In Scotland, his supporters in the Parliament of Scotland stepped up attempts to force the Covenanters to renounce their faith, when James inherited the English throne in 1685, he had much support in the Loyal Parliament, which was composed mostly of Tories. His Catholicism was of concern to many, but the fact that he had no son, Jamess attempt to relax the Penal Laws alienated his natural supporters, however, because the Tories viewed this as tantamount to disestablishment of the Church of England. The majority of Irish people backed James II for this reason, by allying himself with the Catholics, Dissenters, and Nonconformists, James hoped to build a coalition that would advance Catholic emancipation. In May 1686, James decided to obtain from the English courts of the law a ruling that affirmed his power to dispense with Acts of Parliament. He dismissed judges who disagreed with him on this matter as well as the Solicitor General Heneage Finch, eleven out of the twelve judges ruled in favour of dispensing power
25.
Edward Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield
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Edward Henry Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield was an English peer. He was a staunch Tory and followed James II to Rochester and his subsidiary titles were Viscount Quarendon and Baron Spelsbury. His great grandfather, Henry Lee, was the cousin and heir of Henry Lee of Ditchley and his fathers half-brother was the libertine-poet the Earl of Rochester. Lee was created Earl of Lichfield in 1674 at the age of ten, the Lady Charlotte Fitzroy was the fourth of six children born to the kings mistress, the Duchess of Cleveland. Sweet-natured and strikingly beautiful, Charlotte was adored by her father the king and she was contracted at the age of ten to Lee, who was one year older than his bride-to-be. Three years later, having reached puberty, the thirteen and fourteen-year-olds were married on 6 February 1677 and he died two years before his wife, aged 53. From 1687 to 1689, Lichfield served as Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire and he commanded Lichfields Regiment, an infantry regiment in the English Army until his dismissal for Jacobite sympathies following the Glorious Revolution. It later played prominent part in the Williamite War in Ireland, going through a succession of new Colonels including Henry Wharton, Lady Lichfield bore him at least eighteen children, Charlotte Lee, Lady Baltimore, Benedict Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore, by whom she had six children. Christopher Crowe, Consul of Leghorn, by whom she had four children, George Henry Lee, 2nd Earl of Lichfield. Had one son and two daughters, the eldest of whom, Elisabeth married Henry Temple, son of the 1st Viscount Palmerston, edward Young, in 1731, author of the Night Thoughts, by whom she had one son. It is said that he never recovered from Elizabeths death, barbara Lee, married Sir George Browne, 3rd Baronet of Kiddington. Vice Admiral FitzRoy Henry Lee, Commodore Governor of Newfoundland, robert Lee, 4th Earl of Lichfield
26.
James II of England
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James II and VII was King of England and Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685 until he was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. He was the last Roman Catholic monarch of England, Scotland and Ireland, the second surviving son of Charles I, he ascended the throne upon the death of his brother, Charles II. Members of Britains Protestant political elite increasingly suspected him of being pro-French and pro-Catholic and he was replaced by his eldest, Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange. James made one attempt to recover his crowns from William. After the defeat of the Jacobite forces by the Williamites at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690 and he lived out the rest of his life as a pretender at a court sponsored by his cousin and ally, King Louis XIV. James, the surviving son of King Charles I and his wife. Later that same year, he was baptised by William Laud and he was educated by private tutors, along with his brother, the future King Charles II, and the two sons of the Duke of Buckingham, George and Francis Villiers. At the age of three, James was appointed Lord High Admiral, the position was honorary, but would become a substantive office after the Restoration. He was designated Duke of York at birth, invested with the Order of the Garter in 1642, as the Kings disputes with the English Parliament grew into the English Civil War, James stayed in Oxford, a Royalist stronghold. When the city surrendered after the siege of Oxford in 1646, in 1648, he escaped from the Palace, aided by Joseph Bampfield, and from there he went to The Hague in disguise. When Charles I was executed by the rebels in 1649, monarchists proclaimed Jamess older brother as Charles II of England, Charles II was recognised as king by the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of Ireland, and was crowned King of Scotland at Scone in 1651. Although he was proclaimed King in Jersey, Charles was unable to secure the crown of England and consequently fled to France, like his brother, James sought refuge in France, serving in the French army under Turenne against the Fronde, and later against their Spanish allies. In the French army James had his first true experience of battle where, according to one observer, he ventures himself, in the meantime, Charles was attempting to reclaim his throne, but France, although hosting the exiles, had allied itself with Oliver Cromwell. In 1656, Charles turned instead to Spain – an enemy of France – for support, in consequence, James was expelled from France and forced to leave Turennes army. James quarrelled with his brother over the choice of Spain over France. In 1659, the French and Spanish made peace, James, doubtful of his brothers chances of regaining the throne, considered taking a Spanish offer to be an admiral in their navy. Ultimately, he declined the position, by the year the situation in England had changed. After Richard Cromwells resignation as Lord Protector in 1659 and the subsequent collapse of the Commonwealth in 1660, although James was the heir presumptive, it seemed unlikely that he would inherit the Crown, as Charles was still a young man capable of fathering children
27.
