history.js

var h = {}

h[1766] = "The United States Declaration of Independence is ratified on July 4, 1776. It declares that the Americans were no longer under British rule. Instead, the thirteen British colonies come together to become a new country."
	
h[1788] = "The continent of Australia was founded as a penal colony, since the government was no longer able to send prisoners to America. Convicts in temporary prison hulks on the Thames were sent there, and by 1830 over 50,000 convicts had arrived.</p><p>George III suddenly loses his wits and becomes a violent maniac."
	
h[1789] = "Louis XVI calls the first meeting of the Etats-General since 1614 on 6 August in order to raise taxes, because 100 years of wars had bankrupted the state. The people instead create the National Assembly and adopt the Declaration of the Rights of Man, influenced by American independence and Rousseau's <cite>Social Contract</cite>. Initially British politicians and literary figures welcomed the <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution' target='_blank'>French Revolution</a>. Corresponding Societies were to spring up around the country, following the new social experiment with interest."
	
h[1790] = "Faced with increasing terror and mob rule, boat-loads of wealthy refugees cross the channel seeking refuge in Britain."
	
h[1792] = "The <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution' target='_blank'>French Revolution</a> covered the years 1789-1799, in which the monarchy was overthrown and radical restructuring was forced upon the Roman Catholic Church. The French Republic is declared on 21 Sep.</p><p>The <i class='foreign'>levée en masse</i>, a ragtag army of citizens, begins to stream out of France and defeat European powers.</p><p>Tom Paine's <cite>Rights of Man</cite> sells 200,000 copies in Britain, but further 'seditious' writing is forbidden by law, and Paine escapes by the skin of his teeth to France."
	
h[1793] = "Louis XVI is executed on 21 Jan 1793. The reign of terror begins and will last until 1794.</p><p>Pitt initially refuses to be drawn into war, but when France threatens the neutrality of Holland and declares war on Holland and Britain, it becomes unavoidable."
	
h[1794] = "With the onset of the war, a regime of complete repression is instituted in Britain. Members of political clubs, such as the Corresponding Societies, that won't abolish themselves are imprisoned. In May 1794 habeus corpus, the foundation of British liberties is suspended by the Whigs with very little opposition in parliament, and contact with France was forbidden as a treasonable act punishable by death."
	
h[1797] = "Despite trade surpluses, the costs of the war and the payments to European allies empty the Treasury. This is coupled with severe social distress due to poor harvests. A parliamentary bill is passed so that Bank of England notes replace gold throughout the country with bank notes, with the exception of the armed forces, until 1819."
	
h[1798] = "Pitt introduces a very unpopular rising scale of income tax to help pay for the war.</p><p>When Napoleon captures Malta, Nelson's intuition is that he is headed for Egypt and India. Acting on his own initiative, he eventually comes across the French fleet in Aboukir Bay, near Alexandria, and with unexpected dispatch destroys French naval power in the Mediterranean. He becomes the hero of the hour."
	
h[1800] = "After serious uprisings in Ireland, the Act of Union is brought in by Pitt, with the concession that 100 Irish members were admitted to parliament. Until that time, Catholics could not occupy seats in Parliament. It was only a few years before that they had been allowed to act as jurists and vote in elections."
	
h[1803] = "Napoleon begins massing an army of 150,000 to invade England, while stirring revolt in Ireland and India. Held back by weather, and then realising the strength of British superiority at sea, Napoleon forces Charles IV of Spain to enlarge his fleet and join with the French."
	
h[1805] = "After the French fleet in Toulon escapes the British blockade due to a storm, they join the Spanish near Cadiz. Pitt sends Nelson to deal with what he considered the biggest threat to England of the time. After weeks, Admiral Villeneuve is lured out to fight the British and defeated, although Nelson is also killed by a French sharpshooter."
	
