Seven Years' War 1756-1763 battle. Generals of the Seven Years' War

The Seven Years' War was an all-European war between Prussia and England on one side and a coalition of France, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Russia, and Spain on the other. Ended with the Treaty of Paris and the Treaty of Hubertsburg. Lasted from 1756 to 1763. The battles of the war took place both on land - in Europe, India and North America, and in the oceans: the Atlantic and Indian.

Causes of the war

Unresolved issues of European politics by the previous war - For the Austrian inheritance of 1740-1748
Lack of freedom of navigation in the seas of the East Indies
The struggle for colonies between France and England
The emergence of a new serious rival on the European stage - Prussia
Prussian capture of Silesia
England's desire to protect its European possessions - Hanover
Russia's desire to dismember Prussia and annex its eastern region
Sweden's desire to gain Pomerania
Mercantile considerations of the parties: France and England hired allies for money

The main reason for the Seven Years' War was the struggle between England and France for primacy in Europe and, consequently, the world. France, by that time already considered a great power, thanks to the policies of Louis XIV, tried to retain this title, England, whose socio-political system was the most advanced at that time, tried to take it away. The remaining participants, taking advantage of the moment, resolved their narrow national-egoistic issues

« But instead of focusing against England, France began another continental war, this time with a new and unusual ally. The Empress of Austria, playing on the king's religious prejudices and the irritation of his favorite, who was offended by Frederick the Great's ridicule of her, drew France into an alliance with Austria against Prussia. Russia, Sweden and Poland subsequently joined this union. The Empress insisted that the two Roman Catholic powers should unite to wrest Silesia from the Protestant king and expressed her readiness to cede to France part of her possessions in the Netherlands, in accordance with her always desire.
Frederick the Great, having learned of this combination, instead of waiting for its development, moved his armies and invaded Saxony, the ruler of which was also the king of Poland. This march-maneuver began the Seven Years' War in October 1756." (A. T. Mahan “The Influence of Sea Power on History” )

Progress of the Seven Years' War

1748, April 30 - Treaty of Aachen, which crowned the War of Austrian Succession
1755, June 8 - Naval battle of the fleets of England and France at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River in Canada
1755, July-August - English warships began a privateering operation against French ships off the coast of Canada
1756, March 25 - Russian-Austrian Union Treaty
1756, April 17 - Blockade of the English island of Minorca in the Mediterranean Sea by the French army and navy
1756, May 1 - Treaty of Versailles between Austria and France
1756, May 17 - England declared war on France
1756, May 20 - Naval battle of the British and French off the island of Minorca
1756, June 20 - France declared war on England
1756, June 28 - Minorca came into possession of France
1756, October - The invasion of the Prussian army of Frederick the Great into Saxony, which belongs to Poland. Beginning of the Seven Years' War
1756, October 4 - Surrender of the Saxon army
1756, November - France conquered Corsica
1757, January 11 - Austro-Russian treaty on each side fielding an 80,000-strong army against Prussia
1757, February 2 - Treaty between Austria and Russia, according to which Russia received 1 million rubles annually for participation in the war
1757, April 25-June 7 - Frederick's unsuccessful campaign in Bohemia
1757, May 1 - Treaty of Versailles between France and Austria, according to which France agreed to pay Austria 12 million florins annually
1757, May - Russia enters the war. For the first time, Russia actively became a participant in European politics
1757 - Prussian troops are defeated by the Russian army at Groß-Jägersdorf
1757, October 25 - Defeat of the French at the Battle of Rosbach
1757, December - Russian offensive in East Prussia
1757, December 30 - Fall of Kenicksberg
1757, December - Prussia captured all of Silesia
1758, July - Siege of the Küstrin fortress, Clue to Brandenburg, by the Russian army
1758, August 1 - Victory of the Russian army in the Battle of Kunersdorf
1758, August 14 - Defeat of the Russian army near Zorndorf
1759, July - Victory of the Russian army at Palzig
1759, August 20 - Destruction of the French Toulon fleet by the English fleet
1759, November 20 - Destruction of the Brest Fleet of France by the English fleet
1760, March 12 - negotiations between Austria and Russia on the acquisition by Russia of the right bank of the Dnieper, which then belonged to Poland, and East Prussia
1760 September 8 - France lost Montreal, ending French control of Canada
1760 -September 28 - The Russian army entered Berlin
1760, February 12 - France lost the island of Martinique in the West Indies
1761, January 16 - Fall of the French fortress of Pondicherry in India
1761, August 15 - Treaty of Friendship between France and Spain with a secret protocol for Spain's entry into the Seven Years' War
1761, September 21 - Spain received a cargo of colonial American gold, allowing it to start a war with England
1761, December - The Russian army took the Prussian fortress of Kolberg (today the city of Kolobrzeg)
1761, December 25 - Death of the Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna
1762, January 4 - England declared war on Spain
1762, May 5 - The new Russian emperor concluded an alliance treaty with Frederick, which changed the balance of power in Europe
Peter III was an ardent admirer of Frederick. He not only renounced all conquests in Prussia, but also expressed a desire to help Frederick. Chernyshev's corps was ordered to unite with Frederick for joint offensive actions against Austria
1762, June 8 - Palace coup in Russia. Catherine II ascended the throne, the treaty with Prussia was terminated
1762, August 10 - Spain lost Cuba
1763, February 10 - Treaty of Paris between France and England
1763, February 15 - Treaty of Hubertusburg between Austria, Saxony and Prussia

Results of the Seven Years' War

France lost Canada with all its associated areas, i.e. the Ohio River Valley and the entire left bank of the Mississippi River, with the exception of New Orleans. In addition, she had to give Spain the right bank of the same river and pay a reward for Florida ceded to England by the Spaniards. France was forced to abandon Hindustan, retaining only five cities. Austria lost Silesia forever. Thus, the Seven Years' War in the west put an end to France's overseas possessions, ensured England's complete hegemony on the seas, and in the east marked the beginning of Prussian hegemony in Germany. This predetermined the future unification of Germany under the auspices of Prussia.

“Under the terms of the Peace of Paris, France renounced all claims to Canada, Nova Scotia and all the islands of the Gulf of St. Lawrence; Together with Canada, she ceded the Ohio Valley and all of her territory on the eastern bank of the Mississippi, with the exception of the city of New Orleans. At the same time, Spain, in exchange for Havana, which England returned to her, ceded Florida, by which name all her continental possessions east of the Mississippi were called. Thus, England acquired a colonial state that included Canada from Hudson Bay and all of the present United States east of the Mississippi. The possible benefits of possessing this vast area were only partly foreseen at that time, and at that time nothing predicted the indignation of the thirteen colonies. In the West Indies, England gave back important islands to France, Martinique and Guadeloupe. Four islands from the Lesser Antilles group, called neutral, were divided between two powers: Santa Lucia went to France, and St. Vincent, Tobago and Dominica to England, which also held Grenada. Minorca was returned to England, and since the return of this island to Spain was one of the conditions of its alliance with France, the latter, not being able to fulfill this condition now, ceded Louisiana to Spain, west of the Mississippi. In India, France recovered the possessions it had previously had, but lost the right to erect fortifications or maintain troops in Bengal and thus left the station at Chander Nagore defenseless. In short, France again gained the opportunity to trade in India, but practically abandoned its claims to political influence there. It was understood that the English company retained all its conquests. The right of fishing off the coast of Newfoundland and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which France had previously enjoyed, was reserved to it by treaty; but it was not given to Spain, which demanded it for its fishermen" ( Ibid.)

After the Thirty Years' War, the nature of confrontations between countries in the world began to change. Local conflicts gave way to wars of an international nature. For example, this was the Seven Years' War, which began in Europe in 1756. It was an attempt by the Prussian king Frederick II to extend his influence over most of the continent. Prussia’s aspirations were supported by England, and such a powerful “tandem” was opposed by a coalition of four states. These were Austria, Saxony, Sweden, France, supported by Russia.

The war lasted until 1763, ending with the signing of a series of peace treaties that influenced the political development of the countries.

Reason and reasons for the war

The official reason for the war was the dissatisfaction of many countries with the results of the redistribution of the “Austrian heritage”. This process lasted eight years - from 1740 to 1748, leaving the states of Europe dissatisfied with the new territorial acquisitions. The political and economic situation of that time had a significant influence on the formation of contradictions between England and France, Austria and Prussia. So by the end of the 1750s. Two groups of reasons formed that provoked the beginning of the Seven Years' War:

England and France could not divide their colonial possessions among themselves. Countries constantly competed with each other on this issue, and not only at the political level. There were also armed clashes that claimed the lives of the population in the colonies and soldiers of both armies.
Austria and Prussia argued over Silesia, which was Austria's most developed industrial region, taken from it as a result of the conflict of 1740-1748.

Participants in the confrontation

Prussia, which fueled the fire of war, concluded a coalition agreement with England. This group was opposed by Austria, France, Saxony, Sweden and Russia, which provided significant support to the coalition. Neutrality was occupied by Holland, which participated in the War of the Austrian Succession.

