Seven Years War 1756-1763

• The war between Britain and France in America.

• France lost in the war.

• This war made Britain superior in the world during that time.

• Though Britain won the war, the economic status of Britain lowered to huge extent due to this war.

What gave rise to 7 years war?

• King of the Austrian empire, Charles VI (Reign: 12 Oct. 1711 - 20 Oct. 1740), did not have a son. King only had a daughter, Maria Theresa.

• 1713 - The king published a document, The Pragmatic Sanction, which had declared that Maria Theresa would inherit the Austrian Throne.

• All countries, except Bavaria (Bavaria was the state which used to be under the Austrian Empire and later on joined German Empire on January 18, 1871), accepted the document.

• The Austrian empire did not have strong army troops and treasures with them during the period of Charles VI.

• The king of the Kingdom of Prussia, Frederick the Great (Reign: 1740-1786), had accepted the document initially.

• Later the king of the Kingdom of Prussia, Frederick the Great, captured Silesia, which used to be the land of the Austrian Empire, and started claiming for the position of King.

• Taking the advantage of the situation, Bavaria (Presently Bavaria is a part of Germany) also claimed the position of King of the Austrian Empire.

• Later on, after the death of Charles VI, Maria Theresa came to power and most of the countries of Europe (countries like France, Spain, Bavaria, Prussia, Savoy, Saxony (German State))  also came against of Austrian Empire and declared that the rule of Maria Theresa cannot be accepted.

• War began for the throne of Austria and lasted for the next 8 years.

• England could not keep herself far away from this war.

• The Netherlands was under the Austrian Empire and the Netherlands was supporting Great Britain in colonization.

• Thus, England supported Austrian Empire whereas France was against the Austrian Empire.

• While France was marching towards the Netherlands, Austrian Empire, Britain decided to support Maria Theresa because she was in great trouble.

• Later on, Maria Theresa showed some greediness to Saxony and Saxony came in favor of the Austrian Empire.

• Spain had a dispute with Italy. Thus Italy came against Spain in war and support The Austrian Empire.

• Only Russia was the country in Europe that was totally away from these activities.

• Maria Theresa was able to save her throne but could not release Silesia from the Kingdom of Prussia.

• For getting the territory back, she made many political reforms. She made Sweden in her support and tried to negotiate with France with her best effort to make France in her support. 

• The king of the Kingdom of Prussia, Frederick the Great, used to look at women in the wrong way from a bad perspective. Thus, the lover of King of France, i.e. lover of Louis VI (1754 - 1793, Last king of France before the fall of Monarchy during the French Revolution),  supported the friendship with Austria. So, France and Austria became friends.

• But the king of the Kingdom of Prussia, Frederick the Great, also started increasing his friendly relation with England.

• The queen of Russia, Elizaveta Petrovna Romanova, also used to hate Frederick the Great due to his way to look at women in the wrong way.

• Thus, Russia, France, and Austria came in one place and agreed to fight against the Kingdom of Prussia. But the Kingdom of Prussia had only one friend, England.

• Sweden also agreed to support Austria and the Kingdom of Prussia was now surrounded by:
• Russia - from East
• France - from West
• Sweden - from North
• Austria - from South

• During the time, England and France were fighting with each other on different continents. At the same time, England was also providing economic support to Frederick the Great.

• Despite having fewer armies with the Kingdom of Prussia, Fredrick won the major war with France with his strong strategies. 

• While returning after winning the war with France, the armies of Prussia had to face sudden war with the huge number of armies of Austria. But surprisingly, Prussia won that war too. The war was so strong that thirty percent armies of Austria died in the war.

•  After winning two wars, the Kingdom of Prussia became busy making army troops stronger. But the armies from Russia were marching towards Prussia. 

• Russian troops won from eastern Prussia to Berlin.

• France was also ready for the next attack and started to capture regions of Hanover. But English armies stopped France from moving forward and pushed France's armies outside of Germany. 

• Not only there, but France armies also lost in every battle with British armies on almost all continents. 

• The king of the Kingdom of Prussia, Frederick the Great, was trapped in Europe because the huge number of Russian and Austrian armies had surrounded Prussia from two sides. But suddenly the queen of Russia, Elizaveta Petrovna Romanova, died in 1762 and Peter II became the next Jar of Russia. 

• The jar was highly influenced by the king of the Kingdom of Prussia, Frederick the Great.

• Russia and Prussia went into treaty but Peter II died shortly.

• Catherine II came into power after the death of  Peter II. 

• She neither supported nor came against Frederick the Great. On the next side, Sweden also did treaties with the Kingdom of Prussia and France was tired of fighting many battles with England because France was losing most of its war with England. So none of these countries were able to fight with Prussia.

• Austria alone was not able to fight with Prussia. They came to the conclusion to end this war with a treaty on 15th February 1763.

• As per the treaty, Silesia came under the territory of the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Austrian Empire would never claim it again. The king of the Kingdom of Prussia, Frederick the Great, also agreed to respect the throne of the Austrian Empire.

• All disputes between the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire ended with this treaty.

• Also, France and England signed a treaty in Paris and this treaty ended the war between them. As per the treaty, France lost most of its territory. Thus this war was not lesser than an insult to France.   

References:

Anuj Garg Coaching. (2020, December 19). Impact of Seven years war (1756–63) on history of the world [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS4xkyCTJM8

HISTORY baba. (2020, October 14). Seven Years’ War - History Baba || Full History in Hindi [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-ABuNeVEaM