DANIEL MARSTON was born · 2018-06-02 · DANIEL MARSTON was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. He completed both his BA and MA in History at McGill University, Montreal, Canada

DANIEL MARSTON was bornand raised in Boston,Massachusetts. He completedboth his BA and MA in Historyat McGill University, Montreal,Canada. The subject of hisMA thesis was the performanceof the British Army in NorthAmerica during the Seven Years'War. He is currently living inEngland, where he is workingtowards completion of a D.Philin the History of War at BalliolCollege, University of Oxford.

PROFESSOR ROBERT O'NEILL,AO D.Phil, is the ChicheleProfessor of the History of Warat the University of Oxford andSeries Editor of the EssentialHistories. His wealth ofknowledge and expertise shapesthe series content, and providesup-to-the-minute researchand theory. Born in 1936 anAustralian citizen, he served inthe Australian army (1955-68)and has held a number ofeminent positions in historycircles. He has been ChicheleProfessor of the History of Warand a Fellow of All SoulsCollege, Oxford since 1987.He is the author of many booksincluding works on the Germanarmy and the Nazi party, andthe Korean and Vietnam wars.

Essential Histories

The Seven Years' War

Essential Histories

The Seven Years' War

Daniel MarstonOSPREYP U B L I S H I N G

First published in Great Britain in 2001 by Osprey Publishing,

Elms Court, Chapel Way. Botley. Oxford OX2 9LP

Email: [email protected]

© 2001 Osprey Publishing Limited

All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose

of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under

the Copyright, Design and Patents Art. 1988. no part of this

publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical,

chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or

otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright

owner Enquiries should be made to the Publishers.

Every attempt has been made by the Publisher to secure the

appropriate permissions for material reproduced in this book If

there has been any oversight we will be happy to rectify the

situation and written submission should be made to the

Publishers.

CIP Data for this publication is available from the British Library

ISBN 1 84176 191 5

Editor: Rebecca Cullen

Design: Ken Vail Graphic Design. Cambridge. UK

Cartography by The Map Studio

Index by Alan Thatcher

Picture research by Image Select International

Origination by Grasmere Digital Imaging. Leeds. UK

Printed and bound in China by L Rex Printing Company Ltd

For a complete list of titles available from Osprey Publishing

please contact:

Osprey Direct UK, PO Box 140,

Wellingborough, Northants, NN8 2FA, UK.


Osprey Direct USA. c/o MBI Publishing,

PO Box 1, 729 Prospect Avenue.

Osceola, WI 54020, USA


Or visit our website:

www.ospreypublishing.com

03 04 05 06 07 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Contents

Introduction

Chronology

Background to war

Old enemies, new friends

Warring sides

Linear and irregular warfare

Outbreak

The gathering storm

The fighting

World war

Portrait of a soldier

A soldier of the British 68th Regiment of Foot

The world around war

The civilian and economic cost

Portrait of a civilian

The nun's story

Conclusion and consequences

Ramifications for the future

Further reading

Index

7

9

10

16

26

29

80

82

88

90

92

94

Introduction

The causes of the Seven Years' War are rootedin the outcome of an earlier conflict, the Warof the Austrian Succession (1740-48). TheTreaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which brought thiswar to an end, had done nothing to assuagethe anger of Austria over the loss to Prussiaof the wealthy province of Silesia. Nor had itbeen able to contain the conflicting colonialambitions of France and Britain, whichprovoked continued skirmishing well beyondthe official cessation of hostilities. The SevenYears' War was, therefore, essentially acontinuation of the War of the AustrianSuccession, but it was different from its

predecessor in two significant ways.The first important difference was that

the Seven Years' War was truly a globalwar, requiring a total commitment ofresources on the part of all combatants. Inthe long term this meant that, becausecountries were putting all they had intosimply continuing to fight, any gainsbecame secondary. In the extreme, it meantthat a country such as Prussia was fightingfor her very survival.

Queen Maria Theresa of Austria. (Anne S.K. BrownMilitary Collection, Brown University Library)

8 Essential Histories • The Seven Years' War

The second major difference was adefinitive shift that occurred in alliancesthat had existed for most of the first half ofthe eighteenth century. Austria and Britain,long-time allies, broke their treaties andAustria sided with France, formerly herenemy. Prussia, in turn, broke her tieswith France and sided with Britain,although this alliance too was broken,eventually leaving Britain with no allieson the continent.

The principal combatants in the SevenYears' War were Austria, led by QueenMaria Theresa; Britain, led by George II andlater George III (also Electors of Hanover);France, with Louis XV on the throne;Prussia, led by Frederick II (later known asFrederick the Great); and Russia, withEmpress Elizabeth.

Frederick II of Prussia. (Anne S. K. Brown MilitaryCollection, Brown University Library)

Chronology 9

Chronology

1755 9 July Braddock's defeat

1756 15 January Convention ofWestminster1 May First Treaty of Versailles17 May Declaration of war betweenFrance and Britain28 May Surrender of British atMinorca29 August Prussian invasion ofSaxony1 October Battle of Lobositz17 October Saxon army surrenders

1757 11 January Russia signs First Treatyof Versailles1 May Second Treaty of Versailles6 May Battle of Prague18 June Battle of Kolin23 June Battle of Plassey26 July Battle of Hastenbeck9 August Fort William Henrycapitulates30 August Battle of Gross-JägersdorfSeptember British raids on Frenchcoast8 September Convention of KlosterZeven5 November Battle of Rossbach5 December Battle of Leuthen

1758 2 June Fall of Fort St DavidJune-September British raids onFrench coast8 July Battle at Fort Carillon(Ticonderoga)1 August Louisbourg capitulates3 August First British contingentarrives in Germany25 August Battle of Zorndorf27 August Fort Frontenac is sacked14 October Battle of Hochkirch24 November Fort Duquesne isabandoned

13 December Siege of Madras

1759 17 February Siege of Madras is lifted23 July Battle of Paltzig24 July Fort Niagara capitulates26 July Fort Carillon is abandoned31 July Attack on MontmorencyFalls1 August Battle of Minden12 August Battle of Kunersdorf18 August Battle of Lagos4 September Dresden is captured13 September First Battle of thePlains of Abraham20 November Battle of QuiberonBay

1760 22 January Battle of Wandiwash28 April Second Battle of the Plainsof Abraham23 June Battle of Landeshut31 July Battle of Warburg15 August Battle of Liegnitz8 September Montreal surrenders9 October Raid on Berlin16 October Battle of Kloster Kamp3 November Battle of Torgau

1761 7 June Island of Dominica surrenders15-16 July Battle of Vellinghausen30 September Capture ofBunzelwitz

1762 5 January Death of EmpressElizabeth12 February Island of Martiniquefalls2 or 5 May Treaty of St Petersburg24 June Battle of Wilhelmsthal10 August Fall of Havana6 October Manila is captured

1763 10 February Treaty of Paris15 February Treaty of Hubertusburg

Background to war

Old enemies, new friends

North America

New France (the French colonies in NorthAmerica, a large portion of present-dayeastern Canada) and the 13 British colonieshad been engaged in colonial conflict since1608. Tensions escalated in 1747 when thecolonies of Virginia and Pennsylvaniaformed the Ohio Land Company in the OhioRiver valley, encouraging British traders tocross the Allegheny Mountains and establishtrading posts. The French, feeling that thisterritory lay within their sphere of influence,began a process of establishing posts alongthe Ohio and Mississippi rivers to containthis British expansion. In 1753 the Frenchdeployed 3,000 men into the region to buildforts and take offensive action as necessary.

George II of Great Britain. (Anne S. K. Brown MilitaryCollection, Brown University Library)

In response, Governor Dinwiddie ofVirginia dispatched a major of the VirginiaMilitia, George Washington, to deliver adeclaration to the French commanders at thenewly built forts of Presque Isle and LeBoeuf, which stated that these were onVirginian territory and should therefore bevacated. The French did not comply andDinwiddie pushed for the British to buildtheir own forts in the region to supporttrading claims. In 1754 a party of 40 menwas sent to build Fort Prince George, on thesite of present-day Pittsburgh. The Frenchappeared, seized the men, and sent themback to Virginia. They claimed the fort astheir own and renamed it Fort Duquesne. Afurther attempt in the summer by MajorGeorge Washington and 300 colonial troopswas also turned back after a battle near FortNecessity on 2 July 1754.

Following this defeat, the British decidedin September 1754 to dispatch two regulararmy regiments to deal with the French inthe Ohio River valley. They also sent £10,000and 2,000 muskets to North America to raisemore local colonial troops, in the hope thatthis would force the French to back downover the land issue. The Britishreinforcements sailed in January 1755, and aBritish naval squadron followed, underorders to stop any French ships attemptingto reinforce New France. However, theFrench sent a fleet of 5,000 regulars, whichsucceeded in slipping past the Royal Navyblockading force, and by June had arrived inNorth America.

In June 1755 a British expeditionary forceset out to seize Fort Duquesne. This force,commanded by Major-General EdwardBraddock, was made up of two regularregiments, the 44th and 48th Foot, andvarious colonial detachments. The troopsmay have been regulars, but they were notwell suited to the environment in which

Background to war 11

they were being asked to fight. They hadbeen trained in the linear continental tacticsof the 1700s, but now had to operate in thethick forests of North America. The Frenchunits defending Fort Duquesne had a fewregular companies, 100 men from theFrench colonial troops (Marines),200 French-Canadian militia and900 French-allied Native Americans.

On 6 July, a few miles from Fort Duquesne,the forward units of the British, led by ColonelThomas Gage, met a larger force of Frenchwith their Native American allies. The Britisharmy in North America was unused to fightingin wooded terrain and had not been trained inthe techniques suited to forest warfare. Theyhad deployed, as much as they could in thesurroundings, in the linear continental style,and had expected that their enemies would dothe same. The French were able to causeconsiderable damage to the lead Britishcolumns while suffering little themselves, byusing skirmishing tactics. Braddock reinforcedthe forward units with more troops, but with

little apparent effect. They attempted to deployin linear formation. A British officer noted:'The French and Indians fired from oneposition and then ran to a new position, whilethe British line remained in close quarters andfired from left to right as volley after volley fellwithin its ranks' (Journal of a British Officer, pp.50-51). After two hours of fighting, the Britishbegan to retreat. Of the 1,370 British men,only 459 had not been wounded during thefighting. The French casualties have beenestimated at three officers killed, four officerswounded, and fewer than 10 French regularsor militia killed or wounded. The French-alliedNative Americans are estimated to have lost100 men.

The other two campaigns of 1755 involvedBritish provincial units against the French inthe Lake George and Fort Niagara regions.Both sides moved troops into these regions inan attempt to seize vital strategic areas forfuture campaigns. The British were successfulat Lake George on 8 September, but couldonly occupy the southern area of Lake

New France and the British colonies


Empress Elizabeth of Russia. (Anne S. K. Brown MilitaryCollection, Brown University Library)

George as the provincial troops were nearmutiny. The British provincials sent againstFort Niagara were turned back at Fort Oswegoas their commander, Governor WilliamShirley of Massachusetts, felt the Frenchpresence in the region was too strong.

especially successful during the War of theAustrian Succession in raising and traininglocal Indian troops. They seized the Britishpost at Madras during this war, although itwas later returned to the British in exchangefor Louisbourg in North America in 1748.

As in North America, the fighting in Indiacontinued between the two rival companieseven after peace treaties had been signed inEurope in 1748. The conflict also took on theadded dimension of Indian princes siding withone company or the other in return for favors.However, in 1754 the British government,recognizing that tensions had escalated,dispatched the 39th Foot to Madras to serve asthe backbone of the British military forces inthe region. The fighting on the Indiansubcontinent over the course of the followingsix years was a mix of company European andIndian (Sepoy) troops and regular troops,although the company troops on both sidesfar outnumbered the regular troops.

The colonial rivalry had pushed GreatBritain and France towards war and bothrealized that they needed European allies inthe event of a continental war. The stage wasset for negotiations among the major powersof Europe.

India Political dimension

The war in India had its roots in thecommercial competition between the FrenchEast India Company and the English (British)East India Company. Since the early 1600s,both companies had been tradingsuccessfully on the Indian subcontinent.However, by the mid-1700s, the old MogulEmpire was rapidly being torn apart byinternal strife, and both companies saw thepotential advantages in the changingpolitical situation. When war broke out inEurope in the late 1600s and early 1700s, thesmall trading posts in India were caught upin the fighting, although these engagementswere on a much smaller scale than those inEurope or North America. Both companiesraised local military forces of native Indiansand local Europeans. The French had been

Many of the participants in the Seven Years'War viewed the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in1748, which ended the War of the AustrianSuccession, as a temporary truce. Austria hadlost the valuable province of Silesia toPrussia; Prussia wished to defend her newlygained province and had aspirations offurther expansion at Austria's expense. GreatBritain and France were at odds in thecolonies of North America and on the Indiansubcontinent. All sides between 1748 and1756 embarked on a series of treatynegotiations that would see the old alliancesof the War of the Austrian Successiondisbanded. The end product was theConvention of Westminster and the twoTreaties of Versailles. (These treaties will beconsidered in more detail later in the


chapter.) Russia was the new power to enterthe fray during this period.

Each country brought her own specificaims to the bargaining table. Austria soughtthe reconquest of Silesia from Prussia, andPrussia's reduction to a minor state withincentral Europe. Great Britain wanted to fight adecisive colonial war against France in NorthAmerica and India. The Achilles' heel of thiscolonial strategy was the Electorate ofHanover, which Great Britain wanted tosafeguard from French and Prussian

Louis XV of France. (Anne S. K. Brown MilitaryCollection, Brown University Library)

aggression. The British realized that if Hanoverwas seized, any future peace settlement wouldmean relinquishing conquered Frenchterritories overseas in exchange for its return.France for her part also wished to engage theBritish in the overseas empire game, andrecognized the benefits of seizing Hanover.The Prussians wished to hold on to their gainsfrom the War of the Austrian Succession, and


to seize Saxony if possible. Russia wished tocurtail the powers of Prussia, fearing a Prussianplan to seize the Kurland region, and hadplans for conquest in Poland and East Prussia.

Each country had her spies andambassadors working behind the scenes,trying to gain the upper hand innegotiations. France and Prussia hadrenewed an existing defense treaty on29 May 1747 that was to remain in force for10 years. However, Prince Kaunitz of Austriawas appointed ambassador to France in1750. He remained in France for three years

and made valuable contacts in the Frenchgovernment. Upon his return to Austria, hebecame chancellor of state. Kaunitz saw thevalue of a potential Franco-Austrian alliancein seizing Silesia. The treaty negotiationswere hurried and major changes occurred tothe diplomatic map of Europe due to -therising hostility between France and GreatBritain in North America in 1754.

Great Britain viewed Prussia and France asthe greatest potential aggressors in anotherEuropean war, and sought Russia as a possibleguarantor of Hanover. Britain saw war in

India


Europe as a major obstacle to her strategicwar plans in the colonies, and preferred thestatus quo to be maintained. She wished toengage the French overseas while Europeremained at peace. With an army that wassmall by European standards, Britain plannedto utilize her troops in overseas theatersrather than remaining in Europe to safeguardHanover. Britain and Russia negotiated atreaty on 30 September 1755 whereby Russiaagreed to provide 55,000 troops and40 galleys. The British in return agreed toprovide a £100,000 subsidy per annum, withan additional payment of £400,000 if troopswere moved from Russia to Hanover.

Frederick II, recognizing the formidablepossibility of an Anglo-Austrian-Russianalliance against him, made overtures to theBritish government in May 1755, indicatingthat he had no designs on Hanover andwished for peace. Negotiations beganbetween Prussia and Great Britain for adefensive treaty, and on 15 January 1756 theConvention of Westminster was signed. Bothparties agreed to mutual aid in keepingforeign troops out of the German states.Prussia also hoped that the British would putpressure on the Russians not to mobilizeagainst her.

Austria, however, did not wish tomaintain the status quo. She wished toattack and humiliate Prussia and seize Silesia,and felt that the British had betrayed theirlong-time partnership by siding with Prussia.Realizing that this new alliance also leftFrance isolated, Austria openly stated thatshe was negotiating with the French andthat Great Britain should not object. Britain,in turn, hastened to explain to Austria thatthe Convention was defensive in nature.

The Russians were not sitting idly by. InApril 1756, the Russians had five objectives:to begin the business of curtailing the powersof the King of Prussia; to engage Austria toassist in this endeavor; to mollify France tokeep her from moving against Vienna; topromote a favorable situation in Poland, sothat Russian troop movements across Polishterritory would not be hindered; to keep theSwedes and Turks silent and inactive. Austria

began negotiations with Russia at this point.The subsidy treaty between Great Britain andRussia had not yet been ratified and seemedto be unnecessary in the aftermath of theConvention.

On 1 May 1756 the First Treaty ofVersailles was signed between France andAustria. The significant agreements of thisfirst treaty were that Austria would remainneutral in the event of an Anglo-French war;and that France would not attack any ofAustria's territory. Austria would not assistGreat Britain in a colonial war. Anotherprovision of the treaty stated that if eithercountry were attacked, 24,000 troops fromthe other would be sent as aid. The idea wasthat if France attacked Hanover, then Prussiawould attack France, thus allowing theAustrians to move into Silesia.

While both the Convention ofWestminster and the Treaty of Versailleswere intended as defensive in nature, eachalso clearly had an offensive component.Russia was not a signatory due to Frenchfears of Russian expansion into Poland.France had a close relationship with theElector of Saxony, Augustus III, who wasalso the King of Poland, and both fearedthat Russian troops operating againstPrussia would seize Poland and causedestruction in the area. France consideredherself a major player in Poland and wasunwilling to lose her position in the region.After extensive negotiations among Saxony,France, and Austria, a deal was reached.Although it was not concluded until thewar had begun, by the end of 1756 theFrench had replaced the British as subsidy-providers to Russia, and the Russians hadpromised not to meddle in the domesticaffairs of Poland and to march acrossPoland with minimum damage.

Although the Russians were not anoriginal signatory of the First Treaty ofVersailles, Frederick II of Prussia realized thatthe walls were closing in on him. He saw apotential three-pronged attack on histerritory, with the French attacking from thewest, the Russians from the east and theAustrians from the south.

Warring sides

Linear and irregular warfare

Warfare in the Seven Years' War

The flintlock musket was the chiefweapon of all armies during the Seven Years'War. It had been introduced at thebeginning of the eighteenth century. It wasnot an accurate weapon - its accurate rangewas about 200-300 paces - but accuratefire was not its intended role. The musketwas a quick-firing weapon when comparedto the previous technology, and theconcept for its use was for infantry units toapproach along a given line of advanceand deliver a devastating volley at closerange, then reload to fire another volley.The amount of firepower and the abilityto deliver it became the keys to successin battle.

Use of the new musket drew armyformations out into longer lines, greatlyextending the frontage of battle. At the Battleof Leuthen, the Austrian frontage was4.5 miles (7.2km), while the Prussian frontagewas just over 2 miles (3.2km) long. ThePrussian frontage was smaller due to the tacticof the oblique order, which will be consideredlater. A common practice was to have onebattalion of infantry deployed with two orthree artillery pieces on its flanks. The artillery

Frederick's military instructions illustrating the obliqueorder. The idea is to deploy a large force on the enemy'sflanks. This is done in secrecy as the first line is deployedin the normal linear formation opposite the enemy.Meanwhile, troops from the second line wheel around tothe flank. See the map of Leuthen on p.41 for ademonstration of this tactic in the field. (Bodleian Library)

Warring sides 17

pieces gave added firepower, but also provideda dividing line between infantry battalions.

The various armies of the Seven Years' Wardeployed in different levels of frontage. Attimes the Prussians deployed in three ranks ofmen, but due to casualties over the course ofthe war this dropped to two. The Austriansdeployed in three ranks after the Battle ofKolin, which simplified firing techniques inthe line and increased the flexibility of theunits in battle. The British began the war withregiments deployed in three ranks, but by1759 they were deploying in ranks of two.

This style of warfare required training indeploying for battle and marching across openor closed country. As lines were formed,generals attempted either to outflank theenemy or to inflict a devastating frontal attack.The armies usually deployed in two or threelong lines of disciplined infantry and cavalry.The second and/or third lines would be usedas reinforcements or in a flanking attack.

Discipline in battle was paramount underthis system. Soldiers had to be trained tomarch over country in columns that wouldkeep cohesion regardless of the terrain.

This image illustrates the complicated maneuver ofdeploying from column into battle line (continentalstyle). (Bodleian Library)

Upon reaching the enemy, troops wouldthen have to deploy quickly into linearbattle formation. Armies that failed todeploy were often defeated, as when thePrussians inflicted a heavy defeat on theFranco-German army at Rossbach byattacking while the Franco-German armywas still marching in column formation.

Even when both armies were properlydeployed in linear formation, maintainingdiscipline was still important to all the menon the field. Troops were required tomaintain cohesion under a barrage of enemyartillery and musket fire, not firing untilordered to do so. Initially, a platoon firesystem was developed for the various armies.The first series of drills was very complicatedand difficult to carry out. To illustrate with asimplified example: each battalion wasdivided into three lines, and then into eightfiring units. Each unit - designated a platoon- would either fire in a sequence from the


center out to the wings of a line, or viceversa, or simultaneously. All commandersunderstood that after three volleys the troopsfired at will, thus keeping up a continuousfire. The Prussians, due to their level oftraining and discipline, were the closest toachieving the ideal system. Other armieswould adopt a simplified version of thissystem, where the first rank of men wouldfire a single volley, followed by the secondrank and so on as each rank reloaded. TheBritish applied this tactic well at the Plains ofAbraham in 1759.