Main fronts of the war

Historians identify three directions in which the enemy’s military actions took place. Firstly, this is the Asian front, where events unfolded in India. Secondly, this is the North American front, where the interests of France and England collided. Thirdly, the European front, on which many military battles took place.

Start of hostilities

Frederick II had been preparing for war for several years. First of all, he increased the number of his own troops and carried out a complete reorganization. As a result, the king received a modern and combat-ready army for that time, whose soldiers made a number of successful conquests. In particular, Silesia was taken away from Austria, which provoked a conflict between the participants of the two coalitions. The ruler of Austria, Maria Theresa, wanted to return the region, so she turned to France, Sweden and Russia for help. The Prussian army could not withstand such a united army, which became the reason for the search for allies. Only England was able to resist both Russia and France at the same time. For its “services” the British government wanted to secure possessions on the mainland.

Prussia was the first to begin hostilities, attacking Saxony, which was strategically important for Frederick the Second:

A springboard for further advance into Austria.
Providing constant supplies of food and water for the Prussian army.
Using the material and economic potential of Saxony to the benefit of Prussia.

Austria tried to repel the attack of the Prussian army, but everything was unsuccessful. No one could stand against Frederick's soldiers. Maria Theresa's army turned out to be unable to hold back Prussia's attacks, so it kept losing in local skirmishes.

Within a short time, Frederick II managed to capture Moravia and Bohemia, briefly entering Prague. The Austrian army began to fight back only in the summer of 1757, when the Austrian military commander Daun, using his entire military reserve, ordered constant shelling of the Prussian army. The consequence of such actions was the surrender of the troops of Frederick the Second and his gradual retreat to the city of Nimburg. In order to preserve the remnants of his army, the king ordered the obligation of Prague to be removed and to return to the border of his own state.

European front 1758-1763: main events and battles

An allied army of almost 300 thousand people opposed the army of the Prussian king. Therefore, Frederick II decided to divide the coalition that fought against her. First, the French, who were in the principalities neighboring Austria, were defeated. This allowed Prussia to invade Silesia again.

Strategically, Frederick II was several steps ahead of his enemies. He managed to bring chaos into the ranks of the army of the French, Lorraine and Austrians with deceptive attacks. Thanks to a well-planned operation, Silesia came under Prussian rule in the second.

In the summer of 1757, Russian troops began to actively take part in the war, trying to capture the eastern regions of the Prussian state through Lithuania. By August of the same year, it became clear that Frederick the Second would lose the battle for Königsberg and East Prussia. But Russian General Apraksin refused to continue military operations, citing the fact that the army was at a disadvantage. As a result of a successful campaign, the Russian army retained only the port of Memel, where the base of the fleet of the Russian Empire was located for the entire period of the war.

During 1758-1763 Many battles took place, the main ones being:

1758 - East Prussia and Königsberg are retaken from the Russians, the decisive battle took place near the village of Zorndorf.
The battle near the village of Kunersdorf, where a major battle between the Prussian army and the united Russian-Astrian army took place. After the battle, only three thousand soldiers remained from the 48 thousand army of Frederick the Second, with whom the king was forced to retreat across the Oder River. Another part of the Prussian military personnel were scattered across neighboring settlements. It took the king and his commanders several days to get them back into action. The allies did not pursue the army of Frederick II, since the casualties were tens of thousands, many soldiers were wounded and went missing. After the Battle of Kunersdorf, Russian troops redeployed to Silesia, which helped the Austrians drive out the Prussian army.
In 1760-1761 There were practically no military operations; the nature of the war can be described as inactive. Even the fact that Russian troops temporarily occupied Berlin in 1760, but then surrendered it without a fight, did not intensify military operations. The city was returned back to Prussia because it was of strategic importance.
In 1762, Peter the Third ascended to the Russian throne and replaced Elizaveta Petrovna. This radically affected the further course of the war. The Russian emperor worshiped the military genius of Frederick the Second, so he signed a peace treaty with him. At this time, England destroyed the French fleet, taking it out of the war. Peter the Third was killed in July 1762 on the orders of his wife, after which Russia returned to the war again, but did not continue it. Catherine the Second did not want to allow Austria to strengthen in Central Europe.
February 1763 The Austro-Prussian peace treaty was signed.

North American and Asian fronts

In North America, confrontations took place between England and France, which could not divide the spheres of influence in Canada. The French did not want to lose their possessions in this part of the North American continent, so they in every possible way strained relations with the British. Numerous Indian tribes who tried to survive in the undeclared war were also drawn into the confrontation.

The battle that finally put everything in its place took place in 1759 near Quebec. After this, the French finally lost their colonies in North America.

A clash of interests between the two countries also occurred in Asia, where Bengal rebelled against the British. This happened in 1757, at the very beginning of the Seven Years' War. France, to which Bengal was subject, declared neutrality. But this did not stop the British; they began to attack French outposts more and more often.

The war on several fronts and the lack of a strong army in Asia led to the fact that the government of this country was unable to adequately organize the defense of its Asian possessions. The British hastened to take advantage of this by landing their troops on the island of Martinique. It was the center of French trade in the West Indies, and as a result of the Seven Years' War, Martinique was ceded to Britain.

The results of the confrontation between England and France were enshrined in a peace treaty, which was signed in early February 1762 in Paris.

Results of the war

In fact, the war stopped in 1760, but local confrontations continued for almost three more years. Peace treaties between the countries were signed in 1762 and 1763, on their basis the system of relations in Europe was then created after the Seven Years' War. The results of this conflict changed, once again, changed the political map of Europe, slightly adjusting the borders and reformatting the balance of power in the second half of the 18th century. in international relations.

The main consequences of the war include:

The redistribution of colonial possessions in Europe, which caused a redistribution of spheres of influence between England and France.
England became the largest colonial empire in Europe, thanks to the displacement of France from Northern Europe and Europe.
France in Europe lost many territories, which caused a weakening of the state's position in Europe.
In France, during the Seven Years' War, the prerequisites for the start of the revolution gradually took shape, which began in 1848.
Prussia formalized its claims to Austria in the form of a peace treaty, under the terms of which Silesia, like neighboring territories, came under the rule of Frederick the Second.
Territorial contradictions in Central Europe have intensified.
Russia has gained invaluable experience in conducting military operations in Europe against the leading states of the continent.
A galaxy of outstanding commanders was formed in Europe, who then began to bring victories to their states.
Russia did not receive any territorial gains, but its position in Europe became stronger and stronger.
A large number of people died. According to average estimates, about two million military personnel could have died in the Seven Years' War.
In the British colonies in North America, taxes were increased several times to pay for military expenses. This caused resistance from the colonists, who in Canada and the North American states tried to develop industry, build roads, and invest money in the economy of the colonies. As a result, the preconditions began to take shape for the struggle against British rule on the continent.
The Asian colonies of France became the property of the British monarchy.

The victory of Prussia in the Seven Years' War could not have been predicted by the talented commanders of that time. Yes, Frederick II was a brilliant strategist and tactician, but his army was on the verge of complete defeat many times. Historians believe that a number of factors prevented the final defeat of the Prussian army:

The allied coalition created against Prussia was not effective. Each country defended its own interests, which prevented it from uniting at the right moment and acting as a single force against the enemy.
Strong Prussia was a beneficial ally for Russia, England, and France, so the states agreed to the seizure of Silesia and Austria.

Thanks to this, the consequences of the Seven Years' War had a serious impact on the situation in Europe. A strong Prussian state arose in the central part of the continent, with centralized power. Thus, Frederick the Second managed to overcome the separatism of individual principalities, get rid of fragmentation within the country, focusing on the unity of the German lands. Prussia subsequently became the central core of the formation of a state such as Germany.

He significantly expanded the borders of his state. Prussia, which by the beginning of the war of 1740-1748 had the third army in Europe in terms of numbers and the first in training, could now create powerful competition for the Austrians in the rivalry for supremacy over Germany. The Austrian Empress Maria Theresa did not want to come to terms with the loss of Silesia. Her hostility towards Frederick II was intensified by the religious difference between Catholic Austria and Protestant Prussia.

Frederick II the Great of Prussia - the main hero of the Seven Years' War

Prussian-Austrian enmity was the main cause of the Seven Years' War, but the colonial conflicts of England and France were also added to it. In the middle of the 18th century, the question of which of these two powers would dominate North America and India was being decided. The confusion of European relations led to the "diplomatic revolution" of the 1750s. Two centuries of enmity between the Austrian Habsburgs and the French Bourbons was overcome in the name of common goals. Instead of the Anglo-Austrian and Franco-Prussian alliances that fought each other during the War of the Austrian Succession, new coalitions were formed: the Franco-Austrian and Anglo-Prussian.

