Modern Britain — Chronicon · Χρονικόν · Chronicon

Aftermath of the Great WarPolitical

Armistice and the vote for women

At 11 a.m. on 11 November the guns fall silent on the Western Front; Britain has lost roughly 723,000 dead. In February the Representation of the People Act gave the vote to all men over 21 and to women householders over 30 — a tripled electorate of 21 million.

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Irish Free StatePolitical

Anglo-Irish Treaty and the partition of Ireland

After two years of guerrilla war fought by Michael Collins's IRA, Lloyd George's government signs a treaty granting dominion status to twenty-six Irish counties as the Irish Free State; six Protestant-majority counties of the north remain in the United Kingdom.

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Interwar BritainPolitical

The General Strike

On 4 May the Trades Union Congress calls out 1.7 million workers in support of the locked-out coal miners. For nine days the country runs on volunteer labour and military supply convoys; the strike collapses without concessions.

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Interwar BritainPolitical

The Abdication Crisis

After 326 days as king, Edward VIII abdicates on 11 December to marry the twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson. The crown passes to his shy younger brother Albert, who reigns as George VI.

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Britain AloneMilitary

Britain stands alone

After the fall of France in June, the evacuation of 338,000 troops from the beaches of Dunkirk, and Churchill's accession as prime minister on 10 May, Britain faces Nazi Germany alone. Through the summer and autumn the Luftwaffe is defeated in the Battle of Britain; through the autumn and winter the cities endure the Blitz.

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Welfare StatePolitical

Victory and the Labour landslide

VE Day on 8 May celebrates the defeat of Nazi Germany. In the general election in July the British public rejects Churchill and gives Clement Attlee's Labour Party a 145-seat majority on a manifesto of nationalisation, full employment, and a national health service.

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End of EmpirePolitical

Independence of India and Pakistan

On 15 August India becomes independent under Jawaharlal Nehru; on 14 August Pakistan is founded under Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The partition of British India displaces perhaps fifteen million people and kills up to a million in religious violence.

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Welfare StatePolitical

NHS founded and the Empire Windrush arrives

On 5 July the National Health Service comes into being, free at the point of use for all British residents. Three weeks earlier, on 22 June, the SS Empire Windrush docks at Tilbury with 492 passengers from the West Indies, ushering in the first wave of post-war Commonwealth migration to Britain.

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New Elizabethan AgePolitical

Accession of Elizabeth II

On 6 February King George VI dies in his sleep at Sandringham. His twenty-five-year-old daughter Elizabeth, on tour in Kenya, returns home as queen. She is crowned in Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953 — the first coronation televised live.

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End of EmpirePolitical

The Suez Crisis

In a secret pact with France and Israel, Anthony Eden's government invades Egypt to retake the Suez Canal nationalised by Nasser. American financial pressure forces a humiliating withdrawal within a week. Eden resigns; the illusion of independent British great-power status collapses.

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The TroublesMilitary

British troops deployed to Northern Ireland

After two years of escalating sectarian violence — Catholic civil-rights marches, Protestant counter-attacks, the burning of Bombay Street in Belfast — Harold Wilson's government deploys troops on the streets of Belfast and Londonderry in August. The Troubles have begun.

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European BritainPolitical

Britain joins the European Economic Community

On 1 January, under Edward Heath's Conservative government, the United Kingdom enters the EEC alongside Denmark and Ireland. Two earlier applications had been vetoed by Charles de Gaulle. A 1975 referendum confirms membership by two to one.

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ThatcherismPolitical

Margaret Thatcher becomes Prime Minister

After the Winter of Discontent — strikes that left rubbish uncollected and the dead unburied — the Conservatives win the May election. Margaret Thatcher, the first woman to lead a major British party, becomes the first to lead a British government.

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ThatcherismMilitary

The Falklands War

After Argentina invades the Falkland Islands on 2 April, a British task force sails 8,000 miles south to retake them. Ten weeks of fighting at sea, in the air, and on the islands end with the Argentine surrender at Port Stanley on 14 June.

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New LabourPolitical

Blair's landslide and devolution

After eighteen years of Conservative government, Tony Blair's reformed New Labour wins a 179-seat majority — the largest in any postwar election. Within months referendums in Scotland and Wales approve devolved parliaments at Edinburgh and assemblies at Cardiff.

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Northern Ireland PeacePolitical

Good Friday Agreement

On 10 April, after two years of secret talks chaired by the American senator George Mitchell, the British and Irish governments, the SDLP, Sinn Féin, the UUP, and most of the loyalist parties sign an agreement at Stormont. Power-sharing, paramilitary decommissioning, and constitutional reform end thirty years of war.

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BrexitPolitical

Brexit referendum

On 23 June, in a referendum called by David Cameron to settle Conservative divisions, 17.4 million British voters (51.9 per cent) choose to leave the European Union. Cameron resigns the next morning; the pound falls eight per cent overnight.

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BrexitPolitical

Britain leaves the European Union

At 11 p.m. on 31 January, after a delay of three and a half years and the collapse of two governments, the United Kingdom formally leaves the European Union — the first member ever to depart. A transitional period and a thin trade deal end the year in deadline negotiations on Christmas Eve.

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New ReignPolitical

Death of Queen Elizabeth II

On 8 September Queen Elizabeth II dies at Balmoral aged 96, after a reign of 70 years and 214 days — the longest in British history. Her seventy-three-year-old son Charles accedes as Charles III, the first new monarch in living memory for most of the population.

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