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A History of Britain
Season 2
Episode 2

Revolutions (1649 - 1689)

May 15, 2001

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A History of Britain - S2 - E2

In the aftermath of Civil War, Britain was a kingless republic led by Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell ruled with an iron hand; when Parliament dared defy him, he marched in and closed it down. He ruled as king in all but name, with his Major Generals imposing Godly Puritan rule on the counties. The anarchy that prevailed at his death led to the Restoration of Charles II, who survived the Great Fire and a dynastic crisis triggered by anti-Catholic paranoia. James II's Catholic fervour threatened to trigger another revolution; he was deposed by the troops of the Dutch King William.

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A History of Britain: Season 2 - 4 Episode s

2x1 - The British Wars (1603 - 1649)
May 8, 2001
The turbulent civil wars of the early seventeenth century would culminate in two events unique to British history; the public execution of a king and the creation of a republic. Schama tells of the brutal war that tore the country in half and created a new Britain - divided by politics and religion and dominated by the first truly modern army, fighting for ideology, not individual leaders.
2x2 - Revolutions (1649 - 1689)
May 15, 2001
In the aftermath of Civil War, Britain was a kingless republic led by Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell ruled with an iron hand; when Parliament dared defy him, he marched in and closed it down. He ruled as king in all but name, with his Major Generals imposing Godly Puritan rule on the counties. The anarchy that prevailed at his death led to the Restoration of Charles II, who survived the Great Fire and a dynastic crisis triggered by anti-Catholic paranoia. James II's Catholic fervour threatened to trigger another revolution; he was deposed by the troops of the Dutch King William.
2x3 - Britannia Incorporated (1690 - 1750)
May 22, 2001
In 1690s England, the victors of the Glorious Revolution celebrated the dawn of a new era under a new king - William III. In Scotland, the Jacobites still supported the deposed King James II and the country suffered crippling poverty and famine.Relations between Scotland and England were tainted by the Glencoe Massacre in 1692 and Westminster's strategy to scupper the Darien venture. Half a century later, however, the two countries were forging a partnership, based on profit and interest, which evolved into the Act of Union in 1707.
2x4 - The Wrong Empire (1750 - 1800)
May 29, 2001
How did a people who thought themselves free end up subjugating so much of the world, a nation with such a distrust of armies become the greatest military power on Earth, an empire of the free become an empire of slaves?Britons took the flag across the globe and created an empire built on ambition and slavery, exploration and daring. Trade flourished in the addictive commodities of tea, sugar and coffee, as did the deplorable trade in people. Taxation lost Britain the American colonies, but paved the way for dominance in India, as tax gatherers became administrators and merchants, emperors. The Wrong Empire is the exhilarating and terrible story of how one small group of islands came to dominate the world; a story of exploration and daring, but also one of exploitation and conflict.

A History of Britain: All seasons

S0: Specials
4 Episode s
S1: At the Edge of the World?
7 Episode s
S2: The British Wars
4 Episode s
S3: The Fate of Empire
4 Episode s

2x1 - The British Wars (1603 - 1649)

2x2 - Revolutions (1649 - 1689)

2x3 - Britannia Incorporated (1690 - 1750)

2x4 - The Wrong Empire (1750 - 1800)

S0: Specials

S1: At the Edge of the World?

S2: The British Wars

S3: The Fate of Empire