Frederick Schomberg, 1st Duke of Schomberg
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He was killed at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. Descended from an old family of the Electorate of the Palatinate, he was born at Heidelberg, an orphan within a few months of his birth, he was educated by various friends, among whom was Frederick V, Elector Palatine, in whose service his father had been. He began his career under Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. His family, and the house of the Saxon Schönbergs had already attained eminence in France. After the peace of the Pyrenees, the independence of Portugal was threatened by Spain, louis XIV of France, in order not to infringe the treaty just made with Spain, deprived Schomberg of his French officers. Schomberg thus took command of the English brigade which consisted of three regiments in total 3,000 men, many of these were ex Royalist and New Model Army troops from the Civil War. He had been rewarded by the king of Portugal, in 1663, with the rank of Grandee, the title of count of Mértola, however the army did not go into action before the Treaty of Westminster established peace, and was disbanded by the King following Parliamentary pressure. He therefore again entered the service of France and his first operations in Catalonia were unsuccessful owing to the disobedience of subordinates and the rawness of his troops. On 19 June,1674, he was dealt a defeat at the Battle of Maureillas by Francisco de Tutavilla y del Rufo, for this he was made a marshal, being included in the promotion that followed the death of Turenne. The tide had now turned against the Huguenots, and Schombergs merits had been long ignored on account of his adherence to the Protestant religion, the revocation of the Edict of Nantes forced him to leave his adopted country. Ultimately he became general-in-chief of the forces of the elector of Brandenburg, soon afterwards, with the electors consent, he joined the prince of Orange on his expedition to England in 1688, the Glorious Revolution, as second in command to the prince. In August he was appointed commander-in-chief of the expedition to Ireland against the Jacobite supporters of James II, shortly afterwards pestilence broke out, and when he retired to winter quarters in Ulster his forces were more shattered than if they had sustained a severe defeat. Ln the spring he began the campaign with the capture of Charlemont, at the Battle of the Boyne, Schomberg gave his opinion against the determination of William to cross the river in face of the opposing army. After riding through the river to rally his men, he was wounded twice in the head by sabre cuts and his eldest son Charles Schomberg, the second duke in the English peerage, died in the year 1693 of wounds received at the Battle of Marsaglia. His other son was Meinhardt Schomberg, 3rd Duke of Schomberg and he was buried in St Patricks Cathedral, Dublin, where there is a monument to him, erected in 1731, with a Latin inscription by Jonathan Swift. Latin text of the inscription, Hic infra situm est corpus Frederici Ducis de Schonberg, ad Bubindam occisi, decanus et Capitulum maximopere etiam atque etiam petierunt, ut haeredes Ducis monumentum in memoriam parentis erigendum curarent. Sed postquam per epistolas, per amicos, diu ac saepe orando nil profecere, hunc demum lapidem statuerunt, saltem ut scias, hospes, plus potuit fama virtutis apud alienos quam sanguinis proximitas apud suos. A. D.1731 The English translation, Here below is placed the body of Frederick, Duke of Schomberg, killed at the Boyne, A. D.1690
28.
