| About 6,000 years ago | The first farmers arrive, probably from south-east Europe |
| 55 BC | Julius Caesar leads an unsuccessful Roman invasion |
| AD 43 | Emperor Claudius leads the successful Roman invasion |
| AD 410 | The Romans leave Britain |
| AD 789 | The first Viking raids |
| 1066 | William of Normandy defeats King Harold at the Battle of Hastings, the last successful foreign invasion of England |
| 1215 | King John agrees to the Magna Carta |
| 1314 | Robert the Bruce defeats the English at Bannockburn |
| 1348 | The Black Death kills about a third of the population of England |
| 1415 | Henry V wins the Battle of Agincourt |
| 1455–1485 | The Wars of the Roses, ending at the Battle of Bosworth Field |
| 1588 | The English defeat the Spanish Armada |
| 1603 | James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England |
| 1642 | The English Civil War begins |
| 1649 | Charles I is executed and England becomes a republic |
| 1660 | The Restoration: Charles II returns as king |
| 1666 | The Great Fire of London |
| 1679 | The Habeas Corpus Act |
| 1688 | The Glorious Revolution: William of Orange takes the throne |
| 1689 | The Bill of Rights limits the power of the monarch |
| 1707 | The Act of Union creates the Kingdom of Great Britain |
| 1746 | Bonnie Prince Charlie is defeated at Culloden |
| 1776 | The American colonies declare independence |
| 1801 | Ireland is united with Great Britain |
| 1805 | Admiral Nelson is killed winning the Battle of Trafalgar |
| 1807 | The slave trade is abolished |
| 1815 | The Duke of Wellington defeats Napoleon at Waterloo |
| 1832 | The Reform Act increases the number of voters |
| 1833 | The Emancipation Act abolishes slavery across the British Empire |
| 1837–1901 | The reign of Queen Victoria |
| 1851 | The Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace |
| 1853–1856 | The Crimean War, the first war widely covered by the media |
| 1914–1918 | The First World War, ending at 11am on 11 November 1918 |
| 1918 | Women over 30 get the vote |
| 1922 | Ireland splits in two; Northern Ireland stays in the UK. BBC radio begins |
| 1928 | Women can vote at 21, the same age as men |
| 1939–1945 | The Second World War |
| 1944 | D-Day landings (6 June) and the "Butler Act" bringing free secondary education |
| 1948 | The National Health Service is founded |
| 1979 | Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman Prime Minister |
| 1998 | The Good Friday Agreement |
| 1999 | The Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly begin |