Spain entered the war on January 4 in response to British aggressions in the Caribbean. Conflicts in other theaters had taken their toll on European forces, most notably Great Britain. During the course of the war, the Crown had expanded its colonies in Asia and the Caribbean, while at the same time, heavily damaging France's influence in North America. However, these engagements stretched Great Britain's armies and navies very thin and for a period, it appeared that the British were on the verge of removing forces from the European continent.
The Battle of Vaillinghausen changed this dynamic. In the largest conflict of the Seven Years' War, over 100,000 men from a coalition of Great Britain, Hanover, and Prussia met the 92,000 strong force of France. The coalition's army assembled on a series of hills flanked to the left by the Lippe River and centered by the Ahse River. On July 15, the French forces launched an attack against the coalition, focusing heavily on the left flank. This proved to be fruitless and the French were held in check with little or no progress for the next day. Finally, on July 16, French forces were in full retreat, with casualties in the thousands, while coalition forces numbered merely 1,400.
The great victory at Villinghausen was impressive, however, in the wake of its success, Prussia still teetered on collapse. Its massive military had dwindled to 60,000 men and isolation from its allies spelled trouble for Frederick.
Suddenly, Russian Empress Elizabeth died on January 5, 1762. She was succeeded by Peter III, who immediately recalled Russian troops from Berlin and the theater as a whole. Frederick and Peter III brokered a truce with Sweden and signed the Treaty of St. Petersburg. With France effectively defeated worldwide, Prussia could focus on its only remaining enemy, Austria.
King Frederick gave command of the Prussian army to his younger brother, Prince Henry as he brokered deals with his enemies. 30,000 Austrian troops had established a base of operations west of the town of Frieberg, blocking access to Dresden. Henry assembled 23,000 troops to unseat the Austrians from their position. On October 28, a reconnaissance mission gave Henry details of his enemy's formations. He determined that the southwest of Freiberg was well defended, but the west was left unsecured. The following day, Henry launched his attack. Although repelled a few times, victory was rather one-sided with one-third of Austrian forces counted as casualties. In retreat, the Austrians were in disarray, unaware that the Prussians were following, performing raids on magazine stocks in Saxony and forcing “tributes” from royalty they encountered. Soon, Henry received word that a portion of the Austrian army was disbanded and Prussia had secured its borders.
The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1763, ending the conflict between France and Great Britain. The agreement gave the British control of all remaining territories in New France and returned Minorca to Crown control. Spain gave up Florida, but attained New Orleans and all lands west of the Mississippi River. Britain faced trouble, however, in controlling its new French-Canadian subjects, problems that would soon be accented by its original thirteen colonies.
Europe was returned to its pre-war boundaries, meaning no country gained or loss lands for the conflict. France and Austria were in disarray, leaving Prussia the dominant political and military power on the continent.
The Seven Years' War brought on nearly thirty years of peace throughout Europe. Not until the French Revolutionary Wars, beginning in 1792, would the continent again see itself plunge into large scale conflict.
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