7 The Seven Years War

Seminar Questions
1. What eect did British success in the Seven Years War have on
international politics?
Great Britain was one of the major participants in the Seven Years' War which
lasted between 1756 and 1763. Britain emerged from the war as the world's
leading colonial power, having gained a number of new territories at the Treaty
of Paris in 1763 and established itself as the world's pre-eminent naval power,
so British global hegemony was the outcome of that struggle.[1]
The war started poorly for Britain, which suered many deaths from the plague
and scurvy, and at the hands of France in North America during 175455;. The
same year Britain's major ally Austria switched sides and aligned itself with
France; and Britain was hastily forced to conclude a new alliance with Frederick
the Great's Prussia. For the next seven years these two nations were ranged
against a growing number of enemy powers led by France. After a period of
political instability, the rise of a government headed by the Duke of Newcastle
and William Pitt provided Britain with rmer leadership, enabling it to consolidate
and achieve its war aims.
Legacy and aftermath[edit]

Statue of Wolfe in Greenwich Park

The number of casualties suered by British forces were comparatively light,
compared to the more than a million fatalities that occurred worldwide.
France and Spain both considered the treaty that ended the war as being closer
to a temporary armistice rather than a genuine nal settlement, and William Pitt
described it as an "armed truce". Britain had customarily massively reduced the
size of its armed forces during peace time, but during the 1760s a large military
establishment was maintainedintended as a deterrent against France and
Spain. The Bourbon powers both sent agents to examine Britain's defences
believing that a successful Invasion of Britain was an essential part of any war of
revenge.[80]
The British victory in the war sowed some of the seeds of Britain's later conict
in theAmerican War of Independence. American colonists had been delighted by
the huge swathes of North America that had now been brought under formal
British control, but many were angered by the Proclamation of 1763, which was
an attempt to protectNative American territoryand prevent European
settlement. Similarly the issue ofquartering the British regular troops became a
thorny issue, with colonists objecting to their billeting in private homes. Events
such as these contributed to a drift apart between the British government and
many of its subjects in the Thirteen Colonies.
The war had also brought to an end the "Old System" of alliances in Europe,[2] In
the years after the war, under the direction ofLord Sandwich, the British did try
to re-establish this system but European states such as Austria and the Dutch
Republic now saw Britain as a potentially greater threat than France and did not
join them, while the Prussians were angered by what they considered a British
betrayal in 1762. Consequently, when the American War of Independence
turned into a global war between 177883, Britain found itself opposed by a
strong coalition of European powers, and lacking any substantial ally.
2. To what extent had France failed , at home and abroad, by 1763?
France was one of the leading participants in the Seven Years' War which
lasted between 1754 and 1763. France entered the war with hopes of achieving
a lasting victory both in Europe against Prussia, Britain and their German Allies
and around the globe against their major.
While the rst few years of war proved successful for the French, in 1759 the
situation dramatically reversed and they suered defeats on several continents.
In an eort to reverse their losses, France concluded an alliance with their
neighbor,Spain, in 1761. In spite of this the French continued to suer defeats
throughout 1762 eventually forcing them to sue for peace. The 1763 Treaty of
Paris conrmed the loss of French possessions in North America and Asia to
the British. France also nished the war with very heavy debts, which they
struggled to repay for the remainder of the 18th century.
Background[edit]

Louis XV ruled France from 1715 to 1774.

France and Britain were engaged in an intensifying global rivalry after they
superseded Spain as the leading colonial powers. Hoping to establish
supremacy, both countries engaged in several minor wars in North America.
French colonies in Louisiana, Illinois, and Canada had largely surrounded British
colonies strung out in a narrow strip along the coast. All the French needed to
totally envelop the British was control of the Ohio Country. Attempting to gain
control of this territory, France built a complex system of alliances with the
area's Native American tribes and brought them into conict with Britain.[2]

Madame de Pompadour
In the mid-18th century, France was an absolute monarchy: all power resided
with the King. Louis XV was a weak personality easily manipulated by his
advisors and condants. Chief amongst them was Madame Pompadour, his
mistress who exercised enormous inuence over appointments and matters of
grand strategy. Other advisors rose and fell with rapid succession, continuing
the lack of the stability which had plagued the monarchy in the early 18th
century.

Choiseul took much of the blame for the French defeat in the war, although he
later masterminded French successes in the American War of Independence.
The French began negotiations in Paris in late 1762. Because of a change in the
British government, they were oered more lenient terms than might otherwise
have been expected. While they lost Canada to the British, Martinique and
Guadeloupe were returned to them in exchange for Minorca.
The French defeat had a devastating impact on French political life, and a
number of senior gures were forced out of public oce. Realizing the
deciency in the French navy, Louis XV began a massive rebuilding programme
to match British naval strength. Choiseul drew up a long-term plan to gain
victory over the British which was partially put into action during the American
War of Independence after France joined the conict in 1778.

Summary

The Seven Years' War was fought between 1754 and 1763, the main conict
occurring in the seven-year period from 1756 to 1763. It involved most of the
great powers of the time and aected Europe, North America, Central America,
the West African coast, India, and the Philippines. The two major opponents
were Great Britain and France. In the historiography of some countries, the war
is named after combatants in its respective theatres: the French and Indian War
in the United States as well as among many English-speaking Canadians.
Conict between Great Britain and France broke out in 17541755 when the
British attacked disputed French positions in North America and seized
hundreds of French merchant ships. Meanwhile rising power Prussia was
struggling with Austria for dominance within and outside the Holy Roman
Empire in central Europe. In 1756, the major powers "switched partners"; Prussia
established an alliance with Britain while traditional enemies France and Austria
formed an alliance of their own with the Treaty of Versailles. The Anglo-Prussian
alliance was joined by smaller German states (especially Hanover) and later
Portugal, which therefore suered aFranco-Spanish invasion. The Austro-French
alliance included Sweden,Saxony and later Spain. The Russian Empire was
originally aligned with Austria, but switched sides upon the succession of Tsar
Peter III in 1762..
The war ended with the Treaty of Paris among France, Spain and Great Britain
and the Treaty of Hubertusburg among Saxony, Austria and Prussia, in 1763. It
was characterized in Europe by sieges and arson of towns as well as open
battles with extremely heavy losses; overall, some 900,000 to 1,400,000 people
died.
The war was successful for Great Britain, which gained the bulk of New France
in North America, Spanish Florida, some individual Caribbeanislands in the West
Indies, the colony of Senegal on the West African coast, and superiority over the
French trading outposts on the Indian subcontinent. The native American tribes
were excluded from the settlement; as allies of France, it is unlikely that being a
party to the treaty would have been benecial to them. In Europe the war began
disastrously for Prussia, but a combination of good luck and successful strategy
saw King Frederick the Great manage to retrieve the Prussian position and
achieve the status quo ante bellum.The involvement of Portugal, Spain and
Sweden did not return them to their former status as great powers. While
France was deprived of many of its colonies and saddled with heavy war debt,
Spain lost Florida but gainedFrench Louisiana and regained control of its
colonies, e.g., Cuba and the Philippines, which had been captured by the British
during the war.
In Europe[edit]

All the participants of the Seven Years' War.

