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What was the point of the Gunpowder Plot and how did it start?
The point of the Gunpowder Plot was to end persecution towards the Roman Catholics by King James I and the government. On May 20, 1605, Robert Catesby, the whole organizer of the plan, Thomas Percy, John Wright, Thomas Wintour, and Guy Fawkes, got together to discuss a plan on how they would take down the King James I along with the government. The plan was to use gunpowder to overthrow King James I and the government. Guy Fawkes was the person who volunteered to light the fuses. -
Lord Mounteagle
Lord Mounteagle had a Catholic friend among the conspirators, and that friend sent him a letter saying not to go to the Houses of Parliament on Nov. 25 because they were going to blow up the place. But the friend didn't mention his name. On Oct. 27, Lord Mounteagle told the king about this, but the king and the others did not take action until Nov. 4 where Thomas Knyvet found Guy Fawkes ready to light the gunpowder. -
The plan in action.
Guy Fawkes and the others rented out a cellar underneath the House of Lords building, which in the Houses of Parliament. Every night, the group of plotters would carry a few barrels of gunpowder to the cellar. On the night of November 4, 1605, a guy named Sir Thomas Knyvet saw Guy lurking in the cellars and ordered for the place to be searched. There were a total of 36 barrels of gunpowder and Guy was about to carry out the plan, but November 5 is when Knyvet caught him. -
The Petition of Rights
For Charles I to get his money, Parliament wanted him to sign the Petition of Rights. The Petition of Rights clearly explained that Parliament was in control. Although he signed it, he didn't really follow it, and he was furious with them. -
The Execution
When the roundheads and Oliver Cromwell won, they captured and beheaded Charles 1. This was the first public execution ever of a king. People of any class came to see his head get chopped off. -
Spirit of the Laws by Montesquieu
This was a book written by Montesquieu and it talked about how there needed to be a separation of powers. He believed that government should not have too much power, and therefore, it needed to be separated. He also mentions in this book that to be able to protect a person's rights, there needs to be a written constitution. -
John Newton's Turning Day
John Newton and his crew mates got caught in a really bad storm at sea. When all hope seemed lost, he cried out to God for mercy and deliverance. God did save them and from that day on he would then start to change his ways and worship God. -
The Water Frame
The water frame was invented by Richard Arkwright, "Pioneer of the factory system." It was a spinning machine that was powered by water that produced cotton yarn for warp. His invention was to be an improvement of the spinning jenny. -
The Spinning Jenny
The spinning jenny was a loom invented by James Hargreaves. It is said that he named it after his daughter Jenny, after seeing her use a spinning wheel with only one thread. Seeing this gave him the idea to make a spinning wheel which had eight threads rather than one. -
The American Revolution.
Americans took into heart the values of natural law and inherent freedom. This helped them when it came to the American Revolution. When fighting for freedom from the British, they looked to the Enlightenment thinkers for help. -
The Declaration of Independence.
