The Seven Years War

By:

John Eric Aguilar

Tonifranz F. Sareno
Introduction

The Seven Years War is a war lasting from 1756 to 1763. It is

considered to be the last conflict that involved all the then major

European powers before the French Revolution. These are Austria,

Prussia, Russia, France and Great Britain. It also involved minor states

such as Saxony, Sweden, Hanover (though Hanover and Britain shared the

same monarch so it is only with considerable doubt that Hanover is

considered separate from Britain), and, later, Spain (by this time not

considered a great power). 1

It has been called a world war. Indeed, many has claimed that it is
2
the first World War. It was fought in three continents: Europe, North

America, and India. The battlefield ranged from the forests and plains of

Germany, to the woodlands of North America, to the disintegrating

Mughal Empire of India, and to the Philippines of Southeast Asia.

American Indians, and Native Indians of India, Filipino recruits were also

involved, but mostly as adjunct and supplementary forces of the main

European contenders.

France, Russia, Austria, Sweden, Spain, Saxony fought against

Great Britain, Hanover, and Prussia. There are two main theaters of the

war. The first theater is the continental European theater, where it was

described as an epic struggle between as small country and the three

1
Encyclopdia Britannica, 15 ed., vol. 10, Seven Years War, pg. 666.
2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Years'_War
greatest continental powers. 3 Prussia, with very little assistance from its

allies, fought Austria, Russia, and France. The war was about the

determination of the three countries to destroy, or at least dismember,

Prussia, and for Prussia to somehow stay alive and intact. The other

theater of the war is the colonial theater. In this theater, the main

combatants are Great Britain against France and Spain, and the main

battlefields are North America and India, with peripheral theaters such as

the Philippines. The main object of this struggle is the contest for

supremacy along the oceans and in colonies.

Causes of the War

Frederick II, the Great, King of Prussia (1713-1786), became king

in 1740, succeeding his father, Frederick William I. At almost the very

same time, Charles VI, of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor, also died. He

was succeeded by his 23 year old daughter, Maria Theresa (1717-1780).

Despite his fathers guarantee, Frederick, sensing an easy prey, invaded

the Austrian possession of Silesia. As a result, almost every other

European country, including France, tried to grab bits and pieces of the

Habsburg inheritance. It was the concerted objective of Bavaria, France,

and Saxony to dismember the Habsburg crown lands. 4 But Maria Theresa

proved a resourceful ruler, and in the end, managed to beat back all
3
Dill, Marshall, Jr. Germany: A Modern History, new ed., revised and enlarged. (Ann Arbor: the
University of Michigan Press, 1970), 53.
4
Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th ed., vol. 19, Frederick the Great pg. 560.
attacks and regain lost territoryexcept Silesia, which Frederick managed

to maintain. The War of Austrian Succession lasted until 1748, when the

treaty of Aix-la-Chappelle ended with a return to the status-quo of 1740,

with the exception of Silesia.

The only ally of Austria during this time is Great Britain. The

reason for the alliance is that France and Great Britain are rivals for

overseas colonies, especially in North America. The result when the war

ended was a stalemate, with neither power gaining any new territory at the

expense of the other.

Maria Theresa wanted to have Silesia back, and she began scheming

to have it happen. Since France was an ally to Prussia during the War of

F re d e r i c k t h e G r e a t M ar i a Th e res a
Austrian Succession, the principal way to ensure Austrian victory in the

next war against Prussia make sure that France would not aid Prussia, and

instead be an ally of Austria. 5 Prince Kaunitz, the chancellor of the Holy

Roman Empress, decided that Great Britain is an unreliable ally for

Austria. Great Britain was a maritime nation concerned with the struggle

against France for overseas colonies, while the Habsburg realm was

almost exclusively continental. So Kaunitz decided to reverse the

diplomatic stances and ally Austria with France.

In France, a pro-Austrian party, with the support of Madame de

Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV, gained power and consented to the

alliance between Austria and France. Great Britain was alarmed by the

development, and decided make Prussia the main continental nation to

guarantee Hanover against French attack. 6 In 1756, Prussia and Great

Britain signed the convention of Westminster, signing an alliance between

the two countries. Tzarina Elizabeth of Russia, who hated Frederick, soon

joined the anti-Prussian alliance. This was generally called the Diplomatic

Revolution of 1756. 7

Frederick the Great was alarmed at the prospect of being

surrounded. He decided to strike first. The Seven Years War in Europe had

began.

