The Seven Years War is a global conflict that occurred between 1756 and 1763. It involved every major European force at the time and reached five continents, affecting Europe, America, West Africa, India and the Philippines.. The conflict divided Europe into two coalitions, led by the United Kingdom (including Prussia, Portugal, Hanover, and other small German states) on the one hand and the French Empire (including the Holy Roman Empire led by Austria, the Russian Empire, Bourbon Spain , and Sweden) on the other hand. Meanwhile, in India, some regional governments within the increasingly divided Mughal Empire, with French backing, are trying to destroy the British attempt to conquer Bengal. As far as the war has caused some historians to describe it as "World War Nil", similar in scale to other world wars.
Although the British-French battle over their American colonies had begun with what became the French and Indian Wars of 1754, the large-scale conflict that attracted most of the European powers centered on Austria's desire to restore Silesia from Prussia. Seeing the opportunity to limit the growing strength of Britain and Prussia, France and Austria put aside their ancient rivalry to form their own big coalition, bringing most of the other European powers to their side. Faced with this sudden turn of events, Britain aligned itself with Prussia, in a series of political maneuvers known as the Diplomatic Revolution. However, France's efforts ended in failure when the Anglo-Prussian coalition prevailed, and the rise of Britain as one of the world's major powers destroyed French supremacy in Europe, thus altering the balance of European power.
Video Seven Years' War
Summary
The conflict between Britain and France broke out in 1754-1756 when the British attacked disputed French positions in North America, beginning with the British attack of small French troops at the Battle of Jumonville Glen on May 28, 1754, and extended across colonial boundaries and seizure of hundreds of French merchant ships at sea. Meanwhile, rising Prussian powers fought with Austria for dominance inside and outside the Holy Roman Empire in Central Europe. In 1756, major states "replaced partners".
Realizing that the war was imminent, Prussia pre-emptively attacked Saxony and quickly rushed to it. The result caused a stir in Europe. Because of Austria's alliance with France to reclaim Silesia, which had been lost in the Austrian War of Success, Prussia formed an alliance with England. Reluctantly, following the imperial diet, which declared war on Prussia on 17 January 1757, most of the imperial states joined Austrian goals. The Anglo-Prussian Alliance joins the smaller German states (especially the Electorate of Hanover). Sweden, seeking to recapture Pommern (most of whom had disappeared from Prussia in previous wars) joined the coalition, seeing an opportunity when virtually all of Europe was against Prussia. Spain, bound by Pacte de Famille, intervened on behalf of France and together they launched a failed Portuguese invasion in 1762. The Russian empire was essentially parallel to Austria, fearing Prussia's ambition to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but switched to the succession of the Czar Peter III in 1762.
Many middle and small forces in Europe, as in previous wars, tried to distance themselves from the escalating conflict, even though they had an interest in the conflict or with warring parties. Denmark-Norway, for example, was almost dragged into war on the French side when Peter III became emperor of Russia and turned to another; The Dano-Norwegian and Russian troops were almost ended in battle, but the Russian emperor was ousted before the war officially broke out. The Republic of the Netherlands, an old British ally, kept its neutrality intact, fearful of the possibility of fighting against Britain and Prussia against the great powers of Europe, and even trying to prevent British dominance in India. Napoli, Sicily and Savoy, despite favoring the Franco-Spanish alliance, refused to join the coalition under the fear of British naval power. The tax imposition required for the war caused great hardship to the Russians, which was added to the salt and alcohol tax started by Queen Elizabeth in 1759 to supplement her addition to the Winter Palace. Like Sweden, Russia ended a separate peace with Prussia.
The war ended with the Paris Treaty between France, Spain and Great Britain and the Hubertusburg Treaty between Saxony, Austria and Prussia, in 1763.
The war was successful for the British, who acquired most of New France in North America, Florida Spain, some Caribbean islands in the West Indies, Senegalese colonies on the coast of West Africa, and excellence over French trading post in Subbenua India. Native American tribes were excluded from settlements; the next conflict, known as the Pontiac War, is a small-scale war between indigenous tribes known as Odawas and Britain, where Odawas claims seven of the ten fortresses made or taken by the British to show them that they need to distribute the landing evenly on between their allies, also failed to restore them to prewar status. In Europe, the war began to bring disaster to Prussia, but with a combination of luck and successful strategy, King Frederick the Great succeeded in taking the Prussian position and maintaining the status quo ante bellum. Prussia emerged as a major new European force. Although Austria failed to recover the Silesia region from Prussia (its original destination), its military strength was also noted by other powers. The involvement of Portugal, Spain and Sweden did not restore them to their former status as a major force. France lost many of its colonies and had burdened itself with heavy debt wars that its inefficient financial system could not handle. Spain lost Florida but acquired French Louisiana and regained control of its colonies, for example, Cuba and the Philippines, which had been captured by the British during the war. France and Spain avenged their defeat during the American Revolutionary War, hoping to destroy British domination once and for all.
The Seven Year War is probably the first real world war, which occurred almost 160 years before World War I and affected many major events later in the world. The war restructured not only the European political order, but also influenced events around the world, paved the way for the beginning of the supremacy of the British world in the 19th century, the emergence of Prussia in Germany (eventually replacing Austria as the leading German State), the beginnings of tension in British North America , as well as a clear sign of the turmoil that occurred in France. It was marked in Europe by the siege and arson of the city as well as open battles with huge losses.
Maps Seven Years' War
Nomenclature
In the historiography of some countries, this war is named combatant in each cinema. In the United States today - at the time, English-speaking English colonies in North America - this conflict was known as The War of France and India (1754-1763). In English-speaking Canada - the balance of former North American colonies in Britain - it's called The Seven Years War (1754-1763). In French-speaking Canada, it is known as La guerre de la ConquÃÆ'ªte (the War of the Conquest ). Swedish historiography uses the Pommerska Kriget ( Pomeranian War ), since the Swedish-Prussian engagement of 1757-1762 is limited to Pomerania in northern central Germany. The Third Silesian War involves Prussia and Austria (1756-1763). In the Indian subcontinent, this conflict is called Third Carnatic War (1757-1763).