Great Britain, Prussia, Portugal, with allies
France, Spain, Austria, Russia, Sweden with allies
In the War of the Austrian Succession,[4] which had lasted from 1740 to 1748
King Frederick II of Prussia, known as Frederick the Great, had seized the rich
province of Silesia from Austria. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria had signed
the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 in order to gain time to rebuild her military
forces and forge new alliances, which she did with remarkable success. In 1756
Austria was making military preparations for war with Prussia and pursuing
alliance with Russia for this purpose. The Austrian army had been overhauled
along the lines of the Prussian system. Maria Theresa, whose knowledge of
military aairs might have shamed many of her generals, had pressed
relentlessly for reform.[5] Her interest in the welfare of the soldiers had gained
her their unqualied respect. Austria had suered several humiliating defeats by
Prussia in the previous war, and, strongly dissatised with the limited help she
had received from the British, now saw Russia and France as allies who could
help her retake Silesia and check Prussia's expansion.[6]
Prussia's only major assistance came from Great Britain, her new-found ally,
whose reigning dynasty saw its ancestralHanoverian possessions in Germany
being threatened by France. In many respects the two allied powers' forces
complemented each other excellently. The British had the largest, most eective
navy in the world, while Prussia had the most formidable land force in
continental Europe. This allowed Britain to focus its military resources on
colonial expeditions. The British had hoped that the new series of alliances
formed during the Diplomatic Revolution would maintain the peace, but, in fact,
they proved the catalyst for the eruption of hostilities in Europe in 1756.

In North America[edit]

The boundary between British and French possessions in North America was
largely undened in the 1750s. France had long claimed the entire Mississippi
River valley. This was disputed by Britain. In the early 1750s the French began
constructing a chain of forts in the Ohio River Valley to assert their claim and
shield the Native American population from increasing British inuence.
The British settlers along the coast were upset that French troops would now be
close to the western borders of their colonies. They felt the French would
encourage their tribal allies among the North American natives to attack them.
Also, the British settlers wanted access to the fertile land of the Ohio River
Valley for the new settlers that were ooding into the British colonies seeking
farm land.[7]
The most important French fort planned was intended to occupy a position at
"the Forks" where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers meet to form the Ohio
River (present day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Peaceful British attempts to halt
this fort construction were unsuccessful, and the French proceeded to build the
fort they named Fort Duquesne. British colonial militia from Virginia were then
sent to drive them out. Led by George Washington, they ambushed a small
French force at Jumonville Glen on 28 May 1754 killing ten, including
commander Jumonville.[8] The French retaliated by attacking Washington's army
at Fort Necessity on 3 July 1754 and forced Washington to surrender.[9]
News of this arrived in Europe, where Britain and France unsuccessfully
attempted to negotiate a solution. The two nations eventually dispatched regular
troops to North America to enforce their claims.
The British also harassed French shipping beginning in August 1755, seizing
hundreds of ships and capturing thousands of merchant seamen while the two
nations were nominally at peace. Incensed, France prepared to attack Minorca
and Hanover, whose elector was also the King of Great Britain. Britain concluded
a treaty whereby Prussia agreed to protect Hanover. In response France
concluded an alliance with Austria, its long-time enemy, an event known as the
Diplomatic Revolution.
Strategies[edit]
For much of the eighteenth century, France approached its wars in the same
way. It would let colonies defend themselves or would oer only minimal help
(sending them limited numbers of troops or inexperienced soldiers), anticipating
that ghts for the colonies would most likely be lost anyway.[14] This strategy
was to a degree forced upon France: geography, coupled with the superiority of
the British navy, made it dicult for the French navy to provide signicant
supplies and support to French colonies.[15] Similarly, several long land borders
made an eective domestic army imperative for any French ruler.[16] Given these
military necessities, the French government, unsurprisingly, based its strategy
overwhelmingly on the army in Europe: it would keep most of its army on the
continent, hoping for victories closer to home.[16] The plan was to ght to the
end of hostilities and then, in treaty negotiations, to trade territorial acquisitions
in Europe to regain lost overseas possessions. This approach did not succeed,
as the colonies were indeed lost. Much of the European war went well. By its
end, however, France had few counterbalancing European successes.[17]

The Britishby inclination as well as for practical reasonshad tended to avoid

large-scale commitments of troops on the Continent.[18] They sought to oset
the disadvantage of this in Europe by allying themselves with one or more
Continental powers whose interests were antithetical to those of their enemies,
particularly France.[19]:1516 By subsidising the armies of continental allies, Britain
could turn London's enormous nancial power to military advantage. In the
Seven Years' War, the British chose as their principal partner the greatest
military strategist of the day, Frederick the Great of Prussia, then the rising
power in central Europe, and paid Frederick substantial subsidies for his
campaigns.[19]:106 This was accomplished in the Diplomatic Revolutionof 1756, in
which Britain ended its long-standing alliance with Austria in favor of Prussia,
leaving Austria to side with France. In marked contrast to France, Britain strove
to prosecute the war actively in the colonies, taking full advantage of its naval
power.[20] [21]:6466 The British pursued a dual strategy -- naval blockade and
bombardment of enemy ports, and rapid movement of troops by sea.[22] They
harassed enemy shipping and attacked enemy colonies, frequently using
colonists from nearby British colonies in the eort.
The Russians and the Austrians were determined to reduce the power of
Prussia, the new threat on their doorstep. Along with France, they agreed in
1756 to mutual defense and an attack by Austria and Russia on Prussia,
subsidized by France
Outcome[edit]

Treaty of Paris (1763)

The Anglo-French hostilities were ended in 1763 by the Treaty of Paris, which
involved a complex series of land exchanges, the most important being France's
cession to Spain of Louisiana, and to Great Britain the rest of New France
except for the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon. Faced with the choice of
retrieving either New France or its Caribbean island colonies of Guadeloupe
andMartinique, France chose the latter to retain these lucrative sources of
sugar,[97] writing o New France as an unproductive, costly territory.[98] France
also returned Minorca to the British. Spain lost control of Florida to Great
Britain, but it received from the French the le d'Orlans and all of the former
French holdings west of the Mississippi River. The exchanges suited the British
as well, as their own Caribbean islands already supplied ample sugar, and, with
the acquisition of New France and Florida, they now controlled all of North
America east of the Mississippi (at least for about a dozen years, until the
American Revolutionary War threatened their hegemony).

European boundaries were returned to their status quo ante bellum by the
Treaty of Hubertusburg (February 1763). Prussia thus maintained its possession
of Silesia, having survived the combined assault of three neighbours, each larger
than itself. Prussia gained enormously in inuence at the expense of the Holy
Roman Empire, marking, it is argued, the beginning of the modern German state,
an event at least as inuential as the colonial empire Great Britain had gained.
Fred Anderson, author of Crucible of War, and others, however, argue the war
was needless and overly costly.[99] Prussian success came at the price of near-
exhaustion, and Frederick II dedicated the postwar years to the reconstruction
of his state.
Austria was not able to retake Silesia or make any signicant territorial gain.
However, it did prevent Prussia from invading parts of Saxony. More
signicantly, its military performance proved far better than during the War of
the Austrian Succession and seemed to vindicate Maria Theresa's administrative
and military reforms. Hence, Austria's prestige was restored in great part and
the empire secured its position as a major player in the European system.[100]
Also, by promising to vote for Joseph II in the Imperial elections, Frederick II
accepted the Habsburg preeminence in the Holy Roman Empire. The survival of
Prussia as a rst-rate power and the enhanced prestige of its king and its army,
however, was potentially damaging in the long run to its inuence in Germany.
The war also proved that Maria Theresa's reforms were still not enough to
compete with Prussia : unlike its enemy, the Austrians went almost bankrupt at
the end of war. Hence, she dedicated the next two decades to the consolidation
of her administration.
France's navy was crippled by the war. Only after an ambitious rebuilding
program in combination with Spain was France again able to challenge Britain's
command of the sea.[101]
The British government was close to bankruptcy, and Britain now faced the
delicate task of pacifying its new French-Canadian subjects as well as the many
American Indian tribes who had supported France. George III's Proclamation of
1763, which forbade white settlement beyond the crest of the Appalachians,
was intended to appease the latter but led to considerable outrage in the
Thirteen Colonies, whose inhabitants were eager to acquire native lands. The
Quebec Act of 1774, similarly intended to win over the loyalty of French
Canadians, also spurred resentment among American colonists.[102] The act
protected Catholic religion and French language, which enraged the Americans,
but the Quebecois remained loyal and did not rebel. Victorious in 1763, Great
Britain would soon face another military threat in North Americathis time from
its longtime subjects, who no longer had to fear a hostile neighbouring power.
The Seven Years' War was the last major military conict fought on the
European continent before the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in
1792.

