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The Story of

United Kingdom

56 BCE – 2024

Island country in north-west Europe

  1. Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936

    26 August 1936

    The Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 (officially, The Treaty of Alliance Between His Majesty, in Respect of the United Kingdom, and His Majesty, the King of Egypt) was a treaty signed between the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Egypt. The treaty significantly reduced Britain's influence in Egypt's domestic policy but Britain still had significant influence in Egypt's foreign policy and defence, especially the Suez Canal.

  2. Great Smog of London

    December 1952 – 9 December 1952

    The Great Smog was a severe air pollution event that affected London, England, in December 1952. A period of unusually cold weather, combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions, collected airborne pollutants—mostly arising from the use of coal—to form a thick layer of smog over the city.

  3. North Sea flood of 1953

    31 January 1953 – 1 February 1953

    The North Sea flood of 1953, also known as the Big Flood or East Coast Flood (in England) or as the Flood Disaster (Dutch: Watersnoodramp), was a flood caused by a heavy storm surge in the North Sea that struck low-lying coastal areas of the Netherlands, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. More than 2,000 people were killed on land and hundreds more at sea.

  4. Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

    5 August 1963

    The Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT), formally known as the 1963 Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water, prohibited all test detonations of nuclear weapons except for those conducted underground. It is also abbreviated as the Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT) and Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (NTBT), though the latter may also refer to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which succeeded the PTBT for ratifying parties.

  5. Bloody Sunday

    30 January 1972

    Bloody Sunday, or the Bogside Massacre, occurred on 30 January 1972 when British soldiers shot 26 unarmed civilians during a protest march in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland. Thirteen men were killed outright, while the death of another man four months later has been attributed to his gunshot injuries.

  6. Iranian Embassy Siege

    30 April 1980 – 5 May 1980

    The Iranian Embassy siege took place from 30 April to 5 May 1980, after a group of six armed men stormed the Iranian embassy on Prince's Gate in South Kensington, London. The gunmen, Iranian Arabs campaigning for the sovereignty of the Khuzestan Province of Iran, took 26 people hostage, including embassy staff, several visitors, and a police officer who had been guarding the embassy.

  7. Pan Am Flight 103

    21 December 1988

    Pan Am Flight 103 was a regularly scheduled Pan Am flight from Frankfurt to Detroit, with stopovers in London and New York City. Shortly after 19:00 GMT on 21 December 1988, the Boeing 747 Clipper Maid of the Seas operating the transatlantic leg of the flight was destroyed by a bomb while flying over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.

  8. Hillsborough disaster

    15 April 1989

    The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal crowd crush at a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the two standing-only central pens within the Leppings Lane stand allocated to Liverpool supporters.

  9. British Airways Flight 5390

    10 June 1990

    British Airways Flight 5390 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Birmingham Airport in England to Málaga Airport in Spain. On 10 June 1990, the BAC One-Eleven suffered an explosive decompression.

  10. death of Diana, Princess of Wales

    31 August 1997

    In the late hours of 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died from injuries sustained in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, France. Dodi Fayed, Diana's partner, and the chauffeur Henri Paul were both found dead inside the car.

  11. Good Friday Agreement

    10 April 1998

    The Good Friday Agreement or Belfast Agreement (Irish: Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or Comhaontú Bhéal Feirste; Ulster Scots: Guid Friday Greeance or Bilfawst Greeance) is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April (Good Friday) 1998 that ended most of the violence of the Troubles, an ethnic and national conflict in Northern Ireland since the late 1960s. It was a major development in the Northern Ireland peace process of the 1990s.

  12. 7 July 2005 London bombings

    7 July 2005

    On 7 July 2005, Islamist terrorists carried out four coordinated suicide bombings targeting commuters travelling on London's public transport during the morning rush hour. The attacks are sometimes known as the 7/7 bombings or simply 7/7.

  13. British Airways Flight 38

    17 January 2008

    British Airways Flight 38 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, China, to Heathrow Airport in London, United Kingdom, an 8,100-kilometre (4,400 nmi; 5,000 mi) trip. On 17 January 2008, the Boeing 777 aircraft crash-landed short of runway 27L at Heathrow.

  14. Western African Ebola virus epidemic

    December 2013 – June 2016

    The 2013–2016 epidemic of Ebola virus disease, centered in West Africa, was the most widespread outbreak of the disease in history. It caused major loss of life and socioeconomic disruption in the region, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

  15. 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum

    23 June 2016

    The 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, was a referendum that took place on Thursday 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar under the provisions of the European Union Referendum Act 2015 to ask the electorate whether the country should continue to remain a member of, or leave, the European Union (EU). The result was a vote in favour of leaving the EU, triggering calls to begin the process of the country's withdrawal from the EU commonly termed "Brexit".

  16. Grenfell Tower fire

    14 June 2017

    On 14 June 2017, a high-rise fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of flats in North Kensington, West London, England, at 00:54 BST and burned for 60 hours. A total of 70 people died at the scene and two other people died later in hospital, with more than 70 injured and 223 escaping.

  17. COVID-19 pandemic

    1 December 2019

    The global COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. It spread to other parts of Asia and then worldwide in early 2020.

  18. COVID-19 pandemic in Europe

    24 January 2020

    The global COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Europe with its first confirmed case in Bordeaux, France, on 24 January 2020, and subsequently spread widely across the continent. By 17 March 2020, every country in Europe had confirmed a case, and all have reported at least one death, with the exception of Vatican City.

  19. 2021 European floods

    2021

    In July 2021, several European countries were affected by severe floods. Some were catastrophic, causing deaths and widespread damage.

  20. 2024 United Kingdom riots

    2024

    From 30 July to 5 August 2024, far-right anti-immigration protests and riots occurred in England and Northern Ireland, within the United Kingdom, following the 2024 Southport stabbings, a targeted stabbing attack on 29 July 2024 at a dance class in Southport, England, which resulted in the deaths of three young girls. The riots took place amid false claims circulated by far-right groups, that the perpetrator of the attack was a Muslim and an asylum seeker, in addition to broader Islamophobic, racist, and anti-immigrant sentiments.