Материалы к уроку (история, литература,искусство)

Britain in the 18th century

The new dynasty.

Before the end of the 18th century Britain had become a very powerful country. It became wealthy through trade. The wealth made possible both an agricultural and an industrial revolution, which made Britain the most economically advanced country in the world.

King James I had a granddaughter, Sophia, who was a Protestant. She married the Elector of Hanover, also a Protestant. The British Parliament declared their son, George Hanover, the heir to the English throne after Queen Anne, who had no surviving children. When Queen Anne died in 1714, George Hanover ascended the English throne, as George I, thus starting a new dynasty.

George I was a strange king. He was a true German and did not try to follow English customs. He could not speak English and spoke to his ministers in French. But Parliament supported him because he was a Protestant.

Life in towns.

In 1700 England was still a land of small villages. In the northern areas of England the large cities of the future, such a Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield and Leeds were only just beginning to grow.

All the towns smelled bad. There were no drains. The streets were dirty. The towns were centres of disease. As a result, only one child in four in London lived to become an adult.

During the 18th century efforts were made to make the towns healthier. The streets were built wider, so that carriages drawn by horses could pass each other.

From 1734 London had a street lighting system. After 1760 many towns organized street cleaning.

There were 4 main classes of people in the eighteenth-century towns:

– wealthy merchants;

– ordinary merchants and traders;

– skilled craftsmen;

– a large number of workers.

Industrial revolution.

In the 18th century many people left their villages and went to the towns to find work. They provided the cheap working force that made possible an industrial revolution which was to change the face of Britain.

By the early 18th century simple machines had already been invented. With the help of the machines, large quantities of simple goods could be made quickly and cheaply.

By the middle of the 18th century industry began to use coal for changing iron ore into good quality iron or steel. This made Britain the leading iron producer in Europe. Increased iron production made it possible to manufacture new machinery for other industries.

To meet this increased demand, better methods of production were found, and new machinery was invented which replaced handwork.

In 1764 a spinning machine was invented which could do the work of several hand spinners.

The weaving machine was invented in 1785.

Factories supplied with machinery did not need so many workers as before, and that created a serious problem: a lot of workers became unemployed. The workers began breaking up the machinery which had put them out of work. The situation in the country was very tense. People were afraid of a revolution like the one in France.

Practical work

Answer the questions.

1. How did the Hanover dynasty come to reign over Britain?

2. What kind of king was George I? Why did Parliament support him?

3. Why were the towns of the early 18th century centres of disease?

4. What changes were introduced during the 18th century to make the towns healthier?

5. Which were the main classes of people in the 18th century towns?

6. What was it possible to do even with the simple machines that existed in the early XVIII century?

7. When did industry begin to use coal for changing iron ore into good quality iron and steel?

8. What did increased iron production make possible to do?

9. What did other countries buy from Britain in the middle of the 18th century?

10. Why did unemployment increase?

11. How did the workers try to protect themselves against the employers?

Development of crafts
and trade in England in the 12th–14th centuries

Rise of Towns in England in the 11th–12th centuries.

The few towns which had been built under the Romans in England were destroyed and abandoned by the Anglo-Saxons.

The Anglo-Saxons were country-dwellers. But the economic progress achieved during the early medieval period (5th–11th centuries) caused the growth of new towns in England.

In the 10th and 11th centuries handicrafts began to separate from agriculture. Carpenters made ploughs, rakes and the rough furniture for the house. Thatchers mended roofs, smiths worked at the forge.

Many serf craftsmen would run away from the manor and settle in places where they could sell their articles and buy raw materials, foodstuffs and other necessities of life.

The settlements of runaway serfs gradually grew into towns.

Such towns sprang up at crossroads where markets would be held and people would come from the surrounding country-side to buy and sell their animals and food.

As time passed more and more merchants and craftsmen settled here.

They built earthen walls round their settlement to protect themselves. In this way many small centres of trade gradually grew into towns.

Almost all the towns were built on rivers which supplied the inhabitants with water. Dover, Southampton, Plymouth, Boston grew up as ports. Many towns sprang up near bridges, like Bristol which grew up near a bridge over the Avon. People had to cross a river by a ford (брод) or by a ferry. Oxford grew up near a great ford for oxen driven for sale to the town.

Such towns as Cambridge, Hereford, Bedford and many others grew up at places near bridges or fords.

The Domesday Book mentions about 80 towns where 5 per cent of the population lived. An average town had from 6 to 4 thousand people.

By the 13th century there were already more than 160 towns in England. Most of these early towns did not differ very much from the villages.

Crafts in the medieval town.

The people of the first towns were not free. All the land in feudal England was divided into manors and the lord of the manor governed the townspeople who lived on his land and made them perform feudal services.

In return for the money paid, the king would grant the townspeople a charter. This was a written agreement listing the things the townspeople could do without asking the permission from the king.

The medieval workshop was a small-scale enterprise. It occupied a small room and only a few people worked in it as a rule, the members of the master’s family worked in the workshop too. There was no machinery in the workshop.

The master-craftsmen of the same trade who lived in the same town united into societies which were called craft guilds. Each craft had its own guild; there were guilds of weavers, dyers, shoemakers, etc.

The right to organize a guild was granted to the first towns by the owner of the land who might be the king or some other powerful lords. The master-craftsmen elected the elders who headed the guild and who saw to it that all the guild-members followed the rules and produced goods of the right quality. The guild fixed prices on the articles and the guildsmen had no right to sell them at any other price. The guild system secured favourable conditions for the development of crafts and trade in the 11th–13th centuries.

Development of Trade in England in the 13th–14th centuries.

In the 13th–14th centuries the inhabitants of the bigger towns had to rely more and more on the neighbouring country-side for their foodstuffs and raw materials for their crafts. Trade between the town and the country-side began to develop.

The separation of crafts from agriculture and the growth of towns brought about great changes in the economy of the country.

The town artisans produced goods made for sale. They sold their goods for money and bought foodstuffs and articles of other craftsmen for themselves and raw materials for their workshops.

The master-craftsmen paid wages to his journey men, who also bought what they needed with the money they earned.

The artisans in towns produced an increasing number of goods for sale and the towns began to carry out trade not only with the near-by villages but also with distant localities and even with other countries.

In the 13th century in some districts of England money payments became the usual form of payment. The development of money relations in the 13th–14th centuries meant the beginning of the decay of natural economy.

Markets and fairs were very important at that time. The town market was held on a certain day of the week. The king’s permission was needed before a market could be held.

Far more important and exciting than the weekly markets were the fairs. Fairs were held once a year and they lasted a week or even two weeks.

The fairs could also be held only with the king’s permission and not every town had one. The same sort of preparations went on as for markets, but on a much grander scale.

English merchants from all parts of the country came to the fair. Fairs were of great importance both in the development of domestic and foreign trade.

Main Sea Routes.

The growing trade led to the establishment of contacts between different parts of the country and to the development of commercial contacts between England and other countries. People travelled between England and the Continent more often than before.

Of all trades the most important to England was the wool trade. From early times wool was exported from England to be woven in the towns of Flanders.

In the 12th century England began to export wool in a large scale. The king was always interested in this trade for the taxes on wool were an important source of the royal revenue (доходная статья). Foreign merchants had to pay a tax on every sack of wool they bought.

London merchants drew great incomes from the wool trade, as the capital was a centre of trade for Northern Europe. It established commercial contacts with the trading towns of the Mediterranean which was a link in the trade between Western Europe and the eastern countries.

An important sea route ran across the North Sea and the Baltic. The merchants of German and English cities carried on much of the trade between England and the counties of Northern Europe.

Practical work

Answer the questions and discuss the assignments.

1. How can you explain the following medieval saying: “The town air makes men free”?

2. What is a town charter?

3. Was the charter a great gain? Give your reasons.

4. How did the privileges gained by the medieval towns influence the development of town crafts and trade?

5. What kind of enterprise was the medieval workshop?

6. Imagine yourself in a medieval workshop. Give your impressions.

7. Imagine that you are an apprentice. Describe your life and your plans for the future.

8. What was the medieval guild? How was it administered?

9. Imagine that you are a journey man. How could you become an independent master and a member of the guild?

10. What urgent problems did the first townspeople have to solve? How did the guild system help them to solve the problems they faced?

11. What role did the medieval guild play in the life of its members?

12. What role in the development of crafts did the guild play in the 11th–13th centuries? Give grounds for your statement.

13. The most common English name is Smith. How do you think it can be explained?

14. Define each of these terms: medieval workshop, medieval guild, guild’s charter, town’s charter.

15. Why did close commercial contacts between England and the Continent begin to grow in the 12th century?

16. In the reign of the English king Edward III much of the revenue was collected in the form of wool rather than of currency. How can you account for the fact?

17. Prove that English foreign trade grew considerably in the 13th century.

a) What countries and trading towns did England have close commercial contacts with?

b) What important English trade centres grew up in the 13th century?

Vocabulary growth.

1. Now you can enlarge your word list under the heading “Crafts”. You can include in your list new names referring to crafts, tools and instruments, as well as the words and expressions, characterizing the conditions of the craftsman’s work, the results of his labour and other aspects of the medieval guild.

2. Add some more words to your word list under the heading “Trade”.

3. In the English language there are many words and phrases connected with the wool trade.

Use your dictionaries and find out what the following expressions mean:

– wool on the back;

– lose one’s wool;

– keep one’s wool on;

– pull the wool over smb’s eyes;

– dyed in the wool.

