From Great Britain to the United Kingdom Quiz

Answer: Jacobites

The Jacobite cause was a determined attempt by the supporters of James II to place him back on the throne of England after he had been overthrown in 1688 by his daughter, Mary, and son-in-law (and nephew), William. James had been the rightful technical heir to the throne, as he had come down in a direct line of descent from James I, who had inherited the throne upon the death of Queen Elizabeth I. James, however, was a Catholic and the country was emotionally exhausted from ongoing battles between Catholic and Protestant even since Henry VIII had broken with the Papacy. This had culminated in the not so Glorious Revolution of 1688, when, at the request of the English parliament, the protestant William of Orange and his protestant wife Mary (daughter of James II) invaded England and took the throne. This sturdy pair subsequently became joint rulers of the country.

Their subsequent right to rule was cemented the following year, 1689, with parliament's passing of the Bill of Rights. Among many other initiatives, this Bill greatly limited the powers of the ruling monarchs, declared that James had abdicated when he fled the country, made William and Mary his rightful successors to the throne, and forever barred any of James' Catholic children, from his second marriage, to the throne forever. This, however, certainly didn't forever silence the indignant Jacobites by any means.

Answer: 1707

Although England has a magnificent history going right back through the ages, as indeed has Scotland, the political union of the two nations (and valiant little Wales, which had earlier been merged with England) did not come about until 1707 when England and Scotland, after centuries of warring, were formed into the one united Great Britain.

It wasn't smooth sailing at first, and even today there are murmurs of discontent from north of the border between these two countries, but the basis of that original union still stands well into the 21st century.

The United Kingdom, as we know it today, would not come into effect until many decades later.

Answer: Culloden

That battle, some forty years after the political union of Scotland and England into Great Britain came about in 1707, took place in 1746. The supporters of the great-grandson of James II of England were thoroughly routed by the Duke of Cumberland, the third son of the then British ruler, George II, and this settled, once and for all, any extraneous claims to the British throne.

Answer: The Seven Years' War

The Seven Years' War was a massive global conflict that basically split Europe in half between two warring divisions. Roughly speaking, Great Britain and its colonies, and Prussia, Portugal, Hanover and various German states (Germany wasn't the one unified country at that stage) faced up against France, the Holy Roman Empire, the Russian Empire, part of Spain and Sweden.

This was a world war in everything but name. It began with Austria sizing up to Prussia over territorial claims and spread from there.

Its conclusion saw France's dominance in Europe finally toppled, and Great Britain taking its place as one of the world's most dominant powers.

Answer: America

America did not become popularly known as the United States for some time following its war of independence from Great Britain. At the commencement of that great endeavour, it was still known as Great Britain's American colonies. Its battle for independence lasted from 1775 until 1783.

At its conclusion, Great Britain had lost all its colonies in that nation, and America began to take its giant strides forward over the next 176 years towards its eventual formation of 50 United States. The war concluded with the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783 when Great Britain, rather reluctantly, untied the trans-Atlantic apron strings. France, on the other hand, had hardly gained anything but massive debts, Spain only gained some very minor territories, and the Netherlands, who had also become involved against Great Britain, were overwhelmingly defeated and lost a great deal of their territory to the British.

Answer: French

The French Revolution lasted from 1789 until 1799 as that country struggled to break the heavy burden of its uncaring monarchy and replace it with an 'equality for all' republic. Well, that was the theory at any rate. It didn't quite unfold in that manner - but that's a different quiz. Great Britain's involvement came about towards the close of the century, between 1793 until 1815, in more of its seemingly endless monumental engagements against the French for European supremacy.

It was also during this period that the future United Kingdom would be given birth.

Answer: Steam engine

The British Empire throbbed, not only with the power of James Watt's steam engine and all it would lead on to, as mechanised devices began to replace backbreaking manual labour, but also with a host of other industrial, scientific and medical advances during the hundred year era of Great Britain.

These included an improved seed drill, the Rotherham plough, the winnowing machine, the first electrostatic motor, hollow pipe drainage, the first arched iron bridge, and the threshing machine, sociological and economic advances, improvements in the breeding of livestock, and medical discoveries such as Edward Jenner's development of vaccination. Great Britain was vibrant, alive, exciting, leading the charge to the future on the back of a steam driven atmospheric engine.

Answer: Australia

Springing initially from the backs of whip-scarred convicts, the eastern coast of Australia was first discovered and claimed for England by Captain James Cook in 1770, and settled not long after, in 1788, by eleven shiploads of convicts and their guards. During the enlightenment period of the 1700s when capital punishment was being seen, more and more, as a less than desirable punishment except for the most dire of offences, and British prisons were little more than rotting hulks on the River Thames, Australia was settled by the British to rid that nation of its superfluous prisoners.

It was much more than that, however. Other factors contributing to the settlement of that nation were to secure a base in the Pacific to keep the French and the Russians at bay, as a replacement for the American colonies and the depositing of convicts there, as a valuable fund of untapped natural resources, and to establish trading bases in the Pacific region with the British East India Trading Company. The ties between Australia and Great Britain grew, developed and strengthened more and more as the decades passed from those fledgling days of early settlement and remain still in place even in the 21st century, a little like distant relatives who meet up every now and then for family re-unions.

Answer: Hearty congratulations

Ireland had been in a type of personal union with England since 1542, but that only stretched for the most part to having the same overall monarch. There was precious little equality involved. Irish laws and boundaries and forms of government remained different to those of England.

However, England did assert its overlordship at times, and Ireland had to toe the line as far as any restrictions the English parliament decided to place upon it. This would eventually lead to problems, but that was well in the future.

When Scotland and England were united in 1707, and even though Ireland was left out in the cold (the nerve of the British!), both houses of the Irish parliament sent letters of congratulations to the British monarch at that time. It would take almost another 100 years, an attempted French invasion of Ireland, growing discontent of the Protestant 'Anglo' minority with the Catholic majority, further discontent of the servile position Ireland found itself in relation to England, murmurs of independence and an attempted rebellion in 1798 (ferociously put down by the British), that finally led to Great Britain putting out the welcome mat to Ireland to join the Union.

Answer: 1800

In that momentous year, parliamentary acts of Ireland and Great Britain merged the two neighbouring land masses into the one United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland - and, apart from the separation of the Republic of Ireland in the early twentieth century, the three countries, with Wales in tow, have been a formidable force ever since.

And the best thing about the United Kingdom is that Emiloony, member of the Amazing Race 4 team of the Eggtetts, springs from that lovely land.