Dark Earth: Imperial Almanac of Great Britain

History

Prehistory
Humanoid habitation of the British Isles can be traced back to approximately 500,000 years ago in the Quaternary Glaciation. Populations of homo sapiens, Neanderthal and dwarven hunter-gatherer tribes fluctuated over the course of the Ice Ages. Like other inhabitants of Northern Europe at the time, they followed the movement of animal herds and fished the rich waters. The rise and fall of sea levels, the Toba eruption and the generally cold climate meant that it was only populated intermittently over the millenia of the Paleolithic period and permanent occupancy only dates back to 60,000 years ago. Harsh conditions in the last glacial maximum confined populations of modern humans to southern Lyonesse.

Age of Faerie
The first elven voyages of exploration reached the environs of Northern Europe approximately 25,000 years ago, planting the first mystic groves and establishing the first stone circles at points of power. These were followed by formal settlements that existed partly on Earth and partly in Faerie. The golden age of the elven kingdoms of the Tuatha Dé Danann, Aes Sídhe, Annwfyn and Avalon lasted several thousand years, leaving a mark on the land through their ruins, enchantments and elfpaths. The human population increased as the ice waned and the elves began a process of retreat from the Middle Earth. This era also saw the reestablishment of a dwarven presence in the British Isles with the series of great migrations from Scandinavia, Karelia and Ugria driven by the expansion of the orcs. Dwarven tools and elven magic was joined by the influence and goods of Atlantean traders in creating an outpost of the antediluvian civilization.The brief epoch of might that ended in the fall of the island empire after the great innundation that is thought to have been caused by a rogue meteor. By 5000 BC, man in Britain had once again advanced to a high level of development characterized by the mining of copper and the Neolithic Revolution. The initial establishment of halfling settlements alongside human villages can be traced back to this epoch.

Celtic Britain
Britain was a wealthy and advanced land in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Pottery and agriculture were developed after the initial flowering of civilization in the Fertile Crescent, India and China, but soon advanced to the building of barrows, ports, hill forts and walled settlements. The human tribes of the land were under the nominal rule and protection of the High Kings at Avalon, who were of the old blood, and whose numbers include such illustrious names as Bran the Blessed, Ælfstone, Ælfwine, Tælstar. This period ended with the migration of the Celts and the sons of Troy with their weapons of iron and the onset of the Iron Age. The population swelled to approximately 3.5 million by the 1st Century BC in wet, fertile conditions and a large town grew up in the Thames Valley that would become Londinium. The Druids guided the peoples of Britain in matters of religion and magic from their great centres at Mona and Stonehenge.

Roman Britain
Julius Caesar first invaded Britain in 55 BC as part of the Gallic Wars, but it was in the reign of Claudius that the main Roman Invasion occurred in 43 AD. Most of the southern part of the land was subdued by 60 AD and the process was only briefly interrupted by Boudicea's rebellion. Agricola's campaigns in Caledonia lead to an unsteady frontier being established before the construction of Hadrian's Wall, a mighty fortification that stands to this very day. Britain prospered under Roman rule and many great cities, roads and aqueducts were built as the benefits of civilization were reaped in full. The land grew rich from the trade of tin, lead, copper, iron, salt, gold and silver and from the produce of its forests and fields. There was peace and prosperity under Roman law and the protection of the legions and the native people soon became absorbed into a broader Romano-British culture. Christianity spread to the British Isles in the 2nd Century AD and it was well established as the dominant faith by the end of the 300s. The elves and dwarves largely went about their lives unhindered by Roman rule, whereas the gnomish and halfling cultures became thoroughly linked with those of men. The major exception to this was the seeming destruction of the Legio IX Hispana in the north by mystic forces. The Roman Empire declined as the barbarians pressed at its northern borders and the last legions were withdrawn from Britain in 410 AD.

King Arthur
Shortly after the Roman withdrawal from Britain, the first waves of migration from the barbarian lands of Germany began to fall upon her eastern shores. The Jutes, Angles, Frisians and the Saxons came as both invaders and settlers, displacing the native Britons and forcing them back towards the west. The Roman general Constantine II proclaimed himself as King of the Britons in 425 and was followed by the Last of the Romans, Aurelius Ambrosius, who held back the tide of the Anglo-Saxons until falling in battle in 467. His son Uther Pendragon rallied the forces of the Britons with the aid of the ancient wizard Merlin and forged a powerful kingdom in the West Country and the ancient vales of Wales before being laid low in a vile ambush through the treachery of Vortigern. His last act was to drive his kingly blade deep into a stone from whence none could wrest it. Uther's infant son was secreted away by Merlin in the custody of Sir Ector until he came of age and drew the sword from the stone in 498. Of all the Kings of England and Britain, his name stands out above all others - Arthur.

King Arthur united his peoples after a bloody civil war in 502, establishing his seat at Camelot and gaining the legendary blade Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake. His reign saw the new Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the east bow before him in vassalage, the great bard Taliesin foster a blossoming of learning and his valiant Knights of the Round Table quest far and wide for the Holy Grail. The treasure ships of Arthurian Britain travelled widely, reaching the shores of Africa and India and, some say, lost lands far beyond the ocean sea. This last golden age of Ancient Britain ended in 537 at the Battle of Camlann, where the traitor Mordred and the evil sorceress Morganna Le Fay lead rebels and Saxons alike against Arthur's host. Victorious yet sorely wounded, he was taken away to mystical Avalon to recover and await the call of his people once again.

Anglo-Saxon England
Camlann only slowed the tide of Anglo-Saxon expansion and they pushed inexorably into the west over the course of the mid 6th Century A.D. By 600, seven kingdoms - Wessex, Sussex, Kent, Essex, East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria - had been established and stretched out across the verdant forests and fertile plains of what would come to be called England. The Anglo-Saxons began to be converted to Christianity by the mission of St. Augustine in 597 A.D. just as the Celtic Church spread from Ireland to Northumbria. The terror of the Vikings began with the 793 raid on Lindisfarne and changed the face of England forever. The struggles of King Offa of Mercia and Egbert of Wessex to unite the land were all in vain as the dreaded attacks from the sea occurred with ever-increasing intensity.

In due course, the eastern part of the country was eventually conquered by the invaders and ruled as the Danelaw, whilst the Christian rulers of Mercia and Wessex held out desperately in the west. King Alfred the Great (871-923) defeated the Danes and united the kingdoms of England under his wise and benevolent rule. The foundation of the Royal Navy can be traced back to the reign of Alfred and ranks among his many achievements that include the establishment of schools, the translation of the Holy Bible into English, the building of roads and the expansion of London. He is ranked among the greatest of the Kings of England and is the only one known to history as Great. He was followed by Aethelstan (923-939) and Edmund the Magnificent (939-950), who consolidated his achievements and ruled over a peaceful and prosperous land that was becoming the envy of Christendom. The disastrous reign of Aethelred the Unready lead to the resumption of Danish rule under Sveyn Forkbeard and the blessed time of Canute. The last years of Anglo-Saxon England under St. Edward the Confessor saw increasing internal strife between the nobles of Wessex and the rapacious attentions of foreign potentates, chief among them Duke William of Normandy. Harold Godwinsson succeeded Edward in 1066 and faced immediate invasion in the north by Harald Hadrada and a far deadlier threat from across the Channel. William invaded England in 1066 and his victoy at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 earned him the throne, the sobriquet of Conqueror and marked the end of the Anglo-Saxon era.