The war has been described as the first "world war", though it is also given to previous conflicts such as the Eighty Years 'War, the Thirty Years' War, the Spanish War of Succession, and the War of Succession of Austria, and later conflicts such as the Napoleonic Wars. The term "Hundred Years of Second War" has been used to describe the almost perpetual level of world conflict between France and Britain during the entire eighteenth century, reminiscent of the Hundred Years War in the 14th and 15th centuries.
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In Europe
In the Austrian War of Success, which lasted from 1740 to 1748, King Frederick II of Prussia, known as Frederick the Great, captured the prosperous Austrian province of Silesia. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria signed the Aix-la-Chapelle Agreement in 1748 to gain time to rebuild her military power and form a new alliance.
The Austrian War of Success has seen warring parties aligned on a time-honored basis. The traditional enemies of France, England and Austria, have united as they did against Louis XIV. Prussia, Germany's leading anti-Austrian state, has been supported by France. However, the two groups found no reason to be satisfied with their partnership: The British subsidy to Austria did not generate much aid for Britain, while the British military efforts did not save Silesia for Austria. Prussia, having secured Silesia, came to terms with Austria irrespective of French interests. However, France concluded its defense alliance with Prussia in 1747, and the maintenance of Anglo-Austrian alignment after 1748 was considered important by the Duke of Newcastle, the secretary of the British state in the service of his brother Henry Pelham. The collapse of the system and the alignment of France with Austria and Great Britain with Prussia is what is known as "diplomatic revolution" or "alliance reversal".
In 1756 Austria made military preparations for war with Prussia and pursued an alliance with Russia for this purpose. On June 2, 1746, Austria and Russia ended an alliance of defenses covering their own territories and Poland against the Prussian or Ottoman Empire. They also agreed on a secret clause promising restoration of Silesia and the calculation of Glatz (now K? Odzko, Poland) to Austria in terms of feud with Prussia. Their true desire, however, is to destroy Frederick's power completely, reduce his power to his voters in Brandenburg and give East Prussia to Poland, an exchange which will be accompanied by the submission of the Duchy of Courland to Russia. Alexey Bestuzhev-Ryumin, the great Russian chancellor under Elizabeth's consort, was hostile to France and Prussia, but he could not persuade Austrian statesman Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz to commit to offensive designs against Prussia as long as Prussia could count on French support.
King Hanoverian George II of England is very proud of his family's continental ownership, but his commitment in Germany is offset by the demands of British colonies abroad. If the war against France for colonial expansion would continue, then Hanover had to be secured against the Franco-Prussian attack. France was very interested in colonial expansion and willing to exploit Hanover's vulnerability in the war against the British, but had no desire to divert power to Central Europe for the benefit of Prussia.
French policy, moreover, is complicated by the existence of Secret du Roi - the personal diplomacy system undertaken by King Louis XV. Unbeknownst to his foreign minister, Louis has established a network of agents throughout Europe with the aim of pursuing personal political goals that are often at odds with French public policy. Louis's purposes for the Secret de Roi include the Polish crown for his relatives Louis FranÃÆ'§§ois de Bourbon, the prince de Conti, and the maintenance of Poland, Sweden, and Turkey as a country of French clients opposed to Russia. and Austrian interests.
Frederick sees Saxony and Prussia west of Poland as a potential field for expansion but can not expect French support if he starts an aggressive war for them. If he joins France against England in the hope of annexing Hanover, he may be the victim of an Austro-Russian attack. The descendants of Saxony, Augustus III, were also the king of Poland's choice as Augustus III, but the two areas were physically separated by Brandenburg and Silesia. No country can play a major force. Sachsen is just a buffer between Prussia and Austrian Bohemia, while Poland, although united with ancient Lithuanian land, fell prey to pro-French and pro-Russian factions. The Prussian scheme to compensate Frederick Augustus with Bohemia in exchange for Saxony clearly entailed further spoliation from Austria.
In an attempt to satisfy Austria at the time, the British gave their electoral vote in Hanover for the nomination of Maria Theresa's son, Joseph II, as the Holy Roman Emperor, deeply concerned about Frederick and Prussia. Not only that, Britain will soon join the Austro-Russian alliance, but complications arise. The UK's basic framework for the alliance itself is to protect Hanover's interests against France. At the same time, Kaunitz continues to approach France in the hope of building such an alliance with Austria. Not only that, France had no intention of allying with Russia, which, many years before, had interfered in French affairs during the Austrian succession war. France also sees Prussian cuts as a threat to the stability of Central Europe.
Years later, Kaunitz kept trying to build a French alliance with Austria. He tried his best to avoid Austria's attachment to the political affairs of Hanover, and was even willing to exchange Austria with the Netherlands for French assistance in reclaiming Silesia. Frustrated by this decision and by the insistence of the Dutch Republic on neutrality, the British immediately turned to Russia. On September 30, 1755, Britain promised financial aid to Russia to put 50,000 troops on the Livonia-Lithuanian border, so that they could defend British interests in Hanover soon. Besthuzev, assuming preparations directed against Prussia, is more than happy to comply with requests from the UK. Unknown to other powers, King George II also made an offer to the Prussian king Frederick, who, fearing Austro-Russian intentions, also wished to conform to England. On January 16, 1756, the Westminster Convention was signed, in which Britain and Prussia pledged to help each other; the parties hope to achieve lasting peace and stability in Europe.
The word carefully encoded in the treaty proved to be no less a catalyst for other European powers. The result is absolute chaos. Empress Elizabeth of Russia was very angry over the superiority of the British position. Not only that, but the French were furious, and frightened, by the only real treacherous ally. Austria, especially Kaunitz, use this situation to their maximum advantage. The now isolated France is forced to join the Austro-Russian alliance or destruction. After that, on May 1, 1756, the First Treaty of Versailles was signed, in which the two countries pledged 24,000 troops to defend each other in case of an attack. This diplomatic revolution proved to be an important cause of war; although both treaties are self-defense, the actions of the two coalitions make the war almost inevitable.
In North America
The boundary between British and French ownership in North America was largely undefined in the 1750s. France has long claimed the entire Mississippi River valley. This is disputed by the British. In the early 1750s the French began building fortress chains in the Ohio River Valley to assert their claims and protect the Native Americans from increasing British influence.
