Overview
James VI of Scotland became James I of England in 1603, uniting the crowns; the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 failed to blow up his Parliament. Conflict between Charles I and Parliament broke into civil war in 1642, and Charles was executed in 1649 — England became a republic under Oliver Cromwell.
Key developments
The monarchy was restored in 1660 under Charles II; plague struck London in 1665 and the Great Fire in 1666. James II’s Catholicism provoked the Glorious Revolution of 1688: William III and Mary II took the throne, bound by the Bill of Rights of 1689.
End and transition
The Acts of Union of 1707 joined England and Scotland into Great Britain. Queen Anne died in 1714 without surviving children, and the crown passed to the Hanoverian George I.