The Middle Ages
William I was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066 and set out to secure his reign through a combination of force and careful alliances. The Norman Conquest profoundly changed the course of English history, imposing a new foreign ruling class that rapidly supplanted the existing Anglo-Saxon nobility and Church. The Harrying of the North in 1069-70 saw most widespread resistance come to an end, although the Normans were delivered a sharp rebuff by the dwarves of Rheged at the Battle of Scarfell. The Domesday Book was commissioned in 1085, compiling details of towns, villages, lands and people of the entire kingdom. Throughout the early Norman period, great castles were built across England to cement their rule over the Anglo-Saxon population and the new lords of the land attempted to push back the frontiers of the vast forests with mixed success. William was succeeded by his son William Rufus, who was in turn followed by the stern and effective Henry I. The loss of Henry's son and heir William Adelin in the White Ship disaster of 1120 sowed the seeds for the Anarchy, a period of civil war lasting almost two decades following the death of Henry in 1135. The rival forces of Empress Matilda and Stephen of Bois clashed across England and Normandy for years, before the bloody stalemate gave way to a compromise peace and the accession of Matilda's son Henry Plantagenet to the throne in 1154.

Henry's domains stretched across large expanses of France and his holdings in England, Scotland, Wales, Lyonesse and Ireland are often known as the Angevin Empire. He established a grand royal court, greatly increased the finances of the Crown, built many new castles to secure his lands and instituted a number of reforms of English law and justice. His invasion of Ireland proved devastatingly successful and marked the beginning of English domination and settlement. These deeds were overshadowed by the events of the latter half of his reign, including the murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, and the failed Great Revolt by his sons. His final years saw some measure of reconciliation, but the first of the Plantagenets is not remembered as a greatly loved king.

His son, King Richard I, known to history as Richard the Lionheart, is considered as one of England's greatest monarchs of the Middle Ages. He won eternal renown throughout Christendom for his victorious liberation of Jerusalem in the Third and Fourth Crusades, rebuilt the royal fleet and lead his armies to tremendous victories in France and Ireland in between the holy wars. At home, Richard proved a just and stern king over Saxon and Norman alike and the land enjoyed its greatest peace and prosperity in a century. The signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 proved a turning point in the history of England, restoring and protecting ancient rights and liberties and building what would become Parliament. The Fifth Crusade against the terrible Mongols saw the ageing Lionheart slay their leader Genghis Khan in single combat at the Battle of Krakow. Upon his death in 1230, all England mourned.

He was succeeded by his valiant young nephew, Henry III, a pious and effective ruler who could not replicate his predecessor's success in international diplomacy. The great nobles of the realm grew restive in the middle of his rule, leading to the vicious Baron's War and his temporary defeat and subjugation at the hands of Simon de Montfort. His son, Edward I, was a warrior-king in the tradition of Richard the Lionheart and William the Conqueror, earning the fearsome name of Hammer of the Scots. After crusading in his youth, he conquered Wales and Lyonesse, fought many battles in Ireland to cement English rule and defeated the rebellion of William Wallace in Scotland. Edward was notable for strengthening the powers of the Crown and summoning the first Parliament. The ongoing wars were paid for with substantially increased taxation and Edward began to encounter increased unrest towards the end of his reign. Under his rule, England began to rise as one of the most powerful kingdoms in Europe and enjoyed growing prosperity, particularly in the burgeoning wool trade and the great dwarven mines of the North.

Scotland secured its survival as an independent kingdom through the victory of Robert the Bruce over King Edward II at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, but became increasingly reliant on the Auld Alliance with France throughout the first half of the 14th century. The Treaty of Berwick in 1357 marked an end to the attempts of the Plantagenet kings to bring the last remaining sovereign realm under the control of the English crown, but Scottish capacity for independent action was increasingly limited. Advances in alchemy and metallurgy by several of the dwarven kingdoms of Scotland from 1284 are considered to be the beginning of the Dwarven Technological Revolution, a harbinger of later events of global significance.

The next hundred years would see much woe as the warm and prosperous period High Middle Ages came to an end. The destruction inflicted by the War of the Wizards, whilst mainly concentrated on the Continent, reached England in the early 14th Century and war responsible for widespread suffering and chaos. Barbarian raids and orc attacks similarly rose in frequency at this time as a result of migrations and wars in the North and renewed depridations of the Mongols. The Great Famine of 1315-1317 and its accompanying pestilence ravaged the land and lead to the deaths of tens of thousands of peasants from starvation. Worse was to come with the arrival of the calamitous Black Death in 1348, which killed almost 20% of the population of England in two terrible years and withstood almost all the desperate efforts of clerics and physicians, and the Dragonstrike of 1367, which wrecked devastation on many towns and cities. These all combined with ongoing economic and social tensions to spark the Peasant's Revolt of 1381, which lead to the end of serfdom in the English feudal system despite its ultimate failure.

The political history of the Kingdom of England in the 14th century was dominated by Edward III (reigned 1327-1368) and his son Edward IV (1368-1385), known to the ages as the Black Prince, and by their ongoing conflict with France in what is now considered as the first phase of the Hundred Years' War. The armies of England won famous triumphs at the Battle of Crecy in 1346 and the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 and the Welsh longbow became regarded as the most potent weapon on the medieval battlefield. King Richard II (1385-1399) encountered less success and was overthrown by his cousin Henry Bollingbroke, who became Henry IV. His son, Henry V (1413-1428) is regarded as one of England's greatest warrior-kings, a reputation cemented by his immortal triumph at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 and his valiant deeds in the Tenth Crusade. After his tragic early death, France began to gain the upper hand in the long conflict thanks to the inspiration of the young paladin Joan of Arc and the reign of Henry VI saw the gradual reconquest of English holdings in France, which, after the Battle of Castillion in 1453, had shrunk to the Pale of Calais.

One last great conflict marked the end of the Middle Ages in England and the British Isles, the long and bitter War of the Roses, a sporadic dynastic dispute between the rival House of Lancaster and House of York. Henry VI's weakness paved the way for the sons of Richard of York to seize the throne, with first Edward IV and then Richard III taking power. Great nobles such as the Earl of Warwick, 'the Kingmaker', lead the struggle against the Lancastrian monarchs, until Edward's apparent triumph at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1472. He proved a successful ruler for the next decade before his sudden and early death in 1483, which was followed by the mysterious demise of his sons Edward V and Richard, Duke of York and the accession of Richard III. His reign was but brief, as Henry Tudor landed with Warwick and an army in Pembrokeshire and defeated Richard at the Battle of Bosworth Field. Henry then married Elizabeth of York, uniting the branches of the Plantagenets and creating the new House of Tudor.