British settlers along the coast were annoyed that the French troops would now be close to their western border of their colony. They felt France would push their tribal allies among the native North Americans to attack them. Also, British settlers wanted access to the fertile soil of the Ohio River Valley for new settlers flooding the British colonies searching for farmland.
The most important French castle planned is meant to occupy a position in "The Forks" where the Allegheny River and Monongahela meet to form the Ohio River (now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Britain's peace efforts to halt the construction of this fortress were unsuccessful, and the French continued to build the fortress they named Fort Duquesne. British colonial militia from Virginia were then sent to drive them out. Led by George Washington, they attacked small French troops in Jumonville Glen on May 28, 1754, killing ten people, including the Jumonville commander. France retaliated by attacking Washington forces at Fort Necessity on July 3, 1754 and forcing Washington to surrender. This is the first engagement of what will be the Seven Year War around the world.
This news arrived in Europe, where Britain and France failed to try to negotiate a solution. Both countries eventually send regular troops to North America to enforce their claims. The first British act was an attack on Acadia on June 16, 1755 in the Battle of Fort Beausà ©  jour, which was soon followed by the expulsion of the Acadians. In July, British Major General Edward Braddock led some 2,000 army soldiers and provincial militia on an expedition to retake Fort Duquesne, but the expedition ended in a devastating defeat. In the ensuing action, Admiral Edward Boscawen fired on the French ship Alcide on June 8, 1755, arrested him and two army ships. In September 1755, British and French colonial troops met in an unconvincing Lake George Battle.
Britain also harassed French voyages beginning in August 1755, capturing hundreds of ships and capturing thousands of merchant seafarers while both countries were nominally peaceful. Angry, the French prepare to attack Hanover, whose prince-elect is also the King of Great Britain and Menorca. Britain concluded an agreement in which Prussia agreed to protect Hanover. In response, France ended the alliance with its long-term enemy in Austria, an event known as the Diplomatic Revolution.
Strategy
For much of the eighteenth century, France approached its war in the same way. It will allow the colony to defend itself or will only offer minimal assistance (sending them a limited number of troops or inexperienced soldiers), anticipating that fighting for the colony is likely to be lost anyway. This strategy was forced upon France: geography, coupled with British naval superiority, made it difficult for the French navy to provide significant supply and support to the overseas colonies. Similarly, some of the long land borders make the imperial of the domestic army effective for the French ruler. Given this military need, the French government, unsurprisingly, is basing its strategy on the army in Europe: it will keep most of its troops on the continent, hoping for a victory closer to home. The plan is to fight until the end of hostilities and then, in the negotiations of the agreement, for the trading of territorial acquisitions in Europe to recover lost property abroad (as has happened in, for example, the Saint- Germain- en-Laye (1632)). This approach did not serve the French well in battle, because the colonies were lost, but although many European wars went well, in the end France had little counterweight to European success.
The English - with tendencies as well as for practical reasons - tend to avoid the large-scale commitment of troops on the continent. They seek to offset this loss in Europe by allying with one or more continental forces whose interests are at odds with their enemies, especially the French. By subsidizing the forces of the continent allies, Britain can turn London's enormous financial power into military advantage. In the Seven Years War, Britain voted as their main partner the most brilliant general then, Frederick the Great of Prussia, then the rise of power in central Europe, and paid Frederick substantial subsidies for his campaign. This was achieved in a diplomatic revolution of 1756, during which Britain ended an old alliance with Austria to support Prussia, leaving Austria to side with France. In contrast to France, Britain struggled to prosecute war actively in the colonies, taking full advantage of its naval power. Britain pursues a dual strategy - sea blockade and enemy harbor bombing, and rapid troop movement through the sea. They disrupt enemy shipments and attack enemy colonies, often using colonies from nearby British colonies in that effort.
The Russians and Austrians are determined to reduce the power of Prussia, a new threat on their doorstep. Together with France, they agreed in 1756 to defend and attack each other by Austria and Russia in Prussia, subsidized by France.
Europe
William Pitt the Elder, who entered the cabinet in 1756, had a great vision for a war that made him completely different from previous wars with France. As prime minister, Pitt committed to Britain to take a grand strategy to seize the entire French Empire, especially his in North America and India. The main weapon of England is the Royal Navy, which can control the oceans and carry as many invasion forces as possible. He also plans to use colonial troops from thirteen American colonies, working under the command of the British regular army, to attack New France. To bind French troops, he subsidized his European allies. Pitt was the head of government from 1756 to 1761, and even then Britain continued its strategy. It proved very successful. Pitt had a clear appreciation of the great value of the empire, and was aware of the vulnerability of the French Empire.
1756
The British Prime Minister, Duke of Newcastle, is optimistic that a series of new alliances can prevent war breaking out in Europe. However, large French troops gathered in Toulon, and France opened a campaign against England with Menorca attacks on the Mediterranean. UK relief efforts were thwarted at the Battle of Minorca, and the island was captured on 28 June (the Admiral Byng was a military tribunal and executed). Britain formally declared war on France on May 17, almost two years after fighting broke out in Ohio state.
Frederick II of Prussia has received reports of clashes in North America and has formed an alliance with Great Britain. On August 29, 1756, he led Prussian troops across the border of Saxony, one of the small German states allied to Austria. He intended this as a bold pre-empire of the anticipated Austro-French invasion of Silesia. He has three goals in his new war in Austria. First, he would take Saxony and eliminate it as a threat to Prussia, then use the Saxon army and treasury to aid in the Prussian war effort. His second goal is to advance to Bohemia, where he may organize winter at Austrian cost. Third, he wanted to attack Moravia from Silesia, seize the fort at OlmÃÆ'¼tz, and advance in Vienna to end the war.
