Here’s 40 Shillings in the hand,
To those brave men of Eng-land,
Take up your arms and come with me,
O’er the Hills and O’er the Sea,
O’er the Hills and O’er the Sea,
From London, York or Ger-many,
We’ll fight and die for liberty,
O’er the Hills and O’er the Sea,
And though our fight is tough and long,
Let no good man forget this song,
And good let all true Britons be,
When O’er the Hills and O’er the sea
O’er the Hills and O’er the Sea,
From London, York or Ger-many,
We’ll fight and die for liberty,
O’er the Hills and O’er the Sea,
Prologue - True Love
Extract From: The Rise and Fall of the Hanoverians: The Crown 1714-1779
Chapter 19: The Decline - Dr Peter Pate
The Decline of the German House of Hannover is charted by almost every historian to inability of William IV[1] to sire a son.
In the 1750’s young William (Or George, as he was then known) was prince and heir of Great Britain, who young and unmarried was one of the most desired bachelors in the Europe. Despite advice from many close councilors and proposals from various German princesses, the prince married his “true love” Lady Sarah Lennox[2], sister of the Duke of Richmond. Whilst George himself was smitten with the woman he had been repeatedly advised against the marriage by his then closest advisor, John Stuart, Earl of Bute. Bute and the Prince argued over the marriage for many months until in December 1759, Stuart stormed out of the capital and returned to Scotland, where he would remain until his death ten years later[3]. When King George heard of the marriage he was initially displeased but accepted the union; Lady Lennox was highborn enough that the marriage would not cause controversy and both the King (under advise from Pitt and Parliament) and Prince were keen to seem more “British” and less Hanoverian. William and Lady Lennox married on the 3rd of February 1760 in the Chapel Royal at St James’ Palace. The marriage was reported to be a happy and loving one and within three months, Queen Sarah was announced as pregnant. The nation was abuzz and had taken a fond liking to their new Queen and, as a side effect, Prince William, who until this point had been seen as slovenly and foreign. Throughout 1760 the King’s health declined at an ever increasing rate and though his spirits appeared to be raised somewhat by the announcement that his grandson would soon be a father, King George II passed away on the 15th of June.
Queen Sarah
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[1] Not OTL William IV but George III, he is known colloquially as William and very rarely called George.
[2] Our Primary POD
[3]Either a secondary POD or a very important butterfly.
Extract from: Britain during the Six Years War - Arthur Kornignes
When William took the throne in 1760, Britain was in a somewhat precarious situation; though The Seven Years War had been, in effect, won in the North American Theater it raged heavily in Europe. Britain’s Prussian ally had seen several defeats against the Russian and Austrian Empires whilst Britain herself had been fending off French Invasion forces.
The new King seemed to be slightly lost when it came to politics, his oldest friend and advisor, the Earl of Bute, would not return from Scotland and without his advice, Williams views changed rapidly and dramatically. Following a month of indecision and inaction, King William grew close to William Pitt, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Pitt was convinced that a strong alliance with the Prussians and decisive measures being taken against the French would allow Britain to best excerpt it’s influence and grow it’s budding empire.
William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham - One of William’s Closest Friends and Advisors
King William was keen to show loyalty to his continental allies and so made plans to launch a large scale counterattack into France, in an attempt to knock them out of the war entirely[1]. Thirty Thousand new recruits were gathered from across Britain and added to the command of the Duke of Brunswick. The French had made several minor advances into Hannover, believing that it’s conquest could be used to offset their losses elsewhere. During the British reorganisation the French won a minor victory at Arnsberg in August 1760, where the ~90,000 strong French force routed a small group of 10,000 Anglo-German troops. Many now believe this victory to have been, if anything, detrimental to the French cause, as it roused support for the war in the Houses of Parliament.
The War in India was won in early January 1761, when the French regional capital of Pondicherry fell. This would mark the true end of any substantial French influence in India and the beginning of British hegemony over the Eastern Half of the subcontinent.
With the British force finally assembled in the September of that year it stood at almost 100,000 men (In my earlier work; British Military Successes 1700-2000, I put my estimate at 96,500[2]). This force would move south and smash the French army at the Battle of Hamm (21st of September 1760), killing the French Generals Broglie and Rohan and scattering the force. Taking almost 10,000 prisoners and very few casualties, the Battle is seen as the turning point of the war. From here the Duke of Brunswick scored another crushing victory at Saarbrucken in mid-October in and began small forays into France. It was not until the March of the following year however, that Brunswick would cross the border and win a third and final victory at Bar-de-Luc on April 9th. The French had seen their armies crushed across three continents and had little to gain from the war and much to lose; the threat to Paris as well as France’s even more crushing naval defeat at the Battle of Gibraltar was enough to draw them to the negotiating table. As the Anglo-German army marched west the French Government called for a ceasefire with the British Government in late April.
The now famous painting: The Battle of Saarbrucken
Meeting in Reims, France agreed to a separate peace with both Great Britain and Prussia; Status-Quo-Ante-Bellum in Europe with France surrendering all of her North American territories, bar her Caribbean holdings, to Great Britain. this included New France and the Canadian holding as well as the entirety of Louisiana[3]. Another blow to the french was being forced to accept British hegemony over India, with the provision that French traders be allowed to operate under the supervision of the British East India Company. Pondicherry and the rest of the French bases in India were transferred to the control of the British East India Company. The Treaty of Reims would be hailed as a turning point in both British and American history, setting the stage for the Rebellion of the Thirteen and the French Anarchy.
Though the war still raged in Europe, Britain pledged to stand by it's ally until a peace was struck, which it soon would be.
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[1]OTL it was George’s dislike of his Hanoverian Heritage and the advice of Bute who turned him away from the war, one of those factors is diminished here and the over irrelevant.
[2]As opposed to OTL’s 65,000
[3]The Brits can claim more land with a quicker and much mroe decisive war in Europe.