British history: 18th and 19th Century

1701

Act of union between England and Scotland.

around 1750

Industrial Revolution started in Britain.

1776

American Revolutionary War (The American war of independence).

1805

Battle of Trafalgar. The British, commanded by Lord Nelson, defeat a combined French and Spanish fleet. This meant that without naval power, Napoleon could not invade Britain.

1829

Robert Peel creates the world's first police force, the Metropolition Police Force.

1840s

The Irish famine. Potato blight destroys the potato crop, and as the Irish were so poor, the only food they could afford was destroyed.

1854 - 1856

Crimean war. French and British forces against the Russians. During this conflict is where Florence Nightingale becomes renowned as the "lady with the lamp".