h[1806] = "After 20 years at the helm <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Pitt_the_Younger' target='_blank'>Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger</a> (28 May 1759 – 23 January 1806) dies. For most of that time he was considered an inspiring figure, and in England 'there was a sense of loss almost as if the sun had fallen from the sky'."
	
h[1807] = "Charles James Fox's effort lead to the passage of a bill outlawing the slave trade – the first country to do so. However, the fear of revolution and the unrelenting war effort mean that social reforms for those virtually enslaved by early factories are ignored."
	
h[1808] = "After the future Lord Wellington liberates Portugal from the French, other British generals evacuate the troops with their arms and booty back to France at British expense, causing an outcry in Britain and major inquiry. Meanwhile Napoleon returns to Madrid. General Sir John Moore only finds out about the routing of the Spanish when he reaches Salamanca, but heroically draws the Napoleonic army north to La Coruña, where he is killed due to administrative delays over evacuation."
	
h[1809] = "Further military failures, political corruption and trade slumps plague Britain. The future Wellington however returns to Portugal, and begins the process that will eventually defeat Napoleon."
	
h[1811] = "His father George III being declared incurably mad, the Prince of Wales becomes Regent.<p></p>Wellington winters his troops in Portugal behind the Torres Vedras, while the French besiegers are driven to starvation."
	
h[1812] = "Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is shot by a crazed businessman named Bellingham in the lobby of House of Commons. He is succeeded by Castlereagh.<p></p>As Napolean undertakes a disastrous campaign against Russia, Wellington makes significant headway against his troops in Spain."
	
h[1815] = "At the <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Waterloo' target='_blank'>Battle of Waterloo</a>, which takes place in Belgium on June 18, the Duke of Wellington secures the final defeat of French military leader and emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), who conquered much of continental Europe in the early 19th century."
	
h[1833] = "The <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_Abolition_Act_1833' target='_blank'>Slavery Abolition Act</a> is a result of a movement growing since the early 1780s, and abolishes slavery throughout the British Empire (with a few exceptions that were dealt with later). Slaves over 6 years old become 'apprentices' until 1838 or 1840, when their servitude is finally abolished."
	
h[1834] = "The <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolpuddle_Martyrs' target='_blank'>Tolpuddle Martyrs</a> are sentenced to deportation for taking secret oaths, such is the reactionary government's fear of revolution. It causes a public outcry."
	
h[1837] = "<a target='_blank' href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Victoria'>Queen Victoria</a> acceeds to the throne when she was only 18 years of age on June 20."
	
h[1838] = "<a target='_blank' href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Victoria'>Queen Victoria</a> is crowned on 28 June.</p><p>Chartist Thomas Attwood, founder of the Birmingham Political Union, presents the 'People's Charter' to parliament: 6 demands for political reform."
	
h[1840] = "Rowland Hill implements a uniform <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Post' target='_blank'>post rate of one penny</a>, irrespective of distance, to reform Britain's postal system which had been expensive, complex, open to abuse and causing widespread discontent. In the following decade the volume of letters sent in Britain increases five-fold to almost 350 million a year."
	
h[1845] = "Withdrawal of support for rates drives Britain into the 'Hungry Forties'. Unemployment in northern textile towns is so bad that the poor are living on money raised by local citizens and the workhouses overflowed. Indirect taxation adds to the pressure.</p><p>In September, the potato crop which had previously provided approximately 60% of the nation's food needs, <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)' target='_blank'>begs to rot all over Ireland</a>. The potato blight strikes again the following year. What began as a natural catastrophe is exacerbated by the actions and inactions of the British government. It is estimated that about a million people die during the four-year famine, and that between 1845 and 1855 another million emigrate, most to Britain and North America."
	
h[1851] = "In addition to the population census of England and Wales, a census is taken of places of worship. This reveals that around 80% of Welsh worshipers go to Nonconformist chapels and only 20% to the established church. Awareness of this numerical superiority greatly encourages the demand for the disestablishment of the Church of England in Wales. Partly due to the opposition of the Conservative party and the House of Lords, this did not take place until 1914."
	
