View source for Seven Years' War

{{Short description|Global war among European powers (1756–1763)}}
{{About|the mid-18th-century war|other wars of the same name|Seven Year War (disambiguation){{!}}Seven Year War}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Seven Years' War
| partof            = the [[Anglo-French Wars]] and the [[Austro-Prussian rivalry]]
| image             = Seven Years' War Collage.jpg
| image_size        = 300px
| caption           = Clockwise from top left:{{flatlist|
* The [[Battle of Plassey]] (23 June 1757)
* The [[Battle of Carillon]] (6–8 July 1758)
* The [[Battle of Zorndorf]] (25 August 1758)
* The [[Battle of Kunersdorf]] (12 August 1759)
}}
| date              = {{start and end dates|1756|5|17|1763|2|10|df=yes}} {{nwr|({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=05|day1=17|year1=1756|month2=2|day2=10|year2=1763}})}}
| place             = {{Hlist|[[Europe]]|[[Americas]]|[[Spanish East Indies|Philippines]]|[[West&nbsp;Africa]]|[[Indian Subcontinent|India]]}}
| result            = [[Treaty of Paris (1763)]]
| territory         = * France cedes its North American possessions east of the [[Mississippi]] River, along with the colonies of [[Canada (New France)|Canada]], [[Saint Vincent (Antilles)|St Vincent]], [[Tobago]], [[Dominica]], [[Grenada]], and [[Northern Circars]] to [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Britain]]
* France cedes [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]] and its North American territory west of the Mississippi River to Spain
* [[History of Spain (1700–1808)|Spain]] cedes [[Spanish Florida|Florida]] to Britain, in exchange for the return of [[Havana]] and [[Manila]]
| combatant1        = {{plainlist|
* {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Great Britain}}
* {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Prussia|1750}}
* {{flagicon|Kingdom of Portugal|1750}} [[History of Portugal (1640-1777)|Portugal]]{{Efn|name=From|From  1762{{sfnp|Kohn|2000|p=417}}}}
* {{flagcountry|Russian Empire}}{{Efn|name=RussiaFrom|From Feb until June 1762{{sfnp|Kohn|2000|p=417}}}}
* ''[[Seven Years' War#Coalitions|and others...]]''
}}
| combatant2        = {{plainlist|
* {{flagcountry|Kingdom of France}}
* {{flag|Holy Roman Empire}}{{Efn|While Prussia itself was part of the Empire and many HRE states remained neutral, the [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diet]] formally declared action against Prussia, so it was an Imperial action rather than being conducted solely in the name of Austrian interests. See [[Seven Years' War#Coalitions|below.]]}}
* {{flagcountry|Russian Empire}}{{Efn|Until 1762}}
* {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Spain|1701}}{{Efn|name=From}}
* {{flagcountry|Swedish Empire}}
* {{flagicon image|Bengal subah flag.svg}} [[Bengal Subah|Bengal]]
* ''[[Seven Years' War#Coalitions|and others...]]''
}}
| commander1        = {{plainlist|
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[George II of Great Britain|George II]]{{Natural Causes}}
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[George III]]
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt]]
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle|Duke of Newcastle]]
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire|William Cavendish]]
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute|John Stuart]]
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[Jeffery Amherst]]
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[Edward Hawke]]
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[James Wolfe]]{{KIA}}
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[John Byng]]{{Executed}}
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[Robert Clive]]
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[Edward Braddock]]{{KIA}}
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[George Washington]]
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[Edward Boscawen]]
* {{flagdeco|Prussia|1750}} [[Frederick the Great|Frederick II]]
* {{flagdeco|Prussia|1750}} [[Prince Henry of Prussia (1726–1802)|Prince Henry]]
* {{flagdeco|Prussia|1750}} [[Hans von Lehwaldt]]
* {{flagdeco|Prussia|1750}} [[Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin|K. C. G. von Schwerin]]{{KIA}}
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Portugal|1750}} [[Joseph I of Portugal|Joseph I]]
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Portugal|1750}} [[William, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe|Count of Lippe]]
* {{flagdeco|Hanover|1692}} [[Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel|Duke Ferdinand]]
* {{flagdeco|Hesse}} [[Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel|Frederick II]]}}
| commander2        = {{plainlist|
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of France}} [[Louis XV]]
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of France}} [[Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765)|Louis, Dauphin]]
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of France}} [[Charles, Prince of Soubise|Prince de Soubise]]
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of France}} [[Louis-Joseph de Montcalm|Montcalm]]{{KIA}}
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of France}} [[Thomas Arthur, comte de Lally|Comte de Lally]]
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of France}} [[Louis de Bougainville]]
* {{flagdeco|Habsburg Monarchy}} [[Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor|Francis I]]
* {{flagdeco|Habsburg Monarchy}} [[Maria Theresa]]
* {{flagdeco|Habsburg Monarchy}} [[Prince Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen|Prince Joseph]]
* {{flagdeco|Habsburg Monarchy}} [[Leopold Joseph von Daun|Leopold von Daun]]
* {{flagdeco|Habsburg Monarchy}} [[Ernst Gideon von Laudon|Ernst von Laudon]]
* {{flagdeco|Russian Empire}} [[Elizabeth of Russia|Elizabeth]]{{Natural Causes}}
* {{flagdeco|Russian Empire}} [[Pyotr Saltykov]]
* {{flagdeco|Russian Empire}} [[William Fermor]]
* {{flagdeco|Russian Empire}} [[Stepan Fyodorovich Apraksin|Stepan Apraksin]]
* {{flagdeco|Russian Empire}} [[Zakhar Chernyshev]]
* {{flagdeco|Russian Empire}} [[Pyotr Rumyantsev]]
* {{flagdeco|Spain|1701}} [[Charles III of Spain|Charles III]]
* {{flagdeco|Spain|1701}} [[Pedro de Cevallos]]
* {{flagicon image|Bengal subah flag.svg}} [[Siraj ud-Daulah]]{{Executed}}}}
| strength1         = '''Total:'''<ref>Emma Hart, Marie Houllemare, Trevor Burnard. "The Oxford Handbook of the Seven Years' War." June 2024. Pages 61-62. Essay "Resources" by Peter Wilson, chapter 4.</ref>{{efn|Total manpower is calculated from adding the number of men recruited in Europe (thus excluding colonial troops) in 1757-1763 to each country's establishment at the beginning of the war, present on tables 4.4 and 4.6. Wilson's figures include both army and navy personnel, but exclude militia, soldiers in garrisons, and support personnel.}}<br>{{flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} 384,000{{efn|Per p. 69, about 22,000 soldiers from Hanover also joined the British Army after 1757. These are included in the British numbers, along with the 124,000 army recruits (300% of starting establishment, ~41,000) and 185,000 navy recruits (1550% of starting establishment, ~12,000) listed on p. 62.}}<br>{{flagdeco|Prussia|1750}} 518,000<br>{{flagdeco|Kingdom of Portugal|1750}} 22,000{{efn|Per p. 61, another 25,000 Portuguese served in the militia, which played a considerable part in the fighting.}}<br>{{flagdeco|Russian Empire}} 20,000{{efn|During their brief participation on the Anglo-Prussian side, Russia contributed 20,000 troops to Frederick's army and sent another 40,000 to threaten Denmark.}}
| strength2         = '''Total:'''<ref>Emma Hart, Marie Houllemare, Trevor Burnard. "The Oxford Handbook of the Seven Years' War." June 2024. Pages 61-62. Essay "Resources" by Peter Wilson, chapter 4.</ref>{{efn|Total manpower is calculated from adding the number of men recruited in Europe (thus excluding colonial troops) from 1757-1763 to each country's establishment at the beginning of the war, present on tables 4.4 and 4.6. Wilson's figures include both army and navy personnel, but exclude militia, soldiers in garrisons, and support personnel.}}<br>{{flagdeco|Kingdom of France}} 540,000<br>{{flagdeco|Habsburg Monarchy}} 450,000{{efn|This figure only includes troops of the Habsburg monarchy ("Austria"), and not other states of the HRE, most of which go unlisted in this table. Two states that are listed, Mainz and Bavaria, respectively fielded 16,000 and 19,500 men in the war, which they sent to the ''Reichsarmee''. Per table 4.5, also on p. 62, deployed ''Reichsarmee'' troops averaged 25,000 strong during the war, while [[Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Emperor|"Austrians"]] (including troops recruited from outside the Habsburg domains) varied from 128,000 to 154,000.}}<br>{{flagdeco|Russian Empire}} 536,000<br>{{flagdeco|Spain|1701}} 69,000<br>{{flagdeco|Sweden}} 55,000
| casualties1       = {{ubl
|{{flagdeco|Prussia|1750}} 180,000 dead{{sfnp|Danley|2012|p=524}}{{sfnp|Uralanis|1960|p=59}}
|{{flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} 160,000 dead{{sfnp|Danley|2012|p=524}}{{sfnp|Uralanis|1960|p=60}}{{efn|Per Danley, the British figure for deaths also includes deaths among minor German armies allied with the British, such as those of Hanover, Hessen-Kassel, Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and Schaumburg-Lippe.}}
|{{flagdeco|Kingdom of Portugal|1750}} Unknown
}}
| casualties2       = {{ubl
|{{flagdeco|Kingdom of France}} 200,000 dead{{sfnp|Danley|2012|p=524}}
|{{flagdeco|Habsburg Monarchy}} 165,000 dead{{sfnp|Danley|2012|p=524}}{{Efn|140,000 dead from the Habsburg Monarchy and another 25,000 from other allied states of the Holy Roman Empire in the ''Reichsarmee''.{{sfnp|Speelman|2012|p=524}}}}
|{{flagdeco|Russian Empire}} 120,000 dead{{sfnp|Uralanis|1960|p=56}}{{sfnp|Danley|2012|p=524}}{{efn|Danley gives 120,000 total dead, including disease; Uralanis gives 60,000 killed or wounded, with no figures for disease deaths.}}
|{{flagdeco|Sweden|1562}} 28,000 dead{{sfnp|Danley|2012|p=524}}
|{{flagdeco|Spain|1748}} Unknown
}}
| campaignbox       = {{Campaignbox Seven Years' War}}
{{Campaignbox Anglo-French wars}}
}}

The '''Seven Years' War''', 1756 to 1763, was a [[Great Power]] conflict fought primarily in [[Europe]], with significant subsidiary campaigns in [[North America]] and [[South Asia]]. The protagonists were [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] and [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]] versus [[Kingdom of France|France]] and [[Habsburg monarchy|Austria]], the respective coalitions receiving assistance from countries including [[Portuguese Empire|Portugal]], [[Spanish Empire|Spain]], [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxony]], [[Age of Liberty|Sweden]], and [[Russian Empire|Russia]]. Related conflicts include the [[Third Silesian War]], [[French and Indian War]], [[Carnatic wars|Third Carnatic War]], [[Anglo-Spanish War (1762–1763)|Anglo-Spanish War]] (1762–1763), and [[Spanish–Portuguese War (1762–1763)|Spanish–Portuguese War]].

Although the [[War of the Austrian Succession]] ended with the [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)]], none of the signatories were happy with the terms, and it was generally viewed as a temporary armistice. It led to a strategic realignment known as the [[Diplomatic Revolution]] that ended the long running [[French–Habsburg rivalry|rivalry]] between Austria and France. The two declared war on Britain after signing the [[Treaty of Versailles (1756)]], with a second agreement in [[Treaty of Versailles (1757)|1757]] bringing Prussia into the war.  

Spain became a French ally in 1762, unsuccessfully [[Spanish invasion of Portugal (1762)|invading]] [[History of Portugal (1640–1777)|Portugal]], as well as losing [[Siege of Havana|Havana]] and [[Battle of Manila (1762)|Manila]] to Britain. Although these were returned under the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)]], France lost its possessions in North America, while Britain established its commercial dominance in [[India]]. 

The conflict in Europe centred on Austrian attempts to recover [[Silesia]], and ended with the [[Treaty of Hubertusburg]] in 1763. This confirmed Prussian occupation of Silesia and its status as a great power, challenging Austria for dominance within [[Germany]] and altering the [[European balance of power]].

==Background==
{{further|Diplomatic Revolution}}

===In North America===
The boundary between British and French possessions in North America was largely undefined in the 1750s. France had long claimed the entire [[Mississippi River]] basin. This was disputed by Britain. In the early 1750s the French began constructing a chain of forts in the [[Ohio River|Ohio River Valley]] to assert their claim and shield the Native American population from increasing British influence.

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 flooding into the British colonies seeking farmland.{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FFO2clqJCqMC&pg=PA17 p. 17]}}

The most important French fort planned was intended to occupy a position at "the Forks", where the [[Allegheny River|Allegheny]] and [[Monongahela River|Monongahela]] rivers meet to form the Ohio River in 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 accompanied by Chief [[Tanacharison]] and a small number of [[Mingo]] warriors were sent to drive them out. Led by [[George Washington]], they ambushed a small French force at [[Battle of Jumonville Glen|Jumonville Glen]] on 28 May 1754 killing ten, including commander [[Joseph Coulon de Jumonville]].{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|pp=5–7}} The French retaliated by attacking Washington's army at [[Battle of Fort Necessity|Fort Necessity]] on 3 July 1754 and forced Washington to surrender.{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|pp=51–65}} These were the first engagements of what would become the worldwide Seven Years' War.

[[File:Nouvelle-France map-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.1|left|North America in 1750, before the [[French and Indian War]]]]

Britain and France failed to negotiate a solution after receiving news about this in Europe. The two countries eventually sent regular troops to North America to enforce their claims. The first British action was the assault on [[Acadia]] on 16 June 1755 in the [[Battle of Fort Beauséjour]],{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FFO2clqJCqMC&pg=PA112 pp. 112–115]}} which was immediately followed by their [[expulsion of the Acadians]].{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|p=114}} In July, British Major General [[Edward Braddock]] led about 2,000 army troops and provincial militia on an expedition to retake Fort Duquesne, but [[Braddock Expedition|the expedition]] ended in disastrous defeat.{{sfnp|Anderson2006|p=77}} In further action, Admiral [[Edward Boscawen]] fired on the French ship ''[[French ship Alcide (1743)|Alcide]]'' [[Action of 8 June 1755|on 8 June 1755]], capturing it and two troop ships. In September 1755, British colonial and French troops met in the inconclusive [[Battle of Lake George]].{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|pp=119–120}}

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 Hanover, whose [[prince-elector]] was also the King of Great Britain and [[Menorca]]. Britain concluded a treaty whereby Prussia agreed to protect Hanover. In response France concluded an alliance with its long-time enemy Austria, an event known as the [[Diplomatic Revolution]].

===In Europe===
{{more citations needed section|date = May 2016}}
[[File:SevenYearsWar.png|thumb|upright=1.6|All the participants of the Seven Years' War
{{legend|#4D6DF3|Great Britain, Prussia, Portugal, with allies}}
{{legend|#22B14C|France, Spain, Austria, Russia, Sweden with allies}}]]

In the [[War of the Austrian Succession]],{{sfnp|Szabo|2007|p=2}} which lasted from 1740 to 1748, the Prussian King [[Frederick the Great|Frederick II]] (subsequently known as Frederick the Great) had seized the prosperous province of [[Silesia]] from Austria. Empress [[Maria Theresa of Austria]] had signed the [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)|Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle]] in 1748 in order to gain time to rebuild her military forces and to forge new alliances.

The War of the Austrian Succession had seen the belligerents aligned on a time-honoured basis. France's traditional enemies, [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] and [[Habsburg monarchy|Austria]], had coalesced just as they had done against [[Louis XIV]]. [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]], the leading anti-Austrian state in Germany, had been supported by France. Neither group, however, found much reason to be satisfied with its partnership: British subsidies to Austria produced nothing of much help to the British, while the British military effort had not saved Silesia for Austria. Prussia, having secured Silesia, came to terms with Austria in disregard of French interests. Even so, France concluded a defensive alliance with Prussia in 1747, and the [[Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle|Duke of Newcastle]], British secretary of state in the 1743–1754 ministry of his brother [[Henry Pelham]], deemed the maintenance of the [[Anglo-Austrian Alliance|Anglo-Austrian alignment]] after 1748 as essential. The collapse of that system and the aligning of France with Austria and of Great Britain with Prussia constituted what is known as the "[[Diplomatic Revolution]]" of 1756.

