The 1st half of the 18th century
Well, before the end of the 18th century Britain had become a very powerful country. It became wealthy through trade. The wealth made possible both an agricultural and an industrial revolution, which made Britain the most economically advanced country in the world.
Howewer, there was a reverse side to it: while a few people became richer, many others lost their land,, their homes and their way of life. Families were driven off the land, in another period of enclosures. They became the working proletariat of the cities. The invention of machinery destroyed, the old, "cottage industries" and created factories. At the same time it caused the growth of unemployment.
Anne became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union, two of her realms, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, united as a single sovereign state known as Great Britain. She continued to reign as Queen of Great Britain and Ireland until her death.
Акт о престолонасле́дии или Акт об устрое́нии (англ. Act of Settlement) — законодательный акт, принятый парламентом Англии в 1701 году, лишивший католическую мужскую линию Стюартов прав на престол в пользу протестантки Софии Ганноверской и её потомков. Акт был принят в царствование короля-протестанта Вильгельма III Оранского, непосредственной преемницей которого была его свояченица Анна. Все дети Анны умерли во младенчестве или в детстве, последний, 11-летний герцог Глостерский, скончался в 1700 году. Эта смерть ставила неизбежный вопрос о дальнейшем престолонаследии, поскольку все ближайшие родственники дома Стюартов были католиками. Общественное мнение в Англии и Шотландии было категорически против занятия престола католиками: это могло привести к ликвидации завоеваний Славной революции 1688 года, тем более что ближайшим претендентом был единокровный брат Анны — сын изгнанного во Францию Славной революцией Якова II. В условиях Войны за испанское наследство живший во Франции претендент «Яков III» находился в лагере врагов Англии и пользовался поддержкой Людовика XIV.
Война за Испанское наследство 1701-1714. Это война между Францией и Испанией с одной стороны, и противостоящей им коалицией во главе с австрийскими Габсбургами и Великобританией с другой стороны. Причиной войны стало отсутствие прямого наследника у умершего в 1700 году последнего представителя династии испанских Габсбургов - Карла II. В результате войны испанский престол достался Филиппу Бурбону (внуку французского короля Людовика XIV ), но участники антибурбонской коалиции получили значительные территориальные компенсации. Значительные выгоды от войны получила Англия: к ней отошли крепость Гибралтар, остров Менорка в Средиземном море, французские владения в Северной Америке (земли вокруг Гудзонова залива, остров Ньюфаундленд), кроме того, право асьенто от Испании. Голландия получила право держать военные гарнизоны в крепостях Намюр, Турн, Ипр и других. К Австрии были присоединены Испанские Нидерланды, южная часть Италии, Сардиния, часть Тосканы, Милан и Мантуя, возвращены территории на Рейне. Сицилия отошла к Савойе. Франция в результате войны лишилась прежнего могущества и влияния в Европе. Стратегия обеих сторон отличалась нерешительностью, отсутствием единого плана войны и единого командования коалиционными войсками. Основным способом стратегических действий были марши и контрмарши, оборона и осада крепостей; полевые сражения проводились редко. Общее число убитых и раненых в войне составило около 600 тыс. человек. Усиление английского морского и колониального могущества стало главным результатом войны за испанское наследство.

Georgian era
The house Of Hanover
The new dynasty. King James I had a granddaugter, Sophia, who was a Protestant. She married the Elector of Hanover , also a Protestant. The British Parliament declared their son, George Hanover, the heir to the English throne after Queen Anne, who had no surviving children. When Queen Anne died in
1714, George Hanover ascended the English throne as George I(1714-1727), thus starting a new dynasty. George l was a strange king. He was a true German and did not try to follow English customs. He could not speak English and spoke to his ministers in French. But Parliament supported him because he was a Protestant.
There were some Tories who wanted the deposed James II's son to return to Britain as James III. James did not want to change his religion, but he wanted the English throne. In 1715 he started a rebellion against George I. But the rebellion was put down: George's army defeated the English and Scottish Jacobites , as Stuart supporters were called. Two main Jacobite rebellions occurred in 1715 and in 1745 Both were marked by poor military organization.
The Whigs and Tories were British Political parties that developed in the latter part of the 17th century.
'Whigs' was the abusive term directed at those who wanted to exclude James II on the grounds that he was a Roman Catholic
They supported constitutional monarchy and the role of the aristocracy, believed in government by monarch and aristocracy together, supported the Protestant values of hard work and thrift were sympathetic to Dissenters.