Thus, leaving Marshal Field Count Kurt von Schwerin in Silesia with 25,000 soldiers to guard against attacks from Moravia and Hungary, and leave Field Marshal Hans von Lehwaldt in East Prussia to guard the Russian invasion of the east, Frederick departs with his army to Saxony. Prussian troops marched in three columns. To the right there is a column of about 15,000 people under the command of Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick. To the left is a 18,000-person column under the command of the Duke of Brunswick-Bevern. In the middle is Frederick II, himself with Field Marshal James Keith ruling the corps of 30,000 troops. Ferdinand of Brunswick will close in the city of Chemnitz. Duke of Brunswick-Bevern will cross Lusatia to approach Bautzen. Meanwhile, Frederick and Keith will move to Dresden.
The Saxon and Austrian armies are not ready, and their troops are scattered. Frederick occupied Dresden with little or no opposition from the Saxons. At the Battle of Lobositz on 1 October 1756, Frederick prevented the isolated Saxon troops to be reinforced by the Austrian army under General Browne. The Prussians then occupied Saxony; after the Siege of Pirna, the Saxons surrendered in October 1756, and were forced to join the Prussian army. The attacks on neutral Saxony caused anger across Europe and led to the strengthening of the anti-Prussian coalition. The only significant success of Austria is the partial occupation of Silesia. Far from being easy, Frederick's early success proved uncertain and very expensive for smaller Prussian troops. This made him comment that he did not fight the same Austrian as he had experienced during the previous war.
Britain has been struck by the sudden attack of Prussia but is now beginning to deliver inventories and £ 670,000 (equivalent to £ 91.5m in 2017) to its new allies. The combined strength of the allied German states was organized by the British to protect Hanover from the French invasion, under the command of the Duke of Cumberland. The British tried to persuade the Republic of the Netherlands to join the alliance, but the request was rejected, because the Dutch wanted to remain completely neutral. Despite the huge differences in numbers, the year has worked for Prussia-led troops on the continent, in contrast to the British campaign in North America.
1757
On April 18, 1757, Frederick II again took the initiative by marching to the Bohemian Kingdom, hoping to inflict a decisive defeat against the Austrian army. After winning the bloody Battle of Prague on May 6, 1757, in which both troops suffered heavy casualties, Prussia forced Austria back to Prague's strongholds. The Prussians then surrounded the city. In response, Austrian commander Leopold von Daun garnered 30,000 powers to come to Prague's aid. After the battle in Prague, Frederick took 5,000 troops from the siege in Prague and sent them to strengthen the 19,000 troops under the Duke of Brunswick-Bevern at Kolin in Bohemia. Von Daun arrived too late to participate in the battle in Prague, but took 16,000 people fleeing from the battle. With this army he slowly moved to ease Prague. The Prussian army was too weak to simultaneously besiege Prague and keep the von Daun away, and Frederick was forced to attack the prepared positions. The battle of Kolin that occurred was a sharp defeat for Frederick, the first. His disadvantages further encouraged him to lift the siege and withdraw from Bohemia altogether.
Later that summer, the Russians under Field Marshal Stepan Fyodorovich Apraksin surrounded Memel with 75,000 troops. Memel has one of the strongest fortifications in Prussia. However, after five days of artillery bombing the Russian army was able to invade it. Russia then used Memel as a base to attack East Prussia and defeat the smaller Prussian armies in the highly contested Gross-JÃÆ'¤gersdorf Battle on 30 August 1757. In the words of American historian Daniel Marston, Gross-JÃÆ'¤gersdorf went people Prussia with "a new respect for the battle skills of the Russian men who were strengthened in the battle of Zorndorf and Kunersdorf". However, the Russians have not been able to take KÃÆ'¶nigsberg after using their cannonballs supplies in Memel and Gross-JÃÆ'¤gersdorf and retreat shortly thereafter.
Logistics was a recurring problem for the Russians during the war. Russia has no quartermaster department capable of keeping troops operating in Central Europe properly supplied on primitive mud roads in eastern Europe. The tendency of the Russian army to sever operations after a major battle, even when they are not less, less about their victims and more about their supply lines; after issuing much of their ammunition in battle, the Russian generals did not want to risk another battle knowing that supplies would be long coming. This old weakness is evident in the Ottoman-Ottoman War of 1735-1739, in which the victory of the Russian battle only yielded a simple war advantage because of the problem of supplying their troops. The Russian quartermasters department has not improved yet, so the same problem occurs again in Prussia. However, the Russian Imperial Army posed a new threat to Prussia. Frederick was not only forced to release the invasion of Bohemia, he was now forced to retreat further into the Prussian-held territory. His defeat in the battlefield brought more opportunistic countries into the war. Sweden declared war on Prussia and invaded Pommern with 17,000 people. The Swedes felt this small army was all it took to occupy Pommern and felt the Swedish army did not need to be involved with Prussia because Prussia was busy in many other areas.
Everything seems bleak for Prussia now, with Austria mobilizing to attack Prussian-dominated land and French joint forces and Reichsarmee (Germany) under Prince Soubise approaching from the west. The Reichsarmee is a collection of soldiers from smaller German states united to heed the appeal of Holy Roman Emperor Franz I against Frederick. However, in November and December 1757, the whole situation in Germany was reversed. First, Frederick destroyed Soubise's troops at the Rossbach Battle on 5 November 1757 and then defeated the very superior Austrian army at the Battle of Leuthen on 5 December 1757. Rossbach was the only battle between France and Prussia during the war. In Rossbach, Prussians lost about 548 people who were killed while French-German troops under Soubise lost about 10,000 dead. Frederick always called Leuthen his greatest victory, the judgment given by many at the time as the Austrian Army was considered a very professional force. With these victories, Frederick once again proved himself a major European general and his people as Europe's most successful warriors. However, Frederick missed the opportunity to destroy the Austrian army entirely in Leuthen; though runs out, it fled back to Bohemia. He hopes the two great victories will bring Maria Theresa to the peace table, but she is determined not to negotiate until she takes back Silesia. Maria Theresa also increased Austrian command after Leuthen by replacing her incompetent brother-in-law, Charles of Lorraine, with von Daun, who is now a field marshal.
This problem was exacerbated when the main Hanoverian army under Cumberland was defeated at the Battle of Hastenbeck and forced to surrender completely to the Klosterzeven Convention following the French Invasion of Hanover. The service eliminated Hanover from the war, leaving the western approach to the Prussian region vulnerable. Frederick sent an urgent request to England for greater assistance, as he is now without outside military support for his troops in Germany.