The English Renaissance
King Henry VII reigned for 24 years from 1485 to 1509 and restored royal authority to a realm long wracked by war. He put great efforts into strengthening the Royal Navy, building drydocks and castles to defend the coast and expanding the economic prosperity of the kingdom. He readily concluded a treaty with France and built up trade with the burgeoning Low Countries and German city states. Perhaps one of his greatest achievements was the sponsorship of the voyages of John Cabot, the Genoese navigator, who explored the New World across the Atlantic and established the first English colonies in Newfoundland in 1498. This laid the foundations for further English and British expansion into the Americas and marked the beginning of the Empire of today.

His second son, Henry VIII, is unquestionably one of England's greatest and most consequential monarchs. He was a successful warrior-king, defeating Suleiman the Magnificent at Ascalon in the Eleventh Crusade, slaying the terrible red dragon Malfesius Rex in Northumberland and winning famous victories against Scotland and France on the field of battle. Like his father, he was a strong supporter of the Royal Navy, the exploration of the New World and the expansion of the English Empire and was responsible for the construction of some of the greatest warships of the 16th century which marked the beginning of English naval mastery. The conquest of Ireland was effectively completed in Henry's reign.

However, his greatest legacy came in the form of his break with the Papacy and Roman Catholic church. He had previously been hailed as a champion of orthodoxy, being given the title 'Defender of the Faith' by a grateful Pope Leo X for his criticism of the Protestant Martin Luther in 1521. The rupture was sparked by the lack of a son from his marriage with Catherine of Aragon and consequent quest for an annulment. He achieved his aim and married Anne Boleyn in 1532, the union providing a daughter, Elizabeth. Henry successfully suppressed rebellions against the English Reformation such as the Pilgrimage of Grace and broke the temporal power of the Catholic Church with the Dissolution of the Monasteries, which appropriated their lands, libraries and incomes while leaving their buildings, educational and social role of the institutions intact; the latter step was strongly influenced by the counsel of Henry's lifelong court wizard Sir Rastallion de Magius. Wales and Lyonesse were formally annexed to the Kingdom of England in 1535 and his former Chancellor Sir Thomas More was executed for treason in the same year, an act that would haunt King Henry for the remainder of his days.

Anne Boleyn fell from grace and was executed the next year and her successor as queen, Jane Seymour, lived for only a year before perishing from sickness after the birth of Henry's first and only legitimate son, Prince Edward. As the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire grew closer, he sought alliances with the city-states of Northern Germany and the kingdoms of Scandinavia. This lead to a short marriage of political convenience with Anne of Cleves, which lasted for a very short period before the King's affections moved onto Catherine Howard, a girl of 17 and niece of the Duke of Norfolk. She, too, was executed for adultery and Henry at last found some measure of comfort with his final wife, Catherine Parr. King Henry's final years were taken up with war with Scotland and France, although his youthful vigour had given way to corpulence and gout after years of luxury.

Henry VIII died on January 28 in 1545, having reshaped the nation, expanded its empire and changed the world. He was a popular king in his own time, a patron of the arts, an ardent trencherman and played a key role in the evolution of the modern Royal Navy and British Army. His impact on the finances of the Kingdom of England was a negative one, given his profligate spending on palaces and castles and the maintenance of the finest court in Christendom. Capable of great cruelty and great charity, he was both the last of the medieval monarchs and the first of the new rulers of the modern nation state. The establishment of the Church of England and the role of the Crown as Supreme Governor was to play a key role in the evolution of England and the British Isles over the next four centuries.

The final years of Henry VIII and the brief reign of Edward VI (1545-1553) saw the true flowering of what is now considered the English Renaissance. Science, literature, drama, music, art, magic, architecture and fashion blossomed in the thriving metropolis of Tudor London and the growing cities of England. Many of the riches of the New World and the far-off markets of the Orient and Africa began to stream in from around the world and English trade flourished as never before. The kingdom entered years of stability, prosperity and unity after the final tumultuous years of Henry's reign in stark contrast to the troubles encountered on the Continent. The boy king Edward VI, although mainly ruled by his advisors, was seen by his subjects as a kindly and virtuous ruler and his early death was the subject of much mourning. All was not perfect, however, as the land faced the same scourge of witchcraft as the rest of Europe in the 16th century and relations with France and Spain continued to decline.

The Elizabethan Golden Age
The Elizabethan era is rightly seen as one of the Golden Ages of English history, combining the apex of the English Renaissance with a protracted period of national peace and plenty at home and victory upon victory abroad. Elizabeth I reigned for 50 glorious years, maintaining internal political stability and resolving the disputes of the Reformation with the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, which confirmed the established status of the Church of England and balanced the interests of Puritans and Catholics. The population grew significantly during the Elizabethan era, reaching 13.4 million in 1600 and recovering from the decline of the late Middle Ages. Queen Elizabeth was never to marry or produce an heir, which was the cause of considerable tension throughout Europe. Ireland and Wales became truly pacified under her rule and Scotland functioned as what amounted to a vassal state of England. Known as the Virgin Queen or Gloriana, she left her mark on the kingdom like few others before or since.

England's primary enemy at this time was Catholic Spain under King Philip II. Long years of increasingly troubled relations broke out into open conflict in 1584 with the beginning of the Anglo-Spanish War. Philip's attempted naval invasion of England, the Spanish Armada of 1588, was utterly defeated in an immortal victory that firmly established the Royal Navy as the most powerful fleet in Christendom. The English Armada of 1589 won another triumph, smashing the Spanish fleet, capturing a fabulously wealthy treasure convoy and raising rebellion in Portugal. In alliance with the Dutch and Henry IV of France, English fleets raised havoc in the Mediterranean and Caribbean off the coast of the Spanish Main and secured control of the Bahamas and Bermuda under famed commanders such as Martin Frobisher, John Hawkins, Charles Ratcliffe and Francis Drake.

Drake is the foremost of the Elizabethan 'sea dogs' in the view of history, combining his achievements as an admiral and privateer with magnificent feats of nautical exploration. He successfully carried out the second circumnavigation of the world from 1577 to 1580, rounding Cape Horn and discovering Drake's Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The explorations of his expedition on the western coast of North America paved the way for settlement of the colony of New Albion in Southern California. Crossing the Pacific, Drake reached the Moluccas and the Golden Hind became the first English ship to visit China, India, Persia and Arabia before rounding the Cape of Good Hope and returning home along the coast of Africa. He was personally knighted by Queen Elizabeth for this achievement, which represented the beginning of the English East India Company.

