long eighteenth century

{{Short description|Period in history from 1688 to 1815}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}

The long eighteenth century is a phrase used by historians to cover a more natural historical period than the simple use of the standard calendar definition of the eighteenth century (1 January 1701 to 31 December 1800). They expand the century to include larger British and Western European historical movements, with their subsequent "long" 18th century typically running from the Glorious Revolution and the beginning of the Nine Years' War in 1688 to the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815.{{cite book | last1=Olsen |first1=John Andreas |first2=Colin S. |last2=Gray | title=The Practice of Strategy: From Alexander the Great to the Present |publisher=Oxford University Press| year=2011 | isbn=9780199608638}}{{cite book | last = Baines | first = Paul | title = The Long 18th century | publisher=Arnold | location = London | year = 2004 | isbn = 978-0-340-81372-0 }} Other definitions, perhaps those with a more social or global interest, extend the period further to, for example, from the Stuart Restoration in 1660 to the end of the Georgian era.{{cite book | author=O'Gorman, Frank | title=The Long Eighteenth Century: British Political and Social History 1688–1832 (The Arnold History of Britain Series) | publisher=Hodder Arnold | year=1997 | isbn=978-0-340-56751-7 | oclc=243883533 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/longeighteenthce0000ogor }}{{cite book | last=Marshall |first=P. J.| title=Oxford History of the British Empire. Volume II: The Eighteenth Century |publisher=Oxford University Press| year=2001 | isbn=978-0-19-924677-9 | oclc=174866045 |chapter=Introduction |page=1}} Possibly the earliest proponent of the long eighteenth century was Sir John Robert Seeley, who in 1883 defined the eighteenth century as "the period which begins with the Revolution of 1688 and ends with the peace of 1815".[https://archive.org/details/expansionofengla00seeluoft/page/22/mode/2up J. R. Seeley, The Expansion of England; Two Courses of Lectures, second edn. (London: Macmillan, 1914), 25].

The Institute of Historical Research hosts a seminar series on "British History in the Long 18th Century".{{Cite web |date=2011-10-23 |title=British History in the Long 18th Century {{!}} Institute of Historical Research |url=https://www.history.ac.uk/seminars/british-history-long-18th-century |access-date=2024-05-10 |website=www.history.ac.uk |language=en}}