From the Diplomatic Revolution and Frederick's invasion of Saxony through Rossbach and Leuthen, Plassey and the conquest of Bengal, the annus mirabilis of 1759 and the fall of Quebec, to the Treaty of Paris that made Britain the world's foremost colonial power. Slide across the first truly global conflict, fought on five continents from the Ohio to the Philippines.
In the 'Reversal of Alliances', the old enemies France and Austria join hands, while Britain allies with Prussia. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, determined to recover Silesia from Frederick the Great, has engineered the diplomatic earthquake with her chancellor Kaunitz. On 17 May Britain declares war on France; the fuse is lit in Europe and across the oceans.
In the 'Reversal of Alliances', the old enemies France and Austria join hands, while Britain allies with Prussia. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, determined to recover Silesia from Frederick the Great, has engineered the diplomatic earthquake with her chancellor Kaunitz. On 17 May Britain declares war on France; the fuse is lit in Europe and across the oceans.
In the 'Reversal of Alliances', the old enemies France and Austria join hands, while Britain allies with Prussia. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, determined to recover Silesia from Frederick the Great, has engineered the diplomatic earthquake with her chancellor Kaunitz. On 17 May Britain declares war on France; the fuse is lit in Europe and across the oceans.
Around 1756 AD
Foundation of Moscow University
The French and Indian War
Annus Mirabilis of British arms
Charles III ascends from Naples
The Encyclopédie appears
Karim Khan and the peace of Shiraz
From the Diplomatic Revolution and Frederick's invasion of Saxony through Rossbach and Leuthen, Plassey and the conquest of Bengal, the annus mirabilis of 1759 and the fall of Quebec, to the Treaty of Paris that made Britain the world's foremost colonial power. Slide across the first truly global conflict, fought on five continents from the Ohio to the Philippines.
In the 'Reversal of Alliances', the old enemies France and Austria join hands, while Britain allies with Prussia. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, determined to recover Silesia from Frederick the Great, has engineered the diplomatic earthquake with her chancellor Kaunitz. On 17 May Britain declares war on France; the fuse is lit in Europe and across the oceans.
In June the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, captures the East India Company's Fort William at Calcutta. British prisoners are confined overnight in a tiny cell — the 'Black Hole' — where many die of suffocation and heat. The incident, magnified in the telling, gives the Company its pretext for conquest and brings Robert Clive north from Madras to avenge it.
On 23 June, on the field of Plassey, Robert Clive and some 3,000 men defeat the Nawab's army of 50,000 — thanks less to arms than to the treachery of the Nawab's commander Mir Jafar, bought in advance. Bengal, the richest province of India, passes under the control of the East India Company. It is the beginning of British rule in India.
Beset on all sides, Frederick the Great fights the two battles that make his legend. On 5 November at Rossbach he routs a far larger Franco-Imperial army in ninety minutes; on 5 December at Leuthen, using his famous 'oblique order', he destroys an Austrian force twice his size. Prussia, a kingdom of five million, has held off France, Austria, and Russia combined.
1759 is Britain's annus mirabilis, when 'our bells are worn threadbare with ringing for victories'. At sea, Boscawen wins at Lagos and Hawke smashes the French fleet at Quiberon Bay, ending all hope of invading Britain. In Germany the French are beaten at Minden. And on 13 September, on the Plains of Abraham above Quebec, General Wolfe defeats Montcalm; both commanders fall, and French Canada is lost.
When Spain enters the war on the French side in 1762, Britain strikes at its empire around the world. In August a British expedition storms Havana, the key to the Spanish Caribbean; in October another takes Manila, capital of the Spanish Philippines, on the far side of the globe. The reach of British sea power now spans every ocean.
On 10 February the Treaty of Paris ends the war between Britain, France, and Spain; five days later the Treaty of Hubertusburg confirms Frederick's Silesia and the European status quo. France cedes Canada and all its territory east of the Mississippi to Britain, and Louisiana to Spain. Britain emerges as the world's foremost colonial and naval power, dominant in North America and India alike.