English culture flowered as never before in the Elizabethan era as great poets and playwrights such as Christopher Marlowe and Ben Johnson produced myriad works of brilliance. All were overshadowed by the immortal Bard of Avon, William Shakespeare, who wrote many of the greatest dramatic, poetic and prose works ever seen and had an immense impact on the development of the English language itself. This epoch of art and science was supported by a growing overseas empire, at this time mainly based around trading posts and commercial interests in Africa and the Orient, but also including settler colonies in the West Indies and North America. The growing wealth and influence of the Elizabethan era can be identified as the key period when England became a truly Great Power.


The 17th Century: Rise of an Empire
Elizabeth's death in 1603 without an heir bought King James of Scotland and the House of Stuart to the throne in a Union of the English and Scottish crowns. James styled himself as King of Great Britain and Ireland, but the title was not formally conferred upon him. He was a strong proponent of the Divine Right of Kings and authored several books on the topic. The Jacobean era (1603-1625) saw a continuation of the golden age of literature and culture in England and expansion of colonisation of the Americas. He was responsible for authorising the creation and publication of the Authorised King James Version of the Bible and it serves as the basis of the Church of England scripture to this day and lead national efforts against the increasing menace of witchcraft and demonology. James escaped assassination in the dastardly Gunpowder Plot of 1605 and his deliverance is celebrated every 5th of November.

The establishment of Jamestown in Virginia in 1607 was England's first permanent settlement on the mainland of North America and was followed by the re-establishment of Roanoke the next year colonisation of Bermuda in 1610 and the arrival of the Pilgrims in the Plymouth Colony in 1620, which began the settlement of New England. The English East India Company opened its first factories in Java, the Malay Peninsula and India and British adventurers began to penetrate deep into the Gambia and Gold Coast of West Africa. The resumption of the Anglo-Spanish War in 1620 lead to a Royal Navy expedition that captured the Azure Islands in 1618 and the semi-mythical North Atlantic island of Hy Brasil was settled in 1623.

Succeeding James to the throne was King Charles I (reigned 1625-1650), whose rule would be dominated by the Thirty Years' War on the Continent. He encountered many struggles with Parliament regarding his religious policies, his marriage to a Roman Catholic queen and the questions of absolute monarchy and the divine right of kings. These were subsumed by the wider conflict against the Holy Roman Empire, Austria and Spain in the Thirty Years' War, where England's forces were vital to the Protestant cause. Fighting took place not only in Europe and the Americas, but in Africa and Asia in what would be the model for many wars to come. Charles I's nephew, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, was one of the great Protestant field commanders of the war, his successes bettered only by the English general Sir Oliver Cromwell and King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden.

Rebellions in Ireland and Scotland were suppressed, but Charles was forced to bow to the will of Parliament in order to fund the campaigns and dismissed several key advisers. The Grand Settlement of 1642 instituted a system of mixed government, preventing the growing spectre of open conflict between the Royalist and Parliamentarian parties of the realm, but proving to be only a temporary compromise. King Charles was stricken by terrible apoplexy and slowly recovered over the next three years, constraining the direct exercise of royal authority. The final years of his reign saw his earlier ardour tempered by a preference for consensus, but he is not regarded as one of England's finer kings.

Charles II (1650-1685) was far more successful and popular, winning renown as the 'Merry Monarch' as the profile of Puritanism faded. At home, the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London caused substantial damage and disruption. Two political parties, the Tories and Whigs, began to emerge at this point as the nation continued to transition to a mixed constitutional monarchy. England gained control over Dunkirk and Tangiers through careful diplomacy in the early part of his reign and extended its colonial empire in the Americas and Asia, particularly through the expanded influence of the East India Company. The Anglo-Dutch Wars that raged through much of the second half of the 17th century saw England's naval superiority seriously threatened, but ultimate victory was gained by 1680 in the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War after many defeats. Piracy was a particular scourge in the Caribbean during the Caroline period and the Royal Navy established several permanent squadrons in foreign waters as a consequence. The Scientific, Commercial and Arcane Revolutions all reached their high points under Charles II and England supplanted the Netherlands as the wealthiest power in Europe by 1685.

The death of Charles without a male heir saw the throne pass to his brother James, Duke of York. He faced immediate rebellions in Scotland and Ireland from Protestant aristocrats who feared the prospect of a Catholic heir and his Declaration of Indulgence was met with substantial opposition from the Church of England. His moves towards religious toleration were seen as thinly disguised attempts to promote Catholicism. In what was known as the Glorious Revolution of 1688, a group of Protestant nobles invited William of Orange, son-in-law of James II, to invade and take the throne. In a brief campaign, James was routed and forced to flee to the sanctuary of the court of King Louis XIV of France. Parliament passed the Bill of Rights the next year, declaring that James had abandoned his throne and prohibiting any Roman Catholic from ascending to the throne of England or marrying an English monarch. It also set out a number of certain fundamental rights and liberties of Englishmen that remain at the heart of the unwritten Constitution and English law.

William and Mary reigned in concert with each other until her death in 1694, with the crown to subsequently pass to Mary's younger sister Anne. King William suppressed attempted Jacobite Catholic rebellions in Ireland and Scotland in a series of pitched battles and negotiations and achieved mixed success in the Ten Years' War as one of the leaders of the Grand Alliance. The Bank of England was established in 1694 and English commercial strength continued to grow just as Dutch finances waned. Scottish attempts at replicating the colonial success of her southern neighbours came to naught with the demise of the Darien Scheme, making a substantial contribution to the crisis in Scotland's finances that precipitated the Act of Union.

Geography

The total area of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is 256,324 square miles, consisting of Great Britain, Ireland, Lyonesse and surrounding smaller islands. It lies between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea, separated from Europe by the English Channel, which is 36 miles wide at its narrowest point. 20% of the total land area is forested, with 36% used for pasture and 29% used for agriculture. Great Britain is the largest island in Europe and is the second most populous island in the world. The Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, is the defining point of the Prime Meridian.

England makes up almost a third of the total area of the United Kingdom, covering 80,562 square miles. Most of the country consists of lowland terrain, gentle rolling hills and fertile plains, with highlands and mountains found in the north and north-west, including the Cumbrian Mountains of the Lake District, the Pennines, the Peak District and the Silver Mountains. England's highest mountain is the Great Mountain (12,469ft) in the Lake District. The main rivers are the Thames, Severn, Mersey, Humber, Tees, Tyne and Tweed. England is a heavily urbanised country of 84.5 million, with over half of the populace living in the metropolises of London (25 million), Birmingham (5.4 million), Liverpool (5.2 million), Manchester (4.8 million), Newcastle (2.5 million), Leeds (2 million), Bristol (1.3 million), Sheffield (1.25 million), Nottingham (1.1 million) and Middlesborough (1 million) with 52% of remaining populace dwelling in large towns and cities and 48% living in rural areas and villages. England is divided into 42 counties, with Lancashire and Yorkshire being the largest and most economically powerful.

