British History Timeline for the Life in the UK Test

How to use this timeline

History is the biggest part of the handbook, and the part most people find hardest. Most of that difficulty is dates: which century, which king, which war.

The events below are the ones this test actually asks about. They are grouped into the same eight periods as our British history questions, so you can read the timeline first and then practise the questions for whichever period you keep getting wrong.

Roman Britain (43–410)

Britain was not empty before the Romans. The test asks when they came, what they built, and when they left.

1. 55 BCJulius Caesar led a Roman invasion. It failed, and he came again the next year without staying.
2. AD 43The Emperor Claudius invaded. This time the Romans stayed, and ruled for nearly 400 years.
3. AD 122Hadrian ordered a wall built across the north to keep out the tribes of what is now Scotland.
4. AD 410The Roman army left Britain to defend other parts of the empire. They never came back.

Read the full Roman Britain guide →

Anglo-Saxons and Vikings (410–1066)

After the Romans left, tribes from northern Europe settled here, and later the Vikings raided and stayed.

1. 793Vikings raided the monastery at Lindisfarne. More raids followed for many years.
2. 878Alfred the Great defeated the Vikings and agreed the border of the Danelaw with them.
3. 927Athelstan became the first king to rule all of England.
4. 1042Edward the Confessor became king. He began building Westminster Abbey.

Read the full Anglo-Saxons and Vikings guide →

The Normans and the Middle Ages (1066–1485)

The most asked-about date in the whole test sits at the start of this era, and the Middle Ages that follow carry several more.

1. 1066William of Normandy defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings and became king.
2. 1086The Domesday Book recorded who owned what across England.
3. 1215King John signed Magna Carta. It limited the power of the king and protected some rights.
4. 1314Robert the Bruce beat the English at Bannockburn, and Scotland stayed independent.
5. 1348The Black Death reached Britain. About a third of the people died.
6. 1381The Peasants’ Revolt. People rose up against a poll tax they could not pay.
7. 1415Henry V beat a much larger French army at Agincourt during the Hundred Years War.
8. 1476William Caxton set up the first printing press in England.

Read the full Norman Conquest guide →

The Tudors and Stuarts (1485–1714)

A long run of dates the test likes: a new church, an invasion fleet, a plot, a civil war and a fire.

1. 1485Henry Tudor beat Richard III at Bosworth Field. The Wars of the Roses ended and the Tudors began.
2. 1534Henry VIII broke with Rome and became head of the Church of England.
3. 1588The Spanish Armada sailed against England and was defeated.
4. 1605The Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament failed. We still mark it on 5 November.
5. 1642Civil war began between the king and Parliament.
6. 1649Charles I was executed. England was a republic for the next eleven years.
7. 1660The monarchy was restored and Charles II became king.
8. 1666The Great Fire of London destroyed much of the city.
9. 1688The Glorious Revolution. James II was replaced by William III with no battle in England.
10. 1689The Bill of Rights confirmed that Parliament controlled taxes and the king could not rule alone.
11. 1707The Act of Union joined England and Scotland into one kingdom, Great Britain.

Read the full Tudors and Stuarts guide →

The Industrial Revolution (1714–1900)

Britain changed from farms to factories. The test asks about the machines, the empire, and the slow spread of the vote.

1. 1801The Act of Union joined Ireland to Great Britain, making the United Kingdom.
2. 1805Admiral Nelson beat the French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar. He died in the battle.
3. 1807Parliament abolished the transatlantic slave trade in the British Empire.
4. 1815The Duke of Wellington defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.
5. 1832The Reform Act gave the vote to more people and changed how seats were shared out.
6. 1833The Emancipation Act abolished slavery itself across the British Empire.
7. 1837Victoria became queen. Her reign lasted until 1901, longer than any before it.

Read the full Industrial Revolution guide →

The First World War (1914–1918)

Four years that the test treats as their own period, ending with the first women getting the vote.

1. 1914Britain entered the First World War.
2. 1916The Battle of the Somme. Britain lost about 60,000 men on the first day.
3. 1918The war ended at 11am on 11 November. We remember it every year on Remembrance Day.
4. 1918Women over 30 who owned property got the vote.
5. 1928Women got the vote at 21, the same age as men.

Read the full First World War guide →

The Second World War (1939–1945)

The dates here come up often, especially 1940, and so do the names attached to them.

1. 1939Britain declared war on Germany after it invaded Poland.
2. 1940Winston Churchill became Prime Minister. Troops were rescued from Dunkirk by boat.
3. 1940The Battle of Britain. The RAF held off the German air force.
4. 1944D-Day. Allied troops landed in Normandy on 6 June.
5. 1945The war ended in Europe in May and in the Far East in August.

Read the full Second World War guide →

Modern Britain (1945 to today)

The last stretch, from the founding of the NHS to leaving the European Union.

1. 1948The National Health Service began. Care was free at the point of use.
2. 1948The ship Empire Windrush brought workers from the Caribbean to help rebuild Britain.
3. 1969The voting age was lowered from 21 to 18.
4. 1973Britain joined the European Economic Community, which became the European Union.
5. 1979Margaret Thatcher became the first woman Prime Minister of the UK.
6. 1998The Good Friday Agreement brought peace closer in Northern Ireland.
7. 1999The Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly met for the first time.
8. 2020Britain left the European Union on 31 January.

Read the full Modern Britain guide →

Dates to remember

If you learn nothing else, learn these. They are the dates that come up most often in our question bank, which follows the same handbook the real test uses.

• AD 43The Romans invaded under Claudius
• 410The Romans left Britain
• 1066Battle of Hastings
• 1215Magna Carta signed
• 1348The Black Death reached Britain
• 1381The Peasants’ Revolt
• 1588The Spanish Armada defeated
• 1605The Gunpowder Plot
• 1649Charles I executed
• 1666The Great Fire of London
• 1688The Glorious Revolution
• 1707Act of Union with Scotland
• 1832The Reform Act
• 1918Women over 30 got the vote
• 1928Women got the vote at 21
• 1948The NHS began
• 1973Britain joined the EEC
• 2020Britain left the European Union

Monarchs have their own page, because the test asks about the order of reigns as well as the dates: kings and queens of England. For the full written chapter, read the British history study guide.

Common questions