Counting that no further Russian progress was likely until 1758, Frederick transferred most of his eastern troops to Pomerania under the command of Marshal Lehwaldt, where they had to repel the Swedish invasion. In a short time, Prussian troops drove back Sweden, occupied most of Pommern Sweden, and blocked the capital of Stralsund. George II of England, on the advice of his British minister after Rossbach's battle, revoked the Klosterzeven Convention, and Hanover re-entered the war. During the winter, the new commander of Hanoveri forces, Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick, rejoined his troops and launched a series of attacks that drove the French back across the Rhine River. Ferdinand's troops keep the western side of Prussia safe for the rest of the war. Britain has suffered further defeats in North America, particularly in Fort William Henry. At home, however, stability has been established. Since 1756, successive governments led by Newcastle and Pitt have fallen. In August 1757, the two men agreed on a political partnership and formed a coalition government that gave a new, stronger direction to the war effort. The new strategy underscores Newcastle's commitment to British involvement in the continent, particularly in defense of Germany, and Pitt's determination to use sea power to seize French colonies around the world. This "double strategy" will dominate British policy for the next five years.
Between 10 and 17 October 1757, a Hungarian general, Count AndrÃÆ'¡s Hadik, who served in the Austrian army, executed what might be the most famous soldier act in history. When the Prussian king Frederick marched south with his powerful troops, the Hungarian general suddenly swung his army as many as 5,000 men, mostly soldiers, around Prussia and occupied part of their capital, Berlin, for one night. The city was spared the ransom that negotiated with 200,000 fraudsters. When Frederick heard of this shameful occupation, he immediately sent a greater force to liberate the city. Hadik, however, left the city with his relatives and safely reached the Austrian lines. Furthermore, Hadik was promoted to the rank of marshal in the Austrian Army.
1758
In early 1758, Frederick launched the Moravian invasion and besieged OlmÃÆ'¼tz (now Olomouc, Czech Republic). After Austria's victory at the Domstadtl Battle wiped out the supply convoy destined for OlmÃÆ'¼tz, Frederick stopped the siege and withdrew from Moravia. This marked the end of his last attempt to launch a major invasion of Austria. In January 1758, Russia invaded East Prussia, where the province, barely bare troops, put up a bit of resistance. East Prussia had been occupied by Russian forces during the winter and would remain under their control until 1762, although it was far less valuable strategically to Prussia than to Brandenburg or Silesia. However, Frederick did not see the Russians as a direct threat and instead entertained the hopes of a decisive first battle against Austria that would knock them out of war.
In April 1758, the British ended the Anglo-Prussian Convention with Frederick in which they committed to paying him an annual subsidy of £ 670,000. Britain also sent 9,000 troops to reinforce the Hanoverian forces of Ferdinand, the first British troop commitment on the continent and Pitt's policy reversal. Ferdinand managed to expel France from Hanover and Westphalia and retake the port of Emden in March 1758 before crossing the Rhine with his own troops, which caused an alarm in France. Although Ferdinand won over France at the Battle of Krefeld and brief occupation of DÃÆ'¼sseldorf, he was forced by the successful maneuvers of the larger French troops to retreat across the Rhine.
At this point Frederick was increasingly concerned about Russia's progress from the east and marched to face it. To the east of Oder in Brandenburg-Neumark, at the Battle of Zorndorf (now Sarbinowo, Poland), a Prussian army of 35,000 under Frederick on 25 August 1758, fought with the 43,000 Russians commanded by Prince William Fermor. Both sides suffered many casualties - Prussians 12,800, Russia 18,000 - but Russia withdrew, and Frederick claimed victory. The American historian Daniel Marston describes Zorndorf as a "draw" because the two sides were too exhausted and had suffered such losses that they did not want to fight with the others. In the Battle of Tornow which has not been decided on September 25, Swedish troops repulsed six attacks by the Prussian army but did not push in Berlin after the Battle of Fehrbellin.
The war continued uncertainly when on 14 October, the men of Marshal Leun stunned the main Prussian troops at the Battle of Hochkirch in Saxony. Frederick lost a lot of artillery but retreated well, helped by dense forest. Austria ultimately made little progress in the campaign in Saxony despite Hochkirch and failed to reach a decisive breakthrough. After unsuccessful attempts to retrieve Dresden, Leaf forces were forced to retreat into Austria for the winter, so Saxony remained under Prussian occupation. At the same time, Russia failed in an attempt to take Kolberg in Pomerania (now Ko? Obrzeg, Poland) from Prussia.
In France, 1758 has been disappointing, and after this a new chief minister, Duc de Choiseul, was appointed. Choiseul planned to end the war in 1759 by making a strong attack on England and Hanover.
1759-60
Prussia suffered some defeat in 1759. At the Battle of Kay, or Paltzig, Count Saltykov of Russia with 47,000 Russians defeated the 26,000 Prussians commanded by General Carl Heinrich von Wedel. Although the Hanoverians defeated the 60,000 French troops in Minden, Austrian Leaf General forced the handover of the entire Prussian Corps 13,000 in the Battle of Maxen. Frederick himself lost half his troops in the Battle of Kunersdorf (now Kunowice Poland), the worst defeat in his military career and one that led him to abyss and suicidal thoughts. The disaster was partly resulted from his false assessment of Russia, which had shown their strength in Zorndorf and in Gross-JÃÆ'¤gersdorf (now Motornoye, Russia), and partly from the good cooperation between Russian and Austrian forces. However, disputes with Austria over logistics and supplies resulted in Russia retreating east again after Kunersdorf, which ultimately allowed Frederick to reconstruct his destroyed army.
France planned to invade the British Isles during 1759 by gathering troops near the mouth of the Loire and concentrating their Brest and Toulon fleets. However, two sea defeats prevent this. In August, the Mediterranean fleet under Jean-FranÃÆ'§ois de La Clue-Sabran was spread by a larger British fleet under Edward Boscawen at the Battle of Lagos. In the Battle of Quiberon Bay on November 20, British admiral Edward Hawke with 23 ships from the line captured the French fleet of Brest with 21 ships from the line under Marshal de Conflans and drowned, captured, or forced many of them to run aground, putting an end to the French plan.
