Politics and Foreign Policy in the Age of George I, 1714–1727

Book excerpt: Through its focus on the relationship between foreign and domestic politics, this book provides a new perspective on the events of George I's reign (1714-27). Based on a wealth of British and foreign primary sources, Black links diplomacy to domestic politics to show that foreign policy was a key aspect of government as well as the leading battleground both for domestic politics and for ministerial rivalries. As a result he demonstrates how party identities in foreign policy were not marginal, to either policy or party, but, instead, central to both.