'Tories‘ ‐ those who were not prepared to exclude James and were labelled first 'Abhorrers' and later “Tories” supported a stronger monarchy sometimes even a little sympathy for Catholics and the Stuarts, the importance of the Anglican Church believed that the King and Parliament had the right to treat the colonies as they chose were generally loyal to the English throne and against the War for Independence the Whigs => the Liberal Party the Tories => the Conservative Party
Politics.
The Bank of England. At the end of the 17th century the government had to borrow money in order to pay for the war with France. In 1694, a group of financiers who lent money to the government decided to establish a bank, and the government agreed to borrow only from this bank. The new bank was called the Bank of England. It was given the right to print bank notes, which could be used instead of coins. The paper money which is used today developed from these bank notes.

Robert Walpole. Robert Walpole. The power of the government during the reign of George I was increased because the new king did not seem very interested in his kingdom.
The greatest political leader of the time was Robert Walpole. He is considered Britain's first Prime Minister. He held for 20 years. In the other countries of Europe kings and queens had absolute power. Britain was unusual, and Walpole was determined to keep the Crown under the firm control of Parliament. Walpole developed the political results of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, He insisted that the power of the king should always be limited by the constitution. The limits to royal power were these: the king could not be a Catholic; the king could not remove or change Iaws; the king depended on Parliament for his money and for his army.
George I (1714‐1727)
bad relationship with his son (future George II)
 In 1717 the king sent the prince out of St James’s palace, took control of
The education of his children
 strained reconciliation in April 1720
 during most of the King's absences in Hanover, power was delegated to
A Regency Council and not to the Prince of Wales.
 George was interested in science, fond of music, laid out Kensington
Gardens, made improvements to Hampton Court
 George avoided entering European conflicts by establishing a complex web of continental alliances
 the realm managed to stay out of war until George II declared war on
Spain in 1739
 died of a stroke on a journey to his beloved Hanover on October 11, 1727.
George II (1727-1760)
He spent his first 30 years in Hanover was very much a German prince,but young enough to absorb the English culture small but sturdy, spoke English well, though with a heavy accent far more sociable possessed three passions: the army, music and his wife
In 1705 he married Caroline of Ansbach an imposing and handsome woman. They had 9 children

The War of the Austrian Succession( 1740-1748).
George II sided with Austria against the rising power of Prussia
 In 1743, George took personal command of the army, winning an important victory over the
French, which demonstrated his courage.
 In fact, George II was the last British monarch to Lead his troops on the battlefield
 the first global conflict between the major European powers
 fought in Europe, North America, South America, Africa,
India
 two main fronts:
- Europe - the hostility between Prussia and Austria
- the colonial rivalries - between Britain, France and Spain

The 2d half of the 18th century
The French and Indian War 1754 – 1763
 France remained in a powerful position in NorthAmerica at the beginning of the Seven Years War in 1754.
 France had established a strong relationship with a number of Indian tribes in Canada and along the Great Lakes Great Lakes, taken possession of the Mississippi the Mississippi River
 a great crescent-shaped empire stretching from Quebec to New Orleans New Orleans
 the British confined to the narrow belt east of the Appalachian Mountains
In 1756 Britain declares war on France , started as a disaster and ended up with British triumph
 The war was a direct effort at destroying French trade
The Treaty of Paris (1763)
 ended the war
 Great Britain emerges as the world's greatest colonial power
 got all of Canada, the Great Lakes the Great Lakes and the upper Mississippi Valley upper Mississippi Valley and Spanish Florida Spanish Florida
 it also retained her conquests in India the Jacobite rising ‐ 1745
The Stuarts made more than one attempt to win back the English throne. The first Jacobite revolt to win the crown for James II's son, in 1715, had been unsuccessful. In 1745 the Stuarts tried again. James 2’ grandson, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, landed on the west coast of Scotland and persuaded some clan chiefs to join him. With his army of HIGHLANDERS he entered Edinburg and defeated an English army in a surprise attack . Then he marched south . But Bonnie Prince Charlie’s success was not long. When The Highlands army was on the way to London, the Highlanders felt unhappy at being far so far from home. Many of them left Prince Charlie’s army and moved back to Scotland. In 1746 Prince Charlie’s army was defeated by th British army at Culloden near Inverness. The rebellion was finished. George III (1760‐1820) the first Hanoverian monarch to be born and brought up in Britain
 ability to speak to ordinary people earned him respect and popularity
He was a good family man and devoted to his wife, Charlotte
He was extremely conscientious - read all government papers and sometimes annoyed
His ministers by taking such a prominent interest in government and policy
Early in his reign became interested in agriculture, which he put to practical use on his farms at Windsor and Richmond
 interested in science (the first king to study science as part of his education)
 His eldest son, George, was extremely troublesome. The king hated his son’s political mentor, Charles Fox. Moreover, the prince secretly married a catholic, thus forfeiting his right to the throne.
