Customer Reviews

The Seven Year's War

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Daniel Marston's SEVEN YEARS' WAR is a well-researched scholarly account of that conflict. Marston tackles a broad and complicated subject in an comprehensible manner, producing an excellent introduction for any person unfamiliar with the Seven Years' War.

The account is split into several sections, addressing the causes of the conflict, the warring sides, the fighting, and the conclusion of the war. The fighting section deals with all of the various fronts of the war: North America, India, and Europe. Marston highlights the important battles and also focuses on important tactical innovations.

One of the greatest attractions to this book is Marston's in-depth and accurate research. Most books that are readable do not contain this level of scholarly investigation. In particular, on the conflict in North America, better known as the French and Indian Wars in the United States, Marston presents an account firmly backed up by rigorous archival research. Thus, this book represents a very readable yet academic introduction to the Seven Years' War.

The Seven Years' War was a very important period. Marston has done a good job in creating a clear and coherent overall picture, using his very short (91 pages) history book to summarize the war.

Some of the cons of the book are that he hashes through the battles much too quickly, simply stating in a few sentences what happened and so on. He doesn't mention the main players, with the exception of a few of the generals, and leaves over the telling of the battle to be Britain versus France or Prussia versus Austria and so on. So the battles are explained in a very generic form.

The pros, though, outweigh the cons. The beginning chapter and the ending sections are great in that they help to explain some of the more mundane aspects, such as a soldier or nun's point of view from their journals. We see a summary in the end on how much the war cost and what the effect was on that country and its future. Additionally, the middle section (which covers the battles of the war) are broken apart by years, and then within the year it is broken down by either North America, Western Europe, Central Europe and India, which makes for a very concise and organized structure that is easily navigable.

This book did exactly what I wanted, which was to understand the Seven Years' War on more of an international level rather than the typically localized level of the North American continent (a much more deep and detail oriented history of the Seven Years' War could be found at _The Crucible of War_ by Fred Anderson). Although it skimped on the details, I have a springboard to look for further books. I would recommend only if you are looking for a summary of the war, especially in regards to both North America and Europe, otherwise try Anderson's book.

Osprey's new "Essential Histories" attempts to expand from its more narrowly-focused campaign and men-at-arms titles to provide a broader overview of major conflicts. In the Seven Years War (1756-1763), Daniel Marston has written a succinct but valuable overview of what was arguably the first world war. American readers, who are more familiar with this conflict as the French and Indian War, will appreciate this volume for the perspectives it provides in tying together all the various campaigns around the world. Major chapters include a background to the war and a brief overview of the military resources available to all sides (although it ignores the military resources of the Iroquois Confederacy). The bulk of the volume consists of a 61-page summary of the war, broken down in annual sections, that are further subdivided into regional (North America, Western Europe, Central Europe, India) headings. This is an excellent organizational structure, which increases the quick-reference value of the book. There are also short follow-up chapters that address the economic costs of the war and its political ramifications. A detailed bibliography lists primary and secondary sources used. Overall, this volume is a good piece of scholarship that will allow readers to follow the highlights of the conflict without getting bogged down in detail. The illustrations and maps that support the text are also quite good. The only troubling aspect of this volume is the author's not-too subtle bias against the participation of American colonials in the war. Although Marston was born in the United States, his attitudes reflect the contempt that arrogant British officials held toward the colonies in circa 1770. This bias is demonstrated in consistently inaccurate descriptions of battles in which colonials were engaged. In the Battle of Ticonderoga in 1758, the author states that, "the provincials attacked in the first wave and were easily repulsed. Abercromby then committed his regular troops." This description is false, because the provincial units pushed in the French pickets but were not "easily repulsed." Nor did Abercromby commit his regulars, because they attacked without orders and he lost control of the battle. The author's contention about the Black Watch's attack, that "after an hour of hard hand-to-hand fighting, the attack was called off," is also misleading. Only a few Highlanders made it to the French entrenchments and the attack failed because the unit was virtually destroyed. A similar example occurs during the Forbes expedition, when the author states that "on 14 September the British suffered a setback when the French garrison attacked their position, causing their provincial units to disperse.." This description is totally false, because the action on that date was caused by a British decision to send an advance guard ahead to seize Fort Duquesne, but the detachment was ambushed and badly defeated. That detachment was commander by a British regular, Major James Grant, and consisted of regulars and provincials. Obviously, there is the traditional pattern of British 18th Century historiography, which is to downplay defeats and blame the stupid colonials if you cannot avoid discussing "setbacks." This is the same kind of contempt for Colonial soldiers that British regulars were smirking about until they discovered otherwise at Bunker Hill. Furthermore, the author makes no effort to detail or discuss the immense efforts in raising troops to fight for the Crown, or the ramifications of widespread American military experience 12 years later when the Revolution broke out. Overall, this is still a very good volume for its size. American readers will appreciate the summaries of the campaigns of Frederick and those in Hannover, which are often ignored on this side of the Atlantic. However, Americans will be disappointed by the typical condescension toward Colonial military efforts.

