Masschusetts governor William Shirley had assumed command of British forces in North America following the death of Major General Edward Braddock in the disastrous expedition to take Fort Duquesne.

Shirley had laid out his plans for 1756 at a meeting in Albany in December 1755.

In addition to renewing the efforts to capture Niagara, Crown Point and Duquesne, he had proposed attacks on Fort Frontenac on the north shore of Lake Ontario and an expedition through the wilderness of the Maine district and down the Chaudière River to attack the city of Quebec.

Bogged down by disagreements and disputes with others, including William Johnson and New York's Governor Sir Charles Hardy, Shirley's plan had little support.

The Duke of Newcastle, Prime Minister of Great Britain, had replaced him in January 1756 with Lord Loudoun, with Major General James Abercrombie as his second in command.

Neither of these men have as much campaign experience as the trio of officers France sent to North America.

French regular army reinforcements arrive in New France in May 1756, led by Major General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and seconded by the Chevalier de Lévis and Colonel François-Charles de Bourlamaque, all experienced veterans from the War of the Austrian Succession.

England formally declares war on France on May 18, 1756, nearly two years after fighting had broken out in the Ohio Country.

This expands the war into Europe, later to be known as the Seven Years' War.

The British have suffered further defeats in North America, particularly at Fort William Henry.

At home, however, stability has been established.

Since 1756, successive governments led by Newcastle and Pitt had fallen.

The two men had agreed in August 1757 to a political partnership and formed a coalition government that has given new, firmer direction to the war effort.

The new strategy emphasizes both Newcastle's commitment to British involvement on the continent, particularly in defense of Germany, and Pitt's determination to use naval power to seize French colonies around the globe.

This "dual strategy" is to dominate British policy for the next five years.

The British had entered 1759 anxious about a French invasion, but by the end of the Annus Mirabilis of 1759, they are victorious in all theaters against France.

In India, they repulse French forces besieging Madras.

In Europe, British troops partake in a decisive Allied victory at the Battle of Minden.

The destruction of the French invasion barges and the victory of the Royal Navy over the French Navy at the Battle of Lagos and the decisive Battle of Quiberon Bay end any realistic prospect of a French invasion, and confirm Britain's reputation as the world's foremost naval power.

In North America, the British capture Fort Ticonderoga (Carillon), drive the French out of the Ohio Country, capture Quebec City as a result of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, and capture Guadeloupe in the West Indies.

The succession of victories leads Horace Walpole to remark; "Our bells are worn threadbare with ringing for victories".

Several of the triumphs will assume an iconic place in the mindset of the British public, reinforced by representations in art and music, such as the popular song Heart of Oak and the later painting The Death of General Wolfe.

Frank McLynn will identiiy 1759 as the year that prefigures the rise of the British Empire in eclipsing France as the dominant global superpower.

Much of the credit for the annus mirabilis is given to William Pitt the Elder, the minister who directs military strategy as part of his duties as Secretary of State for the Southern Department, rather than to the Prime Minister, the Duke of Newcastle.

More recent historians, however, will portray the British Cabinet as a more collective leadership than had previously been thought.

General Clinton had sent his trusted aide, Lieutenant Duncan Drummond, to England early in 1779 in order to argue Clinton's request to be recalled.

Drummond is unsuccessful in this: despite the intervention of Henry Clinton’s cousin, the Duke of Newcastle, the king has refused to even consider granting Clinton leave, claiming that Clinton is "the only man who might still save America".

William Eden had also interceded in an attempt to improve Clinton's situation, but political divisions in the government and the prospect of Spanish entry into the war mean that Clinton ends up with very little support.

Clinton has also complained about the lack of naval support being provided by Admiral James Gambier, with whom he also has a difficult relationship.

He eventually sends London a list of admirals with whom he thinks he can work; none are chosen, and Gambier is replaced temporarily by George Collier before his permanent replacement, Mariot Arbuthnot, arrives.