Incidents leading up to the French and Indian War, 175354

The French and Indian War, the North American phase of the larger Seven
Years War, began after a series of incidents in the upper Ohio River valley,
which the French and British governments both claimed as their territory.
Military forces assembled by both imperial powers built forts in the region and
attempted to capture each others forts. These skirmishes, which included an
expedition led by George Washington, ultimately led to the escalation of a wider,
full-scale war between Great Britain and France.
Wanting to limit British inuence along their frontier, the French built a string of
forts from Lake Erie towards the forks of the Ohio (present-day Pittsburgh).

Lake Erie, Pennsylvania

While French and British ocials maneuvered military forces about, they also
attempted to curry favor with American Indians living in the region. The most
important group, the Mingoes, were part of the Iroquois Confederation, which
was allied with Great Britain. British ocials claimed the Iroquois Confederacy
had granted a Native American named Tanaghrisson the title of Half-King over
the Mingoes and other Native communities under Iroquois rule. However, many
Indians in the upper Ohio Valley were concerned about British colonists
encroaching upon their land, and did not acknowledge either British or Iroquois
authority. Although many of them also feared French power and bore grudges
against the French from previous wars, the Indians of the upper Ohio valley
believed a French alliance to be the lesser of two evils. Consequently, they were
amenable to supplying French forces with additional men and intelligence about
British movements.
Aided by such reports, the French soon learned of the British fort that William
Trent and his small group of men were constructing, and French forces moved
swiftly to compel its surrender on April 17, 1754. The French destroyed the
unnished fort, building in its place the much more formidable Fort Duquesne.

French and Indian War/Seven Years War, 175463

The French and Indian War was the North American conict in a larger imperial
war between Great Britain and France known as the Seven Years War. The
French and Indian War began in 1754 and ended with the Treaty of Paris in
1763. The war provided Great Britain enormous territorial gains in North
America, but disputes over subsequent frontier policy and paying the war s
expenses led to colonial discontent, and ultimately to the American Revolution.

The French and Indian War resulted from ongoing frontier tensions in North
America as both French and British imperial ocials and colonists sought to
extend each country s sphere of inuence in frontier regions. In North America,
the war pitted France, French colonists, and their Native allies against Great
Britain, the Anglo-American colonists, and the Iroquois Confederacy, which
controlled most of upstate New York and parts of northern Pennsylvania. In
1753, prior to the outbreak of hostilities, Great Britain controlled the 13 colonies
up to the Appalachian Mountains, but beyond lay New France, a very large,
sparsely settled colony that stretched from Louisiana through the Mississippi
Valley and Great Lakes to Canada. (See Incidents Leading up to the French and
Indian War and Albany Plan)
The border between French and British possessions was not well dened, and
one disputed territory was the upper Ohio River valley. The French had
constructed a number of forts in this region in an attempt to strengthen their
claim on the territory. British colonial forces, led by Lieutenant Colonel George
Washington, attempted to expel the French in 1754, but were outnumbered and
defeated by the French. When news of Washington s failure reached British
Prime Minister Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle, he called for a quick
undeclared retaliatory strike. However, his adversaries in the Cabinet
outmaneuvered him by making the plans public, thus alerting the French
Government and escalating a distant frontier skirmish into a full-scale war.

Facing defeat in North America and a tenuous position in Europe, the French
Government attempted to engage the British in peace negotiations, but British
Minister William Pitt (the elder), Secretary for Southern Aairs, sought not only
the French cession of Canada but also commercial concessions that the French
Government found unacceptable. After these negotiations failed, Spanish King
Charles III oered to come to the aid of his cousin, French King Louis XV, and
their representatives signed an alliance known as the Family Compact on August
15, 1761. The terms of the agreement stated that Spain would declare war on
Great Britain if the war did not end before May 1, 1762. Originally intended to
pressure the British into a peace agreement, the Family Compact ultimately
reinvigorated the French will to continue the war, and caused the British
Government to declare war on Spain on January 4, 1762, after bitter inghting
among King George III s ministers.
Despite facing such a formidable alliance, British naval strength and Spanish
ineectiveness led to British success. British forces seized French Caribbean
islands, Spanish Cuba, and the Philippines. Fighting in Europe ended after a
failed Spanish invasion of British ally Portugal. By 1763, French and Spanish
diplomats began to seek peace. In the resulting Treaty of Paris (1763), Great
Britain secured signicant territorial gains in North America, including all French
territory east of the Mississippi river, as well as Spanish Florida, although the
treaty returned Cuba to Spain.
Unfortunately for the British, the fruits of victory brought seeds of trouble with
Great Britain s American colonies. The war had been enormously expensive, and
the British government s attempts to impose taxes on colonists to help cover
these expenses resulted in increasing colonial resentment of British attempts to
expand imperial authority in the colonies. British attempts to limit western
expansion by colonists and inadvertent provocation of a major Indian war
further angered the British subjects living in the American colonies. These
disputes ultimately spurred colonial rebellion, which eventually developed into a
full-scale war for independence.
Summary
In Europe, the Seven Years war was fought between an alliance of France,
Russia, Sweden, Austria and Saxony against Prussia, Hanover and Great Britain
from 1756 - 63. However, the war had an international element, particularly as
Britain and France fought for domination of North America and India. As such, it
has been called the rst world war . The theatre in North America is called the
 French Indian war, and in Germany the Seven Years War has been known as
the Third Silesian War .

Origins: The Diplomatic Revolution

The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ended the War of the Austrian Succession in
1748, but to many it was only an armistice, a temporary halt to the war.

Austria had lost Silesia to Prussia, and was angry at both Prussia for taking the
wealthy land and her own allies for not making sure it was returned. She
started weighing up her alliances and seeking out alternatives. Russia grew
worried about the growing power of Prussia, and wondered about waging a
preventative war to stop them. Prussia, pleased at having gained Silesia,
believed it would take another war to keep it, and hoped to gain more territory
during it.
In the 1750s, as tensions rose in North America between British and French
colonists competing for the same land, Britain acted to try and prevent the
ensuing war destabilising Europe by altering its alliances. These actions, and a
change of heart by Frederick II of Prussia - known by his many later admirers as
the Great - triggered what has been called the Diplomatic Revolution , as the
previous system of alliances broke down and a new one replaced it, with Austria,
France and Russia allied against Britain, Prussia and Hanover.

