The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict between Great Britain and France for global pre-eminence. Britain, France and Spain fought both in Europe and overseas with land-based armies and naval forces, while Prussia

In the historiography of some countries, the war is named after combatants in its respective theatres. In the present-day United States—at the time,

In North America
The boundary between British and French possessions in North America was largely undefined in the 1750s. France had long claimed the entire

William Pitt the Elder, who entered the cabinet in 1756, had a grand vision for the war that made it entirely different from previous wars with France. As prime minister, Pitt committed

What came to be known as the Seven Years' War (1756–1763) began as a conflict between Great Britain and France in 1754, when the British sought to expand into territory claimed by the French in North America. The war came to be known as the French and Indian

For much of the eighteenth century, France approached its wars in the same way. It would let colonies defend themselves or would offer only minimal help (sending them limited numbers of troops or inexperienced soldiers), anticipating that fights for

The colonial conflict mainly between France and Britain took place in India, North America, Europe, the Caribbean isles, the Philippines, and coastal Africa. Over the course of the war, Great Britain gained enormous areas of land and influence at the expense of the French