5. The Industrial Revolution

The 18^th century gave birth to the Industrial Revolution: it brought about the mechanization of industry and the consequent changes in social and economic organization. The change from domestic industry to the factory system began in the textile industry. It was transformed by such inventions as Kay’s flying shuttle (1733), Hargreave’s spinning jenny (1764) and others. Newcomen’s steam engine (1705) perfected by Watt (1765) provided a power supply. Communications were improved by the locomotives invented by Stephenson. The 18^th century improvements in agricultural methods freed rural labour for industry and increased the productivity of the land. That was followed by the rapid growth of towns, mostly near coal-fields. Miserable working and housing conditions later inspired the Luddites, or workers who deliberately smashed machinery in the industrial centres in the early 19^th century. The followers of Ned Ludd, an 18^th century riot leader, believed that the use of machines caused unemployment. They fought against unemployment in a most primitive way which, to them, seemed effective.

6. The Colonial Wars

At the end of the 18^th century the struggle of the 13 American colonies for independence from British rule turned into the War of American Independence (1775 – 1783). The war was caused by the British attempts to tax the colonies for revenue and to make them pay for a standing army. The colonies revolted under George Washington and declared their independence in 177. In 1778 – 1780 France, Spain and the Netherlands, one by one, declared war on Britain. Military operations were held on the American continent. In 1781 Britain lost command of the sea, and her army was finally defeated at Yorktown. In 1783 the war ended with the Treaty of Paris, in which the independence of the USA was officially recognized. George Washington became the country’s first president. The war discredited the government of George III, weakened France financially, and served as an inspiration for the French Revolution and for revolutions in the Spanish colonies in America.

It should be noted that the War of Independence was won by the Americans largely due to the French support. The famous poet and playwright Bomarchet, who was a secret agent of the French government, shipped arms and ammunition over the Atlantic Ocean to the insurgents. In Paris, he met Benjamin Franklin, who was the American ambassador to France. Franklin is one of the prominent figures in American history. To begin with, he helped to draft the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Besides being one of the founding fathers of the American nation, Franklin gained a worldwide reputation for his scientific discoveries, which included a new theory of the nature of electricity, and for his inventions, among which there was the lightning conductor.

• 7. The Development of arts

  Painting

Britain’s naval supremacy in the 18^th century gave rise to marine painting. Victories at sea led to a steady demand for pictures of sea-battles, and marine painters made a good living from naval commissions. Another factor that promoted marine painting was a changing attitude towards the sea and the seashore. Many of the novelists, poets and artists turned to the sea as a source of inspiration.

The 18^th century was also the great age of British landscape and portrait painting. Sir Joshua Reynolds, William Hogarth and Thomas Gainsborough were the greatest masters of the century. They debated whether painting should follow poetry.

Sir Joshua Reynolds was more academic in his views and manner of painting. That English portrait painter dominated English artistic life in the middle and late 18th century. Through his art and teaching, he attempted to lead British painting away from the indigenous anecdotal pictures of the early 18th century toward the formal rhetoric of the continental Grand Style. With the founding of the Royal Academy in 1768, Reynolds was elected its first president and knighted by King George III.

Thomas Gainsborough was known for his portraits of fashionable society in the late 18th century and for his landscapes of the English countryside. His art could be described as “natural”. One of Gainsborough’s celebrated works is his portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Andrews featuring a wealthy Suffolk landowner and his wife against the background of their estate.

William Hogarth was a major English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist. He is best known for his moral and satirical engravings and paintings and may well be called a painter and engraver of modern moral subjects.

All three of them unmistakably are recognized as the 18^th century greatest English artists whose pictures belong to the treasure-trove of European painting.

• Music

In music, the leading musician of the century was George Frederick Handel (1685 – 1759). He was a musician and composer of German birth and a naturalized Englishman. He composed with extreme facility. For example, “Messiah” was written in 21 days. His immense output includes over 40 operas (the best known of which is “Rinaldo”), about 20 oratorios, organ concertos, vocal and choral music and a great mass of chamber and instrumental music. Even his religious and formal music is dominated by the influence of the theatre. His music expresses the full range of human feelings; it is profoundly psychological and subtle.

As Handel was patronized by the king, he sometimes fell victim to the intrigues of courtiers and politicians who wanted him to support their cause in front of the king. Handel was bitterly criticized by a group of playwrights and composers who promoted a national way in English music. Among them was John Gay (1685 – 1732), a poet and playwright. His most famous work, a lyrical drama “The Beggar’s Opera” was turned into a music piece by John Pepusch, another German composer, mostly known for his vocal music. The new musical comedy, based on the plot suggested by Jonathan Swift, was a bitter political satire on politicians, witty and joyful. Handel was mocked at in the second act, when a group of robbers marched to the music from his opera “Rinaldo”. “The Beggar’s Opera” was a tremendous success. During the winter season of 1728 it was performed 62 times.