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Original poster

What stage in British history do you think was the most defining moment?

90 replies

Nidan2Sandan · 19/12/2021 15:27

Pre 2020!

What point do you think has had the biggest or most profound affect on Britain.

For me, its Henry II and Simon DeMonfort. It was when the King no longer had ultimate, utilitarian rule over the lands and the beginnings of parliament were founded. Parliament we still have today (yes, yes, I know today's is pretty shit).

Just to be clear, there are no wrong answers Xmas Grin

OP posts:
Driposaurus · 19/12/2021 15:30

1066 surely. Without it, I imagine we’d be a lot more Scandinavian/Germanic than we are…

100problems · 19/12/2021 15:36

The Industrial Revolution

Toddlerteaplease · 19/12/2021 15:37

The reformation.

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History
WildWombat · 19/12/2021 15:40

The execution of Charles I was pretty groundbreaking. Obviously the commonwealth turned out to be a disaster but at least it proved divine right of kings was complete bollocks and paved the way for fairer representation and democracy.

MissDollyMix · 19/12/2021 15:41

I’d agree with a previous poster that 1066 was an absolutely seismic shift in the political and cultural landscape of our country.

AllIWantforXmasIsYouGotThis · 19/12/2021 15:44

1066

sashagabadon · 19/12/2021 15:45

King John and magma carta?
Or Aethlestan ( grandson of Alfred) and the creation of the nation state of a united England. English history but British history too.
1066 too as we all became Normans rather than Anglo Saxons ( although I think the Norman’s were originally Danes too iirc)

Dontgonearthecastle · 19/12/2021 16:01

@Nidan2Sandan

Pre 2020!

What point do you think has had the biggest or most profound affect on Britain.

For me, its Henry II and Simon DeMonfort. It was when the King no longer had ultimate, utilitarian rule over the lands and the beginnings of parliament were founded. Parliament we still have today (yes, yes, I know today's is pretty shit).

Just to be clear, there are no wrong answers Xmas Grin

Henry III was king, or rather figurehead.

But yes, the 1265 parliament was quite a momentous turning point in Britain's political evolution.

1066 also major moment, but there is some evidence that suggests we were heading along French lines anyway and moving away from Northern/Scandinavian Europe.

I agree with the Wars of the Three Kingdoms/Civil War and the execution of Charles I - huge development in Britain's history, not just England, swiftly followed by the Acts of Union and the mess ever since GrinWink

TallulahsCurse · 19/12/2021 16:02

When Boris absolutely didn't have, or know about, a Christmas party.

sashagabadon · 19/12/2021 16:06

Queen Anne and the creation of the United Kingdom gotta be a contender too

bubbleblower85 · 19/12/2021 16:13

I think it is not possible to just pick one moment really as defining, there are several in my opinion.

The fall of Roman Britain and subsequent invasion of the Anglo Saxon/Germanic tribes.

1066

The reformation and the issues that followed (civil war etc) from the 15-17Centary.

The consolidation of the British Empire.

Industrial Revolution.

WW1 and WW2.

And in terms of culture the 60's, feminism and mass non white immigration, are the recent moments in British history that has changed Britain.

  • I am the descendants of non white immigration so I don't mean that statement as anything negative.
bubbleblower85 · 19/12/2021 16:14
  • One of the fall from the reformation being the creation of UK, joiing of Scotland and England under the Stewart's figure in this too.
jesusmaryjosephandtheweedonkey · 19/12/2021 16:18

Henry leaving the Catholic Church

PiglingBlonde · 19/12/2021 16:51

I'd go with Charles II and the Royal Society with Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle etc. Really encouraging developments in science and rewarding it which paved the way for the industrial revolution.

SarahAndQuack · 19/12/2021 17:24

Just for the sake of balance, I will argue the last defeat of Wales and the punitive control of the Marches. It was such a punishing defeat (salted fields; such a wholesale destruction of houses that they simply wiped out a huge tranche of the archaeological record), and you could say that set the pattern for the subsequent centuries of English, then British, colonising rule.

Original poster
Nidan2Sandan · 19/12/2021 17:26

@TallulahsCurse

When Boris absolutely didn't have, or know about, a Christmas party.
I clearly said pre 2020!

Take your issues to a different thread please

OP posts:
DGRossetti · 19/12/2021 17:35

1066

www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/10/last-1000-years-families-owned-england/

The very first thing William did after he took the English throne was to declare in 1067 that all lands, which had previous been in the hands of many landowners, belonged exclusively to him. He then instituted feudalism when he began to parcel land out to the loyal soldiers who helped him win the throne.

That brings us to today. According to The Guardian, 70% of Britain’s land remains in the hand of less than 1% of its population, with a mere 160,000 families owning 66% of it. More troubling, Queen Elizabeth II remains the nominal owner of every bit of land in England, and every landowner is technically just a tenant (who pays rent in the form of loyalty).

...

When you know that - and realise the implications - you suddenly know why England has been the school of choice for despots around the world. They're all hoping they can learn the magic that allows land to stay in the same family for centuries.

I'd guess the civil war is a second. But was really a manifestation of the reformation. But if you look at a modern socio-economic map of England against politics, you can see the same divisions in the land now, as then.

Muminabun · 19/12/2021 17:36

The Black Death of 1347 and the other years that it ravaged through everyone. Just because it totally wiped out so many people it shifted society and led to the peasants revolt some years later. Another one I think is WW1 because it was such a shift from the old ways to the new modern era in ways that are just staggering, clothes, transport attitudes, sexuality jobs just everything.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 19/12/2021 17:36

I actually think the birth the welfare state was a major transformation.

DGRossetti · 19/12/2021 17:37

The fall of Roman Britain and subsequent invasion of the Anglo Saxon/Germanic tribes.

How about the Roman invasion of Britain - 43 AD.

Personally I'm quite happy to start my clock for "Britain" at 55 B.C. when we get a mention in one of the biggest sellers of antiquity and beyond. It's where our documented story in the world begins.

TomPinch · 19/12/2021 17:39

Politically, the Glorious Revolution in 1688. It established Parliamentary supremacy and it has lasted ever since.

But overall I'd say the social changes in the 1960s and since. There has been nothing like them in the previous 1,000 years in terms of the scope of change.

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 19/12/2021 17:40

The allegiances formed in the early 1900s leading to the 'sides' during WWI and the knock on effect to WW2.

Or more for global history... Colonialism.

TomPinch · 19/12/2021 17:41

@Driposaurus

1066 surely. Without it, I imagine we’d be a lot more Scandinavian/Germanic than we are…
Not necessarily. Scotland never had a 1066 moment but it still got pulled into the same orbit.
PlanetNormal · 19/12/2021 17:45

The industrial revolution. Being Derbyshire born & bred, I would say that, because the concept of structured, mechanised factories was invented here.

londonmummy1966 · 19/12/2021 17:45

Henry VII's victory at Boswell and his move to break the power of the nobility and have government run by people who were able rather than born into the right family.