English peasants in the 11th–12th centuries
and how they lived under the normans

Villages after the Norman Conquest.

At the end of the 11th and at the beginning of the 12th century England had a population of about 1,500,000 people.

The church was the centre of the village. The Anglo-Saxon church was made of stone with very thick walls and a tower. The people did not work on these days and that is how a “holy day” became a “holiday”. The church was used as a store-house, as a prison and as a fortress (in times of danger).

The most important Norman nobles lived in castles from which they ruled the village. The castle dominated over the small miserable dwellings of the peasants. They were rough little huts with thatched roofs. They were dark, cold and uncomfortable. The peasants, huts were very smoky because they had no chimneys.

Very few changes came about in the village in England after the Norman Conquest. The peasants tilled the land and kept sheep and oxen in the same way as their fathers and grandfathers had done.

But most of them were no longer free men. By this time the village had become a part of the feudal manor. Now the village lands and the villagers themselves belonged to the lord of the manor.

The Peasants’ Struggle Against the Feudal Lords.

Life under the harsh and cruel Norman kings and barons was always full of dangers for the peasant. The Normans treated England as a conquered country. Hundreds of peasant huts were pulled down the make hunting grounds for the king and his barons.

For the ruined peasant families hunting was often the only way to keep themselves alive. But the cruel Forest Laws forbade hunting in the forests. The punishments for breaking the Forest Laws were terrible.

The peasants looked with hatred at the high towers of the castles which were the scenes of cruelty and tyranny of the Norman lords.

The Norman priests whom the peasants did not understand because they spoke Norman French or Latin, made them pay more to the church.

The feudal courts punished the disobedient peasants severely. The bravest peasants ran away from their manor-lords. They lived in the forests and hunted in the royal forests.

Many popular ballads express the peasants’ hatred for the exploiters. The most popular and favourite hero of the English ballads was Robin Hood.

Robin Hood was always just to the poor people and helped them in their troubles.

Practical work

Answer the questions and discuss the assignments.

1. What role did the church play in the life of the villagers?

2. Explain the origin of the word “holiday”.

3. Describe a peasant hut.

4. In what way did the English village after the Norman Conquest differ from that in Anglo-Saxon times?

5. What was the cause of the constant class struggle between the feudal lords and the serfs?

6. Imagine that you are an Anglo-Saxon peasant living in the year 1090. Give your opinion of your new masters.

7. What form did the peasants, struggle against the exploiters take?

8. How do English ballads characterize Robin Hood?

Main events associates with the Norman Conquest
(chronological list)

Establishment of the feudal system
in britain in the early middle ages
(5th–11th centuries)

The Anglo-Saxon Conquest of Britain.

In the middle of the 5th century the Anglo-Saxons, Germanic tribes, invaded Britain. The Anglo-Saxon conquest is regarded as the beginning of medieval history in Britain.

In the 5th century, first the Jutes and then other Germanic tribes – the Saxons and the Angles began to migrate to Britain. The Saxons came from the territory lying between the Rhine and the Elbe rivers which was later on called Saxony. The Jutes and the Angles came from the Jutland Peninsula.

In 449 the Jutes landed in Kent and this was the beginning of the conquest. The British natives fought fiercely against the invaders and it took more than a hundred and fifty years for the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes to conquer the country.

Other Germanic tribes conquered the Roman provinces on the Continent without any serious resistance as the bulk of the population in the provinces occupied by the Romans welcomed the Germanic conquerors as their liberators.

It was only by the beginning of the 7th century that the invaders managed to conquer the greater part of the land.

The final refuge of the Celts was Cornwall and Wales – and the northern part of the island (Scotland) where the Celts were still living in tribes and, later on, some independent states were formed. The Celts of Ireland remained independent too.

As a result of the conquest the Anglo-Saxons made up the majority of the population in Britain and their customs, religion and languages became predominant. They called the Celts “Welsh” which means “foreigners” as they could not understand the Celtic language.

But gradually the Celts adopted their customs and learned to speak their languages. Only the Celts who remained independent in the West, Scotland and Ireland spoke their native tongue.

By the end of the 6th and the beginning of the 7th century several kingdoms were formed on the territory conquered by the Germanic tribes.

The Anglo-Saxons and How They Lived.

Most of the Anglo-Saxons settled far away from the Roman towns. The Anglo-Saxon villages were small. A village which had twenty five families was considered a large one. Each village with the land belonging to it was surrounded by a thick hedge. Great stretches of forest separated one village from another.

All the land of the village was divided into two or sometimes, three very large fields. In most places land was cultivated under the two-field system so that it did not lose its fertility. Under the two-field system the land was given a rest every second year. The most common crops were wheat and barley.

Besides arable-farming, the Anglo-Saxons continued their old occupations of cattle-breeding, hunting and fishing.

The crop of hay was divided among the villagers. As a rule there was not very much hay and it was not easy to keep the animals alive and healthy throughout the winter.

Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity.

The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity began at the end of the 56h century and was completed in the main, in the second half of the 7th century.

Before this the Angles, Saxons and Jutes had been pagans, that is, they believed in many gods. They worshipped the sun and the moon, the sea, the trees and other pagan gods.

The Anglo-Saxons named the days of the week after their gods. Thus Sunday meant the Sun’s day, Monday – the Moon’s day, etc.

Paganism had developed among the Anglo-Saxons when they lived under the primitive system. It reflected the life of the tribal society where all men were equal.

The religion that was to serve the interests of the rich Anglo-Saxons was Christianity.

Christianity promised them eternal happiness after death in “the next world”.

In 597 the Roman Pope sent about 40 monks to Britain to convert the Anglo-Saxons. The monks landed in Kent and it was the first Anglo-Saxon kingdom to be converted. The first church was built in the town of Canterbury, the capital of Kent, that is why the archbishop of Canterbury is now Head of the Church of England. Then Christianity spread among the Anglo-Saxons of the other kingdoms. The spread of Christianity brought about important changes in the life of the Anglo-Saxons. Many new churches and monasteries were built all over the country.

Besides, the spread of Christianity was of great importance for the growth of culture in Britain. The Roman monks brought many books to Britain. Most of them were religious books and they were written in Latin and Greek. The church services were also conducted in Latin.

The Christian religion had a tremendous influence over men’s minds and actions. It controlled the most important events of their life – baptism, marriage and burial.

Strengthening  of  the  Kingdom  in  the  Reign  of  Alfred  the  Great (871–899).

The separate Anglo-Saxon kingdoms fought among themselves. There was the political unification of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the 9th century.

The greatest and most important kingdoms were Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex.

In 829 Egbert, king of Wessex, was acknowledged by Kent, Mercia and Northumbria. This was really the beginning of the united kingdom of England and king Egbert became the first king of England. Under his rule all the small Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were united to form one kingdom which was called England.

The political unification of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms was sped up by the urgent task of defending the country against the dangerous raids of the new enemies. From the end of the 8th century and during the 9th and 10th centuries Western Europe was troubled by a new wave of barbarian attacks. Barbarians came from the North and they were called Northmen. In different countries the Northmen were known by many other names, as the Vikings, the Normans, the Danes.

The Danish raids were successful because the kingdom of England had neither a regular army nor a fleet in the North Sea. Northumbria and East Anglia suffered most from the Danish raids.

In 835 king Egbert defeated the Danes. In the reign of Egbert’s son the Danes sailed up the Thames and captured London. In 871 the Danes invaded Wessex again. Wessex had united the small Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and under the reign of Egbert’s grandson, King Alfred (871–899), who became known in English history as Alfred the Great, Wessex became the centre of resistance against the invaders.

Alfred managed to raise an army and to stop the offensive of the Danes. He made new rules for the army in which every free man had to serve.

All the free peasants of Wessex were trained to fight. Besides, Alfred granted much land to his warriors.

During the reign of Alfred the Great the first British Navy was built and a war fleet of ships larger and faster than those of the Danes protected the island.

In the treaty which followed in 886, the Danes promised to leave Wessex. They settled in the north-eastern part of England, a region which was from that time called the Danelaw, because it was ruled according to the law of the Danes.

The great Roman road, Watling street, was the boundary that separated the Danelaw from Wessex.

Thus, the Danes were prevented from conquering the whole island and the country was divided into 2 parts:

– the Danelaw;

– Wessex which was under Alfred’s rule.

Practical Work

Answer the questions and discuss the assignments.

1. How did the administration of the Anglo-Saxons change in the 9th century? What were the reasons for those great changes?

2. Why did the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity take place in the 7th century but not earlier? Why was it that the Anglo-Saxon kings and nobles accepted Christianity first?

3. Why did it take about a century to convert all the Anglo-Saxons into Christianity?

4. How did the Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity influence the cultural development of Britain?

5. Why was the unification of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms into one kingdom in the 9th century necessary?

6. Speak about the raids on Britain by the Danes. What was the difference between their early and later raids? Compare them with the raids made by the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century.

7. Name the three peoples who conquered Britain and settled there before the Danes. In what centuries did the earlier conquerors come to Britain?

8. What territory of Britain did the Danes manage to conquer? What were the conditions in England at the end of the 8th and at the beginning of the 9th century that favoured the Danes in their raids?

9. What measures were taken by Alfred’s government to strengthen the defense of the country?

10. What were the conditions of the treaty concluded in 886?

Vocabulary growth.

1. The story of the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity acquainted you with many words connecting with religion.