In 1756 Austria was making military preparations for war with Prussia and pursuing an alliance with Russia for this purpose. On 2 June 1746, Austria and Russia had signed the {{ill|1746 Treaty of Saint Petersburg|ru|Петербургский союзный договор (1746)}},<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Karge
 |first1               = Paul
 |title                = Die russisch-österreichische Allianz von 1746 und ihre Vorgeschichte: nach russischen und österreichischen Quellen
 |date = 1887
 |trans-title          = The Russo-Austrian Alliance of 1746 and its pre-history: from Russian and Austrian sources
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=yXl-AAAAMAAJ
 |language             = de
 |publication-place    = Göttingen
 |publisher            = Robert Peppmüller
 |access-date          = 2 February 2025
 |page                 = 1
 |quote                = Weiter erfuhr Friedrich von Unterhandlungen, die teils an den übrigen ihm feindlichen Höfen, besonders aber in Petersburg zwischen den Vertretern Russlands, Oesterreischs, Englands und Hollands geführt wurden; sie fanden am 2. Juni in der russisch-österreichischen Allianz von Petersburg ihren Abschluss.
}} 
</ref>
a defensive alliance that covered their own territories and [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Poland]] against attack by Prussia or by the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Vienna and Saint Petersburg also agreed to a secret clause that promised the restoration of Silesia and of the countship of Glatz (now [[Kłodzko]], Poland) to Austria in the event of hostilities with Prussia. Their real desire, however, was to destroy Frederick's power altogether, reducing his sway to his [[Electorate of Brandenburg]] and giving [[East Prussia]] to Poland in exchange for the cession of the Polish [[Duchy of Courland]] to Russia. [[Alexey Bestuzhev-Ryumin]], grand chancellor of Russia from 1744 to 1758 under Empress [[Elizabeth of Russia|Elizabeth]], was hostile both to France and to Prussia, but he could not persuade Austrian statesman [[Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz]] to commit to offensive designs against Prussia so long as Prussia was able to rely on French support.

[[File:Europe 1748-1766 en.png|thumb|upright=1.25|Europe in the years after the [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)|Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle]] in 1748]]

The Hanoverian King [[George II of Great Britain]] was passionately devoted to his family's continental holdings, but his commitments in Germany were counterbalanced by the demands of the British colonies overseas. If war against France for colonial expansion were to resume, then Hanover had to be secured against Franco-Prussian attack. France was very much interested in colonial expansion and was willing to exploit the vulnerability of Hanover in war against Great Britain, but it had no desire to divert forces to Central Europe for Prussia's interest.

French policy was, moreover, complicated by the existence of the {{lang | fr | [[Secret du Roi]]}}—a system of private diplomacy conducted by King Louis XV. Unbeknownst to his foreign minister, Louis had established a network of agents throughout Europe with the goal of pursuing personal political objectives that were often at odds with France's publicly stated policies. Louis's goals for {{lang | fr | le Secret du roi}} included the Polish crown for his kinsman [[Louis François, Prince of Conti|Louis François de Bourbon, Prince of Conti]], and the maintenance of Poland, Sweden, and the Ottoman Empire as French allies in opposition to Russian and Austrian interests.

Frederick saw [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxony]] and [[Royal Prussia|Polish West Prussia]] as potential fields for expansion, but could not expect French support if he started an aggressive war for them. If he joined the French against the British in the hope of annexing Hanover, he might fall victim to an Austro-Russian attack. The hereditary elector of Saxony, [[Augustus III of Poland|Frederick Augustus II]], was also elective King of Poland as Augustus III, but his two territories were physically separated by the Prussian possessions of Brandenburg and Silesia. Neither Saxony nor Poland could pose as a great power: Saxony was merely a buffer between Prussia and [[Austrian Bohemia]], whereas Poland, despite its union with the ancient lands of the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]], was prey to pro-French and pro-Russian factions. A Prussian scheme for compensating Frederick Augustus with Bohemia in exchange for Saxony presupposed further spoliation of Austria.

In the attempt to satisfy Austria at the time, in the [[1764 imperial election]] Britain gave the Hanoverian electoral vote to support the candidacy of Maria Theresa's son, [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph II]], as the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] ({{reign | 1765 | 1790}}), much to the dismay of Frederick and Prussia. In 1751 Britain joined the Austro-Russian alliance,<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Arnold-Baker
 |first1               = Charles
 |author-link1         = Charles Arnold-Baker
 |editor-last1         = von Blumenthal
 |editor-first1        = Henry
 |date                 = 30 July 2015
 |orig-date            = 1996
 |chapter              = Austria, post-Pragmatic (1740-1867)
 |title                = The Companion to British History
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=FJdGCgAAQBAJ
 |series               = Routledge Revivals
 |edition              = reprint
 |publication-place    = Abingdon
 |publisher            = Routledge
 |page                 = 74
 |isbn                 = 9781317400400
 |access-date          = 2 February 2025
 |quote                = The Austro-Russian alliance of June 1746 was designed to hold Frederick to the P. of Dresden, and anticipate his probable designs on Poland or Saxony. [...] Nobody believed that [the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)] would last, and in Sept. 1751 the British, by way of reinsurance for Hanover, acceded to the Austro-Russian alliance.
}} 
</ref>
but complications arose. Britain's basic framework for the alliance itself was to protect Hanover's interests against France. At the same time, Kaunitz kept approaching the French in the hope of establishing just such an alliance with Austria. Not only that, France had no intention to ally with Russia, who, years earlier, had meddled in France's affairs during Austria's succession war. France also saw the dismemberment of Prussia as threatening to the stability of Central Europe.

Years later, Kaunitz kept trying to establish France's alliance with Austria. He tried as hard as he could to avoid Austrian entanglement in Hanover's political affairs, and was even willing to trade the [[Austrian Netherlands]] for France's aid in recapturing Silesia. Frustrated by this behaviour and by the [[Dutch Republic]]'s insistence on neutrality, Britain soon turned to Russia. On 30 September 1755, Britain pledged financial aid to Russia in order to station 50,000 troops on the Livonian-Lithuanian border, so they could defend Britain's interests in Hanover immediately. Bestuzhev, assuming the preparation was directed against Prussia, was more than happy to accede to the request of the British. Unbeknownst to the other powers, King George II also made overtures to the Prussian king, Frederick, who, fearing the Austro-Russian intentions, was also desirous of a rapprochement with Britain. On 16 January 1756, the [[Convention of Westminster]] was signed, whereby Britain and Prussia promised to aid one another; the parties expressed a wish to achieve lasting peace and stability in Europe.

The carefully coded words in the agreement proved no less catalytic for the other European powers. The results were absolute chaos. Empress Elizabeth of Russia expressed outrage at British duplicity. Not only that, but France was enraged and terrified by the sudden betrayal by its only ally, Prussia. Austria, particularly Kaunitz, used this situation to their utmost advantage. Now-isolated France was forced to accede to the Austro-Russian alliance or face ruin. Thereafter, on 1 May 1756, France and Austria signed the [[First Treaty of Versailles]], in which both nations pledged 24,000 troops to defend each other in the case of an attack. This diplomatic revolution proved to be an important cause of the war; although both treaties were ostensibly defensive in nature, the actions of both coalitions made the war virtually inevitable.

===Methods and technologies===
{{Further|Early modern warfare}}
European warfare in the [[early modern period]] was characterised by the widespread adoption of [[firearm]]s in combination with more traditional [[bladed weapons]]. Eighteenth-century European armies were built around units of massed [[infantry]] armed with [[smoothbore]] [[Flintlock|flintlock muskets]] and [[bayonet]]s. [[Cavalry]]men were equipped with [[sabre]]s and [[pistol]]s or [[carbine]]s; [[light cavalry]] were used principally for [[reconnaissance]], [[Screening (tactical)|screening]] and [[tactical communications]], while [[heavy cavalry]] were used as [[Military reserve|tactical reserves]] and deployed for [[shock attack]]s. Smoothbore [[artillery]] provided [[fire support]] and played the leading role in [[Siege|siege warfare]].<ref name=Black1994_38>{{Harvp|Black|1994|pp=38–52}}</ref> Strategic warfare in this period centred around control of key [[fortification]]s positioned so as to command the surrounding regions and roads, with lengthy sieges a common feature of armed conflict. Decisive field battles were relatively rare.<ref>{{Harvp|Black|1994|pp=67–80}}</ref>

The Seven Years' War, like most European wars of the eighteenth century, was fought as a so-called [[cabinet war]] in which disciplined [[Regular army|regular armies]] were equipped and supplied by the state to conduct warfare on behalf of the sovereign's interests. Occupied enemy territories were regularly taxed and extorted for funds, but large-scale atrocities against civilian populations were rare compared with conflicts in the previous century.<ref>{{Harvp|Clark|2006|p=209}}</ref> [[Military logistics]] was the decisive factor in many wars, as armies had grown too large to support themselves on prolonged campaigns by foraging and plunder alone. Military supplies were stored in centralised [[Supply depot|magazines]] and distributed by [[baggage train]]s that were highly vulnerable to enemy raids.<ref>{{Harvp|Creveld|1977|pp=26–28}}</ref> Armies were generally unable to sustain combat operations during winter and normally established [[Cantonment|winter quarters]] in the cold season, resuming their campaigns with the return of spring.{{r|Black1994_38}}

===Coalitions===
The leading members of the first coalition were Britain and Prussia. Aside from Prussia, seven minor German states within the Holy Roman Empire allied with the United Kingdom and operated under British command and subsidies during the war. They consisted of [[Electorate of Hanover|Hanover]] (in personal union with the British crown since 1714), [[Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel|Hesse-Kassel]], [[Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel|Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel]], [[Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg]], [[Prince-Bishopric of Würzburg|Würzburg]], [[Principality of Ansbach|Ansbach]], and [[Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe|Schaumburg-Lippe]]. Discounting Hanoverian troops who later entered the British army, these seven states contributed nearly 50,000 troops over the course of the war, a very high number for their small populations (almost half of these, 21,756 men, came from Hessen-Kassel).<ref>Wilson, Peter (1998). ''German Armies: War and German Society, 1648–1806.'' London: UCL Press. Pages 267–268.</ref> Portugal later joined the coalition after being invaded by Spain in 1762. Russia was briefly part of the coalition, placing 20,000 of its troops under Frederick's command in Silesia and threatening Austria's eastern flank by marching 45,000 troops into Mecklenburg following Peter III's ascension in January 1762, but exited the war after his death a few months later.<Ref>Wilson, p. 279.</ref> Various minor Native American polities also fought alongside the British during the [[French and Indian War|continental North American theater]], such as the [[Iroquois|Iroquois Confederacy]], while others such as the [[Wabanaki Confederacy]] sided with the French.

The leading members of the second coalition were France and the Habsburg Monarchy (also known as the Austrian Monarchy), with Sweden joining in 1756 and Spain in 1762. Russia was initially the third major member of the coalition and fought heavily for most of the war but switched sides in early 1762 and withdrew by late 1762. The Habsburgs' territory (including Austria itself as well as [[Lands of the Bohemian Crown|Bohemia]], the [[Austrian Netherlands]], [[Duchy of Mantua|and]] [[Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca|part]] [[Duchy of Milan|of]] Imperial Italy) was mostly within the Holy Roman Empire and other states of the HRE joined the Habsburgs, formally the HRE's sovereigns. The Habsburgs had successfully rallied the Imperial Diet to declare [[Reichskrieg]] against Prussia, freeing Frederick II's vassals from their obligations and allowing them to summon the Imperial Army to supplement the forces of their own hereditary lands.<ref>Wilson, Peter (1998). ''German Armies: War and German Society, 1648–1806.'' London: UCL Press. Pages 264–265.</ref> Notable HRE states that fought alongside the Habsburgs included [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxony]], [[Electorate of Bavaria|Bavaria]], the [[Electoral Palatinate|Palatinate]], [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany|Tuscany]],<ref>Gregory Hanlon. "The Twilight Of A Military Tradition: Italian Aristocrats And European Conflicts, 1560-1800." Routledge: 1997. Page 322.</ref> [[Duchy of Modena and Reggio|Modena-Reggio]], [[Electorate of Mainz|Mainz]], [[Electorate of Trier|Trier]], [[Duchy of Württemberg|Württemberg]], [[Palatine Zweibrücken|Zweibrücken]], and [[Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst|Anhalt-Zerbst]]. These states contributed forces to the [[Army of the Holy Roman Empire|Reichsarmee]] and [[Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Emperor|Kaiserliche Armee]] and under the [[Imperial circle|Kreis]] system. The Habsburgs viewed this as an important propaganda coup as it allowed them to present their war with Prussia as a lawful Imperial action preserving the peace of the Empire, rather than an Austrian war. The burden was not evenly distributed; Mainz for example provided 12,000 troops for both the Austrian army and the [[Circle troops|Kreistruppen]] over the course of the war, a considerable burden for a state of about a third of a million inhabitants.<ref>Wilson, p. 268–269, 278.</ref> The ''de facto'' independent [[Bengal Subah]] also fought the British in India with French support.

Much of the HRE remained neutral in the conflict, with the largest neutral polity being [[Savoyard state|Piedmont-Savoy]].

==Strategies==
[[File:Erstes pr. Bataillon Leibgarde in Schlacht bei Kollin.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|left|Prussian [[Life guard (military)|Leibgarde]] battalion at Kolín, 1757]]
For much of the eighteenth century, France approached its wars in the same way. It would let colonies defend themselves or would offer only minimal help (sending them limited numbers of troops or inexperienced soldiers), anticipating that fights for the colonies would most likely be lost anyway.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pritchard |first=James |title=In Search of Empire: The French in the Americas, 1670–1730 |year=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-82742-3 |page=356 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kK9wa98I4eEC}}</ref> This strategy was to a degree forced upon France: geography, coupled with the superiority of the British navy, made it difficult for the French navy to provide significant supplies and support to overseas colonies.{{sfnp|Dull|2007|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=QcsnvXeOdW4C&pg=PA14 p. 14]}} Similarly, several long land borders made an effective domestic army imperative for any French ruler.<ref name=Borneman2007_80>{{cite book |last=Borneman |first=Walter R. |date=2007 |title=The French and Indian War: Deciding the Fate of North America |publisher=HarperCollins |location=New York |isbn=978-0-06-076184-4 |page=80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O7TZqbj_6BYC}}</ref> 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.{{r|Borneman2007_80}} The plan was to fight to the end of hostilities and then, in treaty negotiations, to trade territorial acquisitions in Europe to regain lost overseas possessions (as had happened in, ''e.g.'', the [[Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1632)|Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye]] and the [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)|Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle]]). This approach did not serve France well in the war, as the colonies were indeed lost, and although much of the European war went well, by its end France had few counterbalancing European successes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lee |first=Stephen J. |date=1984 |title=Aspects of European History, 1494–1789 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0-416-37490-2 |page=285 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t9REWs8RAcYC }}</ref>

