th 18 Century Britain
Queen Anne
; Reign 1702 – 1714
; Becomes the queen when her cousin Mary and her husband die ; Last monarch from the “Stuart House”
; Highlights under her rule:
; Act of Union with Scotland
; War of Spanish Succession
; Decreasing involvement and control for monarchs
Act of Union (1707)
; England and Scotland are officially joined
; Since1603, England and Scotland shared a king but they remained separate countries. ; The Act of Union made them one although the Scots kept their own legal system, church
and educational system.
; Referred to as: Kingdom of Great Britain
; The act was economically beneficial for the Scots and politically beneficial for the
English
Jacobites
; Led a series of uprisings in 1715 and 1745
; 1745: Group led by Charles Stuart (son of James Stuart) and his supporters, who wished
to capture the throne.
; The Scottish Highlanders rose to support him in 1745 and they won a series of battles in
Scotland.
; They invaded England and captured different cities until they were crushed at the battle
of Culloden in April 1746.
; Charles Stuart fled to France.
George I
; Reign: 1714 – 1727
; Originally the ruler of Hanover (part of Germany)
; Anne‟s second cousin
; Couldn‟t speak English and wasn‟t concerned with British affairs
George II
; Reign: 1727 – 1760
; Like his father, George II wasn‟t very involved in British affairs
Sir Robert Walpole
; In power: 1721 – 1742
; “First Prime Minister”
; Political goals: Lower taxation, increased trade and peace abroad ; Developed the idea of the Cabinet, i.e. a group of ministers who took the actual control of
administration from the Crown.
; In Parliament a two-party system began to evolve:
; Whigs (supported financial and mercantile interests and disliked interference from
monarchy)
; Tories (supported tradition and the monarchy)
George III
; Reign: 1760 – 1820
; King of Great Britain and King of Ireland
; Near the end of his reign, he suffered from a mental illness caused by a disease ; Highlights:
; Seven Years War
; Loss of American colonies
; Act of the Union with Ireland
The Seven Years War (1756 – 1763)
; First global war: Britain, Prussia, and Hanover against France, Austria, Sweden, Russia,
and Spain
; Two main fronts:
; In Europe: hostility between Prussia and Austria after the War of the Austrian
Succession, which expanded through alliances to include all of Europe. ; In the New World: Colonial rivalries between Britain, France and Spain, (known in
America as the French and Indian War), which begin in 1754 with conflict over control
of the Ohio valley.
; 1754: French expelled British colonists from the Ohio valley
; Small event turned into a huge war
; 1755: Britain and France sent thousands of soldiers to North America. ; 1756: War spread to Europe
; 1759: War spread throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and the Caribbean
Treaty of Paris (1763)
; The war ends with France surrendering
; France must give control of its colonies in North America to the British ; The Seven Years War saw Britain established as the greatest colonial power, with secure
control over India and North America
Industrial Revolution (C. 1870s)
; Natural and political climate helped bring about the industrial revolution ; Natural:
; Water: Used in production, for water powered machinery, and helped in the
transportation of goods
; Iron: Used for machinery
; Coal: Used as fuel for machinery
; Political:
; Emergence of middle class (new consumers)
; Increased trading opportunities with countries under the British Empire ; Steam-powered machines Many new factories (textile factories or mills) ; People moved from the countryside to towns and cities for work ; Cities like London become very crowded
; Bad health conditions
; Pollution
; Poor sanitation and living conditions
; Dangerous work
; Child labor
Positive Outcomes of the Industrial Revolution
; Britain grew to become the most powerful manufacturing nation, and the strongest
economically, in all of Europe.
; Citizens were able to move up the rungs of the social class ladder in British society, thus
improving their financial and educational statuses.
; Alongside new inventions came exciting discoveries in medicine, providing for better
treatments of diseases and thus promoting the overall health of British society.
; The improvement of steel production specifically helped cities to construct sturdier
buildings which had fewer fire and other safety hazards.
; As city populations grew, a new water system, which included a sewer, improved the
city‟s sanitary conditions.
; More public services such as a fire department and police forces
; Public education
; Products of city factories became cheaper and more available
; Lower production costs = higher wages and better working conditions
; New machines in factories added to the safety of working there, and decreased the need
for so many workers to labor, thus work hours were shortened
American Revolution (1774 – 1783)
; Before the Seven Years War, Britain left its American colonies to run themselves. The
settlers turned to unique forms of government to match their developing new identity as
Americans and shipping of good was largely separate from the British fleet. ; After the war, Britain, wanted to raise money to replace the funds lost during the costly
war, so it placed many taxes on America and tightened regulations in the colonies. ; Many of those failing to follow the new rules found themselves facing a British judge
without jury.
; Americans were shocked and offended by what they regarded as violations of their
liberties.
; Americans rebelled against the many taxes that the British imposed, stating that there
should be „no taxation without representation‟
; Declaration of Independence was created
; The British and American troops fought in the colonies
; Treaty of Paris (1783): British formally give up rights of the American colonies
Results of the American Revolution
; Britain lost control of the American colonies, but retained control of its colonies in
Canada
; The American Revolution had profound consequences, not only for the American
colonists but for the rest of the world as well. Never before had colonists boldly declared
their monarch and government shouldn‟t govern free people.
