GEORGE III was the son of Fredrick of Hannover , but was the successor of George II instead of his rebel

father . His
reign was caratherized by new social , political and economic events : American revolution , French revolution and
industrial revolution .
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION was due to rebellion of all American colonies after the end of 7 years war . In 1763
Britain obtained some American colonies , but the distance created a sort of independence life , so the colonies ask for
revolution . When Britain imposed several taxes on coffee , tea and chocolate ; the rebellion led in the independence
war , that culminated in 4 july 1764 , when 13 colonies declared the independence under the document written by
Thomas Jefferson ‘’the declaration of indipendence’’ . By the help of George Washington the British army was
defeated . With the treaty of Versaille the republic of USA declared they independence and Washington became the
president of a federal state .
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION was a violent revolution that turned France from a feudal state to a Republic , and
subsequently in an empire under the control of Napoleon . The poorest French citizens belong from the tird state and
revolted to other 2 state , so in July 14 1789 they stormed the bastille . Louis XVI and Mary Antoniette were executed
and the terrible Robespierre came to the power. His power was characterized by a period of terror , because he puts
on the guillottine a lot of people , and for this reason was arrested and executed . After robespierre napoleon toke
french and led some ‘Napoleonic wars’ against other european state . Other country created coalition against him . In
George III reign France rapresented a problem to England . Nelson succedeed in wording off the France by defeating
France in Trafalgar Battle , near Spain . The last battle of Napoleon was the battle of Waterloo , fought against the
coalition formed by Dutch , German , Russian and Belgian . George III was characterized in the last part of his life by
mental illness , and his son George IV , acted as a regent , infact this period was called period of regency , and the
prime minster was William Pitt the younger who direted the financial field of the time . After the death of his father
George IV became king .
AGE OF REVOLUTIONS
The first half of 18th century was marked by new discoveries and scientific inventions that succeeded in changing
England from an agriculture nation into an industrial one with socio-economic consequences . The most important
were :
-the steam engine (invented by james watt in 1776) that favoured the passage from hand production to machines
(especially in texile manufacturing) and allowed more efficient way of transport.
-the new method of drainage , the use of fertilizers , new agricultural machines that changed the work of peasents
-The mining and melting system that increased the production of raw materials
-The use of gas lighting , that increased the labour hours , and this led to more productivity.
THE SOCIO ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
The main social changes were warned mostly among the working classes , because the Napoleonic wars made
business uncertenain with the alternation of periods of wealth and period of depression , employment and
unemployment , this led to a deep gap between lower poor classes and upper rich ones . Although there was a great
increase in population as consequence of the disappearance of disease ,in deed in George III reign the population
nearly doubled and there was a rise in the birth rate and a fall in the death rate, but this meant a greater demand of
pots , beer and clothes . The workers began to emigrate in the north , where were more raw materials , and there a lot
of big cities developed , the so called ‘mushrooms towns’ in which lived the workers . The disappearance of the
domestic spinning and weaving system left jobless a lot of people , especially in the south , who were reduced to
begging , and the agricultural labourers were damaged by the increased price of corn . Working people’s conditions
were inhuman . The labourers lived in very difficult condition , with long working hours and without elementary
service ; the air and the water were polluted by smoke and filth , the houses were built in over rows and overcrowded.
Women and children were employed because they were more easier to control and less paid . The life expectancy of
the labourers was below the 20 years , due to incessant work and alcoholism. Workers were often exploited and there
were no regulations about their conditions . So they began to organize themselves and created the combinations (our
modern trade unions) were created to defend workers rights . In this period post-war depression , poor harvest and
unemployment made life extremely difficult for the labouring poor (workers belonging to lower classes) .This led to
the sign of THE COMBINATION ACT according to which many judges condemned this combinations and punish
workers who combined with them. The law stated that any worker who wanted to decrease the working hours or
asked for an increase in wages , was to be sentenced to three months in jail or two months of hard labour. STRIKES
AND RIOTS from the end of 18th century to first half of 19th century there were strikes ( forms of protest based on
stopping work ) and riots ( violent forms of protest ) especially in the north . Rioters attack factories and destroy
machine . The most known were the luddited ,whose name derives from Ned Ludd .
THE PETERLOO MASSACRE the most known strike action was Peterloo-massacre where eleven strikers were killed by
soldiers . This shoked public opinion and led to the creation of CIVILIAN METROPOLITAN POLICE also known as
BOBBIES ,whose term derives from the name of their founder Sir Robert Peel .
Although poverty , in the protestant view was a consequence of vice , people’s failings and indolence , the state tried
to help people by allowences from the local parishes (dispensations from taxes , dormitories and soup kitchens) , but
the enormous increase of the population made this impossible . For this reason the whig government passed the poor
law amendment act of 1834 according to which relief should be granted only to able-bodied , poor and their children ,
in well-regulated workhouse , where conditions were intolerable (they were offered free room and board and a job) .
In that period there were no build regulation and many houses were built without the primary necessities as
sanitation , drainaige and water supply . The transport was made more efficient , new waterways were built for the
transportation of coal to the mining and industrial district and road conditions were improved . The introduction of
the locomotive mad transportation of goods and passengers easier and faster . Railways and all the social service were
private , only post office were undertaken by the government .
The position of women changed a lot . The women belonging from the lower classes were forced to take job in
factories , this led to more independence for them . Women belonging from middle-upper classes spend their time
reading, looking for husbands and writing domestic novels or practicing humanitarian activities . This activity was
spread by sir Wilberforce and led in the abolition of slavery in the British colonies in 1833. Charity schools , new
hospitals and dispensaries (medical clinics) were opened , and public authorities investigated the state of prison .
GEORGE IV
Became king of Ireland, GB and Hannover in 1820. He had a particular charm and culture and for this reason he
earned the title of 1st gentleman of England . He had a dissolute way of life , a very bad relationship with his father and
wife and this led to the contempt of people and dimmed the prestige of monarchy . His ministers considered his
behaviour selfish , unreliable and irresponsible . He signed the bill for the catholic emancipation, according to which
the catholic obtain the same rights as protestant and were admitted in parliament , but in Ireland the catholic were
kept out the public office , and irish property belong to protestants . He dead in 1830 .
WILLIAM IV
During his reign he came to power after a long period of egemony . The most important parliamentarian bill was the
reform act signed in 1832 . The right to vote was extended to a lot of people , but were eliminated the so called rotten
borough (small rural district controlled by few landowners ) . The main features of his reign were : the abolition of
slavery , the introduction of a system of national education . The factory act by which the employment of children
under nine was forbidden by law, limit the working day to 12 hours and parliament began to control the working
conditions of women and children.
INVENTIONS
Britain changed from a mainly farming country to a industrial one . The revolution implied new technologies and
inventions , the developement of factory system and new sources of power and transport . The most important
inventions were the ‘spinning jenny’ and the water frame of Richard Arkwright , these machines allowed only one man
or woman to produce what had once required many workers . At first most of the power used to drive machinery
came from water , but the need of more energy led to new development of steam power . Watt panted an engine that
was more powerful and wasted less fuel than its predecessor . As the result of the inventions of Watt the factory
moved to the field of coal in Yorkshire , Lancashire , South Wales and Scotland , these new factory produced more
cheaply cloth , but put many people of work . The agrarian revolution was linked to the industrial one , because they
both used technological inventions . The agrarian toke two forms : the widespread enclosure of ‘open fields’ to make
more efficient farms , and improvements in the selective breeding of cattle to produce more meat , and in the farming
techniques such as crop rotation .