[[File:Burnt Church, c. 1768.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|British raid on French settlement of Miramichi (later called [[Burnt Church First Nation|Burnt Church]], New Brunswick), 1758]]
The British—by inclination as well as for practical reasons—had tended to avoid large-scale commitments of troops on the continent.<ref>{{cite book |last=Till |first=Geoffrey |title=Development of British Naval Thinking: Essays in Memory of Bryan Ranft|year=2006|publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon |isbn=978-0-7146-5320-4 |page=77 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iIpFoGiz88IC }}</ref> They sought to offset 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.{{sfnp|Schweizer|1989|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=rfacoIz38n0C&pg=PA15 pp. 15–16]}} By subsidising the armies of continental allies, Britain could turn London's enormous financial power to [[Golden Cavalry of St George|military advantage]]. In the Seven Years' War, the British chose as their principal partner the most brilliant general of the day, [[Frederick the Great]] of Prussia, then the rising power in central Europe, and paid Frederick substantial subsidies for his campaigns.{{sfnp|Schweizer|1989|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=rfacoIz38n0C&pg=PA106 p. 106]}} This was accomplished in the [[Diplomatic Revolution]] of 1756, in which Britain ended its long-standing alliance with Austria in favour of Prussia, leaving Austria to side with France. In marked contrast to France, Britain strove to prosecute the war actively overseas, taking full advantage of its [[Navy|naval power]].<ref name=black>{{cite book|last=Black|first=Jeremy|title=Britain As A Military Power, 1688–1815 |date=1999 |location=London |publisher=UCL Press |isbn=978-1-85728-772-1 |pages=45–78 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E5E2yDg4VekC&pg=PA221 }}</ref><ref>''E.g.'', {{cite book |last=Simms |first=Brendan |date=2008 |title=Three Victories and a Defeat: The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire |location=London |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-028984-8 |oclc=319213140 |pages=64–66}}</ref> The British pursued a dual strategy—naval [[blockade]] and [[bombardment]] of enemy ports, and rapid movement of troops by sea.<ref>{{cite book|last=Vego|first=Milan&nbsp;N.|title=Naval Strategy and Operations in Narrow Seas|year=2003|publisher=Frank Cass|location=London|isbn=978-0-7146-5389-1|pages=156–157|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MXO5fx1cs5oC }}</ref> They harassed enemy shipping and attacked enemy colonies, frequently using colonists from nearby British colonies in the effort. Overall, the war cost Prussia 139 million thalers; of these 58.3 million (42%) came from Prussian taxes and savings, 27 million (19%) came from British subsidies, and the rest came from either currency debasement or pillage of other northern German states, especially Saxony.<ref>Schumann and Schweizer, p. 116</ref>

The Russians and the Austrians were determined to reduce the power of Prussia, the new threat on their doorstep, and Austria was anxious to regain [[Silesia]], lost to Prussia in the [[War of the Austrian Succession]]. Along with France, Russia and Austria agreed in 1756 to mutual defence and an attack by Austria and Russia on Prussia, subsidized by France.{{sfnp|Szabo|2007|pp=17–18}}

==Europe==
{{Further|Great Britain in the Seven Years' War}}
{{Campaignbox Seven Years' War: European}}
{{Campaignbox Seven Years' War: Quiberon}}
{{Campaignbox Spanish-Portuguese War (1761–1763)}}
{{Campaignbox Anglo-Spanish War (1761–63)}}
{{Campaignbox Seven Years' War: Amphibious Descents}}

[[William Pitt the Elder]], who entered the cabinet in 1756, had a grand vision for the war that made it entirely different from previous wars with France. As prime minister, Pitt committed Britain to a grand strategy of seizing the entire French Empire, especially its possessions in North America and India. Britain's main weapon was the Royal Navy, which could control the seas and bring as many invasion troops as were needed. He also planned to use colonial forces from the thirteen American colonies, working under the command of British regulars, to invade New France. In order to tie the French army down he subsidized his European allies. Pitt was head of the government from 1756 to 1761, and even after that the British continued his strategy. It proved completely successful.<ref>{{cite book |last=James |first=Lawrence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4DMS3r_BxOYC&pg=PA71 |title=The Rise and Fall of the British Empire |publisher=Macmillan |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-312-16985-5 |pages=71ff}}</ref> Pitt had a clear appreciation of the enormous value of imperial possessions, and realized the vulnerability of the French Empire.<ref>{{cite book |last=Nester |first=William R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Mum6vMM5YwC&pg=PA115 |title=The Great Frontier War: Britain, France, and the Imperial Struggle for North America, 1607–1755 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-275-96772-7 |pages=115ff}}</ref>

===1756===
{{See also|Third Silesian War}}
{{Wikisource|Admiral John Byng's account of the Battle of Minorca (1756)}}

The British prime minister, the [[Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne|Duke of Newcastle]], was optimistic that the new series of alliances could prevent war from breaking out in Europe.{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|p=129}} However, a large French force was assembled at [[Toulon]], and the French opened the campaign against the British with an [[Siege of Fort St Philip (1756)|attack on Minorca]] in the Mediterranean. A British attempt at relief was foiled at the [[Battle of Minorca (1756)|Battle of Minorca]], and the island was captured on 28 June (for which [[John Byng|Admiral Byng]] was court-martialed and executed).{{sfnp|Rodger|2006|pp=265–267}} Britain formally declared war on France on 17 May,<ref>{{cite web |title=His Majesty's Declaration of War Against the French King. [17 May, 1756.] |date=1 January 1756 |publisher=T. Baskett and the Assigns of R. Baskett |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QHw4MwEACAAJ }}</ref> nearly two years after fighting had broken out in the [[Ohio Country]].

Frederick&nbsp;II of Prussia had received reports of the clashes in North America and had [[Anglo-Prussian Alliance (1756)|formed an alliance with Great Britain]]. On 29 August 1756, he led Prussian troops across the border of Saxony, one of the small German states in league with Austria. He intended this as a bold pre-emption of an anticipated Austro-French invasion of Silesia. He had three goals in his new war on Austria. First, he would seize Saxony and eliminate it as a threat to Prussia, then use the Saxon army and treasury to aid the Prussian war effort. His second goal was to advance into Bohemia, where he might set up winter quarters at Austria's expense. Thirdly, he wanted to invade [[Moravia]] from Silesia, seize the fortress at Olmütz, and advance on Vienna to force an end to the war.{{sfnp|Asprey|1986|p=427}}

[[File:Battle of Lobositz.png|thumb|upright=1.25|left|[[Battle of Lobositz]]. Austria: blue; Prussia: red]]

Accordingly, leaving Field Marshal Count [[Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin|Kurt von Schwerin]] in Silesia with 25,000 soldiers to guard against incursions from Moravia and Hungary, and leaving Field Marshal [[Hans von Lehwaldt]] in East Prussia to guard against Russian invasion from the east, Frederick set off with his army for Saxony. The Prussian army marched in three columns. On the right was a column of about 15,000 men under the command of [[Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel|Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick]]. On the left was a column of 18,000 men under the command of the [[Augustus William, Duke of Brunswick-Bevern|Duke of Brunswick-Bevern]]. In the centre was Frederick II, himself with Field Marshal [[James Francis Edward Keith|James Keith]] commanding a corps of 30,000 troops.{{sfnp|Asprey|1986|p=427}} Ferdinand of Brunswick was to close in on the town of [[Chemnitz]]. The Duke of Brunswick-Bevern was to traverse [[Lusatia]] to close in on [[Bautzen]]. Meanwhile, Frederick and Keith would make for [[Dresden]].

The Saxon and Austrian armies were unprepared, and their forces were scattered. Frederick occupied Dresden with little or no opposition from the Saxons.{{sfnp|Asprey|1986|p=428}} At the [[Battle of Lobositz]] on 1 October 1756, Frederick stumbled into one of the embarrassments of his career. Severely underestimating a reformed Austrian army under General Maximilian Ulysses Browne, he found himself outmanoeuvred and outgunned, and at one point in the confusion even ordered his troops to fire on retreating Prussian cavalry. Frederick actually fled the field of battle, leaving Field Marshall Keith in command. Browne, however, also left the field, in a vain attempt to meet up with an isolated Saxon army holed up in the fortress at Pirna. As the Prussians technically remained in control of the field of battle, Frederick, in a masterful coverup, claimed Lobositz as a Prussian victory.{{sfnp|Szabo|2007|pp=56–58}} The Prussians then occupied Saxony; after the [[siege of Pirna]], the Saxon army surrendered in October 1756, and was forcibly incorporated into the Prussian army. The attack on neutral Saxony caused outrage across Europe and led to the strengthening of the anti-Prussian coalition.{{sfnp|Dull|2007|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=QcsnvXeOdW4C&pg=PA71 p. 71]}} The Austrians had succeeded in partially occupying Silesia and, more importantly, denying Frederick winter quarters in Bohemia. Frederick had proven to be overly confident to the point of arrogance and his errors were very costly for Prussia's smaller army. This led him to remark that he did not fight the same Austrians as he had during the previous war.<ref name=Bled_Frederick_2006>{{cite book |last=Bled |first=Jean-Paul |date=2006 |title=Friedrich der Grosse |location=Düsseldorf |publisher=Artemis & Winkler |isbn=978-3-538-07218-3 |language=de }}</ref>{{Page needed|date=February 2021}}

Britain had been surprised by the sudden Prussian offensive but now began shipping supplies and £670,000 (equivalent to £{{Inflation|UK|0.67|1756|r=1}} million in {{#expr:{{CURRENTYEAR}}-1}}) to its new ally.{{sfnp|Asprey|1986|p=465}} A [[Army of observation|combined force of allied German states]] was organised by the British to protect [[Hanover]] from French invasion, under the command of the [[Prince William, Duke of Cumberland|Duke of Cumberland]].{{sfnp|Asprey|1986|loc=Footnote on p. 441}} The British attempted to persuade the [[Dutch Republic]] to join the alliance, but the request was rejected, as the Dutch wished to remain fully neutral.{{sfnp|Carter|1971|pp=84–102}} Despite the huge disparity in numbers, the year had been successful for the Prussian-led forces on the continent, in contrast to the British campaigns in North America.

===1757===
{{See also|Pomeranian War}}
[[File:Schlacht-Kolin-1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The [[Battle of Kolín]] in 1757 in [[Bohemia]] (the site is now in the [[Czech Republic]])]]

On 18 April 1757, Frederick II again took the initiative by marching into the [[Kingdom of Bohemia]], hoping to inflict a decisive defeat on Austrian forces.{{sfnp|Marston|2001|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1icUjZag24YC&pg=PA37 p. 37]}} After winning the bloody [[Battle of Prague (1757)|Battle of Prague]] on 6 May 1757, in which both forces suffered major casualties, the Prussians forced the Austrians back into the fortifications of Prague. The Prussian army then [[Siege of Prague|laid siege to the city]].{{sfnp|Luvaas|1999|p=6}} In response, Austrian commander [[Leopold Joseph von Daun|Leopold von Daun]] collected a force of 30,000 men to come to the relief of Prague.{{sfnp|Marston|2001|p=39}} Following the battle at Prague, Frederick took 5,000 troops from the siege at Prague and sent them to reinforce the 19,000-man army under the Duke of Brunswick-Bevern at Kolín in Bohemia.{{sfnp|Asprey|1986|p=454}} Daun arrived too late to participate in the battle of Prague, but picked up 16,000 men who had escaped from the battle. With this army he slowly moved to relieve Prague. The Prussian army was too weak to simultaneously besiege Prague and keep Daun away, and Frederick was forced to attack prepared positions. The resulting [[Battle of Kolin|Battle of Kolín]] was a sharp defeat for Frederick, his first. His losses further forced him to lift the siege and withdraw from Bohemia altogether.{{sfnp|Luvaas|1999|p=6}}

Later that summer, the Russians under Field Marshal [[Stepan Fyodorovich Apraksin|Apraksin]] besieged [[Klaipėda|Memel]] with 75,000 troops. Memel had one of the strongest fortresses in Prussia. However, after five days of artillery bombardment, the Russian army was able to storm it.{{sfnp|Asprey|1986|p=460}} The Russians then used Memel as a base to invade [[East Prussia]] and defeated a smaller Prussian force in the fiercely contested [[Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf]] on 30 August 1757. In the words of the American historian [[Daniel Marston (historian)|Daniel Marston]], Gross-Jägersdorf left the Prussians with "a newfound respect for the fighting capabilities of the Russians that was reinforced in the later battles of Zorndorf and Kunersdorf".{{sfnp|Marston|2001|pp=40–41}} However, the Russians were not yet able to take Königsberg after using up their supplies of cannonballs at Memel, and Gross-Jägersdorf retreated soon afterwards.

[[File:Schlacht bei Roßbach.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Rossbach]] in Saxony]]
Logistics was a recurring problem for the Russians throughout the war.<ref name=Marston2001_22>{{harvp|Marston|2001|p=22}}.</ref> The Russians lacked a quartermaster's department capable of keeping armies operating in Central Europe properly supplied over the primitive mud roads of eastern Europe.{{r|Marston2001_22}} The tendency of Russian armies to break off operations after fighting a major battle, even when they were not defeated, was less about their casualties and more about their supply lines; after expending much of their munitions in a battle, Russian generals did not wish to risk another battle knowing resupply would be a long time coming.{{r|Marston2001_22}} This long-standing weakness was evident in the [[Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739)|Russian-Ottoman War]] of 1735–1739, where Russian battle victories led to only modest war gains due to problems supplying their armies.<ref name=Stone2006_70>{{harvp|Stone|2006|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ok7iVsgiNmAC&pg=PA70 p. 70]}}.</ref> The Russian quartermasters department had not improved, so the same problems reoccurred in Prussia.{{r|Stone2006_70}} Still, the Imperial Russian Army was a new threat to Prussia. Not only was Frederick forced to break off his invasion of Bohemia, he was also now forced to withdraw further into Prussian-controlled territory.{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FFO2clqJCqMC&pg=PA176 p. 176]}} His defeats on the battlefield brought still more opportunistic nations into the war. Sweden declared war on Prussia and invaded Pomerania with 17,000 men.{{sfnp|Asprey|1986|p=460}} Sweden felt this small army was all that was needed to occupy Pomerania and felt the Swedish army would not need to engage with the Prussians because the Prussians were occupied on so many other fronts.

This problem was compounded when the main Hanoverian army under Cumberland, which include Hesse-Kassel and Brunswick troops, was defeated at the [[Battle of Hastenbeck]] and forced to surrender entirely at the [[Convention of Klosterzeven]] following a [[Invasion of Hanover (1757)|French Invasion of Hanover]].{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|pp=211–12}} The convention removed Hanover from the war, leaving the western approach to Prussian territory extremely vulnerable. Frederick sent urgent requests to Britain for more substantial assistance, as he was now without any outside military support for his forces in Germany.{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|pp=176–177}}

[[File:Batte of Leuthen.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Leuthen]] in [[Silesia]], by [[Carl Röchling]]]]
[[File:Frederick the Great and his staff at the Battle of Leuthen by Hugo Ungewitter.jpg|thumb|[[Frederick the Great]] and staff at Leuthen]]
Things were looking grim for Prussia now, with the Austrians mobilising to attack Prussian-controlled soil and a combined French and ''[[Reichsarmee]]'' force under [[Charles de Rohan, prince de Soubise|Prince Soubise]] approaching from the west. The ''Reichsarmee'' was a collection of armies from the smaller German states that had banded together to heed the appeal of the Holy Roman Emperor [[Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor|Franz I]] of Austria against Frederick.<ref name=Marston2001_41>{{harvp|Marston|2001|p=41}}.</ref> However, in November and December 1757, the whole situation in Germany was reversed. First, Frederick devastated Soubise's forces at the [[Battle of Rossbach]] on 5 November 1757{{sfnp|Asprey|1986|pp=469–472}} and then routed a vastly superior Austrian force at the [[Battle of Leuthen]] on 5 December 1757.{{sfnp|Asprey|1986|pp=476–481}} Rossbach was the only battle between the French and the Prussians during the entire war.{{r|Marston2001_41}} At Rossbach, the Prussians lost about 548 men killed while the Franco-''Reichsarmee'' force under Soubise lost about 10,000 killed.{{sfnp|Marston|2001|p=42}} Frederick always called Leuthen his greatest victory, an assessment shared by many at the time as the Austrian Army was considered to be a highly professional force.{{sfnp|Marston|2001|p=42}} With these victories, Frederick once again established himself as Europe's premier general and his men as Europe's most accomplished soldiers. However, Frederick missed an opportunity to completely destroy the Austrian army at Leuthen; although depleted, it escaped back into Bohemia. He hoped the two smashing victories would bring Maria Theresa to the peace table, but she was determined not to negotiate until she had re-taken Silesia. Maria Theresa also improved the Austrians' command after Leuthen by replacing her incompetent brother-in-law, [[Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine|Charles of Lorraine]], with Daun, who was now a field marshal.