The year 1760 brought more Prussian disasters. FouquÃÆ' Â © commonly defeated by Austria in the Battle of Landshut. The French arrested Marburg, and the Swedes were part of Pommern. The Hanoveres won over France at the Battle of Warburg, their continued success prevented France from sending troops to help Austria against Prussia in the east.
Nevertheless, Austria, under the command of General Laudon, arrested Glatz (now K? Odzko, Poland) in Silesia. In the Battle of Liegnitz Frederick scored a strong winning goal despite losing three to one. Russia under General Saltykov and Austria under General Lacy had occupied his capital, Berlin, in October, but could not hold it for long. However, the loss of Berlin to Russians and Austrians is a major blow to Frederick's prestige because many people say that Prussians have no hope of occupying temporarily or otherwise. Petersburg or Vienna. In November 1760 Frederick once again won, defeating the Leaf capable in the Battle of Torgau, but he suffered a very heavy victim, and the Austrians retreated well.
Meanwhile, after the battle of Kunersdorf, the Russian army was largely inactive as most of their weak supply lines. Russian logistics was so bad that in October 1759, a treaty was signed in which the Austrians undertook to supply Russia as a quartermaster department of the Russian Army very strained by the demands of Russian soldiers operating so far from home. Therefore, the requirement that the quartermaster department in Austria supply Austrian and Russian forces proved beyond its capacity, and in practice, Russia received little in the way of supply from Austria. In Liegnitz (now Legnica, Poland), Russia arrives too late to participate in the battle. They made two attempts to invade Kolberg fortress, but to no avail. Colossal Kolberg's resistance prevented Frederick from focusing on Austria rather than dividing his army.
1761-62
Prussia began the 1761 campaign with only 100,000 soldiers available, many of them newly recruited, and the situation seemed hopeless. However, Austrian and Russian troops are also very depleted and can not launch a major attack.
In February 1761, Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick stunned the French forces at Langensalza and then advanced to besiege Cassel in March. He was forced to lift the siege and resign after the French troops rejoined and captured several thousand of his troops at the Battle of GrÃÆ'¼nberg. At the Battle of Villinghausen, troops under Ferdinand defeated the French army of 92,000 people.
In the eastern front, its development is very slow. The Russian army relied heavily on its major magazines in Poland, and the Prussians launched several successful attacks against them. One of them, led by General Platen in September resulted in the disappearance of 2,000 Russians, mostly arrested, and the destruction of 5,000 carts. Deprived of people, Prussians must use this new type of war, rob, to delay the advancement of their enemies. However, by the end of the year, they suffered two critical setbacks. The Russians under Zakhar Chernyshev and Pyotr Rumyantsev invaded Kolberg in Pomerania, while Austria captured Schweidnitz. The loss of Kolberg weighed on Prussia's last port on the Baltic Sea. The main problem for Russians during the war was their weak logistics, which prevented their generals from following up on their victory, and now with the collapse of Kolberg, the Russians could eventually supply their troops in Central Europe by sea. The fact that the Russians can now supply their troops to the sea, which is much faster and safer (the Prussian cavalry can not intercept Russian ships in the Baltic) than on land threatening to swing the power balance firmly against Prussia. In England, he speculates that the total destruction of Prussia is now imminent.
Britain now threatens to withdraw its subsidies if Frederick does not consider offering concessions to secure peace. When the Prussian army has shrunk to only 60,000 people and with Berlin alone going under siege, Prussia and Rajanya's survival is severely threatened. Then on January 5, 1762, Queen Elizabeth of Russia died. His Prussophile successor, Peter III, immediately ended the Russian occupation of East Prussia and Pomerania (see: The Saint Petersburg Treaty (1762)) and brokered Frederick's ceasefire with Sweden. He also placed his own corps of troops under Frederick's command. Frederick was then able to gather a larger army, 120,000 men, and concentrate on Austria. He drove them from Silesia, while his brother Henry won the victory at Saxony in the Battle of Freiberg (October 29, 1762). At the same time, his Brunswick allies capture the key town of GÃÆ'¶ttingen and add it by taking Cassel.
In 1762 two new states entered the war. England declared war on Spain on 4 January 1762; Spain reacted by issuing its own declaration of war against England on January 18. Portugal followed by joining the war on the English side. Spain, aided by France, launched an invasion of Portugal and captured Almeida. The arrival of British reinforcements halted Spain's further progress, and in the Battle of Valencia de Alcú the English-Portuguese troops stormed the main supply base of Spain. The invaders stopped at an altitude in front of the Abrantes (called the slit to Lisbon where Anglo-Portuguese entrenched. Finally the Anglo-Portuguese army, aided by guerrillas and practicing a scorched earth strategy, pursued the much-diminished Franco-Spanish armies back to Spain, recovering almost all the lost cities, among them the Spanish headquarters in Castelo Branco full of injuries and sickness that had been abandoned.
Meanwhile, the long British sea blockade of the French port has weakened the spirit of the French population. Moral is declining when news of defeat at Battle of Signal Hill in Newfoundland reaches Paris.
1763
In 1763, the war in central Europe was essentially a dead end between Prussia and Austria. Prussia had reclaimed almost all of Silesia from Austria after Frederick's narrow victory at the Battle of Burkersdorf. After the victory of 1762, his brother Henry at the Battle of Freiberg, Frederick ruled most of Saxony but not his capital, Dresden. His financial situation was not bad, but his kingdom was ruined and his troops were very weak. His workforce has dropped dramatically, and he has lost so many effective officers and generals that the attack on Dresden seems impossible. The British subsidy has been stopped by the new prime minister, Lord Bute, and the Russian emperor has been overthrown by his wife, Catherine, who ended the Russian alliance with Prussia and withdrew from the war. Austria, however, like most participants, faced a severe financial crisis and had to reduce the size of its troops, which greatly affected its offensive strength. In fact, having experienced a long war effectively, his government was in turmoil. At that time, Dresden was still held, the southeastern part of Saxony, and the Glatz area in southern Silesia, but the prospect of the victory was dim without Russian support, and Maria Theresa had largely abandoned her hopes of reconquering Silesia. In 1763, a peace settlement was reached at the Hubertusburg Agreement, where Glatz was returned to Prussia in exchange for the evacuation of Prussia Saxony. This ended the war in central Europe.
