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British History in 50 Events
Have you ever wondered how Britain came to be?
Do you want to understand the events that have shaped British culture?
If so, this book is for you. In simple, straightforward language, this book will take you on a brief journey through the highlights of British history. Filled with interesting facts and historical context, this book is a must-read for those who are passionate about history or are simply interested in better understanding the history of the Britain.
Do you want to understand the events that have shaped British culture?
If so, this book is for you. In simple, straightforward language, this book will take you on a brief journey through the highlights of British history. Filled with interesting facts and historical context, this book is a must-read for those who are passionate about history or are simply interested in better understanding the history of the Britain.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
ebook
Published January 1, 2015
3 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Henry Freeman
52 books88 followersHenry Freeman is an author and archaeologist. He has a passion for history and loves to travel the world exploring various historical sites.
Henry graduated from the University of Cambridge with a double major in History and Archaeology and shortly after that started his career as an archaeologist.
After traveling the world getting first-hand experience with history, Henry was determined to take up his dream of becoming a best-selling author.
He decided to partner up with the newly formed publishing company Hourly History writing short, concise and straightforward history books that never takes more than one hour to read.
Henry graduated from the University of Cambridge with a double major in History and Archaeology and shortly after that started his career as an archaeologist.
After traveling the world getting first-hand experience with history, Henry was determined to take up his dream of becoming a best-selling author.
He decided to partner up with the newly formed publishing company Hourly History writing short, concise and straightforward history books that never takes more than one hour to read.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 12, 2019
Review to follow - 3.5 stars
July 19, 2021
“The sun never sets on the British Empire”
In the previous centuries, the British Empire was the biggest ruling kingdom in the entire world. The main reason I picked up this book was for reading a quick history of Britain over the years. However, this book was below my expectations. It gave really less information about the kings, and some important events weren’t even mentioned. This was a really bad book; I only recommend this for beginners in British History.
In the previous centuries, the British Empire was the biggest ruling kingdom in the entire world. The main reason I picked up this book was for reading a quick history of Britain over the years. However, this book was below my expectations. It gave really less information about the kings, and some important events weren’t even mentioned. This was a really bad book; I only recommend this for beginners in British History.
December 18, 2018
This is towards small step before entering arena of learning world history. Hourly History books are enjoyable. It is like capsules, just swallow and lo! some wisdom accumulates in the brain. It is great initiative to make history as an attractive subject and also to reach among common people.
January 3, 2019
Los detalles de la historia de Inglaterra en un libro corto y fácil de leer. Henry Freeman, hace un análisis necesario que simplifica la historia.
February 4, 2020
How does an author synthesize hundreds of years of history in 50 pages? Hourly History is offering British in 50 bites; thus, the reader will see the high points without any filler. That must have been quite a challenge to only choose 50 for a country that has such a long history.
Maybe it would be helpful to mention bites that spoke to me. One was about Hadrian's Wall. I've read about it many times but in this book, the monumental size is mentioned: 20 feet high, 10 feet wide, and 73 miles long.
It is interesting that Alfred the Great and William each commissioned books that would have far-reaching effects on England. Alfred's was the 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' and helps later scholars understand Middle English. William commissioned the 'Domesday Book' which helped him see how extensive his kingdom was (and how much he could tax his vassals).
The killing of Thomas Becket in 1170 shows the growing tension between kings and the Catholic Church. England's adherence to Catholic teachings would be torn asunder by Henry VIII (in 1534) when he decided that he would be the leader of his own church, the Anglican Church of England.
With a single stroke of her pen, Elizabeth I turned the tiny nation of England into Great Britain when she gave a charter to the East India Company. The trading relationships the EIC created would have unimagined effects on the nation.
The burning of London in 1666, probably prevented a plague epidemic in the London region because the expansive fire killed the vermin population that carried the infection. When Napoleon was put in permanent exile in 1815, it gave Europe a rest from wars and allowed the populace to use the technological improvements to improve the economies of their countries.
The British were the first to make and use tanks in World War I. The first ones were clumsy but improvements over the next 20 years would prove tanks to be the most important equipment for a ground war in the future.
I thought the section on the Battle of Britain was particularly good. The author indicates that Winston Churchill understood that Hitler was using psychology, as well as bombs overhead, to make the British people surrender. Now I understand why Churchill's leadership was so important at that time. This is a fine product with just the right amount of information for the reader to understand the significance of each of the 50 points. Great reading.