Each army attempted to inflict adevastating volley that would disperse theenemy. The attack would sometimes proceedin straight lines due to the terrain. However,commanders often attempted to take anenemy line on the flank: if they succeeded inbreaking through a flank, they could causethe enemy to lose cohesion all along thefront. Cavalry were employed as, for the

most part, shock troops who would exploitan exposed flank of the enemy.

Terrain often influenced deployment on thebattlefield. At Kunersdorf, the Russiansdeployed in a swampy area dissected byravines that required the Prussians to deployto battle in a very small frontage, which inturn allowed the Russians a smaller target tohit with artillery. In heavily wooded or hillyterrain, large linear formations had a difficulttime marching and deploying for battle. TheBritish army in North America sufferedinitially against the woodland tactics of theFrench and their Native American allies, andin similar circumstances the Austrians inflicted

An artist's impression of linear warfare. The troops

in the forefront are arrayed in two lines, with

artillery marking the boundary between units

(location of forward artillery indicated by clouds

of smoke). Cavalry is deployed to the right flank.

(Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection, Brown

University Library)

Warring sides 19

heavy losses on the Prussian army with theirirregular or light infantry and cavalry.

Each army of the Seven Years' War hadstrengths and weaknesses in dealing with the

various tactics listed above. During the courseof the war, some armies reformed and learnedfrom defeat, while others acknowledgedattributes but failed to apply them.

Forest warfare (North America). Compare the line of march in forest conditions to the

continental style. The deployment of troops is in sharp contrast to continental linear style.


Prussia

At the beginning of the war, the Prussian armystood at 145,000 men, and was considered themost effective in Europe in linear formationcombat. This was achieved by thoroughtraining in the tactics of marching, extendinginto line and fire control, and the obliqueorder employed at Leuthen in 1757 was thehigh-water mark of this very detailed anddisciplined system. In analyzing theirperformance, the Austrian commander HenryLloyd (who served as an officer in the French,

Prussian Grenadier of the 3rd Battalion, 15th Regiment(Garde). (Osprey Publishing)

Prussian, and Russian armies over the courseof 40 years) noted: 'they have a facility inmanoeuvring beyond any other troops'(Annual Register, 1766). In the period followingthe War of the Austrian Succession, Frederickhad also reformed the heavy cavalry into thebest in Europe, and their shock valueproduced immediate results by inflicting aheavy first blow upon their enemies. Belief intheir capabilities promoted a certain level ofarrogance in Frederick's army, which wasundermined by subsequent Austrian andRussian victories.

The Prussians had a very organized systemfor maintaining the manpower of their armyin the field. A canton system had beenintroduced in the 1720s and 1730s thatregularly called forward all of the able-bodiedmen in a given district. The best men wouldproceed to a regular unit for service, andwould serve and train with the regularregiment for a year, while the rest would trainwith a garrison regiment in the area. After thecampaign season, the regular troops wouldreturn home to farm, and would continue tobe called upon, undergoing a retrainingsession with each recall. The regulars wouldreport first to their regiment in time of war,while the group who had trained with thegarrison unit would act as a reserve for theregiment in the field. The Seven Years' Warlasted longer than expected, however, and thecanton system was inadequate to keepregiments at full strength and adequatelytrained. The army was slowly being bledwhite in numbers and quality by 1759.

A second major source of manpower for thePrussian army was foreigners. It is estimatedthat, by 1756, up to 25 percent of the armywas made up of mercenaries, recruited fromthroughout Europe. As the war progressed,deserters and prisoners from other armies werealso pressed into service to increase numbers.

Frederick was innovative in developinghorse artillery and the use of howitzers toincrease the firepower of both his infantryand cavalry in the field during the war. Themajor failing of Frederick and his army wastheir inability to deal with the Austrian lighttroops, the Grenzer. Frederick failed to

Warring sides 21

British soldier of the 60th Royal American Regiment(North America). Note the hatchet, which wasused primarily to fell trees and branches, but alsoserved as an excellent close quarter weapon.(Osprey Publishing)

recognize the value of light troops, and thusthe Austrians were able to wreak havocamong the Prussian troops, reconnoiteringtheir positions and causing damage in hillyand wooded terrain. Frederick did create unitscalled Frei-Corps, whose role was to deal withthe Austrian light troops. However, since theywere never properly trained or disciplined forthis role (being made up of prisoners of warand deserters), the Frei-Corps units confinedtheir activities to plunder and pillage in mostareas. The regular troops had only contemptfor them, and they eventually became cannonfodder for the regular line infantry. Frederickdid create a true arm of Hussar cavalry, but heemployed them to capture deserters inaddition to carrying out their combat duties,

'sending out patrols of Hussars, to scour thecountry round the camp' (Military Instructionsfor the Generals of his Army, pp. 3-4).

The Prussian army did survive the war. Itsability to wage war on different fronts andcarry victory while sustaining defeat made itthe envy of the European armies rangedagainst it. The Prussian army became themodel that many armies emulated after theconflict, not recognizing that it had flaws aswell as strengths.

Great Britain

On the eve of war, the British armynumbered around 90,000 men. This numberwould reach close to 150,000 men over thecourse of the war, but finding enough menfor the army was a perennial problem, as wasfilling the ranks of the Royal Navy and thelocal militias. Press gangs and prisons wereimportant sources of recruits for bothservices. Most of the army was deployedoverseas in the colonies or at home.

The greatest strength of the British armyduring the Seven Years' War was its ability toadapt to conditions. When the army wasrequired to wage war in North America, itbecame clear that traditional linear tactics werenot suitable for fighting in the heavily woodedterrain of the frontier. To be effective in thewoods, soldiers needed to be lightly armed andmobile. They needed to move quickly, in smallgroups, as well as in long lines carrying heavyarms and baggage. After a number of reverses,the army began to adopt new tactics bettersuited to its environment, raising local ranger-style units and employing light infantrytrained in skirmishing in the woods.

Formal recognition of this innovationhappened in two ways. Two light infantryregiments, the 55th and 80th Foot, wereemployed in this type of warfare.Additionally, the 60th Royal AmericanRegiment was raised from the frontierpopulations of North America and fromIreland and England. The intent of the60th was unique: to combine the forestfighting tactics of the French and their allied


Native Americans with the discipline of aregular soldier. The experiences and tactics ofthese units were evaluated and conveyed tothe rest of the army, and by 1759 regularBritish army units had eight line companiesand one grenadier and one light company.This innovation enabled the British army tomatch the French in both the woods and theopen plains of North America.

The British-allied army in Germany, HisBritannic Majesty's Army, was chieflyorganized along normal continental lines.British and Hanoverian infantry units wonpraise at Minden, while the cavalryperformed well at Warburg. There was astrong light infantry element, but it wasmostly German in origin. The British did notsend light troops to Germany until 1760.The German light troops had proved theirworth in various skirmishes with the French,and had also provided a wealth ofintelligence to their commander.

The British army units serving in Indiawere also trained and fought alongcontinental lines. The officers and men wereseconded to the various East India Companyforces to stiffen them. The British laggedbehind the French in training and organizingtheir native Sepoy troops along Europeanlines, and this error was not rectified until1759. The improved battlefield performanceof the native troops was witnessed at theBattle of Wandiwash, where the Britishcommander, Colonel Eyre Coote, had twocompanies of Sepoys as his bodyguard duringthe battle (Coote's Journal, II, 22/1/60).

Henry Lloyd criticized the British army forthe practice of buying and sellingcommissions. He felt that the purchasesystem should be abolished, but that withthat innovation, combined with betterdiscipline, 'they would surpass any troops inthe world' (Annual Register, 1766).

Russia

The Russian army's strength was333,000 men, divided into 174,000 fieldforces and the rest militia and garrison

troops. During the war, Russia usually onlycommitted between 60,000 and 90,000 mento any one campaign. The vast numericalsuperiority of the Russian state was thearmy's greatest asset. After a bloodyencounter, the Russians were able to fieldmore reinforcements than Prussia could everhope to. Reforms had been drawn up toimprove the army, but they were only-implemented as the war began and did notbegin to show results until the end.

The Russian army was perceived as a large,unwieldy, disorganized machine when itmarched into battle. This perception wasdemonstrated in one part of the combinedagreements between the Russians and Austriansin 1759, which stated that when the Russiansreached the Oder river, the Austrians wouldtake over supplying their provisions. Theinadequate supply network had played a role inthe Russian generals' planning and preventedthem from following up their victory atKunersdorf in 1759. The campaigns of 1758and 1759 saw the Russians being forced to pullback from the Oder region to their supplydepots in Poland, giving up any land gained.One of the first signs that reforms had begun totake hold was the improvement of the Russiansupply train in the later years of the war.

Most observers also had a poor opinion ofthe Russian general officers. The Russiangenerals themselves were contemptuous ofone another for various reasons, and thegeneral staff was not sufficiently wellorganized to offset the generals' ineptitude.The Russian armies marched forward in largecolumns spread over vast areas, and it took astrong commander to bring all the forcestogether at one time or to follow up a victory.Frederick noted: 'had the Russians knownhow to profit from victory [Kunersdorf], andpursued the disheartened troops, Prussiawould have been ruined beyond redemption'(Frederick II, History of the Seven Years War, II,p. 32). At times the number of officers of thelow and middle rank was below strength foreach regiment, which caused furthercommand and control problems.

The reforms caused organizationaldisruptions throughout the army. These were

Warring sides 23

Russian non-commissioned officer from a line regiment.(Osprey Publishing)

implemented through the formation of newunits, which were organized differently totheir older counterparts. This caused greatdifficulty when the units were maneuveringand deploying for battle, but the infantryand artillery benefited greatly in battle,especially defensively. As demonstrated atZorndorf and Kunersdorf, the Russians wereexcellent soldiers in defense. An Austriancommander noted: 'their [the Russians']courage alone has rendered them victoriousin spite of all these difficulties in which thegeneral ignorance of their officers involvedthem' (Lloyd, Annual Register, 1766).The artillery wing also underwent atransformation during the war, sparked

by its performance at Zorndorf. It wasrestructured into more highly organizedbodies, enabling it to play a larger role atKunersdorf, stopping the Prussian advanceand inflicting heavy casualties.

Austria

The Austrian army stood at 201,000 men in1756. The Austrians had set up a reformcommission after the defeats of the SilesianWars in 1748 and, impressed by thediscipline and drill of the Prussians, hadwritten drill manuals and distributed themthroughout the army. Intensive training was

Officer of the Austrian Artillery Corps. (Osprey Publishing)


established for all of the various branches.Fire discipline of the regular line infantry wasimproved, although still not to the same levelas that of the Prussians. Prince Joseph WenzelLiechtenstein, who had been appointed theDirector of Artillery in 1744, published atraining manual and generally made theartillery more professional, enabling it to playa significant role by applying devastatingvolleys against the Prussian infantry. TheAustrian army changed considerably in eightyears, and the British General Joseph Yorkenoted that Frederick was 'very far fromhaving contempt for the Austrians but thecontrary and I heard him several times call tohis officers and bid them to take notice ofwhat the enemy did well in order to learnfrom it' (Yorke to Earl Hardwicke, 31/7/58).

The Austrian generals were aware of thedevastating firepower and maneuverability ofthe Prussian army - one reason why theyadopted a defensive strategy throughout mostof the war, preferring to fight among the hillsand woods of Bohemia and Silesia. Frederickhad a difficult time dealing with theAustrians in hilly fortified positions due tothe lack of mobility of his forces.

Another significant reason for thisdefensive strategy was the Austrians' use of theGrenzer corps. These troops, also referred to asCroates and Pandours by contemporaries, weremade up of soldiers from the Balkan frontierregions. This region was a heavily militarizedzone, and warfare called for small irregularcorps to wage small-scale battles by constantskirmishing. The Austrians used this militarycorps as light troops, employing them toreconnoiter, forage, and skirmish. They weredeployed on the flanks of the army as itmarched, and would report on the movementsand dispositions of the Prussians before battle.During battle, they would attack the flanks ofthe Prussian lines, trying to get them to fireand break ranks. The corps numbered 34,000infantry and 6,000 Hussar cavalry at thebeginning of the conflict. Frederick stated: 'themost formidable enemy he has to fight withare the Croats... who are hardy, brave peoplefaithful to their sovereign ... more on his guardagainst them than against any other troops...

it was impossible for him to oppose anythingequal to them' (Yorke to Hardwicke, 31/7/58).

Similar to the Russians, the Austriansalso suffered from inferior generals. Whileexcellent in defense, the Austrians were oftenslow to carry out an offensive, largelybecause their generals failed to launchoffensive action in a coordinated fashion.Frederick noted that one of the reasons forhis survival was 'the lack of unity betweenthe Russian and Austrian generals, whichmade them circumspect when the occasionrequired that they should act with vigour tooverwhelm Prussia' (Frederick II, History ofthe Seven Years War, II, p. 268).

France

The Seven Years' War marked the low pointfor the French army of the eighteenthcentury. The total force numbered over200,000 men and suffered from poorhigh-level leadership, lack of discipline, alackluster officer class, and delays inimplementing necessary reforms. There were,however, some exceptions to the rule amongthe French forces in the colonies.

The French troops stationed in NorthAmerica were excellent frontier and linearformation soldiers. The British learned fromearly defeats at their hands to apply similartactics to their own training strategies. TheFrench East India Company troops were also ofhigh quality. In the late 1740s theyimplemented the formal instruction of nativetroops in linear warfare. The British, as in NorthAmerica, learned from defeat and appliedFrench theories to their own troops in theregion. The French were not able to reinforcetheir colonial forces after 1758 because theRoyal Navy had been successful in denying theFrench navy access to its own colonies. At thesame time, the British heavily reinforced theircolonies, outnumbering the French.

Over the course of the war, the decline indiscipline among the French army units inNorth America and India became a factor. Atthe Plains of Abraham, French troops openedfire too early and lost cohesion after the

Warring sides 25

British volleys. In India, interruptions inpayment of the soldiers' wages led towidespread disruption and desertion in theunits of the Company, Regulars, and Marines.The British took advantage of this by signingdeserting French soldiers into their forces.

French grenadier and regimental colors.(Osprey Publishing)

The majority of the regular French armywas used to wage war against His BritannicMajesty's Army in Germany, and all of itsmajor problems were apparent in the Germancampaign. As the armies went to war, theFrench army was undergoing training in newtactics, but these had not had sufficient timeto take effect and the French were outclassedby the ability of their opponents to deployquickly. The tactical and organizationalchanges began to bear fruit late in the war,but by then it was too late to change theoutcome in France's favor. During eachcampaign the army lost a fifth of its strengthto casualties, sickness, and especiallydesertion. This was a serious problem for theFrench army in Germany because the paysystem collapsed repeatedly and on theseoccasions the relaxed discipline of the Frencharmy became glaringly apparent.

To make matters worse, there was aserious shortage of officers in the field,who were needed to instill discipline andorder to units during the campaign season.Henry Lloyd noted of the French army: 'ifrepulsed their spirits are exhausted so muchso that it is difficult for them to attack again... they become mutinous and blame theirleaders and desert' {Annual Register, 1766).High-level commanders also failed to unitein strength at important times to overwhelmHis Britannic Majesty's Army in Germany.Troops from several small German statesallied with France and Austria servedwith the French army in Germany(Reichsarmee). However, these small Germanstates did not contribute the same numberor quality of soldiers as those serving in HisBritannic Majesty's Army. The Germantroops did not train in peacetime andperformed abysmally at Rossbach. Theywere only fit for garrison and lines ofcommunications duties.

The French army did recognize the valueof light troops and the various tacticalchanges of march and battle order, and thesewere to be central pieces of the laterNapoleonic French armies. However, theywere not as successful in their infancy duringthe Seven Years' War.

Outbreak

The gathering storm

As no single event launched the Seven Years'War, it is simplest to describe the militaryevents of 1756 and relate them to the politicalevents of 1756 and early 1757, when formalwar had finally been declared by all states.This chapter focuses on developments inNorth America, Minorca, and Saxony as thefurther catalysts for the war.

In North America only one majorengagement took place in 1756. The Frenchand the British governments had appointednew commanders-in-chief for their respectivecampaigns in North America. The Frenchappointed Marquis Louis Joseph de Montcalm,while the British appointed General JohnCampbell (Earl of Loudon). Montcalm arrivedin North America with reinforcements of1,000 regulars and six ships of the line. TheFrench attacked and destroyed the British fortat Oswego in August. Montcalm thenreinforced the French Fort Carillon(Ticonderoga) at the southwestern end of LakeChamplain, after which both sides went intowinter quarters as no fighting had erupted inthe Lake George region.

The French invasion of Minorca in April1756 was the event that finally sparked aformal declaration of war between France andGreat Britain. The Royal Navy had a majorbase at Port Mahon on Minorca and anotherat Gibraltar, and they were under orders tointercept any French movement in theMediterranean and to observe Frenchpreparations in the port of Toulon. There hadbeen reports that the French were preparingan invasion fleet against Great Britain fromvarious bases, and Admiral John Byng was sentto the region with an additional 10 ships ofthe line to protect the two naval bases. TheRoyal Navy had already deployed many shipsof the line to protect commerce between theWest Indies and North America, as well as tointercept any French shipping either dealingin commerce or reinforcement of overseas

garrisons. The British had 2,500 troops on theisland of Minorca, while the French, underthe command of Admiral Count Augustinde la Gallissonniere, had assembled aninvasion force of 12 ships of the line and15,000 soldiers.

The French had landed and invested PortMahon by the middle part of April. By 8 Maythey had opened fire on the defenders of PortMahon, the same day that Britishreinforcements left Gibraltar. When news ofthe French invasion reached London, GreatBritain acted, formally declaring war on Franceon 17 May 1756. The naval battle of Minorcaoccurred on 20 May; Byng's squadron by thistime numbered 13 ships of the line. TheBritish had five ships heavily damaged, andthe French pulled away and blockaded PortMahon. Byng felt that the reinforcements hehad on board were not sufficient to lift thesiege of Port Mahon, and he returned toGibraltar, forcing the garrison on Minorca tosurrender on 28 May. Admiral Byng was latertried by court martial, convicted of not doinghis utmost, and shot.

It soon became apparent that the strugglebetween Great Britain and France was going toengulf the continent of Europe. The need toemploy the Royal Navy to protect commerceand impede the French use of the sea-laneswas recognized, and it was suggested that amore aggressive land campaign in the colonieswould be necessary. Both Britain and Francerealized that the war in the colonies was goingto be a long fight. France recognized thatHanover was a liability for Britain, and thatBritain had difficulties raising new units forthe army. The situation reached a critical stagein 1756 when Hanover had to provide troopsto Britain to protect her shores from a possibleFrench invasion.

Frederick II of Prussia saw the war cloudsgathering on the horizon. He knew from hisspies in the capitals of Europe that Austria and

Outbreak 27

Russia were mobilizing their forces, and in Junehe began to mobilize his own in response. Hethought that the Electorate of Saxony, beingwealthy and strategically located, might beinvolved in the Austrian and Russianpreparations. The Prussians had completedtheir mobilization by the end of August, andon the 29th Frederick crossed into Saxony with63,000 men. The Saxon army, numbering only18,000 troops, fell back before the Prussianadvance. They retreated to their fortified camp

at Pirna, where the Prussians blockaded them.Concluding that the camp was a well-defendedlocation, Frederick decided to starve hisopponents out, and his troops occupiedDresden and Leipzig. More troops, under thecommand of Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick,were sent to the Bohemian border to establishwinter quarters. Meanwhile, an Austrian armydetachment of 40,000 men, under thecommand of Marshal Maximilian U. vonBrowne, was approaching the Prussians on the

Central Europe


Bohemian border, intending to push intoSaxony and lift the siege at Pirna.

Frederick initially sent reinforcements toFerdinand, but on 30 September he marchedwith 29,000 troops to take personal commandof the situation. His troops assembled nearthe plain at Lobositz, and both armiesprepared for battle. The Prussians had18,000 infantry, 10,500 cavalry, and97 artillery pieces. The Austrians massed26,500 infantry, both regular and irregular,7,500 cavalry, and 94 artillery pieces. AsFrederick approached the Austrian lines,skirmishing was already taking place on hisleft side on Lobosch Hill. At 7.00 am on1 October he dispatched a cavalry force toreconnoiter the Austrian lines. They wererepulsed by heavy Austrian fire. As membersof the first charge returned, a second cavalrycharge was put in and it too failed to breakthrough the Austrian lines. Regular infantryreinforced the Austrian irregulars on the slopeof Lobosch as a Prussian infantry attack fellin, and after six hours of fighting thePrussians were unable to dislodge theAustrians. A final attack was made against theLobosch slope, and this time the Prussiansbroke through. The Prussian infantry thenpushed into the town under a heavy artillerybarrage, driving the Austrians back beforethem. Both sides had lost equal numbers -around 3,000 men - but the Prussians hadchanged their opinion of Austrian capabilities.As one soldier noted, 'they're not the sameold Austrians' (Duffy, Army of Frederick theGreat, p. 252).

The Austrians had succeeded in sending asmall corps to rescue the Saxons at Pirna,expecting that their arrival would spur a

Saxon move against the Prussians. Instead,the Saxon army surrendered on 17 October1756. Frederick assembled the defeated troopsand announced that they would beincorporated into the Prussian army -unusually, as whole units. The generalpractice was to break up units and dispersethem among existing regiments, andFrederick's decision was to have repercussionsin the future, when whole Saxon battalionswould desert the Prussians and switch theirallegiance to either the Austrians or theFrench. The British envoy, Sir AndrewMitchell, was present when the Prussianarmy incorporated the Saxon troops. In aletter he stated:

Sunday the 17th the Saxon troops proceeded bytheir general officers ... inarched into a plain inthe neighbourhood and after passing between twobattalions of Prussian Guards ... had the articlesof war read and the military oath administered tothem ...as every regiment was sworn separately,this ceremony lasted this and the next day.(Mitchell to Earl Holdernesse, 21 October 1756)

The military events of 1756 destroyed anyhope of a peaceful solution to the situationin Europe. The events in Saxony indicatedthat a war on the continent was inevitableand that Great Britain and France wouldhave no choice but to be part of it. By11 January 1757, Russia had become thethird signatory to the First Treaty ofVersailles, sealing the alliance of Russia,Austria, and France against Prussia and GreatBritain. Great Britain and Prussia meanwhilebegan to make their Convention ofWestminster into an offensive arrangement.