Calculating that no further Russian advance was likely until 1758, Frederick moved the bulk of his eastern forces to Pomerania under the command of Marshal Lehwaldt, where they were to repel the Swedish invasion. In short order, the Prussian army drove the Swedes back, occupied most of [[Swedish Pomerania]], and blockaded its capital [[Stralsund]].{{sfnp|Asprey|1986|p=473}} [[George&nbsp;II of Great Britain]], on the advice of his British ministers after the battle of Rossbach, revoked the Convention of Klosterzeven, and Hanover reentered the war.{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|pp=215–216}} Over the winter the new commander of the Hanoverian forces, [[Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick]] (until immediately before a commander in the Prussian Army), regrouped his army and launched a series of offensives that drove the French back across the [[River Rhine]]. Ferdinand's forces kept Prussia's western flank secure for the rest of the war.{{sfnp|Asprey|1986|p=486}}
The British had suffered further defeats in North America, particularly at [[Fort William Henry]]. At home, however, stability had been established. Since 1756, successive governments led by [[Thomas Pelham-Holles|Newcastle]] and Pitt had fallen. In August 1757, the two men agreed to a political partnership and formed a [[coalition government]] that gave new, firmer direction to the war effort. The new strategy emphasised both Newcastle's commitment to British involvement on the continent, particularly in defence of its German possessions, and Pitt's determination to use naval power to seize [[French colonies]] around the globe. This "dual strategy" would dominate British policy for the next five years.

Between 10 and 17 October 1757, a Hungarian general, Count [[András Hadik]], serving in the Austrian army, executed what may be the most famous [[hussar]] action in history. When the Prussian king, Frederick, was marching south with his powerful armies, the Hungarian general unexpectedly swung his force of 5,000, mostly hussars, around the Prussians and occupied part of their capital, Berlin, for one night.{{sfnp|Asprey|1986|p=467}} The city was spared for a negotiated ransom of 200,000 thalers.{{sfnp|Asprey|1986|p=467}} When Frederick heard about this humiliating occupation, he immediately sent a larger force to free the city. Hadik, however, left the city with his hussars and safely reached the Austrian lines. Subsequently, Hadik was promoted to the rank of marshal in the Austrian Army.

===1758===
In early 1758, Frederick launched an invasion of [[Moravia]] and laid siege to Olmütz (now [[Olomouc]], Czech Republic).{{sfnp|Asprey|1986|p=489}} Following an Austrian victory at the [[Battle of Domstadtl]] that wiped out a supply convoy destined for Olmütz, Frederick broke off the siege and withdrew from Moravia. It marked the end of his final attempt to launch a major invasion of Austrian territory.{{sfnp|Szabo|2007|pp=148–155}} In January 1758, the Russians invaded [[East Prussia]], where the province, almost denuded of troops, put up little opposition.{{r|Marston2001_41}} East Prussia had been occupied by Russian forces over the winter and would remain under their control until 1762, although it was far less strategically valuable to Prussia than Brandenburg or Silesia. In any case, Frederick did not see the Russians as an immediate threat and instead entertained hopes of first fighting a decisive battle against Austria that would knock them out of the war.

[[File:Battle of Krefeld - Map of the area printed in The Gentleman's Magazine.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Battle of Krefeld]] in [[Prussia]] – a map of the area in ''[[The Gentleman's Magazine]]'']]

In April 1758, the British concluded the [[Anglo-Prussian Convention]] with Frederick in which they committed to pay him [[Golden Cavalry of St George|an annual subsidy]] of £670,000. Britain also dispatched 9,000 troops to reinforce Ferdinand's Hanoverian army, the first British troop commitment on the continent and a reversal in the policy of Pitt. Ferdinand's Hanoverian army, supplemented by some Prussian troops, had succeeded in driving the French from Hanover and Westphalia and re-captured the port of [[Emden]] in March 1758 before crossing the Rhine with his own forces, which caused alarm in France. Despite Ferdinand's victory over the French at the [[Battle of Krefeld]] and the brief occupation of [[Düsseldorf]], he was compelled by the successful manoeuvering of larger French forces to withdraw across the Rhine.{{sfnp|Szabo|2007|pp=179–182}}

By this point Frederick was increasingly concerned by the Russian advance from the east and marched to counter it. Just east of the Oder in Brandenburg-[[Neumark]], at the [[Battle of Zorndorf]] (now Sarbinowo, Poland), a Prussian army of 35,000 men under Frederick on 25 August 1758, fought a Russian army of 43,000 commanded by Count [[William Fermor]].{{sfnp|Asprey|1986|pp=494–499}} Both sides suffered heavy casualties—the Prussians 12,800, the Russians 18,000—but the Russians withdrew after battle, and Frederick claimed victory.{{sfnp|Szabo|2007|pp=162–169}} The American historian Daniel Marston described Zorndorf as a "draw" as both sides were too exhausted and had taken such losses that neither wished to fight another battle with the other.{{sfnp|Marston|2001|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1icUjZag24YC&pg=PA54 p. 54]}} In the undecided [[Battle of Tornow]] on 25 September, a Swedish army repulsed six assaults by a Prussian army but did not push on Berlin following the [[Battle of Fehrbellin (1758)|Battle of Fehrbellin]].{{sfnp|Asprey|1986|p=500}}

[[File:La Pegna Überfall bei Hochkirch.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Hochkirch]] in Saxony]]

The war was continuing indecisively when on 14 October Marshal Daun's Austrians surprised the main Prussian army at the [[Battle of Hochkirch]] in Saxony.{{sfnp|Asprey|1986|pp=501–506}} Frederick lost much of his artillery but retreated in good order, helped by dense woods. The Austrians had ultimately made little progress in the campaign in Saxony despite Hochkirch and had failed to achieve a decisive breakthrough. After a thwarted attempt to take Dresden, Daun's troops were forced to withdraw to Austrian territory for the winter, so that Saxony remained under Prussian occupation.{{sfnp|Szabo|2007|pp=195–202}} At the same time, the Russians failed in an attempt to take [[Kolberg]] in Pomerania (now [[Kołobrzeg]], Poland) from the Prussians.{{sfnp|Szabo|2007|}}{{Page needed|date=February 2021}}

In France, 1758 had been disappointing and in the wake of this, a new chief minister, the [[Étienne François, duc de Choiseul|Duc de Choiseul]], was appointed. Choiseul planned to end the war in 1759 by making strong attacks on Britain and Hanover.

===1759–1760===
[[File:HGM Findenigg Gefecht bei Maxen.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Maxen]] in Saxony]]
[[File:Kunersdorff.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Kunersdorf]] in [[Prussia]]]]

Prussia suffered several defeats in 1759. At the [[Battle of Kay]], or Paltzig, the Russian Count [[Pyotr Saltykov|Saltykov]] with 40,000 Russians defeated 26,000 Prussians commanded by General [[Carl Heinrich von Wedel]]. Though the Hanoverians defeated an army of 60,000 French at [[Battle of Minden|Minden]], Austrian general [[Leopold Joseph von Daun|Daun]] forced the surrender of an entire Prussian corps of 13,000 in the [[Battle of Maxen]]. Frederick himself lost half his army in the [[Battle of Kunersdorf]] (now [[Kunowice]], Poland), the worst defeat in his military career and one that drove him to the brink of abdication and thoughts of suicide. The disaster resulted partly from his misjudgment of the Russians, who had already demonstrated their strength at Zorndorf and at [[Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf|Gross-Jägersdorf]] (now Motornoye, Russia), and partly from good cooperation between the Russian and Austrian forces. However, disagreements with the Austrians over logistics and supplies resulted in the Russians withdrawing east yet again after Kunersdorf, ultimately enabling Frederick to re-group his shattered forces.

[[File:The Battle of Quiberon Bay, 20 November 1759 RMG BHC0397.tiff|thumb|[[Battle of Quiberon Bay]] off [[Brittany]]]]
[[File:Menzel - Battle of Liegnitz.jpg|thumb|[[Battle of Liegnitz (1760)]] in what is now Poland]]

The French [[Planned French invasion of Britain (1759)|planned to invade the British Isles]] during 1759 by accumulating troops near the mouth of the Loire and concentrating their Brest and Toulon fleets. However, two sea defeats prevented this. In August, the Mediterranean fleet under [[Jean-François de La Clue-Sabran]] was scattered by a larger British fleet under [[Edward Boscawen]] at the [[Battle of Lagos]]. In the [[Battle of Quiberon Bay]] on 20 November, the British admiral [[Edward Hawke]] with 23 [[ship of the line|ships of the line]] caught the French Brest fleet with 21 ships of the line under [[Marshal de Conflans]] and sank, captured, or forced many of them aground, putting an end to the French plans.

The year 1760 brought yet more Prussian disasters. The general [[Heinrich August, Baron de la Motte Fouqué|Fouqué]] was defeated by the Austrians in the [[Battle of Landeshut (1760)|Battle of Landeshut]]. The French captured [[Marburg]] in Hesse and the Swedes part of [[Pomerania]]. The Hanoverians were victorious over the French at the [[Battle of Warburg]], their continued success preventing France from sending troops to aid the Austrians against Prussia in the east.

Despite this, the Austrians, under the command of [[Ernst Gideon von Laudon|General Laudon]], captured Glatz (now [[Kłodzko]], Poland) in Silesia. In the [[Battle of Liegnitz (1760)|Battle of Liegnitz]], Frederick scored a strong victory despite being outnumbered three to one. The Russians under [[Pyotr Saltykov|General Saltykov]] and Austrians under [[Franz Moritz von Lacy|General Lacy]] briefly occupied his capital, Berlin, in October but could not hold it for long. Still, the loss of Berlin to the Russians and Austrians was a great blow to Frederick's prestige as many pointed out that the Prussians had no hope of occupying temporarily or otherwise St. Petersburg or Vienna. In November 1760, Frederick was once more victorious, defeating the able Daun in the [[Battle of Torgau]], but he suffered very heavy casualties, and the Austrians retreated in good order.

Meanwhile, after the battle of Kunersdorf, the Russian army was mostly inactive due mostly to their tenuous supply lines.{{sfnp|Stone|2006|p=74}} Russian logistics were so poor that in October 1759, an agreement was signed under which the Austrians undertook to supply the Russians as the quartermaster's department of the Russian Army was badly strained by the demands of Russian armies operating so far from home.{{r|Marston2001_22}} As it was, the requirement that the Austrian quartermaster's department supply both the Austrian and Russian armies proved beyond its capacity, and in practice, the Russians received little in the way of supplies from the Austrians.{{r|Marston2001_22}} At Liegnitz (now [[Legnica]], Poland), the Russians arrived too late to participate in the battle. They made two attempts to storm the fortress of Kolberg, but neither succeeded. The tenacious resistance of Kolberg allowed Frederick to focus on the Austrians instead of having to split his forces.

===1761–1762===
{{See also|Spanish invasion of Portugal (1762)|Anglo-Spanish War (1762–1763)}}
[[File:7yearswar.PNG|thumb|Operations of Russian army on Polish–Lithuanian territory, 1756–1763]]

Prussia began the 1761 campaign with just 100,000 available troops, many of them new recruits, and its situation seemed desperate.{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|p=491}} However, the Austrian and Russian forces were also heavily depleted and could not launch a major offensive.{{Citation needed|date = January 2018}}

In February 1761, Duke [[Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel|Ferdinand of Brunswick]] surprised French troops at [[Battle of Langensalza (1761)|Langensalza]] and then advanced to [[Siege of Cassel (1761)|besiege Cassel]] in March. He was forced to lift the siege and retreat after French forces regrouped and captured several thousand of his men at the [[Battle of Grünberg]]. At the [[Battle of Villinghausen]], forces under Ferdinand defeated a 92,000-man French army.{{Citation needed|date = January 2018}}

On the eastern front, progress was very slow. The Russian Army was heavily dependent upon its main magazines in Poland, and the Prussian Army launched several successful raids against them. One of them, led by general Platen in September resulted in the loss of 2,000 Russians, mostly captured, and the destruction of 5,000 wagons.{{sfnp|Redman|2014}}{{Page needed|date=February 2021}} Deprived of men, the Prussians had to resort to this new sort of warfare, raiding, to delay the advance of their enemies. Frederick's army, though depleted, was left unmolested at its headquarters in Brunzelwitz, as both the Austrians and the Russians were hesitant to attack it. Nonetheless, at the end of 1761, Prussia suffered two critical setbacks. The Russians under [[Zakhar Chernyshev]] and [[Pyotr Rumyantsev]] [[Siege of Kolberg (Seven Years' War)|stormed Kolberg in Pomerania]], while the Austrians captured [[Świdnica|Schweidnitz]]. The loss of Kolberg cost Prussia its last port on the [[Baltic Sea]].{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FFO2clqJCqMC&pg=PA492 p. 492]}} A major problem for the Russians throughout the war had always been their weak logistics, which prevented their generals from following up their victories, and now with the fall of Kolberg, the Russians could at long last supply their armies in Central Europe via the sea.{{sfnp|Stone|2006|p=75}} The fact that the Russians could now supply their armies over the sea, which was considerably faster and safer (Prussian cavalry could not intercept Russian ships in the Baltic) than over the land threatened to swing the balance of power decisively against Prussia, as Frederick could not spare any troops to protect his capital.{{sfnp|Stone|2006|p=75}} In Britain, it was speculated that a total Prussian collapse was now imminent.{{Citation needed|date = January 2018}}

[[File:Fall of Kolberg in 1761.jpg|thumb|left|[[Siege of Kolberg (1761)]]]]

Britain now threatened to withdraw its subsidies if Frederick did not consider offering concessions to secure peace. As the Prussian armies had dwindled to just 60,000 men and with Berlin itself about to come under siege, the survival of both Prussia and its king was severely threatened. Then on 5 January 1762 the Russian Empress [[Elizabeth of Russia|Elizabeth]] died. Her Prussophile successor, [[Peter III of Russia|Peter III]], at once ended the Russian occupation of East Prussia and Pomerania (see: the [[Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1762)|Treaty of Saint Petersburg]]) and mediated Frederick's truce with Sweden. He also placed a corps of his own troops under Frederick's command. Frederick was then able to muster a larger army, of 120,000 men, and concentrate it against Austria.{{sfnp|Redman|2014}}{{Page needed|date=February 2021}} He drove them from much of Silesia after [[Siege of Schweidnitz (1762)|recapturing Schweidnitz]], while his brother Henry won a victory in Saxony in the [[Battle of Freiberg]] (29 October 1762). At the same time, his Brunswick allies captured the key town of [[Göttingen]] and compounded this by [[Siege of Cassel (1762)|taking Cassel]].{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

