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Beginnings
The first time that the British came into contact from outside people since the disappearance of the land bridge connecting the British Isles to mainland Europe occured in the year 43 A.D. This was the year that Ceasar send a Roman expeditionary force under the command of Aulus Platius to the British Isles. Although the indigenous Celtic tribesmen put up heavy initial resistance, superior armed and trained Roman Legionnairies were able to subdue them and successfully occupy Great Britian all the way up to the border of modern day Scotland.
Over the course of the next 367 years, Great Britian experiences an era of relative peace under Roman rule. Celtic and Roman culture coalesced into a unique society, and Christianity was introduced to Britain. The year 410 A.D. brought about great change though, when Rome withdrew all of its occupation forces from Britain in order to fight the Goths in western Germany. This abandonment left the British people very vulnerable, and almost immediately afterwards various Scandanavian and Germanic tribes began raiding the seemingly defenseless British Isles. Three of these groups, the Anglos, the Saxons, and the Jutes, began establishing permanent settlements along England's southern coast (the word England actually descends from the country's ancient name Angliland, or Anglo Land.) After years of widespread ethnic conflict, the Anglo-Saxons had driven the indigenous Britons back to modern day Scotland and Wales, and came to dominate most of the main island.
Towards the end of the first century another group begins to plunder the British Isles, they called themselves the Vikings but were known as the Danes to the Anglo-Saxons. Violent conflict erupted as the Vikings pillaged, looted, and terrorized coastal Britain. At one point, the Vikings under the leadership of King Harrod came close to actually taking over the entire island but were defeated at the battle of Dover.
The British people, now united under a single government, continued to repel Viking invasion attempts until 1066, when William of Normandy defeated an exhausted and ill equiped British army at the battle of Hastings. William went to London and made himself the new king of Britain. Massive change resulted from Norman rule, establishing a new ruling class. During this period, King William, and King Henry II expanded their empire into France and Britian became a powerful nation in Europe.
After the death of king Henry though, social unrest arose, which eventually manifested itself into civil war, causing British holdings in mainland Europe to erode away in a period of time known as "The war of the Roses".

The First British Empire
Queen Elizabeth I was ruler of Britain during the European age of exploration. During this time, Spain had begun colonzing the new world. After seeing the vast amount of wealth being acquired, British explorers made expeditions to Canada and present day U.S. and set up various settlements. The first permanent British settlement in the new world was Jamestown, Virginia, established in 1607. More British colonies began rapidly popping up in North America as people immigrated there to seek financial opportunity and escape religious persecution.
Britain began to compete with several other European powers, mainly Spain and France, in conquering and colonizing land around the world. This competition led to several violent conflicts between the powers including the sinking of the Spanish armada by the British navy, and the French and Indian war, which resulted in complete British control of Canada. The British established colonies in the Carribbean such as Jamaica and the Virgin Islands as well, and set up sugar, cocoa, molasses, and African slave trade.
To help pay for expensive wars in the Americas, British government levied taxes on the American colonists, causing great amounts of civil unrest. Fighting eventually broke out between British soldiers and American colonists and in 1776, the colonies declared their independance from Great Britain. The British government was fearful that if the Americans succeeded in usurping British control, other colonies might be compelled to rebel; so a sizeable British force was sent to quash the uprising. The British government was unable to stop the rebellion and was forced to surrender.
The British government remained bitter towards the United States and refused to fully recognize the country. The British navy begins the practice of impression of American sailors, and that, along with a few other factors led to the war of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain, in which Britain unsuccessfully attempted to reclaim America.

The Second British Empire
France gained huge power in Europe under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte, and begins conquering neighboring countries early in the 1800's. Great Britain declares war on France and forms an alliance with Russia and Germany and eventually defeats Napoleon.

After losing the a large portion of their emipire during the American revolution, Britain began to shift its attention eslewhere in the world. Slavery is abolished in Britain in 1807, as well as the old colonial system of direct political rule. The British East India Company established trade with the Indies, and came to dominate Burma, Malaya, Hong Kong, Pakistan, and India. The Company enjoyed not only economic, but political control over the entire area. In 1858, The British East India Company handed control of its holdings over to the British government after a series of revolts. The addition of India to te British empire brought vast amounts of wealth to the empire, through exporting goods such as tea, silk, and spices. Along with the Japanese, Dutch, and Russians, Britain gained control over China as well. During this period, Australia is also colonized and used as a giant prison camp in order to relieve stress on other jails throughout the empire.

