Modern & General History

England has in the past ruled more countries and more land (at one time more than ¼ of the world) than any other of the famous conquering nations such as the Romans, the Greeks, the Persians, the Vikings, the French, Spanish, Dutch and Portuguese.  How did the English who once ruled even North America get to be such a powerful nation? Were we a cruel ruthless people? Did we have the best army and navy? Were we starving and had to find more land? Did we have the best guns or were our men better trained? How and why did we travel around the world and who was trying to stop us? 

We will look at those who previously invaded and ruled England; 3000 years ago the Celts from central Europe 2000 years ago the Romans from central Italy 1500 years ago the Angles, Saxons and Jutes from northern Germany and then the Vikings from Scandinavia. 1000 years ago the Norman's - who were Vikings who had settled in Western France 200 years previously. After the Norman's invaded 1000 years ago no peoples have ruled the English other than the English. Indeed no other nation has even managed to land on English soil.

We will look at the powerful people who tried to teach us good and bad things (Right and wrong) particularly the various Christian churches and some other religious groups who have operated in England or effected us from afar.  We also look at more modern history and how and why society is changing including a detailed look at the London riots in 2011.