page_title: Great Britain in the Seven Years' War
section_title: War in North America
hierarchical_section_title: Great Britain in the Seven Years' War / War in North America
caption_attribution_description: The earliest authenticated portrait of George Washington shows him wearing his colonel's uniform of the Virginia Regiment from the French and Indian War. The portrait was painted about 12 years after Washington's service in that war, and several years before he would reenter military service in the American Revolution. Oil on canvas.
context_page_description: Great Britain was one of the major participants in the Seven Years' War which lasted between 1754 and 1763, although warfare in the European Theatre involving countries other than Britain and France only commenced in 1756. Britain emerged from the war as the world's leading colonial power, having gained a number of new territories at the Treaty of Paris in 1763 and established itself as the world's pre-eminent naval power.
  The war started poorly for Britain, which suffered many deaths from the plague and scurvy, and at the hands of France in North America during 1754–55; and in the loss of Menorca in 1756. The same year Britain's major ally Austria switched sides and aligned itself with France; and Britain was hastily forced to conclude a new alliance with Frederick the Great's Prussia. For the next seven years these two nations were ranged against a growing number of enemy powers led by France. After a period of political instability, the rise of a government headed by the Duke of Newcastle and William Pitt the elder provided Britain with firmer leadership, enabling it to consolidate and achieve its war aims.
caption: As an officer of the Virginia Regiment, George Washington played a major role in Britain's campaign in the early stages of the Seven Years' War.
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