Maybe it would be helpful to mention bites that spoke to me. One was about Hadrian's Wall. I've read about it many times but in this book, the monumental size is mentioned: 20 feet high, 10 feet wide, and 73 miles long.
It is interesting that Alfred the Great and William each commissioned books that would have far-reaching effects on England. Alfred's was the 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' and helps later scholars understand Middle English. William commissioned the 'Domesday Book' which helped him see how extensive his kingdom was (and how much he could tax his vassals).
The killing of Thomas Becket in 1170 shows the growing tension between kings and the Catholic Church. England's adherence to Catholic teachings would be torn asunder by Henry VIII (in 1534) when he decided that he would be the leader of his own church, the Anglican Church of England.
With a single stroke of her pen, Elizabeth I turned the tiny nation of England into Great Britain when she gave a charter to the East India Company. The trading relationships the EIC created would have unimagined effects on the nation.
The burning of London in 1666, probably prevented a plague epidemic in the London region because the expansive fire killed the vermin population that carried the infection. When Napoleon was put in permanent exile in 1815, it gave Europe a rest from wars and allowed the populace to use the technological improvements to improve the economies of their countries.
The British were the first to make and use tanks in World War I. The first ones were clumsy but improvements over the next 20 years would prove tanks to be the most important equipment for a ground war in the future.
I thought the section on the Battle of Britain was particularly good. The author indicates that Winston Churchill understood that Hitler was using psychology, as well as bombs overhead, to make the British people surrender. Now I understand why Churchill's leadership was so important at that time. This is a fine product with just the right amount of information for the reader to understand the significance of each of the 50 points. Great reading.
July 12, 2024
This is a quick lesson on British history. If you know nothing about the history of England ,Scotland ,and Wales, then you must read this short book on all the important things that happened on the isles in the last 2000 years. I myself knew a good deal about English history, but I still managed to pick up a few details about some things in the middle ages and WWI.
These books are vital to any student to quickly brush up on a subject in just a few hours. They don't go into great detail but give you the cold hard facts and all the highlights. I look for these books on the free sites for Kindle and other e- readers. Get one and see what I mean. 4 stars for British History in 50 events
These books are vital to any student to quickly brush up on a subject in just a few hours. They don't go into great detail but give you the cold hard facts and all the highlights. I look for these books on the free sites for Kindle and other e- readers. Get one and see what I mean. 4 stars for British History in 50 events
March 22, 2021
Yet another interesting book on the history of a nation. This book didn't keep me as intrigued as some of the others but it was still an interesting read. I did not realize that British history was filled with so much conflict, both with other nations and internally.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a quick overview of a country's history. I can't wait to read the next installment!
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a quick overview of a country's history. I can't wait to read the next installment!
July 25, 2019
Another of the books in the Hourly History series, British History in 50 Events, compresses 3000 years into just over 50 pages. Starting from the building of Stonehenge through the 2012 London Olympics. The book served its purpose in giving me a big-picture look, but just enough for me to go more in-depth into some areas I had not previously known about.
May 4, 2024
Picking just 50 events from the entire history of Britain is a difficult task. Some here seem to be irrelevant compared to others that have been left out. I'm not convinced that a lot of fact checking has been done and it's also clear that the author is not a fan of Britain.
September 6, 2018
Great nutshell type book! It was easy to read and engaging to the end. Thanks to the author for compiling the historical accounts in such a way!
April 5, 2024
So much information in such a short book!
February 22, 2017
British History in 50 Events is a book in the Hourly History series. The book was offered to me for free on Kindle on the last page of my copy of Adolf Hitler: A Life from Beginning to End by Hourly History and out of curiosity, I just continued with the series and read this book.
The book starts from the time of Stonehenge till the 2012 London Olympics and the events are arranged in Chronological order. At least a paragraph is dedicated to nearly every major event in British history, such as Battle of Hastings, Armada, Industrial Revolution, Gunpowder treason, the Battle of Waterloo, Battle of Britain, etc. The book has done a good job of compressing nearly 3000 years into around 50 pages touching upon several significant events.