Scotland covers 48,652 square miles and including nearly one thousand islands located mainly to the west and north, with the Hebrides, Faroes, Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands and Golden Isles being the major groups. Scotland is divided into the rugged Highlands and the populous Lowlands, with the former containing most of Scotland's rich mountains, including the 12,378ft tall Ben Nevis, and the latter home to the great cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth, Dundee and Stirling. Scotland is an industrial and agricultural country of 14.6 million is balanced between the large population centres of Glasgow (3.5 million), Edinburgh (1.6 million), Aberdeen (1.1 million) and Inverness (0.8 million) and the smaller towns, cities and villages.

Ireland covers 52,154 square miles and is a verdant land of lush forest and fertile farmland. Low lying mountains surround a central plain fed by several major rivers. Ireland and Great Britain are linked by the 87 mile long undersea Victoria Tunnel between Stranraer and Belfast. The highest mountain in Ireland is the great Carrauntoohil, which reaches 8,562ft. Ireland is a largely rural country of 12.4 million, although Dublin is one of the largest cities in the United Kingdom with over 3.2 million inhabitants and Belfast is also a large urban centre with 2.4 million inhabitants.

Lyonesse, covering 25,638 square miles, is an island of contrasts with a rugged, forested interior dominated by the White Mountains rolling down to a temperate fertile coast through four great river valleys. Carn Lyon is the tallest mountain in Lyonesse, reaching a height of 7,931ft. Lyonesse is an agricultural country with a total propulation of 6.3 million of is with the major concentrations at Lyonesse in the north (1.29 million), Ys in the east (964,000) and Avalon in the west (732,000).

Wales is the smallest country in the British Isles, covering 12,832 square miles. It is a hard, mountainous land, with South Wales somewhat flatter than North and Central Wales. The main population and industry is found in South Wales, consisting of the coastal cities of Cardiff, Swansea, Haven and Newport, and the South Wales Valleys to their north. Snowdon, at 10,240 ft, is the highest peak in Wales. The great island of Anglesey lies off the northern coast. Wales is a rural country of 7.2 million inhabitants, with Cardiff (562,000), Swansea (284,000), Newport (263,000) and Haven (250,000) being the major population centres.

The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are possessions of the Crown and their foreign affairs and defence are administered by the British Government and legislation passed on their behalf by the Imperial Parliament at Westminster. Consideration is being given to the incorporation of Britain's European possessions such as Malta, Heligoland and Malta into the United Kingdom in response to changing world events.


British Empire
The British Empire is the largest in the world and includes territories on all continents. It consists of directly ruled Crown Colonies, sovereign states under British protection, the Indian Empire and the Commonwealth Realms or Dominions. The number of territories directly ruled by Britian has decreased over the years and as of 1960, 36 Crown Colonies and 16 protectorates remain in the formal Empire, with several on the cusp of self rule. India is a self-governing Dominion in a special relationship with Britain and full independence is scheduled for 1964/5. The Dominions of the British Commonwealth compromise Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Newfoundland, Rhodesia, New Avalon, Prydain, the Federation of the West Indies and Israel; Malaya, Ceylon and Kenya are expected to join their ranks by the middle of the decade.

Politics
Britain is a unitary state under a constitutional monarchy. Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state of the United Kingdom as well as Empress of India, Protector of the Realm, Head of the Church of England and Queen of the sovereign countries of the Commonwealth. The Crown exercises considerable power in Britain with many rights and responsibilities embodied in the Royal Prerogative, with the Prime Minister follows the commands and advice of the Sovereign. The Constitution of the United Kingdom is an unwritten one and consisting of centuries old traditions, precedents, treaties, laws and charters, stretching back to the Magna Carta from the reign of King Richard the Lionheart.

Government
Britain has a parliamentary system of government with the Westminster system being the model by dozens of states across the world. The Parliament of the United Kingdom is bicameral, consisting of the elected House of Commons and hereditary and appointed House of Lords. The House of Commons has 750 constituencies, each electing a single Member of Parliament. The House of Lords consists of the 124 Lords Spiritual, the 982 Lords Temporal, the 64 Lords Martial and the 80 Lords Arcane.

The head of government is the Prime Minister, who is appointed by the Monarch, and is the leader of the party that holds the largest number of seats in the House of Commons. The Cabinet is drawn from both houses and also appointed by the Monarch, with the most important members sitting on Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council. Their task is to debate and execute policy as directed by the leader. The current Prime Minister is the Right Honourable Sir Anthony Eden, the leader of the Conservative Party, who has been in office since 1956.

The five major political parties in Britain are the Conservative Party (Tories), the Liberal Party (Whigs), the Labour Party, the Socialist Party and the National Party, with the Radical and Imperialist parties among the larger of the smaller groups. The Conservative Party currently holds 345 seats, the Nationals 58 seats, the Liberals 107 seats, Labour 124 seats, the Socialists 36, the Imperialists 32 seats, the Radicals 25 seats and other smaller parties and Independents 23 seats. The next general election is scheduled to occur in 1964.

The Conservative Party is centred on social traditionalism, capitalism, patriotism, tariffs and Imperial preference, low taxation, strong national defences and Imperial ties, anti-communism, law and order and One-Nation Conservatism or the pursuit of national harmony. It is supported by the aristocracy, clergy and middle classes, particularly in Southern and Middle England and the shires. The Liberal Party supports social liberalism, free trade, the welfare state, moderate taxation and Keynesian government spending, centrist economics and Britain's position at the head of a reformed Empire. It draws its support primarily from the industrial middle classes and Nonconformist churches and has its heartland in North Wales, London and the Midlands.

The Labour Party has a social democratic platform supporting nationalisation of key industries, support of trade unions, social traditionalism, anti-communism, internationalism, Imperial reform and gradual decolonisation, extension of social welfare and has its heart in the trade union movement and industrial working class areas of Northern England, South Wales and Scotland. The National Party has a strong base of support in the countryside of Ireland, Scotland and South West England and from Roman Catholics. Its policies focus on protectionism, physiocracy, traditionalism, populism, low taxation, land reform and robust defence of Britain and the Empire.

Law and Justice
Britain has a single legal system across all of its countries, with the Law Lords and Privy Council acting as the highest court of appeal in the Commonwealth and the Empire. English law is based on common law principles, which apply statute, precedent and common sense to the relevant fact prior to issuing explanatory judgements of the relevant legal principles, which are binding in future cases. The rights of Englishmen have been clearly set out in several key documents over the centuries, including the Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta.

There is relatively little crime in Britain compared to Europe and the United States, with harsh justice, strong police forces and a generally law abiding population contributing to quite low rates of theft, violence and indecency. 105 murders were recorded in 1959 and the prison population numbers just under 50,000. Capital punishment by hanging is in place for murder, treason, treachery, rape, kidnapping, torture, espionage, piracy and highway robbery and by burning at the stake for necromancy and witchcraft. Young offenders under the age of 21 are confined in borstals, where corporal punishment is administered by the birch, rather than the cat o' nine tails used in adult prisons.

