The Reign of George III, 1760–1815

Oxford History of England #12

by John Steven Watson

FROM THE CONQUEST OF CANADA TO VICTORY OVER NAPOLEON. THE ACCESSION; ECONOMIC PATTERN IN 1760; MINISTERIAL DIFFICULTIES; ORIGINS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLT; LORD NORTH; THE FALL OF NORTH; PITT; AMIENS TO TRAFALGAR PORTLAND; WARFARE; MAPS

Genres: History, Nonfiction, British Literature

656 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 1960

About the author

John Steven Watson, FRSE, was an English historian who served as Principal of the University of St Andrews from 1966–86.

Reviews

[John Engelman · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Reign of George III 1760 – 1815,” by J. Steven Watson reminds me of what Samuel Johnson said after reading John Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” "No one wished it longer." I would have preferred more information about what life was like for ordinary subjects of King George III. Instead I learned more than I cared to know about the English aristocrats who occupied governing positions from 1760 to 1815.

After reading about the American Revolution I did not understand why the colonialists revolted. The British Empire was the most humane and enlightened empire in the history of the world. The colonialists should have counted their blessings and paid their stamp taxes.

I also did not understand how the colonialists were able to defeat the British, when by the end of this book the British defeated the far greater power of France under Napoleon Bonaparte. There have been times when the British military was commanded by a military genius. The American Revolution was not one one of those times.

Watson mentioned Edmund Burke a few times. Burke was the progenitor of British conservatism. I wish Watson had explained Burke’s “Reflections on the French Revolution,” and discussed the effect it had on political thinking and behavior at the time.

Watson explains the War of 1812 as a failed attempt to conquer Canada. If the British had not been occupied with the more serious problem of France, the British and Canadian armies could have given us a good spanking, and tossed us back into the British Empire. Unfortunately for the American Indians, that did not happen.

Toward the end of his book Watson gets around to discussing the effect the French Revolution and the beginning of the industrial revolution had on the British people. He also reveals respectable abilities as a literary critic and an art critic of the burgeoning romantic era in British culture.

[Rob Markley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a truly excellent biography telling the sympathetic truth about one of the most controversial of kings - given the American revolution and George's subsequent madness. Proves the adage that much of the best history is written in biographies.