Editing Kingdom of Great Britain (section)

=====Walpole's foreign policy=====
{{Further|International relations (1648–1814)|France–United Kingdom relations}}

Walpole secured widespread support with his policy of avoiding war.<ref>{{Citation |last=Black |first=Jeremy |title=Britain in the Age of Walpole |date=1984 |pages=144–169 |editor-last=Black |editor-first=Jeremy |chapter=Foreign Policy in the Age of Walpole |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-333-36863-3 |ol=2348433M |author-link=Jeremy Black (historian) |editor-link=Jeremy Black (historian)}}</ref> He used his influence to prevent George II from entering the [[War of the Polish Succession]] in 1733, because it was a dispute between the Bourbons and the Habsburgs. He boasted, "There are 50,000 men slain in Europe this year, and not one Englishman."{{Sfn|Robertson|1911|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=OawxAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA66 66]}} Walpole himself let others, especially [[Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend|his brother-in-law Lord Townshend]], handle foreign policy until about 1726, then took charge. A major challenge for his administration was the royal role as simultaneous ruler of Hanover, a small German state that was opposed to Prussian supremacy. George I and George II saw a French alliance as the best way to neutralise Prussia. They forced a dramatic reversal of British foreign policy, which for centuries had seen France as England's greatest enemy.{{Sfn|Black|2016}} However, the bellicose King [[Louis XIV]] died in 1715, and the regents who ran France were preoccupied with internal affairs. King [[Louis XV]] came of age in 1726, and his elderly chief minister [[André-Hercule de Fleury|Cardinal Fleury]] collaborated informally with Walpole to prevent a major war and keep the peace. Both sides wanted peace, which allowed both countries enormous cost savings, and recovery from expensive wars.<ref>{{Citation |last=Wilson |first=Arthur McCandless |title=French Foreign Policy during the Administration of Cardinal Fleury, 1726–1743: A Study in Diplomacy and Commercial Development |date=1936 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=0-837-15333-6 |ol=5703043M |author-link=Arthur McCandless Wilson}}</ref>

Henry Pelham became prime minister in 1744 and continued Walpole's policies. He worked for an end to the [[War of the Austrian Succession]].{{Sfn|Williams|1962|pages=259–270}} His financial policy was a major success once peace had been signed in 1748. He demobilised the armed forces, and reduced government spending from £12&nbsp;million to £7&nbsp;million. He refinanced the national debt, dropping the interest rate from 4% p.a. to 3% p.a. Taxes had risen to pay for the war, but in 1752 he reduced the land tax from four shillings to two shillings in the pound: that is, from 20% to 10%.<ref>{{Harvnb|Brumwell|Speck|2001|page=288}}; {{Harvnb |Marshall|1974|pages=221–227}}.</ref>