HISTORY (XX-XXI centuries)

1901: On the death of Queen Victoria I her son Eduardo VII took the throne.

1906-14: Liberal governments promoted a series of social reforms, including an old-age pension system and a sickness and unemployment insurance plan.

1909: The House of Lords rejected Lloyd George’s budget and his taxes to finance the government’s reform program.

1911: The Parliament Act restricted the power of lords.

1914: World War I: the British government asked Germany to respect Belgium’s neutrality in an ultimatum sent to Berlin.

1915: A coalition government was formed between liberals, unionists and Labor, chaired by Anthony Asquith.

1916: Lloyd George presided over a government, which took steps to achieve victory.

1917: King George V renounced his German surnames and adopted the name of Windsor. Women were granted the right to vote.

1918: Britain emerged victorious from the war, but with a much less firm world position; He had suffered three million casualties, with one million dead or missing. Lloyd George was re-elected, who with the support of France imposed an unfair and unfair adjustment of accounts on Germany.

1919: Lloyd George’s government signed the Peace Treaty in Versailles.

1922: A conservative government chaired by Bonar Law succeeds George’s coalition government.

1924: First Labor government led by Ramsay McDonald.

1926: The coal miners’ strike followed a general strike by the other workers in support of the coal workers.

1927: The Stanley Baldwin government enacted a law declaring the general strike illegal.

1931: Labor R. R. McDonald formed a government of national unity. The Statute of Westminster declared the domains «autonomous communities within the British Empire.»

1935: McDonald was replaced by Baldwin as head of a national union government.

1936: Jorge V died, to whom his eldest son Eduardo VIII succeeded on the throne; He abdicated and retired from political life, succeeding his brother George VI.

1938: London signed the Munich Pact, claudic and unsuccessful attempt to avoid war.

1939: World War II: The government chaired by the conservative Neville Chamberlain declared war on Germany.

1940: A war cabinet chaired by Winston Churchill was formed in London. Three million men and 100,000 women were mobilized.

1941: British troops invaded Eritrea, Italian Somalia and Libya. Churchill and US President Roosevelt signed the Atlantic Charter, to organize the postwar world.

1942: The British defeated the Italians in East Africa and arrested Erwin Rommel in El Alamein.

1943: British and North Americans expelled the Germans from Sicily and invaded Italy.

1944: The large-scale bombings on Germany began.

1945: Allied armies advanced on Germany, which signed the unconditional surrender. Stalin, Churchill and Truman met in Potsdam to organize the postwar period. He resigned the coalition government chaired by W. Churchill, and was succeeded by a Labor government chaired by Clement Attlee.

1947: Independence was granted to India and Pakistan.

1949: Ireland became a sovereign Republic, broke its ties with the Empire and left the Commonwealth.

1951: The conservatives returned to the power, forming new government directed by Churchill.

1952: King George VI died, and his daughter Isabel II succeeded him.

1955: Churchill resigned, and was replaced by the also conservative Sir Anthony Eden.

1957: The first hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean was tested.

1959: The general elections gave the triumph to the conservatives again. The MacMillan government had to face a serious economic and financial crisis.

1961: The London government applied to join the European Economic Community; entry vetoed by de Gaulle France.

1963: The political attrition suffered by MacMillan forces him to give way to the also conservative Alexander Douglas-Home.

1964: Labor get victory and form a government led by Harold Wilson.

1965: The monetary system of weights and measures was changed to the decimal.

1968: Wilson rebuilt his government and insisted on his «withdrawal over Europe» by abandoning imperial policy.

1970: Victory of the Conservative Party, which formed a government chaired by Edward Heath.

1972: Strike of miners and railroad that paralyzed the production of the country.

1973: The entry into the Common Market involved numerous criticisms for the Conservative Party. In March, almost one million workers on strike were estimated.

1974: The elections lost the absolute majority to the Conservative Party and Heath obtained from the Crown the right to continue governing, but collided with the Chamber and presented his resignation. New elections, which confirmed Wilson’s Labor government.

1976: Wilson resigned from prime minister and party chief, charges for which James Callaghan was elected.

1979: The Conservative Party won the victory, and Margaret Thatcher, as prime minister, formed a new government.

1982: Thatcher highlighted a powerful Royal Navy squad in the Falklands archipelago, recapturing the islands in a couple of months.

1983: The prime minister called early elections, in which the conservatives won a historic victory, which meant a real personal plebiscite in favor of Thatcher.

1987: Thatcher’s third consecutive victory, an extraordinary personal achievement of his energetic leadership of the country.

1990: Thatcher presented his resignation, and was replaced by the head of his co-religionist John Major.

1992: In the legislative, Major managed to maintain the absolute majority of the Conservative Party.

1993: Despite the pressure of the Eurosceptics, the Commons ratified the Maastricht Treaty.

1994: Queen Elizabeth II and French President F. Mitterrand inaugurated the rail tunnel under the La Mancha canal.

1997: He succeeded the Labor Party, and Tony Blair assumed the leadership of the government.

1999: The government decided not to incorporate the country into the European currency, the euro, opting for a “wait and see” tactic.

2000: The United Kingdom military forces intervened in Sierra Leone to protect and evacuate foreign citizens who were caught in the civil war, but later extended their stay to train the government army.

2001: After the 9/11 attacks, Prime Minister Tony Blair supported the US anti-terrorist measures. The British army launched air strikes on various targets in Afghanistan.

2003: The United Kingdom joined the US-led military campaign against Iraq.

2005: 52 people died and 700 were injured in a suicide attack on public transport in London. Al-Qaeda recognized the authorship of the attack.

2007: Gordon Brown became the prime minister.

2009: The United Kingdom withdrew most of its troops from Iraq, leaving only a small unit with the aim of training the Iraqi army.

2010: The Conservative Party won the largest number of seats in the general elections, although without reaching an absolute majority. David Cameron became the prime minister, thanks to the coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

2012: The British government reached an agreement with the Scottish government to hold an independence referendum in autumn 2014.

2013: David Cameron proposed to hold a referendum on the permanence in the European Union in the next elections.

2016: It was approved to leave the European Union in a referendum, which caused a political crisis that led to the resignation of David Cameron. Theresa May was appointed Prime Minister.

2017: Five people died in a terrorist attack committed by a radical Islamist. Months later, another attack claimed the lives of 30 people. On the other hand, no political party reached a majority in the early elections.