Paganism, Christianity, religious service, baptism and other words and phrases may be listed under the heading “Religion and Church”.

2. You have come across many new words, such as levy, infantryman, navy and others, which may be listed under the heading “War”.

3. All the words pertaining to state power you may list under the heading “Political System”, for example, royal official, rule, reign and so on.

Famous leaders of the 20th century

Margaret Thatcher (born 1925).

Margaret Thatcher is the second daughter of a grocer and a dressmaker, who became the first woman in European history to be elected Prime Minister.

Then she became the first British Prime Minister in the twentieth century who won three consecutive terms.

At the time of her resignation in 1990, she was the longest-serving Prime Minister of Britain since 1827.

Some people consider her a true political revolutionary because she broadened the base of the Conservative Party, including the middle class along with the wealthy aristocracy.

Margaret Thatcher was born on October 13, 1925, in Lincolnshire, England. She was a clever child. Early in the life she decided to become a member of Parliament. She was educated at Somerviele College and at Oxford University. She earned a Master of Arts degree from Oxford in 1950 and worked for a short time as a research chemist.

In 1950 she married Denis Thatcher, a director of a paint firm. After her marriage she specialized in tax law.

In the 1959 elections Thatcher won a seat in Parliament. Because of her debating skills she soon became prominent among other politicians. In 1974 she became the leader of the Conservative Party.

When the Conservatives won a decisive victory in the 1979 general elections, Thatcher became Prime Minister. She became known as the Iron Lady because of her strict control over her cabinet and the country’s economic policies.

During her third term Thatcher continued the Thatcher revolution by returning education, health care and housing to private control.

Winston Churchill (1874–1965).

Sir Winston Churchill, the eldest son of aristocrat Lord Randolph Churchill, was born on November 30, 1874. He is best known for his courageous leadership as Prime Minister for Great Britain when he led the British people from the danger of defeat to victory during the Second World War.

He graduated from the Royal Military College in Sandhurst. As a war correspondent he was captured during the Boer War in South Africa. After his escape he joined the Conservative Party. Since then he was taking an active part in Britain’s political life, occupying a number of important posts in the government.

Churchill succeeded Chamberlain as Prime Minister in 1940 and during the Second World War he successfully secured military aid and moral support from the United States.

He travelled endlessly during the war, establishing close ties with the leaders of other nations and co-ordinated a military strategy which finally brought about Hitler’s defeat.

His tireless efforts gained admiration from all over the world.

Yet during the 1945 elections he was defeated by the Labour Party, Churchill regained his power in 1951 and led Britain once again until 1955, when ill health forced him to resign.

He spent most of his last years writing and painting.

In recognition of his historical studies he was given the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953. In 1963 the US Congress made Winston Churchill an honorary American citizen.

Sir Winston Churchill died in 1965 at the age of 90. His death marked the end of an era in British history.

Primitive society
on the territory of the british isles

The Earliest Men.

At the dawn of their history the peoples on this planet lived in primitive societies. These primitive peoples, wherever they lived, began their long path of progress with stone tools, but they did not reach the same level of civilization at the same time in different countries.

The ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome were already in existence when the people living in Britain were only at the first stage of social development.

In some parts of Britain one can see a number of huge stones standing in a circle. These are the monuments left by the earliest inhabitants of the country. The best-known stone-circle named Stonehenge dates from between 1990 and 1600 B.C. It is made of many upright stones. Stonehenge is still a mystery to scholars. What was it used for? As a burial-place or a sacred place where early men worshipped the sun?

About three thousand years B.C. many parts of Europe, including the British Isles were inhabited by a people, who came to be known as the Iberians because some of their descendants are still found in the north of Spain (the Iberian Peninsula). The Iberians used stone weapons and tools. The art of grinding and polishing stone was known to them, and they could make smooth objects of stone with sharp edges and points.

The Celts.

The Iberians were unable to fight back the attacks of the Celts who were armed with metal spears, swords, axes.

During the period from the 3rd centuries B.C. A people called the Celts spread across Europe from the East to the West.

Many Celtic tribes invaded Britain. Some of the Celtic tribes were quite large and fighting was common among them. In war-time the Celts wore skins and painted their faces with a blue dye to make themselves look fierce.

The Celts believed in another life after death. They were taught by priests called druids. The druids were very important and powerful, sometimes, more powerful than the chiefs. The druids could give orders to begin a battle or to put down arms and stop fighting.

Celtic Mythology.

Like all the ancient peoples the Celts made up many legends about their gods and heroes. The legends were passed down from generation to generation. The chroniclers and writers translated the Celtic legends into modern English and called them the “Celtic sagas”.

The heroes of the sagas and their adventures were imaginary. However, they give an idea of the Celts’ way of life, their occupations, tools, weapons, customs and religion.

The greatest hero of the Celtic heroic sagas was Cuchulainn. The legends tell us that he lived in Ireland which was divided among several tribes. Their exploits were those of giants.

The Celtic Language Today.

To this day the descendants of the ancient Celts live on the territory of the British Isles. The Welsh who live in Wales are of Celtic origin. People in most parts of Wales speak Welsh, a Celtic tongue. In the Highlands of Scotland as well as in the western parts of Ireland the people speak a tongue of Celtic origin too.

Some words of the Celtic language can still be found in modern English and most of them are geographical names. Many rivers, hills and towns are still called by their old Celtic names.

Thus in England there are several rivers called “Avon”, which in Celtic means “a river”. Some rivers have the name of “Derwent”, which in Celtic means “clear water”. The chalk highlands in the southern and south-eastern parts of England are called “the Downs”. This name comes from the Celtic word “down”, which means “bare, open highland”.

Practical work

Answer the questions and discuss the assignments.

1. What do we know about the Iberians?

2. What do we know about the Celts (the occupations of the Celts, their arms, their social system)?

3. Describe a Celt attacking an enemy.

4. Prove that the Celts were at a higher stage of social development than the Iberians.

5. Why did the primitive people have to live collectively?

6. How was tribe governed?

7. Explain the origin of the names “Scotland” and “Britain”. 

8. Name some Celtic words used in modern English.

Vocabulary growth.

In the story about the ancient Iberians and Celts you have come across many words which may be grouped together under the headings “War, army, arms” and “Social System”.

a) Begin making up a word list under the heading “War, army, arms”. You will probably want to begin with the following words:

– be armed, weapon, spear, sword, invade, overcome.

Add any others that you think will help you to speak about war.

b) Begin making up a word list under the heading “Social System”. Choose the words and phrases without which you cannot describe the primitive way of life, for example:

– primitive society, tribe, clan, own jointly, common property, equal, etc.

Quiz

1. When did the Celts spread across Europe from east to the west?

a) During the period from the 6th to the 3rd century B.C.;

b) During the period from the 4th to the 2nd century B.C.;

c) During the period from the 8th to the 7th century B.C..

2. The Celts believed in the magic power ... .

a) of the chiefs.

b) of the druids.

c) of the prophets.

3. The meaning of the name “Briton” is uncertain; most probable “Briton” is derived ... .

a) from a Celtic word meaning “painted”.

b) from a Phoenician word meaning “tin”.

c) from a Celtic word for “clothed”.

4. In 55 B.C. a Roman army of _______ men crossed the Channel and invaded Britain.

a) 10,000;

b) 20,000;

c) 50,000.

5. The Roman towns were strongly fortified and they were called “castra” which means ... .

a) colony.

b) port.

c) camp.

6. In the southern and the southeastern parts of the country the Saxons formed a number of kingdoms ... .

a) Sussex.

b) Wessex.

c) Sussex, Wessex and Essex.

7. What were the main occupations of the Anglo-Saxons?

a) cattle-breeding and hunting;

b) arable-farming, fishing, cattle-breeding;

c) fishing and hunting.

8. When did the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity take place?

a) In the 5th century.

b) In the 8th century.

c) In the 7th century.

9. The Danes were well armed with ... .

a) sword, spear, dagger.

b) battle-axe and bow.

c) sword, spear, dagger, battle-axe and bow.

10. When did the Danes carry out their first raids on Britain?

a) In 785.

b) In 790.

c) In 793.

11. Who managed to raise an army and to stop the offensive of the Danes?

a) King Egbert.

b) Alfred the Great.

c) King Edmund.

12. What did Alfred’s government do?

a) Strengthened the defence of the country.

b) Raised the level of culture in the country.

c) Raised the level of hunting in the country.

13. When was the unification of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms into the Kingdom of England?

a) In the 9th century.

b) In the 6th century.

c) In the 8th century.

14. When did the Duke of Normandy begin to gather an army to invade Britain?

a) In 1056.

b) In 1060.

c) In 1066.

15. To make himself stronger than any of his nobles, William the Conqueror ordered that many _______ should be built in different parts of the country.

a) churches;

b) castles;

c) camps.

16. William the Conqueror himself was very fond of ... .

a) dancing.

b) drawing.

c) hunting.

17. Who is a real hero of the English people?

a) William the Conqueror.

b) King Harold.

c) Robin Hood.

18. When did handicrafts begin to separate from agriculture?

a) In the 10th–11th centuries.

b) In the 8th century.

c) In the 12th century.

19. How many cities were there in England in the 13th century?

a) 200.

b) 100.

c) 160.

20. How many English towns possessed charters in the 12th century?

a) 26.

b) 30.

c) 80.

21. What important English trade centres grew up in the 13th century?

a) London.

b) Boston, Dover, Newcastle.

c) Southampton, Boston, Dover, Newcastle.