Belfast
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Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, the second largest on the island of Ireland, and the heart of the tenth largest Primary Urban Area in the United Kingdom. On the River Lagan, it had a population of 286,000 at the 2011 census and 333,871 after the 2015 council reform, Belfast was granted city status in 1888. Belfast played a key role in the Industrial Revolution, and was an industrial centre until the latter half of the 20th century. It has sustained a major aerospace and missiles industry since the mid 1930s, industrialisation and the inward migration it brought made Belfast Irelands biggest city at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, Belfast remains a centre for industry, as well as the arts, higher education, business, and law, additionally, Belfast city centre has undergone considerable expansion and regeneration in recent years, notably around Victoria Square. Belfast is served by two airports, George Best Belfast City Airport in the city, and Belfast International Airport 15 miles west of the city. Although the county borough of Belfast was created when it was granted city status by Queen Victoria in 1888, the site of Belfast has been occupied since the Bronze Age. The Giants Ring, a 5, 000-year-old henge, is located near the city, Belfast remained a small settlement of little importance during the Middle Ages. The ONeill clan had a presence in the area, in the 14th century, Cloinne Aodha Buidhe, descendants of Aodh Buidhe ONeill built Grey Castle at Castlereagh, now in the east of the city. Conn ONeill of the Clannaboy ONeills owned vast lands in the area and was the last inhabitant of Grey Castle, evidence of this period of Belfasts growth can still be seen in the oldest areas of the city, known as the Entries. Belfast blossomed as a commercial and industrial centre in the 18th and 19th centuries, industries thrived, including linen, rope-making, tobacco, heavy engineering and shipbuilding, and at the end of the 19th century, Belfast briefly overtook Dublin as the largest city in Ireland. The Harland and Wolff shipyards became one of the largest shipbuilders in the world, in 1886 the city suffered intense riots over the issue of home rule, which had divided the city. In 1920–22, Belfast became the capital of the new entity of Northern Ireland as the island of Ireland was partitioned, the accompanying conflict cost up to 500 lives in Belfast, the bloodiest sectarian strife in the city until the Troubles of the late 1960s onwards. Belfast was heavily bombed during World War II, in one raid, in 1941, German bombers killed around one thousand people and left tens of thousands homeless. Apart from London, this was the greatest loss of life in a raid during the Blitz. Belfast has been the capital of Northern Ireland since its establishment in 1921 following the Government of Ireland Act 1920 and it had been the scene of various episodes of sectarian conflict between its Catholic and Protestant populations. These opposing groups in conflict are now often termed republican and loyalist respectively. The most recent example of conflict was known as the Troubles – a civil conflict that raged from around 1969 to 1998
29.
Siege of Carrickfergus (1689)
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The Siege of Carrickfergus took place in August 1689 when a force of Williamite troops under Marshal Schomberg landed and laid siege to the Jacobite garrison of Carrickfergus in Ireland. After a week the Jacobites surrendered, and were allowed to march out with the honours of war, Carrickfergus was a traditional stronghold of the Crown in Ulster, commanded by the Norman-era Carrickfergus Castle. During 1689 with its Irish Army garrison, it became a refuge for Catholic inhabitants of the region to flee to as the rebellion against James IIs rule grew. In February 1689 local Protestant forces made an attempt to storm the town. After the Break of Dromore on 14 March, Richard Hamiltons royal forces had swept through Eastern Ulster bringing all of County Down and Antrim under their control. Carrickfergus and its area were securely under Jacobite rule as Hamilton advanced to lay siege to Derry. What had initially seemed as though it would be a quick victory began to drag out through the summer, meanwhile, a series of relief forces were being prepared in England. Percy Kirke led an expedition to Derry, where the siege was broken on 28 July. In the face of this defeat, Jacobite forces began to withdraw from Derry. A second major wave of reinforcements was assembled at Chester under the veteran Huguenot commander Frederick Schomberg, while it was originally suggested that they might head for Cork, it was decided that they should be landed in Ulster. By the time the expedition sailed from Hoylake on 12 August 1689 and it meant that Schomberg could now act offensively. By 13 August the expedition was in sight of the Mountains of Mourne and they were accompanied into Bangor Bay by George Rooke who had led a Royal Navy force to clear Belfast Lough of French shipping. The same afternoon Schomberg began disembarking his men and he kept them at the alert in case the Jacobite garrisons of nearby Belfast, Bangor and Carrickfergus should attack, but there was no opposition as the troops were brought ashore. The artillery and supply ships arrived separately a few days later, by the end of August, a total of six cavalry and nine infantry regiments had been landed safely at Carrickfergus. The landing added to a series of setbacks for the Jacobites including their failures at Derry and Enniskillen, faced with strong Williamite forces in both the north-west and north-east, the Jacobite commander in the north Thomas Maxwell ordered a withdrawal towards Newry. At Carrickfergus he left a garrison consisted of Charles MacCarthy Mores infantry regiment. The garrison were charged with delaying Schombergs army for as long as possible, the Jacobites abandoned Belfast which was swiftly occupied by Henry Whartons English regiment. As Schomberg wanted to march on Dublin before the set in
30.
