The alliance with France was a disaster for Spain, with the loss to Britain of two major ports, Havana in the West Indies and Manila in the Philippines, returned in the 1763 Treaty of Paris between France, Spain and Great Britain. Spain entered the war on the French side in 1762, unsuccessfully attempting to invade Britain's ally Portugal in what became known as the Fantastic War. It was "the most important event to occur in eighteenth-century North America" prior to the American Revolution. The colonial conflicts would become a theatre of the Seven Years' War when war was officially declared two years later, and it effectively ended France's presence as a land power on that continent. Smaller German states either joined the Seven Years' War or supplied mercenaries to the parties involved in the conflict.Īnglo-French conflicts broke out in their North American colonies in 1754, when British and French colonial militias and their respective Native American allies engaged in small skirmishes, and later full-scale colonial warfare.
Spain aligned formally with France in 1761, joining France in the Third Family Compact between the two Bourbon monarchies. At the same time, Austria ended centuries of conflict between the Bourbon and Habsburg families by allying with France, along with Saxony, Sweden, and Russia. In a realignment of traditional alliances, known as the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756, Prussia became part of a coalition led by Britain, which also included long-time Prussian competitor Hanover, at the time in personal union with Britain. Prussia sought greater influence in the German states, while Austria wanted to regain Silesia, captured by Prussia in the previous war, and to contain Prussian influence. Long-standing colonial rivalries pitting Britain against France and Spain in North America and the West Indies were fought on a grand scale with consequential results. Along with Spain, France fought Britain both in Europe and overseas with land-based armies and naval forces, while Britain's ally Prussia sought territorial expansion in Europe and consolidation of its power. The opposing alliances were led by Great Britain and France respectively, both seeking to establish global pre-eminence at the expense of the other. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754–1763), the Carnatic Wars (1744-1763) and the Anglo-Spanish War (1762–1763).
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European great powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific.
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