Study sheet: The Long 18th Century

📋 Course Outline

1. The Glorious Revolution
2. The Williamite Wars
3. Queen Anne and Union
4. George I and Walpole
5. George II and Whig Supremacy
6. George III and Global Wars

📖 1. The Glorious Revolution

★ Must-know

• William of Orange landed at Torbay with 15,000 men and 275 ships during the Glorious Revolution, supported by Protestant-wind propaganda and claims defending Parliament’s rights.

• William of Orange and Mary Stuart ruled jointly from 1689 to 1702 after the Glorious Revolution.

📌 The Bill of Rights of 1689 declared illegal the royal power to dispense with or suspend laws, abolished prerogative courts, forbade taxation and a standing army without Parliamentary approval, required free parliamentary elections, and barred a Catholic monarch or a monarch married to a Catholic.

📌 The Toleration Act of 1689 allowed Protestant dissenters to worship publicly but excluded Catholics and Jews; the oath required to sit in Parliament was based on “occasional conformity,” which was banned in 1711.

Further detail

📌 The Mutiny Act of 1689 required the king to convene Parliament to maintain an army, the coronation oath required government according to the laws, and the Triennial Act of 1694 required elections every three years.

💡 Memory Hook

Parliament gained power while the Crown lost prerogatives

📖 2. The Williamite Wars

★ Must-know

• The War of the League of Augsburg, also called the Nine Years’ War, lasted from 1688 to 1697 and opposed the Grand Alliance to the League of Augsburg before ending with the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697.

• The Battle of the Boyne took place in Ireland in 1690, after which 20,000 Jacobites fled to France and anti-Catholic laws were passed in Ireland.

Further detail

• The Jacobites, whose name derives from Jacobus, the Latin name for James, received French help in their opposition to Williamite rule.

• In Scotland, the Jacobites were associated with Viscount Dundee, and the Glencoe Massacre took place in 1692.

💡 Memory Hook

League of Augsburg → Boyne → Glencoe

📖 3. Queen Anne and Union

★ Must-know

• Queen Anne, the last Stuart, ruled from 1702 to 1714 and was James’s daughter and Mary’s sister.

📌 The Act of Settlement of 1701 designated Princess Sophia and the House of Hanover as the succession after the death of the Duke of Gloucester in 1700.

• The Act of Union of 1707 created Great Britain, granted Scotland 16 peers and 45 MPs, preserved its Presbyterian Church and separate legal system, and provided £398,085 in compensation.

• Britain gained these possessions or privileges:

  • Newfoundland
  • Nova Scotia
  • St Kitt
  • Gibraltar
  • Minorca
  • the asiento

Further detail

• The failure of the Darien scheme in the late 1690s and England’s prohibition of Scottish imports in 1705 preceded the Act of Union.

💡 Memory Hook

Settlement → Union → Utrecht

📖 4. George I and Walpole

★ Must-know

• George I ruled from 1714 to 1727, did not speak English, and relied on ministers.

• Robert Walpole is presented as the first British Prime Minister and as the central figure of “Robinocracy,” in which the machinery of the British state was linked to war and appointments.

Further detail

• Walpole represented Whig supremacy during the reign of George I.

💡 Memory Hook

George I’s dependence on ministers → Walpole’s Robinocracy

📖 5. George II and Whig Supremacy

★ Must-know

• George II ruled from 1727 to 1760, initially allied with Walpole before falling out with him, while Walpole remained in office until 1742.

• The successive Whig ministries were:

  • Henry Pelham, 1743–1754
  • Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, 1754–1756
  • Duke of Devonshire with Pitt the Elder, 1756–1757
  • Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, 1757–1762

• The Jacobite uprisings occurred in Scotland in 1708, 1715, 1719, and 1745; Charles Edward Stuart led the 1745 rising, and the Battle of Culloden defeated the Jacobites in 1746.

• The War of Jenkin’s Ear began in 1739, the War of the Austrian Succession lasted from 1740 to 1748 and ended with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, and the Seven Years’ War lasted from 1756 to 1763.

Further detail

• Fighting between Britain and France in North America began in 1754 in the French and Indian War; General Wolfe captured Quebec in 1759, and the Treaty of Paris in 1763 transferred Cape Breton and Quebec.

💡 Memory Hook

Walpole → Pelham → Newcastle → Devonshire and Pitt → Newcastle

📖 6. George III and Global Wars

★ Must-know

• George III ruled from 1760 to 1820, was born in England, spoke English, married Princess Charlotte, and had 15 children.

• George III’s illness was identified as porphyria and led to a regency from 1811 until his death.

• The major developments were:

  • the agricultural revolution
  • the industrial revolution
  • the American Revolution
  • the French Revolution

Further detail

• George III was nicknamed “farmer George” and was associated with Kew Gardens.

💡 Memory Hook

Imperial wars and revolutions → transformation of George III’s reign

📊 Synthesis Tables

Acts Limiting or Reshaping Power

Act or text	Date	Main effect
Toleration Act	1689	Public worship for Protestant dissenters, excluding Catholics and Jews
Mutiny Act	1689	Required Parliament to be convened to maintain an army
Bill of Rights	1689	Limited royal prerogative and required parliamentary consent
Triennial Act	1694	Required elections every three years
Act of Settlement	1701	Established the Hanoverian succession
Act of Union	1707	Created Great Britain while preserving Scotland’s church and legal system