Seven Years' War: Episode 1/2 | Animated History

today's video is brought to you by world of warships more on that later hi i'm griffin johnson the armchair historian today's video the seven years war a war that actually spanned for nine years and was the first large-scale globe-spanning conflict in history preceding the first world war by over a century and a half [Music] in our first video on the seven years war we're going to be covering the period from 1754 to 1758 which constitutes roughly half of the conflict buckle in as our journey will take us from the wilderness of north america to the mediterranean sea and down to the tip of india in the evening of july 3 1754 a 22 year old lieutenant colonel in the british militia sat inside a hastily constructed palisade ill-advisedly located at the bottom of a valley about 50 miles outside of modern day pittsburgh the lieutenant colonel had been handed a demand of surrender written in a language that he did not speak he signed it without realizing that he had just confessed his guilt in the assassination of joseph de joumanville an enemy officer killed five weeks earlier in a small skirmish in the contested ohio valley that spring in the early morning of july 4th he and his troops marched shamefully back from whence they came jummaville's death and the humiliating defeat at fort necessity would ultimately steal both french and british resolve for a war that would engulf five continents for his part the young virginian officer seemed to develop a taste for conflict despite the embarrassment of his first and only surrender his name was george washington and he remarked in a letter to his brother i have heard bullets whistle and believe me there was something charming in the sound war had still technically not been declared yet following washington's failed venture into the ohio valley general edward braddock was dispatched early the following year to show the future american president how a british gentleman conducted himself in battle not well as it turns out braddock led a force of more than two thousand into the valley that spring he never made it to the french position of fort duquesne despite outnumbering the french and native american garrison two to one meanwhile at sea britain began fully exercising her naval power boarding and capturing hundreds of french merchant ships if there's three advantages the british navy had over that of the french navy its more robust ships more experienced sailors and the modern battleship the hms hood except britain didn't launch the hms hood until 1918 which means we won't see it again in this video however you can by playing world of warships a world war ii naval combat game that plays much smoother than my sponsorship transitions world of warships is a free to play thinking man's action game choose between 11 different nations and 200 types of ships all of which are based off of 3d scans of their real-life counterparts i personally love the tactical depth of the game with factors like weather playing a pivotal role in deciding the outcome of an engagement join me and the armchair historian team along with 30 million other players click the link down below to play world of warships and collect an exclusive bonus starter pack new players can register with the code play langley 2019 and get a free uss langley aircraft carrier which allows for a completely different form of fast-paced world of warships gameplay as well as 300 doubloons 1 million credits 3 days of premium time and more on july 9th 1755 just over a year after washington's defeat braddock's forces wandered into an ambush in which enemy soldiers fired down on them from the tree lines above losing nearly 1 000 men braddock himself was mortally wounded in the excursion before we continue it is worth noting that american indian troops played a major role in most of the battles in north america they more often supported the french but different tribes fought on each side in particular the ojibwe tribe wabanaki confederacy ottawa shawnee lenape and huron tribes sided with the french the iroquois confederacy catawba indian nation and mohican tribe sided with the british lastly the cherokee nation would fight against both countries at one point or another one of the few times that the british did manage to get the upper hand in america was when militia troops from nova scotia crossed the misaguash river into french canada on june 16th massachusetts militia led by lieutenant colonel robert muncten took control of fort beauceu a french position meant to project power throughout acadia once he secured control of the area the british began what historian fred anderson has called possibly the first time in modern history that a civilian population was forcibly removed as a security risk this mass deportation called legrand de langema ultimately resulted in the displacement of 11 500 people many of whom eventually died of disease or due to shipwrecks [Music] 1756 saw great britain and france finally declare war on each other two years after the shooting started why reason number one is because it was the convention colonial powers typically let their subjects wage colonial wars without going to war themselves however to get the full answer we'll need to travel back to europe in 1748 this year saw the conclusion of the war of the austrian succession through the signing of the treaty of ex-la chapelle which saw maria theresa retain the habsburg throne and most of europe's borders remaining stagnant with the exception of prussia's acquisition of the resource-rich silesia the