Chapter 16 Sec 5 MidEighteenth Century Wars War

Chapter 16 Sec. 5: Mid-Eighteenth. Century Wars

War of Jenkins’s Ear • Very unstable • West Indies was a hotbed of trade rivalry • Smuggling • Spanish boarded and searched English ships • Robert Jenkins: severed his ear on a search • Thereafter he carried his own ear with him in a jar of brandy

Cont. • Sir Robert Walpole (16761745) British Prime Minister • 1739: Britain went to war with Spain

War of the Austrian Succession (1740 -1748) • Frederick II (r. 1740 -1786) seized the Austrian province of Silesia • Maria Theresa (r. 1740 -1780) wanted to preserve the Habsburg Empire • Promised the Magyar’s autonomy • Hungary will continue to be troublesome area in Habsburg Empire

Cont. • France draws Britain in the war • Britain in going to support Prussia against Austria and France • France supported Spain against Britain in the New World

Diplomatic Revolution of 1756 • Ohio River Valley • French and Indian War (1755) • British king George II (r. 17271760) • Britain and Prussia signed the Convention of Westminster (alliance)

Seven Years’ War • 1756 -1763 • France and Austria made alliance dedicated in destroying Prussia • Frederick the Great saved Prussia • Britain: military and financial aid • Treaty of Hubertusburg of 1763

William Pitt and Winning North America • William the Elder (17081780) • Wanted all of North America east of Mississippi for Great Britain • Sent 40, 000 troops against the French and Indians in Canada • France could not do the same • Military was divided • 1759: James Wolfe (British) defeated Louis Joseph de Montcalm (France) • Ended the French Empire in Canada

Cont. • Islands in the French West Indies fell to Britain • Capt. Sugar financed the war • India: Robert Clive (Britain) defeated France’s Indian allies in 1757 (Battle of Plassey) • Opened eventual conquest of Bengal

Treaty of Paris 1763 • Britain got: all of North America (Ohio River Valley and Eastern half of the Mississippi), Canada • Britain returned: India and the sugar islands back to the French

Seven Years’ War • 10, 000 soldiers died in battles all over the world • Prussia got Silesia from Austria • Habsburg power depended on Hungarian domains • France was no longer a power • Spanish remained intact • British had to task of organizing new territories • Until WWII, Britain would be a world power • France would need reform and suffered financial burdens (had to increase revenues)