The fighting

World war

Overview of the war

Theaters of operationThe fighting during the war can be dividedinto distinct theaters of operation. The navalconflict was chiefly between the British andthe French, as were the conflicts in NorthAmerica and the Caribbean. On the NorthAmerican frontier, the British suffered earlydefeats because the army was not properlytrained or equipped to fight in woodedterrain. By 1758 these deficits had beenremedied and the tide had turned in favor ofthe British. In 1760 the British launched athree-pronged attack against the lastremnants of the French in North America,and by the end of the year they had achievedtheir aim of destroying the French presencein North America.

The western European theater of operationswas in western Germany, between the Frenchand the British-allied German armies. Afterinitial defeats, the British-allied army rallied toprotect the western flank of Prussia and secureHanover against French occupation.

The central European theater of operationswas the scene of the battles and campaigns ofthe Prussians, Austrians, and Russians. Most ofthe fighting occurred in Saxony, Silesia,Bohemia, and the Oder River region. Frederickbegan the war with the intent of strikingagainst and occupying the wealthy provinceof Saxony. His strategy of 1757 was to delivera knockout blow against the main Austrianarmy before the Russians had fully enteredthe war, and that year was marked by a seriesof major battles that nevertheless failed todeliver the vital victory that Frederick hadwished for. His revised strategy in 1758 was todeliver attacks upon the Austrians andRussians that would prevent them fromforming a united front, but his lossesmounted and in 1759 his strategy changed

radically, to one of strategic defense. His planwas to allow his enemies both to comeagainst him and then to exploit theadvantage of interior lines to defeat first oneand then the other. He had selected this planwhen he recognized that the Austrians andRussians were proving difficult to defeat whenfighting on the defensive. The rest of the warwas spent attempting to stop the Austriansand Russians uniting and destroying the mainPrussian corps in the field.

The last theater of operations to beconsidered was on the Indian subcontinent.Chiefly, this was a war between twocommercial enterprises, the French and EnglishEast India Companies. The war was on a smallscale compared to the battles of Europe andNorth America, but the prize of dominance inIndia was nevertheless an important one. Bothcompanies deployed locally raised troops, bothnative and European, reinforced by asprinkling of regular troops provided by theirrespective governments. The campaigns beganin Bengal in 1756 and were concluded inBritain's favor in 1757 after the Battle ofPlassey. The conflict then switched to asouthern region, the Carnatic, where the wartook on a more European flavor. The Frenchwere first on the offensive in 1758, but wereunable to hold the advantage for long due toreverses in the naval situation. British successin blockading the French navy meant that theFrench were effectively cut off from any hopeof reinforcements by sea.

The naval warThe naval war was chiefly fought betweenBritain and France. The Royal Navy had atonnage of 277,000 tons in 1755 and375,000 tons in 1760. The French navy had162,000 tons in 1755 and 156,000 tons in1760. The British had feared that the Frenchand Spanish would join in an alliance,


because the combined force of the twonations would have exceeded that of theRoyal Navy. In the event, Spain did not jointhe war until 1762, after the French had beenswept from the seas, leaving Britain free toconcentrate on this new naval opponent.

The Royal Navy engaged in three differentforms of strategy during the war. The first wasthe seizure and destruction of the Frenchtrading fleet across the world's oceans, which

HMS George (right, first rate) alongside the launchingof HMS Cambridge (third rate) in 1757,(National Maritime Museum)

denied the French government a largepercentage of the revenue raised from thecolonies and had the added benefit ofincreasing British revenue for the war effort.The second was the tying up andemasculating of the French fleet by blockadein its home waters. The third and finalstrategy was the combined operations role ofthe fleet in carrying the war to the coloniesand France. This last role is dealt with later inthe book. During the war, the Royal Navy wasable to increase its numbers of ships both byconstruction and by seizure of French (andlater Spanish) fighting ships. The Royal Navy

The fighting 31

built or captured 69 ships, whereas thecombined French and Spanish navies onlyadded a total of six ships to their fleets. TheFrench navy's biggest problem was a lack ofunified strategy at the government level, sinceopinion at the French court was dividedbetween those who favored concentrating onnaval and colonial warfare, and those whofavored a war in Europe and felt that a navalwar was secondary to the seizure of Hanover.

The naval term 'ship of the line' refers tothree-masted, square-rigged vessels with 60 ormore cannon on board (i.e. the minimumfirepower to be able to stand in the line of

battle against an enemy). Ships with fewerthan 60 cannon were referred to as cruisersand frigates. First rate ships carried 90-100 ormore guns; second rate usually fielded80-90 guns; third rate ships had 64-74 guns.Fourth rate ships (frigates) usually carried50 guns. Fifth and sixth rate ships (cruisers)carried 24-40 guns. Each navy attempted tostandardize its own ratings, but capturedforeign ships and changes in design made thisdifficult. The Royal Navy return for 10 April1759 lists the following: two ships of the firstrating, 10 of the second rating, 40 of thethird, 47 of the fourth, 32 of the fifth, and60 of the sixth (Hardwicke Papers 35898).

Naval tactics in use at this time had beendeveloped during the previous century.The most commonly used tactic was calledline-ahead, which was similar to the linearformations of the land armies. The idea wasfor a squadron to form in line and attack theenemy fleet with a broadside fire along acontinuous line. The ships would givecovering fire to each other as they progresseddown the line of the enemy. However, someadmirals hoped for a melee or penetration ofthe enemy's line of ships, because otherwisebattles could easily descend into ship-versus-ship engagements. Another advantage of themelee was that the line-ahead formationcould be broken at a critical moment in battleto destroy fleeing enemy ships or penetratingships. Royal Navy commanders had beengiven 'Fighting Instructions' that tied themrigidly to the line-ahead tactics. However, atvarious times commanders changed tacticsand employed the melee. In the early part ofthe war, superior French shipbuilding gavethem more maneuverability and thus astrategic advantage. By 1756 the British hadrecognized this and had begun to improvetheir own designs. They also examined andimpressed any captured French ships intoBritish service as soon as they were taken.

The Royal Navy deployed the majority ofits fleet in the North American theater and inhome waters, intending to disrupt thelucrative trade between France and hercolonies as well as to protect Great Britainfrom a possible French invasion. The French


Admiral Edward Boscawen, victor of Louisbourg in 1758

and Lagos Bay in 1759. (National Maritime Museum)

navy was initially successful at the outbreak ofwar; it seized Minorca and reinforced NewFrance. In 1757 the Royal Navy began tointercept French shipping in the Gulf ofMexico and seized a large quantity of prizes.They also began to blockade the major Frenchports in an attempt to seize or destroy Frenchnaval units, and seized neutral shipping, usingthe claim that the cargo was intended for theFrench market. The British government alsohired privateers to search and seize Frenchand neutral shipping. This policy upset manyneutral states, but they were powerless tooppose it. British commercial shipping by1758 had a naval protection force (convoy) tooffset any French naval attacks, althoughFrench privateering efforts eventually

accounted for about 10 percent of Britishcommercial shipping.

The Royal Navy suffered reverses in 1757and 1758 in the coastal expeditions againstRochefort and St Malo, and in the Louisbourgcampaign of 1757. However, in 1758 theBritish Admiral Henry Osborne defeated aFrench force in Spanish waters attempting torelieve pressure on the Toulon fleet. TheBritish Admiral Sir Edward Hawke defeated aFrench force near Basque Roads, which waspreparing to sail to New France. The Frenchinability to unite their Toulon, Brest, and LeHavre fleets to overwhelm the Royal Navyblockade was to be a decisive factor in thesevictories; the Royal Navy had the advantagein 1758 of bases such as Gibraltar close athand, which enabled it to mask the Toulonbase and develop new resupply methods forthe fleet off Brest. The British also improvedthe port of Halifax in Nova Scotia, and thisproved decisive in the campaigns againstLouisbourg and Quebec. After the fall of theFrench naval base at Louisbourg in 1758, theRoyal Navy could sail into the St Lawrenceregion at least a month earlier from Halifaxand Louisbourg than if it had sailed fromGreat Britain. Only the break-up of the icefloes impeded its progress.

The year 1759 was marked by two decisiveengagements that ended French navalattempts to gain a decisive advantage. TheFrench Commodore, the Marquis de la Clue,sailed with 12 ships of the line from Toulonfor Brest. The British Admiral EdwardBoscawen, commander at Gibraltar, with14 ships of the line, sailed to intercept theFrench. On 18 August the two fleets met offthe Portuguese coast at Lagos. The Britishcaptured three ships and destroyed twoothers. The French withdrew and sailed forLisbon, where the British blockaded them.

Even after the loss at Lagos, the Frenchcontinued to prepare for an invasion ofBritain to offset pressure on New France. InNovember 1759, a major part of the RoyalNavy blockading force off Brest returned toport at Torbay due to a storm. The Frenchdecided to seize this moment and launch anaval attack. The French Admiral Hubert

The fighting 33

de Conflans sailed with 21 ships of the lineand supporting frigates, and encounteredsome of the remaining Royal Navy ships.The British Admiral Edward Hawke shortlycaught up with the French force, leading25 ships of the line, plus various supportingcruisers and frigates. The French withdrewtowards Quiberon Bay, hoping its naturaldefense of reefs would prevent the RoyalNavy squadron from pursuing. The RoyalNavy followed despite the dangers of rocksand reefs and on 20 November battle ensued.Hawke destroyed or captured seven shipswhile losing only two of his own, and theFrench withdrew further after beingscattered. This was the last major Frenchattempt to invade the British Isles; most ofthe French fleet remained in port for the restof the war.

The Royal Navy continued to patrol offthe various French bases. It also increasedpressure on the French commercial fleetsthroughout the world. In 1760 France, dueto the losses in New France and to hercommercial fleet, had problems funding herwar effort in Germany and paying theannual subsidy to Austria. The Royal Navy,with other areas secure, sought a moreaggressive combined operations policy in theCaribbean against the French and, by 1762,the Spanish colonies.

1757

North AmericaLord Loudon waited through the firstmonths of 1757 for specific instructions forthe campaign in North America. In April hewas directed to attack the French naval portof Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island.Louisbourg was a well-garrisoned andimportant base for the French navy. It alsoprotected the entry to the St Lawrence Riverbasin, which was the central route of tradefor New France. Loudon was forced towithdraw many of his regular troops fromthe New York frontier to gather sufficientstrength for the attack. By early July theBritish had assembled seven battalions of

regulars in Halifax, where they awaited thenaval squadron that would carry the forceand engage any French naval units atLouisbourg. However, while they werewaiting, news arrived that the French had22 ships of the line at Louisbourg as well as7,000 men. This force was thought to be toolarge to engage and the decision was made tocancel the expedition and return the troopsto New York.

In the meantime, the French had seizedthe opportunity offered when the New Yorkfrontier was stripped of so many Britishregulars. Montcalm had assembled8,000 French, Canadian militia, and alliedNative Americans at the northern end ofLake George, dividing his force into two,with 2,500 men marching overland and5,000 men in whale boats sailing down thelake. Their object was the British FortWilliam Henry, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Munro, on the southern end of thelake. By 3 August the French had surroundedthe fort and begun to lay siege, and withinthree days they had opened fire on thewestern side of the fort with artillery.

The fort was equipped with 17 gunsand 2,200 men, a mix of regulars andprovincials, and was sorely in need ofreinforcement at this point. The closest fort,Fort Edward, lay 14 miles (22km) south ofFort William Henry. Its British commander,Colonel Webb, was waiting forreinforcements to arrive before moving out.He had collected a force of 4,000 men,regulars and provincials, but having receivedintelligence that Montcalm had 12,000 men,felt that he needed still more troops. Webbsent a letter to Fort William Henry advisingthe British to seek terms of surrender, andthe letter was intercepted by Montcalm'stroops. They increased the pressure on thefort, and on 9 August Munro capitulated,having lost more than 300 of his men. TheBritish were allowed to leave with theirregimental colors, armed for their safetyagainst native attacks, and to be escorted bya French regiment to Fort Edward. On theway, a force of French-allied NativeAmericans estimated at 3,000 attacked the


British column. French regulars tried tostop the native attacks, but more than100 people were killed during the attack,women and children among them.

This engagement effectively destroyed theBritish presence on Lake George. The Frenchburned the fort and returned to Fort Carillon(Ticonderoga) in the north, and both sidesrested and began to prepare for thecampaign of 1758. Skirmishing on thefrontier between the British and French,

and the Native Americans allied with eachside, continued.

Western EuropeAfter Frederick's move into Saxony, Francewas obliged to honor her agreement toprovide 24,000 troops to the Austrian cause,and accordingly began to prepare for aninvasion of Hanover and the Prussianprovinces of Geldern and Cleve. Frederick IInotified the British envoy, Sir Andrew

The fighting 35

Mitchell, of the French intentions, andestimated that the French were gathering anarmy of 50,000 men. The British did not wishto send forces to the region; recruitment wasproblematic and the government consideredthe war in the colonies its first priority.Frederick suggested a plan for the Hessian andHanoverian troops stationed in Britain toreturn to Hanover to protect the region in theevent of an invasion. Since this wouldamount to only 35,000 men, Prussia offered

Battle of Quiberon Bay, 20 November 1759 - detail ofships breaking up in the foreground.(National Maritime Museum)

to provide an additional 8,000-10,000 men,and to ask the states of Brunswick andSaxe-Gotha to provide a further 10,000 men.The troops from Hesse, Brunswick, andSaxe-Gotha would be paid for by a Britishsubsidy, and the Hanoverians owed allegianceto the King of England since he was also theElector of Hanover. The British Cabinetagreed to Frederick's plan for an 'Army ofObservation' (Allied army), paid for withBritish money but employing no Britishtroops, to protect Hanover and the Prussianprovinces in the west against France.

By March 1757, French troops were onthe move. The army was estimated at100,000 men, which included Austrianand German-allied troops. The army wascommanded first by Lieutenant-GeneralPrince Soubise, and later (from 27 April) byMarshal d'Estrées. The Allied army numberedonly 47,000 men, of which a largeHanoverian contingent had not yet arrivedfrom England. On 30 March the Duke ofCumberland, son of George II, was givencommand of the Allied army, under orders toprotect the dominions of Prussia andHanover but not to act offensively. In earlyApril the French crossed the Rhine andadvanced towards Wesel, and on 1 May theSecond Treaty of Versailles was signed. Thiswas an offensive agreement among France,Austria, and Russia that called for France toprovide 105,000 troops and to subsidize10,000 German troops for the war againstPrussia. France was also to provide22.5 million livres to Austria for her wareffort. The aims of the signatories were todestroy Prussia's military potential and tosupport Austria's claim to Silesia.

The French continued to advance againstthe Allied army, and in early JuneCumberland decided to stop and fight atBrackwede. However, Soubise was able tosend his light troops around the flanks of theAllies and threaten their communications,and Cumberland decided to withdraw. The


French continued to advance on the heels ofthe Allies and to outmaneuver them. Finally,on 24 July Cumberland began to digemplacements in the Hastenbeck andVoremberg areas. Skirmishing betweenforward units began, with both sides tryingto gain intelligence to identify the intentionsof the enemy.

Soubise recognized that Cumberlandwas digging in for battle. The two sidesstood as follows: the French army had50,000 infantry, 10,000 cavalry, and 68 guns,

Battle of Prague, 6 May 1757.(National Army Museum, Chelsea)

while the Allied army had 30,000 infantry,5,000 cavalry, and 28 guns. Cumberland'smain line of infantry was to be drawn northof Hastenbeck and along the road runningeast. The left and center positions of his linewere heavily defended, but his right wingdid not require much protection, naturallydefended as it was by marshy fields.

The French attack was aimed at the centerof Cumberland's line, with an attack againstObensburg. The French knew they hadsuperiority in numbers of artillery and men,marching against the hill feature ofObensburg, which was protected by threecompanies of jaegers. At 3.00 am on 26 July

The fighting 37

the French advance began, and by 8.00 amthe entire line was marching against its 'Allied counterparts. The battlefield shortlybecame so confused that both sides firedupon their own men in the melee. Bothcommanders were given incorrect reports ofattacks on the flanks and other positions.D'Estrées saw his own cavalry moving fromone side of the front to the other when hehad given no such order. Upon receivingfurther intelligence of Allied movements, heordered his troops to withdraw from the fieldat about 2.00 pm. Reaching the south side ofthe Haste River, he received reports thatCumberland too had withdrawn from the

field of battle. This proved to be the case:Cumberland was in full retreat and d'Estréessent his units back across the Haste to takethe field of battle and follow up theenemy. The French lost 1,000 killed and1,200 wounded, and the Allies 311 killed,900 wounded, and 200 missing.

Following this battle, most of Hanoverwas occupied by the French army. On8 September Cumberland signed theConvention of Kloster Zeven with theFrench. This stipulated that the HanoverianAllied army was to be demobilized and thatprisoners of war were to be exchanged.

The British government believed that, ifthe Royal Navy and army were deployed incombined operations against the coast ofFrance, the French army would need toredeploy forces from the Hanover front tothe French coastal regions. The Britishgovernment still did not want to send Britishtroops to Hanover, fearing that they would betied down in the region for many months.

Ten regiments were assembled on the Isleof Wight with the intention of attacking theFrench port of Rochefort. The troops spentmost of the summer waiting for transports toarrive. The ships finally put to sea on8 September, the same day that Cumberlandsigned the Convention with the French. By23 September the fleet and the army hadbattered and captured the Isle d'Aix.However, due to inclement weather andreports of sizable French reinforcements inRochefort, the fleet and army decided againstfurther action and returned to Portsmouthon 3 October. Many British raids were madeon the French coast and ports in thefollowing years of the war.

Central EuropeFrederick II opened the 1757 campaigningseason on 18 April. He invaded Bohemia,intending a decisive campaign ending withthe destruction of the Austrian army and itsability to wage war. His Prussians attackedwith four separate corps totaling116,000 men, who pushed into Bohemia,converging on a similar axis and hoping tooutmaneuver the Austrians. The Austrian


army was under the dual command of FieldMarshal Browne and Prince Charles ofLorraine, brother-in-law of Maria Theresa.Elements of the two armies met on a plateauto the east of Prague in early May. ThePrussians amassed 47,000 infantry,17,000 cavalry, and 210 pieces of artillery,while the Austrians massed 45,000 regularinfantry, 2,000 irregulars, 12,600 cavalry, and60 pieces of artillery.

At 6.00 am on 6 May the two armiesengaged. The Austrians had occupied the highground, and their northern section was alsocovered by the fortifications of Prague. ThePrussians realized after a reconnaissance thatthe southern area was the probable site for

operations. The Prussian cavalry led thecharge in an attempt to roll up the right ofthe Austrians, and the Austrian horse placedon the right wing scattered. Field MarshalBrowne began to reinforce the eastern edge ofthe plateau with infantry and artillery, whilethe Prussian first line marched towards theAustrians at the edge of the plateau, only tobe driven back by heavy fire. This counter-attack did, however, offer an opportunity tothe Prussians: in moving their infantry to thesoutheast, the Austrians had left a gap in theline to the north. Twenty-two Prussianbattalions stormed into the gap to isolate theright wing of the Austrian army from the rest,and then rolled up the Austrians from the left,

Western Europe

The fighting 39

successfully pushing them back towardsPrague. The Prussians were victorious in thisengagement, but they suffered morecasualties, losing 14,200 men while theAustrians lost 13,400.

The troops retreated from the battlefield tothe gates of Prague. Their numbers, combinedwith those of the garrison, meant that therewere 50,000 Austrian troops in the city. By29 May Frederick had begun to lay siege tothe city with artillery bombardments. If thecity had fallen, Frederick could have imposedheavy terms on the Austrians to end theconflict. However, the Austrian MarshalLeopold J. v. Daun had assembled an army in

Austrian Marshal Leopold J. v. Daun. (Anne S. K. BrownMilitary Collection, Brown University Library)

eastern Bohemia consisting of 30,000 menfrom other regions, along with remnants fromthe Battle of Prague. Frederick dispatched aforce of 18,000 men under the command ofLieutenant-General the Duke of Bevern tooffset any moves by Daun, and followed himwith an additional 14,000 men, intending todislodge Daun from his position near Kolin.Daun had been further reinforced in earlyJune and had positioned his men along a lowridge of hills that the Austrians knew wellfrom previous prewar maneuvering exercises.


The Prussians had 19,500 infantry,15,000 cavalry, and 98 pieces of artillery.The Austrians had amassed 35,000 infantry,18,000 cavalry, and 154 pieces of artillery.On the night of 17-18 June, the Prussiansmarched around the Austrian positions,hoping to come up on the ridge behindthem and force them onto the plain. ThePrussians intended to attack on the flanks ofthe Austrian right, but were forced to cancelthis plan when they emerged from thevillage of Krzeczor and realized that Daunhad anticipated this move and hadreinforced toward the east. By mid-afternoonon 18 June, the Prussians had launched afrontal attack against the ridge positions.An Austrian account recalls: They [thePrussians) attacked this flank with vivacity atthe very moment that the Austrians came upto form it. Despite this, the Austriansrepulsed the assault by an intense fire ofmusketry and artillery' (St Paul, 1757:The Defence of Prague, p. 151).

