HIST 383 Chapter Notes - Chapter reading: Outlast
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The restorative political stability created by Robert Walpole
was founded upon a policy of peace, but his fall in 1742 was
accompanied by the start of the most extensive period of
warfare in British history
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War on this scale changed the nature of British politics and
society transformed its international position
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Britain was confronted with rebellion in its Caribbean colonies
in 1795 and Ireland in 1798 and 1803
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In the 1790s there were those who feared revolution in
Britain itself
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Under threat were interconnected issues of commerce and
naval power, both of which were crucial to the success of
Britain's political system, economy and power projection
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The navy was sustained by maritime commerce and protected
Britain, its overseas possessions and its trade from attack
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The value of the imperial assets were shown in the mid-
century wars, when the damage to French credit and trade
from the threat to Canada through the surprise colonial
capture of Louisburg, couples with the British naval victories
in 1747, induced France to abandon its winning position in
Europe and make peace by a mutual return of conquests
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In the seven years war the American colonies contributed
20,000 men towards the conquest of Canada and Havana,
while British trade which boomed during the war, enabled it
again to outlast France financially and win imperial gains
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France and Spain also sought to build up their own overseas
wealth and to prevent further British advance through
strengthening their colonial fortifications, occupying key
imperial pathways and rebuilding their fleet
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The ending of the War of Austria Succession initiated a naval
arms race which was sustained by efforts to increase overseas
trade in which France had some success
Reading: Contested Empires
Saturday, February 22, 2020
10:39 AM