Russia's position on the eve of the Seven Years' War was also difficult. At the St. Petersburg court, supporters of both Austria and Prussia had influence. In the end, the former prevailed; Empress Elizabeth Petrovna moved her troops to support the Habsburgs and France. However, the authority of the “Prussophiles” continued to remain strong. Russian participation in the Seven Years' War was marked from beginning to end by indecision and hesitation between the two European factions.

The course of the Seven Years' War - briefly

The alliance of Austria, France and Russia against Prussia was concluded in great secrecy, but Frederick II managed to find out about it. He decided to be the first to attack the not fully prepared allies in order to prevent them from uniting. The Seven Years' War began with the Prussian invasion of Saxony on August 29, 1756, whose elector sided with Frederick's enemies. The Saxon army (7 thousand soldiers) was blocked in Pirna (on the Bohemian border) and forced to surrender. The Austrian commander Brown tried to save the Saxons, but after the battle on October 1, 1756 near Lobositz, the Prussians forced him to retreat. Frederick captured Saxony.

The Seven Years' War continued in 1757. By the beginning of this year, the Austrians had gathered large forces. Three French armies moved against Frederick from the west - d'Estrée, Richelieu and Soubise, from the east - the Russians, from the north - the Swedes. The German Diet declared Prussia a violator of the peace. But the English army arrived in Westphalia to help Frederick. The British thought to shackle the French with Prussian hands in Europe, in the meantime, to decisively push them out in the American and Indian colonies, England had enormous naval and financial power, but its land army was weak, and it was commanded by the incapable son of King George II, the Duke of Cumberland.

In the spring of 1757, Frederick moved to Bohemia (Czech Republic) and on May 6, 1757 inflicted a heavy defeat on the Austrians near Prague, capturing up to 12 thousand soldiers. He locked another 40 thousand soldiers in Prague, and they almost repeated the fate of the Saxons in Pirna. But the Austrian commander-in-chief Daun rescued his troops by moving towards Prague. Frederick the Great, who thought to stop him, was repulsed with great damage on June 18 in the battle of Collin and thrown back from the Czech Republic.

Seven Years' War. Life Guards battalion at the Battle of Collin, 1757. Artist R. Knötel

In the Western theater of the Seven Years' War, the three commanders of the French armies intrigued against each other: each of them wanted to lead the war alone. Accustomed to luxury, the French officers looked at the campaign as if it were a picnic. They went to Paris every now and then, bringing crowds of servants with them, and their soldiers needed everything and died in droves from disease. On July 26, 1757, d'Estré defeated the Duke of Cumberland near Hamelin. The Hanoverian aristocrats, thinking only about their own benefits, concluded a capitulation that gave all of Hanover to the French. The Duke of Cumberland also wanted to approve it, but the English government Pitt the Elder prevented this. It succeeded in removing the Duke from command and replacing him (on the advice of Frederick the Great) with the German prince Ferdinand of Brunswick.

Another French army (Soubise), joining with the Austrians, entered Saxony. Frederick the Great had only 25 thousand troops here - half as many as the enemy. But when he attacked enemies near the village of Rosbach on November 5, 1757, they fled in panic even before the entire Prussian army entered the battle. From Rosbach, Frederick went to Silesia. On December 5, 1757, he inflicted a severe defeat on the Austrians near Leuthen, throwing them back to the Czech Republic. On December 20, the 20,000-strong Austrian garrison of Breslau surrendered - and all of Europe froze in surprise at the exploits of the Prussian king. His actions in the Seven Years' War were warmly admired even in France.

Prussian infantry attack at the Battle of Leuthen, 1757. Artist Karl Röchling

Even before this, Apraksin’s large Russian army entered East Prussia. On August 30, 1757, it inflicted defeat on the old Prussian field marshal Lewald at Gross-Jägersdorf and thereby opened the way beyond the Oder. However, instead of further moving forward, Apraksin unexpectedly went back to the Russian border. This act of his was associated with the dangerous illness of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Apraksin either did not want to quarrel with Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich, a passionate Prussophile, who was supposed to inherit the Russian throne after Elizabeth, or he intended, together with Chancellor Bestuzhev, with the help of his army, to force the unbalanced Peter to abdicate in favor of his son. But Elizaveta Petrovna, who was already dying, recovered, and the Russian campaign against Prussia soon resumed.

Stepan Apraksin, one of the four Russian commanders in chief in the Seven Years' War

Pitt's English government continued the Seven Years' War with energy, increasing financial support for the Prussians. Frederick the Great cruelly exploited Saxony and Mecklenburg, which he occupied. In the western theater of the Seven Years' War, Ferdinand of Brunswick in 1758 pushed the French all the way to the Rhine and defeated them at Krefeld, already on the left bank of the river. But the new, more capable French commander-in-chief, Marshal Contade, again invaded the Rhine and in the fall of 1758 passed through Westphalia to the Lippe River.

In the eastern theater of the Seven Years' War, the Russians, led by Saltykov after the removal of Apraksin, moved from East Prussia to Brandenburg and Pomerania. Frederick the Great himself unsuccessfully besieged Moravian Olmutz in 1758, and then moved to Brandenburg and on August 25, 1758 gave the Russian army the Battle of Zorndorf. Its outcome was indecisive, but after this battle the Russians chose to retreat from Brandenburg, so it was recognized that they were defeated. Frederick rushed to Saxony, against the Austrians. On October 14, 1758, the rising star of the Austrian army, General Laudon, thanks to a surprise attack, defeated the king at Hochkirch. However, by the end of the year, Frederick's generals drove the Austrians out of Saxony.

Frederick the Great at the Battle of Zorndorf. Artist Karl Roechling

At the beginning of the 1759 campaign, Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick suffered great damage in the western theater of the Seven Years' War from the French general Broglie in the battle of Bergen (April 13), near Frankfurt am Main. In the summer of 1759, the French commander-in-chief Contad advanced deep into Germany to the Weser, but then Prince Ferdinand defeated him in the battle of Prussian Minden and forced him to retreat beyond the Rhine and Main. Ferdinand, however, was unable to develop his success: he had to send 12 thousand soldiers to King Frederick, whose position in the east was very bad.

The Russian commander Saltykov led the 1759 campaign very slowly and only reached the Oder in July. On July 23, 1759, he defeated the Prussian general Wedel at Züllichau and Kaei. This defeat could have been disastrous for Prussia and ended the Seven Years' War. But Saltykov, fearing the imminent death of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and the rise to power of the “Prussophile” Peter III, continued to hesitate. On August 7, he united with the Austrian corps of Laudon, and on August 12, 1759 he joined Frederick II himself in the Battle of Kunersdorf. In this battle, the Prussian king suffered such a defeat that after it he already considered the war lost and thought about suicide. Laudon wanted to go to Berlin, but Saltykov did not trust the Austrians and did not want to assist them in acquiring unconditional hegemony over Germany. Until the end of August, the Russian commander stood motionless in Frankfurt, citing heavy losses, and in October he returned to Poland. This saved Frederick the Great from inevitable defeat.

Pyotr Saltykov, one of the four Russian commanders-in-chief in the Seven Years' War

Frederick began the campaign of 1760 in the most desperate situation. On June 28, 1760, the Prussian general Fouquet was defeated by Laudon at Landsgut. However, on August 15, 1760, Frederick the Great, in turn, defeated Laudon at Liegnitz. Saltykov, who continued to avoid any decisive undertakings, took advantage of this failure of the Austrians to retreat beyond the Oder. The Austrians launched Lassi's corps on a short raid on Berlin. Saltykov sent Chernyshov’s detachment to reinforce him only after a strict order from St. Petersburg. On October 9, 1760, the united Russian-Austrian corps entered Berlin, stayed there for four days and took an indemnity from the city.

Frederick the Great, meanwhile, continued the struggle in Saxony. On November 3, here, at the Torgau fortress, the bloodiest battle of the Seven Years' War took place. The Prussians won a brilliant victory in it, but most of Saxony and part of Silesia remained in the hands of their opponents. The alliance against Prussia was replenished: Spain, controlled by a subsidiary branch of the French Bourbons, joined it.

But soon the Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna died (1761), and her successor, Peter III, an enthusiastic admirer of Frederick II, not only abandoned all the conquests made by the Russian armies, but even expressed his intention to go over to the side of Prussia in the Seven Years' War. The latter did not happen only because Peter III was deprived of the throne by his wife Catherine II after the coup on June 28, 1762. She withdrew from any participation in the Seven Years' War, Russia withdrew from it. The Swedes also lagged behind the coalition. Frederick II could now direct all his efforts against Austria, which was inclined towards peace, especially since France fought so ineptly that it seemed to have completely outlived its former military glory of the era of Louis XIV.

The Seven Years' War on the European continent was accompanied by colonial struggle in America and India.

Results of the Seven Years' War - briefly

The results of the Seven Years' War determined the Paris and Hubertsburg peace treaties of 1763.

