1805 Trafalgar (Nelson, sea) vs. 1815 Waterloo (Wellington, land)
N before W, 5 before 15: alphabetical order of commanders matches chronological order of battles.
Life in the UK Test Timeline
Every testable date in chapters 2–5 of the handbook, organised by era. ⚓ Anchor dates are worth memorising first: every other date in an era can be positioned relative to one. Events flagged with a coloured tag belong to a sticky pair.
Pre-Roman Britain relative timestamps
Read the explainer: Ancient & Roman Britain →
- ~10,000 ya Britain separates from continent (Channel forms)
- ~6,000 ya First farmers arrive (Stone Age, builds Stonehenge)
- ~4,000 ya Bronze Age begins
- Iron Age Celtic-language tribes; first British coins minted
Roman Britain 55 BC – AD 410
Read the explainer: Ancient & Roman Britain →
- ⚓ 55 BC Julius Caesar's first invasion (unsuccessful)
- AD 43 Emperor Claudius invades successfully; Roman occupation begins Boudicca (Iceni queen) leads resistance
- AD 122 Hadrian's Wall built (to keep out Picts)
- 3rd–4th c. AD First Christian communities in Britain
- ⚓ AD 410 Roman army leaves Britain, never returns
Anglo-Saxons & Vikings AD 410 – 1066
Read the explainer: Medieval Britain →
- AD 600 (approx.) Anglo-Saxon kingdoms established St Augustine → Archbishop of Canterbury (south); St Columba → Iona (north); St Patrick → patron of Ireland
- AD 789 Vikings first raid Britain (from Denmark and Norway)
- — King Alfred the Great defeats Vikings, unites Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
- — King Cnut (Canute): first Danish king of England
- — Kenneth MacAlpin: first king of Scotland (unites against Viking threat)
Norman Conquest & Middle Ages 1066 – 1485
Read the explainer: Medieval Britain →
- ⚓ 1066 Battle of Hastings: William of Normandy defeats King Harold Bayeux Tapestry commemorates it; Domesday Book commissioned
- ⚓ 1215 Magna Carta: King John forced to sign by his nobles pair: magna-bannockburn
- 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan: Edward I annexes Wales
- 1314 Battle of Bannockburn: Robert the Bruce defeats English; Scotland stays free pair: magna-bannockburn
- 1348 Black Death arrives (kills ~⅓ of population)
- 1415 Battle of Agincourt: Henry V defeats French (Hundred Years War)
- 1455 Wars of the Roses begin (Lancaster red rose vs. York white rose)
- ⚓ 1485 Battle of Bosworth Field: Richard III killed; Henry VII founds Tudor dynasty pair: bosworth-gunpowder-fire
Tudors 1485 – 1603
Read the explainer: Early Modern Britain →
- 1530s Henry VIII breaks from Rome → Church of England (Reformation) Six wives: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, Catherine Parr
- 1560 Scottish Parliament abolishes Pope's authority
- 1588 Spanish Armada defeated under Elizabeth I
- 1564–1616 William Shakespeare's lifespan
Stuarts & Civil War 1603 – 1714
Read the explainer: Early Modern Britain →
- ⚓ 1603 Elizabeth I dies; James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England
- ⚓ 1605 Gunpowder Plot (Guy Fawkes): origin of Bonfire Night pair: bosworth-gunpowder-fire
- 1606 First Union Flag created (Scotland + England crosses)
- 1642 English Civil War begins (Cavaliers vs. Roundheads)
- 1649 Charles I executed → England becomes Commonwealth (republic)
- 1656 First Jews settle in London since Middle Ages
- 1658 Oliver Cromwell dies (had been Lord Protector)
- 1660 Restoration: Charles II invited back from exile
- 1665 Great Plague of London
- 1666 Great Fire of London (St Paul's rebuilt by Christopher Wren) pair: bosworth-gunpowder-fire
- 1679 Habeas Corpus Act pair: habeas-bill
- 1680–1720 Huguenots (French Protestants) flee to Britain
- ⚓ 1688 Glorious Revolution: William of Orange and Mary take the throne
- 1689 Bill of Rights: limits the king's power and establishes constitutional monarchy pair: habeas-bill
- 1690 Battle of the Boyne: William defeats James II in Ireland
- ⚓ 1707 Act/Treaty of Union: Kingdom of Great Britain created (Scotland + England + Wales) pair: acts-of-union
Georgian / Industrial Age 1714 – 1837
Read the explainer: The long 19th century →
