What happened in the seven-year European colonial war?

1756 ~ 1763 in Europe. The European War took place in the seven-year war of 1756 ~ 1763. Britain, France, Prussia, Austria, Sweden, Saxony, Russia and other countries participated in it, aiming at competing for colonies or territories. The war led to a great adjustment of European power.

The purpose of Britain is to seize French colonies and establish complete sea control rights; Prussia intends to annex Saxony and turn Poland into its own territory; Austria tried to weaken Prussia, its rival in the Central European hegemony, and recapture Silesia occupied by 1740. France tried to annex Hanover, the hereditary territory of the British king in Europe, to protect its colonies in America and East India and curb the power of Prussia. Sweden tried to seize Pomerania in Prussia; Russia tried its best to stop Prussia's eastward invasion and expand its territory in the west. Various contradictions and interests are intertwined, leading to the establishment of two opposing alliances: one is the Anglo-Prussian alliance with Hanover, Hesse-Kassel, Brunswick and other German vassal States; The other is the Franco-Austrian alliance of Sweden, Saxony and most of the German client countries that joined the "Holy Roman Empire".

The war began when Prussia attacked Saxony. 1756 On August 28th, the army of Prussian King Friedrich II (95,000 men) suddenly invaded Saxony, surrounded the Saxon army (18,000 men) and forced it to surrender on 15 10/6. In the 1757 war, Friedrich II took advantage of the inconsistency of the Franco-Austrian-Russian alliance plan (France started to fight in the spring, while Russia started to act in the summer) and the weakness of the army (more than 300,000 people) to go to war with Austria first. Pu Jun (654.38+0.92 million) launched a centripetal attack on Prague from four sides. However, Austrian Marshal Dawn's troops (more than 50,000 people) who came to reinforce defeated Pu Jun near Colin on June 18, 2008, forcing Pu Jun to give up the Czech Republic. In April, Marshal estelle's French army (70,000 people) occupied Hesse-Kassel and Hanover. Prince Sobitz's French army (57,000 men) arrived in Eisenach in August and bullied Prussia. Friedrich II deployed the main force to meet the French army and defeated the French army in the Battle of Rosbach (1 1757) on 10. Subsequently, he sent troops (40,000 men) into Silesia. Pu Jun (30,000 men) of Marshal L? vald took action against Russian troops (70,000 men) who attacked East Prussia. On July 5th, some Russian troops (24,000 men), under the command of Marshal Aplak Sin and with the support of Baltic Fleet, opened the road to East Prussia. But Aprasin believes that Peter III, a follower of Friedrich II, will soon become the Russian emperor (Queen Elizabeth? Petrovsky was ill, so he ordered the troops to withdraw to Memmel. To this end, he was sent to court by the emperor for trial, and his position was replaced by General Fulmore. Swiss troops (23,000 men) launched an attack on Stedding (Szczecin) in Pomerania in September, but after the Russian troops withdrew from Memmel, they also withdrew to Larcon. In this way, Pu Jun won the war of 1757.

In the war of 1758, the anti-Prussian alliance launched an army of 3 16000, while Friedrich II's army was only 145000. Although the anti-Prussian alliance had twice the superior strength of the enemy, it failed to give full play to its advantages due to the lack of unity and cooperation in action. 1 The Russian army that attacked East Prussia in February 757 occupied East Prussia1in June 758 and included it in the Russian national territory. /kloc-in the summer of 0/758, Russian troops (58,000 men) surrounded Kostin. Austria and France took passive defensive actions in Silesia and Saxony for fear of Russian victory. Friedrich II concentrated his forces and tried to defeat two main enemies, Austria and Russia, one by one. As a result, neither of the warring sides won.

At the beginning of 1759, there were 352,000 anti-Prussian Coalition forces and about 222,000 Anglo-Prussian Coalition forces. In April, 40,000 Russian troops began to advance towards the Oder River. General Vedel's Prussian Corps (30,000 men) tried to intercept the Russian army, but it was defeated by the Russian army in the Battle of Palitz on July 23rd (1759). On August 12, Pu Jun (48,000 men) was defeated in the battle near Kunel Fidor. However, due to the mistakes of the Austrian high command, the opportunity to capture the Prussian capital Berlin and end the war was not realized. Russian troops retreated to the east of the Vistula River. On the western front, the French allies fought in Hanover to save Hesse-Kassel, but failed when they surrounded the fort Minden in Hanover in August 1 2008. Therefore, in the 1759 war, although the Russian army won a brilliant victory, it did not achieve remarkable results because Austria pursued a policy of fearing the complete defeat of Prussia and strengthening the Russian army. In the war of 1759, the contradiction between the anti-Prussian alliance countries intensified. France opposed Russia's annexation of East Prussia and prepared to sign a peace treaty with Britain, but the peace talks ended in failure.

1760, Friedrich ii managed to increase the number of soldiers to 10 ~ 120000, while the anti-Prussian alliance had 220000. The alliance planned to take concerted action: Russian and Austrian troops were in Silesia, imperial troops were in Saxony, and French troops took action against Hanover. Friedrich II turned to defense to ensure the safety of his supply line ammunition depot. Russian and Austrian troops took action against the enemy's communication lines, trying to force Pu Jun to give up its occupied fortresses and cities. Because Dawn didn't take part in the coordinated action, Friedrich II led 70,000 Pujun troops to Berlin, and ended the 1760 war without any fundamental changes in the situation of the warring parties.

176 1 The major event in the war took place in 65438+February 16. Russian troops captured large areas such as South Silesia, which made the situation in Pu Jun extremely grim. However,176165438+1Queen Elizabeth on October 5? Petrovsky died of illness and Peter III, a follower of Friedrich II, ascended the throne. He pulled Russia out of the war, returned all the land occupied by Russia to Prussia, and signed an alliance treaty with Prussia on May 5, thus saving Prussia from the danger of complete extinction. Following Russia, Sweden also withdrew from the war on May 22nd 1762.

1762 War, with the assistance of Russian Chernyshev Corps (temporarily incorporated into Pu Jun), Pu Jun expelled the Austrian army from Silesia and Saxony, and defeated the Imperial Army in the battle near Frejborg (1762+00). However, the war has exhausted both sides. Franco-Prussian signed a preliminary peace treaty on 165438+June 3, and Puao signed an armistice agreement on1654381October 24.

In the Seven Years' War, France won the wars at sea and in the colonies in the early days (1756 and 1757). However, with the beginning of the 1758 war, France, which was trapped in the European battlefield, began to fail at sea and in the colonies. Britain, which only gave Prussia economic aid, gradually accumulated strength in the colonies and took the initiative in the war. 1760, occupied parts of Canada, Louisiana, Florida and most of the French colonies in India. At the beginning of 1763, the seven-year war ended. 1763, 10 In February, Britain and France signed the Paris Peace Treaty (176 1), and Spain and Portugal joined the peace treaty. Spain is on the side of France and Portugal is on the side of Britain. 1763, 15 February, Prussia, Austria, Saxony, on the one hand, signed the Huber Peace Treaty, and the Seven-Year War ended. The peace treaty confirmed Prussia's power over Silesia and the Earl of Graz.

The important result of the seven-year war was to change the power structure in Europe. Britain gained most of the French colonies in the war and became the most powerful maritime power, which laid the foundation for its future colonial empire. Prussia's position is more consolidated, France is weakened and Russia's power is strengthened.

The seven-year war had a great influence on the development of military art, exposed the shortcomings of cordon strategy and line tactics, showed the superiority of annihilating the enemy's effective forces on the battlefield, and also appeared new combat methods and methods.