Battle of the Boyne
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The battle took place across the River Boyne near the town of Drogheda in the east of Ireland, and resulted in a victory for William. This turned the tide in Jamess failed attempt to regain the British crown, the battle took place on 1 July 1690O. S. Williams forces defeated Jamess army, which consisted mostly of raw recruits, although the Williamite War in Ireland continued until October 1691, James fled to France after the Boyne, never to return. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the battles in the history of the British Isles. Its commemoration today is principally by the Protestant Orange Institution, which records the first commemorative parades as having held in 1791. It is regarded as a moment in the struggle between Irish Protestant and Catholic interests. The previous year William had sent the Duke of Schomberg to take charge of the Irish campaign and he was a 75-year-old professional soldier who had accompanied William during the Glorious Revolution. Under his command, affairs had remained static and very little had been accomplished, William, dissatisfied with the state of affairs in Ireland, decided to take charge in person. In an Irish context, the war was a sectarian and ethnic conflict, for the Jacobites, the war was fought for Irish sovereignty, religious tolerance for Catholicism, and land ownership. The Catholic upper classes had lost almost all their lands after Cromwells conquest, as well as the right to public office, practice their religion. They saw the Catholic King James as a means of redressing these grievances, to these ends, under Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnel, they had raised an army to restore James after the Glorious Revolution. By 1690, they controlled all of Ireland except for the province of Ulster, most of James IIs troops at the Boyne were Irish Catholics, however, there were also Scots-Irish Presbyterians fighting for James II. Conversely, for the Williamites, the war was about maintaining Protestant, in particular, they dreaded a repeat of the Irish Rebellion of 1641, which had been marked by widespread killing. For these reasons, Protestants fought en masse for William of Orange, Jamess supporters controlled much of Ireland and the Irish Parliament. James also enjoyed the support of his cousin, Louis XIV, Louis sent 6,000 French troops to Ireland to support the Irish Jacobites. William was already Stadtholder of the Netherlands and was able to call on Dutch, James was a seasoned officer who had proven his bravery when fighting for his brother – King Charles II – in Europe, notably at the Battle of the Dunes. William, although a seasoned commander, was one of historys great generals and had yet to win a major battle. Many of his battles ended in stalemates, prompting at least one historian to argue that William lacked an ability to manage armies in the thick of conflict
31.
Siege of Limerick (1690)
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Limerick, a city in western Ireland, was besieged twice in the Williamite War in Ireland, 1689-1691. On the first of these occasions, in August to September 1691, the Williamites, under William III, tried to take Limerick by storm, but were driven off and had to retire into their winter quarters. Following the successful defence of Derry and the Siege of Carrickfergus and their defeat at the Battle of the Boyne on July 1,1690 saw their forces make a disorderly retreat from the eastern part of the country, abandoning the capital Dublin in the process. James II himself had fled Ireland for France, judging his military prospects there to be hopeless, the main Jacobite army had retreated to Limerick after their defeat at the Boyne. The principal reason why many Jacobite officers were reluctant to surrender was the surrender terms published by William in Dublin after his victory at the Boyne. These terms offered a pardon only to the Jacobite rank and file, the Jacobite’s French commander, Lauzun, also wanted to surrender, expressing his dismay at the state of Limerick’s fortifications, saying that they could be knocked down by roasted apples. There were however sufficient Jacobite troops to defend Limerick, a total of 14,500 Jacobite infantry were billeted in Limerick itself and another 2,500 cavalry in Clare under Sarsfield. Moreover, the morale of the soldiers was high, despite the defeat at the Boyne. This was due to the circulation of an ancient Irish prophecy that the Irish would win a victory over the English outside Limerick. This may seem bizarre, but such prophecies were an important part of Irish popular culture at the time, Williamites mocked such superstition in songs such as Lillibullero. Lauzuns deputy Marquis de Boisseleau backed the hardliners in their attempts to defend the city, William of Orange and his army reached Limerick on August 7,1690, with 25,000 men and occupied Ireton’s fort and Cromwell’s fort outside the city. However he had with him only his artillery, as his siege cannon were still making their way from Dublin with a light escort. This siege train was intercepted by Sarsfield’s cavalry, at Ballyneety in county Limerick and this meant that William had to wait another ten days before he could start bombarding Limerick in earnest, while another siege train was brought up from Waterford. By this time it was late August, winter was approaching and William wanted to finish the war in Ireland so he could return to the Netherlands and get on with the main business of the War of the Grand Alliance against the French. For this reason, he decided on an all out assault on Limerick and his siege guns blasted a breach in the walls of the Irish town section of the city and William launched his assault on 27 August. The Danish grenadiers, and the eight regiments who followed them into the breach, suffered terribly from musketry, Jacobite soldiers without arms and the civilian population lined the walls and threw stones and bottles at the attackers. A regiment of Jacobite dragoons also made a sortie and attacked the Williamites in the breach from the outside, after three and a half hours of fighting, William finally called off the assault. Williams men had suffered about 3,000 casualties, including many of their best Dutch, Danish, German, the Jacobites lost only 400 men in the battle
32.
