The Seven Years War was a conflict between several European national monarchies over control of regions of colonial exploitation. One of the sides of this war was led by France which, with the military support of the Austrians, sought to rival the supremacy exercised by the British in the regions of North America and in India. Furthermore, this same conflict was also marked by hegemonic disputes between the States of the former Germanic Holy Empire.
In a first moment of this conflict, the Prussian armies made a military alliance with the England, which was outright opposed to the support that the Austrians had from the forces French. While these armies faced each other within Europe, France and England promoted conflicts parallels for controlling regions in North America, West Indies, India, Africa, Mediterranean Sea, Canada and Caribbean.
The colonial phase of the war began with the French invasion of the British island of Minorca in 1756. The actions taken by the French were counter-attacked by the powerful British troops, who carried out the British blockade in the regions of Toulon and Brest. After successive victories, the British conquered the regions of Quebec, Montreal, Cape Breton and the Great Lakes. In Africa, they managed to overthrow French control in Senegal and Gambia.
The defeat of the French was completed with the entry of Spain, which managed to take the Louisiana region from the French Colonial Empire. The British victory in this conflict ended up bringing about a major transformation in the American colonial scene. Initially, the British began to stiffen their relations with the North American colonists by imposing taxes and limiting the exploitation of conquered lands.
Furthermore, the agreement undertaken between the powerful nations involved in this conflict guaranteed to Russia and Prussia political control over some regions of the Old Continent. In contrast, the Austrian Empire lost its hegemonic position among the fragmented Germanic States with the Prussians as competitors. Among all the nations involved, France was severely affected by the handover of several colonial areas to the British.
With the end of the conflict, England emerged as the great victor, but the costs generated by the war weakened its economy. Thus, the British Crown decided to impose various taxes on North American colonists with the clear objective of indemnifying the economic damage caused by the war. However, this measure strained relations with the US colonists who, in a short time, then they fought for the end of British colonial domination, starting the Wars of Independence from the USA.
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By Rainer Sousa
Graduated in History
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
SOUSA, Rainer Gonçalves. "Seven Years War"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/guerras/guerra-dos-sete-anos.htm. Accessed on June 28, 2021.