Our SDG is framed not only by two battles as suggested in the SDG title, but also by two key unions: with Scotland (1707) and with Ireland (1802). Eighteenth century Britain can be described as the century of loose sexual morality, frivolity and conspicuous consumption; yet it is also a period when Parliament exerted its dominance amid the rise of two political parties that continue to color our world today. The British/Scottish Enlightenment, along with the Scientific Revolution ushered in a new age of culture which by 1815 produced the first of the British Romantics and the first steam engines. The eighteenth century found Britain almost continuously at war. At the same time, revolutions in finance, commerce and agriculture paved the way for the emergence of industrialization. Societal changes, including rapid population growth and urbanization transformed the nation. It is not too far of a stretch to say that eighteenth century Britain gave birth to the modern world.

Join us as we analyze and assess this amazing, and often ignored, century in British history.

Diane Brookes and Alice Lewis will coordinate this together.

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