Some Enlightenment philosopher's ideas inspired people in America. For example, they inspired Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, and many others. The philosophers also inspired the Founding Fathers on how to write the Declaration of Independence by some of the ways they thought which were individualism, freedom, change, and many other beliefs. -
Australia
Because America gained their independence, the British could no long use their land as a penal colony. They chose Australia to be their new colonies for prisoners. Eleven British ships were sent to Australia with 700 convicts in 1788. Over 160,000 British convicts were sent to Australia until the practice of doing this was banned in 1868. -
The Estates General
There were many problems with France during this time, but the main problem dealt with tax. The Estates General was a meeting to mainly discuss taxing of the 2nd Estate. They wanted to do this because France had gotten our of control with their money. -
The Tennis Court Oath
The Tennis Court Oath happened when the Third Estate separated and called themselves the National Assembly. They separated because King Louis XVI wanted to vote the old way with one vote per estate, but to give them an advantage, the Third Estate wanted to vote by population. When they separated, Louis kicked them out, they settled onto a tennis court, and demanded a constitution from him or else they wouldn't leave. -
Storming of the Bastille
The Third Estate heard that King Louis XIV was going to use military forces against them, so they took over Bastille to get a hold of gun powder for their muskets. They also stormed it because the Bastille held political prisoners and they stood against political things and the King. This would mark the start of the French Revolution. -
The Bread March
Parisian women needed bread, but they have been noticing that it had gotten too expensive. So, they had a march on bread, but then it turned into a march on the Palace of Versailles. They took and forced King Louis XVI and his family to come back to Paris. -
King Louis XVI's Execution
The people of France saw Louis XVI as a traitor. They saw him as a traitor because he made France bankrupt, he did nothing to help the war, and because he signaled for Austria to come and have a war with France. So, the people decided to execute him. -
The Cotton Gin
The cotton gin was invented by Eli Whitney. Before the cotton gin, people would have to separate seeds from the cotton by hand, but the cotton gin easily sped up this process. Although it made separating seeds easier, it made slavery more effective and that led to the need for more slaves. -
Interchangeable Parts
Eli Whitney invented interchangeable parts in 1798. He built a firearms store and the guns that were in the store were the first to have interchangeable parts. Back then, almost everything was one of a kind. If you broke it, then there would be no parts to fix it. Interchangeable parts are massed produced identical parts. -
Emperor of France
Napoleon was gaining popularity around France and soon declared himself Emperor of France. The pope crowned him, but rumor has it that he crowned himself. Although it sounds like something he would do, he most likely didn't do it. -
The Abolition of the Slave Trade
Around the 1780s, Wilberforce got interested in the abolition of slavery and the slave trade. He made his first abolition speech in 1798. Although he presented the abolition bill many times, Parliament rejected it, but years later in 1807, it would be illegal to buy and sell people in England. -
The Steamboat
The steamboat was invented by John Fitch in 1787, but it wasn't commercially successful. Robert Fulton was the one who actually achieved commercial success on the steamboat. It was invented in 1807 and would go on a test run on Monday August 17, 1807. -
The Model T Ford
Henry Ford was a pioneer in the car industry. In 1809, the Model T Ford was introduced and it was at an affordable price. With his assembly lines, he was producing one car per minute. He had a quote that says, "A customer can have any color he likes for his car so long as it's black." -
Invading Russia
Napoleon was trying to take over Russia, but it was during winter and his soldiers were not equipped with the right gear. Also, when they reached Moscow, everything was abandoned, No buildings, food, or anything. The Russians did this so that Napoleon and his soldiers wouldn't find help or supplies. -
Battle of Leipzig
In this battle, Napoleon got defeated by the Coalition forces. His army was severely hurt and weak. Soon after, the Coalition forces invade France and Napoleon was abdicated and sent to Elba to be exiled. -
Queen Victoria
Queen Victoria became queen at age 18. Her reign lasted for 64 years and had the longest reign of any British ruler. She was very good with the people and was the first to live in Buckingham Palace. Although she was a popular queen, she kept to herself. -
The Opium War
The British would sell and trade for tea. But lately, the Chinese didn't want what they had to offer. So, the British exported opium to them. Opium became addictive among Chinese citizens and eventually was made illegal. But that didn't stop the British. The government grew tired of large amount of opium intake and started wars with the British called Opium Wars. -
The Sewing Machine
It was Elias Howe who invented the first commercially successful sewing machine. While Elias's machine could sew 250 stitches per minute, Isaac Singer's sewing machine could to a lot more. His sewing machine, which was an improvement of an earlier one, could sew 900 stitches per minute. -
