The Entire History of the Seven Years' War

when you think of world wars you probably picture the two conflicts that defined the first half of the 20th century however just over 150 years earlier in the middle of the 18th century the world witnessed the outbreak of what could arguably be considered the first truly global conflict in human history across nearly every corner of the globe from Europe to North America and the Caribbean to India the nations of Great Britain France Austria Prussia Russia Spain Sweden and Portugal along with countless Native American and Indian allies fought to determine not only who would hold the

balance of power in Europe but who would rise to become the dominant colonial power on the world stage this series of events which lasted from 1756 to 1763 saw old alliances break down and new powers rise to prominence but how did a small Skirmish over a territorial dispute on the American frontier escalate into becoming the world's first truly global conflict this is the history of the 7 years war the causes of the 7 years war lay in the outcomes of the 18th Century's prior conflicts which pitted the two dynastic powerhouses of the age the borbon

kings of France and the Habsburg dynasty of Austria against one another for the past 50 years each side had sought to assert its dominance over the continent and tip the balance of power in Europe in its favor in the most recent conflict the war of the Austrian succession fought from 1740 to 1748 the belligerent had aligned themselves according to the time oned alliance system that had governed European politics throughout the late 17th and early 18th centuries France his traditional enemies Austria and Great Britain had coalesced as they had done on previous occasions and were joined

by the German electorate of Hanover which was ruled in personal Union with Britain under the Georgian Kings the Dutch Republic as well as Russia on the other hand Prussia the leading anti-austrian state in Germany aligned itself with France and was joined by Spain and Sweden as well as Saxony and Sardinia though these two would later switch sides the war itself was largely inconclusive having been fought to determine who should rightly inherit the Austrian Throne which ultimately remained in the hands of Empress Maria Theresa the only notable territorial change was the prosperous province of salesia which

passed from Austrian hands into those of the Prussian King Frederick the great although the war ended in 1748 with the signing of the Treaty of eek SL Chappelle it failed to resolve many of the underlying tensions between the signat and in many ways created further grounds for dispute with the agreed peace terms by 1756 however the alliance system of the past 50 years had begun to unravel anti-british sentiment had taken hold in the Imperial Court of Vienna after tensions arose over London's demands for the protection of Hanover and Vienna's counterarguments for the protection of the

Austria Netherlands from any future French aggression additionally Maria Teresa was fur I over Britain's acceptance of the territorial losses inflicted on Austria as stipulated in the Treaty of eek slel this led to Austria breaking its alliance with London and surprisingly developing closer relations with the traditional enemy the French King Lou V 15th the Dutch Republic which was no longer threatened by France due to the Franco Austrian Alliance did not have to serve in Britain's interest anymore and so declared itself neutral however King George II of Britain now needed a continental Ally to protect his hanovarian

lands from any future French threats and so we turn to Prussia under King Frederick the great for support a secret Alliance was formed between the two whereby Britain would provide financial support to Prussia in return for its commitments to defending Hanover conversely prussia's strategic objectives were to protect its claim over Silesia and expand its territory further eastwards towards the border of the Russian Empire ruled by Empress Elizabeth in response to this Prospect of Prussian aggression Russia maintained its alliance with Austria to counter the threat posed by Frederick the great this diplomatic Revolution shifted the balance

of power in Europe along new lines which would ultimately lead to the outbreak of War once again these political tensions however were not solely confined to Europe the 18th century had seen a dramatic surge in the colonial Ambitions of many European powers but none more so than Britain and France these two nations would fan the Flames of conflict around the world to wherever their overseas interests collided on the Indian subcontinent both the British and French had already established their respective East India companies to trade in the highly prized spices textiles and precious objects of the

region which were shipped back to Europe where they could fetch a fortune although they were officially formed as trading businesses they served to project British and French influence by proxy across the region by winning favor among local Indian rulers and where necessary enforcing their trading operations through military force both companies had created their own private armies consisting of local Indian soldiers as well as imported European troops and were extensively deployed in a series of conflicts known as the carnatic wars these localized conflicts often overlapped with the formerly declared Wars in Europe such as the most

recent War of the Austrian succession it was in North America however where the greatest friction between the two Colonial Powers was felt and where ultimately the first shots of the S Years War would be fired for well over a century Britain and France had carved out their own dominion across the continent which by the mid 18th century had grown into several prosperous colonies the British had focused their efforts along the Eastern Seaboard with the 13 colonies stretching from Georgia in the South to Maine in the north as well as the recently acquired Canadian provinces of

