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The Seven Years’ War (1756–63) was one of the bloodiest conflicts of the 18th century. Winston Churchill called it “the first world war.” Fighting involved all of the great powers of Europe and took place in Europe, the Americas, and Asia.
On the one hand, the conflict in Europe was dominated by the struggle between Prussia and Austria. But the Seven Years’ War also involved overseas colonial struggles between Great Britain and France, the main points of contention between those two rivals being the struggle for control of North America (the French and Indian War) and India.
The seeds of the Seven Years’ War were sown in the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which ended the War of the Austrian Succession. The treaty had left all parties dissatisfied. In that war Great Britain had sided with Austria, while France supported Prussia. Between 1748 and 1756, however, a “diplomatic revolution” in Europe reversed these alliances. Britain made a pact with Prussia, and France became Austria’s ally.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Austria sought the return of its province of Silesia, which had been seized by Prussia in the War of the Austrian Succession. Both Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and Empress Elizabeth of Russia wished to check Prussian aggression and to expand their own territories.
The Seven Years’ War officially began when Frederick the Great of Prussia invaded Saxony on August 29, 1756. He then invaded Bohemia in 1757. He routed the Austrians at the Battle of Prague in May but was defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Kolín in June.
France, Russia, and Austria then advanced into Prussia, inflicting defeats on Frederick’s forces. Sweden also joined the fight. Frederick soon mounted a counterattack, however. He won decisive victories against Austria at the Battle of Rossbach in November. One month later he crushed the Austrians at the Battle of Leuthen.
On August 25, 1758, Frederick defeated Russian forces at Zorndorf (now Sarbinowo, Poland), a bloody battle in which 21,000 Russians died.
Battle of QuebecBritish troops scale the heights of the Plains of Abraham and engage the French at the Battle of Quebec, September 13, 1759.
Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesFrederick’s victories were offset by a decisive Prussian defeat by Austria and Russia near Frankfurt in August 1759. British naval forces decimated the French fleet at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in November. British naval superiority was established for the remainder of the war. In North America, too, the British won a major victory against the French at the Battle of Quebec (September 1759). The British capture of Quebec foreshadowed the eventual defeat of the French and the beginning of British dominance in North America.
Heritage Images—Hulton Fine Art Collection/Getty ImagesFrederick’s luck turned, however, when Peter III became emperor of Russia after the death of Elizabeth in 1762. Peter opposed the anti-Prussian war. He soon made peace with Frederick, whom he adored, and even offered him military support.
Britain declared war on Spain in early 1762. Spain then entered the war, attacking Portugal (which the British helped defend) and joining the fight in the Americas. Britain went on to capture the Spanish-controlled cities of Havana in Cuba and Manila in the Philippines.
In 1763 the Seven Years’ War ended with two treaties. On February 10 Great Britain, Hanover, France, and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris. Britain took over nearly all of France’s lands and trading interests in both North America and India. Spain recovered Havana and Manila but ceded Florida to the British and received Louisiana from the French. The French also evacuated Hanover. The Peace of Hubertusburg, signed on February 15 by Austria, Prussia, and Saxony (Russia having withdrawn from the war), restored the 1748 boundaries of the signees. The treaty guaranteed that Frederick maintained his possession of Silesia.
By the war’s end Prussia had solidified itself as a major power in Europe, France had lost an empire and was approaching the French Revolution, and Britain now had an empire on which “the sun never set.”