Neo-Imperialism
After a long economic depression in the late 1800's, British global dominance became Jeopardized by a few rapidly developing nations such as Germany, Italy, France, the United States, and Russia. As a result, the age of "informal" imperialism under the second empire, established as more of economic than political dominance ends. The Berlin conference of 1884-85, between Britain, France and Germany stated that official imperial control of a colony required military occupation. Also around this time, Africa had become extensively mapped by European explorers, and the British government became aware of the potential wealth that could be reaped from the continent. This led to an African "scramble" in the early 1900's, which resulted in huge areas of land in Africa being taken seemingly overnight. Nearly the whole of Africa had been carved up by European powers (30% of the continent ended up in British control) over the course of less than 30 years, while it had taken over 300 years for Europe to control the Americas. During the early 1900's the global industrial revolution was in full swing and a naval arms race began between Great Britain and the United States. A treaty is eventually signed limiting the numbers and size of ships that the two countries can produce. Many Britons are poopsed to this treaty because naval superiority had always been Great Britain's main means of dominance. During this time period, the British empire reaches its peak encompassing 30 million square kilometers and including the following territories: Bechunanland, British Togoland, Cameroon, Gold Coast, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Northern Rhodesia, Sierra Leone, Somalilana, South Africa, Sudan, Tanganyika, Uganda, Ascension Islands, British Guiana, British Honduras, Canada, Falkland Islands, Newfoundland, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, St Helena, Tristan de Cunha, South Georgia, Aden, Bhutan, British New Guinea, Brunei, Burma, Ceylon, Hong Kong, India, Malaya, Maldives, Nepal, North Borneo, Oman, Qatar, Sarawak, Singapore, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Malta, Ireland, Australia, Elice Islands, Fiji, Gilbert Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Pitcairn, Solomon Islands, and Tonga.

World War I
The first world war took place in 1914 and was the result of competition between European nations, and a tangle of "secret alliances". Germany and Austria Hungary were allied to each other. Great Britain allied itself with France, and France allied with Russia. Austria-Hungary had signed a treaty promising to protect Italy from France as long as Italy remained neutral if Austria-Hungary attacked Russia. Russia and Austria-Hungary were both in conflict with the Balkans, and the crumbling Ottoman Empire was an attractive target to Russia and Austria-Hungary. What ended up happening was the Serbian leader was assassinated causing war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. Russia then went to war against Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. Austia-Hungary then pulled Germany into the war against Russia, and Russia pulled in France and Great Britain. And I think Italy went to war with someone (meh, why not). The British and French were fighting the Germans on the western front, and a stalemate was observed throughout most of the war. The factor that turned the tide of the war in Britains favor was the United States' entrance into the war in 1917. During the beginning stages of the war the United States had been neutral, but entered on Great Britains side due to Germany's refusal to end unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic, which had sunk several U.S. ships.
After the war, Great Britain would increase the size of its empire one last time by taking Transjordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Palestine, and Turkey.

World War II
After WWI, Great Britain would never be able to go back to the way it was before the war. It effectively marked the end of Britain's imperialization of territories. The world was gripped by a global depression.
Not long after WWI ended, WWII began when the rebuilt Germany under the leadership of Adolf Hitler attacked Poland in 1939. Great Britain and France declared war on Germany, but by 1940, France had fallen. Britain was pounded by waves of air raids, and attacks by German "Vengeance" weapons (precursors to modern ballistic missiles). Great Britain also won WWII with the help of the Soviet Union and the United States, who had entered the war after Japan (Germany's ally) attacked the U.S. Although Great Britain was ultimately victorious in the war, the country was in economic shambles afterwards. Great Britain could simply not afford to maintain such an extensive empire any longer, and it began to dissolve. India recieved its independance in 1947. Iraq, Transjordan, and Palestine (divided into Israel and Palestine) soon followed as well as several territories in Africa. After the war, Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, the United States, and China establish and become the first members of the U.N.

Cold War Era - Present Day
After World War II, tensions arose between Great Britain and the esatern European communist bloc, lead by the Soviet Union. Britain had based the entire existance and history of itself as a nation on free enterprise, and the Soviet communist ideology was fundamentally opposed to theirs. At this time, Great Britain had come to terms with the fact that it was no longer a global superpower and formed NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) along with France, the U.S. and several other Western European nations. The basic premise of this organization was (and still is) that if one member country was threatened, all the others would help protect it. During this time, Great Britain also became the first western European nation to develop nuclear capabilities. Great Britain was involved in the Korean war, which was the first U.N. military action, as well as a war with Argentina in 1982 over control of the Falkland Islands. Great Britain joined the European Union also in 1973, but has not been as willing of a member as other nations. Australia and Canada, are no longer technically under control of the British empire, but are part of the British commonwealth. They have independant, elected governments, but swear their alliance to the British crown. In 1991, Great Britain participated in the Persain Gulf War along with the United States to drive Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. They also are aiding the United States in the Iraq war taking place now.

Britain's Modern Relationships
Today, Great Britains most important ally is probably the United States. The two countries are both major trade partners and have had a military alliance since the end of WWII. Great Britain is also extremely close with Australia and Canada, all members of the British Commonwealth. Because of it's presence in the EU, a relatively good realtionship is maintained between Great Britain and the rest of Europe. Probably the biggest enemy of Britain these days are Islamo-Terrorist organizations who target Britain because of its alliance with the U.S. The situation between Great Britain (Northern Ireland) and Ireland is also strained to say the least, but progress has been made and conflict has decreased.
Today Great Britain remains a wealthy and relatively powerful nation with many strong alliances.

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