The Peace of Paris of 1763 put an end to the naval and colonial struggle between France and England. England seized an entire empire in North America from the French: Southern and Eastern Canada, the Ohio River Valley and the entire left bank of the Mississippi. The British received Florida from Spain. Before the Seven Years' War, the entire south of India was subject to French influence. Now it was completely lost there, soon to pass to the British.

Results of the Seven Years' War in North America. Map. Red indicates British possessions before 1763, pink indicates the annexation of the British following the Seven Years' War.

The Treaty of Hubertsburg of 1763 between Prussia and Austria summed up the results of the Seven Years' War on the continent. In Europe, the previous borders have been restored almost everywhere. Russia and Austria failed to return Prussia to the position of a minor power. However, Frederick the Great’s plans for new seizures and weakening the power of the Habsburg emperors of Germany to the benefit of the Prussians did not come true.

Kingdom of Naples
Sardinian Kingdom Commanders

Frederick II

F. W. Seydlitz
George II
George III
Robert Clive
Ferdinand of Brunswick Earl of Down
Count Lassi
Prince of Lorraine
Ernst Gideon Loudon
Louis XV
Louis-Joseph de Montcalm
Empress Elizabeth
P. S. Saltykov
Charles III
August III Strengths of the parties

1756 - 250 000 soldier: Prussia 200,000, Hanover 50,000
1759 - 220 000 Prussian soldiers
1760 - 120 000 Prussian soldiers

1756 - 419 000 soldier: Russian Empire 100,000 soldiers
1759 - 391 000 soldiers: France 125,000, Holy Roman Empire 45,000, Austria 155,000, Sweden 16,000, Russian Empire 50,000
1760 - 220 000 soldier

Losses see below see below

The main confrontation in Europe was between Austria and Prussia over Silesia, which Austria had lost in the previous Silesian Wars. That's why the Seven Years' War is also called third Silesian war. The First (-) and Second (-) Silesian Wars are part of the War of the Austrian Succession. In Swedish historiography the war is known as Pomeranian War(Swede. Pommerska kriget), in Canada - like "War of Conquest"(English) The War of the Conquest) and in India as "Third Karnatic War"(English) The Third Carnatic War). The North American Theater of War is called French and Indian War.

The designation “Seven Years’ War” was given in the eighties of the eighteenth century; before that it was referred to as a “recent war.”

Causes of the war

Opposing coalitions in Europe in 1756

The first shots of the Seven Years' War rang out long before its official announcement, and not in Europe, but overseas. In - gg. Anglo-French colonial rivalry in North America led to border skirmishes between English and French colonists. By the summer of 1755, the clashes resulted in an open armed conflict, in which both allied Indians and regular military units began to participate (see French and Indian War). In 1756, Great Britain officially declared war on France.

"Reversing Alliances"

This conflict disrupted the established system of military-political alliances in Europe and caused a foreign policy reorientation of a number of European powers, known as the “reversal of alliances.” The traditional rivalry between Austria and France for hegemony on the continent was weakened by the emergence of a third power: Prussia, after Frederick II came to power in 1740, began to claim a leading role in European politics. Having won the Silesian Wars, Frederick took Silesia, one of the richest Austrian provinces, from Austria, as a result increasing the territory of Prussia from 118.9 thousand to 194.8 thousand square kilometers, and the population from 2,240,000 to 5,430,000 people. It is clear that Austria could not easily accept the loss of Silesia.

Having started a war with France, Great Britain entered into a treaty of alliance with Prussia in January 1756, thereby wanting to protect Hanover, the hereditary possession of the English king on the continent, from the threat of a French attack. Frederick, considering a war with Austria inevitable and realizing the limitations of his resources, relied on “English gold”, as well as on the traditional influence of England on Russia, hoping to keep Russia from participating in the upcoming war and thereby avoid a war on two fronts . Having overestimated England's influence on Russia, he, at the same time, clearly underestimated the indignation caused by his agreement with the British in France. As a result, Frederick will have to fight a coalition of the three strongest continental powers and their allies, which he dubbed the “union of three women” (Maria Theresa, Elizabeth and Madame Pompadour). However, behind the jokes of the Prussian king in relation to his opponents lies a lack of confidence in his own strength: the forces in the war on the continent are too unequal, England, which does not have a strong land army, except for subsidies, can do little to help him.

The conclusion of the Anglo-Prussian alliance pushed Austria, thirsting for revenge, to move closer to its old enemy - France, for which Prussia also became an enemy from now on (France, which supported Frederick in the first Silesian wars and saw in Prussia only an obedient instrument for crushing Austrian power, was able to make sure that Friedrich did not even think about taking into account the role assigned to him). The author of the new foreign policy course was the famous Austrian diplomat of that time, Count Kaunitz. A defensive alliance was signed between France and Austria at Versailles, to which Russia joined at the end of 1756.

In Russia, the strengthening of Prussia was perceived as a real threat to its western borders and interests in the Baltic states and northern Europe. Close ties with Austria, a treaty of union with which was signed back in 1746, also influenced Russia’s position in the brewing European conflict. Traditionally close ties also existed with England. It is curious that, having broken diplomatic relations with Prussia long before the start of the war, Russia, nevertheless, did not break diplomatic relations with England throughout the war.

None of the countries participating in the coalition was interested in the complete destruction of Prussia, hoping to use it in the future for their own interests, but all were interested in weakening Prussia, in returning it to the borders that existed before the Silesian Wars. That. The coalition participants fought for the restoration of the old system of political relations on the continent, disrupted by the results of the War of the Austrian Succession. Having united against a common enemy, the participants in the anti-Prussian coalition did not even think of forgetting about their traditional differences. Disagreement in the enemy’s camp, caused by conflicting interests and having a detrimental effect on the conduct of the war, was, in the end, one of the main reasons that allowed Prussia to resist the confrontation.

Until the end of 1757, when the successes of the newly-minted David in the fight against the “Goliath” of the anti-Prussian coalition created a club of admirers for the king in Germany and beyond, it did not occur to anyone in Europe to seriously consider Frederick “the Great”: at that time, most Europeans saw He is an impudent upstart who is long overdue for being put in his place. To achieve this goal, the Allies fielded a huge army of 419,000 soldiers against Prussia. Frederick II had at his disposal only 200,000 soldiers plus 50,000 defenders of Hanover, hired with English money.

Characters

Russian autocrat Elizaveta Petrovna

Austrian Empress Maria Theresa

Prussian King Frederick II

Louis XV, King of France

George II, King of England

European theater of war

Eastern European Theater of Operations Seven Years' War
Lobositz – Reichenberg – Prague – Kolin – Hastenbeck – Gross-Jägersdorf – Berlin (1757) – Moys – Rosbach – Breslau – Leuthen – Olmütz – Krefeld – Domstadl – Küstrin – Zorndorf – Tarmow – Loutherberg (1758) – Fehrbellin – Hochkirch – Bergen – Palzig – Minden – Kunersdorf – Hoyerswerda – Maxen – Meissen – Landeshut – Emsdorf – Warburg – Liegnitz – Klosterkampen – Berlin (1760) – Torgau – Fehlinghausen – Kolberg – Wilhelmsthal – Burkersdorf – Lutherberg (1762) – Reichenbach – Freiberg

1756: attack on Saxony

Military operations in Europe in 1756

Without waiting for Prussia's opponents to deploy their forces, Frederick II was the first to begin military operations on August 28, 1756, suddenly invading Saxony, allied with Austria, and occupying it. On September 1, 1756, Elizaveta Petrovna declared war on Prussia. On September 9, the Prussians surrounded the Saxon army encamped near Pirna. On October 1, going to the rescue of the Saxons, the 33.5 thousand army of the Austrian Field Marshal Brown was defeated at Lobositz. Finding itself in a hopeless situation, the eighteen-thousand-strong army of Saxony capitulated on October 16. Captured, the Saxon soldiers were forced into the Prussian army. Later they would “thank” Frederick by running over to the enemy in entire battalions.

Seven Years' War in Europe

Saxony, which had armed forces the size of an average army corps and, moreover, was bound by eternal troubles in Poland (the Saxon elector was also the Polish king), did not, of course, pose any military threat to Prussia. The aggression against Saxony was caused by Frederick's intentions:

use Saxony as a convenient base of operations for the invasion of Austrian Bohemia and Moravia, the supply of Prussian troops here could be organized by waterways along the Elbe and Oder, while the Austrians would have to use inconvenient mountain roads;
transfer the war to the territory of the enemy, thus forcing him to pay for it and, finally,
use the human and material resources of prosperous Saxony for their own strengthening. Subsequently, he carried out his plan to rob this country so successfully that some Saxons still dislike the inhabitants of Berlin and Brandenburg.

Despite this, in German (not Austrian!) historiography it is still customary to consider the war, on the part of Prussia, to be a defensive war. The reasoning is that the war would still have been started by Austria and its allies, regardless of whether Frederick attacked Saxony or not. Opponents of this point of view object: the war began, not least because of the Prussian conquests, and its first act was aggression against a defenseless neighbor.