After three hours of fighting, the center ofthe Austrian line began to falter. As theAustrian infantry pushed forward, they onceagain allowed a gap to develop in the lineand the Prussians attempted to capitalize onthis. This time, however, Austrian artillerybattered the Prussian infantry attempting toforce the gap, and the Saxon cavalry chargedthe Prussian line, inflicting heavy damage.The Austrians ended the battle by seizing thevillage of Krzeczor, the area of the heaviestfighting throughout the day. An Austrianstaff officer noted:

The enemy were entirely routed: some run on theroad towards Kolin - these were captured; otherstook the road towards Nimburg; a third part wenttowards Bomimisch-Brod. Thus, as the sun setending the day, so too ended tin's glorious battle,which will for ever immortalise the name of Daun.(St Paul, 1757: The Defence of Prague, p. 163)

The British envoy to the Prussians,Sir Andrew Mitchell, wrote a letter toLondon about the Battle of Kolin whichnoted that: 'the Prussians attacked withgreat bravery and intrepidity ... However, the

Austrian Army was most advantageouslyposted' (Mitchell at camp outside Prague,20 June 1757). The Prussians lost13,700 men and the Austrians 9,000. Withthe defeat at Kolin, Frederick was forced towithdraw from Prague and leave Bohemia,enabling the Austrians to amass close to100,000 men.

The next major battle occurred in EastPrussia between the Prussians and the Russians.Due to the Prussian attack on Saxony, theElector of Saxony and King of Poland gavepermission for the Russian army to advanceover his territory to strike at Prussia.

The Russians were moving against theEast Prussian province by the end of June.East Prussia, isolated from the main Prussianprovince of Brandenburg/Pomerania, had atits disposal only 32,000 troops under thecommand of Field Marshal Hans v. Lehwaldt.The Russians, under the overall command ofField Marshal Stephen Fedorovich Apraksin,deployed 55,000 men in five corps along abroad front. They captured the port ofMemel on 5 July, and pressed on, intendingto march on the East Prussian capital ofKönigsberg. Lehwaldt decided to attack theRussian columns when they came withinstriking distance, even though the Prussians,with only 24,000 men, were outnumberedtwo to one.

On 30 August Lehwaldt and the Prussianarmy emerged from the west near the townof Gross-Jägersdorf and attacked the Russiansat around 5.00 am. The Prussians werespread thinly in linear formation. They hadsurprised the Russians on the march andtried to take advantage of the ensuingconfusion. Heavy fighting took place in thecenter lines in the Norkitten Wood, but theRussian artillery took a heavy toll of thePrussians. After four salvoes against thecenter, the Prussian effort was spent and ageneral retreat began. The Prussians lost4,500 men and the Russians lost 6,000. TheRussians did not follow up the Prussianretreat, allowing them to leave the battlefieldwithout much molestation. The Prussians,for their part, had a newfound respect forthe fighting capabilities of the Russians that

The fighting 41

was reinforced in the later battles ofZorndorf and Kunersdorf.

The Russians decided to withdraw fromEast Prussia and returned to Poland inOctober. The reasons for this decision are notclear, but Apraksin was removed from hispost as a result and ordered to appear at courtin St Petersburg. The Prussian field army alsoleft East Prussia, withdrawing to Pomerania todeal with Swedish attempts to seize territory.The Russians returned to East Prussia inJanuary 1758 with 72,000 men and attackedduring the winter snows. The Prussians,without the East Prussian field army, offeredno real resistance on this occasion, and theRussians took possession of the province, aposition they held until the end of the war.As other battles demonstrate, territorialvictories were not as important as destroyingthe field armies of the enemy.

The next significant engagement wasbetween the Prussians and the French andtheir German allies (Reichsarmee) atRossbach. This was the only time that the

Prussian field army and the French metduring the war. Marshal Soubise led a jointFrench and Reichsarmee of 42,000 menagainst Brandenburg. After leaving30,000 troops in the Saxon/Silesia region tohold the Austrian advance and after sufferinglosses at Kolin, Frederick had 21,000 men athis disposal against the French. After pullingback into central Prussia to rest, Frederick didan about-face as the French began to marcheast, and by 4 November he was facing theFrench army near Rossbach. The French andthe Reichsarmee marched towards thePrussian camp, hoping the Prussians wouldleave the area. The French were hesitant atfirst in their approach to the Prussians.When news arrived that the Franco-German

Battle of Leuthen, 5 December 1757. A and M) Prussianssend an advance guard as a feint attack. Prussianunits wheel around to the right of the Austrian lines.A cavalry force is stationed to protect the flankingmovement. B and C) Prussians begin the flank attackon the Austrian left wing. G and H) Austrians form anew line in the town of Leuthen. (Christchurch Library)


army was on the move, Frederick orderedMajor-General Frederick Wilhelm v. Seydlitzto charge the French with 38 squadrons ofcavalry. His squadrons smashed into theadvance guard of the Franco-Germans anddispersed them easily while the army wasstill in marching columns. The Prussianinfantry followed quickly behind, and theFranco-German infantry rapidly fell intodisorder under the onslaught. Acontemporary account notes that 'theinfantry both French and Imperialists madebut a feint resistance' (Annual Register, 1762).The Prussian cavalry reformed for a secondattack and swept behind the Franco-Germaninfantry, while the Prussian artillery began totake a heavy toll of the Franco-Germans aswell. Frederick noted that the battle

Battle of Rossbach, 4 November 1757. (Anne S. K. BrownMilitary Collection, Brown University Library)

happened so quickly that there was no timefor all of his army to get involved and that'ten battalions of the right had remainedideal spectators' (Frederick II, History of theSeven Years War, I, p. 184). The Franco-Germans lost 10,000 men, while thePrussians lost 548.

Frederick had gained a major victory, buthe had to turn east immediately to counter amajor Austrian attack. The rest of the warwas characterized by a system of fighting oninterior lines, hitting one army, and thenquickly turning to destroy another force. TheFrench did not invade the major Prussianterritories again as their campaign from thenon was directed against Hanover.

The Austrians had pushed into Silesia byearly November, where they were able todefeat a Prussian army of 19,000 beforeBreslau, the capital of Silesia, on22 November, and capture the city itself on

The fighting 43

25 November. Frederick, with 30,000 troops,moved quickly towards Breslau. He wasreinforced by remnants of the defeatedSilesian force, which raised the total numberto 33,000 men. The Austrians, under thecommand of Prince Charles of Lorraine, had66,000 troops. On 5 December, the twoarmies met at Leuthen. This battle isconsidered the most brilliant battleconducted by Frederick in his career, andemployed the tactic known as the obliqueorder. Frederick admitted that he wished 'toavoid faults similar to those committed at theBattle of Prague and which caused the loss ofthe Battle of Kolin' (Frederick II, History of theSeven Years War, II, p. 202). The tactic was amost difficult exercise, and was notdemonstrated again with the same expertiseby the Prussians.

The Austrians deployed in a large openfield with almost endless lines of infantry.

Prussian Major-General Frederick Wilhelm v. Seydlitz. (AnneS. K. Brown Military Collection. Brown University Library)

Charles thought that the Prussians wouldadvance and hit the right center of his line,and when the Prussians moved forward at8.00 am, he reinforced this area. However,Frederick instead sent most of his army tothe south under the cover of the ground,shielded from the view of the Austrians. Hisattack was intended to hit the southern leftflank of the Austrians from the side and rollthem from the south to the north, causingconfusion. He sent a Prussian feint attackinto the center of the Austrian line, but theAustrian commander of the left flank,General Nadasti, realized that the Prussianswere coming in on his flank and that heneeded reinforcements. The Prussianssmashed into 14 battalions ofWürttemburgers and began to push the linenorth. Charles, realizing the danger,immediately ordered infantryreinforcements to the south, but this


last-minute deployment created abottleneck in the village of Leuthen.Frederick noted that 'the Austrian guardsseeing themselves turned and taken in theflank, endeavoured to change theirposition; endeavoured too late, to form aparallel to the Prussian front' (Frederick II,History of the Seven Years War, I, p. 202).

Prussian artillery and musketry began totake a heavy toll on the Austrians, who by3.30 pm were retreating from the village ofLeuthen. An Austrian cavalry charge wasordered against the Prussian infantry leftflank, but they in turn were taken in theirflank by Prussian cavalry. The fightinglasted into the evening as the Prussianscontinued to push north. The Austrians lost

22,000 men, while the Prussians lost11,000, and Prince Charles was relieved ofcommand for future operations.

Many observers felt that the victory atLeuthen was even greater than that atRossbach, since the Austrians were viewed asa more professional army than the Franco-Germans. A Prussian witness noted that the'Austrians defended themselves with greatbravery but at last [were] forced to give way... the enemy's army ... never fought withmore bravery than this time' (Lloyd, Historyof the Late War in Germany, I, p. 130). Theoblique order was chiefly successful becausethe Austrians did not identify the threat,largely due to the absence of the AustrianGrenzer corps at Leuthen.

The fighting 45

Following this victory, the initiativerested with the Prussians for the followingyear. However, the Prussian army hadsuffered many casualties in the previouscampaigns and had to build up its regimentsto acceptable levels, and this influencedfuture operations. The ability to fight abattle such as Leuthen required a highlytrained and disciplined army to move withprecision, and many veterans with years ofexperience had died or been wounded. ThePrussians had a difficult time winningsubsequent battles, for the Austrians hadlearned that fighting in an open plain suchas Leuthen favored the Prussians. TheAustrians also learned to offset the obliqueorder with better reconnaissance.

Austrian and Prussian cavalry skirmishing. (Anne S. K.Brown Military Collection, Brown University Library)

Indian subcontinentThe French and English (British) East IndiaCompanies had set up their own militaryorganizations, chiefly to protect the varioustrading posts throughout the region. Bothcompanies had also created alliances withlocal princes with a view to supplementingcompany troops with local manpower in theevent of war.

The outbreak of hostilities began in theBengal region in 1756. The British at Calcuttahad heard rumors that a war was imminentwith France, and the French and Britishcompanies in Bengal began to reinforce theirstations. The local Nawab, Siraj-ud-daula,disliked the British presence. The British hadharbored a rival for his throne in Madras,which had not improved relations. Heordered preparations for war to cease. TheFrench complied but the British continued,so the Nawab moved against the offendingstations in Bengal. By the end of June 1756,the Nawab's army had seized all of the Britishstations, including Calcutta. In the course oftaking control, the Nawab's troops herdedsome 50 or 60 British traders into the smallprison at Fort William. The prison was notsuitable for the numbers incarcerated there,and close to 40 people died from heatexhaustion caused by the poor ventilation.Although not deliberate, this episode wentdown in history as the infamous Black Holeof Calcutta. It became a rallying call to defeatthe Nawab and avenge the deaths.

The English East India Companydispatched a force of men from Madras toBengal to take back the various stations. Fourships of the line were assembled under thecommand of Admiral Charles Watson,carrying 600 European Company troops,three companies of the 39th Foot and900 Sepoys (Indian Company troops). Thetroops were all under the overall commandof Robert Clive, who had earlier won fame asa military commander of the company'stroops during the Second Carnatic War of1751-53. The fleet and army force easily


seized Calcutta on 30 December 1756, andthen moved north to seize Hooghly. Thisaccomplished, they pulled back to Calcutta,where news arrived in mid-January 1757 thatwar had formally been declared betweenFrance and Great Britain.

The Nawab, angered by the attack atHooghly, moved south towards the Britishwith 40,000 troops. The British, fearing ajoint French/Nawab attack on Calcutta,waited to negotiate with the Nawab, whichthe Nawab did not wish to do. On4 February a battle broke out between thetwo forces. The Nawab had 40,000 men,while the British had 600 sailors,650 European troops, and 800 Sepoys. Clive'sattack upon the camp of the Nawab was notvery successful; he lost 100 Europeans and50 Sepoys were killed. The Nawab, however,lost 600 men, and concluded a treaty withthe British five days later. As a consequence,the Nawab was forced to return all of theproperty taken at Calcutta and to reinstateall the privileges granted the British tradersin Bengal. Clive then marched to attack theFrench station of Chandernagore, andreceived its surrender on 23 March.

The Nawab, fearing the growing threat ofthe British presence in Bengal, begancorresponding with the French East IndiaCompany in Pondicherry and Arcot.Unknown to him, however, a conspiracy wasbrewing in his own household. The Nawab'suncle and paymaster of his army, Mir Jaffar,was the chief conspirator. Clive decided toback Mir Jaffar and, as the Nawab withdrewhis army north to Plassey, the conspiratorssigned a treaty granting Mir Jaffar the throneof Bengal, Orissa, and Bihar in exchange forthe transfer of all the French stations in thearea to British control.

Clive next decided to attack the Nawab'sarmy at Plassey, nearly 800 miles (1,300km)north of Calcutta. He had 900 Europeantroops, 200 Topasses (native Portuguesesoldiers), and 2,100 Sepoys. The Britisharrived via river transport and overlandmarch to the plain south of Plassey, andon 23 June battle was joined. The Nawab'sarmy numbered 35,000 infantry and

18,000 cavalry, plus a contingent of Frenchartillery from the station at Chandernagore.The British deployed in linear formation,placing European troops in the center andSepoys and Topasses on the flanks. TheFrench opened the action at 8.00 am withartillery fire, beginning an artillery duel thatcontinued until 11.00 am. A rainstormdrenched the Nawab's powder supply, andthe units that he sent to hit the British weredispersed by continuous artillery fire.

Following these setbacks, the Nawab's armybegan to pull back, and the British launchedan attack to gain a good fire position over theenemy. After seizing the water tank area, theNawab's troops came forward again and werehit by heavy artillery and musket fire. Clivethen realized that his flank was covered bytroops loyal to Mir Jaffar. He decided on afinal push and seized the last of the redoubtsand hillock. The Nawab's troops fell back, andby 5.00 pm the battle was over. The followingis a statement by an officer of the English EastIndia Company army:

Nawab's army outnumbered the British 20 to1 but the British had courage, military disciplineand what was superior to both was the treacheryof the Nawab's officers [Mir Jaffar] ... [Clive]obtained a victory, great in consequences butlaughable in the act and had not most of therunaways been on foot, it might had been called... the battle of the spurs. (Mss Eur B248)

The British lost 25 men killed and 50 menwounded, while the Nawab is estimated tohave lost 500 men. The Nawab escaped thebattlefield, only to be murdered after beingcaptured. Mir Jaffar was given the throne ofBengal and the ties established by thisalliance with the British made the area asource of revenue in the conflict with theFrench which followed in the Carnatic areaof operations. Although it was an importantvictory, however, Plassey did not mark thebeginning of British domination of theIndian subcontinent, as some sources haveclaimed. Only the later Battle of Wandiwashand the siege of Pondicherry would securethe British political position.

The fighting 47

1758

North AmericaThe British began the campaign season inNorth America heavily reinforced with bothregular and locally raised provincial troops,and planned a three-pronged attack onFrench territories. The targets were first FortCarillon (Ticonderoga to the British), on thesouthwestern end of Lake Champlain, thenthe fort and port of Louisbourg, the assault onwhich had originally been intended to takeplace in 1757. Fort Duquesne, in westernPennsylvania, was the final target.

The French General Montcalm wasstationed at Fort Carillon with 4,000 men.The new British commander in NorthAmerica, General James Abercromby,assembled 7,000 regulars and 9,000 provincialtroops at Fort Edward, and on 5 July thewhole force sailed north on Lake George. Bynoon on the 6th, the troops had disembarkedat the northern end of the lake and begunmarching towards Fort Carillon. The French

had received intelligence that the British wereon the move and had called in areinforcement of 400 regular soldiers, whicharrived at Fort Carillon on 4 July. Trees hadbeen felled along the fort's edge to offer betterfire spaces and to impede the attackers, andthe French also built a large outer trench withmore felled trees in front. Montcalm placedseven of his eight regular battalions in theouter defences.

On 8 July the British sent in an attackwithout artillery support on the strength ofintelligence sent to Abercromby, whichrecommended an immediate attack while theartillery was still some miles back. Theprovincials attacked in the first wave and wereeasily repulsed. Abercromby then committedhis regular troops, who were held up by thefelled trees and raked by French musketry andartillery fire. The British attempted six frontalattacks between 1.00 pm and 6.00 pm, all ofwhich failed. A final attack by the42nd Highlanders (Black Watch) and the4th Battalion, 60th Foot Royal American

Fort Carillon and the siege of Louisbourg


British Major-General Jeffrey Amherst. (Anne S. K. BrownMilitary Collection, Brown University Library)

Regiment went in against the French trenchesgarrisoned by the Royal Roussillon Regiment.After an hour of hard hand-to-hand fightingthe attack was called off, and the Britishretreated back to the southern side of LakeGeorge. The French had lost 350 men, whilethe British suffered 1,600 regulars and334 provincial soldiers killed. In September,General Abercromby was replaced asCommander-in-Chief by Major-GeneralJeffrey Amherst.

The British did achieve some success onthe New York frontier. A small unit of2,000 men, under the command of CaptainBradstreet, launched an attack on the FrenchFort Frontenac on Lake Ontario on 25 August.The fort, which was a major supply depot forall the French forts in the western area of theGreat Lakes and Ohio regions, fell only twodays later. The bounty captured wasapproximately £800,000 sterling, and Frenchcommunication between Quebec and thewestern forts was disrupted.

As it had been the previous year, Halifaxwas the main staging area for the attack on

Louisbourg. The British expedition, underthe command of Major-General JeffreyAmherst, comprised a force of 14 regularbattalions of infantry as well as twospecialist units of grenadiers and lightinfantry, numbering around 10,000 men.The Royal Navy had gathered 23 ships ofthe line and 10 frigates as well as numeroustransport ships. The French had fourbattalions of regulars, 24 companies ofMarines, and various Canadian militia units;4,500 men in total, commanded byGovernor Chevalier Augustin de Drucour.The French navy had five ships of the lineand seven frigates.

The fortress at Louisbourg was very welldefended. It had four defensive lines outsidethe walls, covering all the surroundingbeaches. There were four bastions, Dauphin's,King's, Queen's, and Princess's, with219 pieces of artillery and 17 mortars. TheBritish landed on Freshwater Cove to thesouthwest of the fortress in the early morningof 8 June. The invasion force was divided intothree brigades. The center brigade, under thecommand of Brigadier James Wolfe, landedfirst and encountered heavy opposition. Aneyewitness account of the landing vividlynoted the destructive capability of the Frenchartillery fire:

One 24 pounder shot did a great deal ofmischief. It passed under my hands and killedSergeant McKenzie who was sitting as close to myleft as he could squeeze ... along with the shot[that] passed through Lt Cuthbert, who was onMcKenzie's left ... and cut off the legs of one ofthe fellows that held the tiller of the boat. (Harper,78th Fighting Fraser's in Canada, pp. 42-43)

The center brigade was able to holdpart of the beach and a second brigade waslanded under the command of BrigadierLawrence. This brigade was able to take thewestern trenches. The French, fearing thatthey were in danger of being cut off from thefortress, retreated with the British in hotpursuit until the latter were stopped byFrench artillery fire. General Amherst decidedto lay siege, and he had succeeded in

The fighting 49

surrounding the fortress by 20 June when histroops captured the last French positionsoutside the fortress to the north. The RoyalNavy, in addition to giving fire support tothe troops on land, destroyed the Frenchisland battery in the harbor on 25 June. SixFrench ships were intentionally sunk by theFrench to blockade the entrance to the harbor,and with this move the French werecompletely surrounded.

On 9 July the defenders made a sortieagainst the British trenches. Seven hundredFrench attacked and carried the first line, butthe British counter-attack forced the French toretreat to the fortress. By mid-July the Britishhad begun to clear the remaining Frenchtrenches close to the walls. The Britishartillery, by utilizing the trenches and bastionscloser to the walls of the fortress, was able tolay an effective bombardment, and the Frenchcommander began to make overtures towardssurrender, eventually capitulating on 1 August.The British had lost 500 men killed and1,000 men wounded. The French areestimated to have lost 1,000 killed and2,000 wounded. More significantly, the Britishcapture of Louisbourg meant that the way wasopened to attack the heart of New France viathe St Lawrence River.

The last major campaign in NorthAmerica, although smaller in scale than theprevious two, was significant in two ways.First, the army that attacked the area aroundFort Duquesne was a different force from its1755 counterpart. The British army hadlearned from its defeat and applied thetactics of forest fighting to its regular units.Second, Fort Duquesne was the original issuethat had sparked the war, and putting it intoBritish hands would change the politicalpicture considerably.

A force of two British regular battalionsand a number of provincial units, numbering4,000 men, was tasked with building a roadto Fort Duquesne and seizing the fort. Asnoted in the papers of the commander of the4th Battalion, the 60th Foot, Royal AmericanRegiment, the style of march was differentfrom that of Braddock's campaign. The menwere ordered as follows:

At the front of the column were a corporaland six woodsmen [cutting down trees], a guidea half a mile ahead, one sergeant and anothertwelve woodsmen a quarter of a mile back, andthe rest of the column an additional quartermile back. The first men were a Lt and asergeant, with thirty men marching in Indianfile. A corps of hatchet men would followbehind them with a company of soldiers forprotection, followed up immediately by anartillery unit... on all sides of the advance,including the front and back, were two mandetachments, acting as skirmishers, who werenot to go out of sight of the main column.(Bouquet Papers, II, pp. 657-8)

Throughout the summer the forceadvanced, building the new road andsmall forts along the way to protect the roadand serve as supply depots for the army.By early September the force was close toFort Duquesne.

Both sides sent small patrols out toskirmish with each other. On 14 Septemberthe British suffered a setback when theFrench garrison attacked their position,causing their provincial units to disperseand forcing them back to Fort Ligionier. TheFrench sent a force of 400 troops to pursueand attack the retreating British, but theBritish had regrouped and were able to repelthem easily. The British made another pushtowards Fort Duquesne at the end ofOctober and by 24 November they wereonly a few miles away. From this vantagepoint they were able to witness the French,who had been ordered to withdraw toVenango, blowing up the fort. The Britishrebuilt the fort and renamed it Fort Pitt (thesite of present-day Pittsburgh).

