George I of Great Britain (28 May 1660 – 11 June 1727) was the King of Hanover from 1698 to 1727 and King of Great Britain from 1714 to 1727, succeeding Georg Wilhelm I of Hannover and Anne of Great Britain and preceding George II of Great Britain.
Biography[]
Georg Ludwig von Hanover was born on 28 May 1660, the son of Ernst August I of Hanover and his wife Sophia of the Palatinate. George succeeded his father as Elector of Hanover in 1698, and inherited the Duchy of Brunswick-Luneburg from his uncles. In 1708, he was ratified as Prince-Elector of Hanover, becoming the new ruler.
Due to his Lutheran faith and his power, he was made the new king of Great Britain after the death of Queen Anne I of Great Britain in 1714, and he inherited a country at war with the Kingdom of France and Spain during the War of the Spanish Succession (1700-1714). George I made peace with France and Spain to end the war, letting the French duke of Anjou inherit the Spanish throne as King Felipe V of Spain in exchange for stopping him from retaining French nobility and in exchange for his cession of Italy to the Austrian Empire. Although he was the King of Great Britain, he did not know how to speak English, as he only had knowledge of his native German.
George fought against Spain thrice after the War of the Spanish Succession: the Anglo-Spanish War (1715-1722), the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1717-1720), and the Anglo-Spanish War (1727). During his reign, he also helped to eradicate Caribbean pirates, sending pirate hunters such as Woodes Rogers to offer pirates freedom but poverty or being hung by the neck until dead as a pardon option. At this time, Britain engaged Spain in an undeclared naval war from 1715 to 1722 which ended indecisively. He died in 1727, and was succeeded by his son, George II of Great Britain.