Seven Years’ War: A Visual History

The Seven Years' War (1756-1763) pitted Britain and Prussia against France, Austria, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Saxony in Europe, and Britain against France in North America (where it had begun in 1754 as the French and Indian War), the Caribbean, West Africa and India. Frederick II of Prussia survived encirclement by victories at Rossbach and Leuthen and the death of his enemy Empress Elizabeth in 1762. Britain under Pitt won at Quebec (1759), Quiberon Bay, Plassey and Wandiwash, taking Canada, Florida, Senegal and dominance in India. The Treaty of Paris (1763) made Britain the leading colonial power; Prussia kept Silesia; France's debts and humiliation fed the Revolution. About a million people died.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Seven Years' War. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Military deaths by state

Timeline of the Seven Years' War

1. 1754
   Jumonville GlenWar begins in America.
2. 1756
   Frederick invades Saxony
3. 1757
   Plassey; Rossbach; Leuthen
4. 1759
   Quebec; Quiberon Bay; KunersdorfBritain's year of victories.
5. 1760
   Montreal falls; Wandiwash
6. 1762
   Peter III makes peace; Havana and Manila taken
7. 1763
   Treaties of Paris and Hubertusburg

The diplomatic revolution and Frederick's war

Austria's Kaunitz allied with old enemy France to recover Silesia; Britain allied with Prussia to protect Hanover. Frederick struck first, invading Saxony in August 1756. Facing Austria, France, Russia and Sweden, he won at Rossbach and Leuthen (1757) and Zorndorf (1758), lost at Kunersdorf (1759) and saw Berlin occupied twice, but Russia's Tsar Peter III, his admirer, made peace in 1762 (the 'miracle of the House of Brandenburg') and the Peace of Hubertusburg confirmed the pre-war borders.

The war for empire

In America the French and their Indian allies won early (Braddock's defeat, 1755; Fort William Henry, 1757); Pitt's money and Amherst's and Wolfe's armies took Louisbourg (1758) and Quebec, where Wolfe and Montcalm both died on the Plains of Abraham (September 1759), and Montreal in 1760. The navy won at Lagos and Quiberon Bay in 1759, Britain's 'year of victories'. In India Clive's win at Plassey (1757) made the Company master of Bengal, and Coote's at Wandiwash (1760) ended French power. Spain's late entry cost it Havana and Manila.

The Peace of Paris

France ceded Canada, all land east of the Mississippi and Senegal to Britain, and Louisiana to Spain; Spain ceded Florida for Havana; Britain returned Guadeloupe and Martinique, choosing Canadian fur over Caribbean sugar. Britain's national debt doubled, and its attempts to tax the colonies for their defence led to the American Revolution; France's naval revival and desire for revenge helped the Americans win it. Frederick's Prussia was confirmed as a great power.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• British Empire (1583 to 1997)
• First French colonial empire (1534 to 1814)
• Holy Roman Empire (800 to 1806)
• Russian Empire (1721 to 1917)
• Spanish Empire (1492 to 1976)
• Mughal Empire (1526 to 1857)
• Swedish Empire (1611 to 1721)
• First Portuguese Empire (1415 to 1663)

Wars of the same era and region

• War of the Austrian Succession (1740 to 1748)
• American Revolution (1775 to 1783)
• Maratha invasions of Bengal (1741 to 1751)
• French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1792 to 1815)
• Deccan wars (1680 to 1707)
• War of the Spanish Succession (1701 to 1714)

8 surprising things about the Seven Years' War

1. Winston Churchill called it the first world war; it was fought on five continents.
2. The war began with an ambush in Pennsylvania led by a 22-year-old George Washington.
3. Frederick the Great carried poison and considered suicide after Kunersdorf, and was saved by the tsarina's death.
4. Wolfe recited Gray's Elegy the night before Quebec and said he would rather have written it than take the city.
5. Voltaire's Candide (1759), with its Bulgar and Abar armies, satirises the war.
6. Britain returned the sugar islands and kept Canada; some in London thought it the wrong choice.
7. Robert Clive's Bengal revenues began the East India Company's transformation from trader to ruler.
8. France's Louisiana went to Spain in secret in 1762 and came back to France in 1800 before Napoleon sold it to the US.

Sources

• Seven Years' War Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Seven Years' War Wikipedia
• Seven Years' War World History Encyclopedia
• Daniel Baugh, The Global Seven Years War 1754-1763 (2011) Longman

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