h[1854] = "British ships sail from Constantinople to Crimea, planning to destroy the Russian military installation at Sebastopol, and prevent Russian interference in Turkey. The whole affair is a disaster, from incompetent supplies management to the charge of the Light Brigade. W H Russell of the London Times, the first war correspondent, makes the public aware of the catastrophic shambles and deference to absurd regulations."
	
h[1854] = "Total incompetence of British army in Crimea becomes a public scandal via W H Russell of the London Times, the first war correspondent."
	
h[1855] = "Before Peelite Aberdeen resigns, War Minister Sidney Herbert sends Florence Nightingale to Scutari, where she massively reduces mortality by adopting simple hygiene and adequate provisions. Palmerstone succeeds Aberdeen as PM in February. He listens to Nightingale, builds a railway and conditions improve vastly. Still, 40% of the 25,000 soldiers sent to the Crimea are killed. The French and Sardinians finally take Sebastopol."
	
h[1855] = "Florence Nightingale in Scutari. Whig Palmerstone becomes PM in February and acts on Nightingale's recommendations. Still, 40% of the 25,000 soldiers sent to the Crimea are killed, and the French and Sardinians have to take Sebastopol. Palmerstone is progressive internationally, but stops all domestic reform."
	
h[1856] = "The Treaty of Paris neutralises the Black Sea, holding back Russia for another 15 years. But despite the scandal and Royal Commission into the Crimean War, the British army resists adopting more than a few recommendations."
	
h[1861] = "The <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War' target='_blank'>American Civil War</a> starts on 12 Apr 1861 and concluded on 9 May 1865. The Union faces secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America."
	
h[1865] = "Lewis Carroll writes <cite>Alice's Adventures in Wonderland</cite>."
	
h[1867] = "Disraeli's <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_Act_1867' target='_blank'>Reform Act</a> permits large extensions to the franchise, virtually doubling the electorate, enabling one-third of adult males in Britain and one-sixth in Ireland to vote in parliamentary elections. In a few urban constituencies, working men are an electoral majority."
	
h[1868] = "Gladstone proposes disestablishing the Protestant church in Ireland, and the newly enfranchised electorate approves, sweeping the Liberals into power. Gladstone will produce the beginnings of modern Britain.</p><p>Wilkie Collins published the <cite>Moonstone</cite>, sometimes called the first detective novel."
	
h[1869] = "Women gain the right to vote in municipal elections.</p><p>The Church Disestablishment Act means the tiny Anglican church is no longer the state church of Ireland."
	
h[1870] = "The 1870 Married Women's Property Act changes the previous legal situation, in which all property automatically transferred to the control of a husband on marriage, granting limited protection to a married woman's property allowing women to retain up to £200 of their own wages or earnings</p><p>W E Forster's Elementary Education Act  creates the first national education system, making education available to all children from 5 to 13, however it isn't compulsory until 1880, and isn't free until 1891.</p><p>An exam system is instituted for the civil service.</p><p>The Irish Land Act compells Irish landlords to compensate tenants for evictions who have made improvements in their holdings, and issues loans to enable tenants to settle land.</p><p>Charles Dickens dies."
	
h[1871] = "The Trade Union Act legalises trade unions as friendly societies.</p><p>Commanding rank in the army can no longer be obtained by purchasing a commission, and different branches of the army are merged under the secretary for war. Reform is aided, despite furious opposition and vested interests in the House of Lords, by the presence of the Prussians in France, just across the channel.</p><p>The University Test Act opens Oxbridge universities to non-Anglicans.</p><p>Three national bank holidays are introduced."
	
h[1872] = "The Secret Ballot Act removes voter intimidation.</p><p>The first women are accepted at Girton and Newnham in Cambrige, though they cannot yet take degrees. Oxford's Lady Margaret Hall and Somerville would follow in 1878.</p><p>Elliot publishes <cite>Middlemarch</cite>, and Hardy <cite>Under the Greenwood Tree</cite>."
	