Nova Scotia and New Foundland which had been seeded from France in a previous conflict in 174 the French meanwhile laid claim to a vast sthe of territory incp ing the St Lawrence River the great lakes and much of the Mississippi River Basin down towards the Gulf of Mexico the exact boundaries between the two respective possessions were ill defined but the French were determined to prevent any British settlers from encroaching westwards and so constructed a series of forts predominantly in the Ohio River Valley to assert their claim over the territory the most contentious of these fortifications

to be built was that of Fort duken in 1754 located in what is now present day Pittsburgh the British initially tried to resolve what they perceived as an infringement onto their territory through peaceful means but after their protestations fell on deaf ears they decided to dispatch a small number of colonial troops alongside native allies to drive the French out by force the commanding officer of the expedition was a 21-year-old leftenant colonel in the Virginia regiment named George Washington who would go W to become the first president of the United States of America in later life

Washington's men marched to the vicinity of Fort the Ken where they subsequently ambushed a small party of French Colonial troops in the Battle of jumonville Glenn on the 28th of May 1754 the French retaliated just over one week later by attacking Washington's men at fought necessity on the 3rd of July forcing them to surrender although the S Years War would not officially commence for another 2 years these small skirmishes In the Backwoods of North America formed the first engagements of a regional conflict known as the French and Indian War and would be seen as the

spark that would ignite The Wider global war that was to come news spread slowly in the 18th century but word of the fighting in the colonies eventually made its way to Britain in August accounts of the engagements varied widely owing to unverified reports of the events themselves which led to sensationalized republishing that pointed the finger of blame at one side or the other such a lack of credible information was common for the period but sadly these lack practices continued to blight news and media coverage even in the 21st century fortunately however there now exists a

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state of unofficial War then existed between Britain and France with neither side offering a solution to the escalating situation both Nations sent troops to North America in anticipation of the conflict to come the first major British action was the assault on Acadia on the 16th of June 17 55 which was immediately followed by the expulsion of the French populace across the territory in July British Major General Edward bradock LED around 2,000 troops and provincial militia on a mission to retake Fort buen but the Expedition ended in disastrous defeat with bradoock himself being mortally wounded further

engagements saw the British and French meet at the inconclusive Battle of Lake George in September of that year meanwhile at se the British began to harass French shipping Admiral Edward bosan fired on the French ship ALC on the 8th of June capturing it and two troop transports that were making their way to reinforce the colony in Quebec the British also seized hundreds of merchant ships captured thousands of sailors and set up blockades around French ports all while the two nations were nominally at peace France responded to these provocations in the April of 17 1956 by

launching an invasion of the British held island of Minorca in the Mediterranean Britain finally declared war on France on the 17th of May and dispatched a naval Task Force Under the command of Admiral John Bing to relieve the besieged Garrison after fighting an indecisive battle Bing withdrew and Minorca subsequently fell to the French news of the failure to relieve the island caused uproar back in Britain and would ultimately cost Bing his life he was later Court marshal for failing to do his utmost against the enemy and was executed by firing squad in the following year

France eventually declared war on Britain in June although the main theater of the conflict in Europe would only break out because of the tensions between Prussia and Austria over the status of Silesia the austrians were determined to retake the territory whilst Frederick the great was determined to keep it having already secured his much needed alliance with Britain Frederick moved preemptively and invaded Saxony in August 1756 which at the time was Allied with Austria and France Frederick's Grand strategy was to deliver a swift knockout blow to the austrians by advancing through Saxony and into Austrian territory

in Bohemia all before any threat from Russia could materialize to the east his plans however did not go accordingly at the Battle of lits on the 1st of October an Austrian force of 33,000 men under General maximilan ulyses Brown managed to repel Frederick's Advance as a result the prussians became tied down and spent the next year trying to make a breakthrough in Bohemia they came very close to doing so at the Battle of Prague in May 1757 but were repelled again at the subsequent Battle of Colin in June with the Prussian Army now concentrated against