Siege of Athlone
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Athlone was besieged twice during the Williamite War in Ireland. The town is situated in the centre of Ireland on the River Shannon, for this reason, it was of key strategic importance. The Williamites first besieged Athlone in 1690, not long after their victory in the Battle of the Boyne, during this siege, they were commanded by William of Orange. An assault was made on the part of Athlone on 20 June, which caused the Jacobites to retreat across the Shannon to the west bank of the river. The Jacobites garrison at the half of Athlone led by Clifford, initially held off the Williamite assault by fierce fighting. The Williamites tried to lay planks over the partially wrecked structure, several attempts by the Williamites to storm the bridge were repulsed with heavy losses. The Williamite bombardment of the western, Connacht, side of the town was intense, one survivor described the scene, with the balls and bombs flying so thick, that spot was hell on earth. However, Ginkel identified another crossing upriver and sent an elite force,2,000 strong, to cross there. The grenadiers manned the towns west-facing ramparts and held off Jacobite counter-attacks until the main Williamite force could be brought up, after this, the Jacobite garrison, who had been awaiting reinforcement from the main Jacobite force advancing from Limerick, hastily abandoned their positions in Athlone. Ginkel and the Williamites went on to march on Limerick, on the march they were confronted by the main Jacobite army at the Battle of Aughrim and the Williamites inflicted a crushing defeat on them — effectively ending Jacobite resistance in Ireland
33.
Siege of Limerick (1691)
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Limerick in western Ireland was besieged twice during the Williamite War in Ireland. The city, held by Jacobite forces was able to beat off a Williamite assault in 1690, however, after a second siege in August-October 1691, it surrendered on favourable terms. By the time of the siege, the military situation had turned against the Jacobites. The main Jacobite army was smashed at the Battle of Aughrim in July 1691, losing 4,000 men killed, including their commander, the Marquis de St Ruth and thousands more taken prisoner and deserted. The Jacobite army retreated from Galway with all the honours of war to Limerick, on the other hand, the defences of Limerick had been considerably strengthened since 1690. The Williamite general Godert de Ginkell surrounded the city and bombarded it, a surprise Williamite attack drove the Irish defenders from the earthworks defending Thomond bridge, sending its Irish defenders reeling back towards Limerick. The French defenders of the gate of the city refused to open it for the fleeing Irish. After this point, Patrick Sarsfield ousted the Chevalier de Tessé and the Marquis dUsson, the French commanders in Limerick, Limerick capitulated under these favourable terms in October 1691. Sarsfield left Ireland with 10,000 soldiers and 4,000 women and children to enter the French service and this journey has become known as the Flight of the Wild Geese. S. McGarry, Irish Brigades Abroad, Dublin 2013, piers Waudchope, Patrick Sarsfield and the Williamite War, Dublin 1992. Webpage on the Williamite sieges - including good maps and photos
34.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
35.
Fort Knokke
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Fort Knokke or Fort de Cnocke or Fort de la Knocque or Fort de Knocke was an important fortification that defended western Flanders from the 1580s until it was demolished in the 1780s. During its 200 year history, the place was held by the Spanish Empire, Kingdom of France, Habsburg Austria, the existing defenses were improved in 1678 by the famous military engineer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban. The fort was attacked by the Grand Alliance in 1695 during the Nine Years War and it was captured from the French by a ruse in 1712 during the War of the Spanish Succession. Control of the fort and other places in the Austrian Netherlands was a key feature of the so-called Barrier Treaty in 1713. The French captured the fort after a siege in 1744 during the War of the Austrian Succession. Emperor Joseph II had the citadel demolished in 1781, the site is on the Yser River about 8 kilometres southwest of Diksmuide, Belgium. The site of Fort Knokke is at the confluence of the Yser River and it is approximately 17 kilometres northwest of Ypres. At the location, a bridge spans the Yser a few meters below the junction of the two streams. The trace of the fort can still be clearly seen on a satellite image. A fort was first erected at the site by the Spanish between 1584 and 1591 during the Eighty Years War, the able Spanish general Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma had captured Ypres and Veurne. The fort was intended to block raiding parties of Dutch rebels coming from the port of Ostend, the successful Siege of Ostend removed the Dutch threat in 1604 and the fort fell into disuse. Spain awoke to the strategic importance during the Franco-Spanish War. In 1649 a new fort was constructed in the fork between the Yser River and the Ypres Canal, France acquired the Castellany of Veurne-Ambacht by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1668. King Louis XIV of France wanted a line of fortresses to protect the northern border of his kingdom. The fortifications expert Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban immediately noted the importance of its location, the core of the fort was a triangular island on the south side of the streams confluence. A hornwork and ravelin with brick parapets protected the southeast side, the fort was expanded between 1690 and 1692 with the addition of two bastions, one on the north side and one on the south. Ravelins were added on the east and west sides, while three lunettes completed the defenses, all the new works were constructed of earth. Sometime between 1692 and 1712 a wide moat was added on the east and west sides, Fort de la Knocque was attacked by the Grand Alliance during the Nine Years War
36.