22. Why did Henry VIII want to marry Ann Boleyn?

a) Because his first wife hadn’t had a son who could be the heir
             to the throne after his death.

b) Because Catherine of Aragon had first been his elder brother’s wife.

c) Because he thought that it had been a sin to marry his brother’s widow.

23. Elizabeth I introduced ___________ to be used in church.

a) the Domesday Book;

b) a book of sermons (проповеди);

c) the Bible.

24. Who inherited the English throne after Elizabeth’s I death in 1603?

a) The Scottish king James VI.

b) Mary Stuart.

c) Edward VI.

25. When was a republic in Britain?

a) From 1649 till 1660.

b) From 1643 till 1648.

c) From 1670 till 1678.

26. Who became Lord Protector in the republic?

a) King Charles I.

b) Oliver Cromwell.

c) James I.

27. What is the meaning of the word “Whigs”? (British Parliamentary Party).

a) A rude name for cattle driving.

b) A name for clever horses.

c) A funny name for eagles.

28. What was the pride of Britain and a great example of its industrial power in the 19th century?

a) Its railway system.

b) Ships.

c) Steam engines.

29. In 1882 Britain invaded Egypt ... .

a) to protect international shipping.

b) to protect its own trading interests (its route to India).

c) to protect Suez Canal.

30. Who played a great role in keeping up the fighting spirit of the British people in the Second World War?

a) Winston Churchill.

b) Benito Mussolini.

c) Adolf Hitler.

Answers:

1a) 2b) 3a) 4a) 5c) 6c) 7b) 8c) 9c) 10c) 11b) 12a)  13a) 14c) 15b) 16c) 17c) 18a) 19c) 20a) 21c) 22a) 23b) 24a) 25a) 26b) 27a) 28a) 29b) 30a)

Roman Britain

The Roman Empire.

The Romans ruled all of the civilized world and in the 1st century AD. they conquered Britain. Britain was a province of the Roman Empire for about four centuries. The Romans conquered all the counties around the Mediterranean Sea. In the wars, in which Rome gained one province after another for the empire, many thousands of prisoners were taken. They were sold at the slave market at Rome. Slaves were so cheap that all the Romans except the poorest had one or more, and rich slave-owners possessed hundreds of them. No other country in the ancient world had so many slaves as Rome did.

The Roman Conquest of Britain.

In 55 BC a Roman army of 10,000 men crossed the Channel and invaded Britain. The Celts made a great impression on the Romans who saw them for the first time in battle. On the occasion of the battle their hair and moustaches were dyed red and their legs and arms were painted blue. With loud shouts they attacked the Romans in chariots and on foot and the well-armed invincible Romans under one of the greatest of that time had to return to Gaul.

In the next year, 54 BC Caesar again came to Britain, this time with larger forces (25,000 men). The Romans who had better arms and armour and were much better trained defeated the Celts in several battles. Some of the chiefs promised to pay tribute to Rome.

Although Julius Caesar came to Britain twice in the course of two years, he was not able to conquer it. They promised tribute was not paid and the real conquest of Britain by the Romans was not begun until nearly a hundred years after Caesar’s visits to the island.

In 43 AD a Roman army invaded Britain and conquered the South-East. Other parts of the country were taken from time to time during the next forty years. The Romans were unable to conquer the Scottish Highlands.

The province of Britain consisted only of the southern part of the island. To defend the province the Romans stationed their legions in Britain.

Straight roads were built so that the legions might march quickly to any part of the country. The roads were made so well that they lasted a long time and still exist today.

Besides, to guard the province against the Picts and Scots who lived in the hills of Scotland a high wall was built in the North. It was called “Hadrian’s Wall” because it was built by command of the Emperor Hadrian.

Roman Influence in Britain.

There had been no towns in Britain before the Romans conquered it. The civilized Romans were city dwellers, and as soon as they had conquered Britain, they began to build towns, splendid villas, public baths as in Rome itself.

York, Gloucester, Lincoln and London became the chief Roman towns; there were also about 50 other smaller towns.

London which had been a small trading settlement before the conquest now became a centre for trade both by road and river, Colchester, Gloucester, York and Lincoln sprang up round the Roman military camps. The town of Bath became famous for its hot springs.

The Roman Civilization Spread over Britain.

The towns grew up as markets and centres of administration. The houses were built of stone, plastered and painted, with roofs made of large red tiles.

The rich merchants and officials had luxurious houses which contained many rooms, with mosaic floors and central heating. Every Roman town had a good supply of pure water. Temples and public baths could be found in most towns.

The Romans were great road-makers and now a network of roads connected all parts of the country. One of the chief roads was Watling Street which ran from Dover to London, then to Chester and into Wales.

The noble Celts adopted the mode of life of their conquerors. They lived in rich houses and they dressed as Romans. They spoke Latin, the language of the Romans.

The Celts went on living in their tiny huts, they spoke their native Celtic tongue and they did not understand the language of their rulers.

Traces of the Roman Rule in Britain.

There are today many things in Britain to remind the people of the Romans. The wells which the Romans dug give water today, and the chief Roman roads are still among the highways of modern England.

Watling Street still runs from London to Chester. Long stretches of Hadrian’s Wall, the ruins of public baths and parts of the Roman bridges have remained to this day.

Besides, many words of modern English have come from Latin. For example, the word “street” came from the Latin “strata” which means “road”, “port” from the Latin “portus”, “wall” from the Latin “vallum”.

The names of many modern English towns are of Latin origin, too. The Roman towns were called “castra” which means “camps”. This word can be recognized in various forms in such names as Chester, Winchester, Manchester, Cloucester, Doncaster, Lancaster.

Practical work

Answer the questions and discuss the assignments.

1. How did the way of life in the Roman Empire differ from the life of the Celts in the 1st century A.D.?

2. Give an account of the Roman invasions of Britain in the 1st century B.C. and in the 1st century A.D. Compare the results.

3. By what means did the Romans secure their position in Britain? Why was so much importance attached to roads?

4. What did the Celts learn from the Romans?

5. How did the Roman way of life influence the life of the Celts?

6. What traces of Roman rule are there in Britain?

7. Name some English words of Latin origin which reflect the rule of Rome in Britain.

Vocabulary growth.

1. Among the proper names you have come across there are names of some towns which may be grouped together under the heading “Roman Towns”. Make up a list of town-names and find them all on the map.

If you know some other names of English towns ending in “chester”, “cester” or “caster” add them to your list.

2. You can add some more words to your list under the heading “Social System”. Such words and phrases as “slavery”, “slave”, ”inhuman form of exploitation” and others will enable you to characterize the slave-owning social system.

3. Find some new words to add to your list under the heading “war, army, arms”.

The 20th century

At the beginning of the 20th century Britain was still one of the greatest world powers. In the middle of the century, although it was still one of the “Big Three”, it was considerably weaker than the United States or the Soviet Union.

By the end of the 1970s Britain was just an ordinary country, and economically poorer than a number of other European countries.

One of the reasons for Britain’s decline in the 20th century was the cost of two world wars. Another reason was that Britain could not spend as much money on developing its industry as other industrial nations did: at first it needed a lot of money for keeping up the empire, and when the empire fell apart, as much money was needed to solve numerous economic problems connected with maintaining friendly relations within the British Commonwealth of Nations.

The First World War.

Germany had better trained soldiers and better equipment and in the first few weeks of war in 1914 it nearly defeated the Allies, Britain, France. The German troops crossed the border and penetrated into the territory of France.

The French army and the small British force managed to stop the German army deep inside France. Then followed four years of bitter fighting during which both armies lived in trenches.

The war was going on not only in Europe. In the Middle East the British fought against Turkish troops in Iraq, in Palestine, and in the Dardanelles. There, too, the fighting went on for a long time. Only in 1917 the British were able to drive back the Turks.

The war at sea was more important than the war on land, because defeat at sea would have caused Britain’s surrender. Being an island state, Britain had always depended on imported goods. Beginning with 1915, German submarines started sinking merchant ships which carried supplies to Britain. 40 % of Britain’s merchant fleet was sunk during the war.

There was one period in the course of the war when for fix weeks the British population was on the point of starvation.

The Second World War.

After the First World War Adolf Hitler founded the Nazi Party in Germany. Together with his followers he began to spread his beliefs. Hitler called the German people a superior race, which must rule the world.

Soon Hitler made himself dictator of Germany and began preparing for war. The Nazis oppressed anyone whose race, religion or politics they did not like.

In the 1930s Germany, Italy and Japan formed an alliance called the Axis.

Britain and France led the alliance of European countries called the Allies. The Allies opposed the Axis.

On September 1, 1939, the German army invaded Poland. The Polish government asked Britain and France for help.

On September 3, 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany. That was the beginning of the Second World War.

In the spring of 1940 Germany turned its attention to Western Europe. The Germans invaded Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

The French army was thought to be very strong. But with the help of Italy Germany defeated the French in a few weeks. The British who were fighting in France were driven into the sea losing almost all their weapons.

At Dunkirk, a small French port, the British army was saved by thousands of private boats which crossed the English Channel carrying the soldiers over to Britain. Dunkirk was a miraculous rescue from military disaster. Britain’s new Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, played a great role in keeping up the fighting spirit of the British people. He persuaded the nation that Dunkirk was a victory of courage and determination at Britain’s darkest hour.

The Loss of Empire.