- 1714 Queen Anne dies; George I (German) becomes king
- 1721–1742 Sir Robert Walpole: first Prime Minister
- 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobite rebellion begins
- 1746 Battle of Culloden: defeats Bonnie Prince Charlie; ends clan power
- 1776 American colonies declare independence
- 1783 Britain recognises American independence
- 1789 French Revolution
- ⚓ 1801 Act of Union: Ireland joins UK ("United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland") pair: acts-of-union New Union Flag adds St Patrick's cross
- ⚓ 1805 Battle of Trafalgar: Nelson defeats French/Spanish at sea (killed in battle) pair: trafalgar-waterloo
- 1807 Slave trade illegal in British ships
- ⚓ 1815 Battle of Waterloo: Wellington defeats Napoleon on land (later becomes PM) pair: trafalgar-waterloo
- 1832 Great Reform Act: expands franchise; abolishes pocket/rotten boroughs pair: reform-acts
- 1833 Emancipation Act: slavery abolished throughout British Empire
Victorian Era 1837 – 1901
Read the explainer: The long 19th century →
- ⚓ 1837 Queen Victoria becomes queen at age 18 (reigns ~64 years)
- 1846 Repeal of Corn Laws (free trade)
- 1847 Women/children's working hours limited to 10/day
- 1851 Great Exhibition (Crystal Palace, Hyde Park)
- 1853–1856 Crimean War (Florence Nightingale)
- 1867 Second Reform Act: more urban seats, lower property requirement pair: reform-acts
- 1870 & 1882 Married Women's Property Acts
- 1899–1902 Boer War (South Africa)
- ⚓ 1901 Queen Victoria dies
Early 20th Century & WWI 1901 – 1918
Read the explainer: Modern Britain (20th–21st c.) →
- 1907 Rudyard Kipling wins Nobel Prize in Literature
- ⚓ 1914–1918 First World War
- 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin; Battle of the Somme (60,000 British casualties day 1)
- ⚓ 1918 Women over 30 get vote; WWI ends 11:00 am, 11 November 1918 pair: franchise
Inter-war & Irish Partition 1918 – 1939
Read the explainer: Modern Britain (20th–21st c.) →
- 1921 Irish peace treaty signed
- 1922 Ireland partitioned (Northern Ireland stays in UK; Irish Free State formed)
- 1922 BBC starts radio broadcasts
- ⚓ 1928 Women get vote at 21: "fully democratic", same as men pair: franchise
- 1929 Great Depression begins
- 1933 Hitler comes to power in Germany
- 1936 BBC starts world's first regular TV service
Second World War 1939 – 1945
Read the explainer: Modern Britain (20th–21st c.) →
- ⚓ 1939 WWII begins (Hitler invades Poland; Britain + France declare war) pair: wwii-nhs
- 1940 Churchill becomes PM; Dunkirk evacuation; Battle of Britain; the Blitz
- 1941 Hitler invades Soviet Union; Pearl Harbor (US enters war)
- 1944 D-Day (allied landings in Normandy, 6 June); Butler Education Act (free secondary)
- ⚓ 1945 VE Day; atom bombs on Hiroshima + Nagasaki end war with Japan pair: wwii-nhs
- 1945 Labour government elected; Clement Attlee becomes PM
Post-war Britain 1945 – 1979
Read the explainer: Modern Britain (20th–21st c.) →
- 1947 India, Pakistan, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) granted independence
- ⚓ 1948 NHS established: Aneurin (Nye) Bevan, Minister for Health pair: wwii-nhs Beveridge wrote report → Attlee won election → Bevan built it
- 1948 West Indians invited to UK to fill labour shortages
- 1949 Irish Free State becomes Republic
- 1951–1964 Conservative government (Macmillan's "wind of change")
- 1952 Elizabeth II becomes Queen
- 1957 Treaty of Rome: EEC formed (UK NOT a founding member)
- 1958 Life peers introduced in House of Lords
- 1966 England wins FIFA World Cup (only time)
- 1966/67 Sir Francis Chichester first to sail solo around world
- ⚓ 1969 Voting age reduced to 18; Northern Ireland Troubles begin pair: franchise
- 1972 Northern Ireland Parliament suspended (direct UK rule)
- ⚓ 1973 UK joins EEC (the European Economic Community) pair: modern-political
- 1976 Concorde begins commercial flights
- 1978 First "test-tube baby" born in Oldham (IVF)
Modern Britain 1979 – present
Read the explainer: Modern Britain (20th–21st c.) →
- ⚓ 1979–1990 Margaret Thatcher PM (first woman PM, longest of 20th c.)
