The Global Seven Years War 1754-1763

'Daniel Baugh's substantial new book on the Seven Years War illuminates the contest across the world - in Europe, North America, the Caribbean, West Africa, and Asia - between the British and the French. He provides a masterly and accessible narrative, based on many years of study and reflection.'

Stephen Conway, University College London.

'Daniel Baugh's book meets a genuine need: a one-volume history of the eight-year struggle between Britain and France for maritime and colonial dominance. He presents a clear and engaging narrative, informed and highly informative, smoothly melding political, diplomatic, military, and naval history into a single, persuasive account of a war that was as consequential as it was complex.'

John Shy, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Michigan

"Baugh, an eminent naval historian, displays astonishing breadth in describing and analysing the strategies, logistics, politics, and leading personalities of this first Anglo-French global war, fought on four continents and in seven seas.  The result is a narrative bristling with fresh and challenging perspectives, insights, and evaluations.  Masterful."

Ian K. Steele, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Western Ontario

The Seven Years War was a global contest between Europes two most advanced monarchies of the eighteenth century, France and Britain.  Winston Churchill called it the first World War. Neither side could afford to lose advantage in any part of the world, and the decisive battles of the war ranged from Fort Duquesne in what is now Pittsburgh to Minorca in the Mediterranean, from Bengal to Quebec.  By the wars end British power in North America and India had been consolidated and the foundations of Empire laid, yet at the time both sides saw it primarily as a struggle for security and influence among contending European powers.

Daniel Baugh, a leading authority on eighteenth century maritime history, here provides a lucid, comprehensive and insightful account of the war. Battles and sieges are treated as inseparable from the difficulties of campaigning in far-flung and unfamiliar places; particular achievements (and failures) of the Royal Navy are highlighted. By unfolding the narrative as a series of challenges to statesmen and military officers, often presented in their own words, Baugh allows fresh evaluations of the performance of political systems and leading statesmen, including William Pitt and the duc de Choiseul, on both sides.

Anyone interested in the demands of war-making and the political stresses of peacemaking, especially in the eighteenth-century world, will gain knowledge and insight from this magisterial work.

Daniel Baughis Professor Emeritus of History, Cornell University. Born in Philadelphia, he received his Ph.D. from Cambridge University and is author of ...