Foreign Relations
Britain is a one of the three superpowers in the world, being a permanent member of the Council of the League of Nations and a member of the Council of Europe, the Baghdad Pact and the Atlantic Treaty. Britain played the main role in the defeat of Germany in the First World War and stood alongside the United States and Soviet Union at the head of the Allies in the Second World War. The British Empire is one of the primary nations opposing the Soviet Union in the Cold War which has been ongoing since 1945, with this conflict seen as an extension of the long Great Game with the Russian Empire. Britain maintains a large network of bases around the world and can project power in every corner of the globe. Britain is the dominant power in Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia and is extremely powerful and influential in South America and the Far East. The central aims of British foreign policy over the last 500 years have been to maintain the balance of power in Europe and the mastery of the seas, with the Royal Navy being the key instrument of British global strategy in that time.

It stands at the head of the British Empire, the largest, richest and most powerful empire in the world, and has mutual defence and security treaties with the Commonwealth Dominions through the 1924 Treaty of Westminster. Australia, Canada and South Africa are the most senior Dominions and are often regarded as the Nuclear Commonwealth due to their independent possession of atomic weapons. India has a special relationship with Britain, maintaining very close defence, economic and strategic ties in addition to Commonwealth links, the full extent of which will be decided by the Indian government upon full independence in 1964. Israel is a member of the Commonwealth and enjoys extensive defence support from Britain.

Britain and France maintained a close partnership for most of the first half of the 20th century, before postwar trade tensions lead to a cooling of ties in the 1950s. British relations with Germany and Austria-Hungary have been strained since the Second World War, but recent governments have promoted rapprochement. Italy and Spain have growing commercial ties with Britain, but a number of territorial and political questions have prevented truly cordial relations. The Scandinavian countries, the Benelux Union, Portugal and Switzerland have extensive trade and strategic ties with Britain and are in the process of negotiating a collective free trade pact.

British global presence and influence in the Middle East and Asia is greatly increased through its extensive foreign trade and investment, economic aid and military assistance. Anglo-Chinese and Anglo-Japanese trade and diplomatic relations have been strained at various times in the 20th century due to conflict, but both are apparently improving at this time. The states of the Arab League are allied with Britain through the Baghdad Pact, but these links are proving increasingly unpopular in the view of nationalist movements in the region.

The British Empire and the United States of America share extensive trade, cultural, political and strategic ties and have fought alongside each other in every major conflict of the 20th century. Relations are generally amicable but subject to occasional strain through difference of economic and geopolitical interests. Britain has highly developed commercial interests in South America and Mexico and enjoys great influence in the states of the 'Southern Cone'.

Military
Her Majesty's Armed Forces consist of the four professional service branches - the Royal Navy and Royal Marines , which make up the Naval Service, the British Army, the Royal Air Force and the Royal Space Force. The forces are managed by thei Admiralty, the Ministry of War, the Air Ministry and the Ministry of Space, under the coordination of the Ministry of Defence. The Commander-in-Chief is the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, to whom members of the forces swear a sacred oath of allegiance and valiant service. The Armed Forces are protect Britain and the Empire, defend the the global strategic position of the Empire and support the collective security efforts of the League of Nations. Overseas garrisons and bases are located in every continent, every sea and ocean and on all the inner planets of the Solar System.

Britain's Armed Forces played a central role in the establishment of the British Empire as the dominant world power of the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Over the course of their illustrious history, British armies and fleets have seen action in many great wars, such as the Thirty Years' War, the War of the Grand Alliance, the War of Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War, the Napoleonic Wars, the Chinese Wars, the Crimean War, the War of the Worlds, World War I and World War II and hundreds of colonial conflicts. Through victory in all of these conflicts, Britain has played a central and decisive role in the course of world events over the last 500 years.

Britain has the third highest military spending in the world, the second largest strategic nuclear arsenal and is the largest military power in Europe. With the resources and manpower of India, Australia, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, Rhodesia, Newfoundland, Israel, Prydain and the colonies, the British Empire is arguably the most powerful collective military entity in the world. The Commonwealth maintains a number of powerful joint military commands across the world and the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and British Army are heavily integrated with the command structures of the corresponding forces of the Dominions. Britain has extensive operational commitments to alliances and collective security in Scandinavia, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Far East.

The British Army has 1,254,683 personnel in 24 divisions and is the ninth largest army in the world. It is deployed around the world in defence of the British Empire with major deployments in India, Burma, Malaya, Hong Kong, Egypt, Iraq and Kenya. The Chieftain tank is the most powerful tank in current service, the Army Air Corps operates hundreds of helicopters and Rotodynes and the Royal Artillery is lavishly equipped with atomic capable guns and long range missiles. The Special Air Service, Special Forces and Commandos of the British Army are renowned as the finest in the world and the Parachute Regiment has unmatched strategic range and mobility. Regiments of Gurkhas and Sikhs provide superbly trained and capable light infantry for operations across the Empire. The Home Guard, numbering over 2 million strong, has remained in service for 20 years as Britain's main local defence force.

The Royal Navy, the 'Senior Service' has almost 800,000 personnel and is the second largest fleet in the world. It operates 26 aircraft carriers, 25 battleships and dozens of powerful cruisers and submarines and hundreds of destroyers and frigates. Atomic submarines, both hunter-killers and strategic missile boats, provide the RN with unlimited operational range and considerable lethality. The Royal Naval Air Service fields hundreds of aircraft in the defence of naval bases, maritime strike and oceanic patrol. The amphibious forces of the four divisions of the Royal Marines have a global reach and heavy firepower. It has an unrivalled network of bases around the world, including the largest naval base in the world at Singapore and the redoubtable Rock of Gibraltar. The RN is in the process of introducing a variety of nuclear powered surface ships.

The Royal Air Force is the oldest independent air force in the world and is the most potent weapon in the defence of the British Empire, operating just over 10,000 aircraft of various types. RAF Bomber Command has the main role in the operation of Britain's strategic nuclear deterrent and can strike any target in the world with the Blue Streak ICBM and the potent Avro Vulcan. Fighter Command provides the defensive shield of the British Isles and supports the British Army in field operations around the globe with such aircraft as the English Electric Lightning, de Havilland Spectre and the revolutionary Hawker-Siddeley Harrier. The RAF is engaged in many operations other than war including transportation, air policing, humanitarian relief, exploration, search and rescue, scientific research and training.

The Royal Space Force is the youngest and smallest of the Armed Forces, but plays a role of immense importance in the defence of the extraterrestrial territories of the British Empire on the moons, Venus, Mars and Vulcan. It operates the most sophisticated fleet of space fighters in the Solar System and a number of large spaceships which patrol the commercial routes between the inner planets.

