Book Description

The eleven essays in this volume entail three broad themes, first, the dynamics of national policy making during the Hanoverian period: secondly, the role of diplomats in the formulation as well as execution of foreign policy: thirdly, the political impact of the press. Cabinets regularly led by dukes who engaged in arcane maneuvers such as forcing the Closet spread a musty scent of the antique over eighteenth-century politics. Yet the era was also the forcing ground of modern society and no period in British history now has so exciting or controversial a historiography. Globalization, industrialization, the rise of nationalism, imperialism, the emergence of a free press, and numerous other vital themes reverberate among what was once seen as a time veiled in cobwebs. Karl Schweizer's essays illuminate a number of the most important issues currently under scrutiny by historians. Many of his pieces are focused around the crucial decades of the mid-century when the monarchy, parliamentary government, the shaping of public opinion, the conduct of war, and diplomacy were all being tested and reshaped. Not only does his work illuminate these problems in new ways, but also his masterly