The deadlock was really achieved in 1759-1760, and Prussia and Austria were almost running out of money. Material from both sides has been widely consumed. Frederick no longer accepts subsidies from Britain; St. John's Golden Cavalry George has earned nearly 13 million dollars (equivalent). He has melted and cast most of the church silver, robbed his royal palaces and created the silver, and reduced his purchasing power by mixing it with bronze. His banks' capital runs out, and he has mortgaged almost all the value of his own land. While Frederick still has a large amount of money left over from the previous British subsidies, he hopes to use it to restore his kingdom's prosperity in peacetime; in any case, the Prussian population is so drained that it can not sustain another long campaign. Similarly, Marie Theresa has reached its resource limit. He had mortgaged his jewelry in 1758; in 1760, he approved a public subscription for support and urged his public to bring their silver to the mint. French subsidies are no longer provided. Though he has many young men who still have to go to school, he can not force them and do not dare to perform, as Frederick does. He even fired some men for being too expensive to feed them.
English amphibians "descents"
The British planned a "landing" (demonstration or amphibious assault) in Rochefort, a joint operation to invade the city and set fire to a ship at Charente. The expedition was set on September 8, 1757, Sir John Mordaunt led troops and Sir Edward Hawke's fleet. On 23 September the Isle d'Aix was taken, but the military staff hesitated and lost so much time that Rochefort became unshakable. The expedition left the Isle d'Aix, returning to England on October 1st.
Despite the debatable strategic success and operational failure of the decline in Rochefort, William Pitt - who sees a goal in this type of asymmetric business - is ready to continue the operation. An army was assembled under the command of Charles Spencer, Duke of the 3rd Marlborough; he was assisted by Lord George Sackville. The naval squadron and transport for the expedition were ordered by Richard Howe. The army landed on 5 June 1758 in Cancalle Bay, proceeding to St. Malo, and, finding that it would require a prolonged siege to capture him, instead attacked the nearby port of St. Servan. The ship burned shipments at the port, about 80 Frenchmen and traders, and four warships under construction. Troops then returned with the threat of the arrival of French aid troops. An attack on Havre de Grace was canceled, and the fleet sailed to Cherbourg; bad weather and low inventory, were also abandoned, and the re-expedition had undermined the privatization of France and provided further strategic demonstrations against the French coast.
Pitt is now ready to send troops to Germany; and both Marlborough and Sackville, disgusted by what they regarded as the futility of "offspring," earned commissions in the army. Old General Bligh was appointed to lead a new "lineage", escorted by Howe. The campaign started with a raid in Cherbourg. Covered by sea bombings, troops expelled detailed French troops against their landings, captured Cherbourg, and destroyed its fortifications, docks, and voyages.
The troops were summoned and moved to St. Bay. Lunaire in Brittany where, on September 3, they landed to operate against St. Malo; However, this action proved to be impractical. The deteriorating weather forced the two soldiers to separate: the ships sailed for the transport of St. The cast is safer, while the army moves on land. Bligh's delay in moving his troops allowed the 10,000 French troops from Brest to catch up with him and open fire on reembaration forces. At the battle of Saint Cast, the rear guard of 1,400 under Dury held France while the rest of the troops left. They can not be saved; 750, including Dury, were killed and the rest were captured.
Colonies
The mainly colonial conflicts between France and Britain occurred in India, North America, Europe, the Caribbean Islands, the Philippines, and coastal Africa. During the war, the United Kingdom gained land and great influence at the expense of France.
The United Kingdom lost Menorca in the Mediterranean to France in 1756 but captured the French colony in Senegal in 1758. The Royal Navy took the French sugar colonies in Guadeloupe in 1759 and Martinique in 1762 as well as the Spanish cities of Havana in Cuba, and Manila in the Philippines, both a prominent Spanish colonial town. However, the expansion into the interior areas of both cities met with stiff resistance. In the Philippines, Britain was locked in Manila until they agreed to a withdrawal at the end of the war.
North America
During the war, the Seven Countries of the Iroquois Confederacy allied themselves with France. These are Native Americans in the Laurentian valley - Algonquin, Abenaki, Huron, and others. Although the Algonquin and the Seven Nations tribes were not directly concerned with the fate of the Ohio River Valley, they had become victims of the Iroquois Confederacy which included the Seneca, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Tuscarora tribes. Iroquois has penetrated the Algonquin region and pushed Algonquins west through Lake Michigan. Therefore, Algonquin and Seven Nations are attracted against Iroquois. Throughout New England, New York, and the North-West Native American tribes formed an alliance different from those of the big enemies. The Iroquois, which is dominant in what is now Upstate New York, sided with Britain but did not play a major role in the war.
In 1756 and 1757, the French captured the castle of Oswego and William Henry of England. The final victory was damaged when a native French ally violated capitulation requirements and attacked a retreating British colony, which was under French guard, massacred and frightened the army and captured many men, women and children while the French refused to protect their captives. The deployment of the French navy in 1757 also succeeded in defending the key castle of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island called Ile du Roi by France, securing a seascape approach to Quebec.
The focus of British Prime Minister William Pitt on colonies for the 1758 campaign pays off with Louisbourg's takeover after French reinforcements are blocked by the victory of the British navy in the Battle of Cartagena and in the successful seizures of Fort Duquesne and Fort Frontenac. Britain also continued the process of deporting the Acadian population with major surges on the ÃÆ'Žle Saint-Jean (now Prince Edward Island), the St. John, and the Petitcodiac River Valley. This celebration of success was mitigated by their embarrassing defeat in the Battle of Carillon (Ticonderoga), in which 4,000 French troops repelled 16,000 Britons. When the British were led by generals James Abercrombie and George Howe attacked, they believed that the French led by the general Marquis de Montcalm were only defended by a small abatist who could easily be given a significant numerical strength of British troops. The British attack that was supposed to advance in the tight columns and flood the French defenders fell into confusion and dispersed, leaving a huge space in their ranks. When the French Chevalier de Levis sent 1,000 troops to strengthen the struggling troops of Montcalm, the British were fired on by shrubs by intense French rifle fire and they were forced to retreat.