Two new countries entered the war in 1762. Britain declared war against [[Spanish Empire|Spain]] on 4 January 1762; Spain reacted by issuing its own declaration of war against Britain on 18 January.<ref name=Fish2003p2>{{Harvnb|Fish|2003|p=2}}</ref> Portugal followed by joining the war on Britain's side. Spain, aided by the French, [[Spanish invasion of Portugal (1762)|launched an invasion]] of Portugal and succeeded in [[Siege of Almeida (1762)|capturing Almeida]]. The arrival of British reinforcements stalled a further Spanish advance, and in the [[Battle of Valencia de Alcántara]] British-Portuguese forces overran a major Spanish supply base. The invaders were stopped on the heights in front of [[Abrantes]] (called ''the pass to Lisbon'') where the Anglo-Portuguese were entrenched. Eventually the Anglo-Portuguese army, aided by guerrillas and practising a [[scorched earth]] strategy,<ref>{{cite book |last=Dumouriez |first=Charles François Du Périer |date=1797 |title=An Account of Portugal |location=London |publisher=C. Law |at=[https://archive.org/details/accountofportuga00dumoiala/page/247 p. 247], [https://archive.org/details/accountofportuga00dumoiala/page/254 p. 254]}} See also {{harvp|García Arenas|2004|loc=pp. 41, 73–74 (pdf file).}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|The Royal Military Chronicle|1812|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DRMJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA50 pp. 50–51]}}. See also {{harvp|Dull|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Cs-XAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA88 p. 88]}}.</ref>{{sfnp|Terrage|1904|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=yLYTAAAAYAAJ&q=%22d%C3%A9faites+en+Allemagne+et+en+Portugal%22 p. 151]}} chased the greatly reduced Franco-Spanish army back to Spain,<ref>According to [[C. R. Boxer]] in ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=sy1nAAAAMAAJ&q=1762+Spanish+invasion+repelled Descriptive List of the State Papers Portugal, 1661–1780, in the Public Record Office, London: 1724–1765]'', Vol II, Lisbon, Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, with the collaboration of the British Academy and the P.R.O., 1979, p. 415. Also according to the historian Fernando Dores Costa, '''30 000''' Franco-Spaniards were lost mostly from hunger and desertion. See ''Milícia e sociedade. Recrutamento'' in [https://books.google.com/books?id=WHXJmgEACAAJ&q=%27%27Nova+Hist%C3%B3ria+Militar+de+Portugal,+vol+2%27%27 ''Nova História Militar de Portugal''] (Portuguese), vol. II, Círculo de Leitores, Lisboa, 2004, p. 341</ref><ref>Sales, Ernesto Augusto – [https://books.google.com/books?id=EWTiAAAAMAAJ&q=desertores ''O Conde de Lippe em Portugal''], Vol.  2, Publicações de Comissão de História Militar, Minerva, 1936, [https://books.google.com/books?id=EWTiAAAAMAAJ&q=%22o+ex%C3%A9rcito+de+Espanha+;+%C3%AAles+falam+em+7+mil+desertores,%22 p. 29]</ref><ref>''Reflexiones Histórico-Militares que manifiestan los Motivos Porque se Mantiene Portugal Reino Independiente de España y Generalmente Desgraciadas Nuestras Empresas y que Lo Serán Mientras No se Tomen Otras Disposiciones'' (in Spanish), Borzas, 28 November 1772; cited by Jorge Cejudo López in [https://books.google.com/books?id=XrEZAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA192 ''Catálogo del archivo del conde de Campomanes''], Fundación Universitaria Española, 1975, legajo (file) n. {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20140714215200/http://terronponce.org/CT_CAP_12.pdf 30]}}/12.</ref> recovering almost all the lost towns, among them the Spanish headquarters in [[Castelo Branco, Portugal|Castelo Branco]] full of wounded and sick that had been left behind.{{sfnp|The Royal Military Chronicle|1812|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DRMJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA52 pp. 52–53]}}

Meanwhile, the long British naval blockade of French ports had sapped the morale of the French populace. Morale declined further when news of defeat in the [[Battle of Signal Hill]] in [[Newfoundland Colony|Newfoundland]] reached Paris.{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|p=498}} After Russia's about-face, Sweden's withdrawal and Prussia's two victories against Austria, Louis XV became convinced that Austria would be unable to re-conquer Silesia (the condition for which France would receive the Austrian Netherlands) without financial and material subsidies, which Louis was no longer willing to provide. He therefore made peace with Frederick and evacuated Prussia's Rhineland territories, ending France's involvement in the war in Germany.{{sfnp|Mitford|2013|pp=242–243}}

===1763===
{{further|Treaty of Hubertusburg|Treaty of Paris (1763)}}
[[File:Hubertusburg Allegorie.jpg|thumb|[[Treaty of Hubertusburg]]]]
By 1763, the war in central Europe was essentially a stalemate between Prussia and Austria. Prussia had retaken nearly all of Silesia from the Austrians after Frederick's narrow victory over Daun at the Battle of Burkersdorf. After his brother Henry's 1762 victory at the Battle of Freiberg, Frederick held most of Saxony but not its capital, Dresden. His financial situation was not dire, but his kingdom was devastated, and his army severely weakened. His manpower had dramatically decreased, and he had lost so many effective officers and generals that an offensive against Dresden seemed impossible.{{r|Bled_Frederick_2006}} British subsidies had been stopped by the new prime minister, [[John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute|John Stuart]] (Lord Bute), and the Russian emperor had been overthrown by his wife, [[Catherine the Great|Catherine]], who ended Russia's alliance with Prussia and withdrew from the war. Austria, however, like most participants, was facing a severe financial crisis and had to decrease the size of its army, which greatly affected its offensive power.{{r|Bled_Frederick_2006}} Indeed, after having effectively sustained a long war, its administration was in disarray.<ref>{{cite book |last=Scott |first=Hamish M. |date=2001 |title=The emergence of the Eastern powers |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-79269-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lc8EMD0JYUAC}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=February 2021}} By that time, it still held Dresden, the southeastern parts of Saxony, and the county of Glatz in southern Silesia, but the prospect of victory was dim without Russian support, and Maria Theresa had largely given up her hopes of re-conquering Silesia; her Chancellor, husband and eldest son were all urging her to make peace, while Daun was hesitant to attack Frederick. In 1763 a peace settlement was reached at the [[Treaty of Hubertusburg]], in which Glatz was returned to Prussia in exchange for the Prussian evacuation of Saxony. This ended the war in central Europe.

The stalemate had really been reached by 1759–1760, and Prussia and Austria were nearly out of money. The [[materiel]] of both sides had been largely consumed. Frederick was no longer receiving subsidies from Britain; the Golden Cavalry of St. George had produced nearly 13&nbsp;million dollars (equivalent). He had melted and coined most of the church silver, had ransacked the palaces of his kingdom and coined that silver, and debased it by mixing it with copper. His banks' capital was exhausted, and he had pawned nearly everything of value from his own estate. While Frederick still had a significant amount of money left from the prior British subsidies, he hoped to use it to restore his kingdom's prosperity in peacetime; in any case, Prussia's population was so depleted that he could not sustain another long campaign.<ref name=Mahan2011_Daun>{{harvp|Mahan|2011|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=UzJ8CgAAQBAJ&q=Daun]}}.</ref>{{Page needed|date=February 2021}} Similarly, Maria Theresa had reached the limit of her resources. She had pawned her jewels in 1758; in 1760, she approved a public subscription for support and urged her public to bring their silver to the mint. French subsidies were no longer provided.{{r|Mahan2011_Daun}}{{Page needed|date=February 2021}} Although she had many young men still to draft, she could not conscript them and did not dare to resort to impressment, as Frederick had done.{{sfnp|Mahan|2011|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=UzJ8CgAAQBAJ&q=army]}}{{Page needed|date=February 2021}} She had even dismissed some men because it was too expensive to feed them.{{r|Mahan2011_Daun}}{{Page needed|date=February 2021}}

===British amphibious "descents"===
{{further|Raid on Rochefort}}
Great Britain planned a "descent" (an [[Amphibious warfare|amphibious demonstration]] or raid) on [[Rochefort, Charente-Maritime|Rochefort]], a [[Joint warfare|joint operation]] to overrun the town and burn shipping in the [[Charente (river)|Charente]]. The expedition set out on 8 September 1757, Sir [[John Mordaunt (British Army officer)|John Mordaunt]] commanding the troops and Sir [[Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke|Edward Hawke]] the fleet. On 23 September, the [[Isle d'Aix]] was taken, but military staff dithered and lost so much time that Rochefort became unassailable.{{sfnp|Corbett|2011}} The expedition abandoned the Isle d'Aix, returning to Great Britain on 1 October.

[[File:William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham by William Hoare.jpg|thumb|Under [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt the Elder]]'s leadership, Britain's position as the leading colonial power was confirmed by the Seven Years' War.]]

Despite the debatable strategic success and the operational failure of the descent on Rochefort, William Pitt—who saw purpose in this type of asymmetric enterprise—prepared to continue such operations.{{sfnp|Corbett|2011}} An army was assembled under the command of [[Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough|Charles Spencer]]; he was aided by [[George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville|George Germain]]. The naval squadron and transports for the expedition were commanded by [[Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe|Richard Howe]]. The army landed on 5 June 1758 at [[Cancale Bay]], proceeded to [[St.&nbsp;Malo]], and, finding that it would take prolonged siege to capture it, instead attacked the nearby port of St.&nbsp;Servan. It burned shipping in the harbour, roughly 80 French privateers and merchantmen, as well as four warships which were under construction.{{sfnp|Rodger|2006|}}{{Page needed|date=February 2021}} The force then re-embarked under threat of the arrival of French relief forces. An attack on [[Le Havre|Havre de Grace]] was called off, and the fleet sailed on to [[Cherbourg-Octeville|Cherbourg]]; the weather being bad and provisions low, that too was abandoned, and the expedition returned having damaged French privateering and provided further strategic demonstration against the French coast.

Pitt now prepared to send troops into Germany; and both Marlborough and Sackville, disgusted by what they perceived as the futility of the "descents", obtained commissions in that army. The elderly [[Thomas Bligh|General Bligh]] was appointed to command a new "descent", escorted by Howe. The campaign began propitiously with the [[Raid on Cherbourg]]. Covered by naval bombardment, the army drove off the French force detailed to oppose their landing, captured Cherbourg, and destroyed its fortifications, docks and shipping.

The troops were reembarked and moved to the [[Bay of St.&nbsp;Lunaire]] in Brittany where, on 3 September, they were landed to operate against St.&nbsp;Malo; however, this action proved impractical. Worsening weather forced the two armies to separate: the ships sailed for the safer anchorage of [[Saint-Cast-le-Guildo|St.&nbsp;Cast]], while the army proceeded overland. The tardiness of Bligh in moving his forces allowed a French force of 10,000 from [[Brest, France|Brest]] to catch up with him and open fire on the reembarkation troops. At the [[Battle of Saint Cast]] a rear-guard of 1,400 under [[Alexander Dury|Dury]] held off the French while the rest of the army embarked. They could not be saved; 750, including Dury, were killed and the rest captured.

==Other continents==
{{Campaignbox Seven Years' War: West Indies}}

The colonial conflict mainly between France and Britain took place in India, North America, Europe, the [[West Indies]], the [[Philippines]], and coastal Africa. Over the course of the war, Great Britain gained enormous areas of land and influence at the expense of the French and the Spanish Empires.

Great Britain lost [[Menorca]] in the Mediterranean to the French in 1756 but captured [[Fort Saint Louis (Senegal)|Fort Saint Louis]], the centre of the French colonies in [[Senegal]], in 1758. More importantly, the British defeated the French in its defence of [[New France]] in 1759, with the fall of Quebec. The buffer that French North America had provided to [[New Spain]], the Spanish Empire's most important overseas holding, was now lost. Spain had entered the war after the Third Family Compact (15 August 1761) with France.<ref>Burkholder, Suzanne Hiles, " Seven Years' War" in ''Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture'', vol. 5, pp. 103–104, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1996.</ref> The British [[Royal Navy]] took the French Caribbean sugar colonies of [[Invasion of Guadeloupe (1759)|Guadeloupe]] in 1759 and [[British expedition against Martinique|Martinique]] in 1762 as well as the Spanish Empire's main port in the West Indies, [[Siege of Havana|Havana in Cuba]], and its main Asian port of [[Battle of Manila (1762)|Manila]] [[Intramuros|in the Philippines]], both major Spanish colonial cities. British attempts at expansion into the hinterlands of Cuba and the Philippines met with stiff resistance. In the Philippines, the British were [[British occupation of Manila|confined to Manila]] [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|until their agreed upon withdrawal at the war's end]].

===North America===
{{Main|French and Indian War}}
{{Campaignbox French and Indian War}}
{{Campaignbox French and Indian War: Maritimes}}
{{Campaignbox French and Indian War: Ohio Valley}}
[[File:1754 French and Indian War.png|alt=|thumb|upright=1.3|French and British positions at the start of the War
{{legend|#7F0000|British North America}}
{{legend|#00137F|New France and Allies|textcolor=#A5B3FF |text=■ }}

This Map also shows both the Iroquois and Wabanaki Confederacies, who were both influential in the war on the British and French sides respectively.

]]
During the war, the [[Iroquois#French and Indian Wars|Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy]] were allied with the British. Native Americans of the Laurentian valley—the [[Algonquin people|Algonquin]], the [[Abenaki]], the [[Wyandot people|Huron]] and others—were allied with the French. Although the Algonquin tribes living north of the Great Lakes and along the St. Lawrence River were not directly concerned with the fate of the Ohio River Valley tribes, they had been victims of the Iroquois Confederation which included the Seneca, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Tuscarora tribes of central New York. The Iroquois had encroached on Algonquin territory and pushed the Algonquins west beyond Lake Michigan and to the shore of the St. Lawrence.{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|p=14}} The Algonquin tribes were interested in fighting against the Iroquois. Throughout New England, New York and the north-west, Native American tribes formed differing alliances with the major belligerents.

In 1756 and 1757, the French captured [[Battle of Fort Oswego|Fort Oswego]]{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|pp=150–157}} and [[Siege of Fort William Henry|Fort William Henry]] from the British.{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|pp=185–201}} The latter victory was marred when France's native allies broke the terms of capitulation and attacked the retreating British column, which was under French guard, slaughtering and scalping soldiers and taking captive many men, women and children while the French refused to protect their captives.{{sfnp|Dodge|1998|pp=91–92}} French naval deployments in 1757 also [[Louisbourg Expedition (1757)|successfully defended]] the key [[Fortress of Louisbourg]] on [[Cape Breton Island]] called Ile du Roi by the French, securing the seaward approaches to Quebec.{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|pp=208–209}}

British Prime Minister William Pitt's focus on the colonies for the 1758 campaign paid off with the [[Siege of Louisbourg (1758)|taking of Louisbourg]] after French reinforcements were blocked by British naval victory in the [[Battle of Cartagena (1758)|Battle of Cartagena]] and in the successful [[Forbes Expedition|capture of Fort Duquesne]]{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FFO2clqJCqMC&pg=PA280 pp. 280–283]}} and [[Battle of Fort Frontenac|Fort Frontenac]].{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|pp=258–266}} The British also continued the process of deporting the Acadian population with a wave of major operations against [[Ile Saint-Jean Campaign|Île Saint-Jean]] (present-day [[Prince Edward Island]]), and the [[St. John River campaign|St. John River]] and the [[Petitcodiac River campaign|Petitcodiac River Valleys]]. The celebration of these successes was dampened by their embarrassing defeat in the [[Battle of Carillon]] (Ticonderoga), in which 4,000 French troops repulsed 16,000 British. When the British led by generals [[James Abercrombie (British Army officer, born 1706)|James Abercrombie]] and [[George Howe, 3rd Viscount Howe|George Howe]] attacked, they believed that the French led by Lieutenant General [[Louis-Joseph de Montcalm]] were defended only by a small [[abatis]] which could be taken easily given the British force's significant numerical advantage. The British offensive which was supposed to advance in tight columns and overwhelm the French defenders fell into confusion and scattered, leaving large spaces in their ranks. When [[François Gaston de Lévis]] sent 1,000 soldiers to reinforce Montcalm's struggling troops, the British were pinned down in the brush by intense French musket fire and they were forced to retreat.

All of Britain's campaigns against New France succeeded in 1759, part of what became known as an ''[[Annus Mirabilis of 1759|Annus Mirabilis]]''. Starting in June 1759, the British under [[James Wolfe]] and [[James Murray (British Army officer, born 1721)|James Murray]] set up camp on the Île d'Orléans across the St. Lawrence River from Quebec, enabling them to commence the 3-month siege that ensued. The French under the Marquis de Montcalm anticipated a British assault to the east of Quebec so he ordered his soldiers to fortify the region of [[Beauport, Quebec City|Beauport]]. In July 1759, [[Battle of Fort Niagara|Fort Niagara]]{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|pp=330–339}} and [[Battle of Ticonderoga (1759)|Fort Carillon]]{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|pp=240–249}} fell to sizable British forces, cutting off French frontier forts further west. On 31 July, the [[Battle of Beauport|British attacked]] with 4,000 soldiers but the French positioned high up on the cliffs overlooking the [[Montmorency Falls]] forced the British forces to withdraw to the Île d'Orleans. While Wolfe and Murray planned a second offensive, British rangers raided French settlements along the St. Lawrence, destroying food supplies, ammunition and other goods in an attempt to vanquish the French through starvation.