Western EuropeThe British government refused to ratify theConvention of Kloster Zeven, which hadstipulated the dissolution of the HanoverianAllied army and permitted the French army tooccupy most of Hanover. They knew thatallowing Hanover to be occupied by theFrench would mean losing any colonial gainsin exchange for its return in any future peace


settlement. The Allied army was to bere-raised, under the command of PrinceFerdinand of Brunswick, the brother-in-law ofFrederick II. Ferdinand held a Prussiancommission and had seen service in the earliercampaigns of the war as well as at Rossbach.

While talks were taking place regardingthe resumption of war in the Hanoverregion, the outcome of the Battle ofRossbach demonstrated that a new campaignwas feasible. By late November 1757, theAllied army was re-forming. The Britishgovernment had again agreed to pay for itsupkeep, but at present no British army units

were attached. Ferdinand spent Novemberand December training the army and raisingits morale. A French army corps, under thecommand of Louis Francois Armand duPlessis, Duc de Richelieu, who had replacedd'Estrées as commander, marched against thenewly formed army. However, Ferdinand hadmoved first. Seizing the initiative, he threwback the various French garrisons who hadbeen in winter quarters, suffering from lackof supplies and reinforcements.

Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick. (Anne S. K. BrownMilitary Collection. Brown University Library)

The fighting 51

Ferdinand was able to outmaneuver theFrench and seize territory that would be usedas a firm base for future operations. On18 February 1758 he recaptured the townof Hanover and by the end of March theelectorate had been cleared of French troops.The campaign lasted only six weeks and theFrench retreated back across the Rhine. Thecampaign had cost the French dear. Theirlosses in numbers killed, wounded, anddeserted were 16,000 men, while Ferdinandhad lost only 200. Morale had been restoredto the Allied army, while French morale hadbeen devastated.

The rest of the year was spent withmarches and countermarches betweenthe two armies, as each side attempted togain a significant advantage. Ferdinand'sarmy, now renamed His Britannic Majesty'sArmy in Germany, had reached 40,000 menby the end of May. On 3 August, the firstBritish army contingent arrived to join thenew army. It consisted of six cavalryregiments and five battalions of infantry,

and signified Britain's commitment tothe continental campaign. By this point,the campaign had already redrawn thestrategic map in the western theater ofoperations. Hanover had been cleared ofthe French and Frederick's right flank wassecure. The rest of the campaign would becharacterized by a series of maneuvers byboth sides. Ferdinand's army sought todeny the French access to Hanover and thewestern flank of Prussia. The French armysought to catch Ferdinand's army in alarge pincer, destroy it, and thus occupyHanover. The war in Hanover wasinstrumental in tying down large numbersof French soldiers who were needed in thewar in the colonies.

Battle of Zorndorf, 25 August 1758. C and E) Prussianleft wing attacks the Russian right flank. The attack goesbadly as the Prussian units become separated. Russianslaunch a counterattack. The Prussian cavalry under thecommand of Lieutenant-General Seydlitz counterattackand restore the situation. F) The Prussian right flankattacks the Russian positions. (Christchurch Library)


Central EuropeWhile the Prussians held the initiative at thebeginning of 1758, the year proved to be adangerous and bloody one for them.Ferdinand's success meant that Prussia didnot have to deal with a French enemy, butshe had still to face a Russian attack at theheartland of the Prussian state whichinflicted more damage upon the Prussiansthan anyone had thought possible. Prussiafound herself fighting only two majorbattles, Zorndorf and Hochkirch, in 1758,but the price in terms of the loss of men andof the ability to deliver a decisive blowagainst the enemy was very high indeed.

Frederick decided to strike against theAustrians first, since he thought that theRussians would not move against him untilthe summer. He took the last Austrian

stronghold in Silesia, Schweidnitz, inmid-April, and then invaded Moravia with130,000 troops. His object was to lay siege tothe important town of Olmütz. The siegedragged on, however, and in late June a largePrussian convoy en route to reinforce thesiege was attacked and destroyed by anAustrian corps. Frederick knew that the siegewas taking longer than he had wished, andhe had also received reports that theRussians were on the move toward the OderRiver. He decided to pull away from Olmützand engage the Russians instead.

General Apraksin had been relieved of hiscommand of the Russian troops and replacedby General Villim Villimovich Fermor. Fermorhad been in command of the Russian armythat reoccupied East Prussia over the winter of1757-58. The Russian army marched from

The fighting 53

East Prussia into Poland in large columns, andreports reached the Prussians that it wasdestroying everything in its path. The Britishenvoy, Sir Andrew Mitchell, wrote that 'the[Prussian] soldiers are greatly animated againstthe Russians for the barbarities they havecommitted everywhere; and if action shouldensue ... it will be a bloody one' (Mitchell toHoldernesse, 18/8/58). There was one Prussiancorps of 26,000 men - under the command ofLieutenant-General Christoph v. Dohna, whohad relieved Lehwaldt of command - near theOder River. Frederick marched with11,000 men to take over command of theOder detachment, leaving the rest of his armyin Silesia to counter any Austrian attacks. Thetwo Prussian armies met on 22 August andproceeded to the east side of the Oder insearch of the approaching Russian army.

Battle of Zorndorf. 25 August 1758. (Anne S. K. BrownMilitary Collection, Brown University Library)

On 25 August the Prussian and Russianarmies met near the village of Zorndorf.Fermor had placed his 43,000 men in a marshyhollow that was surrounded on all sides byhills. The Prussian army arrived to the north ofthe Russian positions, then moved around tothe south in an attempt to catch them frombehind. However, Fermor was able to switchhis lines around and face the Prussians.Frederick decided to attempt a flanking attack,with the left wing of his army applying thepressure. The Prussians opened with heavyartillery fire. A published account stated:

...[A]t nine o'clock in the morning the battlebegan by a fire of cannon and mortars whichrained down on the right wing of the Russianswithout the least intermission for two hours.Nothing could exceed the havoc made by thisterrible fire, nor the consistency with which theMuscovite foot... sustained a slaughter thatwould have confounded and dispersed thecompleatest veterans. (Annual Register, 1762)

At 11.00 am eight Prussian battalionslaunched a counterattack against the Russianright wing, hoping to turn it. The Russianslaunched an attack against the Prussians,which forced the Prussian left to shift itselftowards the center of the Russians, contrary tothe original orders. The Russians put in aflanking attack against the Prussian left. ThePrussian Lieutenant-General Seydlitz attackedwith a force of cavalry to restore the situation.The Russians pulled back from this, butcontinued to fight. The Prussian right wingbegan to move forward, but this attack did notgain much ground either. The battle descendedinto the confusion of hand-to-hand combat.

Sir Andrew Mitchell stated 'that noquarter was to be given, which renderedthem [the Russians] desperate, and theyfought like devils' (Mitchell's Journalregarding Zorndorf). Seydlitz was used in thecenter to push back any Russian cavalrycharges that materialized against thePrussian center. The battle deteriorated into


Prussian prisoners guarded by Russians, c. 1758. (Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University Library)

small pockets of men attempting to gainground until evening, when both armiesfinally drew back, leaving the 'field of battleoccupied by the dead' (Mitchell's Journalregarding Zorndorf). The Russians withdrewfirst and Mitchell rode with Frederick overthe battlefield in the wake of their departure.He wrote afterwards, 'I will make nodescription as I heartingly wish to forget it'(Mitchell's Journal regarding Zorndorf). Thebattle was a draw: the Prussians had lost13,000 men and the Russians 19,000.

Artillery fire continued during the night andinto the next morning. Neither side had theenergy or willpower to attack on 26 August,but the armies remained close to oneanother until 1 September.

Following this engagement, Frederickturned his attention to the Austrians,marching into Saxony with elements of hisarmy from Zorndorf. He met up with aPrussian force of 24,000 men. The Austrianshad assembled a corps of 80,000 men underthe command of Marshal Leopold J. v. Daunand they marched into Saxony as well,where the two armies spent five weeksattempting to outmaneuver one another.

The fighting 55

The armies met on the morning of14 October near the village of Hochkirch. APrussian soldier stated that skirmishing occurredat 3.30 am and that the order was given 'Fall in!Under Arms!' (Paret, Frederick the Great: A Profile,

p. 122). Because Frederick initially thought hewas facing only Austrian light troops and notthe main army, some of the Prussian units hadnot formed into position when the Austrianattack came in against their camp at 5.00 am.The Austrian left pushed the Prussians backbeyond the village of Hochkirch, while thePrussian left flank came under attack by a largeAustrian force, taking the village of Koditz. TheAustrian push against the Prussian flanks was

taking its toll, and the Prussians, realizing theywere running out of ammunition, began towithdraw. In spite of their initial success, theAustrians had been badly shaken by the heavyfighting and failed to pursue the retreatingPrussians. The Prussians lost 9,000 men and theAustrians 8,000 men.

The Austrian army next moved againstDresden and laid siege. This did not last longbecause Daun, upon receiving news that areinforced Prussian army was moving againsthim, withdrew to the fortified town of Pirna.The year 1758 ended on a good note forFrederick. He had cleared the Russians fromthe heart of Prussia and forced the Austriansto withdraw from Silesia and most of Saxony.In the process, however, his army was beingbled white. The previous three years of warhad accounted for the loss of close to100,000 men, most of them highly trainedveterans.

Indian subcontinentIn 1758 fighting in the Indian subcontinentshifted to the Carnatic region. The town ofPondicherry was the French administrativecenter, while Madras filled the same role forthe British. Late in 1757, the French hadbeen reinforced by 1,000 regular Frenchtroops, and this had forced the British inMadras to switch to the defensive, Britainbeing unable to send reinforcements to theregion at this time. In April 1758, a Frenchfleet and reinforcements under command ofGeneral Count Lally de Tollendal arrived atthe French port of Pondicherry, where he wasissued with the following specific orders: 'warwill be waged against fortifications andmaritime settlements of the English. Englishsoldiers captured will be sent home toEngland and not allowed to stay in India'(Orme Collection, Vol. 27). A brief navalengagement occurred on 2 April betweennine French and seven British ships. Theoutcome was indecisive, although the Frenchlost more men. On the same day, a Frenchforce of 1,000 Europeans and 1,000 Sepoysattacked the British fort of Cuddalore, nearFort St David. Over the course of the next fewdays, the French were reinforced, and the


siege began in earnest. The garrison consistedof only 500 East India Company Sepoys, andcapitulated on 4 May. The French moved onto Fort St David, which surrendered on 2 June.In the wake of these defeats, the British pulledall of their troops from the surroundinggarrisons and gathered them in Madras.

Call to arms. (Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection,Brown University Library)

Lally spent the summer months attackingthe countryside around Madras. As heneeded money for his troops and navalforces, his men also illegally seized Dutchshipping and commerce to increase revenue.On 3 August the British Admiral EdwardPocock engaged the French navy under thecommand of Commodore Count AnneAntoine d'Ache and inflicted a defeat on theFrench at the Battle of Negapatam. The fleet

The fighting 57

retreated to Pondicherry and remained inport for most of the campaign.

The British were reinforced in the autumnby Draper's 79th Foot, which enabled themto hold on to the strategic post atConjeveram. Lally, with a force comprising2,300 Europeans and 5,000 Sepoys, decided tomove against the British at Madras and FortSt George. The British defenders numbered1,750 Europeans and 2,200 Sepoys, under thecommand of Colonel Stringer Lawrence. By13 December the French had arrived on theoutskirts of the town, and heavy fightingbroke out in the city streets on the 14th.Following this engagement, both sideswithdrew from the city; the British pulledback into the fort, and the French began tobuild fortifications and lay siege to the fort.The siege, which continued for two months,was unsuccessful for the French. A Britishnaval squadron arrived with reinforcementsoff Madras on 16 February 1759, and on17 February, Lally withdrew towardsPondicherry as the British naval forcesailed south.

1759

North AmericaThe British planned small-scale attacks againstthe western forts of New France at the sametime as the larger operations they launchedagainst Fort Carillon and Quebec City. At theend of May, companies of three regularbattalions marched towards Fort Niagara. Themain British force, under the command ofBrigadier Prideaux, arrived at Fort Niagara on7 July and immediately laid siege. The Frenchgarrison numbered 110 men from the regularbattalions, 180 men from the Marines, and100 Canadian militia, under the command ofCaptain M. Pouchot. There was heavyskirmishing on both sides as the Britishtrenches were dug. By 16 July the British hadbegun to bombard the fort. The Britishcommander Prideaux was accidentally killedby a British mortar round and Sir WilliamJohnson assumed command. The Frenchcommander noted that 'their musketry

considerably annoyed our batteries' (Pouchot,Memoir of the Late War in North Americabetween the French and the English, p. 189). TheBritish defeated a French relieving force of800 men on 24 July, and the fort surrenderedtwo days later.

The other French forts on the Ohio were alsoevacuated during July, with the escaping Frenchtroops withdrawing west towards Fort Detroit.The British had ejected the French from theOhio valley, and with the earlier capture of FortFrontenac, Lake Ontario became a staging postfor a western drive to Montreal.

General Amherst and 11,000 British soldiersassembled at the south end of Lake George on21 July and sailed north to lay siege to FortCarillon. The French commander, ColonelBourlamanque, and his garrison of 3,500 mendestroyed the works, withdrew from the forton 26 July, and fell back farther north. Amherstrepaired the damage and renamed the fortTiconderoga. All of Lake George was now inBritish hands.

British forces next moved against the FrenchFort St Frederic at Crown Point, farther up thewest bank of Lake Champlain, but on 1 Augustnews arrived that the French had abandonedthis post as well and had withdrawn to Isle auxNoix, at the northern end of the lake. TheBritish still needed to build a flotilla of shipsfor their proposed attack on the northern endof Lake Champlain and the campaign seasonwas drawing to a close. It appeared that theadvance towards Montreal via the lake wouldhave to wait until the 1760 campaign season.

After passing through the dangerouswaters of the lower St Lawrence river, theBritish arrived near Quebec on 21 June with21 ships of the line, 22 frigates and sloops,close to 100 transports, 11 regular battalionsof infantry, various provincial units andengineers, all commanded by Major GeneralJames Wolfe. The safe arrival of Wolfe's forcewas due in no small measure to the accuracyof the survey of the St Lawrence carried outby James Cook, master of the Pembroke andlater to win renown as an explorer of thePacific. The French commander, Montcalm,had called in reserves from the countryside,and the total number of defenders was


Battle of Quebec, 13 September 1759. The fortifications tothe northeast of the city (upper right) are clearly shown.(National Army Museum, Chelsea)

around 15,000 men - 4,000 regulars,1,000 Marines and the rest militia. Eightfrigates of the French navy were also present.

The British landed unopposed on Iled'Orléans on 26 June, and deployed troopsopposite the French trenches along theMontmorency river on 10 July. The Frenchhad deployed troops in the city itself andalso to positions in the northeast, heavilyfortified with trenches and redoubts. On31 July, a British attack was sent against theFrench trenches near the Montmorency Falls.This short engagement ended in defeat forthe British, who lost over 500 men killed.Wolfe wished to draw the French defendersout to battle; however, Montcalm decidednot to be drawn.

As autumn approached, Wolfe had todecide whether to attack the city or

withdraw until the following year. Hedecided to land his troops behind the city onthe north side of the river. Quebec City andthe fortress were located on a high hilltop.The city had a cliff face to the south, whichdropped down to the river shore. Wolfeplaced some of his troops in landing craftand sailed them up and down the river inearly September, trying to reconnoiter for apossible landing place. On the evening of12-13 September, a likely spot was selected.

Their movements undetected by theFrench, the ships landed the men unopposedon the chosen site. By 5.00 am on13 September, the first British light infantryhad scaled the cliffs and reached the top. At7.00 am large numbers of British soldierswere entering the Plains of Abraham behindthe city of Quebec. Montcalm ordered five ofhis regular battalions and various militiaunits toward the plain and by 9.00 am theFrench forces had assembled in linearformation. The British were also deployed in

The fighting 59

linear formation, with some troops acting asskirmishers to the north of their position.

At 10.00 am Montcalm gave the order toadvance. Wolfe had ordered that the Britishwere not to open fire until the French werewithin 40yds (37m). The French fired at130yds (119m), still too far away to cause anyserious damage to the British line. The Frenchkept advancing, firing sporadically, while theBritish waited. Finally, when they were closeenough, two British battalions opened fire,causing serious damage in the French lines.The British line then advanced and openedfire, and the second volley caused furtherdamage. Some eyewitness accounts said itsounded as if one large cannonball had beenshot. The French line began to disperse andfall back toward the fortress, pursued by theBritish. Major General Wolfe was killed as theBritish pushed toward the retreating Frenchlines. Montcalm was wounded at around thesame time and died the next morning.

The city of Quebec capitulated to theBritish on 18 September. The British had lost61 killed and 600 wounded, while theFrench are estimated to have lost close to

First Battle of the Plains of Abraham, 13 September 1759


French Marshal Victor-Francois, Duc de Broglie. (Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University Library)

1,000 killed, wounded, and taken prisoner.Even so, the French army in New France wasnot yet completely defeated. Some unitsbesieged the British in Quebec during thewinter months, while the majority withdrewto Trois-Rivières and Montreal for winterquarters.

Western EuropeFerdinand opened the campaign season of1759 by attacking the French near Frankfurtand Wesel, and the two armies met at Bergenon 13 April. Ferdinand exhibited rashbehavior during the battle; he rushed hisforces into attack without proper time toassemble or receive artillery support. In spiteof this, neither side managed to strike adecisive blow. The French staved on the

The fighting 61

battlefield, expecting another attack, soFerdinand was able to retreat with most ofhis army intact.

The French decided to move again towardHanover in early June. The French army,numbering 60,000 men under the commandof Marshal Louis Georges Erasme Contades,moved first. A second French force under thecommand of Marshal Victor-Francois, Duc de

Broglie, which numbered 20,000 men, washeld in reserve. From mid-June both forceswere on the move against Ferdinand's army,which numbered around 35,000 men.Ferdinand moved north, trying to keep

Austrian Lieutenant-General Gideon Ernst v. Loudon.(Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection, BrownUniversity Library)


Contades' force within reach. Both sidesattempted to outflank each other and cut offsupply lines. Ferdinand intended to fall backtowards Minden, which was a major supplydepot, but Broglie's forces seized the townfirst in early July. This meant that Hanoverwas at risk, with Ferdinand and his army tothe west of the French at Minden. TheFrench stayed in the area, seizing supplies,and Ferdinand had to split his force to dealwith the various French light troopsscattered throughout the countryside.

By the end of July, Ferdinand wasgathering his army together, althoughMarshal Contades was under the impressionthat they were dispersed throughout thecountryside. When intelligence arrived thatthe Allies were making a move towards

Minden, Contades assembled his army forbattle. On 31 July his orders stressed theimportance of Broglie's right wing: 'theattack of this reserve will be quick and rapidin order to overcome Wangenheim's corps atonce' (Mss King's 235). He intended by thisattack to expose the left flank of Ferdinand'sarmy. Contades also deployed his army inunusual formation, placing his infantry onthe wings and his cavalry in the center. Histroops had been ordered to stand to at3.00 am. Broglie's corps began to march at4.00 am on 1 August, but Ferdinand's troopswere prepared for a possible attack andhalted Broglie's advance. The two mainarmies continued moving into battlefieldpositions, and both sides began artillerybombardments.

Battle of Minden, 1 August 1759

The fighting 63

Battle of Minden, 1 August 1759.The foreground

clearly depicts the French cavalry charging the

Allied infantry battalions. (Anne S.K. Brown Military

Collection, Brown University Library)

As the two armies moved closer, the fireincreased on both sides. Nine battalions ofFerdinand's infantry (three Hanoverian andsix British battalions) moved ahead of theAllied lines, opposite the main French centermade up of cavalry. The French artillerypounded the nine infantry battalions as theymoved forward, while the Allied artillery onthe infantry right flank gave covering fire. Thedestructive power of the artillery was noted bya British officer: 'we were not suffered to firebut stood tamely looking on whilst they attheir leisure picked us off as you would smallbirds' (National Army Museum 6807-142-13).

The French launched 11 squadrons ofcavalry against the nine Allied infantrybattalions. The infantry held their fire untilthe French were within 30 feet (9m) and thenopened up. The barrage caused the French toretreat in disorder. Contades tried to regroup,moving up infantry in an attempt to dislodge

the nine Allied infantry battalions. At thesame time, a second French cavalry chargewas ordered, only to be defeated by the Alliedinfantry. At this point Ferdinand orderedLord Sackville, commander of the Alliedcavalry, to charge. He failed to carry out theorder and was duly replaced after the battle.The French infantry also failed. A Britishofficer stated that the Allies 'discovered alarge body of infantry consisting of17 regiments moving down on our flank ...our regiment wheeled and showed them afront which is a thing not to be expectedfrom troops already twice attacked' (NationalArmy Museum 7510-92). Ferdinand movedmore infantry units forward to support thenine battalions. A third French cavalry attackcame in and it too was broken.

By 11.00 am the struggle was over as theAllied left flank pushed back Broglie's wing.An officer of a British regiment wrote to hismother a few days after the battle. He stated:'I don't care who knows my sentimentswhen I say my curiosity is satisfied and that Inever wish to see a second slaughter of myfellow creatures' (National Army Museum


Battle of Kunersdorf, 12 August 1759. 1 st image: L and B)

Prussians attack the Russian right flank. After heavy fighting

they carry the Russian positions at Muhl-Berge. 2nd Image:

N) Prussians follow up by attacking the Russian positions at

Kuh-Grund. The Russians have reinforced the position with

troops from farther down the line. The Prussians are not

able to break through and begin to fall back O and X)

A Prussian cavalry charge is sent in to relieve pressure,

but it is attacked by joint Austrian/Russian cavalry and is

dispersed. The Russian artillery on Grosser-Spitzberg takes

a further toll on the Prussian cavalry. (Christchurch Library)

6807-142-13). The Allied army suffered2,600 killed and wounded, many of whomwere members of the nine Allied battalions.The French lost around 8,000 men.

