Seven Years' War

The Seven Years' War, fought from 1756 to 1763, was a conflict between the great powers of Europe that spread to North America, the Caribbean, West Africa, India and the Philippines. Great Britain and Prussia fought against France, Austria and Russia, later joined by Sweden and Spain. Britain emerged as the dominant colonial power, taking New France and strengthening its position in India, while Prussia survived as a great power in Europe.

The war joined two separate conflicts. In Europe, Austria's Maria Theresa wanted to recover the rich province of Silesia, seized by Prussia's Frederick the Great in the 1740s. Overseas, Britain and France competed for colonies and trade. In North America their claims clashed in the Ohio valley, where in 1754 a Virginia force under the young George Washington fought French troops, and fighting continued there before war was formally declared in 1756.

In 1756 old alliances were overturned. Britain, anxious to protect Hanover, whose ruler was also the British king, made a treaty with Prussia. France, Britain's chief enemy, then allied with its long-time rival Austria, and Russia joined them against Prussia. Frederick, fearing encirclement, struck first, invading Saxony in August 1756.

Prussia, with British money and a small allied army in western Germany, faced the combined forces of Austria, Russia, France, Sweden and many German states. In 1757 Frederick won two of his most celebrated victories, at Rossbach against the French and Leuthen against the Austrians. But the war became a long struggle of attrition. In 1759 a Russian and Austrian army crushed Frederick at Kunersdorf, and in 1760 Russian and Austrian troops briefly occupied Berlin. By 1761 Prussia seemed close to collapse. It was saved when Empress Elizabeth of Russia died in January 1762 and her successor, Peter III, an admirer of Frederick, made peace and returned Russia's conquests.

Under William Pitt the Elder, Britain concentrated on the sea and the colonies while subsidising its allies in Europe. After early setbacks, including the loss of Menorca, 1759 brought a series of victories: the capture of Guadeloupe, the defeat of French fleets at Lagos and Quiberon Bay, which ended plans to invade Britain, and James Wolfe's capture of Quebec, where both he and the French commander Montcalm were killed. Montreal fell in 1760, completing the conquest of New France. In India, Robert Clive's victory at the Battle of Plassey in 1757 gave the British East India Company control of Bengal, and the French were defeated at Wandiwash in 1760 and lost Pondicherry in 1761. When Spain entered the war in 1762, Britain captured Havana and Manila.

The Treaty of Paris in February 1763 ended the war overseas. France gave Canada and its lands east of the Mississippi to Britain and Louisiana west of the river to Spain, but chose to recover its valuable Caribbean sugar islands, Guadeloupe and Martinique. Spain ceded Florida to Britain in exchange for the return of Havana. In India, France regained its trading posts but could no longer fortify them. Days later the Treaty of Hubertusburg between Prussia, Austria and Saxony restored the European borders of 1756, leaving Silesia with Prussia.

Britain gained an empire of unprecedented size but also a huge debt. Its attempts to tax the American colonies to pay for their defence led within a few years to the American Revolution, in which France took its revenge by supporting the rebels. Prussia was confirmed as a great power, setting up a long rivalry with Austria for leadership in Germany. The war is often called the first global conflict, fought on several continents at once.

Our 1715 map shows the powers some decades before the war, and our 1783 map shows the world twenty years after it, with the Kingdom of Prussia established among the great powers and the British Empire expanding in Canada and India.