32.3 Europe: a.d. 1701 to 1800  (Page 17/28)

There was a period of increased overseas expansion in America (Canada) and India as the result of England's participation and France's losses in the Seven Years War. Winston Churchill (Ref. 31 ) insists on calling this the First World War because there were sea battles with France in all parts of the globe, as well as land battles in Germany and in America. Although George II had taken over the throne in 1727 and was more active in British affairs than his father had been, England's leader was William Pitt the Elder, Secretary of State, who ran the war from his office in London. Although having initial losses in America to the combined forces of the French and their Indian allies, by 1759 the British navy had captured Guadeloupe, the richest island in the west Indies, the army of Amherst had taken Ticonderoga and Fort Niagra and the combined services had obtained the key fortress of Quebec. In another year, the French were out of North America. King George II died in 1760 and George III preferred the minister Bute over Pitt. France, seeing that Pitt was losing influence, made a new alliance with Spain, hoping to again have a chance in America. Upon Pitt's resignation, England declared war on Spain and further victories resulted, including the taking of Manila. At the Peace of Paris in 1763, British acquisitions were considerable, although the naval power of France had been left untouched and she retained bases in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. (Ref. 31 )

At home important changes took place in agriculture, farming and transportation. Rural life in England up to about 1715 was very much as it had been for a thousand years, each household being a self -contained economic unit. But things changed as a factory system made England the workshop of the world and machines began to take the place of workers. The steam engine, invented by James Watts of Glasgow in 1760, was of new design, having the piston driven by live steam. That, with the use of coke in the steel industry and the development of steamships and railways, all had a part in the Industrial Revolution. Wood had up to that time been the major fuel, but by the end of the century only four of the original 69 great forests of England remained and there was great need of a newer and cheaper fuel. Coal was the answer and new mining methods could be developed which in turn led to better production of steel. Iron smelting was changed by Abraham Darby, who mixed sulfur with Shropshire valley coal, making coke and it was this that let England become the world's leading iron manufacturer after 1760. (Ref. 213 ) These changes had not come overnight. For example, a blast furnace built in Dolgyne in Wales in 1717 was not fired until 5 years later when enough charcoal had been accumulated for 361/2 weeks work. Newcommen invented the atmospheric steam engine in 1711, but only one was in operation in England 30 years later. Thousands of factors hindered progress. What would happen to the labor force when machines took over? (Ref. 260 ) In 1728 the first steel rolling mill was set up and in 1740 Benjamin Huntsman invented the crucible process for making high-grade steel. This union of coal and iron made the great machines of the Industrial Revolution possible. (Ref. 54 ) Similarly in textile production, there was John Kay's "flying shuttle" (1733) and Lewis Paul's spinning machine (1738) which in this era revolutionized that field. The Industrial Revolution began in England and occurred only in England in this century. In the reign of George III the structure of British economy and society in general underwent profound change, manifested first by the tremendous output of coal, pig-iron, engineering products and textiles, as already noted. But the economic growth was furthered by the fortunate availability of cheap water transport in inland waterways