How did United Kingdom come about?

Answer 1

Ireland's invasion by the Normans in 1170 led to centuries of strife. Successive Kings of England sought to conquer and pillage Ireland. In the early 17th century, large-scale settlement of the north from Scotland and England began. After its defeat, Ireland was subjected, with varying degrees of success, to control and regulation by Britain.

Possibly influenced by the War of American Independence (1775–1783), a united force of Irish volunteers used their influence to campaign for greater independence for the Irish Parliament. This was granted in 1782, giving free trade and legislative independence to Ireland. However, the French revolution had encouraged the increasing calls for moderate constitutional reform. The Society of United Irishmen, made up of Presbyterians from Belfast and both Anglicans and Catholics in Dublin, campaigned for an end to British domination. Their leader Theobald Wolfe Tone (1763–98) worked with the Catholic Convention of 1792 which demanded an end to the penal laws. Failing to win the support of the British government, he travelled to Paris, encouraging a number of French naval forces to land in Ireland to help with the planned insurrections. These were slaughtered by government forces, but these rebellions convinced the British under Prime Minister William Pitt that the only solution was to end Irish independence once and for all.

The legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland was completed on January 1, 1801, in both the Irish and the British parliaments, under the Act of Union 1800, changing the country's name to "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland". Ireland now sent around 100 MPs to the House of Commons3 at Westminster and 28 peers to the House of Lords, elected from among their number by the Irish peers themselves (Catholics were not permitted this great honour).

The state actually began to take its present shape with the Acts of Union 1707, which united the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland to create a "United Kingdom of Great Britain". Subsequently, the Act of Union 1800 joined the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland to create the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland".

In 1922, the Irish Free State gained independence, leaving Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom. As a result, since 1927 Britain's formal title has been "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". It is usually shortened to "Britain" or "the UK".

Answer 2

From the Columbia Encyclopedia, more than you really want to know, probably:
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is often referred to simply as Britain. Technically, Great Britain comprises England, Wales and Scotland on the island of Great Britain, while the United Kingdom includes Great Britain as well as Northern Ireland on the island of Ireland.
England and Wales were formally united in 1536. In 1707, when Great Britain was created by the Act of Union between Scotland and England, English history became part of British history. Since 1603, with the exception of the 1654—60 portion of the interregnum, Scotland and England had remained two kingdoms united only in the person of the monarch. When it appeared that William's successor, Queen Anne, Mary's Protestant sister, would not have an heir, the Scottish succession became of concern, since the Scottish Parliament had not passed legislation corresponding to the Act of Settlement. England feared that under a separate monarch Scotland might ally itself with France, or worse still, permit a restoration of the Catholic heirs of James II–although a non-Protestant succession had been barred by the Scottish Parliament. On its part, Scotland wished to achieve economic equality with England. The result was the Act of Union (1707), by which the two kingdoms became one. Scotland obtained representation in (what then became) the British Parliament at Westminster, and the Scottish Parliament was abolished. In Ireland, the Irish Parliament was granted independence in 1782, but in 1798 there was an Irish rebellion. A vain attempt to solve the centuries-old Irish problem was the abrogation of the Irish Parliament and the union (1801) of Great Britain and Ireland, with Ireland represented in the British Parliament.

Answer 3

MAY 1st

On this day in history in 1707, England and Scotland were united as The Kingdom of Great Britain.
England and Scotland had each led independent existences for centuries. England had been formed from a union of minor kingdoms in the Tenth Century, while Scotland had been founded in 843 by Kenneth I, King of Scots.

When James VI of Scots ascended the English throne as James I of England, He was monarch of two separate and independent states. James attempted to form a Union of his two kingdoms but was thwarted by The English Parliament and his own ministers, particularly Francis Bacon.

At the beginning of the Eighteenth Centuries, both kingdoms had pressing problems. England was at war with France. The French king was scheming place a Jacobite king on the Scottish throne and England feared a backdoor invasion. Scotland was deprived of trade with The English Colonies, had lost half its liquid capital in he ill-fated Darien Scheme and was practically bankrupt. England would have liked to swallow up Scotland in an incorporative union. Scotland needed a free trade agreement on the style of The Auld Alliance between Scotland and France.

Politicians on both sides of the border attempted to deal with their respective problems with petulant attacks on the other side and short-term solutions to long-term problems. This was to provide the basis of British diplomatic policy for centuries.

In 1701, when the last of Queen Anne’s children died, The English Parliament passed the Act of Succession allowing the throne to pass to the House of Hannover after Anne’s death. The Scottish Parliament responded with The Act of Security, which provided for the Scottish Crown to pass along a different line, to be determined after Anne’s death.

The English Parliament intimidated Scotland with The Alien Act of 1705, threatening to confiscate property held by Scots in England unless Scotland accepted the Hanoverian Succession. Scotland passed The Wine Act, legalising the importation of wines and other commodities from England’s enemies. England passed the Black Cattle Act preventing Scottish drovers from bringing their herds over the border for sale. After Marlborough had defeated the French at Blenheim, and attack from the Continental enemies was forestalled for the time being, Marlborough was ordered to marshal his troops near the Scottish border, within reach of Edinburgh.

In 1706, the Scottish Parliament appointed commissioners to negotiate a union. A hasty deal was done. The Scots accepted a ‘bribe’ of some £400,000 Sterling, to pay off debts and refund the shareholders of The Darien Scheme. The problems of separate churches and legal systems were dealt with by being left unresolved, for future generations to deal with. Each Parliament passed a separate Act of Union, Scotland’s Act being finalised in a cellar in Hollyrood Palace. The Kingdom of Great Britain came into being on 1st May 1707.