Nine Years' War
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It was fought on the European continent and the surrounding seas, Ireland, and in North America. Louis XIV of France had emerged from the Franco-Dutch War in 1678 as the most powerful monarch in Europe, Louis XIVs decision to cross the Rhine in September 1688 was designed to extend his influence and pressure the Holy Roman Empire into accepting his territorial and dynastic claims. The main fighting took place around Frances borders, in the Spanish Netherlands, the Rhineland, Duchy of Savoy, the fighting generally favoured Louis XIVs armies, but by 1696 his country was in the grip of an economic crisis. The Maritime Powers were also exhausted, and when Savoy defected from the Alliance all parties were keen for a negotiated settlement. By the terms of the Treaty of Ryswick Louis XIV retained the whole of Alsace, Louis XIV also accepted William III as the rightful King of England, while the Dutch acquired their Barrier fortress system in the Spanish Netherlands to help secure their own borders. In the years following the Franco-Dutch War Louis XIV of France – now at the height of his powers – sought to impose religious unity in France, and to solidify and expand his frontiers. Louis XIV, along with his chief advisor Louvois, his foreign minister Colbert de Croissy, Vauban had advocated a system of impregnable fortresses along the frontier that would keep Frances enemies out. To construct a system, however, the King needed to acquire more land from his neighbours to form a solid forward line. The King grabbed the necessary territory through what is known as the Réunions, a strategy that combined legalism, arrogance, the Treaty of Nijmegen and the earlier Treaty of Westphalia provided Louis XIV with the justification for the Reunions. These treaties had awarded France territorial gains, but because of the vagaries of the language they were notoriously imprecise and self-contradictory, unsurprisingly, these courts usually found in Louis XIVs favour. By 1680 the disputed County of Montbéliard had been separated from the Duchy of Württemberg, the Chamber of Reunion of Metz soon laid claims to land around the Three Bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, and most of the Spanish Duchy of Luxembourg. The fortress of Luxembourg itself was blockaded with the intention of it becoming part of Louis XIVs defensible frontier. By forcibly taking the Imperial city the French now controlled two of the three bridgeheads over the Rhine, on the same day that Strasbourg fell French forces marched into Casale in northern Italy. Thus, the Reunions were carving territory from the frontiers of Germany, since Leopold Is intervention in the Franco-Dutch War Louis XIV had considered the Emperor his most dangerous enemy, yet the French king had little reason to fear him. Leopold I was weak in Germany, and was in danger along his Hungarian borders where the Ottoman Turks were threatening to overrun all central Europe from the south. Louis had encouraged and assisted the Ottoman drive against Leopold Is Habsburg lands, when the Turks besieged Vienna in the spring of 1683 Louis did nothing to help the defenders. Taking advantage of the Ottoman threat in the east Louis XIV invaded the Spanish Netherlands on 1 September 1683 and renewed the siege of Luxembourg, spains military options were highly limited, yet the Ottoman defeat before Vienna on 12 September had emboldened them. In the hope that Leopold I would now make peace in the east and come to their assistance, however, the Emperor had decided to continue the Turkish war in the Balkans and, for the time being, compromise in the west
37.