h[1873] = "The Custody of Infants Act awards women access to their children in the event of divorce or separation."
	
h[1874] = "Dissatisfaction with Russia reclaiming the Black Sea and demands for reparations from the American civil war brings Disraeli and the Conservatives back to power. The Liberal cause is not helped by the 1872 Licensing Act."
	
h[1875] = "Realising the need to continue reforms to please the new electorate, Disraeli passes the Artisans Dwellings Act. This replaces slums with healthy housing, in particular in Birmingham under Joseph Chamberlain.</p><p>With a loan from the Rothschilds, Disraeli acquires a majority share in the Suez Canal, outmanoeuvering the French."
	
h[1876] = "Reversing his previous distaste for the colonies, Disraeli seeks to expand the British Empire, and makes Victoria Queen Empress of India."
	
h[1880] = "Although WE Forster's act of 1870 had greatly expanded education opportunities, and an act passed in Benjamin Disraeli's government of 1876 had set up school attendance committees, significant gaps remained. AJ Mundella introduces a bill on behalf of William Gladstone's Liberal government which makes school attendance compulsory from ages five to 10. State expenditure on education, about £1.25 million a year in 1870, will rise to £4 million, and would reach £12 million by the end of Victoria's reign."
	
h[1881] = "Disenchantment with military disasters in South Africa and Afghanistan, plus successive bad harvests from 1875-80, and a flood of cheap grain, thanks to their free trade policies, badly dents the Conservatives' reputation. Thousands of farmers had gone to the wall and left for towns or emigrated. The Liberals return under Gladstone with a huge majority."
	
h[1883] = "Following the 1870 Married Women's Property Act, which granted limited protection to a married woman's property, a further act now addresses criticisms by allowing women to acquire and retain any property deemed separate from that of their husband's, and provides legal protection."
	
h[1894] = "Women are allowed to serve on urban and district councils."
	
h[1901] = "As queen-empress <a target='_blank' href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Victoria'>Victoria</a> had ruled over almost a quarter of the world's population. Although wilful and narrow-minded in some respects, she established firm precedents for a hard-working 'constitutional monarch', operating as a head of state above the fray of party politics. Her death on 22 Jan, coming so soon after the end of the 19th century, is truly the end of an era."
	
h[1908] = "New legislation on 27 Oct gives a weekly means-tested pension of a maximum of five shillings to all those aged over 70. Only about half a million people received the pension, and thus the significance of the legislation lies as much in the fact that it established a principle as in its immediate benefits."
	
h[1914] = "Belgium's ports are close to the British coast and German control of Belgium would be been seen as a serious threat to Britain. In the end, Britain refuses to ignore the events of 4 August, when Germany attacks France through Belgium. Within hours, Britain declares war on Germany. Conscription will be introduced on 27 Jan 1916."
	
h[1918] = "World War One ends at 11am on the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Germany signs an armistice that had been prepared by Britain and France."
	
h[1928] = "The Conservative government's 5th Reform Act on 7 May alters the 1918 Representation of the People Act, which had only allowed women over 30 who owned property to be enfranchised. The new act gives women the vote on the same terms as men."
	
h[1939] = "Germany invades Poland on 1 Sep. Since Great Britain had pledged military support to Poland if it were attacked by the Germans, it subsequently declares war against Germany on 3 Sep, hence beginning World War II."
	
h[1944] = "RA Butler, the progressive Conservative chancellor of the exchequer, creates universal free secondary education to the age of 15 in May, something people had campaigned for since the 19th century. There will be three types of schools - grammar, secondary modern and technical, entrance to which was determined by the '11 plus' examination."
	
h[1945] = "On 8 May, the Allies accept Germany’s surrender, about a week after Adolf Hitler had committed suicide, and World War II ends in Europe. Japan agrees in principle to unconditional surrender on 15 August 1945. Japan formally surrenders on 2 Sep, ending World War II throughout the rest of the world"