Europe: Frederick gets his Retaliation in First

In May 1756, Britain and France ocially went to war, triggered by French
attacks on Minorca; the recent treaties stopped other nations being sucked in to
help. But with the new alliances in place, Austria was poised to strike and take
Silesia back, and Russia was planning a similar initiative, so Frederick II of
Prussia aware of the plotting - initiated conict in an attempt to gain an
advantage. He wanted to defeat Austria before France and Russia could
mobilise; he also wanted to seize more land. Frederick thus attacked Saxony in
August 1756 to try and break its alliance with Austria, seize its resources and
set up his planned 1757 campaign. He took the capital, accepting their
surrender, incorporating their troops and sucking huge funds out of the state.
Prussian forces then advanced into Bohemia, but were unable to win the victory
that would keep them there and they retreated to Saxony. They advanced back
again in early 1757, winning the battle of Prague on May 6 1757, thanks in no
small part to Frederick s subordinates. However, the Austrian army had
retreated into Prague, which Prussia besieged. Luckily for the Austrians,
Frederick was defeated on June 18th by a relief force at the Battle of Kolin and
forced to retreat out of Bohemia.
Europe: Prussia under Attack
Prussia now appeared to be attacked from all sides, as a French force defeated
the Hanoverians under an English general the King of England was also the
King of Hanover occupied Hanover and marched to Prussia, while Russia came
in from the East and defeated other Prussians, although they followed this up by
retreating and only occupied East Prussia the next January. Austria moved on
Silesia and Sweden, new to the Franco-Russo-Austrian alliance, also attacked.
For a while Frederick sank into self pity, but responded with a display of
arguably brilliant generalship, defeating a Franco-German army at Rossbach on
November 5th, and an Austrian one at Leuthen on December 5th,; both had
outnumbered him greatly. Neither victory was enough to force an Austrian (or
French) surrender.
From now on the French would target a resurgent Hanover, and never fought
Frederick again, while he moved quickly, defeating one enemy army and then
another before they could eectively team up, using his advantage of shorter,
internal lines of movement. Austria soon learnt not to ght Prussia in the large,
open areas which favoured Prussia s superior movement, although this was
constantly reduced by casualties. Britain began to harass the French coast to
try and draw troops away, while Prussia pushed the Swedes out.

Europe: Victories and Defeats

The British ignored the surrender of their previous Hanoverian army and
returned to the region, intent on keeping France at bay. This new army was
commanded by a close ally of Frederick s (his brother in law) and kept French
forces busy in the west and away from both Prussia and the French colonies.
They won the battle of Minden in 1759, and made a series of strategic
manoeuvres to tie up the enemy armies, although were constrained by having to
send reinforcements to Frederick.
Frederick attacked Austria, but was outmanoeuvred during a siege and forced
to retreat into Silesia. He then fought a draw with the Russians at Zorndorf, but
took heavy casualties (a third of his army); he was then beaten by Austria at
Hochkirch, losing a third again. By the end of the year he had cleared Prussia
and Silesia of enemy armies, but was greatly weakened, unable to pursue
anymore grand oensives; Austria was cautiously pleased. By now, all
belligerents had spent huge sums. Frederick was bought to battle again at Battle
of Kunersdorf in August 1759, but was heavily defeated by an Austro-Russian
army. He lost 40% of the troops present, although he managed to keep the
remainder of his army in operation. Thanks to Austrian and Russian caution,
delays and disagreements, their advantage was not pressed and Frederick
avoided being forced to surrender.
In 1760 Frederick failed in another siege, but won minor victories against the
Austrians, although at Torgau he won because of his subordinates rather than
anything he did. France, with some Austrian support, tried to push for peace. By
the end of 1761, with enemies wintering on Prussian land, things were going
badly for Frederick, whose once highly trained army was now bulked out with
hastily gathered recruits, and whose numbers where well below those of the
enemy armies.

Frederick was increasingly unable to perform the marches and outankings

which had bought him success, and was on the defensive. Had Frederick s
enemies overcome their seeming inability to co-ordinate thanks to xenophobia,
dislike, confusion, class dierences and more - Frederick might already have
been beaten. In control of only a part of Prussia, Frederick s eorts looked
doomed, despite Austria being in a desperate nancial position.
Europe: Death as Prussian Saviour
Frederick hoped for a miracle; he got one. The implacably anti-Prussian Tsarina
of Russia died, to be succeeded by Tsar Peter III. He was favourable to Prussia
and made immediate peace, sending troops to help Frederick. Although Peter
was assassinated quickly afterwards not before trying to invade Denmark - the
new Tsar Peter s wife, Catherine the Great - kept the peace agreements,
although she withdrew Russian troops which had been helping Frederick. This
freed Frederick to win more engagements against Austria.
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Britain took the chance to end their alliance with Prussia thanks partly to
mutual antipathy between Frederick and Britain s new Prime Minister- declaring
war on Spain and attacking their Empire instead. Spain invaded Portugal, but
were halted with British aid.
The Global War
Although British troops did ght on the continent, slowly increasing in numbers,
the Britain had preferred to send nancial support to Frederick and Hanover
subsidies larger than any before in British history rather than ght in Europe.
This was in order to send troops and ships elsewhere in the world. The British
had been involved in ghting in North America since 1754, and the government
under William Pitt decided to further prioritise the war in America, and hit the
rest of France s imperial possessions, using their powerful navy to harass
France where she was weakest. In contrast, France focused on Europe rst,
planning an invasion of Britain, but this possibility was ended by the Battle of
Quiberon Bay in 1759, shattering France s remaining Atlantic naval power and
their ability to reinforce America. England had eectively won the French-Indian
war in North America by 1760, but peace there had to wait until the other
theatres were settled.
More on the French Indian War
In 1759 a small, opportunistic British force had seized Fort Louis on the Senegal
River in Africa, acquiring plenty of valuables and suering no casualties.
Consequently, by the end of the year all French trading posts in Africa were
British. Britain then attacked France in the West Indies, taking the rich island of
Guadeloupe and moving on to other wealth producing targets. The British East
India Company retaliated against a local leader and attacked French interests in
India and, aided greatly by the British Royal Navy dominating the Indian Ocean
as it had the Atlantic, ejected France from the area. By war s end, Britain had a
vastly increased Empire, France a much reduced one. Britain and Spain also
went to war, and Britain shocked their new enemy by seizing the hub of their
Caribbean operations, Havana, and a quarter of the Spanish Navy.
Peace
None of Prussia, Austria, Russia or France had been able to win the decisive
victories needed to force their enemies to surrender, but by 1763 the war in
Europe had drained the belligerents and they sought peace, Austria, facing
bankruptcy and feeling unable to proceed without Russia, France defeated
abroad and unwilling to ght on to support Austria, and England keen to cement
global success and end the drain on their resources. Prussia was intent on
forcing a return to the state of aairs before the war, but as peace negotiations
dragged on Frederick sucked as much as he could out of Saxony, including
kidnapping girls and relocating them in depopulated areas of Prussia.
The Treaty of Paris was signed on February 10th 1763, settling issues between
Britain, Spain and France, humiliating the latter, former greatest power in
Europe. Britain gave Havana back to Spain, but received Florida in return.
France compensated Spain by giving her Louisiana, while England got all French
lands in North America east of the Mississippi except New Orleans. Britain also
gained much of the West Indies, Senegal, Minorca and land in India. Other
possessions changed hands, and Hanover was secured for the British. On
February 10th 1763 the Treaty of Hubertusburg between Prussia and Austria
conrmed the status quo: Prussia kept Silesia, and secured its claim to great
power status, while Austria kept Saxony. As historian Fred Anderson pointed
out, millions had been spent and tens of thousands had died, but nothing had
changed.
Consequences
Britain was left as the dominant world power, albeit deeply in debt, and the cost
had introduced new problems in the relationship with its colonists. France was
on the road to economic disaster and revolution. Prussia had lost 10% of its
population but, crucially for Frederick s reputation, had survived the alliance of
Austria, Russia and France which had wanted to reduce or destroy it, although
historians like Szabo claim Frederick is given too much credit for this as outside
factors allowed it.
Reforms followed in many of the belligerent s government and military, with
Austrian fears that Europe would be on the road to a disastrous militarism were
well founded. The failure of Austria to reduce Prussia to second rate power
doomed it to a competition between the two for the future of Germany,
benetting Russia and France, and leading to a Prussian centred Germany
empire. The war also saw a shift in the balance of diplomacy, with Spain and
Holland reduced in importance, replaced by two new Great Powers: Prussia and
Russia. Saxony was ruined.