 The American war, its political aftermath and family anxieties placed great strain on George in the 1780s. After serious bouts of illness in 1788-89 and again in 1801, George became permanently deranged in 1810.
 His son was appointed price regent in 1811.
Американская революция
(American Revolution) Война за независимость, в результате которой колонисты Северной Америки освободились от владычества Британской империи и основали Соединенные Штаты. Несмотря на политические катаклизмы XVII в., к середине следующего столетия Великобритания по-прежнему оставалась строго иерархическим обществом, уходящим корнями в феодальное прошлое. Тем временем на противоположном берегу Атлантического океана переселенцы, воспитанные в религиозных традициях пуританизма и уже имеющие опыт освоения новых земель, все больше проникались духом антиавторитаризма и самостоятельности, а отсутствие аристократии и легкость обретения земельной собственности способствовали появлению неслыханной для Европы социальной мобильности. Первые хартии, регламентирующие права колоний, допускали самоуправление; сменявшие друг друга британские администрации позволяли колонистам вести свои дела самостоятельно. К середине XVIII в. большая часть взрослых белых мужчин имели право голоса, пользовались привилегиями свободной прессы и свободы вероисповедания. Иными словами, колонии развивались отдельно от метрополии, а переселенцы, начав осознавать себя американцами, естественно, стали сопротивляться попыткам подчинить их. После окончания Семилетней войны (1756–63) английские политики сосредоточили внимание на проблемах управления империей. Долги, возникшие в результате войны, и большие расходы, необходимые для защиты границ и колонистов от набегов индейцев, заставили правительство искать новые источники доходов. Считая, и не без оснований, что колонисты тоже должны вносить свою лепту в фонды, созданные для их же защиты, парламент в 1765 г. принял Закон о государственных доходах, известный также как "сахарный закон", а в 1765 г. – Закон о гербовом сборе. Последний обязывал покупать марки и наклеивать их на многие юридические документы, газеты, брошюры, игральные карты и другие товары. Больше всего американцев возмутило то, что этот и другие законы были приняты с единственной целью – увеличить государственные доходы. По их мнению, это являлось посягательством на самые святые принципы справедливого управления. В 1765 г. на Конгрессе, рассматривающем Закон о гербовом сборе, представители девяти колоний приняли несколько резолюций, в том числе утверждавшую, что непременное условие свободы народа и несомненные права англичан состоят в том, что их не могут облагать никакими налогами без их на то согласия, данного лично или через своих представителей. Тогда же Конгресс категорически отверг как несостоятельное утверждение британского правительства о том, что ни одно из основных прав не было нарушено, поскольку колонисты пользуются подлинным представительством в Палате общин. Закон о гербовом сборе так и не был проведен в жизнь, а год спустя и вовсе аннулирован, но парламент все же не отказался от своих властных полномочий и продолжал принимать законы, ущемляющие права колонистов. Растущее недовольство в колониях привело к созыву в 1774 г. Первого континентального конгресса. Его участники потребовали для жителей колоний права "жить своей жизнью и пользоваться свободой и собственностью" без какого-либо вмешательства со стороны, еще раз отвергли утверждения британского правительства о подлинном представительстве колонистов в парламенте и заявили, что обладают всеми правами и иммунитетами, принадлежащими свободно рожденным англичанам. Первые выстрелы в Революционной войне прозвучали в апреле 1775 г. в Лексингтоне, а Декларация независимости, подписанная 4 июля 1776 г., означала фактический разрыв между Британией и колониями. Война за независимость была по своей сути политической революцией, совершенной колонистами, не желавшими подчиняться имперскому правлению. Участников войны, конечно, беспокоили проблемы права собственности, но все же в основе конфликта лежала не экономика, а ценности демократического правления. Вместе с тем во многих отношениях это была революция консервативная. Многие известные борцы за независимость крайне неохотно шли на разрыв с Британией и признавали его необходимость лишь как последнее средство. Они также утверждали, что, оказывая сопротивление британскому правлению, они всего лишь отстаивают свои права как англичане и что именно лондонское правительство, используя незаконные меры, нарушило status quo в колониях. Более того, в отличие от последующих революций во Франции и России, американский вариант носил ограниченный характер, оставаясь революцией политической, которая не повлекла за собой коренной перестройки экономических и социальных структур.