Economy

Economy of Great Britain

Exports: £36,972 million ($924.3 billion)
Imports: £32,504 million ($737.6 billion)
Major Import Partners: USA (16%), Germany (12%), Canada (12%), India (11%), France, Australia, Sweden,China, Soviet Union, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa
Major Export Partners: USA (16%), Canada (14%), India (12%), France, Australia, Germany, China, Japan, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Austria-Hungary, South Africa, Egypt
Current Account Surplus: £4,468 million ($111.7 billion)
National Debt: £12,834 million (14% of GDP)
Inflation: 2.4%
Unemployment: 0.4% (278,800)
Labour Force: 69.7 million
Population below Poverty Line: 3.6%

Revenue: £31,388 million (12,506 Income Tax, Customs and Excise 5987, External Revenue 4873, National Insurance 4396, Corporation Tax 1762, Other Taxes and Royalties 2175)
Expenditure: £30,054 million (Defence 10.998, Health 3.975, Education 3.876, Pensions 2.438, Welfare 2.325, Trade and Industry 0.983, Space 0.782, Colonial Office 0.629, Housing 0.564, Home Office 0.562, Debt Interest 0.425, Foreign Aid 0.4, Energy and Power 0.388, Transport 0.375, India Office 0.367, Agriculture and Food 0.354, Commonwealth 0.329, Other 0.284)
Surplus: £1334 million

Major Budget Spending (% of GDP)
Defence: 12.5 %
Health: 4.52%
Education: 4.41%
Pensions: 2.78%
Welfare: 2.65%

Gold Reserves: 25,864 tons (£3,426 million)
Silver Reserves: 103,629 tons (£466.4 million)
Sterling Reserves: £10,423 million
Imperial Sovereign Fund: £9,236 million
Foreign Investment: 24% (2nd in the world; USA 35%)

Britain has a free capitalist economy, the largest in Europe, and second only to the United States of America in the world. It possesses the world’s second largest gold and silver reserves, and British companies, banks and interests are responsible for 24% of global investment. The City of London is the world’s largest financial centre, narrowly leading New York City. HM Treasury, under the Chancellor of the Exchequer, bears responsibility for the development and administration of British public finance and economic policies. The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and is responsible for issuing notes and coins in the nation's currency, the pound sterling. Banks in Scotland and Ireland retain the right to issue their own notes. The pound sterling is the world's largest reserve currency, narrowly ahead of the US dollar.

British companies own considerable assets (railways, mines, factories, ports, shipyards, utilities, power stations, plantations and farms) and property across the world as well as on Mars, Venus, the asteroid belt and the moons. Low rates of personal and corporate taxation make Britain perhaps the most attractive investment environment in the world. However, Britain faces increasing competition from Germany, Japan, France and Italy in once secure markets in Asia and South America. The system of Imperial Preference gives Britain the dominant role in Imperial and Commonwealth markets, with Canada and India growing in relative stature.

The British manufacturing and industrial sector makes over 40% of Gross Domestic Product. London is widely considered as the centre of the global economy, being world's largest financial centre ahead of New York and Tokyo and possessing the largest city GDP in the world. Edinburgh and Manchester are also two of the largest financial centres in Europe. Tourism is important to the British economy and, with over 10 million tourists arriving in 1959, Britain is ranked as the fifth major tourist destination in the world and London has more international visitors than any other city in the world.

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the 18th century, branching out from its beginnings in the textile industry to other heavy industries such as shipbuilding, coal mining, iron and steel, engineering and machinery. British mercantile, financial and commercial interests developed an overwhelming advantage in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, allowing Britain to dominate international trade for the next 150 years.

Agriculture in Britain is intensive, highly mechanised and efficient by European standards, producing 93% of food needs with under 4% of the labour force. Production is divided between livestock and arable crops. Britain had one of the world's largest fishing industries. It is also rich in a many natural resources including coal, petroleum, natural gas, tin, gold, silver, iron ore, copper, bronze, lead, gems, salt, limestone, granite, clay, chalk, timber and a great abundance of fertile arable land.

Industry

Primary Industry (8.35 million employed; 14.22% of GDP)

Agriculture: 4.2 million; £3320 million (3.78%)
Mining: 2.5 million; £4296 million (4.89%)
Oil and Gas: 0.7 million; £2568 million (2.92%)
Fishing: 0.6 million; £1347 million (1.53%)
Forestry: 0.35 million; £962 million (1.1%)

Secondary Industry (23.5 million; 46.91%)

Light Industry: 5 million; £4338 million (4.94%)
General Engineering: 2.9 million; £3132 million (3.57%)
Textiles: 2.4 million; £2876 million (3.27%)
Electrical and Electronic: 2.1 million; £3263 million (3.72%)
Iron and Steel: 1.5 million; £3219 million (3.67%)
Chemicals: 1.4 million; £3327 million (3.78%)
Shipbuilding: 1.4 million; £2456 million (2.8%)
Aviation: 1.25 million; £5645 million (6.4%)
Automotive: 1.25 million workers; £5248 million (5.9%)
Transport: 1.25 million; £2091 million (2.38%)
Construction: 1.25 million; £2016 million (2.29%)
Defence: 1 million; £1759 million (2%)
Pharmaceutical: 0.8 million; £1926 million (2.19%)

Tertiary Industry (34.95 million; 38.76%)

Services and Commerce: 27.9 million; £15,150 million (17.25%)
Finance, Law and Banking: 1.1 million; £8254 million (9.4%)
Health Care: 1.5 million; £2772 million (3.16%)
Education: 1.2 million; £2123 million (2.41%)
Entertainment: 0.7 million; £2089 million (2.38%)
Domestic Service: 1.6 million; £1894 million (2.16%)

A large part of the strength of British industry lies in manufacturing and heavy industry, with shipbuilding, steel production, engineering, machine tools, rail, textiles and chemicals being areas of particular note. 68 million tons of steel were produced in 1959. The British automotive and rail industries are also the source of considerable exports, with almost half of the 2.578 million cars and lorries built in 1959 being exported and British locomotives and railway carriages being highly sought by railways in Africa, India, Asia, the Middle East and South America.

High technology industries such as aviation, aerospace, rocketry, optics, computing, electronics and superconductors have provided some of the greatest growth in the British economy in recent years and provide some of the finest products in the world, such as the rocketplane, the integrated circuit, the computer, the Fairey Rotodyne and the ubiquitous de Havilland Comet jet airliner. Over 1500 Comets have been delivered over the last 14 years, with orders for 896 still to be filled. Significant challenges are rising from Germany and Japan, while the United States remains a clear global leader in this sector.

Substantial revenues come from oil and gas production in the North Sea, the Irish Sea, Wales, England and Scotland, with the postwar oil boom from the North Sea and England playing a significant role in the white hot performance of the British economy in the 1950s. Construction of offshore oil platforms has allowed the exploitation of resources far from any shore. Britain is a net exporter of coal, oil, gas and electricity. Coal production totalled 524 million tons in 1959, with 206 million tons being exported.