At the end of the First World War the British Empire was bigger than ever before and covered a quarter of the entire land surface of the world. However, there were signs that the empire was coming to an end. Public opinion was changing and more and more people were beginning to realize that colonialism was wrong and that all nations had the right for self-government.

The independence movement in colonies was rapidly growing. The United Nations Charter in 1945 also called for progress towards self-government.

In India there was a powerful nationalist movement skillfully led by Mahatma Gandhi. By 1945 it was clear that British rule in India could not continue.

In became impossible for Britain to rule 300 million people without their co-operation. In 1947 the British finally left India.

In the 1950s, after Suez, Britain began to give up its other possessions. Between 1945 and 1955, 500 million people in former British colonies became completely self-governing.

Britain tried to keep international ties with its former colonies through a new organization called the British Commonwealth of Nations. All the former colonies were invited to join the commonwealth as free and equal members.

Practical work

Answer the questions.

1. Why did Germany nearly defeat the Allies in the very first weeks of war in 1914?

2. In what other parts of the world, besides Europe, was the war going on?

3. Why was the war at sea more important for Britain than the war on land? What had Britain always depended on, because it was an island state?

4. What party did Adolf Hitler found in Germany? What did he say about the German people?

5. What was the Axis? When was it formed?

6. What alliance opposed the Axis?

7. When and how did the Second World War start?

8. What countries did Germany invade in 1940?

9. How long did it take Germany to defeat the French? What happened to the British forces which were fighting in France?

10. Who saved the British army at Dunkirk? How?

11. Who was Winston Churchill? What was his role in keeping up the fighting spirit of the British people after Dunkirk?

12. How large was the British Empire at the end of the First World War?

13. How was public opinion changing about the idea of colonialism in the 20th century?

14. What movement was growing in the colonies?

15. What did the United Nations Charter of 1945 call for?

16. Who was the leader of the nationalist movement in India? What was impossible for Britain? When did India get independence?

17. How many people in former British colonies became independent between 1945 and 1965?

18. What new organization was formed to help Britain keep international ties with its former colonies? What principle is it based on?

The age of power and prosperity

In the 18th century Britain was more powerful and self-confident than ever. As a result of the industrial revolution, 19th century Britain was the “workshop of the world”. British factories were producing more than any other country in the world.

Having many colonies, Britain controlled large areas of the world. The British had a strong feeling of their importance. The rapid growth of the middle class caused a change in the political balance. The role played by the middle class in politics and government was increasingly growing.

Industrial power.

In 1851 Queen Victoria opened the Great Exhibition of the Industries of All Nations in the Crystal Palace in London. The aim of the Exhibition was to show the world the greatness of Britain’s industry. By 1850 Britain was producing more iron than the rest of the world together.

Britain had become powerful because it had enough coal, iron and steel for its own industry and could even export them to Europe.

Having coal, iron and steel, it could produce new heavy industrial goods like ships and steam engines.

It could also make machinery which produced English traditional goods – woolen and cotton cloth in the factories of Lancashire.

Britain’s cloth was cheap and was exported to India, to other colonies and to the Middle East. Britain had the largest fleet in the world.

The pride of Britain and a great example of its industrial power was its railway system.

In 1851 the railway companies provided passenger train service. Passenger trains stopped at all stations. Now people could move from place to place much more quickly and easily.

The British Empire.

In the 19th century Britain was engaged in many “colonial wars” the purpose of which was to establish its influence in different parts of the world and to ensure the safety of its trade routes.

In 1840–1842 and in 1856–1860 it waged two so-called Opium Wars against China, as a result of which China had to give away some of its territories and to allow Britain to carry on profitable trade in opium.

Fear that Russia would expand southwards towards India resulted in disastrous wars in Afghanistan, in India.

Britain also feared that in the Middle East Russia would destroy the weak Ottoman Empire which controlled Turkey and the Arab countries. It might be dangerous for Britain’s sea and land routes to India. So, when Russia and Ottoman Turkey went to war in the Crimea in 1853, Britain joined the Turks against Russia.

In South Africa there were disagreements between Britain and the Dutch settlers (the Boers) which led to a war at the end of the century (the Boer War, 1899–1902).

In 1882 Britain invaded Egypt “to protect international shipping” as it was officially stated. In fact, Britain protected its own trading interests, its route to India through the newly dug Suez Canal. Britain told the world that its occupation of Egypt would only last for a short time, but it did not leave the country until it was forced to do so in 1954.

Britain had one more reason for creating colonies. From the 1830s the population of Britain was rapidly growing, and soon the small territory of the British Isles would not hold all the population.

A solution to the problem was found in the development of colonies for British settlers in different parts of the world.

Encouraged by the government, lots of people moved to Canada, Australia and New Zealand. They settled on free land and farmed it.

By the end of the 19th century Britain controlled the oceans and much of the land areas of the words. Most British strongly believed in their right to an empire and were very proud of it.

Practical work

Answer the questions.

1. Was Britain “the workshop of the world” as a result of the industrial revolution?

2. What did Britain control at that time?

3. What exhibition was opened in the Crystal Palace in 1851? What was the aim of the exhibition?

4. Why had Britain become powerful?

5. What goods did Britain produce?

6. What parts of the world was Britain’s cloth exported to?

7. What was the pride of Britain and a great example of its industrial power?

8. When was passenger train service provided? How did the life of many people change with the introduction of passenger train service?

9. What  was  the  purpose  of the numerous “colonial wars” Britain was engaged in?

10. What are “Opium Wars”? When did Britain wage them?

11. Why did Britain wage wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India?

12. Why did Britain join Turkey in the Crimean War of 1853–1856 against Russia?

13. Where and when was the Boer War waged? What was the reason of it?

14. Under what pretext did Britain invade Egypt in 1882? What was the real reason of this action? When did Britain promise it would leave Egypt? When did it really leave this country?

15. Why did Britain’s government encourage British people to move to different parts of the world and start colonies there?

16. How did many British feel about the British Empire?

The conquest of Ireland, Wales, Scotland

During the Tudor period, from 1485 till 1663, England’s foreign policy changed several times. Henry VII was careful to remain friendly with neighbouring countries. His son Henry VIII was more ambitious, hoping to play an important part in European politics. He was unsuccessful. Mary allied England to Spain by her marriage. Elizabeth and her advisers, considered trade the most important foreign policy matter, as Henry VII had done.

Wales and Ireland.

Both Henry VII and Henry VIII tried to bring Wales and Ireland under English control.

Wales became joined to England under one administration between 1536–1543. Representatives of local Welsh gentry were appointed magistrates, and Welsh representatives entered the English parliament. In Ireland the situation was more difficult. Henry VIII persuaded the Irish parliament to recognize him as King of Ireland. But when he tried to make the Irish accept his English Church reformation, he met a stubborn resistance, as the majority of the Irish population were Catholics.

Thus Irish nationalism and Catholicism were brought together against English rule. It took Henry a long time to destroy the old way of life and introduce English government in Ireland. The effect of English rule was greatest in the North, in Ulster, where many good lands were taken from the native Irish population and sold to English settlers.

England and Scotland.

For a long time the Tudors were trying to join Scotland to England. In their attempts to preserve the independence of Scotland, the Scottish kings could not get much support from their nobility, because Scottish nobility was not united: some of them wanted closer friendship with England, and others wanted to remain loyal to the old alliance with France.

Knowing how weak they were, the Scottish kings usually tried to avoid war with England. They made a peace treaty with Henry VII, and James IV, King of Scotland, married Henry VII’s daughter Margaret. But it did not help. Henry VIII made 2 wars on Scotland. James IV was killed during the first war. James V, whose army was also badly defeated during the second war, died soon after the war.

Henry VIII hoped to marry his son Edward to James V’s daughter the baby Queen of Scots Mary and in this way join the two countries under an English king. But the Scots did not want this marriage and sent Mary to France, where she married the French king’s son in 1558. However, her French husband died soon after their marriage, and she returned to Scotland. Mary was a Catholic, but during her time in France Scotland had become officially a Protestant country. The Scottish Protestants did not want a Catholic queen on the throne. There was a struggle, as a result of which Mary had to escape to England, where she was held by Elizabeth for 19 years and finally executed.

Elizabeth I never married and had no children. Her closest relative was Mary’s son, the Scottish king James VI, and after Elizabeth’s death in 1603, he inherited the English throne.

So, after a long struggle the two countries were united, but, ironically, under a royal dynasty which came from Scotland.

Practical work

Answer the questions.

1. What did both Henry VII and Henry VIII try to do in Wales and Ireland?

2. When did Wales join England under one administration? How was it done?

3. Henry VIII persuaded the Irish parliament to recognize him as King of Ireland, didn’t he? Where did he meet a stubborn resistance? Why?

4. Did it take Henry a long time to introduce English government in Ireland?

5. What was the effect of English rule in Ulster? Is this effect still felt in our times? How?

6. Why couldn’t the Scottish kings get much support from Scottish nobility in their struggle against England?

7. Why did the Scottish kings try to avoid war with England? Why did the Scottish king James IV marry the daughter of Henry VII? Did this marriage help to avoid war with England?

8. How many wars did Henry VIII make on Scotland? What were the results of both wars?

9. Why did Henry VIII want to marry his son Edward to the Queen of Scots Mary? Why didn’t the marriage take place?

10. Why wasn’t Mary welcomed by many Scottish nobles when she returned from France? Why did she have to escape to England? What happened to her in England?

11. Who  inherited  the  English  throne  after  Elizabeth’s  death?  Why? When was it?

Fill in the blanks with the correct words from the list.

