英美文化知识小点总结

Historic events一)Hundred Years’ war 百年战争It was a series of separate conflicts between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France and their various allies for control of the French throne, which hadbecome vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings.Time:From1337 to 1543The war is commonly divided into three or four phases, separated by various unsuccessful truces:①the Edwardian War (1337–1360);②the Caroline War (1369–1389);③the Lancastrian War (1415–1453);Cause:The background to the conflict is to be found in 1066, when William, Duke of Normandy, led an invasion of England. He defeated the English King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings, and had himself crowned King of England. As Duke of Normandy, he remained a vassal of the French King, and was required to swear fealty to the latter for his lands in France;for a king to swear fealty to another king was considered humiliating, and the Norman Kings of England generally attempted to avoid the service. On the French side, the Capetianmonarchs resented a neighboring king holding lands within their own realm, and sought to neutralize the threat England now posed to FranceThe King of England directly ruled more territory on the continent than did the King of France himself. This situation – in which the kings of England owed vassalage to a ruler who was de facto much weaker – was a cause of continual conflict. John of England inherited this great estate from King Richard I. However, Philip II of France acted decisively to exploit the weaknesses of King John, both legally and militarily, and by 1204 had succeeded inwresting control of most of the ancient territorial possessions.Significance:The Hundred Years' War was a time of military evolution. Weapons, tactics, army structure, and the societal meaning of war all changed, partly in response to the demands of the war, partly through advancement in technology, and partly through lessons that warfare taught.The war also stimulated nationalistic sentiment. It devastated France as a land, but it alsoawakened French nationalism. The Hundred Years' War accelerated the process oftransforming France from a feudal monarchy to a centralized state. The conflict became one of not just English and French kings but one between the English and French peoples. There were constant rumours in England that the French meant to invade and destroy the English language.National feeling that emerged out of such rumours unified both France and England further.The Hundred Years War basically confirmed the fall of the French language in England,which had served as the language of the ruling classes and commerce there from the time of the Norman Conquest until 1362Important Figures:EnglandKing Edward III 1327–1377 Edward II's sonKing Richard II 1377–1399 Edward III's grandsonKing Henry IV 1399–1413 Edward III's grandsonKing Henry V 1413–1422 Henry IV's sonKing Henry VI 1422–1461 Henry V's sonEdward, the Black Prince 1330–1376 Edward III's sonJohn of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster 1340–1399 Edward III's sonJohn of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford 1389–1435 Henry IV's sonHenry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster 1306–1361 KnightJohn Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury 1384–1453 KnightRichard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York 1411–1460 KnightSir John Fastolf 1378?–1459 KnightFranceKing Philip VI 1328–1350King John II 1350–1364 Philip VI's sonKing Charles V 1364–1380 John II's sonLouis I of Anjou 1380–1382 John II's sonKing Charles VI 1380–1422 Charles V's sonKing Charles VII 1422–1461 Charles VI's sonJoan of Arc 1412–1431 CommanderJean de Dunois 1403–1468 KnightGilles de Rais 1404–1440 KnightBertrand du Guesclin 1320–1380 KnightJean Bureau 13??–1463 KnightLa Hire 1390–1443 Knight二)civil war (1642-1651)南北战争, 又称美国内战The American Civil War, often referred to simply as The Civil War in the United States, was a civil war fought in the United States of America.Time:From 1642 to 1651Cause:The causes of the Civil War were complex, and have been controversial since the war began. The issue has been further complicated by historical revisionists, who have tried to improve the image of the South by lessening the role of slavery.Slavery was the central source of escalating political tension in the 1850s. The Republican Party was determined to prevent any spread of slavery, and many Southernleaders had threatened secession if the Republican candidate, Lincoln, won the 1860 election.Following Lincoln's victory, many Southern whites felt that disunion had become their only option.While not all Southerners saw themselves as fighting to preserve slavery, most of the officers and over a third of the rank and file in Lee's army had close family ties to slavery. To Northerners, in contrast, the motivation was primarily to preserve the Union, not to abolish slavery.Abraham Lincoln consistently made preserving the Union the central goal of the war, though he increasingly saw slavery as a crucial issue and made ending it an additional goal. Lincoln's decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation angered both Peace Democrats and War Democrats, but energized most Republicans.By warning that free blacks would flood the North, Democrats made gains in the 1862 elections, but they did not gain control of Congress. The Republicans' counterargument that slavery was the mainstay of the enemy steadily gained support, with the Democrats crushed at the 1863 elections in Ohio when they tried to resurrect anti-black sentiment.Main Content:*The beginning of the war, 1861Lincoln's victory in the presidential election of 1860 triggered South Carolina's declaration of secession from the Union.On February 7 1861, the seven states adopted a provisional constitution for the Confederate States of America and established their temporary capital at Montgomery, Alabama.A pre-war February Peace Conference of 1861 met in Washington in a failed attempt at resolving the crisis. However, governors in Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania quietly began buying weapons and training militia units. The great meeting in Union Square, New York, to support the government, April 20, 1861On May 3, 1861, Lincoln called for an additional 42,034 volunteers for a period of three yearsFour states in the upper South (Tennessee, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Virginia), which had repeatedly rejected Confederate overtures, now refused to send forces against their neighbors, declared their secession, and joined the Confederacy. To reward Virginia, the Confederate capital was moved to Richmond which was the symbol of the Confederacy.*Anaconda Plan and blockade, 1861Winfield Scott, the commanding general of the U.S. Army, devised the Anaconda Plan to win the war with as little bloodshed as possible.His idea was that a Union blockade of the main ports would weaken the Confederate economy; then the capture of the Mississippi River would split the South. Lincoln adopted the plan in terms of a blockade to squeeze to death the Confederate economy, but overruled Scott's warnings that his new army was not ready for an offensive operation because public opinion demanded an immediate attackIn April 1861, Lincoln announced the Union blockade of all Southern ports; commercial ships could not get insurance and regular traffic ended.On March 8, 1862, the Confederate Navy waged a fight against the Union Navy when the ironclad CSS Virginia attacked the blockade.Northern technology achieved another breakthrough on April 10–11, 1862.Eastern theater 1861–1863Western theater 1861–1863Trans-Mississippi theater 1861–1865Conquest of Virginia and end of war: 1864–1865On June 23, 1865, Cherokee leader Stand Watie was the last Confederate general to surrender his forces, which it is the end of the war.战争期间主要战役战役时间胜方盖兹堡之役1863年7月1日–3日联邦奇卡莫加之役1863年9月19日–20日邦联第一次牛奔河之役1861年7月21日–4日邦联第二次牛奔河之役1862年8月29日–2日邦联钱瑟勒斯维尔之役1863年5月1日–4日邦联斯波瑟韦尼亚郡府之役1864年5月8日–19日不明安地潭之役1862年9月17日联邦莽原之役1864年5月5日–7日不明马那萨斯之战1862年8月29日–30日邦联石河之役1862年12月31日联邦唐奈尔森堡之役1862年2月13日–16日联邦塞罗之役1862年4月6日–7日联邦汉普顿锚地海战1862年3月8日–3月9日邦联三)Glorious Revolution (1688-89)光荣革命The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the name of the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau.Time:From1688 – 1689Cause:英国封建斯图亚特王朝国王查理一世统治时期，资本主义迅速发展。