Britain has historically been the largest shipbuilder in the world for the last century and a half until overtaken by the United States in the Second World War. The great shipyards of the Clyde, the Thames, Tyneside, Birkenhead, Barrow, Belfast, Southampton, Portsmouth and Aberdeen have flourished in the period following the Second World War, producing tankers, merchant ships, liners, cargo steamers, ferries, bulk carriers and warships by the hundred each year. Accompanying this rising rate of modern shipbuilding, the British ship breaking and scrap industry is a world leader, although the gap between it and its competitors is closing. The increasing demand for large supertankers from British Petroleum, Shell, Anglo-Saxon Petroleum and British Oil has been accommodated with a massive expansion of existing yards in Scotland, Northern England and Ireland, with some construction slips reaching almost half a mile in length.

Science and Technology

Britain is one of the most scientifically advanced nations in the world, being at the forefront of the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Great scientists in this era include Sir Isaac Newton, whose laws of motion and gravity are at the centre of modern science, Sir Michael Faraday and Sir James Clark Maxwell, the fathers of electromagnetism, Sir Charles Babbage, the inventor of the difference engine, Sir George Cayley, the pioneer of powered flight and Baron Kelvin, author of many of the key laws of thermodynamics. Famous British engineers of the Industrial Revolution include James Watt, George Stephenson, Richard Arkwright and the three towering figures of Sir Robert Stephenson, Sir Joseph Bazalgette and Lord Brunel.

Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccine and Sir Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin have saved countless millions of lives. British science and medicine has lead the way in battling the scourges of typhoid, cholera, influenza malaria, sweating sickness, bubonic plague and leprosy. The developments of vitamins, insulin and anaesthesia have greatly assisted care of the sick.

Major technological inventions and discoveries by British subjects include the steam locomotive, developed by Richard Trevithick and Andrew Vivian; the automobile by Samuel Brown; the electrical telegraph by Sir William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone; the steam aeroplane by Sir William Samuel Henson; the incandescent light bulb by Joseph Swan; the steam turbine by Sir Charles Parsons; the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell; the television by Sir John Logie Baird; penicilin by Sir Alexander Fleming; the discovery of nuclear fission by Sir Ernest Rutherford, Sir James Chadwick and Sir Henry Moseley; the hovercraft by Christopher Cockerill; and the jet engine by Sir Frank Whittle.

Dreadnoughts, aircraft carriers, destroyers, ironclads, fighters, bombers, tanks, torpedoes, the machine gun RDF and ASDIC all rank as great British military inventions. Britain has lead the way in space travel and exploration of the solar system, with the cavorite powered spacecraft and rocket powered spaceship travelling the aether between the inner planets for over 80 years.

Transport

The British road network consists of 62,548 miles of main roads, 5379 miles of Royal Highways and 524,629 miles of paved roads. Construction of the Royal Highways has been a great driver of economic activity since they began in 1928 and their use has increased with the rising prevalence of automobile use in Britain. As of 1960, there were a total of 87 million licensed vehicles in Great Britain.

Britain has a railway network of 42,356 miles in Great Britain, 3987 miles in Lyonesse and 10,154 miles in Ireland. It is publicly owned and run by British Rail, the successor to the famed 'Big Five' railway companies (Great Western Railway, Southern Railway, London and North Eastern Railway, London Midland and Scotland Railway and Irish Railways) which operate as regional subsidiaries to this day. Over 40,000 passenger trains and 12,000 freight trains are in daily operation. A number of railways have been converted to very high speed rail since the end of the War, with a long term goal of linking the major cities of England, Scotland and Wales with ultra-modern 250mph supertrains. The London Underground is the largest and busiest urban subterranean mass-transit system in the world.

There are four major airports in London in addition to airports in Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Sheffield, Leeds, Nottingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dublin, Belfast, Cardiff, Bristol, Plymouth and Southampton. The four main British airlines are Imperial Airways, British European Airways, British South American Airways and British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines, all of which operate a range of aeroplanes, seaplanes and airships across the globe.

The British Merchant Navy is the largest in the world, with 5264 vessels and a gross tonnage of 65,254,438 tons. British shipping companies are among the leaders in the global shipping industry, ranging from the great operators of the superliners, such as White Star and Cunard, to the dominant trading lines such as Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company and the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. The Port of London is the largest and busiest in the world, with over 2500 cranes handling 100,000 ships per year, having regained its position in the economic boom of the 1950s. Annual trade is over 125 million tons per year, amounting to some 48% of the total British volume.

Energy

Britain is the world's third-largest consumer of energy and the fourth-largest producer.The UK is home to five of the world's oil and gas supermajors, the so-called "Ten Titans" – British Petroleum, Burmah Oil, Anglo-Saxon Petroleum, Eagle Petroleum and Shell. In 1959, 40% of the UK's electricity was produced by coal, 20% by oil and gas, 20% by hydroelectricity, 19% by nuclear power and 1% by windpower. Over 486 TW of electricity were produced in 1958.

In 1958, Britain produced 3.2 million barrels per day of oil, the sixth highest production level in the world, and consumed 2.4 million bbl/d. The oil reserves of the North Sea have been commercially exploited since the end of the Second World War, with the capacity to significantly expand British oil production. In 1959, Britain was the 6th-largest producer of natural gas in the world and the largest producer in Europe. A significant proportion of British oil and gas is exported. The mainstay of British energy supplies comes from coal, with coal mining playing a key role in the British economy in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Coal production averaged over 480 million tons throughout the 1950s, with sufficient projected reserves for at least the next several hundred years.

The first civilian nuclear power station was opened in Britain in 1950, with twelve reactors built over the next decade and a further fifteen under construction or projected as of 1960. Top secret research into nuclear fusion continues with no developments expected in the short or medium term. The immense atomic production plants and power stations at Windscale are the largest nuclear facility in Europe and produce almost two tonnes of military material a year.

Hydroelectricity provides significant power in Scotland, Wales and Lyonesse, with the Severn Barrage in South West England producing 6850 MW of power. The Welsh Mountains scheme provides electricity for most of Wales and the Midlands through its underground power stations and subterranean rivers and lakes.

Easy simon darkshade, you might get stevep excited with all this data.

Nice catch on the extra Malta. I'll fix it.

It wouldn't be a world with substance if everything was agreeable; each reader will have their own perspectives.

King Arthur is the very same King with Excalibur.

Nonhumans are generally integrated, with the exception of orcs and goblins, who are subject to quite a bit of mistreatment and sanctions. Dwarves and halflings are very closely integrated, whereas elves often have less involvement with the affairs of men; the former two races are not subject to conscription as such, but work under parallel arrangements - there are several dwarven regiments. Tax is an area of some clever subterfuge of nomenclature, with payments made to the Crown and filtered back to general revenue. Halflings do work in the NHS as cooks, but there aren't many dwarven or gnomish employees at this time.

I'll pause a bit to let you catch up on reading and me on sleeping.

As simon darkshade will explain and if i am correct, this Earth is bigger and thus the United Kingdom as well.