[[File:The Death of General Wolfe B.West,1770.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|left|''[[The Death of General Wolfe]]'' (1771), on the [[Plains of Abraham]], near Quebec]]

On 13 September 1759, General James Wolfe led 5,000 troops up a goat path to the [[Plains of Abraham]], 1 mile west of Quebec City. <!--the following passage seems to go into far too much detail about one battle for an article on an entire war-->
He had positioned his army between Montcalm's forces an hour's march to the east and [[Louis Antoine de Bougainville]]'s regiments to the west, which could be mobilised within 3 hours. Instead of waiting for a coordinated attack with Bougainville, Montcalm attacked immediately. When his 3,500 troops advanced, their lines became scattered in a disorderly formation. Many French soldiers fired before they were within range of striking the British. Wolfe organised his troops in two lines stretching 1 mile across the Plains of Abraham. They were ordered to load their Brown Bess muskets with two bullets to obtain maximum power and hold their fire until the French soldiers came within 40 paces of the British ranks. Once the British had Montcalm's army in firing range, their volley was powerful and nearly all bullets hit their targets, devastating the French ranks. The French fled the Plains of Abraham in a state of utter confusion while they were pursued by members of the Scottish Fraser regiment and other British forces. Despite being cut down by musket fire from the Canadians and their indigenous allies, the British vastly outnumbered these opponents and won the [[Battle of the Plains of Abraham]].{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|pp=355–360}} General Wolfe was mortally wounded in the chest early in the battle so the command fell to James Murray, who would become the lieutenant governor of Quebec after the war. The Marquis de Montcalm was also severely wounded later in the battle and died the following day. The French abandoned the city and French Canadians led by the Chevalier de Levis staged a counteroffensive on the Plains of Abraham in the spring of 1760, with initial success at the [[Battle of Sainte-Foy]].{{sfnp|Anderson|2007|pp=392–393}} During the subsequent [[Siege of Quebec (1760)|siege of Quebec]], however, Lévis was unable to retake the city, largely because of British naval superiority following the [[Battle of Neuville]] and the [[Battle of Restigouche]], which allowed the British to be resupplied but not the French. The French forces retreated to [[Montreal]] in the summer of 1760, and after a [[Montreal campaign|two-month campaign]] by overwhelming British forces, they surrendered on 8 September, essentially ending the [[French colonial empire|French Empire]] in North America. As the Seven Years War was not yet over in Europe, the British put all of New France under a [[British military regime in New France|military regime]] while awaiting the results. This regime would last from 1760 to 1763.

Seeing French and Indian defeat, in 1760, the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy resigned from the war and negotiated the Treaty of Kahnawake with the British. Among its conditions was their unrestricted travel between Canada and New York, as the nations had extensive trade between Montreal and Albany as well as populations living throughout the area.<ref>[http://www3.sympatico.ca/donald.macleod2/border.html D. Peter MacLeod, "'Free and Open Roads': The Treaty of Kahnawake and the Control of Movement over the New York-Canadian Border during the Military Regime, 1760–1761," read at the Ottawa Legal History Group,  (1992, 2001)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190913233456/http://www3.sympatico.ca/donald.macleod2/border.html |date=13 September 2019 }}. Retrieved 31 January 2011.</ref>

In 1762, towards the end of the war, French forces attacked [[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. John's, Newfoundland]]. If successful, the expedition would have strengthened France's hand at the negotiating table. Although they took St. John's and raided nearby settlements, the French forces were eventually defeated by British troops at the [[Battle of Signal Hill]]. This was the final battle of the war in North America, and it forced the French to surrender to Lieutenant Colonel [[William Amherst (British Army officer)|William Amherst]]. The victorious British now controlled all of eastern North America.

The history of the Seven Years' War in North America, particularly the [[Expulsion of the Acadians]], the [[Siege of Quebec (1760)|siege of Quebec]], the death of Wolfe, and the [[siege of Fort William Henry]] generated a vast number of ballads, broadsides, images, and novels (see [[Longfellow]]'s ''[[Evangeline]]'', [[Benjamin West]]'s ''[[The Death of General Wolfe]]'', [[James Fenimore Cooper]]'s ''[[The Last of the Mohicans]]''), maps and other printed materials, which testify to how this event held the imagination of the British and North American public long after Wolfe's death in 1759.<ref>[http://www.collectionscanada.ca/virtual-vault/026018-119.01-e.php?q1=People&PHPSESSID=709io6475tfesngi2m7226o454 Virtual Vault: "Canadiana"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321204831/http://www.collectionscanada.ca/virtual-vault/026018-119.01-e.php?q1=People&PHPSESSID=709io6475tfesngi2m7226o454 |date=21 March 2016 }}, Library and Archives Canada</ref>

===South America===
{{See also|Fantastic War|First Cevallos expedition}}
[[File:Bombardment of the Morro Castle, Havana, 1 July 1762 RMG BHC0407.jpg|thumb|The bombardment of [[Morro Castle (Havana)|Morro Castle]] on [[Havana]], 1763]]

In South America, the Portuguese conquered most of the [[Rio Negro (Amazon)|Rio Negro]] valley,<ref>Ojer, Pablo – [[google:"de+los+cuales+fueron+desalojados+por+los+portugueses"&btnG=Pesquisar+livros&tbm=bks&tbo=1&hl=pt-PT&gws_rd=ssl|''La Década Fundamental en la Controversia de Límites entre Venezuela y Colombia, 1881–1891'']] (in Spanish), Academia Nacional de la Historia, 1988, [https://books.google.com/books?id=l4dsAAAAMAAJ&q=%22de+los+cuales+fueron+desalojados+por+los+portugueses%22 p. 292].</ref><ref>United States Army Corps of Engineers- ''[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Report_on_Orinoco_Casiquiare_Negro_Water/7SgE1SY3rW4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22S%C3%A3o+Gabriel+was+founded+during+the+Portuguese+conquest+in+1763,%22&pg=RA1-PA11&printsec=frontcover Report on Orinoco-Casiquiare-Negro Waterway. Venezuela-Colombia-Brazil, July 1943]'', Vol. I, 1943, p. 15.</ref> and repelled a Spanish attack on [[Mato Grosso]] (in the [[Guaporé River]]).<ref>Southern, Robert – [https://books.google.com/books?id=VIQiAQAAMAAJ  '' History of Brazil''], part third, London, 1819, [https://books.google.com/books?id=dF9KAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA584 p. 584].</ref><ref>Block, David – [[google:"In+1763+Moura+retired+from+Mato+Grosso+the+victor.+He+had+advanced+to+the+Guapore,"&btnG=Pesquisar+livros&tbm=bks&tbo=1&hl=pt-PT&gws_rd=ssl|''Mission Culture on the Upper Amazon: native Tradition, Jesuit enterprise and Secular Policy in Moxos, 1660–1880'']], University of Nebraska Press, 1994,  [https://books.google.com/books?id=GGsaAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Mato+Grosso+the+victor.%22 p. 51].</ref>

Between September 1762 and April 1763, Spanish forces led by [[Pedro Antonio de Cevallos|don Pedro Antonio de Cevallos]], Governor of Buenos Aires (and later first [[Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata|Viceroy of the Rio de la Plata]]) undertook a campaign against the Portuguese in the [[Banda Oriental]], now Uruguay and south Brazil. The Spanish conquered the Portuguese settlement of [[Colonia del Sacramento|Colonia do Sacramento]] and [[Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul|Rio Grande de São Pedro]] and forced the Portuguese to surrender and retreat.

Under the Treaty of Paris, Spain had to return to Portugal the settlement of Colonia do Sacramento, while the vast and rich territory of the so-called "Continent of S. Peter" (the present-day Brazilian state of [[Rio Grande do Sul]]) would be retaken from the Spanish army during the undeclared Hispano-Portuguese war of 1763–1777.{{sfnp|Marley|2008|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DkgGVTOr2EsC&pg=PA449 pp. 449–450]}}<ref name="Bento">Bento, Cláudio Moreira – [http://www.ahimtb.org.br/confliext5.htm ''Brasil, conflitos externos 1500–1945''] (electronic version), Academia de História Militar Terrestre do Brasil, chapter 5: As guerras no Sul 1763–77.</ref><ref name="Lesser">Lesser, Ricardo – [https://books.google.com/books?id=N74Oo3JJhFwC&pg=PA68 ''Las Orígenes de la Argentina''], Editorial Biblos, 2003, see chapter [https://books.google.com/books?id=N74Oo3JJhFwC&pg=PA63 "El desastre"], see [https://books.google.com/books?id=N74Oo3JJhFwC&pg=PA67 pp. 63–72].</ref><ref name="Bento, Cláudio">Bento, Cláudio Moreira- ''Rafael Pinto Bandeira'' in [http://www.acadhistoria.com.br/otuiuti/O%20TUIUTI%2095.pdf  ''O Tuiuti''], nr. 95, Academia de Historia Militar Terrestre do Brasil, 2013, pp. 3–18.</ref>

As consequence of the war the [[Valdivian Fort System]], a Spanish defensive complex in [[Zona Sur|southern Chile]], was updated and reinforced from 1764 onwards. Other vulnerable localities of [[Colonial Chile]] such as [[Chiloé Archipelago]], [[Concepción, Chile|Concepción]], [[Juan Fernández Islands]], and [[Valparaíso]] were also made ready for an eventual English attack.<ref name=MEMCh>{{citation|url=http://www.memoriachilena.cl/602/w3-article-3522.html|title=Ingeniería Militar durante la Colonia|work=Memoria chilena|language=es|access-date=30 December 2015}}</ref><ref name=MEMCh2>{{citation|url=http://www.memoriachilena.cl/602/w3-printer-94644.html|title=Lugares estratégicos|work=Memoria chilena|language=es|access-date=30 December 2015}}</ref> The war contributed also to a decision to improve communications between Buenos Aires and Lima resulting in the establishment of a series of [[mountain shelter]]s in the high Andes called [[Casuchas del Rey]].<ref>{{Cite conference|title=Las Casuchas del Rey: un patrimonio temprano de la integración chileno-argentina|conference=XII Congreso Geológico Chileno|url=https://biblioserver.sernageomin.cl/opac/DataFiles/12993_v2_S5_021.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418092445/https://biblioserver.sernageomin.cl/opac/DataFiles/12993_v2_S5_021.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 April 2021|last1=Ramos|first1=V.A.|last2=Aguirre-Urreta|first2=B.|year=2009|location=Santiago|language=es|author-link=Víctor Alberto Ramos}}</ref>

===India===
{{Main|Third Carnatic War|Bengal War}}
{{Campaignbox Seven Years' War: East Indies}}
[[File:Bellin's plan of Pondicherry, a copperplate engraving.jpg|thumb|Plan of Pondicherry, the French capital in India, taken by the British]]

In India, the outbreak of the Seven Years' War in Europe renewed the long running conflict between the French and the British trading companies for influence on the subcontinent. The French allied themselves with the [[Mughal Empire]] to resist British expansion, but derived little benefit from this. The war began in Southern India but spread into [[Bengal]], where British forces under [[Robert Clive]] recaptured [[Calcutta]] from the [[Nawab]] [[Siraj ud-Daulah]], a French ally, and ousted him from his throne at the [[Battle of Plassey]] in 1757. In the same year, the British also captured [[Chandernagar]], the French settlement in Bengal.<ref>Peter Harrington, ''Plassey, 1757: Clive of India's Finest Hour'' (Praeger, 1994).</ref>

In the south, although the French captured [[Cuddalore]], their [[siege of Madras]] failed, while the British commander [[Sir Eyre Coote]] decisively defeated the [[Thomas Arthur, comte de Lally|Comte de Lally]] at the [[Battle of Wandiwash]] in 1760 and overran the French territory of the [[Northern Circars]]. The French capital in India, [[Puducherry (city)|Pondicherry]], fell to the British in 1761 (it was returned after the war); together with the fall of the lesser French settlements of [[Karikal]] and [[Mahé, India|Mahé]] this effectively eliminated French power in India.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sen|first=S.N.|title=History Modern India|year=2006|publisher=New Age International|location=Delhi|isbn=978-81-224-1774-6|page=34|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ga-pmgxsWwoC&pg=PA35 |edition=3rd}}</ref>

===West Africa===
{{Campaignbox Seven Years' War: Africa}}

In 1758, at the urging of an American merchant, [[Thomas Cumming]], Pitt dispatched an expedition to take the French settlement at [[Saint-Louis, Senegal]]. The British [[British capture of Senegal|captured Senegal]] with ease in May 1758 and brought home large amounts of captured goods. This success convinced Pitt to launch two further expeditions to take the island of [[Gorée]] and the French trading post on [[River Gambia|the Gambia]]. The battles in West Africa were ultimately a series of British expeditions against wealthy French colonies. The British and French had been competing for influence in the Gambia region following the acquisition of [[Kunta Kinteh Island|James Island]] in 1664 by the English from the Dutch. The loss of these valuable colonies to the British further weakened the French economy.<ref>James L.A. Webb Jr, "The mid-eighteenth century gum Arabic trade and the British conquest of Saint-Louis du Senegal, 1758." ''Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History'' 25#1 (1997): 37–58.</ref>

==Neutral nations during the Seven Years' War==

===Ottoman Empire===
Despite being one of the major European powers during this time, the [[Ottoman Empire]] was notably neutral during the Seven Years' War. Following their military stalemate with the Russian Empire and their subsequent victory over the Holy Roman Empire (and Austria to an extent), during the [[Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739)|Austro-Russian-Turkish War]] (1735–1739), and the signing of the [[Treaty of Belgrade]], the Ottoman Empire enjoyed a generation of peace due to Austria and Russia contending with the rise of Prussia in Eastern Europe. During the war, King Frederick II of Prussia, better known to history as [[Frederick the Great]], had made diplomatic overtures with the Ottoman Sultan, [[Mustafa III]] for years, up to the outbreak of war, to bring the empire into the war on the side of Prussia, Great Britain, and their other allies but he was unsuccessful. However, the Sultan was persuaded by his court not to join the war, primarily by his Grand Vizier, [[Koca Ragıp Pasha|Koca Ragıb Pasha]], who was quoted as saying.

''"Our state looks like a majestic and mighty lion from afar. However, a closer look at this lion reveals that it has aged—its teeth have fallen out—its claws have fallen. So, let's leave this old lion to rest for a while."''

Therefore, the Ottoman Empire avoided the major wars that would follow, including the Seven Years' War. The Ottoman Empire, or more accurately its leaders, recognised its internal problems. The previous wars had cost the empire greatly, both in terms of resources and finance, they were facing rebellions from nationalistic uprisings, notably from the [[Anatolian beyliks|Beyliks]], and Persia had been reunited under Karim Khan Zand. That said, the Ottoman Empire would launch an abortive invasion of Hungary with 100,000 troops in 1763, contributing to the end of the war.<ref>[[Will Durant|Durant, Will]]; [[Ariel Durant|Durant, Ariel]], ''[[iarchive:rousseaurevoluti00dura/page/62/mode/2up|Rousseau and Revolution : a history of civilization in France, England, and Germany from 1756, and in the Remainder of Europe from 1715 to 1789]]'', p. 62</ref>

===Persia===
[[Iran|Persia]] ended up under the rule of the [[Zand dynasty]] during the period of the Seven Years' War. Like the Ottoman Empire, they were also neutral during the war. They had more pressing matters to attend to. [[Karim Khan Zand]], was busy playing politics and was in the process of legitimising his claim to the Persian throne by placing a puppet king on the throne, [[Ismail III]], the grandson of the last [[Safavid Iran|Safavid]] king, in 1757.<ref>{{cite web |title=Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica |url=https://iranicaonline.org/ |access-date=17 October 2022 |website=iranicaonline.org |language=en-US}}</ref> However, by 1760, he had managed to eliminate all other potential claimants to the throne as well as Ismail III and had established himself as the head of his own dynasty, the aforementioned Zand dynasty.<ref>{{cite web |date=3 March 2016 |title=Afshar Dynasty |website=farhangsara.com |url=http://www.farhangsara.com/history_afshar.htm |access-date=17 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303170301/http://www.farhangsara.com/history_afshar.htm |archive-date=3 March 2016}}</ref>

===Dutch Republic===
[[File:Christoffel Bisschop - Anno 1758. Een delegatie kooplieden bezoekt de gouvernante - SA 5125 - Amsterdam Museum (Colour version).gif|thumb|right|Dutch merchants complain to Princess Anne about the detention of merchant ships by the British.]]
The [[Dutch Republic]] had played a central role in the wars against Louis XIV's France{{efn|The [[Franco-Dutch War]], [[Nine Years' War]] and the [[War of the Spanish Succession]]}} in the late 1600s and early 1700s, and doing this had proved to be very expensive. This motivated the Dutch to try to stay out of major 18th-century European conflicts like the [[War of the Polish Succession]] and [[War of the Austrian Succession]].{{sfn|Van Nimwegen|2002}} [[Grand Pensionary]] [[Laurens van de Spiegel]], in 1782, blamed the earlier generations for placing too heavy a burden on their descendants by waging wars on credit.

''"Every new war is a step closer to taking away from the descendants the means of defence they need."''

It was precisely for this reason that [[Pieter Steyn]], Grand Pensionary of [[County of Holland|Holland]] from 1749 to 1772, wanted the Republic to align its foreign policy with the state of its finances. Specifically, this meant that Holland should do everything possible to ensure that the Republic did not become involved in the Franco-British dispute, despite animosity towards France and being a long-time ally of Britain. This was not going to be easy, because London was exerting great pressure on the [[States General of the Netherlands|States General]] to make troops available for the defence of Great Britain as soon as hostilities with France were to occur, and as the daughter of George II, it would be almost impossible for [[Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange|Princess Anne]], regent in the Dutch Republic for [[William V of Orange]], to refuse the requested help. However, the wealthy merchants of [[Amsterdam]] did not want to go to war for Britain's interests. Together with French assurances that King Louis XV did not want to multiply his enemies and that it was the Prussians who broke the peace, this made it possible for Steyn to declare the Republic neutral.{{sfn|Van Nimwegen|2017|pp=31–34}}

Despite British threats, the detention of many Dutch merchant ships by the British, and various incidents, as when [[Barrier Treaty|Dutch soldiers stationed in the Austrian Netherlands]] fired celebratory gunshots in support of the Prussians after the [[Battle of Breslau (1757)|Battle of Breslau]], the Dutch Republic managed to preserve its neutrality during the Seven Years' War. It owed this to the memory of what it had been and what it could possibly become again, namely a land and naval power of the first rank. For the Prussian king, the Republic was an important ally with view of securing his scattered possessions along the Dutch eastern border, and for George II, the Dutch seaports provided the most secure link with Hanover. For their part, the British were concerned that their supremacy at sea would be jeopardised if the Republic were to lend its cooperation to a French plan for joint maritime action by the French, Spanish, Danish and Dutch fleets. In addition, the government in London had not yet given up hope to restore the disrupted relationship with the Dutch by including them in a military and political bloc formed by Britain, Hanover, Prussia and the Dutch Republic. When the [[County of Holland|States of Holland]] announced in the States General on 12 January 1759 that they had decided to equip 25 warships, at their own expense if need be, and Princess Anna also died that same evening, the British government realised that it should not let things get out of hand by inflicting too much damage on Dutch trade. It resigned itself to the fact that the Republic persisted in its neutral stance.{{sfn|Van Nimwegen|2017|pp=31–34}}<ref>Cuyt, F., Jacobs, T., Van Gelder, K., & Vermeir, R. (2017). De Staatse Barrière in de tweede helft van de 18de eeuw: een rustig en vredig bezit?.</ref>

Unofficially, the Dutch East India Company would attempt to [[Battle of Chinsurah|undermine or even prevent British domination]] in India during the [[Third Carnatic War]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Malleson |first=George Bruce |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2YUBAAAAQAAJ&dq=forde+Chinsurah&pg=PA120 |title=The Decisive Battles of India: From 1746 to 1849 Inclusive |date=1883 |publisher=W.H. Allen}}</ref>

===Denmark–Norway===
[[Denmark–Norway]] was another neutral nation during the Seven Years War, although it could be argued{{bywhom|date=September 2024}} that, due to close calls, it was a belligerent nation. It was very nearly dragged into the war on the side of France due to the actions of the Russian Empire. Tsar [[Peter III of Russia|Peter III]] had desired on reclaiming his title of [[Duke of Holstein-Gottorp]], whose lands were being overseen by the current king of Denmark-Norway, [[Frederick V of Denmark|Frederick V]], and was prepared to attack Denmark–Norway in order to do this. However, luckily for Denmark-Norway, the Russian emperor was deposed by his wife, [[Catherine II]], before war could break out.{{citation needed|date = September 2024}}

==Outcomes==
{{further|Financial costs of the Seven Years' War|Miracle of the House of Brandenburg}}
{{Wikisource|Treaty of Paris (1763)}}
The Anglo-French hostilities were ended in 1763 by the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]], which involved a complex series of land exchanges, the most important being France's cession to Spain of [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]], and to Great Britain the rest of New France. Britain returned to France the islands of [[Saint Pierre and Miquelon]], which had been ceded to Britain in 1714 under the [[Treaty of Utrecht]], to assist with French [[French Shore|fishing rights]]. Faced with the choice of regaining either [[New France]] or its Caribbean Island colonies of [[History of Guadeloupe|Guadeloupe]] and [[History of Martinique|Martinique]], France chose the islands to retain these lucrative sources of sugar,<ref>{{cite web |last=Eccles |first=William John |date=2006 |title=Seven Years' War |website=The Canadian Encyclopedia |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/seven-years-war/ |access-date=17 June 2006}}</ref> writing off New France as an unproductive, costly territory.<ref>''E.g.'', [https://www.augustana.ca/files/group/797/New%20France%20-%20Economics,%20etc..pdf Canada to Confederation p. 8: Barriers to Immigration] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326175948/https://www.augustana.ca/files/group/797/New%20France%20-%20Economics,%20etc..pdf |date=26 March 2009 }}, mentioning the mother country's image of New France as an "Arctic wasteland with wild animals and savage Indians". [[Voltaire]] dismissed New France as "a few acres of snow", ''[[Candide]]'', chap. 23.</ref> France also returned Minorca to the British. Spain lost [[Spanish Florida|Florida]] to Great Britain, but it received from the French the [[Île d'Orléans, Louisiana|Île d'Orléans]] and all of the former French holdings west of the [[Mississippi River]]. The exchanges suited the British as well, since their own West Indian islands already supplied ample sugar. With the acquisition of New France and Florida, they now controlled all of North America east of the Mississippi.

In India, the British retained the [[Northern Circars]], but returned all the French trading ports. The treaty, however, required that the fortifications of these settlements be destroyed and never rebuilt, while only minimal garrisons could be maintained there, thus rendering them worthless as military bases. Combined with the loss of France's ally in [[Nawabs of Bengal|Bengal]] and the defection of [[Hyderabad State|Hyderabad]] to the British as a result of the war, this effectively brought French power in India to an end, making way for [[Presidencies and provinces of British India|British hegemony]] and eventual control of the subcontinent.{{sfnp|Szabo|2007|p=432}} 

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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Kennedy |title=The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery |year=1976 |edition=new introduction |publisher=Penguin Books |location=London |isbn=978-0-684-14609-6}}</ref>

[[File:Vorderlader.jpg|thumb|August 2009 historical re-enactment of the [[Battle of Warburg]] fought on 31 July 1760]]

Bute's settlement with France was mild compared with what Pitt's would have been. He had hoped for a lasting peace with France, and he was afraid that if he took too much, the whole of Europe would unite in envious hostility against Britain. Choiseul, however, had no intention of making a permanent peace, and, when France went to war with Great Britain during the American Revolution, the British found no support among the European powers.<ref name="Eric Robson 1957">Eric Robson, "The Seven Years' War", in J O Lindsay, ed., ''The New Cambridge Modern History'' (1957) 7:465–486.</ref> France's defeat caused the French to embark upon major military reforms, with particular attention being paid to the artillery.<ref name=Marston2001_90>{{harvp|Marston|2001|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1icUjZag24YC&pg=PA90 p. 90]}}.</ref> The origins of the [[Gribeauval system|famed French artillery]] that played a prominent role in the wars of the French Revolution and beyond can to be traced to military reforms that started in 1763.{{r|Marston2001_90}}

The Treaty of Hubertusburg, between Austria, Prussia, and Saxony, was signed on 15 February 1763, at a hunting lodge between [[Dresden]] and [[Leipzig]]. Negotiations had started there on 31 December 1762. Frederick, who had considered ceding East Prussia to Russia if Peter III helped him secure Saxony, finally insisted on excluding Russia (in fact, no longer a belligerent) from the negotiations. At the same time, he refused to evacuate Saxony until its elector had renounced any claim to reparation. The Austrians wanted at least to retain Glatz, which they had in fact reconquered, but Frederick would not allow it. The treaty simply restored the status quo of 1748, with Silesia and Glatz reverting to Frederick and Saxony to its own elector. The only concession that Prussia made to Austria was to consent to the election of Archduke Joseph as Holy Roman emperor. Saxony emerged from the war weakened and bankrupt; despite losing no territory, Saxony had essentially been a battleground between Prussia and Austria throughout the conflict, with many of its towns and cities (including the capital of Dresden) damaged by bombardment and looting.

Austria was not able to retake Silesia or make any significant territorial gain. However, it did prevent Prussia from invading parts of Saxony. More significantly, 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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bled |first=Jean-Paul |date=2001 |title=Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche |publisher=Fayard |isbn=978-2-213-60997-3 |language=fr }}</ref>{{Page needed|date=February 2021}} 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 first-rate power and the enhanced prestige of its king and army, however, was potentially damaging in the long run to Austria's influence in Germany. Austria now found herself estranged with the new developments within the empire itself. Besides the rise of Prussia, [[Augustus III of Poland|Augustus III]], although ineffective, could muster an army not only from Saxony, but also Poland, since he was also the King of Poland as well as Elector of Saxony. Bavaria's growing power and independence was also apparent as it asserted more control on the deployment of its army, and managed to disengage from the war at its own will. Most importantly, with the now belligerent Hanover united personally under [[George III of Great Britain]], it amassed a considerable power, and even brought Britain in on future conflicts. This power dynamic was important to the future and the latter conflicts of the ''Reich''. The war also proved that Maria Theresa's reforms were still insufficient to compete with Prussia: unlike its enemy, the Austrians were almost bankrupt at the end of war. Hence, she dedicated the next two decades to the consolidation of her administration.

Prussia emerged from the war as a great power whose importance could no longer be challenged. Frederick the Great's personal reputation was enormously enhanced, as his debt to fortune (Russia's betrayal after Elizabeth's death) and to British financial support were soon forgotten, while the memory of his energy and his military genius was strenuously kept alive.{{r|Marston2001_90}} Though depicted as a key moment in Prussia's rise to greatness, the war weakened Prussia.{{r|Marston2001_90}} Prussia's lands and population were devastated though Frederick's extensive agrarian reforms and encouragement of immigration soon solved both these problems. Unfortunately for Prussia, its army had taken heavy losses (particularly the officer corps) and in the war's aftermath, Frederick could not afford to rebuild the Prussian Army to what it was before the war.{{r|Marston2001_90}} In the [[War of the Bavarian Succession]], the Prussians fought poorly despite being led by Frederick in person.{{r|Marston2001_90}} During the war with France in 1792–95, the Prussian Army did not fare well against revolutionary France, and in 1806, the Prussians suffered a complete defeat by the French at the Battle of Jena.{{r|Marston2001_90}} It was only after 1806 when Prussian government brought in reforms to recover from the disaster of Jena that Prussia's rise to greatness later in the 19th century was realized.{{r|Marston2001_90}} However, in the aftermath of the Seven Years' War, various nations all sent officers to Prussia to learn the secrets of Prussia's military power.{{r|Marston2001_90}} Prussia become one of the most imitated powers in Europe.{{r|Marston2001_90}}

Russia made one great invisible gain from the war: the elimination of French influence in Poland. The [[First Partition of Poland]] (1772) was to be a Russo-Prussian transaction, with Austria only reluctantly involved and with France completely absent.<ref name="Eric Robson 1957"/> Though the war had ended in a draw, the performance of the Imperial Russian Army against Prussia had improved Russia's reputation as a factor in European politics, as many had not expected the Russians to hold their own against the Prussians in campaigns fought on Prussian soil.{{r|Marston2001_90}} The American historian David Stone observed that Russian soldiers proved capable of going head-on against the Prussians, inflicting and taking one bloody volley after another "without flinching", and though the quality of Russian generalship was quite variable, the Russians were never decisively defeated once in the war.{{r|Stone2006_70}} The Russians defeated the Prussians several times in the war, but the Russians lacked the necessary logistical capability to follow up their victories with lasting gains, and in this sense, the salvation of the House of Hohenzollern was due more to Russian weakness with respect to logistics than to Prussian strength on the battlefield.{{sfnp|Stone|2006|pp=70–71}} Still, the fact that the Russians proved capable of defeating in battle the army of a "first-rate" European power on its own soil despite the often indifferent quality of their generals improved Russia's standing in Europe.{{r|Stone2006_70}} A lasting legacy of the war was that it awakened the Russians to their logistic weaknesses, and led to major reforms of the Imperial Russian Army's quartermaster department.{{sfnp|Marston|2001|pp=90–91}} The supply system that would allow the Russians to advance into the Balkans during the war with the Ottomans in 1787–1792, Marshal Alexander Suvorov to campaign effectively in Italy and Switzerland in 1798–1799, and for the Russians to fight across Germany and France in 1813–1814 to take Paris was created directly in response to the logistic problems experienced by the Russians in the Seven Years' War.{{sfnp|Marston|2001|pp=90–91}}

[[File:NorthAmerica1762-83.png|thumb|Map showing British territorial gains in North America following the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]] in pink, and Spanish territorial gains after the [[Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762)|Treaty of Fontainebleau]] in yellow]]

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. In 1763, [[Pontiac's War]] broke out as a group of Indian tribes in the Great Lakes region and the Northwest (the modern American Midwest) said to have been led by the Ottawa chief Pontiac (whose role as the leader of the confederation seems to have been exaggerated by the British), unhappy with the eclipse of French power, rebelled against British rule. The Indians had long established congenial and friendly relations with the French fur traders, and the Anglo-American fur traders who had replaced the French had engaged in business practices that enraged the Indians, who complained about being cheated when they sold their furs.{{sfnp|Marston|2002|pp=84–85}} Moreover, the Indians feared that with the coming of British rule might lead to white settlers displacing them off their land, whereas it was known that the French had only come as fur traders.{{sfnp|Marston|2002|pp=84–85}} Pontiac's War was a major conflict in which the British temporarily lost control of the Great Lakes-Northwest regions to the Indians.{{sfnp|Marston|2002|pp=85–87}} By the middle of 1763, the only forts the British held in the region were Fort Detroit (modern Detroit, Michigan), Fort Niagara (modern Youngstown, New York) and Fort Pitt (modern Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) with the rest all being lost to the Indians.{{sfnp|Marston|2002|p=86}} It was only with the British victory at the [[Battle of Bushy Run]] that prevented a complete collapse of British power in the Great Lakes region.{{sfnp|Marston|2002|p=87}} King George&nbsp;III's [[Proclamation of 1763]], which forbade white settlement beyond the crest of the Appalachians, was intended to appease the Indians but led to considerable outrage in the [[Thirteen Colonies]], whose inhabitants were eager to acquire native lands. The [[Quebec Act 1774]], similarly intended to win over the loyalty of French Canadians, also spurred resentment among American colonists.<ref>{{cite book |first=D. Peter |last=MacLeod |title=Northern Armageddon: The Battle of the Plains of Abraham |location=Vancouver |publisher=Douglas & McIntyre |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-55365-412-4}}</ref> The Act protected Catholic religion and French language, which enraged the Americans, but the [[Québécois people|Québécois]] remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolution and did not rebel.

