The War of the Roses

The War of the Roses was a struggle

The Hundred Year War-

The Hundred year war was a war of succession for the French throne. The reigning King of England, Edward III and King Philip IV of France both laid their claim to the throne. Henry V of England defeated the French at Agincourt in 1415 Joan of Acclaimed an important role for French side in this war. This war was fought between England and France.

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The Thirty Year War-

This war was fought in the holy Roman Empire between 1618 to 1648. In Germany there were two religious groups. One was Protestant Christians and another was Catholic League. The protestant’ revolted against the catholic kings and it turned into a religious war against the strict rules of the Catholics. This war was ended in 1648 with the treaty of Westphalia.

The Battle of Trafalgar

This war was fought between France and Britain. On Oct. 21, 1805 British forces attacked Cape Trafalgar in which the French fleets were defeated and British Admiral Nelson was killed.

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Battle of Bordino-

This war was fought between France and Russia in 1812. Napoleon invaded Russia at Bordino with his huge army and defeated the Russians.

Battle of Waterloo

The British under Duke of Wellington defeated the Napoleon in a war which is known as Battle of Waterloo and exiled him to St. Helena in the South Atlantic in 1815. There Napoleon died in 1821.

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The Opium War

This war was fought between Britain and China in 1840. This war was in fact a trade war between Britain and China. The war was started on the opium trade which Britain was illegally carrying on with Chinese merchants.

Crimean War-

It was fought during 1854-56 between Russia and the combined forces of England, France and Turkey.

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Magna Carta

The Magna Carta was a Charter of Rights granted to the Englishmen during 1215 AD by King John II. It laid down the constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary form government in England. It is called the “Bible of the English Constitution.”

Habeas Corpus Act, 1679

This act was drawn up during the reign of King Charles II which stated that no one was to be imprisoned ivithout a writ and warrant stating the charges against him.

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The Glorious Revolution

King James II of England became very unpopular due to his strong catholic beliefs. As a result he was forced to flee to France in 1689.

The overthrowing of the King James II was without any bloodshed and is thus known as*the Glorious Revolution.

The World War I

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The first world war was fought from 1914 to 1918. In this war the world was divided into two groups. One group was known as central powers comprising Germany, Austria, Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria and other group was known as allied comprising England, the USA, France, Belgium, Serbia, Russia and Italy. The first I world war was started when Austria attacked Serbia. In this war allied forces defeated central powers.

Treaty of Versailles

Versailles is a city in North-Central France. Imposed in 1919 on Germany, it was a severe and degrading treaty signed by the defeated countries.

World War II

This war was fought from 1939 to 1945 and again the world’s major powers were divided into two groups.

Axis Powers-

Which was also known as central powers and included Germany, Italy and Japan. Other group was allies powers which included Britain, France, Russia, the USA and Poland. The second world war started when Germany attacked Poland and Britain and France declared war against Germany in 1939. The war ended in 1 1945 written the USA dropped atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki j Japan. After the war, Germany was divided into two parts-East Germany under Russian control and west Germany under the Control England, France and the USA.

American War of Independence (1776-83)-

Great Britain regulated trade in the American colonies to such a great extent that ‘here was growing annoyance among the settlers at the controls and checks imposed upon them. American war of independence fought under the leadership of George Washington. America granted independence in 1783 and George Washington was elect”! the first President of the USA.

Boston Tea Party-

It is an incident related to the war 0( American independence when settlers in colonies threw a shipment c’ several hundred chests of tea into the Boston sea and declared “there is no taxation without representation.”

French Revolution-

Louise XVI was very unpopular ruler 0f France and people were very much annoyed with him. They wanted to dethrone him. He was deposed during the French revolution in 1789 and was subsequently executed in 1793 AD. Voltaire, Rousseau and Montesquieu were the great philosophers who were behind the French revolution. Rousseau wrote his ideas in his famous book “The Social Contract” which preached the high ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity. Montesquieu opposed the doctrine of “Divine Rights of the Kings.” He wrote his ideas in his famous book “The Spirit Laws.”

Unification of Germany

Germany was divided into several hundred city like states in the 18th century. Prussia was the most powerful and reactionary state. Germany became backward socially and politically due to the political disintegration. When the national awakening grew among the people of Germany, they felt the need for establishment of a democratic government, social and economic reforms and national unification.

Bismarck was the Prussian Chancellor. According to him Germany was not to be unified into a democratic country but by the policy of “blood and iron”. He was the main architect behind the unification of Germany. He tried to achieve the unification of Germany by military force and shrewd diplomacy under the leadership of Prussian monarchy. He had to wage war against Denmark, Austria and France for the unification of Germany. In this way the unification of Germany was completed.

Unification of Italy

During the first half of the 19th century, Italy was divided into a number of petty states. The most powerful of all these states was the kingdom of Sardinia. Most of them were under’ the control of Austria. Mazzini and Garibaldi undertook the task liberating and unifying Italy. Mazzini is regarded as the spiritual force behind the Italian unification. He started the “Young Italy” movement Garibaldi was the “Sword of Italy”. He founded “Red Shirts” troops they had to wage war and unified Italy. In this way the unification Italy was completed.

Russian Revolution

Russian Revolution of 1917 was an economic revolution because of the miserable condition of the farmers 3nd workers. The autocratic rule of Czar Nicholas II was very much possible for the Russian revolution.

The teaching of Karl Marx and the liberal ideas of the west made a great contribution to the forces of revolution in Russia. Marxism ideas Karl Marx was responsible for the division of the Russian Social pernocratic Labour Party. One group which was in majority was known as the Bolsheviks and other minor group was Mensheviks. Lenin was the father of Russian Revolution. He wrote “April Thesis” which contained the programmes of the Bolsheviks. He also led the Bolsheviks in Russian Revolution. This revolution started on Nov. 7, 1917 and was ended in the same month. Trotski organised “Red Army” to expatriate foreigners from Russia. After the Russian Revolution Moscow was made the capital of U.S.S.R.