Summary

The Hanover dynasty was the German ruling house that succeeded the Stuarts on the British throne in the eighteenth century and presided over a major period of British imperial, parliamentary, and industrial development.

Historical role

It matters because Hanoverian rule coincided with the growth of Britain as a global power and with major changes in the balance between monarchy, cabinet government, and parliament.

Connections

Useful for linking dynastic succession, Britain and Hanover, imperial expansion, and the political development of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.