When Queen Anne died after a short reign of twelve years, you might have thought it was an inconsequential reign. But you would be totally wrong. Her twelve years were some of the most important years in the whole history of Britain. One, she was the first monarch to preside over the bipolar party system, and she did it well. Two, she made peace in the European war that almost no one wanted. Three, she was the midwife at the birth of "Great Britain" which still exists—although Scotland is always threatening to run away. And four, she watched over the succession to the Hanoverians who would lead Great Britain all the way to Victoria. There were four Hanoverian Georges. Georeg I, George II, and George III who we all know the best, ran Great Britain for all of the eighteenth century.
RECOMMENDED READING
This wonderful book by Christopher Hibbert will be useful to us all year. Hibbert is one of greatest "popular" historians, meaning that he writes books you want to read. Many of you have used his great one-volume history of the Medici as well as his excellent History of Rome, History of Florence, and History of Venice.Many of us used his excellent biography of Mussolini last year in the Modern Italy class. In this book, Hibbert takes us all through Victorian society. We have not made it "required" but we are sure you will enjoy it if you buy it and read it. Roy Porter gives you the best general review of 18th century English society ever written.
Life in Victorian England,
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (December 31, 2016),
ISBN 1541383559