5
Major, J. Russel. The Western World : The Renaissance to the Present. (New York: V.B. Lippincott
Company, 1966), 420.
6
Dill, 52.
7
Kagan, Donald, Steve Ozment, and Frank M. Turner. The Western Heritage, 2nd ed. (New York:
Macmillan Publishing Company, Inc., 1983), 604.
 Meanwhile, both Great Britain and France claimed the Ohio country,

a region between the 13 colonies of Britain, and French Quebec and

Louisiana. In 1753, the French began building a series of forts in the Ohio

country. Robert Dinwiddie, governor of the British colony of Virginia,

sent 21 year old George Washington to the French governor and insisted

that the French leave the area to the British. The French naturally

dismissed the British claims to the land. As a result, fighting broke out

between the French and the British forces in the Americas in 1754,

although during that time, France and Britain were officially at peace.

The British sent several offensives in 1755 and 1756 to try to take

New France, as the French possessions in North America were called, but

the French, aided by the American Indians, repulsed the British.

Progress of the War

In August 1756, Frederick invaded Saxony, an ally of Maria

Theresa, to prepare for an invasion Austrian territories. At the head of

70,000 troops, and with Austrian forces scattered, Frederick quickly

conquered Saxony, with the Saxons capitulating on October 15.

Meanwhile, on April, 1756, a French force from Toulon sailed

towards Minorca, an island in the Western Mediterranean that was held by

the British, and laid siege to Port Mahon, the capital. The British tried to

rescue the island, but failed. Port Mahon fell on June 28. The French then
prepared for an invasion of England, with 50,000 troops concentrated on

the ports of the English Channel. The British have only 35,000 troops at

home and in America. Yet the British navy was stronger than the French

navy, and in the end, it prevented the French from crossing over into

England. 8

8
Williamson, James A. A Short History of British Expansion: The Old Colonial Empire, 3rd ed. (London:
Macmillan and Company Limited, 1945), 395.
M ap o f E u r op e , 1 7 4 0

In America, the American Indians allied to France raided and

massacred British settlers. The disunity of the British colonies prevented a

major force to take the major French forts along the Ohio from being

formed in the Americas, and the French captured some English forts in the

region.

Early in the year 1757, Frederick the Great invaded Bohemia. He

laid siege to Prague, and beat the Austrian army which tried to relieve it,
but was beaten back when he lost to a second Austrian army at the battle

of Kolin in June. The French invaded Hanover, and the Duke of

Cumberland, head of the English Army protecting Hanover, was defeated

at the battle of Hastenbeck, exposing Prussia from the West of French

attack.

The situation began to get desperate for Frederick in the latter part

of 1757. A French army of 54,000 men advanced from the West, a Russian

army of 43,500 men advanced from the East, and an Austrian army of

65,000 advanced from the south. With Frederick fighting alone, things

look desperate. However, in a series of battles, he cemented his reputation

as a military genius and beat back the attacks. Frederick, with 22,000

men, marched west to meet the French first, and defeated the much larger

French army at the Battle of Rossbach on November 5, 1757, with loses of

only 169 men compared to 5,000 men killed and 5,000 captured French. 9

He then wheeled south to meet the Austrians. On Leuthen, Silesia, on

December 5, 1757, with about 35,000 men, he inflicted a defeat on the

numerically superior Austrians. 1 0 The Prussians have 1,141 dead and 5,000

wounded while the Austrians suffered 3,000 dead, 7,000 wounded and

12,000 captured. Finally, at Zornforf, 100 kilometers east of Berlin, with

36,000 men, Frederick forced the Russians to retreat, suffering

approximately 12,000 losses, while the Russians lost 18,000 men. 1 1

9
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Rossbach
10
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Leuthen
11
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Zorndorf
 Meanwhile, George II, King of Great Britain, desperate to win the

war, appointed William Pitt to manage the war and to give the country

victory. Pitt proved that he was a master organizer of the war. He replaced

old and incompetent generals with young and vigorous officers, and

revised British strategy both in Europe and the Americas. He became

known as the organizer of victory. Pitts policies bore fruit in 1759,

when his generals were able to gain several victories. General James

Wolfe defeated the French at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in

September 1759, giving Quebec, and effectively Canada, to the British.