But then, I have used the phrase ‘several significant events’ because a lot of important events were given a miss (the surprise miss being the lack of mention of Horatio Nelson). I also felt the author tried too hard to not show Britain in a bad light throughout the book such as; while the book tried to project the Hundred Years War as a status quo ante bellum, for all practical purposes, it was a defeat for the English considering the French managed to push them to a corner in Calais while managing to secure their kingdom and crown their king; the British exploits in their colonies also didn’t receive any mention and some of it even had a bearing on the Isles; the Iraq war was also conveniently given a miss and these are just a few that I could think of. Additionally, I also couldn’t avoid noticing that the author continued to refer to the country as England even for events after the Act of Union (example: the author refers to Falkland War as a war between England and Argentina) that beyond a point, I felt that I was reading something written by someone from the far right English Democrats Party. That is also perhaps the reason why there was absolutely no mention of Harold MacMillan, Tony Blair or Gordon Brown.
Despite the shortcomings that I have mentioned, I wouldn’t say that the book was so bad to warrant a two rating from me but I would award it a neutral three considering that it did manage to tell me the brief history of Britain in an hour.
The book starts from the time of Stonehenge till the 2012 London Olympics and the events are arranged in Chronological order. At least a paragraph is dedicated to nearly every major event in British history, such as Battle of Hastings, Armada, Industrial Revolution, Gunpowder treason, the Battle of Waterloo, Battle of Britain, etc. The book has done a good job of compressing nearly 3000 years into around 50 pages touching upon several significant events.
But then, I have used the phrase ‘several significant events’ because a lot of important events were given a miss (the surprise miss being the lack of mention of Horatio Nelson). I also felt the author tried too hard to not show Britain in a bad light throughout the book such as; while the book tried to project the Hundred Years War as a status quo ante bellum, for all practical purposes, it was a defeat for the English considering the French managed to push them to a corner in Calais while managing to secure their kingdom and crown their king; the British exploits in their colonies also didn’t receive any mention and some of it even had a bearing on the Isles; the Iraq war was also conveniently given a miss and these are just a few that I could think of. Additionally, I also couldn’t avoid noticing that the author continued to refer to the country as England even for events after the Act of Union (example: the author refers to Falkland War as a war between England and Argentina) that beyond a point, I felt that I was reading something written by someone from the far right English Democrats Party. That is also perhaps the reason why there was absolutely no mention of Harold MacMillan, Tony Blair or Gordon Brown.
Despite the shortcomings that I have mentioned, I wouldn’t say that the book was so bad to warrant a two rating from me but I would award it a neutral three considering that it did manage to tell me the brief history of Britain in an hour.
July 11, 2016
Henry Freeman has once again written a book that is easy to understand yet covers so much history. I enjoy learning about history and really enjoyed reading this book as it told me many interesting facts I was not aware of.
This book covers Britain from Stonehedge to the London Olympics in 2012. Each section tells a little bit about how Britain came to be. You will be impressed with the amount of information you will learn from this short book.
Teachers and students will love this book as it is easy to understand even for the younger aged child.
This book covers Britain from Stonehedge to the London Olympics in 2012. Each section tells a little bit about how Britain came to be. You will be impressed with the amount of information you will learn from this short book.
Teachers and students will love this book as it is easy to understand even for the younger aged child.
July 25, 2016
Decent well written whistle stop tour of British history with out being bogged down with too many facts
March 27, 2017
To be honest I download this book as a quick end of month use of my Prime lending slot, nothing to loose, give it a try.
An expectation of a Wikipedia farmed cobbled together publication was soon dispelled, the book had a pace to it that pulled me into its pages. But more fun was the way events in history had been put together to allow the reader to join the dots.
But then, I discovered a date error, no problem, typos happen in all books, but then another, and another. I was being tempted to transform my Prime borrow to a buy up to that point, as I felt it would make a nice little reference book ..but not when so many key dates appeared wrong. Shame
My 1863 fact gleaned from this book was that the FA rule book was written in that year.
https://navsbooks.wordpress.com/categ...
An expectation of a Wikipedia farmed cobbled together publication was soon dispelled, the book had a pace to it that pulled me into its pages. But more fun was the way events in history had been put together to allow the reader to join the dots.
But then, I discovered a date error, no problem, typos happen in all books, but then another, and another. I was being tempted to transform my Prime borrow to a buy up to that point, as I felt it would make a nice little reference book ..but not when so many key dates appeared wrong. Shame
My 1863 fact gleaned from this book was that the FA rule book was written in that year.
https://navsbooks.wordpress.com/categ...
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews