A reappraisal of the links between Hanover and Great Britain, highlighting their previously un-explored importance.

Excerpt from A Full and Candid Answer to a Pamphlet, Entitled, Considerations on the Present German War There is undoubtedly a principle of political, asfwell as OT commercial, arithmetic; but the data of the former are extremely hard to be fet tled. The Confiderer goes to work'in the Cheap fide way; he pofis his books, he firikes his ba lance, but he does not give weight for 1nches, though he brings forth a melt plaufible account. I will venture tofay, that hif'tory cannot pro duce a period of glory that is not liable to excep tion, if thofe mechanical calculations are to take place. From the time, fays the Confiderer, when the whole of France was united to the crown, and the liberties of the {tates and nobility abfolutely (objected to its power, the kingdom of France has been, in the extent of its country, the num ber of its inhabitants, and the greatnefs of its revenue, fuperior to Brita1n. I admit that France, in the extent of its country, and the number of its inhabitants. Is fuper1or to Great Britain; but that its revenue is equal, I totally deny. Great-britain, properly (peaking, has no re venue that is fixed or fettled And let the Con fiderer authent1cate the revenues of France for lthefe two years pad, and reduce the'revenue, or rather the expences o'f our government, durin that t1me, to French money; let the meanefl and. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

In the eighteenth century, Britain became a world superpower through a series of sensational military strikes. Traditionally, the Royal Navy has been seen as Britain's key weapon, but in Three Victories and a Defeat Brendan Simms argues that Britain's true strength lay with the German aristocrats who ruled it at the time. The House of Hanover superbly managed a complex series of European alliances that enabled Britain to keep the continental balance of power in check while dramatically expanding her own empire. These alliances sustained the nation through the War of the Spanish Succession, the War of the Austrian Succession, and the Seven Years' War. But in 1776, Britain lost the American continent by alienating her European allies. An extraordinary reinterpretation of British and American history, Three Victories and a Defeat is a masterwork by a rising star of the historical profession.