Seven Years' War

The Seven Years' War was a worldwide military conflict that lasted from 1756 to 1763 and involved most of the great powers in Europe. The war was made up of two conflicts.^[1] The first was mostly fought between Great Britain and France.^[1] The other had Prussia fight its enemies: France, Austria, Russia, and Sweden.^[1]

Death of General Wolfe at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham

An important cause of the war was the War of the Austrian Succession.^[2]

Names

The war was known by different names in different places:

• In the United States, it is called the French and Indian War.^[3]
• In French Canada, it is called the War Of Conquest.^[4]
• In both Sweden and Prussia, it was called the Pomeranian War because the countries were fighting over Pomerania.^[4]
• The conflict between Prussia and Austria is called the Third Silesian War.^[4]
• In India, the war is known as the Third Carnatic War.^[4]

Participants

Many powerful countries participated in the war. According to a 2009 article:

After years of skirmishes between England, Spain and France in North America, England officially declared war on France in 1756, setting off what Winston Churchill would later call “the first world war.” While the French, British, and Spanish battled over colonies in the New World, Frederick the Great of Prussia in Europe faced off against troops from Austria, France, Russia and Sweden.

A "diplomatic revolution" established an Anglo-Prussian camp, which allied with some smaller German states and later Portugal. It fought an Austro-French camp, which allied with Sweden, Saxony and later Spain.

End of the war

Russian left its offensive alliance with the Habsburgs when Empress Elizabeth of Russia died, and Peter III, her nephew, became the new tsar. Sweden also concluded a separate peace with Prussia in 1762.

The war ended in 1763 with the Treaty of Paris between France and Great Britain^[5] and the Peace of Hubertusburg between Prussia and Austria.^[6]

The Native American tribes that had fought alongside the French or the British were excluded from the peace settlement. They were unable to return to their former status after Pontiac's War, which followed the peace.

Effects

Civilians were not spared in the Seven Years' War. Sieges were common and so was arson (destroying towns by burning them). Open battles involving extremely heavy losses were also frequent. Overall, between 900,000 to 1,400,000 people died in the war.^[7]

Great Britain gained the bulk of New France, Spanish Florida, some Caribbean islands, and Senegal. It also maintained its superiority over the French outposts on the Indian subcontinent.

In Europe, Frederick II of Prussia failed to complete a preemptive strike against Austria. His opponents fought off Prussian forces, and at Kunersdorf, they nearly destroyed them. With the Peace of Hubertusburg, Prussia managed to avoid giving anything up, and the status quo ante bellum was restored.

William Pitt once said that "America was won in Germany". He was talking about the Prussian war effort, which enabled Britain to limit its military involvement on the European continent and focus instead on establishing naval supremacy. While French and allied forces were able to occupy Prussian and Hanoverian territories up to East Frisia, a British naval blockade impaired French supply routes to the colonies. This prevented the French from invading Britain and continuing with their commerce raiding.

The involvement of Portugal, Spain and Sweden did not return them to their former status as great powers. For its brief involvement in the war, Spain lost Florida to Britain but gained French Louisiana west of the Mississippi River in exchange. Britain also returned Cuba and the Philippines to Spain.