1) Both Henry VII and Henry VIII tried to bring Wales and Ireland under English __________.

2) Henry VIII persuaded the Irish parliament __________ him as King of Ireland.

3) In trying to make the Irish accept his English Church reformation, Henry met a __________ resistance.

4) The Scottish kings usually tried __________ war with England.

5) After Elizabeth’s death, James VI of Scotland __________ the English throne.

Key:        1) reign;

2) to recognize;

3) stubborn;

4) to avoid;

5) inherited.

The early days of Britain

Introduction.

Little is known about the ancient population of the British Isles. Like other primitive people in other parts of the world, they lived in caves and hunted animals for food. Gradually they learned to grow corn and breed domestic animals. They made primitive tools and weapons of stone. Later they learned to smelt metal and make metal tools and weapons. These people were religious. Some temples which they built still stand in many parts of England and Scotland. These temples are also very primitive. They are just circles of great stones standing vertically. The greatest of them is Stonehenge in the south of England.

Ancient Britons (The Celts).

About 500–600 B.C. new people – the Celts – appeared in Britain. They crossed the English Channel from the territory of the present-day France. They were tall, strong people with long red and sandy hair, armed with iron swords. The Romans called these people Britons and the island – Britannia. The Britons were skilful workers. Powerful Celtic tribes, the Britons, held most of the country and the southern half of the island was named Britain after them. Today the words “Briton” and “British” refer to the people of the whole of the British Isles.

Celtic tribes called the Picts penetrated into the mountains on the North. Some Picts as well as tribes of Scots crossed over to Ireland and settled there. Later the Scots returned to the larger island and settled in the North beside the Picts. They came in such large numbers that in time the name of Scotland was given to that country.

The Celts had no towns. They lived in villages. The Celtic tribes of the Britons who inhabited the south-eastern parts of the island were more civilized then the other tribes. Their clothing was made of wool, woven in many colours while the other Celts wore skins. In war-time the Celts wore skins and painted their faces with a blue dye to make themselves look fierce. The Celts worshipped Nature. The Celts believed in another life after death. They were taught by priests called druids. The Celts believed in their magic power. The druids were able to foretell the future. Some women were made tribal chiefs and called queens.

The Romans.

In the 1st century B.C. when the inhabitants of the British Isles were still living under the primitive communal system, the Roman Empire became the strongest slave-owning state in the Mediterranean. It was the last and greatest of the civilizations of the ancient world. The Romans ruled all of the civilized world and in the 1st century A.D. they conquered Britain. Briton was a province of the Roman Empire for about 4 centuries.

Two thousand years ago while the Celts were still living in tribes, the Romans were the most powerful people in the world. Roman society differed greatly from that of the Celts. It was a slave society divided into antagonistic classes. The main classes were the slaves and the slave-owners. The slave system reached its peak in the Roman Empire. No other country in the ancient world had so many slaves as Rome did.

In 55 B.C. a Roman army of 10,000 men crossed the channel and invaded Britain. The Celts made a great impression on the Romans. The Celts were strong and defeated the Romans.

In the next year, 54 B.C. Caesar again came to Britain this time with larger forces (25,000 men). The Celts fought bravely for their independence but they could not drive the Romans off.

Anglo-Saxon England.

After the Roman legions left Britain the Celts remained independent but not for long. From the middle of the 5th century they had to defend the country against the attacks of Germanic tribes from the continent. In the 5th century first the Jutes and then other Germanic tribes – the Saxons and the Angles – began to migrate to Britain.

In 449 the Jutes landed in Kent and this was the beginning of the conquest. The British natives fought fiercely against the invaders and it took more than a hundred and fifty years for the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes to conquer the country.

The Jutes, the Saxons and the Angles were closely akin in speech and customs and they gradually merged into one people. The name “Jute” soon died out and the conquerors are generally referred to as the Anglo-Saxons. The final refuge of the Celts was Cornwall and Wales. The Anglo-Saxons called the Celts “Welsh” which means “foreigners” as they could not understand the Celtic language which was quite unlike their own.

The Raids of the Danes Uniting the Country.

The Danes were of the same Germanic race as the Anglo-Saxons themselves and they came from the same part of the continent. But unlike the Anglo-Saxons whose way of life had changed greatly ever since they came to Britain, the Danes still lived in tribes. They were still pagans. At the end of the 8th century they began to attack Britain. The Danes were well armed – with sword, spear, bow. Their ships were sailing-boats. The Danes were bold and skilful seamen.

In later years large Danish fleets brought large armies to conquer and settle in the new lands. The Danish raids were successful because the kingdom of England had neither a regular army nor a fleet in the North Sea to meet them.

        Practical work

Answer the questions.

1. Where  did  the  ancient  population  of  Britain  live?  How  did  they  get their food?

2. What material did they use to make tools and weapons?

3. What is known about the religion of the ancient population of Britain?

4. Where did the Britons come from? How did they look? What were they armed with?

5. The Britons were skilful workers, weren’t they? What could they do?

6. Did the Celts believe in another life after death?

7. When did the Roman army invade Britain?

8. When did the Germanic tribes begin to migrate to Britain?

9. Where was the final refuge of the Celts?

10. How did the Anglo-Saxons call the Celts?

11. The Danes were pagans, weren’t they?

12. How were the Danes armed?

13. Why were the Danish raids successful?

The Norman Conquest Of England

The Norman Invasion.

In the 9th century while the Danes were plundering England another branch of Northmen who were related to the Danes were doing the same along the northern coasts of France. They came to be called the Normans, a variation of the word “Northmen”, the Danes settled down in the conquered part of England known as the Danelaw. And the Normans settled down on land conquered from the French king – a territory which is still called Normandy after these Normans.

By the 9th century the Danes gradually mixed with the Anglo-Saxons, among whom they lived. They retained their Germanic language and many of their customs that were very much like those of the Anglo-Saxons. But the Normans who had settled down in France were now quite different from their Germanic forefathers. They lived among the French people and learned to speak the French language and in many ways, they had become like the French themselves.

The Normans lived under the rule of their own duke. By the 11th century the dukes of Normandy had become very powerful. They were actually as strong as the king himself. They coined their own money, made their own laws, held their own courts, built their own castles. They could wage wars against the king himself. They would wage wars in order to seize new lands.

And these descendants of the Northmen who had settled in northern France in the 9th century became the new conquerors of England. In 1066 William, the Duke of Normandy, began to gather an army to invade Britain. The pretext for the invasion was William’s claims to the English throne.

He was related to the king who died in 1066. The king who died in 1066 had no children and Duke William cherished the hope that he would succeed to the English throne.

But the king chose another relative, the Anglo-Saxon Earl, Harold. William of Normandy claimed that England belonged to him and he began preparations for a war to fight for the Crown.

William had a numerous army which consisted not only of the Norman barons and knights but of the knights from other parts of France.

Many big sailing-boats were built to carry the army across the Channel.

William landed in the South of England and the battle between the Normans and the Anglo-Saxons took place on 14th October, 1066 at a little village near the town now called Hastings. The Normans outnumbered the Anglo-Saxon forces and were greatly superior in quality. They were all men for whom fighting was the main occupation in life.

The victory at Hastings was only the beginning of the Conquest. Soon after the victory at Hastings the Normans encircled London and William was acknowledged as the lawful king of England. Thus the Norman duke became king of England – William I or, as he was known, William the Conqueror. He ruled England for 21 years (1066–1087).

The Strengthening of the Royal Power (William the Conqueror).

William was now not only the Duke of Normandy but the King of England as well. And he received great incomes from both Normandy and his rich domain in England.

The Conqueror declared that all the lands of England belonged to him by right of conquest.

Each baron received with the grant of land the promise of the king’s protection, but in return he had to render military service to his overlord bringing a number of fully armed knights with him in time of war.

William the Conqueror made not only the great landowners, to whom he granted land, but also their vassals swear allegiance to him directly.

In 1086 at a great gathering of knights in Salisbury, William made all of them take a special oath to be true to him against all his enemies.

For greater security, when William the Conqueror rewarded his important supporters with a large number of estates.

Now the country was divided into “shires”, or “counties”, as the Normans called them. William I appointed a royal official in each shire to be his “sheriff”. The royal sheriffs became of great importance. Through the sheriffs the king exercised control over all his vassals.

To make himself stronger William the Conqueror ordered that many castles should be built in different parts of the country. They were nearly all royal castles.

William I created a Great Council made up of bishops and barons. Nobles were not allowed to make war on one another; all men had to keep “the king’s peace”.

All the king’s vassals were registered in the Domesday Book and William I could now see to it that they all performed their military service. Thus the feudal registration of 1086 consolidated the position of the conquerors.

How the Norman Conquerors Lived in England.

The new masters were strangers in the country. They had different manners, customs and laws from those of the conquered people. They spoke a foreign tongue and the Anglo-Saxon peasants could not understand their speech. The Normans did not feel safe in the conquered country for they could be attacked at any time. So they were compelled to build large thick stone-walled castles for defense. The castle dominated over the country round. Some of the massive strong towers built by the Normans can be seen in England today, like the White Tower of London Tower.

The Normans spent their childhood and youth in military training and as they grew up they spent their time in wars or feasting with guests in the halls of their castles.

The Norman lords were fond of the tournament and hunting.

Effects on the Language.

The victorious Normans made up the new aristocracy and the Anglo-Saxon people became their servants. The Norman aristocracy spoke a Norman dialect of French, a tongue of Latin origin, while the Anglo-Saxons spoke English, a tongue of Germanic origin.