somewhat inconclusive outcome to the war meant that an austrian attempt to retake the territory was almost guaranteed in preparation for the war that he knew was coming frederick the great of prussia began laying the groundwork to avoid being outnumbered by austria's potential allies namely russia he once wrote of all of our neighbors russia is the most dangerous those who come after me will be well advised to cultivate those barbarians for they could ruin prussia without fear of reprisal frederick's fears were realized as in 1746 austria and russia signed a defensive alliance to try to circumvent that issue he made an alliance with great britain in january of 1756 in the convention of westminster despite the country's treaty obligations to the russian empire frederick also didn't bother re-signing his pre-existing alliance with france because he assumed that the french would remain opposed to austria regardless the madem to pompadou the court mistress of louis xv who despised frederick had the king's ear frederick assumed that she would urge louis to stay out of war she did not france reluctantly signed the first treaty of versailles just four months later aligning themselves with the austrians and russians thanks to the cunning austrian diplomat wenzel anton in a turn of events that should be familiar to those who have studied the first world war a tangle of alliances called the diplomatic revolution intended to preserve peace would eminently lead to the vicious outbreak of war the colonial struggle between britain and france finally made its way to europe when the french captured the british fort saint philippe on the island of menorca in june this escalation mostly brought on by britain's naval raids on french commerce was the primary reason for the declaration of war king george ii fond of his holdings in hanover knew the french would come after it soon he attempted to bring the dutch into the war but they were indifferent to the cause realizing that a larger war was inevitable frederick seized on what he saw as his only hope a preemptive strike on saxony a sizable holy roman imperial state beginning in august in order to protect his flank he left some of his forces in east prussia and silesia to defend against attacks via russia and austria respectively frederick had hoped to sweep through saxony forcibly conscripting their army and appropriating their treasury before moving through bohemia and moravia to march on vienna but the saxons put up a bitter fight at dresden and perna and when the saxon king finally did surrender in october it came at the expense of much more time and many more prussian lives than frederick had anticipated by the time he had made his winter headquarters the austrians had successfully invaded and occupied the southern portion of silesia things were going somewhat poorly for frederick and the british were having difficulties in north america too losing fort bull and for william henry [Music] before we go any further i'd like to call attention to william pitt the british prime minister as of july 1756 his strategy to defeating the superior french army was to engage it on his terms he avoided mainland france to focus instead on its lesser defended colonies however the german state of hanover under the same crown as great britain had to be protected so pitt's plan was twofold instead of pouring money into an outmatched land army pitt invested resources into supporting his prussian allies whose ground forces had the capability to stand up to france's primary force with britain's european possessions protected pitt could initiate the second part of his plan by opening up additional fronts across the globe in order to overextend the french in a war of attrition as he was confident that france could not contend with britain's navy with this plan in mind the following year saw the opening of a third theater of war as conflict broke out between the british and french east india companies both european states were vying to fill the power vacuum left by the ailing mughal empire this theater called the third carnatic war began with some smaller skirmishes in the south an inciting incident had taken place in the previous summer in bengal where several british soldiers were imprisoned in the infamous black hole prison by the local ruler for three days with only a few surviving this was a factor leading to the first major battle which occurred when the british forces commanded by the renowned colonel robert clive rested control of the french-aligned bengal in the battle of plassey in late june during this battle the british were outnumbered roughly 16 to 1 with no cavalry but were still able to achieve victory this is partially due to a sudden rainfall that ruined the powder of the indian army believing the british also lost their powder which they had evidently kept safe the indians launched a cavalry charge only to be blown away by the british artillery in europe frederick had spent the spring cutting a bloody swath through bohemia and eventually besieging prague austria's count leopold fondan led a relief force that dislodged the embattled prussian king at the battle of kalin in june that defeat as well as reports of a russian invasion in east prussia forced frederick to turn back russian zarina elizabeth's men had taken mamel but had been unable to go further due to the element that stops any force in eastern europe logistics meanwhile the french had launched an assault on hanover against a british-led army the french achieved victory in the battle of hastenbeck outnumbering their foes by