The Hanoverian or Georgian period takes its name from four successive kings — George I, II, III and IV — who reigned from 1714 to 1830. George I, who arrived from Hanover in Germany speaking little English, allowed his ministers to take the lead in government. Sir Robert Walpole, head of the Treasury from 1721 to 1742, is generally regarded as the first Prime Minister of Great Britain.
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During this period the British Empire grew rapidly; the Industrial Revolution began; Britain lost its American colonies after the War of Independence (1775–1783); and the country fought a long war against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. The classical architecture of Bath, Edinburgh New Town and London's squares was a Georgian creation.
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