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History
How Britain came to be governed as it is.
The political and constitutional history behind modern Britain — from Magna Carta to devolution. The struggles, settlements and reforms that shaped the state, the franchise and the nation.
Foundations
The medieval and early-modern roots of the constitution.
- Magna Carta (1215) How a baronial revolt produced a charter whose clauses on due process and justice still echo. ●●○○○ 18 min
- The English Civil War How conflict between King and Parliament in the 1640s led to civil war, regicide and a republic. ●●●○○ 20 min
- The Glorious Revolution (1688) How the overthrow of James II and the Bill of Rights 1689 turned Britain towards constitutional monarchy. ●●●○○ 19 min
Constitutional Milestones
The Acts and settlements that built parliamentary democracy.
- The Great Reform Act (1832) How the 1832 Reform Act swept away rotten boroughs and widened the franchise, yet left most without a vote. ●●●○○ 18 min
- The Parliament Acts (1911 & 1949) How a clash between Lords and Commons stripped the upper house of its veto and confirmed Commons primacy. ●●●○○ 18 min
- The road to universal suffrage How a series of Reform Acts from 1832 to 1969 extended the vote to nearly every adult in Britain. ●●●○○ 20 min
Movements & Reform
How ordinary people won rights and reshaped politics.
- The Chartists Britain's first mass working-class movement for the vote, its six-point Charter, and a legacy that outlived its short-term failure. ●●○○○ 18 min
- The suffragettes & suffragists The militant WSPU and the constitutionalist NUWSS, their contrasting tactics, and how women won the vote in Britain. ●●○○○ 18 min
- The trade union movement From the Tolpuddle Martyrs and early unions to the birth of the Labour Party and the 1984-85 miners' strike. ●●●○○ 20 min
Modern Britain
The 20th-century shifts that define politics today.
- The 1945 welfare state Beveridge's 'five giants', the creation of the NHS, and the Attlee government's postwar welfare settlement. ●●○○○ 18 min
- The postwar consensus The roughly 1945-1979 settlement of mixed economy, full employment and welfare state, and the debate over how real it was. ●●●○○ 19 min
- Thatcherism Privatisation, deregulation, confronting the unions and monetarism — with the claimed achievements and the criticisms set out fairly. ●●●○○ 20 min
Empire & Union
The making and unmaking of the United Kingdom and its empire.