All the British campaign against New France succeeded in 1759, part of what is known as Annus Mirabilis . Fort Niagara and Fort Carillon on July 8, 1758 crashed into considerable British troops, cutting off France's frontier forts farther west. Beginning in June 1759, the British under James Wolfe and James Murray set up camp at the Ile d'Orleans across the River St. Lawrence from Quebec, enabling them to embark on a 3-month siege. France under the Marquis de Montcalm anticipated the British invasion of eastern Quebec so he ordered his troops to fortify the area of ​​Beauport. On July 31, Britain attacked with 4,000 troops but France is positioned high on a cliff overlooking Montmorency Falls forcing British troops to retreat to the Ile D'Orleans. While Wolfe and Murray planned a second attack, British troops attacked French settlements along St. Louis. Lawrence, destroyed the stock of food, ammunition and other goods in an attempt to conquer France through hunger.
On September 13, 1759, General James Wolfe led 5,000 troops towards a goat path to the Abraham Plain, 1 mile west of Quebec City. He had placed his troops among the Montcalm troops an hour's drive east and the Bougainville regiment to the west, which could be mobilized within 3 hours. Instead of waiting for a coordinated attack with Bougainville, Montcalm attacked instantly. When the 3,500 troops advanced, their lines became scattered in irregular formations. Many French soldiers fired before they were within reach of the British. Wolfe arranged his troops in two paths that stretched 1 mile across the Abraham Plain. They were ordered to load their Brown Bess rifles with two bullets to gain maximum strength and hold back their shots until the French army came in 40 steps from the British ranks. When Montcalm's troops are within reach of England, their volley is very strong and almost every bullet reaches their target, destroying the French ranks. The French escaped from the Abraham Plain in total confusion when they were chased by members of the Scottish Fraser regiment and other British troops. Despite being smashed by Canadiens rifle fire and their native allies, England was far more than these opponents and won the Battle of the Abraham Plain. General Wolfe was badly injured in the chest at the start of the battle so that the order fell into the hands of James Murray, who would become the lieutenant governor of Quebec after the war. Marquis de Montcalm was also badly injured later in battle and died the next day. The French Canadian led by the Chevalier de Levis launched a counterattack against the Abraham Plain in the spring of 1760, with initial success at the Battle of Sainte-Foy, but they were unable to retake Quebec, due to the superiority of the British navy after the Battle of Neuville. The French troops retreated to Montreal, where on September 8 they surrendered to the great British numerical superiority.
Seeing the defeat of France and India, in 1760, the Seven Countries of the Iroquois Confederacy withdrew from the war and negotiated the Kahnawake Agreement with England. Among its conditions is unlimited travel between Canada and New York, as countries have extensive trade between Montreal and Albany as well as populations living throughout the region.
In 1762, towards the end of the war, the French troops attacked St. John's, Newfoundland. If successful, the expedition will strengthen French hands at the negotiating table. Although they took St John's and raided nearby neighborhoods, French troops were eventually defeated by British troops at the Battle of Signal Hill. This is the final battle of war in North America, and forcing the French to surrender to Lieutenant Colonel William Amherst. The British win now controls all of eastern North America.
The history of the Seven Years' War in North America, in particular the expulsion of the Acadians, the Siege of Quebec, the death of Wolfe, and the Battle of Fort William Henry resulted in a large number of ballads, broadside, drawings and novels (see Longfellow's Evangeline, Benjamin West's General Wolfe death, James Fenimore Cooper of The Last of the Mohicans), maps and other printed materials, which testify how this event held the British and North American public's imaginations long after death Wolfe in 1759.
South America
In South America (1763), the Portuguese conquered Spain mostly from the valley of the Rio Negro, and repulsed the Spanish attack on Mato Grosso (on the Guapor River).
Between September 1762 and April 1763, Spanish troops were led by Don Pedro Antonio de Cevallos, the Governor of Buenos Aires (and later the first Viceroy of Rio de la Plata) campaign against the Portuguese in Uruguay and South Brazil. The Spaniards conquered Portuguese territory from Colonia do Sacramento and Rio Grande de SÃÆ'Â £ Pedro and forced the Portuguese to surrender and retreat.
Under the Treaty of Paris (1763), Spain must return to Portugal colonies of Sacramento, while the vast and rich territory of the so-called "Continent S. Peter" (currently Brazilian state Rio Grande do Sul) will be recaptured from the Spanish army during the war Hispano-Portuguese was declared in 1763-1777.
As a result of the war, Valdivian Fort System, a Spanish defense complex in southern Chile, was renewed and strengthened from 1764 onwards. Other Chilean prone areas like ChiloÃÆ'Â © Archipelago, ConcepciÃÆ'³n, Juan FernÃÆ'¡ndez Islands, and ValparaÃÆ'so are also prepared for the final British attack.
India
In India, the outbreak of the Seven Year War in Europe renewed a long-standing conflict between France and British trading companies for influence on the continent. France allied with the Mughal Empire to fight the British expansion. The war began in South India but spread to Bengal, where British troops under Robert Clive reclaimed Calcutta from Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah, an ally of France, and expelled him from his throne at the Battle of Plassey in 1757. That same year, Britain also captured Chandernagar , the French settlement in Bengal.
In the south, although France captured Cuddalore, their siege on Madras failed, while British commander Sir Eyre Coote convincingly defeated the Comte de Lally at the Battle of Wandiwash in 1760 and invaded France in Northern Circars. The French capital of India, Pondicherry, fell to England in 1761; along with the collapse of the smaller French settlement of Karikal and Maha, effectively eliminated French rule in India.
West Africa
In 1758, at the urging of an American merchant, Thomas Cumming, Pitt sent an expedition to take the French settlement in Saint Louis. The British captured Senegal easily in May 1758 and brought home a large number of captured goods. This success convinced Pitt to launch two further expeditions to take the island of GorÃÆ' Â © e and the French trading post in Gambia. Missing
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