18th Century Britain: Politics, Conflicts, and the Napoleonic Era
Unit 8: Revolution and Georgian Britain
Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745)
The resignation of Sunderland and the death of Stanhope in 1721 left Walpole as the most important figure in the administration. In April 1721, he was appointed First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader of the House of Commons. Walpole’s de facto tenure as “Prime Minister” is often dated to his appointment as First Lord in 1721. In reality, however, Walpole shared power with his brother-in-law Lord Townshend, who served as Secretary of State for the Northern Department and controlled the nation’s foreign affairs. Walpole’s first year as Prime Minister was also marked by the discovery of a Jacobite plot formed by Francis Atterbury, the Bishop of Rochester. The exposure of the scheme crushed the hopes of the Jacobites, whose previous attempts at rebellion (most notably the risings of 1715 and 1719) had also failed. During the remainder of George I’s reign, Walpole’s ascendancy continued; the political power of the monarch was gradually diminishing and that of his ministers gradually increasing. In 1724, the primary political rival of Walpole and Townshend in the Cabinet, Lord Carteret, was dismissed from the post of Southern Secretary and once again appointed to the lesser office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Now, Walpole and Townshend were clearly the supreme forces in the ministry, and they helped keep Great Britain at peace, especially by negotiating a treaty with France and Prussia in 1725. Great Britain grew prosperous, and Robert Walpole acquired the favor of George I. Walpole’s position was threatened in 1727 when George I died and was succeeded by George II. For a few days, it seemed that Walpole would be dismissed, but the King agreed to keep him in office upon the advice of Queen Caroline.
Whigs vs. Tories
- The Whig Party: The Whigs were initially a political faction, and later a political party, of the Parliament of Scotland, later the Parliament of England, the Parliament of Great Britain, and the Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs primarily advocated the supremacy of Parliament while calling for the toleration for Protestant dissenters. They adamantly opposed a Catholic as king. They opposed the Catholic Church because they saw it as a threat to liberty.
- The Tories: They were the conservative political party, they represented the old landed interests, and they were defenders of the principle of hereditary succession to the crown and non-resistance to the monarch.
George III
His long reign falls into two parts:
- The 1760s was marked by bureaucratic instability, and the Whigs accused George III of being an autocrat. In 1763, Lord Bute resigned, allowing the Whigs to return to power. Later that year, the British government issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which placed a limit on the westward expansion of the American colonies.
The purpose of the proclamation was to force the colonists to negotiate with the American Indians for the legal purchase of the land and, therefore, reduce costly border wars that had arisen from conflicting territories. The Proclamation Line, as it would be known, was incredibly unpopular among Americans and eventually became another obstacle in the relationship between the colonists and the British government, and finally was a reason for the war.
- The second part is between 1770-1820. During this period, the American Declaration of Independence took place in 1776, as well as the French Revolution. Also, there were some wars with France, like the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. William Pitt had a crucial role during the wars against France and Napoleon; he also was an efficient Prime Minister. His son (later George IV), from 1811 until his accession, served as Prince Regent during his father’s relapse into mental illness.
Britain and the French Revolution
The French Revolution was a social and political conflict, with different periods of violence that convulsed France and, by extension, its implications, other European nations facing supporters and opponents of the system known as the Old Regime. It began with the self-proclamation of the Third Estate as the National Assembly in 1789 and ended with the coup d’etat of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. We can say that the revolution marked the definitive end of absolutism and gave birth to a new regime where the bourgeoisie, and sometimes the masses, became the dominant political force in the country.
William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger was Prime Minister of Great Britain between 1783-1801 and 1804-1806, who laid the foundations for a new era of prosperity after the American Revolutionary War, was the main leader of the state during the fight against revolutionary France. William Pitt became the youngest Prime Minister of England when George III appointed him to this position at the age of 24 years in 1783.
Louis X of France
Louis of France was born in Paris, the first man, and second child of the marriage of King Philip IV of France and his wife, the Queen of Navarre Joan of Champagne. The short reign of Louis X saw the liberation of the serfs and readmission to the realm of French Jews expelled by his father Philip IV.
Great Britain vs. France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the latter stages of the French Revolution and its associated wars in Europe. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815. His legal reform, the Napoleonic Code, has been a major influence on many civil law jurisdictions worldwide, but he is best remembered for his role in the wars led against France by a series of coalitions, the so-called Napoleonic Wars. He established hegemony over most of continental Europe and sought to spread the ideals of the French Revolution.
The Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement fought by the British Royal Navy against the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815). The battle was the most decisive British naval victory of the war.
Twenty-seven British ships defeated thirty-three French and Spanish ships. The Franco-Spanish fleet lost twenty-two ships, without a single British vessel being lost. The British victory spectacularly confirmed the naval supremacy that Britain had established during the previous century and was achieved in part through Nelson’s departure from the prevailing naval tactical orthodoxy, which involved engaging an enemy fleet in a single line of battle parallel to the enemy to facilitate signaling in battle and disengagement, and to maximize fields of fire and target areas.
Nelson was mortally wounded during the battle, becoming one of Britain’s greatest war heroes. The commander of the joint French and Spanish forces was captured along with his ship Bucentaure.
The United Kingdom
The Act of Union consisted of 25 items, of which 15 were related to economic matters. Each was voted separately, and overall the treaty was approved on January 16, 1707, by a majority of 110 votes to 67. The victory of the Unionists in the Scottish Parliament should be attributed more to a lack of cohesion, weakness, and apathy among the factions opposed to unification. The combined votes of the party of the Court (in favor of the Act) helped by the vote of Squadrone Volante (“Flying Squad”) were enough to secure final approval of the law. Article 14 of the treaty claimed more than £398,000 for the Scots, responding by debt. In essence, this money was used in part to compensate investors in Darien. Also, the Act recognized the Act of Settlement as a rule of succession, with its ban on Catholics on the throne.
George IV
In late 1810, George III had a relapse of his mental illness shortly after the death of his younger and favorite daughter, Princess Amelia. When the Prince of Wales became Prince Regent, one of the most important political conflicts facing the country concerned Catholic Emancipation, the project to remove the Roman Catholics suffering political disabilities. The Tories, led by the Prime Minister, opposed the project, while the Whigs supported it. George argued that a sudden and massive dismissal of the Tory government would not be beneficial to the health of the King, eliminating any chance of a recovery. In 1812, when it seemed unlikely that the King would recover, the Prince of Wales refused to appoint a new Whig administration under the leadership. Instead, he asked the Whigs to join the existing ministry efforts led by Spencer Perceval. The Whigs refused to cooperate because of disagreements over Catholic Emancipation. When Spencer Percival was assassinated by John Bellingham, the Prince of Wales then offered the leadership of the government to Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquis of Wellesley, then to Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 2nd Earl of Moira. However, he struck down any attempt of both, forcing them to construct a bipartisan ministry at a time when neither party wished to share power with the other. The Tories, unlike Whigs such as Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, intended to continue vigorously the war against the mighty emperor of France, Napoleon I. With the help of Russia, Prussia, Sweden, Austria, and other countries, Britain defeated Napoleon in 1814. In the subsequent Congress of Vienna, it was decided that the electorate of Hanover (a state that had shared sovereignty with Britain since 1714) would increase to a kingdom. Napoleon tried to return in 1815 but was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo by Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington. Also, the Anglo-American (War of 1812) came to an end, with neither side victorious. When George III died on January 29, 1820, the Prince Regent ascended the throne as George IV.