55 BC Britain invaded by Caesar
Julius Caesar makes the first of his two invasions of Celtic Britain

54 BC Caesar invades Britain again
Julius Caesar returns to Britain for a second visit, this time reaching north of the Thames into the kingdom of Cassivellaunus

40 Cymbeline dies
The death of Cymbeline is a prelude to the renewed Roman invasion of Celtic Britain

43 Romans invade Britain and stay
The Romans invade Britain and the tribal leader Caractacus fails to hold them in an encounter near the Medway

43 Claudius arrives in London
The emperor Claudius catches up with the Roman army, waiting at the Thames for him to lead the final victory over the English tribes

60 Boudicca attacks Romans
Boudicca launches a devastating attack on Roman soldiers and settlers, destroying their headquarters at Colchester

77 Agricola subdues Wales
Agricola, appointed Roman governor of Britain in AD 77, establishes Chester as a stronghold from which to control the Welsh tribes

83 Agricola defeats the Scottish tribes
Agricola defeats the tribes of Scotland at an unidentified place called Mons Graupius, probably almost as far north as Aberdeen

122 Hadrian's Wall
The emperor Hadrian, visiting Britain, orders the construction of a great wall from coast to coast to keep out the Caledonian tribes

142 Antonine Wall
The emperor Antoninus Pius gives orders for the construction of a defensive earthwork, to the north of Hadrian's Wall

450 Angles and Saxons enter England
Angles, Saxons and other Germanic groups invade southern England and steadily push the Celts westwards

650 Vikings maraud in longships
The Vikings develop the fast and narrow longships with which they raid across the North Sea

850 Vikings have northern Scotland
Vikings are by now securely established in the Orkneys, Shetlands and Hebrides, and in much of the Scottish mainlaid down to Loch Ness

866 Danes capture York
A great army of Danes captures York - the first step in the establishment of Danelaw in eastern England

1066 Normans invade England in longships
The Normans, as seen in the Bayeux tapestry, invade England in Viking longships with fortified platforms for archers

1080 Marcher lords threaten the Welsh
Norman earls are given territories on the marches of Wales, with the specific task of raiding their neighbours

1190 Richard I goes on crusade
A year after succeeding to the throne of England, Richard I sets off east as one of the leaders of the third crusade

1192 Richard I recognized in Austrian inn
Richard I, returning from the Holy Land in disguise, is recognized in an inn near Vienna and is imprisoned until England pays a massive ransom

1282 Uprising by prince of Wales
An uprising by Llewellyn ap Gruffydd, the prince of Wales, ends with his own death and the subjugation of Wales by the king of England, Edward I

1283 New castles to subdue the Welsh
Edward I begins a series of powerful castles - Harlech, Caernarfon and Conwy in this year alone - to subdue the Welsh

1583 Newfoundland for England
Humphrey Gilbert claims Newfoundland on behalf of England's queen Elizabeth

1587 Raleigh sends settlers to Virginia
A new group of English settlers arrives at Roanoke Island and makes a second attempt at a settlement

1587 English girl born in America
Virginia Dare becomes the first English child to be born in America, on Roanoke Island

1607 Flight of the Earls
The earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel sail from Ireland with their families, in the event known as the Flight of the Earls

1616 John Smith describes New England
John Smith publishes A Description of New England, an account of his exploration of the region in 1614

1620 September 16 Pilgrims sail west
The Pilgrims (or Pilgrim Fathers), a group of 102 English settlers, sail in the Mayflower to the new world

1630 Puritans set sail for Massachusetts
John Winthrop, appointed governor of the new Massachusetts Bay Company, sails from England with 700 settlers

1779 Convicts to go down under
Joseph Banks tells a committee of the House of Commons that the east coast of Australia is suitable for the transportation of convicted felons

1787 Fleet carries convicts to Australia
The First Fleet (eleven ships carrying about 750 convicts) leaves Portsmouth for Australia

1858 East India Company deprived of powers
The India Act places India under the direct control of the British government, ending the rule of the East India Company

1876 France and Britain run Egypt's finances
The chaotic government finances of Egypt are placed under joint French and British control

1876 Victoria proclaimed Empress of India
India becomes the 'jewel in the crown' of Queen Victoria when Benjamin Disraeli secures for her the title Empress of India

1878 Stanley hired to open up Congo
Stanley agrees to work for Leopold II in opening up the Congo river to commerce

1884 British 'Commonwealth of Nations'
The British empire is first described as a 'Commonwealth of Nations', by Lord Rosebery speaking in Australia

1887 Colonial leaders in London conference
A gathering of leaders from the British empire holds a colonial conference in London to coincide with Queen Victoria's jubilee

1891 Heligoland in African trade-off
Britain cedes the tiny island of Heligoland to Germany in return for vast areas of Africa

1892 Falklands made British colony
The Falkland Islands, by now occupied by some 2000 settlers, become a British colony

1926 Balfour Report
The Balfour Report, by former UK prime minister A.J. Balfour, suggests the way forward for the British Commonwealth of Nations

1946  March 5 Iron curtain across Europe
Winston Churchill, in a speech in Fulton, Missouri, expresses the harsh truth that an iron curtain has descended across Europe