And then... the Belgians came!

[Omag 2.0]

Belgium was created after these fights, before that there was a union of what we call Belgium and Holland now. There was a big difference between the lower class and the bourgoisie ( upper-class). After the failure of the crops that year, combined with an uprising of the lower-class in Paris, the fire was lit after an opera called "the mute of Portici". The upperclass formed a civil army, that tried to control the revolutionaries. They didn't succeed, so the Dutch ruler Willem I ordered the occupation of Brussels.

This caused the 2 groups in Brussels ( civil army and the revolutionary troops with many volunteers) to combine there strength to fight the Dutch army. They succeded, the Ducth retreated and a group of people from both the civil army and the revolutionaries formed a committee that rules the land and declared it's independece... Belgium was born...

[H]

Very good; properly informative. Like I thought, but for other names, they (those who became the Belgians) were already there .

[Omag 2.0]

Ehrm... kinda yeah... we didn't emerge from thin air...  ::)  ;D  ;D  ;D

[Boomtown Rat]

Go Netherlands!

[H]

Ehrm... kinda yeah... we didn't emerge from thin air...  ::)  ;D  ;D  ;D

I certainly never called you airheads . However, the Anlgo-Saxons, the ones who originally became the English, didn't originate in England .
Also, your little historical exposition doesn't give the dates. Ah, not the things that dangle from trees (umm, that doesn't sound right, either, does it)... I mean the calendar dates/times.

[Woodlouse2002]

I certainly never called you airheads . However, the Anlgo-Saxons, the ones who originally became the English, didn't originate in England .
Also, your little historical exposition doesn't give the dates. Ah, not the things that dangle from trees (umm, that doesn't sound right, either, does it)... I mean the calendar dates/times.

Ahem. The Saxons didn't originate from England. The Anglo's did. Put 'em to gether and you get Anglo Saxon or English Saxon.

[Hagar]

Ahem. The Saxons didn't originate from England. The Anglo's did. Put 'em to gether and you get Anglo Saxon or English Saxon.

Ahem. Good point Woody but they were the Angles who orignated from Germany.* In fact the original inhabitants of these islands were the Celtic tribes & I'm not sure when they first settled here so basically we're all immigrants.

Full details here. http://www.postroman.info/saxon1.html

[Woodlouse2002]

Bugga. Should have thought about that one...

[Hagar]

Of course I was thinking of modern history & forgot to mention the ancient Britons. There are two prehistoric hill forts within a few miles of where I live & which I've often visited over the years. Some of these forts date from the Bronze or even Stone Age & extensive flint mines were discovered & excavated at Cissbury Ring some years ago. http://www.findon.com/cissbury/cissbury.htm#hillforts
I've never given much thought to where these people came from or what happened to them.

Details of Celtic Britain here. http://www.britainexpress.com/History/Celtic_Britain.htm

[Bombardier101]

However, the Anlgo-Saxons, the ones who originally became the English, didn't originate in England

No, they came from Germany or at least the German region. Or was it 'Germanic' at the time?

Ahem. The Saxons didn't originate from England. The Anglo's did. Put 'em to gether and you get Anglo Saxon or English Saxon.

Beleive it or not the Angloes were really called Angles. Mix 'em up and you get Anglo-Saxons, and the place they live in is called Angleland, which later becomes England!

Ahem. Good point Woody but they were the Angles who orignated from Germany.* In fact the original inhabitants of these islands were the Celtic tribes & I'm not sure when they first settled here so basically we're all immigrants.

You're right

Of course I was thinking of modern history & forgot to mention the ancient Britons.

The Iceni was one tribe of Britons. The one Boadicea originated from.

[quote]Bleep could very well be replaced by Bj

[Smoke2much]

I just thought that I'd mention that recent Archeological research indicates that there was never a mass invasion of England by the Saxons following the Roman withdrawl.

It seems that there is no DNA evidence and no Population change evidence for it.  All of the evidence is from cultural change that took place in the 100 years following the departure of the empire.  If you look at recent history with empires ceasing to exist you see massive cultural change overnight.  It is being argued at the moment that the sudden presence of Sutton Hoo type burials in 500-600 CE Britain stems from a reaction to the void left by the Romans and the forging of new national identities with new leaders coming to the fore from the existing Britons.

It's all interesting though.

Will

[H]

Ahem. The Saxons didn't originate from England. The Anglo's did. Put 'em to gether and you get Anglo Saxon or English Saxon.

The Angles came from a 'hook' of land south of Jutland (Jute Land) in the Schleswig-Holstein area (which was basically part of the original Saxony, now Lower Saxony). [I've related this info a few times; I think I need to type this up in a notepad text so that I can just copy and paste it]
According to legend, there was a race of giants in the land at the time of the Brythonic incursion. One of the British chieftains (or king, if you prefer) kept one of them at his court as a wrestling partner until the said giant crushed his ribs; in a pain-induced rage, the chieftain threw the giant over a cliff. There are similar references in Irish legend although the first inhabitants were not spoken of as giants and, supposedly, came from the west.

[Bombardier101]

Jutland, the Jutes came from there didn't they?

Schleswig! WW2 nightfighter base

Age of Empires 2 anyone?

[H]

Jutland, the Jutes came from there didn't they? Age of Empires 2 anyone?

Thus my "Jute Land" rendering. I've  too much else to do right now and haven't used my AoE2 for a very, very long time; preparing my WW1 CFS1 mini-campaign is the least of it.

[myshelf]

Yeah, there were many German parts before that. Swabia, Bavaria, Bohemia, Saxony are some parts to name, as well as the land owned by the Teutons under Barbarossa which I think conquered the rest of Germany. Age of Empires 2, anyone? Austria was also around the area too I think.



Bombardier

yes, and holland was on of them


as for first occupation of the british isles:
i read somewhere that durin the last ice age sealevel was 500 feet lower, i don't know how deep the channel is, but if the isles were not actually connected to the european mainland, then at least it wasn't far, and maybe the remaining gap was frozen over.