Sepoy Revolt
The East India had an army comprised of Sepoy, Indian soldiers. They used guns that had cartridges supposedly dipped in pig/cow fat. The Sepoy must bight these cartridges to get the gunpowder out. Since Muslims didn't eat pork, and the cow was sacred to Hindus, they found this offensive and revolted against the British. On May 10, 1857, the Sepoy shot their British officers and went on to Delhi, due to the absence of British troops in that area. -
The First Telephone Call
Alexander Graham Bell is credited for making the telephone or at least getting a patent for it. In his laboratory in Boston, Alexander uses the telephone to call Thomas Watson from the next room. Later in 1882, he inaugurates the New York-Chicago telephone line. -
The Berlin Conference
European countries had been in competition for obtaining oversea colonies. They met in Berlin to talk about regulation for European colonization and trade in Africa. During this meeting, there were no African leaders and ethnic boundaries dividing Africa had brought little attention to them. They were just concerned about how to split up Africa for themselves. -
The Eiffel Tower
The World's fair was held in 1889 in Paris, France. It was to celebrate the French Revolution Centennial. For an entrance to the fair, France had the Eiffel Tower made. It once was the world's tallest building, but later got beat. -
The Dreyfus Affair
French military papers were found in a trash can in the German Embassy. The papers had the name of a person starting with D. This led them to suspect that Alfred Dreyfus had to do something to do with this because he was the only one whose name started with a D. His handwriting also matched the one on the papers. He was sent to Devil's Island to suffer, but lost all charges in 1906. -
Italo-Ethiopian War
In 1895, Italy invaded Ethiopia because of a trade dispute. Menelik II had already been the emperor of Ethiopia at this time. He worked to modernize the nation and its army. Because of this modernization, Ethiopia was able to resist colonization and they defeated Italian forces. -
The Wright Brothers
Wilbur and Orville Wright were pioneers of aviation. In Kitty hawk, North Carolina, they flied a gasoline plane for 59 seconds. With Orville taking off and Wilbur running by his side, they launched themselves into aviation history. -
Russo-Japanese War
Japan wanted to have land in Korea and China. So did Russia. So, they ended up going to war in 1904. Japan defeated Russia and many countries were now afraid of Japan's great power. -
Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
A 19 year old Serbian named Gavrilo Princip was a part of the Young Bosnia, and he was the one who killed Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. On his way to inspect his troops in Sarajevo, Ferdinand's car turned and both him and his wife Sophie were shot. Gavrilo assassinated them because in 1908, Austria-Hungary had annexed the Balkans and many people wanted to have their own independent country. -
The Armenian Genocide
Turkey had taken over Armenia in 1453. There was a lot of tension between the Turks and Armenians because one side were Muslims, and the other were Christians. The Turks felt resentment towards them, along with suspicions that they will be more loyal to a Christian government than theirs. This all lead to the mass murder of Armenians. They were drowned, thrown off cliffs, sent on death marchers, and were burned alive. -
Death of Edith Cavell
Edith Cavell was a British nurse. She is known for her medical assistance to both sides of the war, as well as for helping Allied soldiers escape from Belgium. She was shot by a German firing squad on Oct. 12, 1915, at the age of 49. "I can't stop while there are lives to be saved," Edith Cavell. -
America Joins WW1
At first, America didn't want to get involved in the war. But Germany sent a telegram to Mexico requesting that they become an ally to them. It was intercepted by the British and was given to the Americans. The Americans were mad because Mexico was a part of their territory and they were about to become their enemies. Another reason for America joining is because Germany shot down a passenger ship with some Americans in it. -
Women's Suffrage
Emmeline Pankhurst and her family were deeply involved in the suffrage movement. In 1917, her and her daughter formed the Women's party for equal rights. They were arrested many times, but finally made a breakthrough in 1918. The Representation of the People Act was passed in 1918 allowing women over 30 to vote -
The Spanish Flu
The Spanish Flu was a very deadly influenza pandemic. Fifty million-a hundred million of people died. People had to wear face masks and in some places if you didn't, you'd go to jail. Although it is called this name, it didn't originate from Spain. It was only called this because Spain was one of the few neutral powers, therefore they could freely talk about this pandemic in detail. -
Russia Pulls Out of WW1
The war had already been going bad for Russia. Men were dying and they failed to gain any public support for the war. But when the Czar was overthrown by the Bolsheviks, that's when they made Russia pull out of the war. They had to sign a peace treaty with Germany, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. -
End of WW1
This was when Germany signed an armistice with the Allied powers. It was supposed to be the end of the war, but the men at the front kept fighting. On June 28, 1919, that is when it was official that the war ended with the Treaty of Versailles.
