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HMS Dreadnought.The 1902, 1904 and 1907 agreements with Japan, France and Russia allowed Britain to refocus resources during the Anglo-German naval arms race. In explaining why Britain went to war with Germany, British historian Paul Kennedy (1980) argued that a critical factor was the British realisation that Germany was rapidly becoming economically more powerful than Britain.
American cartoon showing territorial dispute between France and Germany over Alsace-Lorraine, 1898. Some of the distant origins of World War I can be seen in the results and consequences of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and 1871 and the concurrent unification of Germany. Germany had won decisively and established a powerful empire, but France ...
[14] [186] The war released pent-up indigenous nationalism, as populations tried to take advantage of the precedent set by the introduction of self-determination in eastern Europe. Britain was to face unrest in Ireland (1919–21), India (1919), Egypt (1919–23), Palestine (1920–21) and Iraq (1920) at a time when they were supposed to be ...
Britain protests against the violation of Belgian neutrality, guaranteed by the Treaty of London (1839), The German Chancellor replies that the treaty is just a chiffon de papier (a scrap of paper). The United Kingdom declares war on Germany, automatically including all dominions, colonies, etc. of the British Empire including Canada, Australia ...
World War 1 begins 1918 11 November World War 1 ends 1939 3 September Britain declares war on Nazi Germany and enters World War 2: 1945 8 May Germany surrenders and World War 2 ends in Europe 1948 5 July The National Health Service is founded 1973 1 January: UK joins the European Communities (predecessor of the European Union). 1982 11 October
The American Revolution started as a civil war within the British Empire. [a] It became a larger international war in 1778 once France joined. [b] Treaty of Paris: 13 North American colonies recognised as the independent United States of America; Territory in North America ceded to the newly independent United States of America
Before World War II, the events of 1914–1918 were generally known as the Great War or simply the World War. [1] In August 1914, the magazine The Independent wrote "This is the Great War. It names itself". [2] In October 1914, the Canadian magazine Maclean's similarly wrote, "Some wars name themselves. This is the Great War."
This is a timeline of British history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of England, History of Wales, History of Scotland, History of Ireland, Formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and History of the United Kingdom