the austrians the French took the opportunity to March into Hanover and occupied much of King George II's German Homeland the Duke distr defeated the hanovarian Army led by the youngest son of the British king the Duke of Cumberland at the Battle of hastenbeck in July in the end Hanover was effectively forced to capitulate early in the war by signing the convention of cluster zean meanwhile to the east the Russian forces had mobilized and advanced into East Ria under the command of field Marshal aaen taking the Fortress of meml this wave of Prussian defeats forced them

to retreat into their own territory which in turn presented an opportunity for other anti-russian European states to take advantage of their now weakened position Sweden subsequently declared war on Prussia on the 22nd of September and invaded Pomerania with 177,000 men towards the end of 1757 Prussia face threats on all fronts despite this seemingly inescapable position however Frederick the great managed to pull off a series of perfectly executed Maneuvers that brought about a reversal in prussia's fortunes which were nothing short of military genius first he devastated a combined French German Army at the Battle of rosbach

on the 5th of November despite being outnumbered almost 2 to one he then turned about and routed a similarly numerically Superior Austrian Force at the Battle of luthan the following month further solidifying his reputation as one of Europe's greatest military commanders finally he turned North driving the swedes out of Prussian territory and occupying Swedish Pomerania in the process while the initial salvos in the war were being fired in Europe military developments were also underway in India the region was still largely ruled by the indigenous powers of the time with the move Empire in the north

the sultanate of myor in the South and the maratha Confederacy in the central parts of the subcontinent the British and French East India companies Had Each established their own enclaves throughout the region such as at P cherry and the coramandel coast in the case of the French whereas the British held Madras Bombay and Kolkata the Battle of plassy fought in the northeast of India on the 23rd of June 1757 came to to be the first notable engagement of the conflict and one which had enormous consequences a small contingent of British East India Company troops led

by a young officer named Robert Clive along with several thousand Indian allies defeated an army of 50,000 under the command of the local Bengal ruler SJ udah the bengalis were aided by a small French Detachment but nevertheless suffered a cataclysmic defeat at the hands of the British who subsequently established their control over the wider Bengal region thereafter Clive and other company officials began expanding aggressively across the rest of the subcontinent although the French captured calor their Siege of Madras failed allowing the British under sir air C to decisively defeat the remaining French forces at the

Battle of wonderwash in 1760 Ponder Cherry would later fall in 1761 which would effectively bring about the decline of French influence in India all together as the first phases of conflict were unfolding across Europe and India the war that had already begun in North America continued to gain Pace the French had initially gained the upper hand in the Fighting by capturing Fort Oswego in 1756 and Fort William Henry in 1757 but thereafter the superior numbers of the British began to make a difference the colonial population of the 13 colonies by the late 1750s was around

2 million people while that of New France was barely 100,000 once the initial fores had been launched and the British had mobilized the full support of their colonists the French stood stood little chance of emerging Victorious by 1758 the British had secured their western frontier by capturing Fort duen and for Frontenac and had begun to take the fight to the French colonies in Canada The Fortress of Lou Borg was captured in July of that year but not before the French had managed to thwart a British Overland Advance through Upstate New York at the Battle of

Kon which would prove to be the bloodiest battle fought in the North American Theater of the war this turnaround in British military fortunes was largely owed to the emergence of William pit the new secretary of state in London he proposed a strategy that would seek to tie up the French in a costly land war in Europe by providing vast sums of financial aid to Britain's Ally in the form of Prussia whilst the Royal Navy with a few accompanying Army detachments would be deployed to attack French ports in a series of raids known as descents assaults

were carried out against the town of rfor in 1757 and cherborg in 1758 but were of limited and mixed success it was therefore decided instead to focus on France's more lucrative and exposed overseas possessions the French controlled sugar producing colonies in the Caribbean were incredibly valuable in terms of the revenues they generated for the nation's coffers so much so that the two islands of guadaloop and martinque were worth more to the French economically than the whole of New France in November 1758 8 ships of the line were dispatched to the Caribbean with the objective of

seizing martinque but but after determining that it was too well defended they instead sailed on to guadaloop in January 1759 despite tropical disease breaking out and decimating the British troops the island was eventually captured in the spring although it would be another 3 years before martinque was taken the war had also expanded to the continent of Africa by this point after the British Center filla to capture Fort Louie and the French slave trading stations in what is now senagal in April 1758 back in Europe the British government had managed to persuade King George II to

