New state

In 1707 the union of Scotland and England was completed by Act of Parliament. From that moment both countries no longer had separate parliaments, and a new parliament of Great Britain, the new name of the state, met for the first time. Scotland, however, kept its own separate legal and judicial system, and its own separate Church.

Life and thought

In the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries English scientists, most of them at the University of Oxford, had led Europe. Friar Roger Bacon, one of the more famous of them, had experimented with light; heat and magnetism. Another, William of Ockham, had studied falling objects. Another, William Marlee, had been one of the first to keep a careful record of the weather. Chaucer himself wrote a book to teach his son how to use an astrolabe. At the same time, the practical effects of such curiosity were seen in new machinery, water mills and lathes.

In 1628 William Harvey discovered the circulation of blood and this led to great advances in medicine and in the study of the human body.

In 1666 the Cambridge Professor of Mathematics, Sir Isaac Newton, began to study gravity, publishing his important discovery in 1684.

Christopher Wren, the greatest British architect was also Professor of Astronomy at Oxford. He rebuilt the great medieval cathedral of St Paul after the Great Fire of London.

The eighteen century politics and finance

In 1714 elector of Hanover was crowned George I. George couldn’t even speak English.

Government power was increased because the new king spoke only German, and did not seem very interested in his new kingdom. Among the king's ministers was Robert Walpole, who remained the greatest political leader for over twenty years. He is considered Britain's first Prime Minister. Walpole was determined to keep the Crown under the firm control of Parliament.

Walpole skilfully developed the idea that government ministers should work together in a small group, which was called the "Cabinet".

The limits to monarchy were these: the king could not be a Catholic; the king could not remove or change laws; the king was dependent on Parliament for his financial income and for his army. The king was supposed to "choose" his ministers. Even today the government of Britain is "Her Majesty's Government". But in fact the ministers belonged as much to Parliament as they did to the king.

The country was fully shaped as a constitutional monarchy.

Colonial wars

In the eighteenth century Britain led several wars: the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), the War of the Austrian Succession (1740 - 1748).

The Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) put Britain, allied with Prussia, against France in alliance with Austria and Russia.

The war against France’s trade went on all over the world.

In 1763 George III made peace with France. The Treaty of Paris was a diplomatic triumph. The Treaty of Paris established Britain’s 18th-century empire at its height.

The loss of the american colonies

In 1764 there was a serious quarrel over taxation between the British government and its colonies in America.

Some American colonists decided that it was not lawful for the British to tax them without their agreement. They thought that there should be "no taxation without representation".

In 1773 a group of colonists at the port of Boston threw a shipload of tea into the sea rather than pay tax on it. The event became known as "the Boston Teaparty". This was rebellion, and the government decided to defeat it by force. The American War of Independence had begun.

The war in America lasted from 1775 until 1783. The government had no respect for the politics of the colonists, and the British army had no respect for their fighting ability. The result was a disastrous defeat for the British government. It lost everything except for Canada.