After a series of marches and counter-marches, the two armies entered winterquarters with the same ground under theircommand as they had held at the beginningof the campaign season. Due to the Prussianloss at Kunersdorf, Ferdinand was asked tosend reinforcements to Frederick, aredeployment that limited Ferdinand'soffensive capabilities.

Central EuropeThe Russians spent the early months of 1759preparing their army for a new offensive intoPrussia. The Russian force, under thecommand of General Petr SemenovichSaltykov and numbering 50,000 men, set outin late June. The Austrians sent a corps of20,000 troops, under the command ofLieutenant-General Gideon Ernst v. Loudon,to join the Russian advance in a joint effortto destroy the main Prussian field army inone decisive campaign. On 23 July, theRussian army met a Prussian corps andsoundly defeated them at Paltzig. Frederick,upon hearing this news, marched with19,000 men toward the remnants of thedefeated Prussian force. He arrived in earlyAugust and took command of the Prussiancorps from the defeated Lieutenant-GeneralJohann Heinrich v. Wedell. His army nownumbered 50,000 men.

Both sides maneuvered for position nearthe Oder river. Saltykov feared his armybeing caught on the march by Frederick and

The fighting 65

eventually decided to dig them in on a ridgenear the village of Kunersdorf on the easternside of the Oder River. A Prussian officerstated: 'they [the Russians] had occupied avery strong camp fortified and covered withcannon' (Lloyd, History of the Late War inGermany, II, 143).

The Prussians began to march on theRussian positions at 2.00 am on 12 August.They had not reconnoitered very well andwere hoping to maneuver around theRussian lines and take them from therear and left flank. However, the Russianshad defended themselves on most sides

with trenches and redoubts, and in theexpectation that the attack would fall onthis part of the ridge, Muhl-Berge, theyhad fortified the position with considerableartillery. The Prussians emerged andattacked the Russian left flank, fromthree sides. Although pounded byRussian artillery, the Prussians were ableto seize the northeast area of thefortification.

Drawing of a Prussian officer (right) and a grenadier Inthe background, Prussian drilling can be seen. (Anne S. K.Brown Military Collection, Brown University Library)


A second Prussian attack went in againstKuh-Grund, but this one was not successful,retreating under an onslaught of Russianartillery and musket fire. Frederick notedthat 'the attack was several timesreceived, but it was impossible to carry thisbattery, which commanded the wholeground' (Frederick II, History of the SevenYears War, II, p. 14). At midday aPrussian cavalry charge was sent in againstthe Grosser-Spitzberg line, but it too failed.Russian artillery fire raked its columns anda Russian/Austrian cavalry chargedecimated the survivors. Soltykov stated:'[the] Prussians kept attacking and sufferedheavily ... their lines had been exposed toartillery' (Lloyd, History of the Late War inGermany, II, pp. 147-8). By 6.00 pm the

British Colonel Eyre Coote. (Anne S. K. Brown MilitaryCollection, Brown University Library)

Prussians had begun to withdraw from thebattlefield, but the Russians failed tofollow up the retreat and to destroy thePrussians completely.

Frederick had suffered 19,000 dead,wounded, and missing, while the jointRussian/Austrian army had suffered close to15,000 dead and wounded. The Russian armycrossed the Oder River intending to head easttoward Berlin, but it was forced to detoursouth to assist another Austrian corps, whohad had their line of communications cut bya small Prussian force. Relations between theRussian and Austrian armies were beginningto deteriorate, as is evidenced by a letter fromthe Russian commander to the Austriancommander, Daun:

I have done enough, sir for one year. I havegained two victories, which have cost theRussians 27,000 men. I only wait till you shallin like manner have gained two battles and Iwill begin anew. It is not just that troops of mysovereign should act singly. (Frederick II, Historyof the Seven Years War, II, p. 33)

Kunersdorf was Frederick's worst defeat,but not his last of 1759. He lost thestrategic city of Dresden on 4 Septemberand a Prussian corps of 13,000 at Maxen on20 November. He and his army, tired andbled white as it was, were still in the field as1759 drew to a close. The inability of theAustrian and Russian armies to stage acombined effort against Berlin and theremnants of the Prussian army were toprove decisive, enabling Frederick and hismen to survive and prepare for anothercampaign season.

Indian subcontinentThere was minimal fighting on thesubcontinent in 1759 as both sides rearmedand tried to strengthen their respectiveforces. Lally and his forces had to retreattoward Pondicherry as Madras wasreinforced, and the French forces hadthreatened mutiny after going without payfor many months. The mutiny was put downpeacefully, but 60 men escaped and joined

The fighting 67

the British forces. Two hundred Britishreinforcements arrived in June, and in theautumn Colonel Eyre Coote arrived with afurther 1,000 troops. At this time he alsotook command of all His Majesty's andCompany troops.

1760

North AmericaThe British were poised to march onMontreal in the campaign of 1760. However,the British garrison in Quebec City had hada difficult winter and of its 5,600 troops,2,300 had been ill. A large French force of8,500 men, commanded by Major-GeneralFrancois-Gaston, Chevalier de Levis, arrivedfrom Montreal in the early spring and laidsiege to the city. The French hoped to defeatthe British and retake the city before the icebroke on the St Lawrence River, allowing theRoyal Navy to appear with reinforcements.The British commander, Major-GeneralGeorge Murray, decided to confront theFrench army assembling on the Plains of

Abraham on 28 April. The British garrisonwas soundly defeated, and retreated to thecity to prepare its defense for the renewal ofthe French siege.

On 16 May, two Royal Navy ships arrivedto relieve the British, forcing the French tolift the siege and retreat toward Montreal.The relief of the Quebec garrison by theRoyal Navy was ultimately to play a largerrole in determining the fate of Canada thanthe first Battle of the Plains of Abraham theprevious September.

By mid-summer the British had launchedthree pincer movements on Montreal. Thefirst headed up-river from Quebec City, thesecond came up from Lake Champlain,and the third was launched down theSt Lawrence River from the west. Thethird pincer was the most important, as itwas designed to block any French troopsattempting to retreat from Montreal towardthe west. By 6 September the three armieshad converged and surrounded the islandof Montreal, and on 8 September theFrench garrison surrendered to GeneralAmherst.

Battle of Wandiwash, 22 January 1760


Indian subcontinentAfter Coote had assembled his newly formedarmy of two regular battalions and variousCompany European and Sepoy troops, hepushed out southward from Madras,successfully recapturing several formerBritish positions. The French commander,Lally, had hoped that the newly arrivedBritish forces would be sent north to Bengalto assist in defeating a move by the DutchEast India Company against the British.However, the British troops in Bengal wereable to defeat the Dutch on 25 November1759 without outside assistance, freeingCoote to center all his attention on defeatingthe French in the Carnatic. The two armiestried to outmaneuver one another and gain

tactical advantage until 22 January, whenthey met outside the fort of Wandiwash.

The Battle of Wandiwash was chieflybetween the regular units of both armies,arrayed in continental linear style. Adistinguishing feature of this engagementwas that the native troops of the British werearrayed and equipped as European soldiersfor the first time. Lally deployed his armywith the European cavalry on the right wing;next to them was the Lorraine Regiment; theFrench East India Company Europeanregiment was in the center; and Lally's ownregiment was on the left flank. French nativeSepoys were deployed behind the first line,and the total force numbered 4,000 men.Coote had deployed his force along similar

The fighting 69

lines, with the first line held by EuropeanCompany troops in the center; Draper'sRegiment were on their right and Coote'sregiment on their left, with one battalion ofSepoys on both flanks. The second line wasmade up of a composite battalion ofgrenadiers, supported on both flanks bySepoys, and the third line was made up ofcavalry. The British numbered around4,000 men. It is interesting to note that thisdecisive battle was fought with such smallnumbers of men, illustrating how bothFrance and England were stretched toprovide many regular troops to India due torequirements in other areas.

Both armies began to advance at 7.00 am,and skirmishing and artillery duels began

Battle of Liegnitz, 15 August 1760. The Prussians are

numbered as groups 6, 7, and 8 (across the middle of

the image), while the Austrians are listed as number 9

(right foreground). (Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection,

Brown University Library)

immediately on the flanks. The Frenchlaunched the Lorraine Regiment againstCoote's regiment; after a volley of musketfire, both sides engaged in heavy hand-to-hand fighting. The French retreated firstafter losing many men, and the battle wasdecided after a French tumbril ofammunition was destroyed by Britishartillery on the French left flank, causing theFrench line to lose cohesion.

Draper's regiment was then sent againstthe French flank to push home theadvantage and turn the French line into thecenter, causing more destruction and loss ofcohesion. An officer in Draper's regimentwrote: 'immediately we seized these gunswhich would otherwise have flanked andcaused much mischief... then drove a bodyof them ... and after a shower of musketryfor two minutes sent them flying' (NationalArmy Museum 7508-47). By 2.00 pm theFrench were in full retreat with their flankstaken. The French lost 600 men killed,wounded and taken prisoner; the British lostonly 200 killed and wounded.

Coote's next objective was to concentrateon taking all the French outposts outside thekey city of Pondicherry and then to besiegethe city itself. After receiving reinforcements,Coote pressed against the last remainingFrench posts while the Royal Navy blockadedPondicherry from the sea. On 15 January1761, the French surrendered Pondicherryand their last major foothold in India.

Western EuropeThe war between the French and Ferdinand'sforces continued with outcomes much thesame as in 1759. His Britannic Majesty'sArmy had been reinforced with a secondBritish contingent in the spring and summerof 1760, numbering eight cavalry and10 infantry regiments. There were manymaneuvers as the French launched a major


Austrian cavalry, both heavy (center) and light hussartroops (left and right). (Anne S. K. Brown MilitaryCollection, Brown University Library)

attack intended to destroy Ferdinand's abilityto wage another campaign. As the Frenchclosed in, Ferdinand was able to cause havocin the lines of communication serving thelarge French corps.

After a series of maneuvers and counter-maneuvers, on 31 July near Warburg,Ferdinand's army caught up with a sizableFrench force, under the command ofLieutenant-General Le Chevalier du Muy.Ferdinand split his force into three with theobject of outflanking the French positions.After a brief but sharp skirmish the French

began to withdraw. Ferdinand decided toemploy his British cavalry under thecommand of Sir John Manners, the Marquisof Granby, against the French army center.The cavalry had to cover five miles (8km) inorder to attack the French positions.Twenty-two squadrons of British cavalrysmashed into the French cavalry and thentheir infantry lines, creating chaos. As aBritish soldier stated: 'they charged so well,that they soon made the French retreat,killed and drowned numbers and took agreat many prisoners' ('John Tory's Journal,'JOSAHR, LIV, no. 218, p. 79). The Alliedinfantry was not able to keep up with thecavalry charge due to the terrain, whichallowed the French to withdraw. The Allies

The fighting 71

lost 1,200 men in the attack and the Frenchlost 6,000 men killed, wounded or captured.

Both sides regrouped after Warburg,engaging in maneuvers and sending lighttroops out to disrupt each other's supplynetworks. The French in the early autumnmoved north to attack Hanover from adifferent direction, and the two armies metat Kloster Kamp on 16 October. The fightingbegan early in the morning when the lighttroops of both armies encountered eachother. The full armies of both sides wereengaged in short order and throughout themorning sent in reinforcements to break thedeadlock, only to have more soldiers boggeddown. The battle favored one side then theother at different times, until a timely

French cavalry charge created seriousdisorder in the Allied infantry lines. Thisaction forced a retreat and by midday thebattle was over. Both sides had lost3,000 men killed, wounded, and captured.

Ferdinand withdrew to Warburg afterattempting further maneuvers to dislodgethe French, and both armies settled intotheir winter quarters. The French had beenunable to destroy the Allied army foranother year, despite increased pressure ontheir commanders to defeat Ferdinand andwin Hanover in the wake of territorial lossesin New France and India.

Central EuropeThe fighting began in Silesia when anAustrian corps under General Loudondefeated a Prussian corps at Landeshut on23 June. The Austrians heavily outnumberedthe Prussians, 34,000 men to 11,000. ThePrussians were easily defeated, losing10,000 men killed and captured. TheAustrians then moved with two corps todestroy the main Prussian army. FieldMarshal Daun and General Loudon marchedand met, combining their forces near thevillage of Liegnitz. The Austrians numberedclose to 90,000 men, while Frederick couldmuster only 30,000.

As the two Austrian corps converged uponthe Prussians on 15 August, however,Frederick moved his positions at night todisrupt their plan of attack. Loudon met thePrussians first and was heavily beaten back,withdrawing after two hours. The mainAustrian corps had failed to arrive to joinbattle, and without reinforcements Loudon'scorps lost 8,000 men, while the Prussianslost 3,000. Frederick had once againdemonstrated his ability to outmaneuver alarger force and not only survive, but alsowin victories.

Frederick was again in control of centralSilesia. In the meantime, however, Russianand Austrian troops, in a rare jointoperation, had launched an attack on Berlinwith 35,000 troops. On 9 October theircombined forces seized the city anddemanded payment of tributes to the army.


Frederick moved toward Berlin with a corpsand the raid ended three days later.

At this point, Daun moved the mainAustrian army of 55,000 men into Saxony,and Frederick immediately set out torespond to this threat. He marched with48,000 men, splitting his corps in two. Onecorps headed south to block any Austrianreinforcements coming north from Dresden,while Frederick marched the other corps toengage the Austrians from the rear nearTorgau. The two armies met on 3 November.Daun had successfully anticipatedFrederick's movements and moved his linesaround accordingly.

Frederick launched the battle at 2.00 pmwith an attack against the center of theAustrians. The Austrians beat back the attackwith a heavy artillery cannonade. A secondPrussian attack went in and it too wasbeaten. The Prussians, suffering heavy losses,appeared to be losing their spirit, when thesecond Prussian corps that had beendetached earlier arrived at the scene of battleand came upon the Austrians from behind,turning the left flank. As night fell, theAustrians began to lose cohesion, eventuallycalling a general retreat and withdrawingtowards Dresden. The Austrians and thePrussians had each lost 16,000 men.

The end of the war: 1761-63

The final years of the war were marked byboth military and financial exhaustion, agrowing will to end the conflict, struggles togain territory, and the consequences of thedeath of the Empress Elizabeth of Russia. Thewar in the central theater of operations wascharacterized by Prussia's switch to a moredefensive mode of operations - a desperateattempt to maintain her very existence asthe Austrians and Russians amassed morearmies to defeat her. With the death ofElizabeth and the subsequent withdrawal ofRussia from the fray, Prussia was able tofocus her dwindling resources against oneenemy, Austria. The fighting in the westerntheater of operations had not changed

significantly. The French were desperate toseize Hanover as quickly as possible; theyrecognized that peace was close at hand andwished to have as large a bargainingadvantage as possible at the peace talks.However, Ferdinand and the Allied armysuccessfully staved off their attempts. Thefinal theater of operations was the SpanishEmpire. Spain, a last-minute ally of France,foolishly joined the belligerents, but her fleetand army were not prepared for entry intothe conflict in 1762, and they were soonoverwhelmed by the large and highlyexperienced combined operations team ofthe Royal Navy and British army.

Central EuropeFrederick's army in the last stages numberedmore than 100,000 men, most of whomwere raw recruits and prisoners of warincapable of the complex maneuvers andrapid marches that had allowed Frederick tostrike at his enemies with vigor. Tocompensate for this, Frederick switched hisstrategy to positional warfare, in which heattempted to wear down his enemies withstrategic use of fortifications and maneuvers.

Two large Russian and Austrian corps,totalling 130,000 men, moved against thePrussians in Silesia. Frederick began buildinga large fortified camp at Bunzelwitz, nearSchweidnitz, on 20 August 1761. Inside thecamp he stationed 66 battalions and143 squadrons. The fort was heavilyprotected and the terrain denied theAustrians and Russians the use of theirartillery. However, Frederick made onetactical error; thinking that the Austriansand Russians would not attack the camp, hewithdrew most of his force and marchedtoward Neisee on 26 September. In hisabsence, on the night of 30 September, theAustrians seized Bunzelwitz.

Only the death of Empress Elizabeth ofRussia on 5 January 1762 saved the Prussianstate from destruction. Her son and successor,Grand Prince Peter, was an admirer ofFrederick and sought peace with Prussia. TheTreaty of St Petersburg of either 2 or 5 Mayfreed Frederick to concentrate his energies

The fighting 73

Prussian grenadiers led into battle. (Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection,

Brown University Library)


against the Austrians. Peter was dethroned byhis wife, Catherine the Great, on 18 July. Shewished to renew the war against Prussia, butin the end the Russians stayed neutral whilethe Prussians and Austrians fought forcontrol of Silesia and Saxony, both sidesknowing that peace could not be far off. ThePrussians were able to gain the upper hand inboth provinces, and with both sidesexhausted, an Austrian messenger arrived toopen negotiations on 29 November 1762.

Western EuropeThe French poured more troops into the fightagainst Ferdinand and the Allied army, sensingthat peace was close at hand. Ferdinand hadlaunched a winter offensive in 1761, but overthe course of the winter and early spring hehad been pushed back to his original startinglines. As the spring approached, the Frenchhad amassed two large corps, totaling130,000 men, commanded by Broglie andSoubise. On 16 July, the French army was

defeated at Vellinghausen, but Ferdinand wasonce again unable to turn the defeat into arout. This failure allowed the French army toregain the initiative and attempt a strikeagainst the major supply depots of the Alliedarmy. After a series of marches andcountermarches where both sides attempted togain the advantage, the French offensive wasfinally stopped in early November. Ferdinandhad succeeded in keeping the two Frenchcorps in constant motion for over six monthswith the Allied light troops disrupting theFrench lines of communication. Finally,Ferdinand and his exhausted troops launcheda counteroffensive that cleared the Frenchthreat to Hanover within a week.

By the end of May 1762, both the Frenchcorps and the Allied army had been assembledfor another campaign season. The majorengagement of 1762 was at Wilhelmsthal on24 June, where the Allied army surprised theFrench army in their camp and inflictedanother defeat. While all did not go according

The Caribbean

The fighting 75

to plan for the Allies on the battlefield, thisvictory forced the French offensives in theregion to come to a standstill. Late in thecampaign season, the Allied army marchednorth to besiege Cassel. On 1 November thetown capitulated, and news arrived shortlythereafter that peace negotiations had begunbetween the French and British governments.

War with Spain and FranceBy the spring of 1761, the French court hadapproached the British government withoffers of a peace. However, there were signsthat there had been a secret agreementbetween the French and Spanish courts abouta possible Spanish entry to the war. Uponreceiving this information, the Britishgovernment withdrew from negotiations andplanned an attack on Spain. It seemed toogood an opportunity to miss, to sweep theSpanish from the seas as well.

The British launched a combined forceagainst the Spanish and French colonies inthe Caribbean and the Philippines. A largepart of the force consisted of British troopsfrom North America who had participated inthe victories in Canada and India. Thecombined operations of the Royal Navy andBritish army had been developed to a highlevel of professionalism over the previousfew years. The French island of Guadeloupehad been seized in an earlier expedition in1759, and was used as a forward base whenthe campaign against Dominica began inJune 1761. Dominica surrendered on 7 June.Early in 1762 the fleet and army attacked theisland of Martinique, which surrenderedafter heavy fighting on 12 February. Afterother smaller islands had been seized, themain British fleet and army were in sight ofHavana on 6 June. After a year most of theCaribbean islands were in British hands.

A squadron of six British ships of the lineblockaded the Spanish ships in Havanaharbor. By July, British forces had surroundedHavana and begun a bombardment, whichended only when the Spanish guns had beensilenced on 10 August. For the British, thegreatest threat in this campaign was disease;they lost 1,000 killed and wounded to the

George III of Great Britain. (Ann Ronan Picture Library)

Spanish defenders, compared with morethan 5,000 men lost to illness by October.

France had monitored British movementsand, after British troops had beenwithdrawn for the operations in the WestIndies, a French naval squadron and1,500 troops seized Newfoundland on27 June 1762. The colony had vital fishinggrounds, and once more the Frenchmotivation was to gain territorialbargaining chips for peace negotiations.Their strategy was ultimately unsuccessful,as the British had regained Newfoundlandby force by mid-September.

The attack on Manila in the SpanishPhilippines originated from the Britishstationed in India. The force comprised1,000 European troops (half Company andhalf King's troops) and 2,000 Sepoys. Theinvasion force arrived and laid siege toManila on 25 September 1762, and a bitter


A good illustration of British combined operations atwork at Havana, 7 June 1762. (National MaritimeMuseum)

fight ensued, enlivened by many Spanishcounterattacks. On 6 October the Britishsucceeded in creating a breach in the citywall and after this, as noted by an officer ofthe campaign, 'assault was so sudden thatthey had no time to oppose us on the breechand bastion but they retreated towards theirhouses' (Orme Collection, Vol. 32).

After losing Manila, the Spanishsurrendered all their possessions in thePhilippine Islands, concentrating theirenergy on Britain's ally, Portugal, whichthey had invaded in April 1762. The Britishresponded quickly, swiftly moving inreinforcements of 7,000 men and attachingBritish officers to the Portuguese army. TheBritish were able to stop the invasion andinflict heavy casualties, but they wereunable to destroy the Spanish completelyor to push them out of Portugal.

The fighting 77

With the accession of George III to theBritish throne in 1760, British strategybegan to change. George III cared moreabout the war in the colonies and lessabout the war in Germany. By October1761, the British governmental alliance ofWilliam Pitt and the Duke of Newcastlethat had promoted a joint colonial/continental war had come to an end. LordBute became the chief minister, and at thispoint the British began to abandon Prussiaboth politically and monetarily. Originally

both nations had agreed not to negotiatewith any party unless both approved, butBritain violated this understanding whenshe began to make overtures to the French.This readiness to break obligations latercaused a serious rift in relations betweenPrussia and Britain.

