The Seven Years' War: History & Impact

While Austria was beating back a Prussian invasion, its allies were doing their part to pressure the Prussians into retreat. Sweden invaded Prussian-controlled territory of Pomerania on the coast of the Baltic, and France advanced on Prussia's westernmost territories after routing a British force commanded by King George II's son, the Duke of Cumberland. Russia joined the fray in the summer, invading East Prussia.

With attackers on all sides, Prussia appeared to be in dire straits. Frederick only saved his army and his campaign from total destruction through two major victories in 1758 against much larger Austrian and Russian armies. Regardless of these victories, the Russian and Austrian advances kept Frederick on the defensive, and he was forced to retreat out of Saxony and Silesia.

More than anything else, luck saved the Prussian war effort. The death of Elizabeth, Empress of Russia, in 1761 allowed Frederick to make a peace treaty with Russia and eventually Sweden. Now able to concentrate his forces, Frederick was able to push the Austrians and Saxons back out of Silesia by the end of 1762. The ensuing Peace of Hubertusberg, signed in 1763 between Austria and Prussia, confirmed Prussian control of Silesia once and for all.

The 1763 Treaty of Paris that ended the war essentially declared victory in the century-old conflict for colonial supremacy between France and Great Britain. France surrendered huge swaths of its North American territory to the British, including most of Canada and most of the land south of the Great Lakes and east of the Mississippi River. Additionally, what few French colonies remained in India were also ceded to the British.

The Treaty and the North American theater of the conflict had further ramifications for both countries. France, which was already in significant financial trouble before the conflict, spent huge sums of money to hold onto its North American territories and was nearly financially ruined as a result. Britain as well had spent exorbitantly on the war, and the British government determined to recoup these funds from its subjects which the war had been fought to protect - the American colonists. The financial problems caused by the wars for both countries would play a role in the ensuing revolutions both governments faced near the end of the century: the American and French Revolutions.

• Name the world players in the Seven Years' War
• Recognize the importance of the changing of alliances in Europe before and during the war
• Remember the ramifications of the war in North America