Norman French became the official language of the state. It was the language of the ruling class. All the official documents were written in French or Latin.

Words of Germanic origin make up the basic vocabulary of modern English. In modern English simple everyday words are mostly Anglo-Saxon like “eat”, “land”, “house” and others.

But as there were no English words to describe the more complicated feudal relations, many words were adopted from the French language. For example, “manor, noble, baron, obey, council, court, crime, arms, troops, navy, battle” and other words characterizing the way of life and customs of the Norman aristocracy.

The two languages gradually formed one rich English language, which already in the 14th century was being used both in speech and in writing.

Practical Work

Answer the questions.

1. What is the origin of the word “Normans”?

2. Where did the Danes settle down?

3. Where did the Normans settle down?

4. How did the Danes live in the XI century?

5. How did the Normans live in France?

6. Why did the Normans wage wars?

7. When  did  the  Duke  of  Normandy  begin  to  gather  an  army  to  invade Britain?

8. When  did  the  battle  between  the  Normans  and  the  Anglo-Saxons  take place?

9. Why did the Normans win the battle?

10. How did William the Conqueror strengthen the royal power?

11. What did William the Conqueror do for greater security?

12. Where were all the kings’ vassals registered?

13. How did the Normans spend their childhood and youth?

14. What language did the Norman aristocracy speak?

15. What language did the Anglo-Saxons speak?

Vocabulary growth.

1. We find in modern English that 2 words are used for the same things:

a) Why are the words for living animals, like “sheep”, “ox” and “pig”, of Anglo-Saxon origin, and the corresponding words for the same animals used as meat, namely “mutton”, “beef” and “pork” of French origin?

b) Why  are  many  synonymous  words  of  Anglo-Saxon  origin  used  in ordinary speech, while those of French origin – in formal speech? For example, such verbs as:

to give up – to abandon;

to give in – to surrender;

to come in – to enter;

to begin – to commence;

to go on – to continue.

c) In modern English the word “county” is used instead of its old equivalent “shire”. How can it be explained?

2. How can you account for the fact, that English words of Germanic origin generally indicate elementary ideas and simple notions, such as “eat, laugh, ride, good, bad, earth, land, house, water” and others without which people cannot get along in everyday speech?

3. How can you account for the French origin of the following words:

a) feudal, baron, vassal, peer, prince, count, duke;

b) state, realm, government, power, crown;

c) feast, leisure, pleasure, delight, comfort?

The Raids Of The Danes Uniting The Country

Danish Raids on England.

The Danes were of the same Germanic race as the Anglo-Saxons themselves and they came from the same part of the Continent. But unlike the Anglo-Saxons whose way of life had changed greatly ever since they came to Britain, the Danes still lived in tribes.

The Danes were still pagans. They worshipped Woden, the god of War, Thor, the Hammer god, and the other old gods whom the Anglo-Saxons had forgotten. At the end of the VIII century they began to attack Britain.

The Danes were well-armed (with sword, spear, dagger, axe and bow). Their ships were sailing-boats but they were also provided with oars. The Danes were bold and skilful seamen. On their long, narrow, shallow ships they could sail or row far up a river into the heart of the country in search of plunder.

In 793 the Danes carried out their first raids on Britain. Their earliest raids were for plunder only. The raiders came in three or four ships, each with as many as a hundred men on board.

In later years large Danish fleets (more than three hundred ships) brought large armies to conquer and settle in the new lands. They did not go home for the winter but they made large, well-guarded camps.

The Danish raids were successful because the kingdom of England had neither a regular army nor a fleet in the North Sea to meet them. There were no coastguards to watch the coast of the island and this made it possible for the raiders to appear quite unexpectedly.

Northumbria and East Anglia suffered most from the Danish raids. The Danes seized the ancient city of York and then all of Yorkshire. Then large organized bands of Danes swept right over to the midlands.

At last all England north of the Thames, that is, Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, was in their hands.

And only Wessex was left to face the enemy (see map “Danelaw”).

New Attacks of the Danes.

Before the Danes conquered the North, they had made an attack on Wessex, but in 835 King Egbert defeated them. In the reign of Egbert’s son the Danes sailed up the Thames and captured London.

For thirty years the Danes troubled the land, till at last one of them, Canute, who was King of Denmark, became King of England also. Although he was a cruel pagan and had done much harm to England at first, Englishmen came to love him, for he was converted to Christianity. He ruled England well and gave it peace.

In the time of a king called “Ethelred the Redeless” (“Redeless” means “lacking in counsel”) eighty years after Alfred’s death, the Northmen came again with great conquering armies. He gathered many armies and fleets against his enemies but owing to the treachery of his great men the English never won victories.

In Normandy, across the Channel, a son of Ethelred the Redeless had lived for a long time. He was called Edward. Englishmen chose him to be king. He reigned for 24 years and was called Edward the Confessor, and Saint Edward because he was a very holy man. West-minster Abbey was built during his reign.

After Edward’s death Harold of Wessex (Edward’s son) was chosen to be a king, for the English disliked the Normans. But before the year was over William of Normandy had brought an army to England and defeated and killed Harold at the battle of Hastings.

Then on Christmas Day William was crowned king in the Abbey Church which Edward the Confessor had built.

So England once more was ruled by a king who was not an Englishman.

Practical work

Answer the questions.

1. Read about the raids of the Danes and tell where the Northern pirates came from and what kind of a boat they came in.

2. What made it possible for them to conquer England?

3. What do you know about Canute?

4. How did the Danish king Canute secure his power?

5. What can you tell about Ethelred the Redeless?

6. Why was Edward the Confessor called Saint Edward?

7. Who was chosen to be a king after Edward’s death?

8. What do you know about Westminster Abbey?

9. What do you know about William the Conqueror?

Main events of the Anglo-Saxon period
(chronological list)

The situation in Northern Ireland

The Republic of Ireland.

Before the beginning of the First World War Britain had agreed to give Ireland self-government. There was a group of Irishmen who were not satisfied with the idea of self-government. They formed a Republican Party and demanded a full independence from Britain. In the 1918 elections to the British Parliament the Republicans won in almost every area of Ireland except Ulster.

Instead of joining the British Parliament, they met together in Dublin and started their own new parliament. They announced that Ireland was now a republic.

Many Irishmen joined the republic’s army and began a guerilla fighting against the British. As a result, the British government decided to make peace.

In 1921 it agreed to the independence of Southern Ireland. But it also insisted that Ulster should remain united with Britain.

The Anglo-Irish Treaty which was concluded in 1921, did not bring peace to Ireland. A civil war started between the Irish themselves, because the Republicans insisted that all Ireland, including Northern Ireland, should be an independent republic. In 1937 Southern Ireland was declared a republic.

Today Ireland and Britain find themselves in a very strange position: officially they are entirely separate states, but by agreement their citizens are not considered foreigners in one another’s country.

In the Republic of Ireland the majority of population believe that one day all Ireland should be united, but without the use of force.

There are some people, however, who are ready to use violent means to achieve a united Ireland.

Ulster.

When Ireland was divided in 1921, the majority of the population in Northern Ireland (Ulster) was Protestant. Northern Ireland was a self-governing province, and most of the population were satisfied with this system.

There were other people, however, mostly Catholics, who considered that their system of government was unfair. These people supported the Party of Republicans who wanted to unite the whole of Ireland.

Suddenly, in 1969, some people in Ulster, both Catholics and Protestants, began to gather in the streets and demand full independence from Britain. To keep law and order, the British government sent soldiers to help the police, but many Catholics saw them as a foreign army with no right to be there.

In spite of the attempts of the British government and the local administration of Ulster, fighting in Northern Ireland is still continuing.

Practical work

Answer the questions.

1. What status had Britain agreed to give Ireland?

2. Why did a group of Irishmen form a Republican Party in Ireland?

3. When did the Republicans start their own parliament in Dublin? What did they announce?

4. When did Britain agree to the independence of Southern Ireland?

5. Did the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 bring peace to Ireland? What did the Republicans insist on?

6. When was Southern Ireland declared a republic?

7. Why does today’s position of Britain and Ireland seen somewhat strange?

8. When  was  Ireland  divided  into  the  Irish  Republic  and  Northern Ireland (Ulster)?

9. What is the political status of Ulster?

10. What movement began in Ulster in 1969? What did this movement grow into?

11. How did the British government try to keep law and order in Ulster?

12. What is the situation in Northern Ireland now?

The Stuarts

The Stuart monarchs were less successful than the Tudors. They quarrelled with Parliament and this resulted in civil war. One of the Stuarts was executed. Another Stuart King was driven from the throne. During the 17th century economic power moved into the hands of the merchant and landowning farmer classes. The Crown could no longer raise money or govern without their cooperation.

The Civil war.

Like Elizabeth, James I tried to rule without Parliament as much as possible. He believed in the “divine right of kings”: the king was chosen by God and therefore only God could judge him. He managed to rule the country without Parliament between 1611 and 1621, but it was only possible because Britain remained at peace. James was always quarrelling with Parliament over money.

Charles I quarrelled with Parliament even more bitterly than his father had done. More than once Charles dissolved Parliament, but had to recall it again because he needed money.

Events in Ireland resulted in civil war. James I had continued Elizabeth’s policy and had colonized Ulster, the northern part of Ireland. The Catholic Irish were driven off their bands, which were given to Protestant settlers from England. Ireland exploded in rebellion against the Protestant English settlers.

