The long reign of George III covered sixty very eventful years.
During that time England lost her possessions in America, but gained
India and prepared the way for getting possession of New Zealand and
Australia. During that period, also, Ireland was united to Great
Britain. The wars with France, which lasted more than twenty years,
ended in the great naval victory of Trafalgar and the still greater
victory on the battlefield of Waterloo. In consequence of these wars,
with that of the American Revolution, the National Debt of Great
Britain rose to a height which rendered the burden of taxation
well-nigh insupportable.
The second war with the United States in 1812 made America independent
on the sea, and eventually compelled England to give up her assumed
right to search American vessels. The two greatest reforms of the
period were the abolition of the slave trade and the mitigation of the
laws against debt and crime; the chief material improvement was the
extension of canals and the application of steam to manufacturing and
to navigation. The "Industrial Revolution" transformed the North of
England.