disregard the treaty that had seen Hanover surrender in the previous September and had it re-enter the war Britain also dispatched some 9,000 troops to reinforce the hanovarian Army now under the command of Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick who succeeded in driving the French from the territory by the spring of 1758 in e Europe the Russians had seized control of East Prussia during the winter and were now threatening to advance into prussia's Heartland further to the West Frederick the great mastered an army of 35,000 men to meet the Russians at the Battle of zorf on the 25th

of August the engagement ultimately proved inconclusive and extremely costly with the Russian army of just over 4,000 led by vilhelm Von Fermor failing to break through the Prussian lines costing both sides in excess of 10,000 men killed or wounded the lack of a major Breakthrough by either side in the war so far however would come to an end as a result of Britain's efforts in the year 1759 the British knew that they could never match the strength of the French army on land and vice versa the French knew that they could not challenge the might

of the royal Navy on the high seas despite this impass the French orchestrated a plan for an amphibious assault and invasion of Britain which would involve sailing an army across the channel in flat bottomed boats and landing on the south coast of England William pit became aware of the French intentions and ordered the Royal Navy's admiralty to eliminate any possibility of an invasion whatsoever consequently in August that year a British Squadron under the command of Edward bosan scattered the French Mediterranean Fleet at the Battle of Lagos then on the 20th of November at the Battle

of kuon bay Admiral Edward Hawk with 24 ships of the line engaged the French breast Fleet sinking capturing and forcing many of them ground thereby putting an end to the threat of a French invasion of Britain victory at kbron Bay came on top of numerous other French defeats in 1759 in New France the British won a pivotal victory at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham on the 13th of September where some 4,000 British troops under the command of Major General James wolf clashed with a force of French soldiers led by leftenant General Lou Joseph

deok just outside the city of Quebec although the British emerged Victorious wolf himself was mortally wounded in the fighting and likewise so was the French commander montc who died of his wounds in the battles aftermath the British capture of Quebec paved the way for the wider conquest of Canada in the years that followed which subsequently ended the French Empire in North America altogether the year 1759 would henceforth become known as an anus mirabilis a miracle year in British history owing to the wave of successes it achieved over its Arch Colonial rival despite the British successes

in 1759 things did not go so well for their Prussian allies defeats at the Battle of K in July at the hands of the Russians and the surrender of an entire Prussian Corp of 13,000 men to the austrians at the Battle of Maxon in November were highly damaging but the biggest and most costly Prussian defeat of that year and one which nearly ended Frederick the Great's reign as king came on the 12th of August 50,000 prussians met a combined Austrian Russian army of 60,000 men led by Ernst Von Lowden and piotra salikov at the Battle

of of kdor both sides struggled in the difficult terrain resulting in one of the bloodiest battles to be fought in Europe during that era upwards of 40,000 troops were killed or wounded in the pass and the Prussian Army collapsed into an undisciplined mess fortunately for Frederick he was able to escape with some of his troops owing to an uneasy Alliance existing between Austria and Russia which manifested in the latter not committing their troops to pursue the fleeing prussians it therefore fell to the austrians to follow up on the victory at kunersdorf by seizing Prussian territory

despite the first half of 1760 bringing yet more defeats with the austrians winning the Battle of landit in June and the swedes retaking parts of Pomerania Frederick nevertheless managed to regroup his forces and made a stand at the Battle of lits on the 15th of August 1760 there he inflicted a crushing defeat on Von lowden's Army despite being outnumbered 3 to one by this point in the war every government involved was feeling the stress of maintaining the fight over several years the war from 1760 onwards ended a period of stalemate and although each side continued

to field armies to try and make a breakthrough most realized that a major victory would not be forthcoming as a result most sought to disentangle themselves and establish peace on the best terms possible the only exception to this sentiment came from Spain which despite being ruled by the house of bourbon the same Royal line that ruled France had thus far remained neutral in the conflict matters changed however in 1759 when King Charles III ascended to the Spanish Throne he was more inclined to intervene in the war particularly after France suffered major reversals in the Americas