; Other countries would follow America‟s model for revolution
Australia
; 1770: Captain James Cook claimed Australia for the British
; 1772 – 1775 and 1776 – 1779: Cook led two more expeditions to Australia
; Cook‟s journal was published and the information in it was used when the British decided
to establish colonies Australia
; 1786: Australia was chosen as the location of a penal colony (a colony where prisoners
were sent)
; Why was this land chosen?
; The British lost the American colonies in 1783 and needed a new location to send
convicts
; Who were the convicts sent over?
; Most of the convicts sent to the colony in Australia had committed minor crimes,
such as thieves
; January 18, 1788: The fleet arrived after 10 months at sea
; January 26, 1788: Port Jackson is founded in Sydney Cove
; January 26 is celebrated as “Australia Day”
; More colonies were established in Australia
; Eventually, non-convicts traveled to Australia to settle
th19 Century Britain
Act of 1800
; Ireland is joined to England, Wales, and Scotland
; Political entity called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Napoleonic Wars (1803 – 1815)
; Series of wars fought between the French, under Napoleon Bonaparte, and different
European countries
; Napoleon decided to invade Britain
; Battle of Trafalgar 1805
; British navy defeats the French and Spanish combined fleet
; Napoleon is later defeated at the Battle of Waterloo (1815)
; Napoleonic Wars resulted in Britain‟s secure position as the leading world power because
of the mess it caused throughout most of Europe
War of 1812
; War between America and Great Britain that was fought mostly in Canada and America
; American forces invaded Canada
; Both sides capture territories from the other and fight on land and sea
; Finally, the Treaty of Ghent was signed in 1814 and officially ended the war
Causes for the War of 1812
; The British were slow leaving some American areas after the American Revolution
; Americans were not happy with the British and French‟s wars, which affected trade with
the two countries
; American sailors were being taken and forced to join the British Navy
George IV
; Reign: 1820 – 1830
; Seen as a wasteful king, who spent money frivolously and bad mannered king
William IV
; Reign 1830 – 1837
; Many reforms during his reign
; Poor law
; Labor restriction laws
; Slavery abolished
; Great Reform Act: Gave more people the right to vote, though the increase was relatively
small
Queen Victoria
; Reign 1837 – 1901
; Marries Price Albert in 1840
; The Victorian Age was characterized by rapid change and developments in nearly every
sphere - from advances in medical, scientific and technological knowledge to changes in
population growth and location.
First Opium War (1839 – 1942)
; Captain Charles Elliot, the British chief superintendent of trade, put pressure on the
Chinese government to legalize the opium trade.
; Lin Zexu attempted to eliminate opium. He:
; Blockaded the foreign community
; Stopped trade
; Arrested a leading foreign dealer
; Demanded that the merchants surrender their inventory of opium. ; The situation escalated until the British sent a naval fleet to China and made their
headquarters in Hong Kong.
; War began in November, 1839.
; In August, 1842, the Treaty of Nanjing, one of the first of the unequal treaties, officially
ended war.
; The treaty, among other things, handed Hong Kong over to the British,
Potato Famine (1845 – 1847)
; Ireland lost more than one million people to famine
; Lost more than one million people who moved to Britain, the Americas, and Australia ; Irish Catholics blamed the British government for the famine and saw it as proof that the
Act of Union had been only for Britain‟s benefit, not Irelands
ththGreat Writers of the 18 and 19 Century
; Jane Austen
; Pride and Prejudice
; Charlotte Bronte
; Jane Eyre
; Lewis Carroll
; Alice‟s Adventures in Wonderland
; Charles Dickens
; Oliver Twist
The Great Exhibition (1851)
; Meant to symbolize industrial, military and economic power ; Thought up by Prince Albert
; Held in Hyde Park in London in the specially constructed Crystal Palace ; Over 13,000 exhibits were displayed
; Over 6,200,000 visitors came to the exhibition
; Money earned from exhibition was used to build museums, such as the V and A (Victoria
and Albert Museum)
Indian Mutiny (1857 – 1858)
; Unsuccessful rebellion against British rule in India
; British attempt to Westernize Indians by making efforts toward women‟s rights and
introducing a bill to allow the remarriage of Hindu widows
; Indians believed that the British were attempting to take apart their culture and
challenging their religious beliefs
Mutiny Breaks Out
; A new rifle was used that required the soldiers to bite off the ends of cartridges. ; A rumor spread among that the grease used to lubricate the cartridges was a mixture of
pigs‟ and cows‟ fat
; Thus, having it in one‟s mouth was an insult to both Muslims and Hindus (who are not
allowed to eat pork and beef respectively).
; Soldiers who refuse to use the cartridges are imprisoned
; Mutiny spread and led to many deaths on both sides
Results of the Indian Mutiny
; Direct rule of India by the British government
; Army and administration reorganized
; It was believed that a lack of communication with Indian opinion caused the crisis, so the
new council of 1861 was given an Indian-nominated element
; Traditional society had made its protest against the incoming alien influences, and it had
failed. From this time all serious hope of a revival of the past or an exclusion of the West
diminished. The traditional structure of Indian society began to break down.
British Empire
; “The empire on which the sun never sets” thth; Created throughout the 17 through 20 century
; Extends under Queen Victoria
; By the end of Victoria's reign, the British Empire extended over about one-fifth of the
earth's surface and almost a quarter of the world's population at least theoretically owed
allegiance to the 'queen empress'.
; During the Victorian Age, the UK is the most powerful country in world ; At its height in the early 1900s: Included over 20 percent of the world's land area and
more than 400 million people
; Largest empire in the history of the world
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