The Seven Years War essentially comprised two struggles. One centered on the
maritime and colonial conict between Britain and its Bourbon enemies, France
and Spain; the second, on the conict between Frederick II (the Great) of Prussia
and his opponents: Austria, France, Russia, and Sweden. Two other less
prominent struggles were also worthy of note. As an ally of Frederick, George II
of Britain, as elector of Hanover, resisted French attacks in Germany, initially
only with Hanoverian and Hessian troops but from 1758 with the assistance of
British forces also. In 1762, Spain, with French support, attacked Britain s ally
Portugal, but, after initial checks, the Portuguese, thanks to British assistance,
managed to resist successfully.

The maritime and colonial war proved a triumph for Britain, a reection of the
strength of the British navyitself the product of the wealth of Britain s
expanding colonial economy and the strength of British public nances. The
French planned an invasion of Britain, but their eet was badly battered in
defeats in 1759 at Lagos o Portugal (August 19-28) and Quiberon Bay o
Brittany (November 20). These naval victories enabled Britain to make colonial
conquests: Louisbourg (1758), Quebec (1759), and Montreal (1760) in North
America; Guadeloupe (1759), Martinique (1762), and Havana (1762) in the West
Indies; Manila (1762); and the French bases in West Africa. The British also
prevailed in India, capturing the major French base, Pondicherry, in 1761. These
campaigns around the globe demonstrated and sustained the range of British
power.
The war in Europe began in 1756 when Frederick II invaded Austria s ally
Saxony in order to deny a base for what he feared would be an Austro-Russian
attack on him. The invasion was successful, but it helped to create a powerful
coalition against Frederick. He pressed on to invade Bohemia, but the Austrians
put up unexpectedly strong resistance and forced him to withdraw.
Frederick s survival was the product of good fortune and military successnot
only a number of stunning victories, such as Rossbach and Leuthen, but also the
advantage of ghting on interior lines against a strategically and politically
divided alliance. Russian interests centered on East Prussia, the Austrians were
most concerned by Silesia, and the French increasingly devoted their eorts to
the war with Britain.
Although Prussia survived the war, casualties were very heavy. Frederick
discovered how exposed his dominions were, though their extent allowed him to
abandon territory and thus to trade space for the vital time he needed to exploit
internal lines, in order to defeat his opponents individually.

In 1757 East Prussia was invaded by the Russians, but Frederick defeated the
French at Rossbach (November 5) and the Austrians at Leuthen (December 5).
In 1758 the Russians captured East Prussia, but the bloody Battle of Zorndorf
(August 26), in which Frederick lost one-third of his force and the Russians
eighteen thousand men, blocked their invasion of the Prussian heartland of
Brandenburg. In the following year, the Russians defeated Frederick at
Kunersdorf (August 12), the Prussians losing nearly two-thirds of their force;
but the Russians failed to follow it up by concerted action with Austria. In
1760-1761 the Austrians consolidated their position in Saxony and Silesia, while
the Russians temporarily seized Berlin and overran Pomerania. Frederick was
saved by the death of his most determined enemy, Tsarina Elizabeth, on
January 5, 1762, and the succession of her nephew, Peter III. Frederick was his
hero, and he speedily ordered Russian forces to cease hostilities. Isolated,
Austria was driven from Silesia and obliged to sign peace at Hubertusberg on
February 15, 1763, on the basis of a return to the prewar situation.
Frederick s diculties stemmed in part from recent reforms in the Austrian and
Russian armies. The Russians in particular fought well, and their formidable
resources made a powerful impression on Frederick. To cope with these
challenges, Frederick was obliged to change his tactics during the war: as
everyone sought to avoid the mistakes of the previous year s campaigning
season, warfare was shaped by the uid dynamics of the rival armies. Initially,
Frederick relied on cold steel, but after sustaining heavy casualties from
Austrian cannon and musket re at the Battle of Prague (May 6, 1757), he
placed more emphasis on the tactics of repower, for example, at Leuthen.
Frederick became more interested in using artillery as a key to open deadlocked
battlefronts. However, Frederick s success in avoiding decisive defeat at the
hands of his opponents can distract attention from the extent to which they
were able to innovate in order to respond to Prussian tactics. Seven Years War
demonstrated the essential character of European warfare: the similarity in
weaponry, training, and balance between component arms of dierent armies
made it dicult to achieve the sweeping successes that characterized some
encounters with non-European forcesThe Seven Years War was the rst global
conict. It had two main fronts. The rst, in Europe, was the hostility between
Prussia and Austria, still simmering after the War of the Austrian Succession ,
which expanded through alliances to include all of Europe. The second was the
colonial rivalries between Britain, France and Spain, known in America as the
French and Indian War, which begin in 1754 with conict over control of the
Ohio valley. The Seven Years War started in a urry of diplomatic activity which
resulted in a diplomatic revolution and the reversal of the alliances of the War of
the Austrian Succession. First Britain and Prussia formed an alliance (January
1756), followed by France and Austria, who had been traditional enemies. The
ghting started with Frederick II of Prussia's invasion and defeat of Saxony
(August-October 1756), although the main conict did not start until the
following year.
In January 1757 the Holy Roman Empire, led by Maria Theresa of Habsburg,
empress of Austria (although her husband Francis I was Holy Roman Emperor),
declared war on Prussia, who now found herself surrounded by enemies, with
much greater populations and resources. Frederick's response was to invade
Bohemia, where he defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Prague (6 May 1757),
although he was himself defeated at Kolin (18 June 1757) and forced to
withdraw, although he then defeated a French and Austrian army in Saxony at
the Battle of Rossbach (5 November 1757), and an Austrian army invading
Silesia at the battle of Leuthen (5 December 1757. The same year saw Clive of
India defeat the French in India at the Battle of Plassey (23 June), and the
French occupy Hanover, having defeated the duke of Cumberland at
Hastenbeck, forcing him to sign the Convention of Kloster-Zeven
The French occupation of Hanover was short lived, and a joint British and
Hanoverian army defeated a Franco-Austrian one at Crefeld (June 1758),
followed two months later by Frederick's victory over the Russians at Zorndorg
(August 1758), halting their advance. The Austrians were able to inict a rare
defeat on Frederick at Hochkirck (October 1758), but failed to take advantage
of it
1759 saw Prussia on the back foot, but Britain triumphant. Frederick was
defeated by the Russians at Kunersdorf (August) and the Austrians at Maxen
(November). In contrast, Britain was victorious on land, at sea, and in the
colonies. August saw the Battle of Minden (1 August), where a combined British
and Hanoverian force defeated a new French attack, and the naval Battle of
Lagos (7-18 August 1759, o Portugal), where a French eet intended for an
invasion of England was defeated. September saw the capture of Quebecfrom
the French, and 20 November the naval battle of Quiberon Bay (Brittany), the
defeat of a French eet intended for an invasion of Scotland.
British success continued in 1760, with victory over the French in India at the
Battle of Wandiwash (Madras, 22 January), which ended French hopes of a
victory in India. It also saw some success for Frederick II, despite a short
occupation of Berlin by the Russians in October. He defeated the Austrians at
Torgau (3 November), although losses were heavy on both sides. 1761
continued in the same vein, with the British successful at Pondicherry (January),
and the Germans defeating the French at Villinghause (15 July). At this point,
the nature of the war was changed by the death of two monarchs. First was the
death of George II, and the accession of George III, who ended British aid to
Prussia. Just when it looked like Prussia was doomed, Tsar Peter III succeeded to
the Russian Throne (January 1762). The new Tsar was a great admirer of
Frederick II, and quickly moved to end the war between Prussia and Russia
(Treaty of St. Petersburg, 5 May 1762). The war now turned decisively towards
Britain and Prussia. Frederick II defeated the Austrians atBurkersdorf (21 July
1762) and Reichenbach (16 August), regaining all of his lost territory, while the
British captured Havana and Manila from the Spanish. Peace between Britain
and France was restored by the Treaties of Fontainebleau (3 November 1763)
and of Paris (10 February 1763), in which Britain restored Cuba and the
Philippines to Spain, while retained her conquests from the French in Canada,
America and India. Five days later the Treaty of Hubertusberg (15 February
1763) saw peace between Austrian, Prussia and Saxony, conrming Silesia as
Prussian territory.
The Seven Years War saw Britain established as the greatest colonial power,
with control over India and North America seemingly secured, while Prussia
emerged as the greatest power on the Continent, and the dominant force inside
Germany, reducing still further the power of the Holy Roman Empire and
Habsburg Austria. Frederick II of Prussia (The Great) emerges as the most
remarkable leader of the war. Prussia was the smallest of the main combatants,
and yet Frederick survived year after year of campaigning, and despite coming
near to defeat he emerged triumphant.

