AQA GCSE HISTORY - Britain: Migration, Empires and the People timeline

Question 1

411

Answer 1

Britain was defenceless without the Roman soldiers, so it became an easy target for tribes from Germany to invade in search of better land. These tribes were called the Angles and the Saxons. They joined together to become the Anglo-Saxons. The area now known as England comes to consider itself to be Anglo-Saxon, with the name “England” coming from “Angle”.

Question 2

790

Answer 2

Vikings start to attack England. These were sea raiders from Denmark and Norway. They come on cleverly-designed Longships to try and take wealth and land because their homes in Scandinavia were too overcrowded. Some of the Vikings decided to stay in England permanently.

Question 3

849-99

Answer 3

The Vikings conquer almost all of England, with the exception of the southern kingdom, which was called Wessex. This was lead by King Alfred the Great. He started the fight back against the Vikings.

Question 4

878

Answer 4

battle of edington

Question 5

900 – 1065

Answer 5

Power in England switched regularly between Viking and Anglo-Saxon leaders. A particularly famous Viking leader during this era was King Cnut. He created a Scandinavian Empire that included Britain, Norway and Denmark, but it did not last long.

Question 6

1066

Answer 6

The Battle of Hastings took place. The Normans, under William the Conqueror, invaded England. Both the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings were defeated in a series of battles. England gained a political link with the area of Normandy in France.

Question 7

1133 – 1171

Answer 7

The Normans continued to have land in England and France. King Henry II expanded the land that he owned in France through marriage and inheritance. He came to own all of the French land on the Atlantic Coast. This became known as the Angevin Empire.

Question 8

1171

Answer 8

Henry II was recognised as the ruler of Ireland too, although he only really owned land around Dublin called the ‘Pale’. This was the first time that England and Ireland were considered to be part of the same kingdom.

Question 9

1189 – 1216

Answer 9

Henry II’s son, King John, gradually lost almost all of England’s lands in France. This is called the collapse of the Angevin Empire. As a result, he was deeply unpopular in England and forced to sign the Magna Carta.

Question 10

1337

Question 11

1415

Question 12

1453

Question 13

1603

Question 14

1607

Question 15

1670

Question 16

1775 – 1782

Question 17

1612 – 1856

Question 18

1857

Question 19

1881 – 1914

Question 20

1889 – 1902

Question 21

1922

Question 22

1945 – 1997

Question 23

1947

Question 24

1948

Question 25

1973

Question 26

1982

Question 27

1997

Question 28

2019/