Admiral Edward Hawke defeated a French fleet at Quiberon Bay on

November, 1759, thus making a French invasion of England impossible,

and giving the British control over the seas. In Germany, a British Army

in Hanover destroyed a French army at Minden. 1 2

Despite his victories, Fredericks situation continued to be

desperate. His three main opponents have much larger populations to draw

soldiers for their armies, and each year, massive armies from Austria,

Russia , and France invaded Prussia. It took all of Prussias resources,

subsidies from Great Britain, luck, and Fredericks abilities to avoid

annihilation. In 1759 particularly, he lost a spectacular battle against the

Russians at Kunersdorf. The Prussians lost 6,000 men dead, and 13,000

wounded, and 26,000 men were scattered. Of the 50,900 troops that he

went to battle with, only 3,000 men remained with him at the end of it.

12
McLynn, Frannk. 1759: The Year Britain Became Master of the World. (The Random House Group
Limited, 2004),192-223; 284-314; 354-388; 254-284.
The Russians, with originally 59,500 men, lost only 15,000 men. He was

so desperate that he attempted to commit suicide by getting himself shot

by the enemy. 1 3 Seeking death, two horses shot under him, he cried out

against the bullets that would not hit him and was with difficulty

prevented from planting himself on foot in the path of a troop of enemy

cavalry. 1 4

Frederick wrote:
T h i s m o r n i n g a t 11 o ' c l o c k I h a v e a t t a c k e d t h e e n e m y. . . . Al l m y

troops have worked wonders, but at a cost of innumberable losses. Our

men got into confusion. I assembled them three times. In the end I was

in danger of getting captured and had to retreat. My coat is perforated by

bullets, two horses of mine have been shot dead. My misfortune is that I

a m s t i l l l i v i n g . . . O u r d e f e a t i s v e r y c o n s i d e r a b l e : To m e r e m a i n s 3 , 0 0 0

m e n f r o m a n a r m y o f 4 8 , 0 0 0 m e n . At t h e m o m e n t i n w h i c h I r e p o r t a l l

this, everyone is on the run; I am no more master of my troops. Thinking

o f t h e s a f e t y o f a n yb o d y i n B e r l i n i s a g o o d a c t i v i t y . . . I t i s a c r u e l

failure that I will not survive. The consequences of the battle will be

worse than the battle itself. I do not have any more resources, and -

frankly confessed - I believe that everything is lost. I will not survive

15
the doom of my fatherland. Farewell forever!

Only the Russian failure to follow up this victory saved Prussia

from annihilation, and within four days, most of the men who scattered

returned to Frederick. He was soon back with an army of 32,000 men.

However, another setback for Prussia near the end of the year happened

when an Austrian army utterly destroyed a Prussian army of 14,000 men

13
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kunersdorf
14
Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th ed., vol. 19, Frederick the Great pg. 561.
15
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kunersdorf
under Friedrich August von Finck . Yet, like the Russians after Kunersdorf,

they failed to follow up their success and missed an opportunity to end the

war. Together with the French defeat at Minden, the delays resulted in

Prussian survival.

The End of the War

1760 continued to be a bleak year for Prussia. Prussian armies

continued to be defeated. The French captured the Prussian town of

Marburg, and the Swedes captured Pomerania, Prussian land along the

Baltic coast. The Austrians captured several towns in Silesia, while the

Russians briefly occupied his capital, Berlin. All seems lost for Frederick,

but in the end, he managed to snatch survival from the jaws of

obliteration. He managed to win the battles of Liegnitz and Torgau,

delaying what seemed to be his inevitable destruction.

Tzarina Elizabeth of Russia

The British were faring better. They defeated the French in India at the

Battle of Plassey in 1757. They captured one French colony after another.

Louisbourg in Cape Breton Island and Senegal of the West African Coast

fell in 1758, Canada and the French Island of Guadaloupe fell in 1759,

and Martinique fell in 1762. Spain entered the war in 1761 as a French

ally. The British proceeded to capture both Havana, Cuba, and Manila,

Philippines, from the Spaniards, in 1762. By that year, they have

decisively won the colonial war against France.

