Industry and Empire
Britain prospered during the 18th century. Overseas territories were gained, though the American colonies were lost. The industrial revolution began. Between his evangelical conversion in 1738 and death in 1791, John Wesley preached a revivalist message to a growing group of ‘Methodist’ followers.
By the end of the century Napoleon was building his empire in Europe, but Wellington’s victory at Waterloo in 1815 made Britain the dominant power. Campaigns led by evangelical orators such as Wilberforce brought about the abolition of the slave trade in 1807 and of slavery in British colonies 26 years later. Legislation in 1828-32 began to remove many features of church establishment and the corresponding limitations on the rights of non-Anglicans. Jews were admitted to Parliament in 1858. Immigration from Ireland produced a major increase in the Catholic population.
During her long reign (1837-1901), Queen Victoria presided over a great age of industry, science, conquest, literature and public religion, both ‘high church’ and evangelical. By the beginning of the 20th century Britain had the largest navy in the world and used it to control an empire on which ‘the sun never set’. The challenge of German military power led European countries to arm themselves and to form a series of alliances, however, and these tensions led to war in 1914.