Unit VThe 18th Century: Industrial

RevolutionThe Plan:1. Britain in the 18th Century2. The New dynasty: the Hanover's (1660-1910)3. Politics and Money 3.1. The Bank of England 3.2. Robert Walpole 3.3. Lord Chatham 3.4. The War with France 3.5. Growth of International Trade4. The Loss of the American Colonies 4.1. Radicals5. Ireland in the 18th Century6.Republic in Britain

6.1. Oliver Cromwell – the Lord Protector 6.2. Republican Britain 6.3. The Levelers7. Restoration of Monarchy 7.1. The First Political Parties 7.2. The Glorious Revolution 7.3. The Union with Scotland8. Reconsidering Religions Dogmas9. Revolution in Scientific Thinking

Bibliography : Yu. Golitsinski “Great Britian” p. 125-150; J. Grecu “British Civilization” p. 30-39

1. Britain in the 18th CenturyBefore 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. The invention of machinery destroyed the old “cottage industries” and created factories. At the same time it caused the growth of unemployment. This splitting of society into very rich and very poor was a great danger to the established order. In France the misery of the poor led to revolution in 1789. Britain was saved from revolution party by the local control of the ruling class and partly by Methodism, a new religious movement in Britain.

2. THE NEW DYNASTY: THE HANOVER’S (1660-1910)King James I (Stuart) had a granddaughter,

Sophia, who was a Protestant. She married the Elector of Hanover. 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 ascended the English throne as George I. George I was a strange king. He was a true German and didn’t try to follow 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 didn’t 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. The Hanover’s ruled Britain till 1910.

George I Hanover

3. Politics and Money 3.1. 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 decides to establish a 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.

The power of the government during the reign of George I was increased because the new king didn’t seem very interested in his kingdom. The greatest political leader of the time was Robert Walpole. He is considered Britain’s first Prime Minister. 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:1)The king could not be a Catholic:2)The king could not remove or change laws;3)The king depended on Parliament for his money and for his army.

3.2 Robert Walpole

Robert walpole

3.3 Lord Chatham Walpole wanted to avoid war because it took a lot of money. The most important political enemy of Walpole was Lord Chatham. Chatham was sure that in order to be economically strong, Britain should develop international trade. Trade involved competition. France was the main rival of Britain because it had many colonies. Chatham was certain that Britain must beat France in the competition for the markets. When Chatham was in the government, he decided to make the British navy the strongest in the world. He also decided to seize a number of France’s trading ports abroad.

Lord Chatham

3.4 The War with FranceThe war with France broke out in 1756 and went on all over the world. In Canada the British took Quebec in 1759. This gave the British control of the important fish, fur and wood trades. In India the army of the British East India Company defeated French armies. Soon Britain controlled most of India. Many Britons started to go to India to make their fortune.

3.5. Growth of International TradeDuring the 18th century Britain’s

international trade increased rapidly. By the end of the century the West Indies were the most profitable part of Britain’s new empire. They formed one corner of a profitable trade triangle. Knives, swords ant cloth made in British factories were taken to West Africa and exchanged for slaves. The slaves were taken to the West Indies were they worked on large plantations growing sugar. From the West Indies the ships returned to Britain carrying great loads of sugar grown by the slaves.

4. The Loss of the American

ColoniesIn 1764 there was a serious quarrel over taxation between the British government and the colonies in America. Some American colonists decided that it was not lawful for the British government to tax them without their agreement. They said that if they paid taxes to the British government, they must have their own representatives in British Parliament. In 1773 a group of colonists at the port of Boston threw a shipload of tea into the sea because they did not want to pay a tax on it which the British government demanded. The event became known as the Boston tea-party. The British government answered by closing the port. The colonists rebelled. The American War of Independence began. The war in America lasted from 1775 until 1783. The result was a complete defeat of the British forces. Britain lost all its colonies in America, except Canada.

4.1. RadicalsMany British politicians openly supported the colonists. They were called radicals. For the first time British politicians supported the rights of the king’s subjects abroad to govern themselves and to fight for their rights against the king. The war in America brought new ideas of democracy.

5. Ireland in the 18th CenturyThe position of the Irish Catholics

was poor under British rule. The Protestant Parliament in Dublin passed laws which prevented the Catholics from taking any part in national life. Catholics could not become members of the Dublin Parliament. They couldn’t become a lawyer, go to university, or join the navy. The Catholics were second-class citizens in their own land. In order to increase British control, Ireland was united with Britain in 1801 and Dublin Parliament was closed. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland lasted for 120 years, until 1921, when the independent Irish Republic was formed.

6. Scotland in the 18th centuryThe Stuarts, maid many attempts 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.

6.1 Bonnie Prince CharlieJames II’s grandson, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, better known, as Bonnie Prince Charlie, landed on the west coast of Scotland. With his army he entered Edinburgh and defeated an English army in a surprise attack. Then he marched south. But Bonnie Prince Charlie’s success was not long. Many of soldiers left Prince Charlie’s army and moved back to Scotland. In 1746 Prince Charlie’s army was defeated by the British army at Culloden. The rebellion was finished.

Bonnie Prince Charlie

Industrial revolution

7. Industrial RevolutionBy the early 18th century simple machines had already been invented. With the help of the machines, a lot of goods could be made quickly and cheaply. By the middle of the 18th century, industry began to use coal for changing iron ore into good quality iron or steel. This made Britain the leading iron producer in Europe. One invention led to another. In the middle of the century other countries were buying British uniforms, equipment and weapons for their armies. New machinery was invented which replaced handwork. In 1764 a spinning machine was invented, which could do the work of several hand spinners. The weaving machine invented in 1785. In allowed Britain to make cheap cloth. Now factories didn’t need so many workers as before. As a result a lot of workers became unemployed. In 1799 some of unemployers, known as Luddites, began breaking up the machinery which had put them out of work. The situation in the country was very tense. People were afraid of a revolution like the one in France.

8. Society and Religion: Methodism Britain avoided revolution partly

because of a new religious movement. The new movement didn’t come from the Church of England. It was led by the founder of the Methodist Church John Wesley. John Wesley’s Methodism was above all personal and emotional form of religion. It was organized in small groups all over the country. Methodism was able to give ordinary people a sense of purpose and dignity. John Wesley was no friend of the ruling classes, but he was deeply conservative. He disapproved of the French Revolution and taught people to be hard-working and honest.

John Wesley

9. Revolution in France.

The French Revolution in 1789 alarmed all European countries. The ruling classes saw the danger of revolution in Britain. Some radicals called for reforms in Britain.Tory crowds attacked the homes of radicals in Birmingham. The Whig Party was split. Those who feared revolution joined William Pitt the Younger (the son of Lord Chatham), a leader of the Tories. Those who wanted reforms joined the radical Whig leader Charles James Fox.The British government was so afraid of revolution that that it imprisoned radical leaders. It also formed the so-called yeomanry forces in order to use them to prevent revolution.

William pitt

Charles James fox

10. The War with Napoleon.In the 18th century many European countries were

defeated by Napoleon, the leader and commander of the French army. 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 strong navy. The commander of the British fleet, Admiral Horatio Nelson (p.374-348), won brilliant victories over the French navy, near the coast of Egypt, and Copenhagen, and finally near Spain, at Trafalgar in 1805, where he destroyed the French-Spanish fleet. Nelson was himself killed at Trafalgar.But he became one of Britain’s greatest national heroes.In the same year as Trafalgar, in 1805, a British army landed in Portugal to fight the French. This army, with Portuguese 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 army finally defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in Belgium in June 1815.

Horatio nelson

Napoleon I Bonaparte