The war also brought to an end the [[Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg)|"Old System" of alliances in Europe]].<ref name=os>A structure of alliances with European powers, in which Britain had formed grand coalitions against [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon]] ambitions in Europe.</ref> In the years after the war, under the direction of [[John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich|John Montagu]] (Lord Sandwich), the British attempted to re-establish this system. But after her surprising grand success against a coalition of great powers, European states such as Austria, the Dutch Republic, Sweden, Denmark–Norway, the Ottoman Empire and Russia, now saw Britain as a greater threat than France and did not join with it, while the Prussians were angered by what they considered a British betrayal in 1762. Consequently, when the [[American Revolutionary War]] turned into a global war between 1778 and 1783, Britain found itself opposed by a strong coalition of European powers, and lacking any substantial ally.<ref>{{cite journal |jstor=2144276 |title=The American Revolution as an Aftermath of the Great War for the Empire, 1754–1763 |journal=Political Science Quarterly |volume=65 |issue=1 |pages=86–104 |last1=Gipson |first1=Lawrence Henry |year=1950 |doi=10.2307/2144276| issn=0032-3195 }}</ref>

==Cultural references==
* The novel ''[[The Luck of Barry Lyndon]]'' (1844) by [[William Makepeace Thackeray]] is set against the Seven Years' War. This is a quote about the war from the novel:

: {{blockquote|It would require a greater philosopher and historian than I am to explain the causes of the famous Seven Years' War in which Europe was engaged; and, indeed, its origin has always appeared to me to be so complicated, and the books written about it so amazingly hard to understand, that I have seldom been much wiser at the end of a chapter than at the beginning, and so shall not trouble my reader with any personal disquisitions concerning the matter.{{sfnp|Thackeray|2001|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hyK19Yj0eu4C&pg=PA72 p. 72]}}}}

* [[Stanley Kubrick]]'s film ''[[Barry Lyndon]]'' (1975) is based on the Thackeray novel.
* The events in the early chapters of [[Voltaire]]'s ''[[Candide]]'' are based on the Seven Years' War; according to [[Jean Starobinski]] ("Voltaire's Double-Barreled Musket", in ''Blessings in Disguise'' (California, 1993). p.&nbsp;85), all the atrocities described in Chapter&nbsp;3 are true to life. When ''Candide'' was written, Voltaire had been opposed to [[militarism]]; the book's themes of disillusionment and suffering underscore this position.
* The board games ''[[Friedrich (board game)|Friedrich]]'' and, more recently, ''Prussia's Defiant Stand'' and ''Clash of Monarchs'' are based on the events of the Seven Years' War.
* The [[grand strategy wargame]] ''[[Rise of Prussia]]'' covers the European campaigns of the Seven Years' War
* The novel ''[[The Last of the Mohicans]]'' (1826) by [[James Fenimore Cooper]], and its subsequent adaptations, are set in the [[French and Indian War|North American theatre]] of the Seven Years' War.
* ''[[The Partisan in War]]'' (1789), a treatise on light infantry tactics written by Colonel Andreas Emmerich, is based on his experiences in the Seven Years' War.
* The Seven Years' War is the central theme of [[Gotthold Ephraim Lessing|G.&nbsp;E. Lessing]]'s 1767 play ''[[Minna von Barnhelm|Minna von Barnhelm or the Soldiers' Happiness]]''.
* Numerous towns and other places now in United States were named after [[Frederick the Great]] to commemorate the victorious conclusion of the war, including [[Frederick, Maryland|Frederick]], Maryland, and [[King of Prussia, Pennsylvania|King of Prussia]], Pennsylvania.
* The fourth scenario of the second act in the [[Real-time strategy|RTS]] ''[[Age of Empires&nbsp;III]]'' is about this military conflict, with the player fighting alongside the French against the British.
* In the video game ''[[Assassin's Creed III]]'' (2012), primarily set during the [[American Revolution]], the early missions following [[Haytham Kenway]] are set during the North American campaigns of the French and Indian War from 1754 to 1755. The second half of ''[[Assassin's Creed Rogue]]'' (2014) is also set within the timescale of the Seven Years' War, from 1756 to 1760.
* Several installments of [[Diana Gabaldon]]'s fictional [[Lord John series|''Lord John'' series]] (itself an offshoot of the [[Outlander (book series)|''Outlander'' series]]) describe a homosexual officer's experiences in Germany and France during the Seven Years' War. In particular, the short story "Lord John and the Succubus" occurs just before the Battle of Rossbach, and the novel ''Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade'' centres around the Battle of Krefeld.

==See also==
* [[France in the Seven Years' War]]
* [[French India]]
* [[International relations (1648–1814)]]
* [[List of wars and battles involving Prussia]]
* [[Outline of war]]
* [[Rule of 1756]]


==Footnotes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{SLS Q|Q113529938}}
* {{cite book |last=Anderson |first=Fred |author-link=Fred Anderson (historian) |date=2006 |title=The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-1-101-11775-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Maslovsky |first=Dmitry |date=1886–1891 |lang=ru |script-title=ru:Русская армия в Семилетней войне |trans-title=The Russian Army in the Seven Years' War |place=[[Moscow]] |publisher=Типография штаба войск Московского военного округа |url= https://prussia.online/books/russkaya-armiya-v-semiletnuu-voynu-1-3 }}
* {{cite book |last=Anderson |first=Fred |date=2007 |title=Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754–1766 |publisher=Vintage – [[Random House]] |isbn=978-0-307-42539-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FFO2clqJCqMC}}
* {{cite book |last=Asprey |first=Robert B. |author-link=Robert B. Asprey |date=1986 |title=Frederick the Great: The Magnificent Enigma |location=New York |publisher=Ticknor & Field |isbn=978-0-89919-352-6}} Popular biography.
* Baugh, Daniel. ''The Global Seven Years War, 1754–1763'' (Pearson Press, 2011) 660 pp; [http://www.h-france.net/vol13reviews/vol13no5osman.pdf online review in H-FRANCE];
* {{cite book |first=Jeremy |last=Black |author-link=Jeremy Black (historian) |title=European Warfare, 1660–1815 |year=1994 |publisher=UCL Press |location=London |isbn=978-1-85728-172-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wLm_swEACAAJ}}
* [[Blanning, Tim]]. ''Frederick the Great: King of Prussia'' (2016). scholarly biography.
* [[Browning, Reed]]. "The Duke of Newcastle and the Financing of the Seven Years' War". ''[[Journal of Economic History]]'' 31#2 (1971): 344–377. {{JSTOR|2117049}}.
* Browning, Reed. ''The Duke of Newcastle'' ([[Yale University Press]], 1975).
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* Charters, Erica. ''Disease, War, and the Imperial State: The Welfare of the British Armed Forces During the Seven Years' War'' (University of Chicago Press, 2014).
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* {{cite book |last=Clodfelter |first=M. |title=Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |location=Jefferson, NC |edition=4th |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-7864-7470-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Julian S. |date=2011 |orig-year=1907 |author-link=Julian Corbett |title=England in the Seven Years' War: A Study in Combined Strategy |others=(2 vols.) |publisher=Pickle Partners |isbn=978-1-908902-43-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZUlwCwAAQBAJ}} (Its focus is on naval history.)
* {{cite book |last=Creveld |first=Martin van |author-link=Martin van Creveld |title=Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton |year=1977 |location=Cambridge |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-21730-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x6zCMnmr8-EC}}
* Crouch, Christian Ayne. ''Nobility Lost: French and Canadian Martial Cultures, Indians, and the End of New France''. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2014.
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* {{cite book |last=Dodge |first=Edward J. |date=1998 |title=Relief Is Greatly Wanted: The Battle of Fort William Henry |location=Bowie, MD |publisher=Heritage Books |isbn=978-0-7884-0932-5 |oclc=39400729}}
* {{cite book |last=Danley |first=Mark |date=2012 |title=The Seven Years' War: Global Views (History of Warfare) |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9004234086}}
* Dorn, Walter L. ''Competition for Empire, 1740–1763'' (1940) focus on diplomacy [https://archive.org/details/competitionforem00dornrich free to borrow]
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* {{cite book |last=Dull |first=Jonathan R. |date=2009 |title=The Age of the Ship of the Line: the British and French navies, 1650–1851 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-1930-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ns-VTh45SMC}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Fish|2003}}|reference=Fish, Shirley ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ROGYubVVtVIC When Britain ruled the Philippines, 1762–1764: the story of the 18th-century British invasion of the Philippines during the Seven Years' War]''. 1st Books Library, 2003. {{ISBN|978-1-4107-1069-7}}}}
* {{cite book |last=Fowler |first=William H. |title=Empires at War: The Seven Years' War and the Struggle for North America |publisher=Douglas & McIntyre |location=Vancouver, BC |year=2005 |isbn=1-55365-096-4}}
* {{cite journal |last=Higgonet |first=Patrice Louis-René |title=The Origins of the Seven Years' War |journal=The Journal of Modern History |publisher=Journal of Modern History, 40.1 |date=March 1968 |volume=40 |pages=57–90 |doi=10.1086/240165 |s2cid=144559966}}
* {{cite book |last=Hochedlinger |first=Michael |year=2003 |title=Austria's Wars of Emergence, 1683–1797 |publisher=Longwood |location=London |isbn=0-582-29084-8}}
* Katcher, Philip. ''Armies of the American Wars 1753-1815'' (Osprey Publishing, 1975).
* Kaplan, Herbert. ''Russia and the Outbreak of the Seven Years' War'' (University of California Press, 1968).
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* {{cite book |last=Kohn |first=George C. |date=2000 |title=Seven Years War in Dictionary of Wars |publisher=Facts on File |isbn=978-0-8160-4157-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Luvaas |first=Jay |date=1999 |title=Frederick the Great on the Art of War |location=Boston |publisher=Da Capo |isbn=978-0-306-80908-8}}
* McLynn, Frank. ''1759: The Year Britain Became Master of the World''. (Jonathan Cape, 2004). {{ISBN|0-224-06245-X}}
* {{cite book |last=Mahan |first=Alexander J. |date=2011 |title=Maria Theresa of Austria |publisher=Read Books |isbn=978-1-4465-4555-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UzJ8CgAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book |last=Marley |first=David F. |date=2008 |title=Wars of the Americas: a chronology of armed conflict in the New World, 1492 to the present |volume=II |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-59884-101-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DkgGVTOr2EsC}}
* {{cite book |last=Marston |first=Daniel |author-link=Daniel Marston (historian) |date=2001 |title=The Seven Years' War |series=Essential Histories |publisher=Osprey |isbn=978-1-57958-343-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1icUjZag24YC}}
* {{cite book |last=Marston |first=Daniel |date=2002 |title=The French and Indian War |series=Essential Histories |publisher=Osprey |isbn=1-84176-456-6}}
* Middleton, Richard. ''Bells of Victory: The Pitt-Newcastle Ministry & the Conduct of the Seven Years' War'' (1985), 251 pp.
* {{cite book |last=Mitford |first=Nancy |author-link=Nancy Mitford |date=2013 |title=Frederick the Great |location=New York |publisher=[[New York Review Books]] |isbn=978-1-59017-642-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cRt0rz7jqmoC}}
* Nester, William R. ''The French and Indian War and the Conquest of New France'' (University of Oklahoma Press, 2014).
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* Robson, Martin. ''A History of the Royal Navy: The Seven Years War'' (IB Tauris, 2015).
* {{cite book |last=Rodger |first=N. A. M. |author-link=Nicholas A. M. Rodger |date=2006 |title=Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain 1649–1815 |publisher=W.W. Norton |isbn=978-0-393-32847-9}}
* Schumann, Matt, and Karl W. Schweizer. ''The Seven Years War: A Transatlantic History''. (Routledge, 2012).
* {{cite book |last=Schweizer |first=Karl W. |date=1989 |title=England, Prussia, and the Seven Years War: Studies in Alliance Policies and Diplomacy |location=[[Lewiston, New York]] |publisher=[[Edwin Mellen Press]] |isbn=978-0-88946-465-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rfacoIz38n0C}}
* [[Smith, Digby George]]. ''Armies of the Seven Years' War: Commanders, Equipment, Uniforms and Strategies of the 'First World War''' (2012).
* {{cite book |last=Speelman |first=P.J. |editor-last=Danley |editor-first=M.H. |editor-last2=Speelman |editor-first2=P.J. |title=The Seven Years' War: Global Views |publisher=Brill |year=2012 |isbn=978-90-04-23408-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Stone |first=David |date=2006 |title=A Military History of Russia: From Ivan the Terrible to the War in Chechnya |location=New York |publisher=Praeger |isbn=978-0-275-98502-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ok7iVsgiNmAC}}
* Syrett, David. ''Shipping and Military Power in the Seven Year War, 1756–1763: The Sails of Victory'' (2005)
* {{cite book |last=Szabo |first=Franz A.J. |date=2007 |title=The Seven Years' War in Europe 1756–1763 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-582-29272-7}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Storrs |editor-first=Christopher |first=Peter H. |last=Wilson |chapter=Prussia as a Fiscal-Military State, 1640–1806 |year=2008 |title=The Fiscal-Military State in Eighteenth-Century Europe: Essays in honour of P.G.M. Dickson |location=Surrey |publisher=Ashgate |pages=95–125 |isbn=978-0-7546-5814-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Van Nimwegen |first=Olaf |title=De Republiek der Verenigde Nederlanden als grote mogendheid: Buitenlandse politiek en oorlogvoering in de eerste helft van de achttiende eeuw en in het bijzonder tijdens de Oostenrijkse Successieoorlog (1740–1748) |publisher=De Bataafsche Leeuw |year=2002 |isbn=90-6707-540-X |language=nl}}
{{Refend}}

===Other languages===
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last=Füssel |first=Marian |date=2010 |title=Der Siebenjährige Krieg. Ein Weltkrieg im 18. Jahrhundert |location=München |publisher=Beck |isbn=978-3-406-60695-3 |language=de}}
* {{cite journal |last=García Arenas |first=Mar |date=2004 |title=El periplo ibérico del general Dumouriez: Una aproximación a las relaciones diplomáticas hispano-portuguesas (1765–1767) |journal=Revista de Historia Moderna |volume=22 |publisher=Universidad de Alicante |issn=0212-5862 |pages=403–430 |doi=10.14198/RHM2004.22.14 |language=es |url=http://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/1369/1/RHM_22_14.pdf |doi-access=free}}
* {{cite book |last=Terrage |first=Marc de Villiers du |date=1904 |title=Les dernières années de la Louisiane française |publisher=E. Guilmoto |language=fr |url=https://archive.org/details/lesderniresann00vill}}
* [[Charles-Joseph, 7th Prince of Ligne|de Ligne, Charles-Joseph, Prince]], ''Mon Journal de la guerre de Sept Ans''. Textes inédits introduits, établis et annotés par Jeroom Vercruysse et Bruno Colson {{in lang|fr}} (Paris, Editions Honoré Champion, 2008) (L'Âge des Lumières, 44).
* {{cite book |last=Van Nimwegen |first=Olaf |date=2017 |title=De Nederlandse Burgeroorlog 1748–1815 |location=Amsterdam |publisher=Prometheus |isbn=978-9035144293 |language=nl |url=https://libris.nl/BookInfo/GetSample?guid=ba27d457-29d7-4f5d-a694-0212d1a1e6cd}} (Sample of book used.)
* Cuyt, F., Jacobs, T., Van Gelder, K., & Vermeir, R. (2017). De Staatse Barrière in de tweede helft van de 18de eeuw: een rustig en vredig bezit?.
* {{cite book |last=Uralanis |first=Boris |lang=ru |date=1960 |script-title=ru:Войны и народонаселение Европы: людские потери вооруженных сил Европейских стран в XVII-XX веках |trans-title=Wars and the population of Europe: human losses of the armed forces of European countries in the XVII-XX centuries |place=[[Moscow]] |publisher=Социально-экономическая литература }}
{{Refend}}

{{Seven Years' War treaties}}
{{Russian Conflicts}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Seven Years' War| ]]
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[[Category:1760s in the Habsburg monarchy]]
[[Category:1760s in the Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:1763 in France]]
[[Category:1763 in New France]]
[[Category:1763 in the British Empire]]
[[Category:1763 in the Habsburg monarchy]]
[[Category:1763 in the Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:18th-century conflicts]]
[[Category:Anglo-French wars]]
[[Category:Battles involving the Iroquois]]
[[Category:Colonization history of the United States]]