Prussia's Luck in the Seven Years' War of 1756
During Louis XV's reign, France fought the Seven Years' War in 1756, allying with Russia and Austria against Britain and Prussia, but it ended in defeat in 1763 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
The issue of the Seven Years' War is complex and cannot be explained by France alone; it involved the struggles of many powers.
In fact, France and Austria held the advantage early on, yet the Prussian Empire displayed remarkably strong fortune at the time, which led directly to victory in the Seven Years' War.
Frederick II, in 1758, found his army lacking in strength and faced the formidable general Daun, and was driven to a dead end. He planned to kill himself, but then it suddenly snowed heavily, so the war was temporarily halted, and he decided not to die after all.
After spring came, he was beaten and ran everywhere. Later the Russian army arrived, and he felt certain he was doomed, so he thought of death again — but this time he chose to charge into battle and die on the field. His mount was shot from under him three times, and finally a bullet hit him; he fell from his horse, only to find himself not dead — the bullet had struck a metal box he carried and knocked him out. At the soldiers' urging he was finally evacuated from the battlefield.
It may have become a habit: after fleeing, he counted his army and found only three thousand men left, so he decided to kill himself again. He wrote a letter to his brother to hand over command, then went to sleep — only to wake the next day and find twenty thousand deserters had returned. He was greatly surprised; more kept arriving, and eventually a force of over thirty thousand was assembled. So he decided not to die after all, and set out with these thirty thousand to ambush the Russians.
In fact, if he had really met the Russians with these broken remnants, he would have died miserably. But although the Russians were strong in combat, they ate a lot, supplies could not keep up, and they rushed about looking for food, so they had no time to pursue him. Moreover, the Russians felt that having marched so far, the rest should be left to Austria.
So the Austrians marched to the city of Dresden and opened fire directly. The defending general felt the situation was lost and simply surrendered. Frederick II marched on Dresden, gradually gathering sixty thousand men, and took up winter quarters at Freiberg in a standoff against Daun.
Then winter came again, and the war paused once more. That winter Frederick II had a hard time; the troops sent to find food were killed to the tune of over twenty thousand.
Spring came again; the British king died, and his successor felt continuing the war cost too much and withdrew. Austria sent seventy thousand to join the Russian army, leaving Frederick II to face all enemies himself.
Frederick II truly felt finished this time, when suddenly the Russian empress died, and the new tsar, Peter III, declared himself a fan of Frederick II and returned all occupied lands to Prussia.
In an instant Prussia's enemy became Prussia's ally, and Peter III even rushed onto the battlefield in Prussian uniform. Later his wife, unable to endure it any longer, launched a coup, had Peter III killed, and then decided to withdraw the troops home.
Frederick II had the Russian commander-in-chief delay the empress's order for three days; in those three days, together with the Russians, they fought a battle against the Austrians. Daun felt this was too unreliable, so he fought a very cautious battle and then returned home.
The British gained Canada, most of Louisiana in the United States, and almost all of India.To secure the war's results, the British came to strongly push for an end to the war; Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, pressed by circumstances, also signed the peace treaty.
The Seven Years' War thus ended.Frederick II was hailed as a military genius, and Prussia became one of Europe's five great powers — though in truth the situation was dire: Prussia had been reduced to scorched earth.
With the war ending in 1763, the British benefited most, laying the foundation for the later empire on which the sun never sets. France lost several colonies, maritime trade stalled, and the domestic economy suffered enormous damage.