Flanders
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Flanders is the Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium, although there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, language, politics and history. It is one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, the demonym associated with Flanders is Fleming, while the corresponding adjective is Flemish. The official capital of Flanders is Brussels, although Brussels itself has an independent regional government, in historical contexts, Flanders originally refers to the County of Flanders, which around AD1000 stretched from the Strait of Dover to the Scheldt estuary. In accordance with late 20th century Belgian state reforms the area was made two political entities, the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region. These entities were merged, although geographically the Flemish Community, which has a cultural mandate, covers Brussels. Flanders has figured prominently in European history, as a consequence, a very sophisticated culture developed, with impressive achievements in the arts and architecture, rivaling those of northern Italy. Belgium was one of the centres of the 19th century industrial revolution, geographically, Flanders is generally flat, and has a small section of coast on the North Sea. Much of Flanders is agriculturally fertile and densely populated, with a density of almost 500 people per square kilometer. It touches France to the west near the coast, and borders the Netherlands to the north and east, the Brussels Capital Region is an enclave within the Flemish Region. Flanders has exclaves of its own, Voeren in the east is between Wallonia and the Netherlands and Baarle-Hertog in the consists of 22 exclaves surrounded by the Netherlands. It comprises 6.5 million Belgians who consider Dutch to be their mother tongue, the political subdivisions of Belgium, the Flemish Region and the Flemish Community. The first does not comprise Brussels, whereas the latter does comprise the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Brussels, the political institutions that govern both subdivisions, the operative body Flemish Government and the legislative organ Flemish Parliament. The two westernmost provinces of the Flemish Region, West Flanders and East Flanders, forming the central portion of the historic County of Flanders, a feudal territory that existed from the 8th century until its absorption by the French First Republic. Until the 1600s, this county also extended over parts of France, one of the regions conquered by the French in Flanders, namely French Flanders in the Nord department. French Flanders can be divided into two regions, Walloon Flanders and Maritime Flanders. The first region was predominantly French-speaking already in the 1600s, the latter became so in the 20th century, the city of Lille identifies itself as Flemish, and this is reflected, for instance, in the name of its local railway station TGV Lille Flandres. The region conquered by the Dutch Republic in Flanders, now part of the Dutch province of Zeeland, the significance of the County of Flanders and its counts eroded through time, but the designation remained in a very broad sense. In the Early modern period, the term Flanders was associated with the part of the Low Countries
38.
Treaty of Ryswick
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The Treaty of Ryswick, or Ryswyck, was signed on 20 September 1697 and named after Ryswick in the Dutch Republic. The treaty settled the War of the League of Augsburg, which pitted France against the Grand Alliance of England, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the United Provinces. Under the terms of the treaty, France renounced some recent territorial gains, the French representatives had their headquarters at The Hague, and the allies were based in Delft, the conference taking place in between the two towns in the Huis ter Nieuwburg, Ryswick. Soon, Spain gave way, and on 20 September a treaty of peace was signed between France and the three powers, England, Spain and the United Provinces. William then persuaded Leopold to make peace, and a treaty between France and the Holy Roman Empire was signed on the following 30 October, the basis of the peace was that all towns and districts seized since the Treaty of Nijmegen should be restored. France surrendered Freiburg, Breisach, and Philippsburg to the Holy Roman Empire, on the other hand, France regained Pondichéry, as well as Acadia, and Spain recovered Catalonia and the barrier fortresses of Mons, Luxembourg, and Kortrijk. The War of the Grand Alliance also played out in North America, the French colonies of Acadia and Canada, along with their Native allies, fought the northern English colonies and their Native allies. Still, the Treaty of Ryswick returned the territorial borders to where they had been before the war, the Iroquois nation, deserted by the English allies, continued to make war on the French colonies until the Great Peace of Montreal of 1701. Needle of Rijswijk Peace of Basel 1795 — Hispaniola Barrier Treaty Treaty of Utrecht Treaty of Ryswick and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Treaty Of Ryswick. History of European Diplomacy, 1451–1789324 pages online pp 141-54, eccles, W. J. Canada Under Louis XIV
39.