1757: Battles of Kolin, Rosbach and Leuthen, Russia begins hostilities

Bohemia, Silesia

Operations in Saxony and Silesia in 1757

Having strengthened himself by absorbing Saxony, Frederick, at the same time, achieved the opposite effect, spurring his opponents to active offensive actions. Now he had no choice but, to use a German expression, “running forward” (German. Flucht nach vorne). Counting on the fact that France and Russia will not be able to enter the war before the summer, Frederick intends to defeat Austria before that time. Early in 1757, the Prussian army, moving in four columns, entered Austrian territory in Bohemia. The Austrian army under the command of the Prince of Lorraine numbered 60,000 soldiers. On May 6, the Prussians defeated the Austrians and blocked them in Prague. Having taken Prague, Frederick plans to march on Vienna without delay. However, the blitzkrieg plans were dealt a blow: a 54,000-strong Austrian army under the command of Field Marshal L. Down came to the aid of the besieged. On June 18, 1757, in the vicinity of the city of Kolin, a 34,000-strong Prussian army entered into battle with the Austrians. Frederick II lost this battle, losing 14,000 men and 45 guns. The heavy defeat not only destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the Prussian commander, but also, more importantly, forced Frederick II to lift the blockade of Prague and hastily retreat to Saxony. Soon, the threat that arose in Thuringia from the French and the Imperial Army (“the Tsars”) forced him to leave there with the main forces. Having from this moment on a significant numerical superiority, the Austrians win a series of victories over Frederick's generals (at Moise on September 7, at Breslau on November 22), and the key Silesian fortresses of Schweidnitz (now Świdnica, Poland) and Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland) are in their hands. In October 1757, the Austrian general Hadik managed to briefly capture the capital of Prussia, the city of Berlin, with a sudden raid of a flying detachment. Having warded off the threat from the French and the "Caesars", Frederick II transferred an army of forty thousand to Silesia and on December 5 won a decisive victory over the Austrian army at Leuthen. As a result of this victory, the situation that existed at the beginning of the year was restored. Thus, the result of the campaign was a “combat draw.”

Central Germany

1758: The battles of Zorndorf and Hochkirch do not bring decisive success to either side

The new commander-in-chief of the Russians was Chief General Willim Fermor, famous for the capture of Memel in the previous campaign. At the beginning of 1758, he occupied, without meeting resistance, all of East Prussia, including its capital, the city of Königsberg, then heading towards Brandenburg. In August he besieged Küstrin, a key fortress on the road to Berlin. Frederick immediately moved towards him. The battle took place on August 14 near the village of Zorndorf and was notable for its stunning bloodshed. The Russians had 42,000 soldiers in the army with 240 guns, and Frederick had 33,000 soldiers with 116 guns. The battle revealed several big problems in the Russian army - insufficient interaction of individual units, poor moral training of the observation corps (the so-called “Shuvalovites”), and finally called into question the competence of the commander-in-chief himself. At a critical moment in the battle, Fermor left the army, did not direct the course of the battle for some time, and appeared only towards the denouement. Clausewitz later called the Battle of Zorndorf the strangest battle of the Seven Years' War, meaning its chaotic, unpredictable course. Having started “according to the rules,” it eventually resulted in a great massacre, breaking up into many separate battles, in which the Russian soldiers showed unsurpassed tenacity; according to Friedrich, it was not enough to kill them, they also had to be knocked down. Both sides fought until exhaustion and suffered huge losses. The Russian army lost 16,000 people, the Prussians 11,000. The opponents spent the night on the battlefield, the next day Fermor was the first to withdraw his troops, thereby giving Frederick a reason to attribute the victory to himself. However, he did not dare to pursue the Russians. Russian troops retreated to the Vistula. General Palmbach, sent by Fermor to besiege Kolberg, stood for a long time under the walls of the fortress without accomplishing anything.

On October 14, the Austrians operating in South Saxony managed to defeat Frederick at Hochkirch, however, without any special consequences. Having won the battle, the Austrian commander Daun led his troops back to Bohemia.

The war with the French was more successful for the Prussians; they beat them three times in a year: at Rheinberg, at Krefeld and at Mer. In general, although the campaign of 1758 ended more or less successfully for the Prussians, it further weakened the Prussian troops, who suffered significant, irreplaceable losses for Frederick during the three years of the war: from 1756 to 1758 he lost, not counting those captured, 43 the general was killed or died from wounds received in battle, among them, his best military leaders, such as Keith, Winterfeld, Schwerin, Moritz von Dessau and others.

1759: Defeat of the Prussians at Kunersdorf, “miracle of the House of Brandenburg”

On May 8 (19), 1759, Chief General P. S. Saltykov was unexpectedly appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian army, concentrated at that time in Poznan, instead of V. V. Fermor. (The reasons for Fermor’s resignation are not entirely clear; however, it is known that the St. Petersburg Conference repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with Fermor’s reports, their irregularity and confusion; Fermor could not account for spending significant sums on the maintenance of the army. Perhaps the decision to resign was influenced by the indecisive the outcome of the battle of Zorndorf and the unsuccessful sieges of Küstrin and Kolberg). On July 7, 1759, a forty-thousand-strong Russian army marched west to the Oder River, in the direction of the city of Krosen, intending to link up with Austrian troops there. The debut of the new commander-in-chief was successful: on July 23, in the battle of Palzig (Kai), he completely defeated the twenty-eight thousandth corps of the Prussian General Wedel. On August 3, 1759, the allies met in the city of Frankfurt an der Oder, which had been occupied by Russian troops three days before.

At this time, the Prussian king with an army of 48,000 people, possessing 200 guns, was moving towards the enemy from the south. On August 10, he crossed to the right bank of the Oder River and took a position east of the village of Kunersdorf. On August 12, 1759, the famous battle of the Seven Years' War took place - the Battle of Kunersdorf. Frederick was completely defeated; out of an army of 48 thousand, by his own admission, he did not have even 3 thousand soldiers left. “To tell the truth,” he wrote to his minister after the battle, “I believe that everything is lost. I will not survive the death of my Fatherland. Goodbye forever." After the victory at Kunersdorf, the Allies could only deliver the final blow, take Berlin, the road to which was clear, and thereby force Prussia to capitulate, however, disagreements in their camp did not allow them to use the victory and end the war. Instead of advancing to Berlin, they withdrew their troops away, accusing each other of violating allied obligations. Frederick himself called his unexpected salvation “the miracle of the House of Brandenburg.” Frederick escaped, but setbacks continued to haunt him until the end of the year: on November 20, the Austrians, together with imperial troops, managed to encircle and force the 15,000-strong corps of the Prussian General Finck to surrender without a fight at Maxen.

The severe defeats of 1759 prompted Frederick to turn to England with the initiative to convene a peace congress. The British supported it all the more willingly because they, for their part, considered the main goals in this war to be achieved. On November 25, 1759, 5 days after Maxen, representatives of Russia, Austria and France were sent an invitation to a peace congress in Rysvik. France signaled its participation, however, the matter ended in nothing due to the irreconcilable position taken by Russia and Austria, who hoped to use the victories of 1759 to deal the final blow to Prussia in the next year's campaign.

Nicholas Pocock. "Battle of the Gulf of Quiberon" (1812)

Meanwhile, England defeated the French fleet at sea in the Gulf of Quiberon.

1760: Frederick's Pyrrhic victory at Torgau

The war thus continued. In 1760, Frederick had difficulty raising the size of his army to 120,000 soldiers. The Franco-Austro-Russian troops by this time numbered up to 220,000 soldiers. However, as in previous years, the Allies' numerical superiority was negated by the lack of a unified plan and inconsistency in actions. The Prussian king, trying to impede the actions of the Austrians in Silesia, on August 1, 1760, transported his thirty thousand army across the Elbe and, with passive pursuit of the Austrians, arrived in the Liegnitz area by August 7. Misleading the stronger enemy (Field Marshal Daun had about 90,000 soldiers by this time), Frederick II first actively maneuvered and then decided to break through to Breslau. While Frederick and Daun were mutually exhausting the troops with their marches and countermarches, the Austrian corps of General Laudon on August 15 in the Liegnitz area suddenly collided with Prussian troops. Frederick II unexpectedly attacked and defeated Laudon's corps. The Austrians lost up to 10,000 killed and 6,000 captured. Frederick, who lost about 2,000 people killed and wounded in this battle, managed to escape from the encirclement.