The French and Indian War (17541763) was the North American chapter of the
Seven Years' War. The name refers to the two main enemies of the British: the
royal French forces and the various American Indian forces allied with them. The
conict, the fourth such colonial war between the kingdoms of France and Great
Britain, resulted in the British conquest of all of New France east of the
Mississippi River, as well as Spanish Florida. The outcome was one of the most
signicant developments in a century of Anglo-French conict.
Causes
There were numerous causes for the French and Indian War, which began less
than a decade after France and Britain had fought on opposing sides in the War
of the Austrian Succession (17401748). Both New France and New England
wanted to expand their territories with respect to fur trading and other pursuits
that matched their economic interests. Using trading posts and forts, both the
British and the French claimed the vast territory between the Appalachian
Mountains and the Mississippi River, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico,
known as the Ohio Country. English claims resulted from royal grants which had
no denite western boundaries. The French claims resulted from La Salle's
claiming the Mississippi River for France, whose drainage area includes the Ohio
River Valley. In order to secure these claims, both European powers took
advantage of Native American factions to protect their territories and to keep
each other from growing too strong.
The English colonists also feared papal inuence in North America, as New
France was administered by French governors and Roman Catholic hierarchy.
Likewise, the French feared the anti-Catholicism prevalent among English
holdings.
French Expeditions
Three prominent French expeditions took place between 1747-1754 under the
leadership of Pierre-Joseph Cloron, Charles Michel de Langlade, and Paul Marin
de la Malgue, respectively. The purpose of these expeditions was to remove
British inuence from the Ohio Country and to conrm and enforce the
allegiance of the Native Americans inhabiting the area to the French crown.
Governor Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia responded to the French expeditions in
1753 by ordering Major George Washington of the Virginia militia to send a
message to the commander of the French forces in the Ohio Country, Jacques
Legardeur de Saint-Pierre. Dinwiddie could not allow the loss of the Ohio
Country to France since many Virginian merchants had invested heavily in fur
trading in Ohio. The French responded by explaining that France's claim to the
region was superior to that of Britain since the French had explored the Ohio
Country nearly a century earlier.
War
The French and Indian War was the last of four major colonial wars between the
British, the French, and their Native American allies. Unlike the previous three
wars, the French and Indian War began on North American soil and then spread
to Europe, where Britain and France continued ghting. Britain ocially declared
war on France on May 15, 1756, marking the beginnings of the Seven Years'
War in Europe. Native Americans fought for both sides, but primarily alongside
the French (with one exception being the Iroquois Confederacy, which sided with
the American colonies and Britain).
A major event in the war was Edward Braddock's campaign against the French
at Fort Duquesne in 1755. Braddock employed European tactics: bold, linear
marches and ring formations. This led to disaster at the Monongahela, where
the French and natives, though heavily outmanned and outgunned, used
superior tactics to gun down and rout the British. This stunning British defeat
heralded a string of major French victories over the next few years, at Fort
Oswego, Fort William Henry, Fort Duquesne, and Carillon. The sole British
successes in the early years of the war came in 1755, at the Battle of Lake
George, which secured the Hudson Valley; and in the taking of Fort Beausjour
(which protected the Nova Scotia frontier).
In 1756 William Pitt became Secretary of State of Great Britain. His leadership,
and France's continued neglect of the North American theater, eventually turned
the tide in favor of the British. The French were driven from many frontier posts
such as Fort Niagara, and the key Fortress Louisbourg fell to the British in 1758.
In 1759, the Battle of the Plains of Abraham gave Quebec City to the British,
who had to withstand a siege there after the Battle of Sainte-Foy a year later. In
September of 1760, Pierre Franois de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal
and the King's Governor of New France, negotiated a surrender with British
General Jerey Amherst to bring an end to the French and Indian war portion of
the Seven Years' War.
Results of War
Though most of the North American ghting ended on September 8, 1760,
when the Marquis de Vaudreuil surrendered Montrealand eectively all of
Canadato Britain, the French and Indian War ocially ended with the signing
of the Treaty of Paris on February 10, 1763. The treaty resulted in France's loss
of all its North American possessions east of the Mississippi (all of Canada was
ceded to Britain) except Saint Pierre and Miquelon, two small islands o of
Newfoundland, marking the beginning of an era of British dominance outside
Europe.
Britain also gained control of French Canada, a colony containing approximately
65,000 French-speaking, Roman Catholic residents. Early in the war, in 1755,
the British had expelled French settlers from Acadia, some of whom eventually
ed to Louisiana. Now at peace and eager to secure control of its hard-won
colony, Great Britain found itself obliged to make concessions to its newly
conquered subjects.
The European theatre of the war was settled by the Treaty of Hubertusburg on
February 15, 1763. The war changed economic, political, and social relations
between Britain and its colonies. It plunged Britain into debt, which the Crown
chose to pay o with tax money from its colonies. These taxes contributed to
the beginning the American Revolutionary War.
Royal Proclamation of 1763
Following the peace treaty, King George III issued the Royal Proclamation of
1763 on October 7, 1763. The treaty outlined the division and administration of
the newly conquered territory. Included in its provisions was the reservation of
lands west of the Appalachian Mountains to its Indian population,a demarcation
that was at best a temporary impediment to a rising tide of westward-bound
settlers. One of the biggest problems confronting the British Empire in 1763
was controlling land speculators in both Europe and the British colonies, whose
activities often led to frontier conicts. Many Native American peoples
primarily in the Great Lakes regionhad a long and close relationship with
France, and were dismayed to nd that they were now under British sovereignty.
The proclamation created a boundary line (often called the proclamation line)
between the British colonies on the Atlantic coast and American Indian lands
west of the Appalachian Mountains. The proclamation line was not intended to
be a permanent boundary between white and Aboriginal lands, but rather a
temporary boundary which could be extended further west in an orderly, lawful
manner. The proclamation outlawed private purchase of Native American land,
which had often created problems in the past; instead, all future land purchases
were to be made by Crown ocials "at some public Meeting or Assembly of the
said Indians". Furthermore, British colonists were forbidden to move beyond the
line and settle on native lands, and colonial ocials were forbidden to grant
grounds or lands without royal approval. The proclamation gave the Crown a
monopoly on all future land purchases from American Indians.
Almost immediately, many British colonists and land speculators objected to the
proclamation boundary, since there were already many settlements beyond the
line and many existing land claims yet to be settled. Indeed, the proclamation
itself called for lands to be granted to British soldiers who had served in the
Seven Years' War. Prominent American colonists joined with land speculators in
Britain to lobby the government to move the line further west. As a result, the
boundary line was adjusted in a series of treaties with Native Americans. The
Treaty of Fort Stanwix and the Treaty of Hard Labor, both signed 1768, and the
Treaty of Lochaber of 1770, opened much of what is now West Virginia and
Kentucky to British settlement.
Consequences
The war changed economic, political, governmental, and social relations between
Britain, France, and Spain, their colonies and colonists, and the natives that
inhabited the territories they claimed. France and Britain both suered
nancially because of the war, with signicant long-term consequences.
The Seven Years' War nearly doubled Britain's national debt. The Crown, seeking
sources of revenue to pay o the debt, attempted to impose new taxes on its
colonies. These attempts were met with increasingly sti resistance, until troops
were called in to ensure that representatives of the Crown could safely perform
their duties. These acts ultimately led to the start of the American Revolutionary
War. For France, the military defeat and the nancial burden of the war
weakened the monarchy and contributed to the advent of the French Revolution
in 1789.
France returned to North America in 1778 with the establishment of a Franco-
American alliance against Great Britain in the American War of Independence.
Preliminaries to war: 1748-1756