The War with Napoleon.
One by one the European countries were defeated by Napoleon, until at last most of Europe fell under his control. In 1793, after Napoleon's army invaded Belgium and Holland, Britain went to war.
Britain decided to fight France at sea because it had a stronger navy and because its own survival depended on control of its trade routes. The commander of the British fleet, Admiral Horatio Nelsonl, won brilliant victories over the French navy, near the coast of Egypt , at Copenhagen, and finally near Spain, at Trafalgal in 1805, where he destroyed'the French-Spanish fleet. Nelson was himself killed at Trafalgar, but became one of Britain's greatest national heroes. In the same year as Trafalgar, in 1805, a British army landed in Portugall to fight the French. This army, with its Portuguese2 and Spanish allies, was commanded by Arthur Wellington. Like Nelson, Wellington quickly proved to be a great commander. After several victories over the French in Spain, he invaded France. Napoleon, weakened by his disastrous invasion of Russia, surrendered in 1814. But the following year he escaped and quickly assembled an army in France. Wellington, with the help of the Prussian armyr finally defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in Belgium in June 1815.

The 1st half of the 19th century
In the 19th century Britain was more powerful and, self-confident than ever. As a result of the industrial revolution, 19th-century Britain was the workshop of the world,. British factories were producing more than any other country in the world.
Having many colonies, Britain controlled large areas of the world,. The British had a strong feeling of their importance.
The rapid growth of the middle class caused a change in the political balance. The role played, by the middle class in politics and governement was increasingly growing. By 1914 the aristocracy and the Crown had little power left. After the defeat of Napoleon Britain enjoyed a strong place in Europe. Its strength was in industry and trade, and in the navy which protected this trade. Britain's trading position in the world was stronger than any other country's. To defend its interests it kept ships of its navy in almost every ocean of the world. It had its ports on some islands in the Mediterranean Sea, in the Indian Ocean , in south and west Africa, in Ceylon and Singapore. In Europe Britain did not want any nation to become too strong. Therefore it was glad that Russia's influence in Europe was limited by Prussia and the empires of Austria and Turkey . It did not want Russia to expand southwards by taking over the Slavic parts of Turkey's possessions in the Balkans and reach the Mediterranean. So Britain supported Turkey against Russian expansion.
The Industrial Revolution. the electricity
 the electric telegraph (1837 Samuel Morse)
 the telephone (In 1876 Alexander Graham Bell)
In clothing: The safety pin (1849), the zip fastener (1893)
 the electric iron (Henry Seely ,1882)
 Dry cleaning
Medicine (Surgery)
Surgery was greatly improved by
 1) the discovery of Anaesthetics
James Simpson (a Professor of Midwifery at Edinburgh University), began using chloroform in 1847.
Some people disapproved but when in 1853 Queen Victoria insisted in having chloroform when she gave birth to her eighth child, most of the opposition ended.
 2) antiseptic surgery (In 1865 Joseph Lister)
The surgeons hands and clothes were sterilised before the operation and surgical instruments were sterilised with super heated steam.
 Anaesthetics and antiseptics made surgery much safer. They allowed far more complicated operations.
Transport
the mid 19th c - railways
 The Stockton and Darlington railway opened in
1825.
 However the first major railway was from
Liverpool to Manchester. It opened in 1830. I
 In the 1840s there was a huge boom in building railways and most towns in Britain were connected.
 The first underground railway in Britain was built in London in 1863. Steam locomotives pulled the carriages.
 The first electric underground trains began running in London in 1890.
 sea travel was revolutionised by the steamship
 By 1815 steamships were crossing the English Channel.
 in 1838 a steam ship called the Sirius made the journey across the Atlantic in 19 days.
 However steam did not completely replace sail until 1897 when Charles Parsons invented the steam turbine.

George IV
 regent since 1811
 king 1820-1830
George IV was the opposite of his father: conservative,scandalous ,extravagant
He was:
A handsome and intelligent youth
 naturally gifted, well grounded in the classics, spoke French, German and Italian fluently.
 As a young man he drank, gambled, pursued women and associated with Charles Fox and the parliamentary opposition
 He had secretly and illegally married a Roman Catholic, Mrs Fitzherbert.
(The marriage was declared illegal at his father's behest )
 In 1795 he officially married Princess Caroline of Brunswick, in exchange for parliament paying his debts.