Having barely escaped encirclement, the Prussian king almost lost his own capital. On October 3 (September 22), 1760, Major General Totleben’s detachment stormed Berlin. The assault was repulsed and Totleben had to retreat to Köpenick, where he waited for the corps of Lieutenant General Z. G. Chernyshev (reinforced by Panin’s 8,000-strong corps) and the Austrian corps of General Lassi, appointed as reinforcements. On the evening of October 8, at a military council in Berlin, due to the overwhelming numerical superiority of the enemy, a decision was made to retreat, and that same night the Prussian troops defending the city left for Spandau, leaving a garrison in the city as an “object” of surrender. The garrison brings surrender to Totleben, as the general who first besieged Berlin. Panin's corps and Krasnoshchekov's Cossacks take over the pursuit of the enemy; they manage to defeat the Prussian rearguard and capture more than a thousand prisoners. On the morning of October 9, 1760, Totleben's Russian detachment and the Austrians (the latter in violation of the terms of surrender) entered Berlin. In the city, guns and rifles were captured, gunpowder and weapons warehouses were blown up. An indemnity was imposed on the population. Upon news of the approach of Frederick with the main forces of the Prussians, the allies, by order of the command, leave the capital of Prussia.

Having received news on the way that the Russians had abandoned Berlin, Frederick turned to Saxony. While he was conducting military operations in Silesia, the Imperial Army (“the Tsars”) managed to oust the weak Prussian forces left in Saxony to screen, Saxony was lost to Frederick. He cannot allow this in any way: he desperately needs the human and material resources of Saxony to continue the war. On November 3, 1760, the last major battle of the Seven Years' War took place near Torgau. He is distinguished by incredible fierceness, victory leans first to one side, then to the other several times during the day. The Austrian commander Daun manages to send a messenger to Vienna with the news of the defeat of the Prussians, and only by 9 pm it becomes clear that he was in a hurry. Frederick emerges victorious, however, it is a Pyrrhic victory: in one day he loses 40% of his army. He is no longer able to make up for such losses; in the last period of the war he is forced to abandon offensive actions and give the initiative to his opponents in the hope that, due to their indecision and slowness, they will not be able to take advantage of it properly.

In the secondary theaters of war, Frederick's opponents had some successes: the Swedes managed to establish themselves in Pomerania, the French in Hesse.

1761-1763: the second “miracle of the Brandenburg House”

In 1761, no significant clashes occur: the war is waged mainly by maneuvering. The Austrians manage to recapture Schweidnitz, Russian troops under the command of General Rumyantsev take Kolberg (now Kolobrzeg). The capture of Kolberg would be the only major event of the 1761 campaign in Europe.

No one in Europe, not excluding Frederick himself, at this time believes that Prussia will be able to avoid defeat: the resources of a small country are incommensurate with the power of its opponents, and the further the war continues, the more important this factor becomes. And then, when Frederick was already actively probing through intermediaries for the possibility of starting peace negotiations, his irreconcilable opponent, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, dies, having once declared her determination to continue the war to the victorious end, even if she had to sell half of her dresses to do so. On January 5, 1762, Peter III ascended the Russian throne, who saved Prussia from defeat by concluding the Peace of St. Petersburg with Frederick, his longtime idol. As a result, Russia voluntarily abandoned all its acquisitions in this war (East Prussia with Königsberg, the inhabitants of which, including Immanuel Kant, had already sworn allegiance to the Russian crown) and provided Frederick with a corps under the command of Count Z. G. Chernyshev for the war against Austrians, their recent allies. It is understandable that Friedrich ingratiated himself so much with his Russian admirer as never before with anyone else in his life. The latter, however, needed little: the eccentric Peter was prouder of the title of Prussian colonel, granted to him by Frederick, than of the Russian imperial crown.

Asian theater of war

Indian campaign

Main article: Indian Campaign of the Seven Years' War

British landing in the Philippines

Main article: Philippine Campaign

Central American Theater of War

Main articles: Guadalupe Campaign , Dominican Campaign , Martinique Campaign , Cuban campaign

South American theater of war

European politics and the Seven Years' War. Chronological table

Year, date	Event
June 2, 1746
October 18, 1748	Aachen world. End of the War of the Austrian Succession
January 16, 1756	Westminster Convention between Prussia and England
May 1, 1756	Defensive alliance between France and Austria at Versailles
May 17, 1756	England declares war on France
January 11, 1757	Russia joins the Treaty of Versailles
January 22, 1757	Union Treaty between Russia and Austria
January 29, 1757	The Holy Roman Empire declares war on Prussia
May 1, 1757	Offensive alliance between France and Austria at Versailles
January 22, 1758	Estates of East Prussia swear allegiance to the Russian crown
April 11, 1758	Subsidy Treaty between Prussia and England
April 13, 1758	Subsidy treaty between Sweden and France
May 4, 1758	Treaty of Union between France and Denmark
January 7, 1758	Extension of the subsidy agreement between Prussia and England
January 30-31, 1758	Subsidy Treaty between France and Austria
November 25, 1759	Declaration of Prussia and England on the convening of a peace congress
April 1, 1760	Extension of the union treaty between Russia and Austria
January 12, 1760	Latest extension of the subsidy treaty between Prussia and England
April 2, 1761	Treaty of Friendship and Trade between Prussia and Turkey
June-July 1761	Separate peace negotiations between France and England
August 8, 1761	Convention between France and Spain concerning the war with England
January 4, 1762	England declares war on Spain
January 5, 1762	Death of Elizaveta Petrovna
February 4, 1762	Pact of Alliance between France and Spain
May 5, 1762

Austria
France
Russia (1757-1761)
(1757-1761)
Sweden
Spain
Saxony
Kingdom of Naples
Sardinian Kingdom Commanders Frederick II
F. W. Seydlitz
George II
George III
Robert Clive
Jeffrey Amherst
Ferdinand of Brunswick
Siraj ud-Daula
Jose I Earl of Down
Count Lassi
Prince of Lorraine
Ernst Gideon Loudon
Louis XV
Louis-Joseph de Montcalm
Elizaveta Petrovna †
P. S. Saltykov
K. G. Razumovsky
Charles III
August III Strengths of the parties Hundreds of thousands of soldiers (see below for details) Military losses see below see below

The designation “Seven Years’ War” was given in the 80s of the 18th century; before that it was referred to as a “recent war.”

Causes of the war

Opposing coalitions in Europe in 1756

"Reversing Alliances"

Participants in the Seven Years' War. Blue: Anglo-Prussian coalition. Green: anti-Prussian coalition

Having started a war with France, Great Britain concluded a treaty of alliance with Prussia in January 1756, thereby wanting to protect itself from the threat of a French attack on Hanover, the hereditary possession of the English king on the continent. Frederick, considering a war with Austria inevitable and realizing the limitations of his resources, relied on “English gold”, as well as on the traditional influence of England on Russia, hoping to keep Russia from participating in the upcoming war and thereby avoid a war on two fronts. Having overestimated England's influence on Russia, he, at the same time, clearly underestimated the indignation caused by his agreement with the British in France. As a result, Frederick will have to fight a coalition of the three strongest continental powers and their allies, which he dubbed the “union of three women” (Maria Theresa, Elizabeth and Madame Pompadour). However, behind the jokes of the Prussian king in relation to his opponents lies a lack of confidence in his own strength: the forces in the war on the continent are too unequal, England, which does not have a strong land army, except for subsidies, can do little to help him.

In Russia, the strengthening of Prussia was perceived as a real threat to its western borders and interests in the Baltic states and northern Europe. Close ties with Austria, a treaty of union with which was signed back in 1746, also influenced Russia’s position in the brewing European conflict. Traditionally, close ties also existed with England. It is curious that, having broken diplomatic relations with Prussia long before the start of the war, Russia, nevertheless, did not break diplomatic relations with England throughout the war.

None of the countries participating in the coalition was interested in the complete destruction of Prussia, hoping to use it in the future for their own interests, but all were interested in weakening Prussia, in returning it to the borders that existed before the Silesian Wars. Thus, the war was fought by the coalition participants to restore the old system of political relations on the continent, disrupted by the results of the War of the Austrian Succession. Having united against a common enemy, the participants in the anti-Prussian coalition did not even think of forgetting about their traditional differences. Disagreement in the enemy’s camp, caused by conflicting interests and having a detrimental effect on the conduct of the war, was ultimately one of the main reasons that allowed Prussia to resist the confrontation.

Until the end of 1757, when the successes of the newly-minted David in the fight against the “Goliath” of the anti-Prussian coalition created a club of admirers for the king in Germany and beyond, it never occurred to anyone in Europe to seriously consider Frederick “The Great”: at that time, most Europeans saw He is an impudent upstart who is long overdue for being put in his place. To achieve this goal, the Allies fielded a huge army of 419,000 soldiers against Prussia. Frederick II had at his disposal only 200,000 soldiers plus 50,000 defenders of Hanover, hired with English money.