- 1982 Falklands War (vs. Argentina)
- 1984 Turner Prize established
- 1990 Tim Berners-Lee transfers info via World Wide Web for first time (25 December 1990)
- 1996 Dolly the sheep cloned
- ⚓ 1997 Tony Blair / Labour elected: devolution begins pair: modern-political
- ⚓ 1998 Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement
- ⚓ 1999 Scottish Parliament + Welsh Assembly formed; NI Assembly elected pair: modern-political
- 1999 Hereditary peers lose automatic right to sit in Lords
- 2002 NI Assembly suspended
- 2003 Concorde retired
- 2007 Gordon Brown PM; NI Assembly reinstated
- 2009 UK combat troops leave Iraq
- 2010 Coalition government (Cameron PM): first hung parliament since Feb 1974
- 2012 London Olympics; Queen's Diamond Jubilee
Anchor dates: the spine
Memorise these first. Every other date can be positioned relative to one of them. For the full method and a clean printable list, see the anchor dates page.
- 55 BC: Julius Caesar's first invasion (unsuccessful) Roman Britain
- AD 410: Roman army leaves Britain, never returns Roman Britain
- 1066: Battle of Hastings: William of Normandy defeats King Harold Norman Conquest & Middle Ages
- 1215: Magna Carta: King John forced to sign by his nobles Norman Conquest & Middle Ages
- 1485: Battle of Bosworth Field: Richard III killed; Henry VII founds Tudor dynasty Norman Conquest & Middle Ages
- 1603: Elizabeth I dies; James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England Stuarts & Civil War
- 1605: Gunpowder Plot (Guy Fawkes): origin of Bonfire Night Stuarts & Civil War
- 1688: Glorious Revolution: William of Orange and Mary take the throne Stuarts & Civil War
- 1707: Act/Treaty of Union: Kingdom of Great Britain created (Scotland + England + Wales) Stuarts & Civil War
- 1801: Act of Union: Ireland joins UK ("United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland") Georgian / Industrial Age
- 1805: Battle of Trafalgar: Nelson defeats French/Spanish at sea (killed in battle) Georgian / Industrial Age
- 1815: Battle of Waterloo: Wellington defeats Napoleon on land (later becomes PM) Georgian / Industrial Age
- 1837: Queen Victoria becomes queen at age 18 (reigns ~64 years) Victorian Era
- 1901: Queen Victoria dies Victorian Era
- 1914–1918: First World War Early 20th Century & WWI
- 1918: Women over 30 get vote; WWI ends 11:00 am, 11 November 1918 Early 20th Century & WWI
- 1928: Women get vote at 21: "fully democratic", same as men Inter-war & Irish Partition
- 1939: WWII begins (Hitler invades Poland; Britain + France declare war) Second World War
- 1945: VE Day; atom bombs on Hiroshima + Nagasaki end war with Japan Second World War
- 1948: NHS established: Aneurin (Nye) Bevan, Minister for Health Post-war Britain
- 1969: Voting age reduced to 18; Northern Ireland Troubles begin Post-war Britain
- 1973: UK joins EEC (the European Economic Community) Post-war Britain
- 1979–1990: Margaret Thatcher PM (first woman PM, longest of 20th c.) Modern Britain
- 1997: Tony Blair / Labour elected: devolution begins Modern Britain
- 1998: Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement Modern Britain
- 1999: Scottish Parliament + Welsh Assembly formed; NI Assembly elected Modern Britain
Sticky pairs: the traps
These cluster by era and trip people up. Drill them as pairs, not in isolation.
1679 Habeas Corpus Act vs. 1689 Bill of Rights
Decade-swap. Habeas Corpus (under Charles II) protects the individual from unlawful imprisonment. Bill of Rights (under William & Mary, post-Glorious Revolution) protects Parliament from the monarch. Individual first, then institution, ten years apart.
1215 Magna Carta (John) vs. 1314 Bannockburn (Robert the Bruce)
Exactly 99 years apart; both about limiting/escaping English royal power.
1485 Bosworth (Henry VII) vs. 1605 Gunpowder Plot (James I) vs. 1666 Great Fire
Three "1XX5/6" dates that get confused. Tudor founding → Stuart treason → Stuart London ablaze.
1707 Union with Scotland vs. 1801 Union with Ireland
UK built in two stages. 1707: England + Scotland → Kingdom of Great Britain (island). 1801: GB + Ireland → United Kingdom. Mnemonic: if the question says "UK" → 1801; if it says "Great Britain" alone → 1707.
1832 First Reform Act vs. 1867 Second Reform Act
Both expand franchise.
1918 Women 30+ vote vs. 1928 Women 21+ vote vs. 1969 Age 18 vote
Three franchise milestones. 1928 is the "fully democratic" date.
1939 WWII begins vs. 1945 WWII ends vs. 1948 NHS founded
Wartime → post-war chain. Beveridge (1942) → Attlee elected (1945) → Bevan builds NHS (1948).
1973 UK joins EEC vs. 1997 Blair/devolution vs. 1999 devolved bodies sit
Late-20th-century political reorganization.