After the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire, Europe fell into a state of **, and the authority of each country as an orthodox state was weakened, and the search for unification became the historical mission of Europe. Before Napoleon came to the stage of history, Bourbon France participated in the Seven Years' War, and although it achieved some victories, it also led to a great loss of vitality and laid the groundwork for the French Revolution.
France's main motive for entering the Seven Years' War was a bitter contest between the European powers, reflecting the persistence of the traditional powers in maintaining their position and the desire of the emerging powers to enter the stage of history, of which the Kingdom of Prussia is the most prominent example.
As an emerging nation, the Kingdom of Prussia was eager to reshape the political landscape of Europe by breaking with the old powers. Britain, who also wanted to do so, joined the war, which made the war extremely complicated, and the protracted war also had a serious impact on the countries of Europe.
So, what was the real reason for the outbreak of the Seven Years' War in Europe?
The War of the Austrian Succession, which ended in 1748, set the stage for the Seven Years' War in Europe, through which the Habsburgs hoped to maintain their position.
As an important part of the Habsburg Empire, Austria's strong national power, coupled with its influence in the Holy Roman Empire, made it difficult for the emerging Kingdom of Prussia to gain more political capital.
As a result, the Kingdom of Prussia was always looking for opportunities to expand its political influence and gain more practical benefits. Although the Kingdom of Prussia did not directly target Austria, it did target Saxony.
By annexing Saxony, the Kingdom of Prussia gained more room for development, and in August 1756, the King of Prussia personally led an army into Saxony.
The sudden advance of the Prussian king left Saxony defenseless, and the Kingdom of Prussia succeeded in annexing Saxony. However, the Kingdom of Prussia did not foresee the huge troubles that the annexation of Saxony would bring.
First, Tsarist Russia, which had jointly partitioned Poland, was dissatisfied with the actions of the Kingdom of Prussia and summoned France and Austria together against the Kingdom of Prussia. As a result, the Kingdom of Prussia was forced to fight with three formidable opponents.
The annexation of Saxony by the Kingdom of Prussia alone raised concerns in Tsarist Russia, Austria, and France. Tsarist Russia feared the encroachment of the Kingdom of Prussia on Poland, Austria wanted to weaken the Kingdom of Prussia to preserve the interests of the Habsburgs, and France hoped to contain the military operations of the Kingdom of Prussia.
The formation of these three forces exerted great pressure on the Kingdom of Prussia, and the King of Prussia personally led his army into the war, which could lead to a great battle for the throne if he died in battle, which could eventually lead to the end of the Kingdom of Prussia.
Therefore, the Kingdom of Prussia initially agreed to peace talks.
When the Kingdom of Prussia tried to seek peace, Tsarist Russia and Austria were firmly opposed, and both hoped to take advantage of the annexation of Saxony by the Kingdom of Prussia to seize Poland and East Prussia, respectively.
In addition, France rejected peace talks because it wanted to retake Silesia and coveted Hanover. As a result, the Kingdom of Prussia was faced with the dilemma of being outnumbered and needed to find allies to counter the alliance of Tsarist Russia, Austria, and France.
In order to achieve this goal, the Kingdom of Prussia decided to contain France by allowing Britain to enter the war in exchange for the recognition of the legitimate succession of the British prince to Hanover.
Eventually, Britain and the Kingdom of Prussia formed an alliance to meet the challenges of Tsarist Russia, Austria, and France, and it would be a great war on an unprecedented scale.
The defeat at the Battle of Kolin allowed Austria to regain the glory of the Habsburg Empire, and wanted to take advantage of the victory to pursue and weaken the Kingdom of Prussia. However, due to historical limitations, Austria was unable to attack the hinterland of the Kingdom of Prussia with all its might, and instead set its sights on retaking Silesia.
This is in stark contrast to Cao Cao's practice of not allowing Yuan Shao a chance to breathe after the Battle of Guandu. However, Austria's overconfidence prevented it from cooperating with France and Tsarist Russia, which gave the Kingdom of Prussia an opportunity.
From this, it can be seen that the essence of the Seven Years' War was a competition of interests, and Austria's goal was only to recapture Silesia, and it did not show the same ambition as Napoleon's claim to be emperor.
In 1757, the Kingdom of Prussia was in trouble, Austria and ** sent troops to occupy its territory, and France also occupied Hanover. The military objectives of the three countries had been achieved, and the Kingdom of Prussia had no choice but to sign an armistice.
However, ** was unwilling to stop and continued to attack the Kingdom of Prussia, which worried France and Austria, fearing that ** would turn to attack their own country after defeating Prussia, so they both refused to provide assistance to the Russian army.
In the summer of 1758, the Russian army launched a general offensive against Custrin and a decisive battle with the Kingdom of Prussia. The decisive battle cost both sides dearly, with the Kingdom of Prussia suffering heavy losses, and Austria and France rejoicing at it, believing that they had achieved the result they wanted.
However, ** was not satisfied with this and continued to fight hard-fought with the Kingdom of Prussia.
Since 1759, the two sides have been at a stalemate in the war, and although they have won and lost, in essence, the strength of both sides has been constantly depleted. The impetus for the war put the human and financial resources of both sides under enormous pressure, and eventually, in order to end this attrition, the two sides were forced to choose peace talks.
As a result of the Seven Years' War, Austria achieved its goal of weakening Prussia, but it also paid a heavy price for itself. Neither France nor Tsarist Russia achieved their expected goals, especially Tsarist Russia, which eventually withdrew from the war early because of its vacillating policies, which not only did not profit them, but caused their own losses.
Therefore, the struggle for interests became the main theme of the Seven Years' War. On a deeper level, however, the war was also a sign of the rise of the emerging capitalist economy, which dealt a huge blow to the traditional feudal economy.
No major war could completely destroy the feudal foundations of Europe, so the Seven Years' War also marked the rise of the new capitalist economy and the complete decline of the traditional feudal economy in Europe.
The long course of the Seven Years' War in Europe, which on the surface appeared to be a conflict of interests between the major European powers, was in essence a contest between the traditional European feudal powers and the emerging capitalist powers.
Austria, ruled by the Habsburgs, went all out to suppress the Kingdom of Prussia in order to maintain its position, which eventually led to war between the two countries, while Tsarist Russia and France had the same motives.
The outcome of the war was a defeat for both sides, but the war completely shattered the illusion that the traditional feudal powers in Europe would maintain their existing status, and made the rise of the new capitalist countries a historical inevitability.
Therefore, from the causes of the Seven Years' War to the nature of the war, it can be seen that Europe was facing many international contradictions in the process of transforming into a full-fledged capitalist society, and at the same time, the war also eliminated the deep-rooted illusions of feudalism in Europe and promoted the complete replacement of the capitalist economy.