European theater of war

European theater Seven Years' War
Lobositz - Pirna - Reichenberg - Prague - Kolin - Hastenbeck - Gross-Jägersdorf - Berlin (1757) - Mois - Rosbach - Breslau - Leuthen - Olmütz - Krefeld - Domstadl - Küstrin - Zorndorf - Tarmow - Luterberg (1758) - Fehrbellin - Hochkirch - Bergen - Palzig - Minden - Kunersdorf - Hoyerswerda - Maxen - Meissen - Landeshut - Emsdorf - Warburg - Liegnitz - Klosterkampen - Berlin (1760) - Torgau - Fehlinghausen - Kolberg - Wilhelmsthal - Burkersdorf - Luterberg (1762) - Reichenbach - Freiberg

1756: attack on Saxony

Strengths of the parties in 1756

Country	Troops
Prussia	200 000
Hanover	50 000
England	90 000
Total	340 000
Russia	333 000
Austria	200 000
France	200 000
Spain	25 000
Total allies	758 000
Total	1 098 000

Without waiting for Prussia's opponents to deploy their forces, Frederick II was the first to begin hostilities on August 29, 1756, suddenly invading Saxony, allied with Austria, and occupying it. On September 1 (11), 1756, Elizaveta Petrovna declared war on Prussia. On September 9, the Prussians surrounded the Saxon army encamped near Pirna. On October 1, the 33.5 thousand army of the Austrian Field Marshal Brown, who went to the rescue of the Saxons, was defeated at Lobositz. Finding itself in a hopeless situation, the eighteen-thousand-strong army of Saxony capitulated on October 16. Captured, the Saxon soldiers were forced into the Prussian army. Later they would “thank” Frederick by running over to the enemy in entire regiments.

use Saxony as a convenient base of operations for the invasion of Austrian Bohemia and Moravia, the supply of Prussian troops here could be organized by waterways along the Elbe and Oder, while the Austrians would have to use inconvenient mountain roads;
transfer the war to the territory of the enemy, thus forcing him to pay for it and, finally,
use the human and material resources of prosperous Saxony for their own strengthening. Subsequently, he carried out his plan to rob this country so successfully that some Saxons still dislike the inhabitants of Berlin and Brandenburg.

Despite this, in German (not Austrian!) historiography it is still customary to consider the war on the part of Prussia to be a defensive war. The reasoning is that the war would still have been started by Austria and its allies, regardless of whether Frederick attacked Saxony or not. Opponents of this point of view object: the war began not least because of the Prussian conquests, and its first act was aggression against a weakly protected neighbor.

1757: Battles of Kolin, Rosbach and Leuthen, Russia begins hostilities

Strengths of the parties in 1757

Country	Troops
Prussia	152 000
Hanover	45 000
Saxony	20 000
Total	217 000
Russia	104 000
Austria	174 000
Imperial German Union	30 000
Sweden	22 000
France	134 000
Total allies	464 000
Total	681 000

Bohemia, Silesia

Having strengthened himself by absorbing Saxony, Frederick at the same time achieved the opposite effect, spurring his opponents to active offensive actions. Now he had no choice but, to use the German expression, “flight forward” (German. Flucht nach vorne). Counting on the fact that France and Russia will not be able to enter the war before the summer, Frederick intends to defeat Austria before that time. Early in 1757, the Prussian army, moving in four columns, entered Austrian territory in Bohemia. The Austrian army under the command of the Prince of Lorraine numbered 60,000 soldiers. On May 6, the Prussians defeated the Austrians and blocked them in Prague. Having taken Prague, Frederick plans to march on Vienna without delay. However, the blitzkrieg plans were dealt a blow: a 54,000-strong Austrian army under the command of Field Marshal L. Down came to the aid of the besieged. On June 18, 1757, in the vicinity of the city of Kolin, a 34,000-strong Prussian army entered into battle with the Austrians. Frederick II lost this battle, losing 14,000 men and 45 guns. The heavy defeat not only destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the Prussian commander, but also, more importantly, forced Frederick II to lift the blockade of Prague and hastily retreat to Saxony. Soon the threat that arose in Thuringia from the French and the Imperial Army (the "Tsars") forced him to leave there with the main forces. Having from this moment on a significant numerical superiority, the Austrians win a series of victories over Frederick's generals (at Moise on September 7, at Breslau on November 22), and the key Silesian fortresses of Schweidnitz (now Świdnica, Poland) and Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland) are in their hands. In October 1757, the Austrian general Hadik managed to briefly capture the capital of Prussia, the city of Berlin, with a sudden raid of a flying detachment. Having warded off the threat from the French and the "Caesars", Frederick II transferred an army of forty thousand to Silesia and on December 5 won a decisive victory over the Austrian army at Leuthen. As a result of this victory, the situation that existed at the beginning of the year was restored. Thus, the result of the campaign was a “combat draw.”

Central Germany

1758: The battles of Zorndorf and Hochkirch do not bring decisive success to either side

Field Marshal General Willim Villimovich Fermor became the new commander-in-chief of the Russians. At the beginning of 1758, he occupied, without meeting resistance, all of East Prussia, including its capital, the city of Königsberg, then heading towards Brandenburg. In August he besieged Küstrin, a key fortress on the road to Berlin. Frederick immediately moved towards him. The battle took place on August 14 near the village of Zorndorf and was notable for its stunning bloodshed. The Russians had 42,000 soldiers in the army with 240 guns, and Frederick had 33,000 soldiers with 116 guns. The battle revealed several big problems in the Russian army - insufficient interaction of individual units, poor moral training of the observation corps (the so-called “Shuvalovites”), and finally called into question the competence of the commander-in-chief himself. At a critical moment in the battle, Fermor left the army, did not direct the course of the battle for some time, and appeared only towards the denouement. Clausewitz later called the Battle of Zorndorf the strangest battle of the Seven Years' War, meaning its chaotic, unpredictable course. Having started “according to the rules,” it eventually resulted in a great massacre, breaking up into many separate battles, in which the Russian soldiers showed unsurpassed tenacity; according to Friedrich, it was not enough to kill them, they also had to be knocked down. Both sides fought until exhaustion and suffered huge losses. The Russian army lost 16,000 people, the Prussians 11,000. The opponents spent the night on the battlefield; the next day, Frederick, fearing the approach of Rumyantsev’s division, turned his army around and took it to Saxony. Russian troops retreated to the Vistula. General Palmbach, sent by Fermor to besiege Kolberg, stood for a long time under the walls of the fortress without accomplishing anything.

The war with the French was more successful for the Prussians; they beat them three times in a year: at Rheinberg, at Krefeld and at Mer. In general, although the campaign of 1758 ended more or less successfully for the Prussians, it further weakened the Prussian troops, who suffered significant, irreplaceable losses for Frederick during the three years of the war: from 1756 to 1758 he lost, not counting those captured, 43 the general was killed or died from wounds received in battle, among them his best military leaders, such as Keith, Winterfeld, Schwerin, Moritz von Dessau and others.

1759: Defeat of the Prussians at Kunersdorf, “miracle of the House of Brandenburg”

Complete defeat of the Prussian army. As a result of the victory, the road was open for the Allied advance on Berlin. Prussia was on the brink of disaster. “Everything is lost, save the yard and archives!” - Frederick II wrote in panic. However, the persecution was not organized. This made it possible for Frederick to gather an army and prepare for the defense of Berlin. Prussia was saved from final defeat only by the so-called “miracle of the House of Brandenburg.”

Strengths of the parties in 1759

Country	Troops
Prussia	220 000
Total	220 000
Russia	50 000
Austria	155 000
Imperial German Union	45 000
Sweden	16 000
France	125 000
Total allies	391 000
Total	611 000

At this time, the Prussian king with an army of 48,000 people, possessing 200 guns, was moving towards the enemy from the south. On August 10, he crossed to the right bank of the Oder River and took a position east of the village of Kunersdorf. On August 12, 1759, the famous battle of the Seven Years' War took place - the Battle of Kunersdorf. Frederick was completely defeated; out of an army of 48 thousand, by his own admission, he did not have even 3 thousand soldiers left. “In truth,” he wrote to his minister after the battle, “I believe that all is lost. I will not survive the death of my Fatherland. Goodbye forever." After the victory at Kunersdorf, the Allies could only deliver the final blow, take Berlin, the road to which was clear, and thereby force Prussia to capitulate, but disagreements in their camp did not allow them to use the victory and end the war. Instead of attacking Berlin, they withdrew their troops away, accusing each other of violating allied obligations. Frederick himself called his unexpected salvation “the miracle of the House of Brandenburg.” Frederick escaped, but setbacks continued to haunt him until the end of the year: on November 20, the Austrians, together with imperial troops, managed to encircle and force the 15,000-strong corps of the Prussian General Finck to surrender without a fight at Maxen.

The severe defeats of 1759 prompted Frederick to turn to England with the initiative to convene a peace congress. The British supported it all the more willingly because they, for their part, considered the main goals in this war to be achieved. On November 25, 1759, 5 days after Maxen, representatives of Russia, Austria and France were sent an invitation to a peace congress in Rysvik. France signaled its participation, but it came to nothing because of the irreconcilable position taken by Russia and Austria, who hoped to use the victories of 1759 to deal the finishing blow to Prussia in the following year's campaign.

Nicholas Pocock. "Battle of the Gulf of Quiberon" (1759)

Meanwhile, England defeated the French fleet at sea in the Gulf of Quiberon.

