1790–1829

Abstract

Another short but eventful period, the years 1790 to 1829 see the continuation of the Hanoverian* monarchy: first by George III, then — as George’s insanity becomes permanent — by his son as Prince Regent (The Regency*, 1811–20), who accedes to the throne as George IV in 1820 (his death in 1830, and the ensuing succession, is dealt with in Chapter 5). But the period is most emphatically marked by a Europe ripped apart by the French Revolutionary Wars, the rise to pan-European power of Napoleon Bonaparte, and the subsequent Napoleonic Wars, ending only with Napoleon’s final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. It also witnesses the high point of the European Romantic* movement in the arts. In the British context, the later part of the period experiences developments in political, religious and social reform which will become one of the hallmarks of the Victorian* period to follow [see Chapter 5].