The Seven Years' War was finallybrought to an end with two separate peacetreaties. The first, the Treaty of Paris,involved Great Britain, France, andSpain and was signed on 10 February1763. Under its terms, Britain wasgranted Canada, Cape Breton Island,Newfoundland, the Ohio River valley, andall the land to the east of the MississippiRiver. France renounced all claims toNew France, receiving in exchange onlytwo islands off the coast of Newfoundland,St Pierre and Miquelon. France alsoreceived Martinique, Guadeloupe, andMarie Galante in the Caribbean, whileBritain retained Grenada and all the LesserAntilles except for St Lucia. Britain alsobecame the dominant European power inthe Carnatic and Bengal regions of India,for while Pondicherry had been returned tothe French, it could not be fortified. BelleIsle (off the coast of France) was given backto France in return for Minorca, and theBritish returned Goree, in West Africa, inexchange for Senegal. France also agreed toevacuate all of the German territories ofGeorge III and his allies. Britain returnedCuba and the Philippines to Spain in returnfor Florida and withdrawal from Portugal.

The Austrians and Prussians signed thePeace Treaty of Hubertusburg on 15February 1763. All the borders of 1756 werereinstated; Austria evacuated Silesia, andPrussia withdrew her troops from Saxony.Frederick acknowledged that no territoryhad been gained, but the two main waraims of Austria and Russia had not beenrealized. Silesia remained part of Prussia,and the dismemberment of Prussia as astate had not happened. In fact, theopposite was true: the war had considerablystrengthened Prussia's role as a majorEuropean power.


British siege battery at Havana, 1762.(National Maritime Museum)

The fighting 79

Portrait of a soldier

A soldier of the British68th Regiment of FootThis section draws upon an unnamedsoldier's journal which describes the Britishattacks on the coast of France in 1758. Aswith the operations of 1757, this engagementwas an attempt to draw off French forcesfrom the western European theater ofoperations. This soldier describes the eventsof that summer; he gives excellent insightinto camp life, rations in the fleet and lack oftraining. He also highlights the difficulty ofcombined operations, when troops arecaught without artillery support. Sadly, theauthor never mentioned his own name inthe journal or its date of publication, so wecan determine very little about the personwho wrote this account.

The soldier was born in Oxford in 1743.In April 1758 he enlisted at the age of 15into the 68th Regiment of Foot. He mayhave made a mistake about the regimentalnumber, since although the 68th did servein the coastal operations of 1758, it was notinvolved in the first embarkation of whichhe was part, but only the second and thirdoperations. He describes how in May he setout with other recruits to travel to the Isleof Wight from Dover, seeking to attractother recruits on the way.

The soldier describes his arrival on theIsle of Wight, and mentions, interestinglyfor the era, that the regiments were placedin tented towns and not quartered with thepopulation. A very detailed account isgiven of how the camps were set up,including the following relevant items. Allof the men were given equipment to set uptheir tents, and were to gather straw fortheir own beds. Six men were assigned toeach tent, and two blankets were given toeach man. The usual arrangement forsleeping was head to foot, so that threefaced one way and three the other. Theaccepted rule was that the oldest soldier

slept farthest away from the entrance, andthe youngest slept next to it, whichobviously meant being trodden upon.

He then explains the regiment and howthey camped. Each regiment in theory hadeight companies plus two grenadiercompanies. Each company formed a street,and each side of the street consisted of10 tents whose entrances faced one another.The sergeants' tents were at the front andfaced the front of the camp, one to each10. All the men's muskets were kept in frontof the sergeants' tent at the bell-tent. Thegrenadiers formed two half-streets on theflanks of the other eight companies, and inthe center of the front were the drums andcolors of the regiment.

The quarter guard was at 150 paces infront of the rest of camp. It had an officers'marquee and six to eight tents for theguards. These tents were purposely placedon this spot to prevent desertion from theregiment. In the rear of the men's tents wasthe subalterns' line of marquees, then thecaptains', and lastly the field officers'.Behind this was the officers' mess.

When the soldier first arrived, he wasexamined by a doctor. The men thenparaded in front of the officers, whoallocated them to regiments by drawingnumbers from a hat. He was drawn for thesecond battalion, the 68th Foot, andprovided with a red coat, laced hat, cap,gun, sword, etc. The next day he was takenout to learn how to walk (the art oflearning maneuvers), and then to learn howto use a musket. All this happened in oneday, and he had been in camp for only11 days when orders arrived to embark. Ifthis few days' instruction was the norm forlearning very complicated maneuvers, it isnot surprising that newly arrived recruitswere considered to be deficient in training.

Portrait of a soldier 81

The soldier's journal next gives a verydetailed list of provisions on board ship. OnMondays, six men were given 41bs (1.8kg) ofbread, half a pound (0.23kg) of cheese, andthree-quarters of a pound (0.34kg) of butter.On Tuesday they received 41bs of beef,4 lbs of flour, and 1lb (0.45kg) of fruit plusbread. On Wednesday the men were giventhe same menu as Monday. On Thursday themen were given 21bs (0.9kg) of pork insteadof beef. The Saturday menu was the same asTuesday, and the Sunday menu was the sameas Thursday. The men appear to have beenbetter fed than is commonly believed today.

The fleet numbered 24 ships of the lineand the army strength was numbered at13,000 men. The fleet arrived on 5 Juneopposite Cancalle Bay near St Malo and thetroops were landed the following day. Thesoldier wrote that he was 'given provisionsfor three days'. He also describes how 'for sixhours the ships kept ferrying men ashore'.He comments that there were only about100 French in the area, and describes how inthe town of Cancalle, 'all the people fled sothe sailors and soldiers plundered and somewere caught and one was hung.' Most of thearmy then marched off toward St Malo, buthis regiment, along with one other,remained at Cancalle. The troops advancingon St Malo destroyed shipping in the area.

The soldier mentions that 'from 3 a.m. tolate in the evening the two regiments inCancalle were busy building defensiveworks.' The troops sent to St Malo werere-embarked as news arrived of a largerFrench force, and the soldier states that hisregiment re-embarked also from Cancalle.The fleet headed toward Cherbourg, 'weatherintervened however and the ships sailedback to Portsmouth.'

The soldier briefly mentions the secondembarkation, which arrived off Cherbourgon 6 August. A force was sent ashore andfought an engagement on 7 August, repellingthe French and allowing the rest of the forceto land on the next day. The town of

Cherbourg surrendered and the portinstallations were destroyed. The troops werethen re-embarked.

On 3 September the fleet arrived at StLunaire Bay, near St Malo. The force was againunable to mount a proper siege of St Malo,and the soldier spends most of his timedescribing the coming disaster. He describeshow, as the British formed a camp after anengagement with the French, they capturedFrench deserters. The deserters warned that alarge French force was soon to arrive. Hepassed this information along to his officers,but they did not express much concern. On11 September orders were given to embark thetroops, but boarding proceeded in a casualfashion. He describes what followed:

the French army appeared, and in the shorttime they began to cannonade us, which wecould not return, having no artillery on shore,but the shipping did for us all that was possibleto be done; by the time our regiment began toembark, the shot flew both thick and hot, andevery boat made to the first ship they couldreach, the boat that I was in got on board one ofthe bomb ketches, who the minute we camealong side of her, discharged a 13 inch mortar,the shell of which I saw fall in the middle of atroop of French horse. By this time the actionbecame general among the troops we had onshore and a dreadful scene it was! To see somany brave fellows lose their lives, and we notable to give them any manner of assistance, atlast the few who remained were obliged to throwdown their weapons and surrender.

The 68th Foot returned to England, andthe soldier's regiment spent the winter atRochester. In April 1759 the regiment servedgarrison duty on the island of Jersey, then itwas shipped to Guadeloupe island, to fulfillthe same role, in the spring of 1760. There itremained for more than three years,returning to England on 23 August 1763.The soldier was discharged on 28 Septemberof the same year, at the age of 20.

The world around war

The civilian and economic cost

While historians feel that it is still classifiableas a limited war of the eighteenth century,the Seven Years' War had elements of totalwar. Chiefly notable are the cripplingeconomic burdens that many of thecombatants assumed just to keep theirarmies in the field, but the effects upon thecivilian populations are also significant.

The civilians in the various theaters ofoperations suffered greatly, especially if theywere caught in a war zone. Although theirfellow citizens suffered from taxes and foodshortages, they did not have to contend withthe military forces at first hand. All of thearmies were guilty of abusing the local civilianpopulations. Supply breakdowns and lack ofmoney to pay for forage drove many armiesto pillaging the local communities. Most ofthis occurred in enemy territory, but it wasnot uncommon for armies to seize suppliesfrom areas they had been engaged to protect.

The war in the western theater ofoperations displays numerous examples ofpillaging and abuse by both sides. TheBritish forces who first joined His BritannicMajesty's Army in Germany in 1758 werenoted for their insolent behavior in Hanover,notably rude behavior to civilians becausethey were not British. The local Germanpopulation, for their part, charged inflatedrates for the army's forage, and there werereported cases of the British forces pillaginglocal areas. However, the French forces in thearea were accused of more widespread acts ofpillaging. The British envoy stated: 'they [theFrench army] have heightened the mostbarbarous acts of licentious pillaging by theirinsolence ... [this] must show that the realintention of the French is to spread ruin anddesolation over Germany' (Mitchell toHoldernesse, 1/2/58). The French army wasrestricted in its scope for pillaging as itwithdrew after the Battle of Minden, sincemost of the countryside had already been

stripped of supplies earlier in the campaign.Numerous villages were burned whencivilians retaliated against the Frenchpillaging attempts.

The central theater of operations' recordsyield additional anecdotes of the armiesexacting damage upon the civilianpopulation. A Prussian private soldier servingduring the first Saxony campaign in 1756noted that 'on the march every man thrustinto his pack - it goes without saying onenemy territory - whatever he can lay hishands on' (Childs, Armies and Warfare inEurope, p. 164). The Prussians used Saxony asa forward military depot for operationsthroughout the war, and the principalitysuffered greatly as a result. The Austrians andespecially the Prussians stripped thecountryside bare each campaigning season.The Prussians also marched into neighboringGerman principalities to seek monetarycontributions to the Prussian war effort, andto seize recruits to reinforce the decreasingPrussian army. The campaigns in Bohemiaalso took a heavy toll. Taxes had been raisedin the Austrian provinces to support the wareffort, and Bohemia, with its agriculturalwealth, paid a heavier toll than most. Toincrease the burden, the Prussians madenumerous forays into the province, pillagingand exacting contributions from the localpopulation. After the Battle of Kolin, thePrussian army pillaged and destroyed villagesto such an extent that, as recorded in the'Austrian Journal', 'since the Prussianscontinue burning the villages through whichthey pass, Colonel Loudon has sent word tothem that, if they persist in such actions, hewill no longer give quarter to prisoners thathe takes from them' (St Paul, 1757: TheDefence of Prague, p. 100).

Berlin was occupied twice and forced topay contributions both times to theRussian/Austrian forces. The Cossacks of the

The world around war 83

Russian army committed numerous atrocitiesagainst the Prussian populations in the OderRiver area, and reports of these activitiessparked the Prussian armies at Zorndorf andKunersdorf to give no quarter to capturedRussian soldiers. It has been estimated that afifth of the population of the Prussianprovince of Pomerania was lost during theconflict, from atrocities committed as well asfood shortages after the Russians pillaged thearea. However, East Prussia was occupied bythe Russians throughout the conflict and didnot suffer such losses, largely due to the factthat it was not a scene of fighting after 1757.

There are also many examples of abuse ofthe civilian population during the war inNorth America. People living in the frontierregions were at risk from raids by theirregular forces of both sides. The French andtheir Native American allies were verysuccessful, especially early in the war, atspreading terror along the frontier. TheFrench-allied Native American attack on thegarrison and civilians of Fort William Henryin the woods of the New York frontier wentdown in history as a massacre, and theFrench irregular activities led Amherst todeclare in 1760: 'the French troops all laydown their arms and arc not to serve duringthe war, their behaviour in carrying on acruel and barbarous war in this country, 1thought deserved this disgrace' (Amherst toGeneral Joseph Yorke, 6/9/60). However, theBritish were capable of similar terror tactics.The French population of Acadia was forciblydeported to Louisiana; Roger's Rangersattacked the French-allied Native Americansettlement of St Francis, killing andcapturing most of the population. Duringthe battle for Quebec, Wolfe issued orders tolay waste the surrounding countryside. Hismotives were twofold: one was to draw theFrench out to battle, and the other was todestroy the Native American villages (Wolfe,Instructions to Young Officers, p. 81).

Similar situations arose in India. TheFrench units, due to the fact that they wereseldom paid, often pillaged the countrysidefor supplies and forage. As the British closedin on Pondicherry in 1761, orders were

issued to pillage the countryside (Coote'sJournal, II).

The war created economic problems forall the nations involved. It lasted longer thanmost states had anticipated. States such asPrussia and Austria had hoped for a shortand decisive campaign in central Europe,while Great Britain and France expected thatit would take longer, but still not as longas it did.

Many historians view Great Britain as theprincipal victor in the war. However, theBritish victories were very costly to thenation in terms of debt. The need to providethe sums to build up the fleet and keeparmies in the field drove up spendingconsiderably. An example of the costs:£1,968,477 was required to keep HisBritannic Majesty's Army in the field in 1759(Naval and Military Memoirs, Note 134), andthis was only a fraction of the cost of the restof the regular army and Royal Navy deployedoverseas. Annual tax revenue for 1760 was£15 million, double the revenue of 1756, butthere was still a shortfall and the state had toborrow to keep the war going. The nationaldebt of Great Britain rose from £75 millionin 1756 to £133 million in 1763.

Prussia, a small state by comparison toGreat Britain, was also at the breaking pointfinancially as a result of the war. Thegovernment had a reserve of 13 million talersat the beginning of the conflict. During thecourse of the war, taxation in Prussia reached43 million talers, which was a heavy burdenon the population. Frederick debased thecurrency of the state three times during thewar, which created a further 29 milliontalers. He also included captured currencyfrom his enemies in Saxony, Silesia, andPomerania. Captured lands such as Saxonywere stripped bare, which allowed him toraise 53 million talers. A major element ofFrederick's economic policy was negotiationof the annual subsidy from Great Britain.Frederick had concluded a subsidy treatywith Britain on 11 April 1758, under whichthe British provided 27 million talers, whichwas a very substantial part of his overall warbudget (Duffy, Army of Frederick the Great,


pp. 95-99). When the leadership of theBritish government passed to Lord Bute in1762, however, the annual subsidy ceased,creating further financial hardships forPrussia.

The war cost for Austria amounted to392 million gulden. The original estimate ofmilitary expenditure per year had been

28 million gulden, and the annual militarybudget during wartime was three times thepeacetime budget. The Austrians were clearlyover budget, forcing the government to raisetaxes. This accounted for 144 million guldenover the course of the war, the brunt ofwhich was borne by the provinces of Austriaand Bohemia, as noted previously. The


French subsidy to Austria was smaller inscale than the British subsidy to Prussia,amounting to only about 25 million gulden(Szabo, Kaunitz and Enlightened Absolutism,pp. 122-30). By 1760, France was havingdifficulty providing the annual subsidy of12 million gulden as a result of problemscaused by the loss of New France and most

of her commercial fleet. Austria had alsopromised a subsidy of 1 million rubles a yearto Russia after they signed the First Treaty ofVersailles, which became increasingly

Civilian cost - Austrian Grenz pillaging a village and killingany opposition. (Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection,Brown University Library)

Essential Histories • The Seven Years' War

difficult to maintain as the war progressed.Various assets of the royal treasury were soldoff to gain revenue, but still debts continuedto increase. The financial situation forcedreductions in the officer corps by 1760. Bythe end of 1761, each regiment of the armyhad been reduced by two companies, andclose to 12 percent of the army had beendisbanded. Officers in Silesia were being paidwith paper money that would be redeemableafter the war had ended, ensuring that thedebts and cost of the war would continue toplague Austria well into the future.

The Russians were able to provide fortheir war effort by the extreme harshnesswith which the various governmentalorganizations stripped the countryside ofneeded material and raised taxes on all levelsof society. The actual system was not highlyor centrally organized, which meant thatcorruption was widespread, especially in thecountryside. The severe governmentalregulations also provoked local serf uprisings,although these were put down quickly.Toward the end of the war, the lack ofrevenue was taking its toll on the war effort,and the Empress Elizabeth was quoted assaying that she would sell her diamonds anddresses, if necessary, to continue the war.

France, as mentioned above, also hadeconomic difficulties. It cost the French state24.5 million livres a year to field theFrench armies. The cost to maintain foreigntroops in the field was 12.5 million livres ayear, but at least the French state did nothave to provide the fodder and supplies forthe French army in Germany. That wasprovided by the various German states thathad been occupied by or allied withFrance. Interest rates in France rose steadilyas the government increased its borrowing.The French state had decided to finance thewar effort by loans instead of raising taxes,but because of this decision the national

No quarter given - Russian print of a skirmishbetween Cossacks and Prussian Dragoons. Notethe image in the lower left corner showing theapparent killing of a wounded Prussian Dragoon.(Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection. BrownUniversity Library)

debt rose from 1,360 million livres in 1753to 2,350 million livres in 1764 (Riley, TheSeven Years War and the Old Regime in France,pp. 180-84|. French defeats in the naval andcolonial theaters affected trade overseas, and


a massive shipbuilding program undertakenlate in the war drove up spending evenfurther. Commercial interests had to turntoward the continent to make up for thelosses in the colonies, and with the loss of

revenue from overseas, France's ability tomake war proved to be limited. She had tohalve her annual subsidy to Austria, and hertroops in the field often suffered from lack ofpayment.

Portrait of a civilian

The nun's story

This is an account written by a French nunwho was present at the siege and occupationof Quebec in 1759-60. No record of hername survives, nor is it known if she wasfrom France or Canadian-born. We do knowthat she was a Sister at the General Hospitalof Quebec, and that her Order had houses inboth New and Old France. There is also noinformation given regarding her specific age,although from her references to the 'youngsisters' one might guess that she was at leastin her late 20s or early 30s.

Most of the nun's account deals withmilitary events, and the effects upon herself,her convent, and the civilians of Quebec arediscussed in relation to these. In writing heraccount of the events leading up to theBritish Siege of Quebec, the nun describes thesteps that the French took to counter theBritish, and notes that they were hamperedin disposition of troops by a shortage of men.The Canadian militia was called out, andtroops were sent from Montreal to Quebec.Even so, there were not enough troopsavailable to cover all of the areas requiringprotection. Earlier in her account, the nunhad described the fevers that had plagued thetroops, from the arrival of the first soldiersfrom Old France in 1755. It is not clear whatkind of fever this was, or if it had spread intothe civilian population. These illnesses, alongwith the battle casualties of the previousthree years' fighting, had taken their toll onthe French troops, and they were notoperating at full strength. This also testifies tothe Royal Navy's highly effective blockade,which had consistently thwarted attempts bythe French Navy to reinforce New Francewith men and supplies. It also enabled theBritish to seize positions on the south bankof the St. Lawrence River, just oppositeQuebec. The first major bombardment of thetown, as corroborated by this account, tookplace on 24 July.

The nun explains that the Englishbombardment took a serious toll on thetown in short order. She describes thenumbers of wounded people arriving fortreatment at the convent, along with othercivilians seeking refuge from the enemybombardment in the convent complex,which at that point was outside the range ofthe British artillery. Before long, every shelterinside the convent's walls, including thestables, the attics, and the church itself, werefilled with wounded and refugees. The arrivalof nuns fleeing from two other convents inthe area provided more hands to help withthe sick and wounded, but put further strainon the limited food stores available. Of theirprivations, the nun says only that they werehappy 'to partake with them [the refugeenuns] the little that remained to us.' Thecombination of the bombardment andblockade also brought the threat of famineto the town's beleaguered population.Buildings housing food and other stores weredestroyed by artillery, along with much ofthe lower town. The situation becameincreasingly desperate.

The Battle of the Plains of Abraham,which took place on 13 September 1759,secured the British hold on Quebec—at leastfor the winter months. The nuns andrefugees awaited the outcome of the battleinside the convent, trembling with dreadand fear at the carnage taking place nearlyunder their windows. The nun describeshow, overcome by what they saw, she andher sisters ventured onto the field of battleto try to assist the wounded and dying.When they realized that the tide of battlehad turned definitively against France, sheand the others tried to put their faith inGod, but as she notes, 'the enemy, master ofthe country and at two paces from ourHouse; exposed to the fury of the Soldier, wehad everything to fear.' She notes with relief

Portrait of a civilian 89

the subsequent arrival of a British officer,who reassured them that they were thereonly to use part of the convent grounds tohelp them hold the town against any Frenchtroops who still refused to capitulate.

With most of the town firmly in thehands of the British, the nun describes howthe citizens tried to decide whether tosurrender formally or to rally theirdiminished resources and try to fight on.Against those who did not wish to surrender,the Bourgeois, or merchants stated that theyhad sacrificed all their worldly goods andeven their homes, but that 'they cannotresolve themselves to having their throatsslit in front of their wives and children.' Itseemed that without their support, thecitizens would not fight on, and so theycapitulated to the British.

The French made their formal surrendercontingent upon the British agreeing tocertain conditions, of which the nun citestwo: the right to their religion, and thebenefits accorded to citizens. Given that atthis time the restrictions against Catholics inGreat Britain and Ireland were severe, theconcession allowing the French to continueto practice their religion was a significant

one, but she notes that the British agreedwithout hesitation. She also says, 'we couldnot without injustice complain of thefashion in which we were treated,' althoughshe notes that they were obliged to lodge aguard of thirty British soldiers, who seizedthe convent's choir and helped themselves tothe household goods, belonging to theparents of the convent's nuns, which hadbeen stored there. More upsetting andannoying still, she complains, was having tolisten to them continue their conversationsthroughout Mass.

