The Making of a Canningite

Abstract

In 1806 Palmerston entered politics against a background of overarching events that would dominate his early public life and bring Britain to the cusp of greatness. Britain had already distinguished herself from other nations as a pioneer in the Industrial Revolution. With the French Revolution’s ideological influence still shaping people’s minds, the British had launched into the second phase of the Napoleonic wars. Although Napoleon’s armies dominated the mainland of Europe, Horatio Nelson’s victory over the Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar in October 1805 meant that Britain would command the seas, thus precluding any French invasion across the Channel.