1760: Frederick's Pyrrhic victory at Torgau

The losses of both sides are enormous: more than 16,000 for the Prussians, about 16,000 (according to other sources, more than 17,000) for the Austrians. Their actual size was hidden from the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, but Frederick also prohibited the publication of lists of the dead. For him, the losses suffered are irreparable: in the last years of the war, the main source of replenishment of the Prussian army were prisoners of war. Driven by force into Prussian service, at any opportunity they run over to the enemy in entire battalions. The Prussian army is not only shrinking, but also losing its qualities. Its preservation, being a matter of life and death, now becomes Frederick's main concern and forces him to abandon active offensive actions. The last years of the Seven Years' War are filled with marches and maneuvers; there are no major battles like the battles of the initial stage of the war.

Victory at Torgau was achieved, a significant part of Saxony (but not all of Saxony) was returned to Frederick, but this was not the final victory for which he was ready to “risk everything.” The war will last another three long years.

Strengths of the parties in 1760

Country	Troops
Prussia	200 000
Total	200 000
Austria	90 000
Total allies	375 000
Total	575 000

The war thus continued. In 1760, Frederick had difficulty raising the size of his army to 200,000 soldiers. The Franco-Austro-Russian troops by this time numbered up to 375,000 soldiers. However, as in previous years, the Allies' numerical superiority was negated by the lack of a unified plan and inconsistency in actions. The Prussian king, trying to impede the actions of the Austrians in Silesia, transported his thirty thousand army across the Elbe on August 1, 1760 and, with passive pursuit of the Austrians, arrived in the Liegnitz region by August 7. Misleading the stronger enemy (Field Marshal Daun had about 90,000 soldiers by this time), Frederick II first actively maneuvered and then decided to break through to Breslau. While Frederick and Daun were mutually exhausting the troops with their marches and countermarches, the Austrian corps of General Laudon on August 15 in the Liegnitz area suddenly collided with Prussian troops. Frederick II unexpectedly attacked and defeated Laudon's corps. The Austrians lost up to 10,000 killed and 6,000 captured. Frederick, who lost about 2,000 people killed and wounded in this battle, managed to escape from the encirclement.

Having barely escaped encirclement, the Prussian king almost lost his own capital. On October 3 (September 22), 1760, Major General Totleben’s detachment stormed Berlin. The assault was repulsed, and Totleben had to retreat to Köpenick, where he waited for the corps of Lieutenant General Z. G. Chernyshev (reinforced by Panin’s 8,000-strong corps) and the Austrian corps of General Lassi, appointed as reinforcements. On the evening of October 8, at a military council in Berlin, due to the overwhelming numerical superiority of the enemy, a decision was made to retreat, and that same night the Prussian troops defending the city left for Spandau, leaving a garrison in the city as an “object” of surrender. The garrison brings surrender to Totleben, as the general who first besieged Berlin. The illegal, by the standards of military honor, pursuit of the enemy, who had given up the fortress to the enemy, was taken over by Panin’s corps and Krasnoshchekov’s Cossacks, they managed to defeat the Prussian rearguard and capture more than a thousand prisoners. On the morning of October 9, 1760, Totleben's Russian detachment and the Austrians (the latter in violation of the terms of surrender) entered Berlin. In the city, guns and rifles were captured, gunpowder and weapons warehouses were blown up. An indemnity was imposed on the population. At the news of the approach of Frederick with the main forces of the Prussians, the allies left the Prussian capital in panic.

Having received news on the way that the Russians had abandoned Berlin, Frederick turned to Saxony. While he was conducting military operations in Silesia, the Imperial Army managed to oust the weak Prussian forces left in Saxony to screen, Saxony was lost to Frederick. He cannot allow this in any way: he needs the human and material resources of Saxony to continue the war. On November 3, 1760, the last major battle of the Seven Years' War took place near Torgau. He is distinguished by incredible fierceness, victory leans first to one side, then to the other several times during the day. The Austrian commander Daun manages to send a messenger to Vienna with the news of the defeat of the Prussians, and only by 9 pm it becomes clear that he was in a hurry. Frederick emerges victorious, but it is a Pyrrhic victory: in one day he loses 40% of his army. He is no longer able to make up for such losses; in the last period of the war he is forced to abandon offensive actions and give the initiative to his opponents in the hope that, due to their indecisiveness and slowness, they will not be able to take advantage of it properly.

In the secondary theaters of war, Frederick's opponents had some successes: the Swedes managed to establish themselves in Pomerania, the French in Hesse.

1761-1763: the second “miracle of the Brandenburg House”

Strengths of the parties in 1761

Country	Troops
Prussia	106 000
Total	106 000
Austria	140 000
France	140 000
Imperial German Union	20 000
Russia	90 000
Total allies	390 000
Total	496 000

No one in Europe, not excluding Frederick himself, at that time believed that Prussia would be able to avoid defeat: the resources of the small country were incommensurate with the power of its opponents, and the further the war continued, the more important this factor became. And then, when Frederick was already actively probing through intermediaries for the possibility of starting peace negotiations, his irreconcilable opponent, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, dies, having once declared her determination to continue the war to the victorious end, even if she had to sell half of her dresses to do so. On January 5, 1762, Peter III ascended the Russian throne, who saved Prussia from defeat by concluding the Peace of St. Petersburg with Frederick, his longtime idol. As a result, Russia voluntarily abandoned all its acquisitions in this war (East Prussia with Königsberg, the inhabitants of which, including Immanuel Kant, had already sworn allegiance to the Russian crown) and provided Frederick with a corps under Count Z. G. Chernyshev for the war against the Austrians , their recent allies.

Strengths of the parties in 1762

Country	Troops
Prussia	60 000
Total allies	300 000
Total	360 000

Asian theater of war

Indian campaign

In 1757, the British captured French Chandannagar in Bengal, and the French captured British trading posts in southeastern India between Madras and Calcutta. In 1758-1759 there was a struggle between fleets for dominance in the Indian Ocean; On land, the French unsuccessfully besieged Madras. At the end of 1759 the French fleet left the Indian coast, and at the beginning of 1760 the French land forces were defeated at Vandiwash. In the autumn of 1760, the siege of Pondicherry began, and in early 1761 the capital of French India capitulated.

British landing in the Philippines

In 1762, the British East India Company, sending 13 ships and 6,830 soldiers, took possession of Manila, breaking the resistance of a small Spanish garrison of 600 people. The company also entered into an agreement with the Sultan of Sulu. However, the British failed to extend their power even into Luzon. After the end of the Seven Years' War, they left Manila in 1764, and in 1765 completed the evacuation from the Philippine Islands.

British occupation gave impetus to new anti-Spanish uprisings

Central American Theater of War

In 1762-1763, Havana was captured by the British, who introduced a free trade regime. At the end of the Seven Years' War, the island was returned to the Spanish crown, but now it was forced to soften the former harsh economic system. Cattle breeders and planters received greater opportunities in conducting foreign trade.

South American theater of war

European politics and the Seven Years' War. Chronological table

Year, date	Event
June 2, 1746	Union Treaty between Russia and Austria
October 18, 1748	Aachen world. End of the War of the Austrian Succession
January 16, 1756	Westminster Convention between Prussia and England
May 1, 1756	Defensive alliance between France and Austria at Versailles
May 17, 1756	England declares war on France
January 11, 1757	Russia joins the Treaty of Versailles
January 22, 1757	Union Treaty between Russia and Austria
January 29, 1757	The Holy Roman Empire declares war on Prussia
May 1, 1757	Offensive alliance between France and Austria at Versailles
January 22, 1758	Estates of East Prussia swear allegiance to the Russian crown
April 11, 1758	Subsidy Treaty between Prussia and England
April 13, 1758	Subsidy treaty between Sweden and France
May 4, 1758	Treaty of Union between France and Denmark
January 7, 1758	Extension of the subsidy agreement between Prussia and England
January 30-31, 1758	Subsidy Treaty between France and Austria
November 25, 1759	Declaration of Prussia and England on the convening of a peace congress
April 1, 1760	Extension of the union treaty between Russia and Austria
January 12, 1760	Latest extension of the subsidy treaty between Prussia and England
April 2, 1761	Treaty of Friendship and Trade between Prussia and Turkey
June-July 1761	Separate peace negotiations between France and England
August 8, 1761	Convention between France and Spain concerning the war with England
January 4, 1762	England declares war on Spain
January 5, 1762	Death of Elizaveta Petrovna
February 4, 1762	Pact of Alliance between France and Spain
May 5, 1762	Peace Treaty between Russia and Prussia in St. Petersburg
May 22, 1762	Peace Treaty between Prussia and Sweden in Hamburg
June 19, 1762	Treaty of Alliance between Russia and Prussia
June 28, 1762	Coup in St. Petersburg, overthrow of Peter III, rise to power of Catherine II
February 10, 1763	Treaty of Paris between England, France and Spain
February 15, 1763	Treaty of Hubertusburg between Prussia, Austria and Saxony