 But the marriage was a failure and he tried unsuccessfully to divorce
Her after his accession in 1820 (Caroline died in 1821), no children =>No heir
 built the Royal Pavilion at Brighton
 transformed Windsor Castle andBuckingham Palace
 was instrumental in the foundation of the National Gallery
Visits to Ireland and Scotland
Almost immediately after his coronation He went to Ireland and had an uproarious reception there in Dublin
 visited Edinburgh in 1822
He delighted in splendid clothes, and wore the full dress Stuart tartan.
 No king had set foot on Scottish soil since Charles II. Politics.
 However, his popularity in general was low
 <= his extravagances came at a time of social distress and general misery following the Napoleonic Wars
 When he was crowned his attention to political matter was ineffective and
The influence of the crown deteriorated rapidly.
 extravagant => debts => in a weak position in relation to his Cabinet of ministers.
 For most of his regency and reign, Lord Liverpool controlled the government as Prime Minister.
 Often showed very little interest in politics
e.g. when Lord Liverpool fell ill in 1827, George at one stage suggested that ministers should choose Liverpool's successor.
The Duke of Wellington became prime minister in 1828
 in 1829 he helped pass The Catholic Relief Act, with the aid of Sir Robert Peel
 He resigned in 1830 when it became clear that he could not prevent parliamentary reform from being enacted.
Sir Robert Peel
The government was saved by the skill of Robert Peel, the Prime Minister of the time. In 1846 he abolished the unpopular Corn Law of 1815 which had kept the price of corn higher than necessary. As a result, the price of corn, as well as other food-stuffs, dropped down, and life became better. Peel used the improved economic situation to weaken the Chartist movement , which gradually died.
Peel also turned his attention to the crime problem. He established a regular police force in London in 1829. At first people laughed at the men in blue uniform and top hats. But during the next thirty years almost every other town and county started their own police forces. The new police forces were successful: with time much crime was pushed out of the larger cities, then out of towns, and then out of the countryside, and life became safer. The aristocracy in Europe admired Britain's success in avoiding the storm of revolution in 1848. European monarchs wished they were as safe on theirthrones as the British queen was on hers. And European liberals wished they could act as freely as radicals in Britain did. During almost the whole of the 19th century Britain was the envy of the world. It was a model of industrial success and of free constitutional government.

William IV (1830‐1837)
 did not expect to accede to the hrone.
 became heir at the age of 62
 was welcomed with open arms by the British public
 an unassuming character
 private life
Politics
His reign saw several reforms:
 the poor law was updated
 child labour restricted
 slavery abolished in the British Empire (1834)
 the Reform Act 1832 refashioned the British electoral system
 did not engage in politics as much as his brother or his father, he was the last monarch to appoint a Prime Minister contrary to the will of Parliament.
The Victorian Period.
 The name dates to 1840 ‐ the marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert of Saxe‐Coburg & Gotha
 Queen Victoria herself remained a member of the House of Hanover
 the children born in this marriage were to bear the name of the father……
 However, the only British monarch of the House of Saxe‐Coburg‐Gotha was King Edward VII
In 1851 Queen Victoria opened the Great Exhibition of the Industries of All Nations in the CrystalPalace in London. The aim of the Exhibition was to show the world the greatness of Britain's industry.
No other nation could produce as much at that time. By 1850 Britain was producing more iron than the rest of the world together. Britain had become powerful because it had enough coal, iron and steel for its own industry and could even export them to Europe. Having coal iron and steel, it could produce new heavy industrial goods like ships and steam engines. It could also make machinery which produced English traditional goods - woollen and cotton cloth in the factories of Lancashire. Britain's cloth was cheap and was exported to India, to other colonies and to the Middle East. Britain had the largest fleet in the world.
The railway. The pride of Britain and a great example of its industrial power was its railway system. The first trains were goods trains, which quickly became very popular because they made transporting goods faster and cheaper. The network of railway tracks was quickly growing and by 1840 their total length was 2,4OO miles. Railways connected not only the industrial towns with London, but also economically unimportant towns. The canals were soon empty, because everything went by railway. The speed of the railway even made it possible to deliver fresh fish and rasppberies Scotland to London in one night.
In 1851 the railway companies provided passenger train service. Passenger trains stopped at all stations.
Now people could move from place to place much more quickly and easily. With the introduction of the railway system many people began to live in suburbs, from which they travelled into the city every day by train. The suburb was a copy of a country village with all the advantages of a town.