Jamaica
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Jamaica is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea, consisting of the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles. The island,10,990 square kilometres in area, lies about 145 kilometres south of Cuba, Jamaica is the fourth-largest island country in the Caribbean, by area. Inhabited by the indigenous Arawak and Taíno peoples, the island came under Spanish rule following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1494, Many of the indigenous people died of disease, and the Spanish imported African slaves as labourers. Named Santiago, the island remained a possession of Spain until 1655, under British colonial rule Jamaica became a leading sugar exporter, with its plantation economy highly dependent on slaves imported from Africa. The British fully emancipated all slaves in 1838, and many chose to have subsistence farms rather than to work on plantations. Beginning in the 1840s, the British imported Chinese and Indian indentured labour to work on plantations, the island achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 6 August 1962. With 2.8 million people, Jamaica is the third-most populous Anglophone country in the Americas, Kingston is the countrys capital and largest city, with a population of 937,700. Jamaicans predominately have African ancestry, with significant European, Chinese, Hakka, Indian, due to a high rate of emigration for work since the 1960s, Jamaica has a large diaspora around the world, particularly in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Jamaica is a Commonwealth realm, with Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch and her appointed representative in the country is the Governor-General of Jamaica, an office held by Sir Patrick Allen since 2009. Andrew Holness has served as the head of government and Prime Minister of Jamaica from March 2016, the indigenous people, the Taíno, called it Xaymaca in Arawakan, meaning the Land of Wood and Water or the Land of Springs. Colloquially Jamaicans refer to their island as the Rock. Slang names such as Jamrock, Jamdown, or briefly Ja, have derived from this, the Arawak and Taíno indigenous people, originating in South America, settled on the island between 4000 and 1000 BC. When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1494, there were more than 200 villages ruled by caciques, the south coast of Jamaica was the most populated, especially around the area now known as Old Harbour. The Taino still inhabited Jamaica when the English took control of the island in 1655, the Jamaican National Heritage Trust is attempting to locate and document any evidence of the Taino/Arawak. Christopher Columbus claimed Jamaica for Spain after landing there in 1494 and his probable landing point was Dry Harbour, now called Discovery Bay, although there is some debate that it might have been St. Anns Bay. St. Anns Bay was named Saint Gloria by Columbus, as the first sighting of the land, the capital was moved to Spanish Town, then called St. Jago de la Vega, around 1534. Spanish Town has the oldest cathedral of the British colonies in the Caribbean, the Spanish were forcibly evicted by the English at Ocho Rios in St. Ann. In 1655, the English, led by Sir William Penn and General Robert Venables, the English continued to import African slaves as labourers
40.
War of the Spanish Succession
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The War of the Spanish Succession was a major European conflict of the early 18th century, triggered by the death in 1700 of the last Habsburg King of Spain, the infirm and childless Charles II. Charles II had ruled over a vast global empire, and the question of who would succeed him had long troubled the governments of Europe, the English, the Dutch and the Austrians formally declared war in May 1702. By 1708, the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy had secured victory in the Spanish Netherlands and in Italy, France faced invasion and ruin, but Allied unity broke first. With the Grand Alliance defeated in Spain and with its casualties mounting and aims diverging, French and British ministers prepared the groundwork for a peace conference, and in 1712 Britain ceased combat operations. The Dutch, Austrians, and German states fought on to strengthen their own negotiating position, the Treaty of Utrecht and the Treaty of Rastatt partitioned the Spanish empire between the major and minor powers. The European balance of power was assured, in the late 1690s the declining health of King Charles II of Spain brought to a head the problem of his succession, a problem which had underlain much of European diplomacy for several decades. The empire was in decline, but remained the largest of the European overseas empires, unlike the French crown, the Spanish crowns could all be inherited by, or through, a female in default of a male line. The next in line after Charles II, therefore, were his two sisters, Maria Theresa, the elder, and Margaret Theresa, the younger, Maria Theresa had married Louis XIV in 1660 and by him she had a son, Louis, Dauphin of France. The testament of her father, Philip IV, reiterated this waiver and bequeathed the reversion of the whole of the Spanish dominions to his younger daughter, Margaret Theresa. However the French, using in part the excuse that the dowry promised Maria Theresa was never paid, nor was it clear whether a princess could waive the rights of her unborn children. Leopold I married Margaret Theresa in 1666, at her death in 1673 she left one living heir, Maria Antonia, who in 1685 married Max Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria. Shortly before her death in 1692, she gave birth to a son, if he chose, Louis XIV could attempt to assert his will on Spain by force of arms, but the Nine Years War had been an immense drain on Frances resources. To seek a solution and gain support, Louis XIV turned to his long-standing rival William of Orange. England and the Dutch Republic had their own commercial, strategic and political interests within the Spanish empire, however, the Maritime Powers were in a weakened state and both had reduced their forces at the conclusion of the Nine Years War. Louis XIV and William III, therefore, sought to solve the problem of the Spanish inheritance through negotiation, based on the principle of partition, to take effect after the death of Charles II. However, the bulk of the empire – most of peninsular Spain, the Spanish Netherlands, Sardinia, the Spanish Empire was now divided between the three surviving candidates. By this new treaty Archduke Charles would receive most of Spain, the Spanish Netherlands, Sardinia, and the overseas empire. For Leopold I, however, control of Spain and its empire was less important than Italy
Kingdom of England (1685–1707)
Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800)
United Kingdom (1801–1959)
British Army