 Frederick the Greats position did not much improve in 1761. In

spite of the victories he won, his enemies kept coming. His manpower is

dwindling, and his state is exhausted from five years of war. Many

Prussian towns fell to the Russians and Austrians, and the British stopped

sending subsidies. Prussian troops dwindled from 150,000 men to 60,000,

in total, and much of the troops were raw recruits having very little

training because of the losses of experienced troops for much of the war.

Frederick was desperate. In the Christmas of 1761, the Russians captured

the Prussian fort of Kolberg. East Prussia was occupied by the Russians.

In January 1762, he wrote that was prepared to commit suicide, as he saw

his position as utterly hopeless.

However, in January 5, 1762, the Tzarina of Russia, Elizabeth, died.

Peter III succeeded to the throne of Russia. Peter was a fervent admirer of

Frederick. He at once made peace with Prussia, and even allied with

Prussia against Austria and France! Sweden immediately made peace with

Prussia as a result. Frederick was happy, and in the summer that year,

defeated the Austrians at the battle of Freiberg.

By now, all combatants were war-weary, and with the Russian

withdrawal, the will of the Austrians and the French to continue the war

against Prussia was lost. As a result, in February 1763, the combatants

signed the Treaty of Hubertusburg, by which the borders of Prussia would

remain as it was before the war. Prussia survived the war without losing

any territory.
 In the treaty of Paris of 1763 between Britain and France, France

ceded all of her possessions in North America east of the Mississippi

River to Britain, and those west of the river to Spain. Britain gave back

Guadalupe and Martinique to France in exchange. Britain got Minorca

from Spain in exchange for returning Cuba and the Philippines to the

Spaniards.

Significance of the War

The war was significant in several respects. The war showed that

Prussia was a Great Power, capable of taking on the combined powers of

Russia, France, and Austria. It became a leader in German affairs in

opposition to Austria. Now, the small German states no longer had to

exclusively look to Austria for leadership, as they have now an

alternative. The war continued the erosion of Austrian power in Germany

vis--vis Prussia.

Had the Prussians lost the war and was dismembered, as it was

likely to happen in several points of the war, then subsequent history

would be very different. Prussia was a leading force in the struggle

against Napoleon in the early nineteenth century, and under Otto von

Bismarck, was the state that will unite Germany into one nation in the

1860s and 1870s. It would be impossible to imagine German unification

without Prussia. All subsequent history would be very different had not

Prussia survived the terrible ordeal of the Seven Years War.

 The war resulted in the dominance of Great Britain over France in

colonial affairs. France was shut out of North America and India. The war

made Britain the greatest colonial power in Europe. According to McLynn,

the war was when the British finally achieved the global supremacy they

would maintain for at least another hundred years. 1 6

The war also bankrupted British finances. It led to the temporary

poverty of the country, and to attempts to tax the Americans. As a result

of the taxes the British tried to impose, the Americans revolted. Thus, it

could be said that the Seven Years War indirectly led to the formation of

the United States of America.

Bibliography
16
McLynn, 1.
A. Books

Dill, Marshall, Jr. Germany: A Modern History, new ed.,

revised and enlarged. Ann Arbor: the University of
Michigan Press, 1970.
Encyclopdia Britannica , 15 ed., vol. 10, Seven Years War.
Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 t h ed., vol. 19, Frederick the
Great.
Kagan, Donald, Steve Ozment, and Frank M. Turner. The
Western Heritage, 2 n d ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing
Company, Inc., 1983.
Kennedy, Paul. The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. New
York: Random House, 1987.
Major, J. Russel. The Western World : The Renaissance to the
Present. New York: V.B. Lippincott Company, 1966.
McLynn, Frannk. 1759: The Year Britain Became Master of the
World. The Random House Group Limited, 2004.
Williamson, James A. A Short History of British Expansion:
The Old Colonial Empire , 3 r d ed. London: Macmillan and
Company Limited, 1945.

B. Internet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kunersdorf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Leuthen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Rossbach
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Zorndorf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_of_Russia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Years'_War