Charles was fearful that if Britain managed to establish a more dominant position in North America and the Caribbean it would soon be trying to acquire Spain's possessions in the new world thus he began adopting a more pro- French STS which by 1762 resulted in diplomatic tensions between London and Madrid escalating to the point where the British declared war on Spain Portugal an ally of Britain also joined the fight and subsequently declared war on its Iberian neighbor three Ma major military operations then occurred almost simultaneously across different parts of the world first a British Expedition set

sail in March 1762 under the command of Admiral George pook it wound its way through the Caribbean in April Gathering other ships and troops in the West Indies before launching an attack on the Spanish controlled island of Cuba in June the British laid Siege to Havana with some 30,000 men over a 10-week period before the City finally fell in mid August by then another expeditionary force of a dozen ships and 10,000 troops under vice admiral Sir Samuel Cornish was bearing down another of Spain's possessions on the far side of the world the Philippines after a

brief Siege the governor general Archbishop Manuel Roo surrendered Manila to the British in early October finally back in Europe the Spanish and French had launched a combined invasion of Portugal in the spring of 1762 but despite an immense numerical and strategic Advantage the Franco Spanish Army was repulsed by a combined Anglo Portuguese force on three separate occasions the last taking place in early November thus by the winter of 1762 less than a year after Britain and Spain had gone to war the latter had lost its foremost City in the Caribbean as well as the Philippines

to British forces additionally Spanish efforts to occupy Portugal which should have been a relatively easy target had failed meaning that Spain was effectively defeated in just 10 months the other major development of 1762 was Russia's switching of Allegiance in the previous year the Russians had managed to capture the port of Colberg on the Baltic Coast which subsequently allowed their troops to receive supplies by sea rather than bya the greatly overstretched land route this to swing the balance of power decisively against Frederick the Great Britain even began to speculate that a total Prussian collapse was imminent

and pressured Frederick to consider offering concessions to secure a more favorable peace then suddenly on the 5th of January 1762 the Russian Empress Elizabeth died and with her went the staunch anti-russian sentiment that had dominated Russian foreign policy for the past 20 years her death was followed by the accession of Peter III and then Katherine the Great in quick succession both Peter and Katherine had been born in Germany and had sympathies with the Prussian cause which completely changed Russia's stance in the war under Peter III's brief 7-month Reign Russia abandoned its Austrian Ally and joined

with Prussia and Britain by the summer of 1762 Frederick the great was in receipt of Russian contingents of troops and had to secured a peace treaty with Sweden which transformed the war in Europe Frederick then went on the offensive and recaptured much of cesia the Russians now under the rule of Katherine the Great having helped Frederick retake lost territory then exited the war meanwhile the long-standing British Naval blockade of French pts had by now sapped the morale of the French populace and the recent exit of both Sweden and Russia from the war in conjunction with

Frederick's retaking of salesia convinced King Louis the 15th that his War objectives were no longer obtainable he therefore made peace with Frederick and withdrew from prussia's reinand territories thereby ending France's involvement in the war in Germany by late 1762 concerted negotiations were underway to bring the wider War to an end they culminated in two separate peace treaties signed within days of each other in February 1763 the Treaty of hubertusburg concerned the war in Central Europe between Prussia and Austria and essentially returned the possessions of each Nation back to their pre-war borders 5 days prior to

the signing of this the Treaty of Paris had been conducted between the French and Spanish on one side and the British and Portuguese on the other there was no doubt that this was an unequivocal victory for Britain with France having seeded all its territory in North America east of the Mississippi River to them the territory to the west of this in Louisiana was given to the Spanish in exchange for the British receiving Florida France's colonies in the Caribbean were nevertheless restored evidencing just how valuable they were when faced with the choice between relinquishing control of

New France or giving up martinque and guadaloop the terms of the treaty were less clear on India though the British East India Company was now clearly the dominant foreign power in the region the French did however continue to have a small presence on the subcontinent that would persist for the next two centuries aside from the territorial changes the conclusion of the S Years War resulted in wider political and socioeconomic developments that would define the remaining years of the 18th century All Nations had been virtually bankrupted by the war although Britain especially needed to recoup the

costs it had incurred from defending the 13 colonies consequently a new system of Taxation was introduced to raise treasury revenues in North America however this angered many colonists as they had no political representation in the British Parliament and could not legitimately protest their grievances within 12 years the American colonies had erupted into open rebellion and having witness the British successes that had been achieved in the previous conflict many nations within Europe now viewed Britain as being a greater threat than France when the American Revolutionary War turned into a wider conflict between 1778 and 1783 Britain

found itself standing alone against a coalition of Nations who were determined to redress the balance of power once more