Alfred the Great and Queen Victoria

Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great was a king who has defended his kingdom from Vikings. He was born near Oxford in 849. England was split into 5 countries: Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, Kent and East Anglia, when in V century Vikings from Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands came to East Anglia and they started to raid England. Their capitol was Jorvic, which is called York now, and they lived in thatched roofs in small villages. In IX century Vikings from Denmark, Norway and Sweden attacked again the countries that they didn’t control like Wessex, Alfred’s reign. He fought with them in 878 in the battle of Edington and he won, so he proposted them a peace treaty. After that England was divided in two countries: Wessex, which was bigger than before, and Danelaw, Vikings’ reign.
Alfred, called the Great, can be considered the first king of ‘England’. He was sensible and hardworking, in fact he has organized the army and the navy to protect the kingdom. He was outgoing and a good soldier, too. He has also translated some books in English for his folk and he has written a list of laws because he belived in justice. He died in 899.
In 1066 Wlliam the Conqueror etablished his power in England and then he has built the Tower of London.

Queen Victoria

Alexandrina Victoria was a famous and important queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. She was born on 24 May 1819 in London and she became queen on 20th June 1837, when she was only 18, and three years later she married her first cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and they have had nine children. She has reigned for 63 years and seven months, age that has been known as Victoria Era. In this period the dominions of the UK increased a lot, in fact in 1876 Victoria became Empress of India.
She had about 70 premiers, 10 of them for the UK and the first one was William Lamb. She died on 22 January 1901 and she’s the second longest-reigned monarch, just beaten by Elizabeth II who’s the current British queen.