Two wars that built an empire
From the War of Spanish Succession to the Seven Years' War
Even by the turn of the 17th and the 18th century, the British had gained relatievely very few possessions overseas compared to Spain or her new European rival the Dutch. But the situation was going to change.
War of Spanish Succession
(1701-1713)
The War of Spanish Succession (1701-13) resulted from a dispute over who should inherit Spain and its possessions after its Habsburg rulers became extinct in 1700. The last Habsburg king of Spain, Charles II (d. 1700) had left the throne to his closest relative in female line: Philippe de France, duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV (Felipe V of Spain. The closest relatives in male line, the Habsburgs of Austria, disputed this claim, and many European nations did not want to see French princes reigning over both kingdoms. The Treaties of Utrecht, signed in 1713, put an end to the war.
By the treaty between England and France (Apr. 11, 1713), the Hudson Bay territory, Acadia, St. Kitts, and Newfoundland were ceded to England. The Anglo-Spanish treaty (July 13, 1713) confirmed the clauses of the Anglo-French treaties relating to the English and French successions. Spain ceded Gibraltar and Minorca to Great Britain and ceded Sicily (exchanged in 1720 for Sardinia) to Savoy. Britain and Spain signed the Asiento, an agreement giving Britain the sole right to the slave trade with Spanish America.
Source: http://www.heraldica.org/topics/france/utrecht.htm,
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Peace_of_Utrecht.aspx#2
The Seven Years' War
(1756–1763)
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) involved nearly every European state and was watershed in world history. It arose as a result of the Anglo-French colonial rivalry and because of the growing might of Prussia in centralEurope, which threatened the interests of Austria, France, and Russia. The outcome ensured that England became the dominant power in North America, and the war consolidated the growing power and prestige of Frederick the Great's Prussia.
Source: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Seven_Years_War.aspx#2
The Treaty of Paris
1763
The Treaty of Paris of Feb. 10, 1763, was signed by Great Britain, France, and Spain. Together with the treaty of Hubertusburg, it terminated the Seven Years War. France lost its possessions on the North American continent by ceding Canada and all its territories east of the Mississippi to Great Britain, and by ceding W Louisiana to its ally, Spain, in compensation for Florida, which Spain yielded to Great Britain. France retained the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon and recovered Guadeloupe and Martinique in the West Indies from Great Britain, in exchange for which it ceded Grenada and the Grenadines to the English.
In East India the French were permitted to return to their posts, but they were forbidden to maintain troops or build forts in Bengal; India thus virtually passed to Great Britain. In Africa France yielded Senegal to Great Britain. Cuba and the Philippines were restored to Spain. In Europe the French and Spanish returned Minorca to Great Britain, and France withdrew its troops from Germany. From this treaty dated the colonial and maritime supremacy of Great Britain.
Source: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Treaty_of_Paris.aspx#2-1E1:Paris-Tr-full
Reflective Questions
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What was the signifance of the War of Spanish Succession to the Seven Years' War?
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Who was the main rival in both wars?
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What was the most important territorial gain of the the Seven Years' War?
Hostilities
in North America
(The Seven Years' War
in North America)
The French and Indian War resulted from ongoing frontier tensions in North America as both French and British imperial officials and colonists sought to extend each country’s sphere of influence in frontier regions. In North America, the war pitted France, French colonists, and their Native allies against Great Britain, the Anglo-American colonists and the Iroquois Confederacy, which controlled most of upstate New York and parts of northern Pennsylvania. In 1753, prior to the outbreak of hostilities, Great Britain controlled the 13 colonies up to the Appalachian Mountains, but beyond lay New France, a very large, sparsely settled colony that stretched from Louisiana through the Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes to Canada.
Source: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1750-1775/french-indian-war
Carnatic Wars
(The Seven Years' War
in India)
Carnatic Wars, series of military contests during the 18th century between the British, the French, the Marathas, and Mysore for control of the coastal strip of eastern India from Nellore (north of Madras [now Chennai]) southward (the Tamil country). In the 18th century the coastal Carnatic was a dependency of Hyderabad, within the Mughal Empire.
Succession disputes in both the Carnatic and Hyderabad opened the door for European intervention in support of various rival Indian claimants. At first the French, under Joseph-Franƈois Dupleix, governor of Pondicherry (now Puducherry; 1742–54), were successful both in the Carnatic and in Hyderabad, which the French officer Charles-Joseph Patissier, marquis de Bussy-Castelnau, controlled for seven years. Dupleix, however, was checked by forces of the British East India Company under soldier and first British administrator of Bengal Robert Clive in 1751, and the French claimant was defeated the next year. In the Seven Years’ War (1756–63), both the French and British sent armies to south India; the French were defeated at Wandiwash (1760), and the British captured Pondicherry (1761). Thenceforth, the British controlled the Carnatic through its nawab, who became deeply indebted both to the East India Company and to its individual officers.
Source: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/96274/Carnatic-Wars