History of the United Kingdom

Union of the CrownsTreaty of Union

Acts of Union Anglo-Irish Treaty

Commonwealth of NationsVictorian era

Union of the Crowns The Union of the Crowns (March 1603)

was the accession of James VI, King of Scots, to the throne of England, consequently uniting Scotland and England under one monarch.

This followed the death of his unmarried and childless first cousin twice removed, Queen Elizabeth I of England, the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty.

Treaty of UnionThe Treaty of Union is the name given to

the agreement that led to the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain, the political union of England (including Wales) and Scotland, that took effect on 1 May 1707.

The idea of uniting the two sovereign states had been around since the Union of the Crowns in 1603

The details of the Treaty were agreed on July 1706, leading to Acts of Union being passed by the separate parliaments of England and Scotland.The Treaty consisted of 25 articles:Article 1 provided for the new United Kingdom to be named Great Britain.

Acts of Union The Acts of Union were a pair of

Parliamentary Acts passed in 1707 by the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England to put into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union that had been agreed on 22 July 1706, following negotiation between commissioners representing the parliaments of the two countries.

The Acts took effect on 1 May 1707. On this date, the Scots Parliament and the English Parliament united to form the Parliament of Great Britain it was one of the most astonishing transformations in European history."

Ireland joins with the Act of Union (1800)

The second stage in the development of the United Kingdom took effect on 1 January 1801

when the Kingdom of Great Britain merged with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

The Anglo-Irish TreatyOfficially called the Articles of Agreement

for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the de facto Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of Independence.

It established an autonomous dominion, known as the Irish Free State, within the British Empire and provided Northern Ireland, which had been created by the 1920 Government of Ireland Act, an option to opt out of the Irish Free State, which it exercised.

Commonwealth of NationsThe Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as

the Commonwealth and previously as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organization of fifty-four independent member states, all but two of which were formerly part of the British Empire.

The Commonwealth is not a political union, but an intergovernmental organization through which countries with diverse social, political and economic backgrounds are regarded as equal in status. The symbol of this free association is the Head of the Commonwealth, which is a ceremonial position currently held by Queen Elizabeth II.