The establishment of the Britishoccupation government brought some returnto normality, but the nun and hercommunity faced the future withuncertainty. Their supplies were still short,and she laments that they had 'no wine, norother refreshments to give' to the wounded.She and her fellow citizens conceded thesupremacy of the British, but consideredtheir oaths of loyalty an act of expediencyonly. In that winter of 1759-60, they had notgiven up hope that the French wouldultimately recapture Quebec and that they,loyal French citizens, would remain part ofthe French empire.

Conclusion and consequences

Ramifications for the future

The Seven Years' War ended with the peacetreaties of Paris and Hubertusburg. Prussiasurvived the war intact and escaped thethreat of being dismembered by herenemies. She had lost 10 percent of herpopulation and was economically on theverge of breakdown, but emerged with agreat reputation. Following the war, Prussiacould indisputably claim to be a majorEuropean power, on a par with Austria interms of her influence and presence in theGerman Diet. Over the course of the next100 years, Prussia eclipsed Austria as themajor German state. The performance of thePrussian military in the face of suchadversity led many to claim that it was thebest in Europe. Numerous states includingGreat Britain, Russia, and France tried toadopt various Prussian models for theirarmies, notwithstanding Prussian militarydefeats and shortcomings. The deficienciesof the Prussian army were evident duringthe War of the Bavarian Succession(1778-79), 15 years after the Seven Years'War, and battlefield performance continuedto decline throughout the rest of thecentury. The final humiliation came whenthe Prussians were soundly defeated byNapoleon at Jena in 1806.

France at the end of the war was a shell ofher former self, beaten and embarrassed.Widespread military reform was indicated,but while many in France pushed for thePrussian models to be adopted, these werenot without critics. The artillery wassuccessfully reformed under the leadership ofJean de Baptiste Gribeauval during the 1760s,and would prove decisive in the latercampaigns of the armies of the Revolutionand Napoleon. The early attempts to formintegrated and flexible columns led to thedevelopment of divisional structures for thearmy, and this in turn evolved to the higherlevels, allowing commanders to control larger

units of men over a given battlefield. Lightinfantry units were formally adopted in 1788,which meant that French units would marchacross territory with all arms representedwithin a divisional structure and with lightinfantry out in front to reconnoiter andharass the enemy as necessary.

The French navy replaced most of itslosses in a major construction program, andthe whole structure of the navy wasreformed, from the standardization ofarmaments and vessels to the building ofnaval colleges. The French navy was aconsiderable threat for the Royal Navyduring the American War of Independence.However, the debt caused by the war and theneed for rearmament caused delays in thereform of the governmental administration,which was clearly needed. This mountingdebt and the burden it placed upon thepeople of France was ultimately one of thecauses of the French Revolution.

The war ended Austria's claim to Silesia.Maria Theresa realized that a militarysolution to the problem presented by Prussiawas not viable, and Austria spent the nextyears dealing with internal reform of thestate. Under the leadership of Kaunitz, theAustrian Empire became a more centralizedstate than had existed previously. There wasalso significant economic reform, and thedebt was made more manageable under thevarious schemes established. By 1788 therevenue of the state had doubled and thedebt was lower than that of the French andBritish governments.

The Russian state ended the war on ahigh note. Its armies had defeated themighty Prussian army on several occasions.As with Austria, Russia turned away fromconfrontation with Prussia, choosing insteadto attack the Ottoman lands in the Balkans,and she scored significant victories againstthe Turks. The Russian army finally began to

Conclusion and consequences 91

reap the successes brought about by thereforms that had begun during the war. Bythe end of the century, Poland haddisappeared from the European map asAustria, Prussia, and Russia cut her intopieces. Russia entered the Seven Years' Warsomewhat as an outsider. Due to her army'sperformance during the war and against theTurks, she began to be considered as asignificant European power, and she hascontinued to play a central role in Europeaninternational relations up to the present day.

While it would appear that Great Britainwas the chief victor of the conflict, the war'scosts were to have a more lasting impactthan its victories. The army had performedwell, but many lessons learned were quicklyforgotten, as was apparent when the Britisharmy went to war in America in 1775 only12 years later. Also, Britain becamepolitically isolated from the rest of Europe.Under the Convention of Westminster, shehad lost alliances with Russia and Austria,and the abandonment of Prussia during thelast years of the war meant that Britain hadno major allies on the continent.

The cost of war and the garrisoning ofthe newly won colonies caused Britainsignificant financial problems, and theBritish government alienated the 13 North

American colonies when it closed the landsnewly gained by the Treaty of Paris tocolonial settlers. The colonies felt they had aright to settle in these areas, and wereannoyed further when the Britishgovernment stipulated that the colonies payfor part of the protection that was nownecessary in the region. Since the Britishgovernment could not tax the colonistsdirectly, it began instead to levy importduties on items. The Stamp Act of 1765 wasthe beginning of soured relations betweenthe British and the colonists, and theQuebec Act of 1774 led to a furtherdeterioration. This Act, which grantedcertain rights to the French Canadiansettlers for their religion, Catholicism, aswell as administration of the new lands ofthe Ohio valley, incensed the 13 colonies,and by 1775 they were in open rebellionagainst the British. By 1778, the French wereactively supporting the American rebels.Some observers have contended that theirmotivation was partially the desire to inflicta defeat on the British and regain some ofthe face lost during the Seven Years' War. By1783 Britain had lost the 13 colonies andhad switched her attention to India, thecenterpiece of what was to become theSecond British Empire.

Further reading

Primary sources

Manuscript sourcesBritish LibraryOrme CollectionHaldimand PapersBouquet PapersClive PapersHardwicke PapersNapier PapersHowe PapersMss Eur B248 Fortunate EnglishmanMss Eur F190 Vols I—II Journal of Sir Eyre

CooteMss Eur F128 Brigadier John CarnacMss King's 235 Marshal ContadesAdd 11813 Captain William Parry (RN)

Louisbourg

National Army Museum5902-46 Attack on St Malo6807-129 Capture of Manila6807-142-13 Letter of an officer regarding

the Battle of Minden7506-26 Journal of the Allied Armies

Marches from the 1st Arrival of BritishTroops in Germany to the Present Time

1762, John Tory7508-47 Letter of an officer of Draper's

Regiment at the Battle of Wandiwash7510-92 Letter from an officer to his mother

(Battle of Minden)

Public Record OfficeAmherst Papers

Printed sourcesAnnual Register, 1762.A Soldiers Journal containing a particular

description of the several descents on theFrench Coast, London, 1770.

'General Orders in Wolfe's Army,' ManuscriptsRelating to the Early History of Canada,Quebec, 1875.

Naval and Military Memoirs of Great Britain1727-1783, London, 1790.

'Reflections on the General Principles of Warand on the Compositions and Charactersof the Different Armies in Europe,'A. Lloyd, Annual Register, 1766.

'To Mr Davenport being the letters of MajorRichard Davenport,' Society for ArmyHistorical Research, London, 1968.

Bisset, A. (ed.), Memoirs and Papers of SirAndrew Mitchell, London, 1850.

Bougainville, Louis Antoine de, Adventure

in the Wilderness, Norman, Oklahoma,1964.

Bradstreet, J., Impartial Account of Lt Colonel

Bradstreet's Expedition to Fort Frontenac,London, 1759.

Dalrymple, C, Military Essay containingreflections of the raising, arming, clothingand Discipline of British Cavalry andInfantry, London, 1761.

Dundas, Sir David, Principles of Military

Movement, London, 1788.Frederick II, History of the Seven Years War by

Frederick the Great, translated by ThomasHolcroft, London, 1789.

Frederick II, Military Instructions written by theKing of Prussia for the Generals of his Army,London, 1762.

Frederick II, Regulations for the PrussianInfantry and Cavalry, London, 1757.

Hamilton, C. (ed.), Braddock's Defeat: journalof Captain Robert Chomley's Batman;journal of a British Officer; Halkett's OrderlyBook, Norman, Oklahoma, 1959.

Knox, H., Historical journal of Campaigns in

North America, 1757-1760, New York,1914.

Lloyd, H., History of the Late War in Germany,

London, 2 vols, 1766-81.Luvaas, Jay (ed.), Fredrick the Great on the Art

of War, London, 1966.

Further reading 93

Orme, E., History of the Military Transactionsof the British Nation in Indostan, London,1763.

Pouchot, P., Memoir of the Late War in North

America between the French and the English,Roxbury, Mass., 1864.

St Paul, H., 1757: The Defence of Prague:Journal of Horace St Paul, edited by NeilCogswell, Northampton, England, 1998.

Wolfe, J., Instructions to Young Officers,London, 1768.

Yorke, P.C. (ed.), Life and Correspondence ofPhillip Yorke, Earl of Hardwick, Cambridge,1913.

Secondary sources

Balisch, A., 'Infantry Battlefield Tactics in the18th Century,' Studies in History andPolitics 83-84.

Beranger, J., History of the Hapsburg Empire,London, 1997.

Childs, J., Armies and Warfare in Europe,Manchester, 1982.

Dann, U., Hanover and England 1740-1760:Diplomacy and Survival, Leicester, 1991.

Duffy, C, Army of Frederick the Great,2nd edn, Chicago, 1996.

Duffy, C, Army of Maria Theresa, NorthPomfret, Vermont, 1977.

Duffy, C, Russia's Military Way to the West,London, 1981.

Edwardes, M., Battle of Plassey and theConquest of Bengal, London, 1963.

Fortescue, Sir John, History of the BritishArmy, Vol. II, London, 1908.

Harper, J. R., 78th Fighting Fraser's in Canada,Montreal, 1966.

Houlding, J. A., Fit for Service: Training of theBritish Army, Oxford, 1981.

Hughes, B. O., Open Fire: Artillery Tactics fromMarlborough to Wellington, Chichester,England, 1983.

Kaplan, H., Russia and the Outbreak of theSeven Years War, Berkeley, California, 1968.

Keep, J., Soldiers of the Tsar: Army and Societyin Russia, Oxford, 1985.

Kennett, L., French Armies in the Seven Years'War, Durham, North Carolina, 1967.

Mackesy, P., Coward of Minden, London, 1979.Marcus, G., Quiberon Bay: The Campaign in

Home Waters, London, 1960.Middleton, R., Bells of Victory: Pitt-Newcastle

Ministry and Conduct of the Seven Years'War, Cambridge, 1985.

Nosworthy, B., Anatomy of Victory: Battle Tactics1689-1763, Hippocrene, New York, 1992.

Paret, P. (ed.), Frederick the Great: A Profile,New York, 1972.

Paret, P., Yorck and the Era of Prussian Reform,Princeton, New Jersey, 1966.

Pritchard, J. S., Louis XV's Navy, 1748-1762,Kingston, Ontario, 1987.

Riley, J., The Seven Years' War and the OldRegime in France: Economic and FinancialToll, Princeton, New Jersey, 1986.

Savory, R., His Britannic Majesty's Army inGermany, Oxford, 1966.

Schweizer, K., England, Prussia and the SevenYears' War: Studies in Alliance Policies andDiplomacy, Lewiston, New York, 1989.

Showalter, D., Wars of Frederick the Great,London, 1996.

Szabo, F., Kaunitz and Enlightened Absolutism,1753-1780, Cambridge, 1994.

Unpublished thesisMarston, D., 'Swift and Bold: The 60th Royal

American Regiment and Warfare in NorthAmerica, 1755-1765,' MA thesis, McGillUniversity, 1997.

Index

Figures in bold refer to illustrations

Abercromby, General James 47, 48Acadia 83Aix-la-Chappelle 7, 12Allied army 35, 72 see also British-allied army; Hanoverian

Allied armyAmerica, North 10-12, 29, 83 see also France, New

British colonies 11the fighting 33-34, 47-49, 57-60, 67

Amherst, Major-General (later General) Jeffrey 48, 48-49,57, 67, 83

Apraskin, Field Marshal Stephen Fedorovich 40, 41, 52Augustus III, Elector of Saxony 15Austria 14, 15, 84-86, 90Austrian army 23-24, 37-40, 43, 55, 64-66, 71, 72

Artillery Corps officer 23cavalry 44-45, 70-71Grenzer corps (light troops) 20-21, 24, 84-85troops, deployment of 17

Austrian Succession, War of the 7, 12

Bengal 45Bergen 60-61Berlin 71-72, 82Bevern, Lieutenant General the Duke of 39Bohemia 37, 82Boscawen, Admiral Edward 32, 32Bourlamanque, Colonel 57Braddock, Major-General Edward 10, 11Breslau 42-43British-allied army (His Britannic Majesty's Army) 22, 25 see

also Allied armyBritish army 21-22

39th Regiment of Foot 1242nd Highlanders 47-4844th Regiment of Foot 10-1148th Regiment of Foot 10-1155th Regiment of Foot 2160th Foot Royal American Regiment 21-22, 47-48, 49

soldier 2168th Regiment of Foot, portrait of a soldier of 80-8179th Regiment of Foot 57, 6980th Regiment of Foot 21Draper's Regiment (79th Foot) 57, 69troops, deployment of 17,21-22

Broglie, Marshal Victor-Francois, Duc de 60, 62, 74Browne, Marshal Maximilian U. von 27, 38Bunzelwitz 72Bute, Lord 77, 84Byng, Admiral John 26

Calcutta 45, 46Black Hole of 45

call to arms 56Cambridge, HMS 30-31Campbell, General John (Earl of Loudon) 26, 33Cancalle 81canton system 20Caribbean, The 74, 75Carnatic region 29, 55Catherine the Great of Russia 74Charles of Lorraine, Prince 43, 44Cherbourg 81civilian, portrait of a 88-89Clive, Robert 45, 46Clue, Marquis de la 32Conflans, Admiral Hubert de 32-33Contades, Marshal Louis Georges Erasme 61, 62, 63

Cook, James 57Coote, Colonel Eyre 22, 66, 67, 68-69Cuddalore fort 55-56Cumberland, Duke of 35, 36, 37

d'Estrées, Marshall 35, 37Daun, Marshal (later Field Marshal) Leopold J. von 39, 39,

54, 71, 72Dinwiddie, Governor 10discipline in battle 17-18Dohna, Lieutenant-General Cristoph v. 53Dominica 75drills, battle 17-18

Elizabeth of Russia, Empress 12, 72, 86English (British) East India Company 12, 29, 45-46Europe, Central 27, 37-45, 52-55, 64-66, 71-72, 74Europe, Western 38, 33-37, 49-51, 60-64, 69-71, 74-75

Ferdinand of Brunswick, Prince 50, 50, 51, 60, 61-62, 63,66, 70, 71, 74

Fermor, General Villim Villimovich 52, 53foraging 82Fort Carillon 47, 47, 57Fort Duquesne 10, 11, 49Fort Frontenac 48Fort Niagara 11, 12, 57Fort Oswego 12, 26Fort Pitt 49 see also Fort DuquesneFort Prince George 10 see also Fort DuquesneFort St Frederic 57Fort St George 57Fort Ticonderoga 57 see also Fort CarillonFort William 45Fort William Henry 33, 83France 15, 75-77,86-87France, New 10, 11 see also America, NorthFranco-German army (Reichsarmee) 41, 42Frederick II of Prussia 8, 15, 20-21, 26-27, 28, 29, 35, 39,

41-43, 52, 54-55, 64, 71-72, 83military instructions on the deployment of troops 16, 17

French army 24-25, 61-63, 69-71, 72, 74, 82Grenadier 25Lorraine Regiment 68, 69regimental colors 25

French East India Company 12, 24, 29, 45-46, 68French navy 29, 31,90

Gage, Colonel Thomas 11George, HMS 30-31George II of Great Britain 10George III of Great Britain 75, 77Germany 29Great Britain 91 see also British army; Royal NavyGrenzer corps (Austrian light troops) 20-21, 24, 84-85Gribeauval, Jean Baptiste de 90Gross-Jägersdorf 40Guadeloupe 75, 81

Halifax 32Hanover, Electorate of 13, 26, 37, 51, 82Hanoverian Allied army (His Britannic Majesty's Army in

Germany) 49-51, 60-63, 69-71, 82 see also Allied armyHastenbeck 36Havana 75, 76-77, 78-79Hawke, Admiral Sir Edward 32, 33His Britannic Majesty's Army see British-allied armyHis Britannic Majesty's Army in Germany see Hanoverian

Allied army

Index 95

Hochkirch 55Hubertusburg, Peace Treaty of 77

India 12, 14, 29Indian subcontinent 45-46, 55-57, 66-67, 68-69Isle d'Aix 37Isle of Wight 37, 80

Jaffar, Mir 46

Kaunitz, of Austria, Prince 14, 90Kloster Kamp 71Kloster Zeven, Convention of 37, 49Kolin, Battle of 40Kreczhor 40Kunersdorf, Battle of 18, 64, 65-66, 83

Lagos, Portugal 32Lake Champlain 57Lake George 11-12, 33, 34, 47, 48Lally de Tollendal, General Count 55, 56, 57, 66, 68Landeshut 71Le Boeuf fort 10Lehwaldt, Field Marshal Hans v. 40Leuthen, Battle of 16, 20, 41, 43-44Liechtenstein, Prince Joseph Wenzel 24Liegnitz, Battle of 68-69, 71Lloyd, Henry 20, 22, 25Lobosch Hill 28Lobositz 28Lorraine, Prince Charles of 38Loudon, Lieutenant-General Gideon Ernst v. 61, 61, 64, 71, 82Loudon, Lord (General John Campbell) 26, 33Louis XV of France 13Louisburg 12, 32, 33, 47, 48-49

Madras 12, 55, 56, 57Manila 75-76Maria Theresa of Austria, Queen 7, 90Martinique 75Minden, Battle of 62, 63, 62-64Minorca 26Mitchell, Sir Andrew 28, 34-35, 40, 53Montcalm, Marquis Louis Joseph de 26, 33, 47, 57, 58, 59Montreal 67Munro, Lieutenant-Colonel 33Murray, Major-General George 67musket, flintlock 16

Nadasti, General 43naval tactics 31naval war 29-33Negapatam, Battle of 56Newfoundland 75nun's story 88-89

Obensburg 36Ohio Land Company 10Olmütz, siege of 52Osborne, Admiral Henry 32

Paris, Treaty of 77, 91Peter of Russia, Grand Prince 72, 74Philippines 75-76pillaging 82Pirna 27, 28Plains of Abraham, First Battle of 24-25, 58-60, 59, 88 see

also QuebecPlains of Abraham, Second Battle of 67 see also QuebecPlassey, Battle of 46Plessis, Louis Francois Armand du (Duc de Richelieu) 50Pocock, Admiral Edward 56Poland 15, 90Pomerania 83Pondicherry 55, 69, 77, 83Port Mahon 26Portugal 76Pouchot, Captain M. 57Prague, Battle of 36-37, 38-39Presque Isle fort 10Prideaux, Brigadier 57

privateers 32Prussia 7, 12, 13, 77,83,90Prussia, Last 40-41, 83Prussian army 20-21, 37-41, 44-45, 53-55, 64-66, 71, 72, 74, 82

cavalry skirmishing 44-45Dragoons skirmish with Cossacks 86-87Frei-Corps units 21Grenadiers 20, 65, 73Hussars 21officer 65prisoners guarded by Russians 54-55troops, deployment of 16, 17, 20-21

Quebec 58, 59, 60, 67, 83 see also Plains of AbrahamBattle of 58-59siege of 88-89

Quebec Act 91Quiberon Bay, Battle of 33, 34-35

Reichsarmee (Franco-German army) 41, 42Richelieu, Duc de (Louis Francois Armand du Plessis) 50Rochefort 37Roger's Rangers 83Rossbach, Battle of 17, 41-42, 42-43Royal Navy 26, 29, 33, 75, 88

ships, rating of 31strategy 30-32

Russia 14, 15, 86, 90-91Russian army 22-23, 40, 41, 52, 53-54, 64-66, 71-72

Cossacks 82-83, 86-87guarding Prussian prisoners 54-55non-commissioned officer 23

Sackville, Lord 63St Francis 83St Malo 81St Petersburg, Treaty of 72, 74Saltykov, General Petr Semenovich 64, 65, 66Saxony, Electorate of 27, 28, 29, 54, 72, 82, 83Sepoy troops 22Seydlitz, Major-General Frederick Wilhelm 42, 43, 53Shirley, Governor William 12Silesia 7, 12, 13, 14,42, 71,86Siraj-ud-daula, Nawab 45, 46Soubise, Lieutenant-General (later Marshal) Prince 35, 36, 41, 74Spain 72, 75-77

tacticsforest warfare 11, 19, 21-22linear warfare 11, 17, 18naval 31oblique order 43, 44skirmishing 11, 21, 44-45

theaters of operation 29Torgau 72Toulon 32troops, deployment of

Austrian 17British 17, 21-22in linear formation 17, 18Prussian 16, 17, 20-21terrain influencing 18

Versailles, First Treaty of 12, 15, 28, 85Versailles, Second Treaty of 12, 35

Wandiwash, Battle of 22, 67, 68-69war, end of 77war, final years of 72Warburg, Battle of 70-71Washington, Major George 10Webb, Colonel 33Wedell, Lieutenant-General Johann Heinrich v. 64Westminster, Convention of 12, 14, 28, 91Wilhelmsthal 74-75Wolfe, Brigadier (later Major General) James 48, 57, 58, 59,

83

Yorke, General Joseph 24

Zorndorf, Battle of 51, 52-53, 53-54, 83

Documents

DANIEL MARSTON was born · 2018-06-02 · DANIEL MARSTON was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. He completed both his BA and MA in History at McGill University, Montreal, Canada