The Seven Years' War, which involves all of the major European powers of the period, causing 900,000 to 1,400,000 deaths, envelops both European and colonial theaters from 1756 to 1763, incorporating the Pomeranian War and the French and Indian War which is fought from 1754 to 1763.

Prussia, Electorate Brunswick-Lüneburg, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain (including British colonies in North America, the British East India Company, and Ireland) are pitted against Austria, France (including the North American colony of New France and the French East India Company), the Russian Empire, Sweden, and Saxony.

Portugal (on the side of Great Britain) and Spain (on the side of France) are later drawn into the conflict, and a force from the neutral Netherlands is attacked in India.The war ends France's position as a major colonial power in the Americas (where it loses all of its possessions except French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Domingue and Saint Pierre and Miquelon) and its position as the leading power in Europe, until the time of the French Revolution.

Great Britain, meanwhile, emerges as the dominant colonial power in the world.

The French Navy is crippled, which means that only an ambitious rebuilding program in combination with the Spanish fleet would see it again threaten the Royal Navy's command of the sea.

On the other side of the world, the British East India Company acquires the strongest position within India, which is to become the "jewel in the imperial crown".

The war is described by Winston Churchill as the first "world war", as it is the first conflict in human history to be fought around the globe, although most of the combatants are either European nations or their overseas colonies.

As a partially Anglo-French conflict involving developing empires, the war is one of the most significant phases of the 18th century.

The war begins with Frederick the Great of Prussia's invasion of Saxony.