In the aftermath of the War of the Austrian Succession two intense rivalries
threaten the precariously established peace. One is between the developing
empires of France and Britain. This leads to outbreaks of warfare in India in
1748, inAmerica in 1755 and in the Mediterranean in 1756 - when the French
seize the British naval base of Minorca (an event leading to the execution of
Admiral Byng).

The other deep hostility results from the unnished business between Austria
and Prussia. The enmity of Maria Theresa of Austria against Frederick the Great
of Prussia centres on the province of Silesia, seized by Frederick in 1740.

The loss of Silesia remains a very sore point with Maria Theresa, and much of
her policy is now directed towards its recovery. Reforms in Austria's
government and army are one part of her plan. Another is the achieving of a
diplomatic realignment before the next conict.

France and Austria (the Bourbon and Habsburg dynasties) have been Europe's
chief rivals for nearly two centuries. Maria Theresa and her chancellor, von
Kaunitz, now plan to change this alignment - in a previously unimaginable
reversal which becomes known as the Diplomatic Revolution. They achieve the
impossible. A defensive alliance between Austria and France is signed at
Versailles in May 1756.
In addition to her new alliance with France, Maria Theresa has a more active
pact with Russia. The empress Elizabeth oers, in April of this year, to send
80,000 Russian troops to support an attack on Prussia.

An Austrian move to recover Silesia is clearly in preparation, when it is suddenly

thwarted by the most decisive ruler in Europe.

Frederick on the warpath: 1756-1763

Frederick II of Prussia precipitates war in Europe in 1756 just as he had in 1740,

in the War of the Austrian Succession. On that occasion he seized the rich
territory of Silesia, and thetreaty of 1748 allowed him to keep it. This time,
knowing Austria's burning desire to win it back, he launches a pre-emptive
strike.

On 29 August 1756 Frederick marches with 70,000 Prussian soldiers into

Saxony (lying between Prussia and Austria). This sudden act of aggression takes
the Saxons entirely unaware and launches the war.

Frederick is the most talented general of the time. But he fails to achieve the
rapid and decisive victory that he needs, and he is ringed by powerful enemies.
Britain, his only ally, provides him with funds but is reluctant to become more
closely involved (unless to protect Hanover).

In 1757 the Russians advance into Prussia and seem in a position to crush it.
But mysteriously the Russian general withdraws. The probable reason is
disagreement within the Russian royal family. The empress, Elizabeth, hates
Prussia, but her heir, Peter, is a passionate admirer of Frederick the Great.
Elizabeth's health is frail. A Russian general who destroys Prussia at the wrong
moment may blight his career.

Frederick makes good use of the reprieve provided by Russia's withdrawal, and
does so against great odds. Prussia is surrounded by enemies (Sweden, Austria
and France in addition to Russia) and Prussian armies confront them alone on
the battleeld. The campaign in the west, against France, is entrusted by
Frederick to his brother-in-law Ferdinand, the duke of Brunswick.

Britain is Frederick's only ally, providing him with a useful nancial subsidy but
minimal practical support on the battleeld. There is no major British presence
in the many battles fought in and around Germany during this war (a small force
of some 8500 British soldiers serves under Ferdinand of Brunswick from the
autumn of 1758). Britain's main contribution is through her war aganst France,
at sea and in north America.

In 1757-9 Frederick and Ferdinand achieve some remarkable victories, usually

against much greater numbers and with fewer casualties on their own side.
Frederick defeats a French and Austrian army at Rossbach in November 1757
and an Austrian army at Leuthen a month later. He holds his own against a
much larger Russian force in a heavily contested encounter at Zorndorf in
August 1758. Meanwhile Ferdinand defeats vast French armies at Krefeld in
June 1758 and at Minden in August 1759.

This summer of 1759 proves a disastrous period on all fronts for the French. It
is also the moment when the tide turns in the other war going on at the same
time - between Britain and France.

Annus mirabilis: 1759

1759 becomes known to the British as annus mirabilis, the wonderful year,
because of a spectacular run of victories. The greatest is Wolfe's capture of
Quebec in September, but there are two successes at sea which are equally
important. They save England from the threat of a French invasion.

French troops have been amassing along the English Channel this summer,
awaiting a eet to ferry them across. Either of two eets could do so, and
Britain's survival in the war depends on destroying both. One is in Toulon. In
August it slips out of the Mediterranean, sailing past Gibraltar on its way north.
O Lagos, in sourthern Portugal, it is caught and defeated by Edward Boscawen.

The other eet is in Brest. It puts to sea in November and is confronted in

Quiberon Bay by Edward Hawke. On the afternoon of November 20 the eets
engage in a three-hour battle. The British lose two ships, which run aground.
Most of the French eet is either destroyed or is irreparably damaged when
escaping into shallow waters.

The victory prompts David Garrick to write a song, Heart of Oak. Its title refers
to the wood the British ships are made of, and by extension to the brave sailors
themselves: 'Heart of oak are our ships, Heart of oak are our men.'
The letter-writer and wit Horace Walpole responds languidly to this ood of
good news in 1759: 'We are forced to ask every morning what victory there has
been', he observes, 'for fear of missing one.'

This Seven Years' War is history's rst approximation to a world war, with
engagements on land and sea in America, in Europe and even in a simmering
confrontation in Asia. Of all the various theatres of war, by far the best news for
Britain now comes from America - the place where the conict with France
originally began, and began so badly.

Pitt and north America: 1758-1759

The changing fortunes of the British in north America in 1758-9 are largely due
to the energy and skill of the man who in the summer of 1757 becomes
secretary of state with responsibility for the war - William Pitt, known as Pitt the
Elder (or, later, earl of Chatham). Pitt builds up Britain's navy and selects
talented commanders on both sea and land.