In London Charles and Parliament quarrelled over who should lead an army to defeat the rebels. Many MPs were afraid to give an army to Charles: they thought that Charles would use the army in order to dissolve Parliament by force and to rule alone again.

London, where Parliament’s influence was stronger, locked its gates against the king, and Charles moved to Nottingham where he gathered an army to defeat those MPs who opposed him.

The civil war had started. The Royalists known as Cavaliers, controlled most of the North and West.

Parliament controlled the east and southeast, including London. The forces were not equal. Parliament was supported by the Navy, by most of the merchants and by the population of London. The Royalists had no money. In the end, at the battle of Naseby in 1645, the Royalist army was finally defeated. That was the end of the civil war.

Republic in Britain. Oliver Cromwell.

Several MPs had commanded the Parliamentarian army during the civil war. The strongest of them was a gentleman farmer named Oliver Cromwell. He had created a new “model” army. Cromwell and his advisers captured the king in 1645. The king was accused of treason and found guilty of “making war against his kingdom and Parliament”. In 1649 king Charles I was executed.

From 1649 till 1660 Britain was a republic. But the republic was not a success. Cromwell and his friends created a government which was far more severe than Charles had been. They had got rid of the monarchy, and now they got rid of the House of Lords.

From 1653 Britain was governed by Cromwell alone. He became Lord Protector and had much more power than king Charles had had. But his efforts to govern the country through the army were extremely unpopular, and the idea of using the army to maintain law and order in the kingdom has remained unpopular. His other innovations were unpopular too: people were forbidden to celebrate Christmas and Easter and to play games on Sunday.

Restoration.

When Cromwell died in 1658, nobody governed the country. It was clear that the situation could be saved only by the restoration of monarchy. In 1660 Charles II was invited to return to his kingdom. The republic was over.

Charles II did not want to make Parliament his enemy. Many MPs were given positions of authority or responsibility in the new monarchy. But in general Parliament remained weak. Charles hoped to make peace between the different religions groups that existed in Britain at that time. The first political parties in Britain appeared in Charles II’s reign.

One of these parties was a group of MPs who became known as Whigs, a rude name for cattle drivers. The Whigs were afraid of an absolute monarchy.

The other party which opposed the Whigs, was nicknamed Tories, which is an Irish name for thieves. The Tories supported the Crown and the Church. These 2 parties, the Whigs and the Tories, became the basis of Britain’s two-party parliamentary system of government.

Practical work

Answer the questions.

1. Why did James I try to rule without Parliament? What did he believe in?

2. Why did James I have to ask Parliament for money? Did he get the money?

3. Did James manage to rule the country without Parliament?

4. How did Charles I’s relations with Parliament develop?

5. What did Charles and Parliament quarrel about in connection with the events in Ireland?

6. Why didn’t Parliament want to give an army to Charles?

7. How did the civil war start?

8. What parts of the country did the Royalists control?

9. What parts were controlled by the Parliamentarian army?

10. What were the advantages of Parliament in the civil war?

11. When and where was the last battle of the civil war fought? What was the result of the battle?

12. Who was Oliver Cromwell? What new kind of army did he create?

13. When did Cromwell capture Charles? What was the problem of the Parliamentarians in connection with the captured king?

14. Who was Cromwell succeeded by after his death? In what way was his successor different from him?

15. How did the republic in Britain end?

Праздники Англии.
События в Великобритании

Январь

• Новогодний парад – от Беркли-сквер до Гайд-парка.
• Чемпионат мира по теннису – Ройал-Альберт-холл.
• Лондонская международная выставка яхт и лодок – выставочный комплекс Эрлз-Корт.
• День памяти Карла I – члены английского Общества гражданской войны одеваются роялистами и проходят парадом по Уайтхоллу.

Февраль

• Выставка собак «Крафтс» – Эрлз-Корт; самая престижная из собачьих выставок.  
• День вступления монарха на престол – 41 залп салюта перед отелем «Дорчестер» в Гайд-парке.
• Китайский Новый год – красочный праздник на Джерард-стрит в Чайнатауне.
• День св. Валентина, 14-го – день влюбленных.
• Последний день масленицы – за 41 день до Пасхи, когда по традиции пекут блины.

Март

• Выставка «Идеальный дом» – Эрлз-Корт.
• Гребные гонки – традиционные ежегодные соревнования между Оксфордским и Кембриджским университетами, проводятся на Темзе, от Путни до Мортлейка, дистанция – 7,2 км.
• Челсийская  выставка  старинных  вещей  –  Олд-Таун-холл,  Кингз-роуд.
• Пасхальное шествие – праздничный карнавал в Баттерси-парке (начало в 15.00).
• Кэмденский фестиваль джаза – Кэмден-Таун; кроме джаза можно посетить оперу, танцы, кино и выставки.
• День святого Патрика – праздник в Ирландии.

Апрель

• День дураков, 1-го – все утро британцы, изменив своей привычной чопорности, подшучивают друг над другом.
• Лондонский конный парад – кони и всадники в доспехах проезжают по Внутреннему кругу в Риджентс-парке.
• Лондонский марафон – один из крупнейших в мире; проходит от Гринвичского парка до Вестминстера.
• День рождения королевы, 21-го – в честь дня рождения Ее Величества в Гайд-парке и Тауэре производится праздничный салют.
• Лондонская книжная ярмарка – Барбикэн.

Май  

• Челсийская цветочная выставка – в Королевском госпитале.
• Королевская конная выставка – Виндзорский парк.
• Парад Конной гвардии на Уайтхолле и парад военных оркестров.
• Финал  Кубка  Уэмбли – финал  национального  футбольного  чемпионата.
• День дуба и яблони – в Челсийском инвалидном доме парад ветеранов в честь его основателя Карла II.

Июнь  

• Дерби, ипподром Эпсом – ежегодные скачки лошадей-трехлеток.  
• Летняя выставка Королевской академии искусств – огромная выставка профессиональных и начинающих художников в Берлингтон-хаусе на Пиккадилли; заканчивается в августе.
• Парад Конной гвардии в честь «официального» дня рождения королевы.
• Королевский Аскот – престижные скачки на ипподроме Аскот; на них обычно присутствует королевская семья.
• Ярмарка старинных вещей – отель «Гровенор-хаус», Парк-лейн.  
• Уимблдонский чемпионат по теннису – одно из самых значительных спортивных событий года.

Июль  

• Королевская регата – международная регата в Хэнли на Темзе.
• Променад-концерты Генри Вуда – Альберт-холл; концерты классической музыки.
• Королевский турнир – Эрлз-Корт, солдаты всех родов войск демонстрируют свое мастерство.
• Кольцевание лебедей – представители властей проводят регистрацию всех лебедей на Темзе.
• Гребные гонки на приз Доджетта – традиционные соревнования гребцов-одиночек на яликах от Лондонского моста до Челси.

Август  

• Карнавал в Ноттинг-хилле – красочный праздник Вест-Индии на улицах Лэдброк-Гроув, с экзотическими костюмами и зажигательной музыкой, самый большой в Европе.
• Лондонский конный парад – Роттен-роу в Гайд-парке.
• Международный фестиваль уличных исполнителей – площадь Ковент-Гарден.

Сентябрь  

• Челсийская  ярмарка  старинных  вещей  –  Олд-Таун-холл,  Кингз-роуд.
• Конное  воскресенье – церковь Св. Иоанна и Св. Михаила: специальная утренняя церковная служба, посвященная лошади. Викарий и прихожане – верхом. После службы процессия направляется в Гайд-парк.

Октябрь

• Перламутровый праздник урожая – церковь Сент-Мартин-ин-зе-Филдс, Трафальгарская площадь, 1-е воскресенье. Перламутровые король и королева (победители традиционного конкурса одежды уличных торговцев среди кокни) присутствуют на праздничной церковной службе в костюмах, украшенных множеством перламутровых пуговиц.
• Судебная служба – законодательный год в Британии начинается шествием судей в полном облачении от Вестминстерского аббатства к зданию парламента.
• Выставка «Лошадь года» – Уэмбли.
• Трафальгарский парад – в честь победы Нельсона в Трафальгарском сражении.
• Хеллоуин – день всех святых.

Ноябрь  

• Пробег  старинных  машин  Лондон – Брайтон – в  первое  воскресенье  сотни  старинных  машин  и  их  гордых  владельцев стартуют в Гайд-парке.
• Парад лорд-мэра – пышная процессия от Гилдхолла в Сити до Ройал-Кортс.
• Ночь Гая Фокса, 5 ноября – фейерверки в городских парках в годовщину неудачной попытки взрыва парламента в 1605 г.
• Поминальное воскресенье, ближайшее к 11 ноября – в церквах служат панихиды по погибшим воинам. У обелиска «Кенотаф» на Уайтхолле проходит официальная церемония возложения венков.
• Официальное открытие сессии парламента – палата лордов, Вестминстер. Королева объявляет о возобновлении работы парламента после каникул.
• Рождественские огни зажигаются на Оксфорд- и Риджент-стрит.

Декабрь  

• Международная выставка лошадей – выставочный центр «Олимпия».
• Рождественское богослужение – Трафальгарская площадь.
• Новогодняя распродажа – с каждым годом она начинается все раньше и раньше.
• Рождественские каникулы – 24 декабря – 2 января.
• Канун Нового года – тысячи людей в полночь собираются на Трафальгарской площади.