GEORGE II (GeoRGE AuGusTus), King of Great Britain, son of George I: b. Hanover, 10 Nov. 1683; d. London, 25 Oct. 1760. He mar ried in 1705 Caroline of Bradenburg-Anspach. In 1708, then electoral prince of Hanover, he distinguished himself under the command of Marlborough and fought at Oudenarde and Dettingen. He came to England with his father at the accession of the latter and was created Prince of Wales. He was made regent during the Icing's visit to the Continent in 1716, but a political difference ensuing, he lived some time estranged from the court. This breach was finally adjusted and in 1727 he succeeded to the throne. He inherited in full force the predilection of George I for Hanover; and the same system of politics and the same ministers continued to govern the nation after his accession as before it. In the earlier part of his reign during the greater part of the ministry of Walpole, the neutrality of England was preserved during the wars on the Continent. In 1739 the depredations committed by the Spaniards in America on the commerce of Eng land led to war, which brought about the resig nation of Walpole in 1742. England next took part in the war of the Austrian Succession, in which George II himself shared, being present at the battle of Dettingen in 1743. His reign is also memorable on account of the second Jacobite rising in Scotland in 1745-46, headed by Prince Charles Edward. In 1755 the dis butes between Great Britain and France in re lation to their respective boundaries in Canada produced hostilities in that country, and the Seven Years' War broke out the following year.
The events of this war, in which the principal powers of Europe became engaged, raised Great Britain to a pinnacle of power under the able auspices of Pitt (first Earl of Chatham), whose accession to power was extremely distasteful to the king and was strenuously resisted by him, but who yielded him his confidence wholly when it was once gained. George II was a prince of very moderate abilities, parsimonious and wholly regardless of science or literature; hasty and obstinate, but honest and open in his .dis position. His queen, the cultivated and well informed Caroline, acquired a great ascendency over him, which did not, however, prevent some of the irregular attachments so common with royalty. George II was the last British sovereign to appear in action. He founded the University of Gottingen in 1734 and was the patron of Handel. Consult Hervey, 'Memoirs of the Reign of George II' (1854); Walpole, 'Memoirs of the Last Ten Years of the Reign of George II' (1822-46) ; Lucas, 'George II and His Ministers' (1910) ; • Schmucker, 'His tory of the Four Georges' 0860); Thackeray, 'The Four Georges' (1860) ; Jesse, 'Memoirs of the Court of England from the Revolution of 1688 to the Death of George II' (1843) ; Wilkins, 'Caroline the Illustrious' (1904).