His rst success is an expedition sent out to capture the powerful fort at the
eastern extremity of New France. Louisburg falls in July 1758 in an action in
which a young ocer, James Wolfe, distinguishes himself.

Four months later, in November 1758, there is a victory in the extreme west of
the American war zone. The event is strategically less signicant than the
capture of Louisbourg, but symbolically it is most gratifying to the British.

The French capture of Fort Duquesne in 1754 began the war in America. Now
four years later, on the advance of a British army (once again with George
Washington commanding a contingent), the French burn their wooden fort and
abandon the site. The commander of the British army writes to inform Pitt that
he is giving the place a new name - Pittsburgh, in the secretary of state's
honour.

In 1759 the French fort at Niagara is taken (a strategically important site),

followed shortly by another event of sweet revenge - the capture of Fort Carillon
at Ticonderoga, the site of a costly and embarrassing failure in the previous
year.

The stage is now set for a nal assault on the very heart of New France, the
original settlements of Montreal and Quebec.
Wolfe and Quebec: 1759

To command the expedition against Quebec, Pitt selects the young ocer,
James Wolfe, who has distinguished himself in the previous year's capture of
Louisbourg. Wolfe's opponent in this crucial encounter will be the most
successful French general in this war, the marquis de Montcalm.

Wolfe's army, numbering about 8500, is brought up the St Lawrence River in

British ships in June. Montcalm is defending Quebec with some 15,000 troops.
The citadel is protected by the river to the south and by high clis to the west.
Montcalm's army is rmly entrenched to the east of the city, blocking the only
easy approach.

Wolfe spends nearly three months bombarding the citadel from across the river.
He also attempts various unsuccessful assaults. Montcalm sits tight. Then,
during the night of September 12, Wolfe puts into eect a bold plan.

He is himself in a weak state, from tuberculosis, but in the darkness he leads his
men across the river, in boats with mued oars, to the foot of a steep wooded
cli west of the city. At the top, 300 feet above the level of the river, is a
plateau - the Plains of Abraham - with open access to Quebec. By dawn the
British army is on the plateau. Only in battle can the city be defended now.

The battle for Quebec lasts little more than an hour before the French ee. But
that hour has been long enough to claim the lives of both commanders.
Montcalm is severely injured and dies the next day. Wolfe, wounded twice in the
thick of the ghting, receives a third and mortal blow just as the tide of battle
turns nally in his favour. The death of the 32-year-old general, at his moment
of victory, becomes an icon in British popular history.

It is a profoundly signicant victory. Without Quebec, Montreal is isolated.

Surrounded by British armies, the commander of the city surrenders in
September 1760. The whole of French Canada is now in British hands - a state
of aairs conrmed in the Paris peace treaty of 1763.

Prussian stalemate and reprieve: 1759-1762

The year 1759, vastly improving the fortunes of Britain, does the opposite for
Prussia. Within less than two weeks of his brother-in-law Ferdinand's victory over
the French at Minden, in August, Frederick himself suers a disastrous defeat
by a Russian and Austrian army at Kunersdorf. Within a space of six hours he
loses 18,000 men, more than a third of his army.

During the next three years both Frederick and Ferdinand win some
engagements and lose others. The early lustre of their campaign has gone. The
war drags on. Prussian success seems impossible, eventual exhaustion and
defeat very probable.

Moreover by the end of 1761 Britain, well satised with her own successes
elsewhere, is disinclined to continue subsidising Prussia in an endless continental
war. The prospect for Frederick the Great seems bleak, until he is suddenly
rescued by an event entirely beyond his control. It is an event which has been
long and regularly expected, and which happens now just in time - from
Frederick's point of view.

On 5 January 1762 the ailing Russian empress, Elizabeth, dies. Her death
transforms Russian policy overnight.

The new Russian tsar, Peter III, rapidly puts into eect his own pro-Prussian
preferences. By May he has made peace with Frederick. There is an immediate
knock-on eect. Austria, for whom it will be impossible to defeat Prussia without
Russian support, loses heart for the battle.

In the summer of 1762 French and Prussian armies are still engaging each other
in battle from time to time in the western regions of Germany. Meanwhile the
other major conict of the Seven Years' War, the separate quarrel between
Britain and France in America, has already been eectively won by Britain. By
now the most eventful theatre of war is the most recent - a new colonial conict
between Spain and Britain.

The Bourbon family compact: 1761

The nal enlargement of this already widespread war derives from an

agreement, known as the Family Compact, made in August 1761 between the
Bourbon kings of Spain and France. The arrangement is that Spain will enter the
war against Britain in May 1762, unless France and Britain are by then at peace.
Britain pre-empts this arrangement by declaring war on Spain in January 1762.
The intention is to attack from the sea Spain's far-ung and vulnerable empire.

In August 1762 the British capture Havana, in Cuba. In October a British eet
takes Manila, in the Philippines. Both will be returned to Spain in the following
year - but at a price.

Peace treaties: 1763

Two separate peace treaties are signed during February 1763. The earlier of the
two, by ve days, is agreed in Paris between Britain, France and Spain. The
second, between Austria and Prussia, is signed at Hubertusburg in Saxony.

The settlement between Britain and Spain restores to Spain both Havana and
Manila, captured in the previous year. But it rewards Britain with the acquisition
of Florida (which reverts to Spain from 1783 to 1819), completing the stretch
of British territory along the entire east coast of the American continent down
to the Caribbean. The northern part of this stretch, in Canada, is acquired by
Britain from France in the one major upheaval contained in these treaties.

France cedes to Britain all the territory which it has previously claimed between
the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, together with the original territories of New
France along the St Lawrence. This brings to an end the French empire in
America (only New Orleans and its district remain in French hands under the
treaty). The British become unmistakably the dominant power in the northern
half of the continent, in one of the major turning points of history.

The lands more notionally claimed by the French between the Mississippi and
the Rockies are ceded to Spain. (They are later acquired by the USA, in 1803, in
the Louisiana Purchase.)

The peace treaty agreed at Hubertusburg between Prussia and Austria

maintains the recent status quo in central Europe. Frederick the Great, twice the
aggressor, is again allowed to keep Silesia.

This conclusion strengthens the inuence of Prussia within the German empire
and reduces that of the ocial imperial power, Habsburg Austria. It also leaves
Poland anked by two increasingly powerful neighbours, Prussia and Russia,
who since 1762 have been in alliance. The development does not bode well for
Poland's future. Austria too attends the feast, when it begins in 1772.

For Anglo-American colonists, the treaty was a theoretical success. By

conrming the conquest of Canada and extending British possessions to the
Mississippi, the colonists no longer had to worry about the threat of a French
invasion. For the American Indians in what had been frontier territory, the treaty
proved disastrous. They could no longer pursue what had been a largely
eective strategy of playing the French and British against each other to extract
the most favorable terms of alliance and preserve their lands against
encroachment by Anglo-American colonists.
Despite what seemed like a success, the Treaty of Paris ultimately encouraged
dissension between Anglo-American colonists and the British Government
because their interests in North America no longer coincided. The British
Government no longer wanted to maintain an expensive military presence, and
its attempts to manage a post-treaty frontier policy that would balance
colonists and Indians interests would prove ineective and even
counterproductive. Coupled with dierences between the imperial government
and colonists on how to levy taxes to pay for debts on wartime expenses, the
Treaty of Paris ultimately set the colonists on the path towards seeking
independence, even as it seemed to make the British Empire stronger than ever.
(see Parliamentary Taxation of Colonies)