Seven Years' War facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Seven Years' War 1756–1763
Clockwise from top left: 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 17 May 1756 – 15 February 1763 (1756-05-17 – 1763-02-15) (6 years, 8 months, 4 weeks and 1 day) Location Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Asia Result Anglo-Prussian coalition victory: Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1762) Treaty of Hamburg (1762) Treaty of Paris (1763) Treaty of Hubertusburg (1763) Territorial changes Status quo ante bellum in Europe: Transfer of colonial possessions between Great Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal. France cedes its possessions east of the Mississippi River, Canada (except Saint-Pierre and Miquelon), the island of Grenada, and the Northern Circars in India to Great Britain. France cedes Louisiana and its territory west of the Mississippi River to Spain. Spain cedes Florida to Great Britain. Four "neutral" Caribbean islands divided between Britain (St. Vincent, Tobago, Dominica) and France (St. Lucia)
Belligerents
Great Britain  Ireland British America British East India Company Hanover Iroquois Confederacy  Prussia Portugal (from 1762) Brazil Portuguese India Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Hesse-Kassel Schaumburg-Lippe	France New France French East India Company Abenaki Confederacy Holy Roman Empire: Austria  Saxony  Russian Empire (until 1762) Cossack Hetmanate Kalmyk Khanate Spain New Spain Peru (from 1762) Sweden (1757–62) Mughal Empire (until 1757) Nawab of Bengal
Commanders and leaders
George II (personal union) (until 1760) George III (personal union) (from 1760) William Pitt Frederick II Joseph I	Louis XV Duc de Choiseul Maria Theresa Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz Elizabeth (until 1762) Peter III (1762) Charles III Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah
Strength
	France: 1,000,000 (total mobilized)
Casualties and losses
Prussia: 260,000+ Prussian losses: 180,000 dead 80,000 deserted 33,000 civilians killed Great Britain: 135,000+ Royal Navy: 1,512 killed or died of wounds 60,000 died of disease or discharged as unfit for service 40,000 deserted 34,000 demobilized	373,588 Austrian losses: 32,622 killed in action 93,404 died of wounds or disease 19,592 missing 17,388 disabled 70,000 slightly wounded 78,360 captured 62,222 deserted 350,000+ French losses: 200,000 dead 80,000 captured 70,000 deserted 138,000 dead, disabled, missing, or captured 34,000+ dead, missing, or captured 28,000 dead 25,000 dead (excluding parts of the HRE that were under the Austrian Monarchy)

The Seven Years' War lasted from 1756 to 1763 and involved most of the great powers in Europe. At first, the war was made up of two conflicts. One was mainly between Britain and France, and the other was between Prussia and its enemies: France, Austria, Russia, and Sweden.

An important cause of the war was the War of the Austrian Succession.

The war was known by different names in different places. In the United States, it is called the French and Indian War. In French Canada, it is called the War Of Conquest. In both Sweden and Prussia, it was called the Pomeranian War because they were fighting over Pomerania. In India, it is known as the Third Carnatic War.

As for the conflict between Prussia and Austria, it is called the Third Silesian War.

Colonialism was common at the time. During the war, the trade interests of the British Empire were opposed to those of the Bourbons, who ruled France and Spain. The Hohenzollerns, who ruled Prussia, and the Habsburgs, who were Holy Roman Emperors and archdukes in Austria, fought each other, mainly over Silesia.

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

The Seven Years' War was perhaps the first global war, taking place almost 160 years before World War I, known as the Great War before the outbreak of World War II, and globally influenced many later major events. Winston Churchill described the conflict as the "first world war". Contemporaries sometimes informally refer to the war as "World War Zero".

The war restructured not only the European political order, but also affected events all around the world, paving the way for the beginning of later British world supremacy in the 19th century, the rise of Prussia in Germany (eventually replacing Austria as the leading German state), the beginning of tensions in British North America, as well as a clear sign of France's revolutionary turmoil. It was characterized in Europe by sieges and the arson of towns as well as open battles with heavy losses.

Major battles

Results

The Russian Empire left its offensive alliance with the Habsburgs when Empress Elizabeth died and her nephew Peter III became Tsar. Sweden also concluded a separate peace with Prussia in 1762.

The war ended with the Treaties of Paris (France, Spain, Great Britain) and of Hubertusburg (Hohenzollerns, Habsburgs, Saxon elector) in 1763. The war had been characterized by sieges and arson of towns as well as open battles involving extremely heavy losses. Overall, some 900,000 to 1,400,000 people died.

Great Britain succeeded in the contested overseas territories by gaining the bulk of New France, Spanish Florida, some Caribbean islands and Senegal and superiority over the French outposts on the Indian subcontinent. The Native American tribes were excluded from the peace settlement, and were unable to return to their former status after the resulting Pontiac's rebellion.

In Europe, Frederick II of Prussia failed to complete a preemptive strike against Austria, and his opponents repulsed and at Kunersdorf nearly destroyed his forces. Frederic,k however recovered, regained ground and managed to avoid any concessions in Hubertusburg, where the status quo ante bellum was restored. William Pitt's said, "America was won in Germany". He referred to the Prussian war effort, which enabled Britain to limit its continental commitments and to focus on her "blue water policy," successfully establishing naval supremacy. While French and allied forces were able to occupy Prussian and Hanoverian territories up to East Frisia, French ambitions to invade Britain and to continue with their commerce raiding were thwarted by a British naval blockade, which impaired French supply routes to the colonies.

The involvement of Portugal, Spain and Sweden did not return them to their former status as great powers. Spain's short intervention resulted in the loss of Florida, but gained French Louisiana west of the Mississippi River in exchange. Also, Britain returned Cuba and the Philippines.

The Treaty of Paris (1763) ended the war for Britain and France.

Images for kids

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  Europe in the years after the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748

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  Prussian Leibgarde battalion at Kolín, 1757

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  British raid on French settlement of Miramichi (later called Burnt Church, New Brunswick), 1758

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  Battle of Lobositz. Austria: blue; Prussia: red

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  The Battle of Kolín in 1757 in Bohemia (the site is now in the Czech Republic)

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  The Battle of Rossbach in Saxony

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  The Battle of Leuthen in Silesia, by Carl Röchling

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  Frederick the Great and staff at Leuthen

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  The Battle of Krefeld in Prussia – a map of the area in The Gentleman's Magazine

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  The Battle of Hochkirch in Saxony

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  The Battle of Maxen in Saxony

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  The Battle of Kunersdorf in Prussia

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  Battle of Liegnitz (1760) in what is now Poland

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  Operations of Russian army on Polish–Lithuanian territory, 1756–1763

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  Siege of Kolberg (1761)

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  Treaty of Hubertusburg

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  Under William Pitt the Elder's leadership, Britain's position as the leading colonial power was confirmed by the Seven Years' War.

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  The Mughal ambassador to France

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  August 2009 historical re-enactment of the Battle of Warburg fought on 31 July 1760

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  Map showing British territorial gains in North America following the Treaty of Paris in pink, and Spanish territorial gains after the Treaty of Fontainebleau in yellow

See also

In Spanish: Guerra de los Siete Años para niños