twenty-five thousand this resulted in a peace treaty between the french and hanover in september called the convention of closted savin needless to say this wasn't something frederick was all too happy about at this point the last thing frederick needed was yet another enemy and you know what he got another enemy sweden smelled blood and invaded pomerania that summer the british and prussians were now severely outnumbered despite the odds stacked against him frederick won two decisive battles in november and december first he defeated the french at the battle of rosbach on november 5th and then a month later he routed the austrians at the battle of lloyd despite being heavily outnumbered frederick always considered loyten to be his greatest achievement but it did not change the fact that he was still fighting an uphill battle maria therese's husband francis the first successfully rallied many of these smaller german principalities against prussia as austria and france began their full-scale invasions meanwhile george ii disavowed the convention of claustraven and hanover re-entered the war command was given to duke ferdinand of brunswick who was able to lead the forces of hanover to victory against the french in the spring he drove them across the rhine and kept prussia's western border secure for the rest of the conflict in north america the french continued to rack up wins against the british including the infamous defeat at fort william henry in august in which almost the entire british garrison of 2500 troops was captured this state of affairs changed in 1758 with the british finally seeing some success in this theater though the french held on to fort carry on and with it most of the hudson valley the british were able to capture louis boar in canada and fort duquesne that troublesome french position in pennsylvania that started all of this duquesne was renamed fort pitt roughly located in today's downtown pittsburgh in india most of the british forces were tied up in bengal that left an opening for the remaining french and their allies to attack fort saint david and the city of madras they successfully captured the fort however heavy monsoon rains and poor preparation cost them precious time during their advance on the city by the time they began their siege it was december and the british were preparing for a counter-attack after a month of fighting and siege work six british ships loaded with men supplies and guns breached the blockade forcing the french to withdraw back in europe frederick spent the early months of 1758 attempting and then aborting another incursion into moravia meanwhile the russians re-entered east prussia which they would hold onto for the next four years the russians did not advance much farther due to supply line limitations that led to shortages in ammunition and food in august frederick made an attempt to expel elizabeth's troops at the battle of tsorndorf with 42 000 men the russians outnumbered frederick by nearly 6 000. with both sides taking heavy casualties the bloody battle ended inconclusively the final major event of the european theater this year came in october after frederick misread his adversary's intentions this time in the saxon village of hakker count fond down whom frederick had fought with the year before had a reputation as an overly cautious commander who never attacked unless he had perfect positioning and visibility since colleen frederick had repeatedly failed to goad fawn down into battle and began to believe that the austrian commander would never make his move but as the church bell struck five o'clock in the morning on october 14th 80 000 austrian soldiers began their attack while the prussians were still sleeping in their tents fighting in the streets of the town was brutal but the battle only lasted five hours despite putting up a good fight frederick's 35 000 men could not hope to fend off the vastly superior austrian force for long at 10 15 the prussians were in full retreat leaving behind almost all of their artillery and around 9 400 men dead were captured nearly a third of their army the battle could have been a death blow if fond down had chosen to press his advantage instead the count reaffirmed his supremely cautious reputation choosing not to pursue this gave frederick's forces all the time they needed to lick their wounds and come back with a vengeance as 1758 came to a close the 18th century's world war was in full swing even though the anglo-prussian alliance was being beaten back on all fronts the two powers were far from defeated the expenditure of blood and treasure would last for another five years and cause upheaval the world over more on this unprecedented conflict next time in the seven years war part two click the link down below to play world of warships and collect an exclusive bonus starter pack new players can register with the code play langley 2019 and get a free uss langley aircraft carrier as well as 300 doubloons 1 million credits three days of premium time and more [Music] you

Channel: The Armchair Historian

Views: 543,445

Keywords: The Seven Years' War, Carnatic War, Pomeranian War, French and Indian War, French & Indian War, Frederick the Great, Diplomatic Revolution, Battle of Leuthen, Battle of Rossbach, Prussian History, Battle of Plassey, Battle of Hochkirch, 1800's History, 1700's History, French Revolution, American Revolution, War of the Austrian Succession, East India Company, APUSH, AP European History

Id: x3byEIg6WN0

Length: 18min 21sec (1101 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 31 2019