The succeeding monarch, George I (1714-1727), was chosen on the basis of the mentioned Act of Settlement.

The new king marked the beginning of the new dynasty - the Hannoverian, as well as the decline of the monarch's role in the country. The actual decision making in the daily running of the country would be made by the Cabinet (the government elected from the Parliament), made up of ministers of the king, headed by a primary minister (Prime Minister).
The first prime minister of Great Britain was Sir Robert Walpole.

The following king, George II (1727-60), exercised even less power over the running of the country (as was the case with the subsequent monarchs).
With time the Prime Minister was able to appoint ministers of the Cabinet even against the will of the king.

In the middle of the 18th century Great Britain witnessed the beginning of Industrial Revolution which drastically changed the socioeconomy of the country.

In the years 1756-63 a military conflict with France took place, known as the Seven Year's War (by the Americans referred to as The French and Indian War) - often seen as the continuation of the War of the Austrian Succession.
Although the war was very expensive for the national budget, and took many lives, it proved to be so successful that, virtually for the first time, that Britain truly became a 'world power'.
The war was waged over the colonial territories and the consequent success lead to Britain's becoming the world's superpower.
The war was strongly supported by one of the Cabinet's ministers (soon to become another Prime Minister) - William Pitt (the Elder), who assumed that in order to foster Britain's economy new markets need to be secured.

King George III (1760-1820), who took over the throne during the conflict, was the first Hannoverian king to be born in Britain and speak English as his native language. He wished the war to be over, however it was already up to the Cabinet to make such decisions.

The rapid development of colonisation was taking place since the 17th century. With new British colonies appearing in the West Indies (Carribean), North America, India, and later in the Antipodes.
The British colonies were ususally chartered by the monarch to private companies, e.g. the British East India Company.

Soon after the Seven Year's War tensions between the British government and the colonists in North America began to grow.
Among the reason for open conflict was taxation which was to cover the military expenses of the British government. King George III also tried to curb the extent of colonisation into the American continent, as it was more and more expensive to cover the costs of security and protection for the colonists.

The American Revolution took place in the years 1775-83. After several years of indecisive battles on various fronts (the American War of Independence) the British troops in America surrendered and the British Parliament voted to end the war. The conflict was formally ended by the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

Meanwhile in Britain the liberal tendencies grew. An outward criticism of the monarch's policy (namely criticism of the king's Prime Ministers) by a Whig MP John Wilkes was met with initial punishment, however, the MP managed to gain popular support, was continuously re-elected to the House of Commons, and won court cases. Wilkes became a living symbol of liberty, freedom of speech and individual rights.

In 1800 the Act of Union was passed by the Parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland formally creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (from 1 January 1801).

The development of the Industrial Revolution stimulated to development of urban life. However, many people were moved from the countryside to the cities by force.
The procedure which pushed them away from their lands was referred to as enclosure.

At the time of the beginning of automatisation of work a group of people known as the Luddites started to cause riots trying to destroy the machines which, according to them, threatened their jobs.

The French revolution which started in 1789 was an event which considerably frightened the higher and middle classes of Britain. In order to prevent them a series of legislative acts, often referred to as Factory Acts, were passed in order to relieve the workers.

With the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte's power the United Kingdom eventually took side against France. The Napoleonic Wars turned out to be successful for the UK, particularly due to merits of such figures as Horatio Nelson, and Duke of Wellington.
However, despite the victory, the economy of the UK after the Napoleonic Wars was threatened by crisis. It stemmed from the fact that the war-time production was no longer necessary, which put many companies out of business, and also that suddenly a large mass of soldiers and sailors were rendered jobless.

One of the less fortunate decisions of the UK's government was to introduce the Corn Laws, which were supposed to protect the domestic agricultural market, while in consequence lead to the growth of the prices of bread and cereals.

A series of Reform Acts (Reform Bills) were passed by the Parliament of the UK, starting with the initial, most awaited one, in 1832.
The Reform Acts gave the right to vote to further groups of people, while at the same time reorganised the system of voting and the system of constituencies.

The slow pace of widening of the franchise lead in mid 19th century to the development of the Chartist Movement which proposed a People's Charter. Its idea was generally to grant further civil rights to more people.

It was not until the rule of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) that a more influential monarch took the throne of the United Kingdom. Her time of reign was so impressively long that the whole of the second half of the 19th century is often referred to as the Victorian Time. The term "Victorian" is also used to denominate a style of architecture, literature, clothes, and even morality.