The 7 Years war in Western Germany and the defeat of France's ambitions to invade the British Isles in 1759.   France invades Hannover 6 times, 5 times very unsuccessfully despite always having a substantial numerical advantage,   We spend considerable time looking at the battle of Minden in 1759.   We take a look at Spain's attempted 3 pronged invasion of Portugal, defeated by the people in arms and a small, but plucky and determined British-Portuguese force.

Then there is a long discussion of the problems the end of the war caused in America.  With the problematic nature of the relationship of the mother country to the colonies discussed,   These issues were masked before the 7 Years War but come into the open as the question of how to handle the relatively minor cost (214,000 pounds per year) of protecting British North America suddenly becomes a salient issue.  There will be two more episodes on this.

We also cover Henry Fox, the most corrupt man in 18th century Britain?