The "Essential Histories" series from Osprey could easily be compared to the Cliff Notes series. They'll give you a nice introduction to a topic you are not familiar with, but no real depth. Most volumns are under 100 pages; therefore, don't expect many "man in the trenches" stories.

This is a nice introduction to this war, in particular to someone interested in the wars involving North America. I can't say I found this volumn as interesting as some of the others, but I did learn from it.

All in all, Daniel Marston does a fine job in summarizing this conflict. Most students in America learn about the French & Indian War. Few students realize that this war was really just one theater of operations in the larger Seven Years War. In this book, Marston provides a good overview of this other war. This is no small feat as the war encompassed four major theaters and lasted for nearly a decade.

As with all Osprey books, the chapters are broken down into the familiar sections of background, fighting, chronology, and the various portraits of civilians and soldiers. "The fighting" chapter is first broken down by year. Within each year, the author further breaks down the fighting by geographic theater, North America, Western Europe, Central Europe, and the Indian subcontinent. Clear geographic maps are located in the early part of the book. As the reader goes through each year, they are taken to three different continents. Remembering where a certain battle took place in relation to a previous engagement can be confusing. By referencing these geographic maps, the reader is able to keep up with the author. Of course, the fact that the reader even needs to keep up with the author is a bit of a negative.

Clear maps that show the disposition and movement of the opposing forces accompany some battles. For example, the maps of the Battle of Minden and the First Battle of the Plains of Abraham are in color and provide excellent detail. Unfortunately, the author used antique maps to support other battles. The maps of the Battles of Kunersdorf and Zorndorf are practically worthless from an information point of view. They are a nice addition as a form of art but provide no useful data on the battle itself. In some cases, the reader is unable to even see the map's legend.

The chapter on "The World Around War" provides fascinating information on the economic aspects of this conflict. Mr. Marston does an excellent job of illustrating how each country financed its war effort and the ramifications of those decisions. Finally, the author leaves the reader with a few gems in the last chapter. Most people learn that a major cause of the American Revolution was the issue of taxation. Here, the author shows how the seeds of discontent were sown well before taxation became an issue. He briefly mentions the Quebec Act of 1774 which gave certain rights to French Canadians based on their catholic religion. England also gave them administrative rights over the new lands in the Ohio Valley; a move that incensed the thirteen colonies.

Bottom Line: This book is a pretty good summary of what was clearly a world war. Some of the maps are weak and the constant change between theaters of operations can be confusing. Nevertheless, Mr. Marston should be given credit for covering such an expansive war as well as he does. All things considered, the book is well worth the time spent reading it.

The Seven Years War was humanity's first trully global war. Just about all Europes major powers fought not only at the heart of Europe but at the then-world's peripheries (i.e., India, North America). Despite the complexity of the subject and its very short length (96 pages, about half of which are illustration) the book does an excellent job at providing an introduction into the conflict.

The book provides the diplomatic/historical situation before the war, the diplomatic rangling between the major parties that lead to it as well as the diplomatic moves unfolding over the course of the war, an overview of each major power's military, and a brief overview of the major campaigns as well as each major power's strategic situation as the war progressed (financial situation, military forces remaining, etc.). In the end it provides a section on the consequences of the war. It covers all these in a good (although very succint) manner . In addition, there are many illustrations that show well how the armies fought, maps of the most important battles, illustrations showing how the "typical" combatants looked like.

If one is interested in an introducction to that discussed in the above paragraph, and wants it in only an hour and half or so of reading, this is the book to purchase.

A long and very complicated war, The Seven Years' War is sometimes considered the first 'World War' in that it involved most of Europe's major powers and encompassed a large portion of the civilized world. From the Caribbean to Canada, Germany to India, and the high seas, This war was fought on all fronts by Britain, Prussia, France, Austria, Russia, and Spain. Most Americans are more familiar with this war as the French and Indian War, which really just includes one of the many theaters of operation involved in the larger war. The Seven Years' War ended with a stalemate of sorts, without any one power being able to claim complete dominance, but the war did have major and lasting impacts for the future. In some ways, the American Revolution itself can be traced back to origins resulting from this war.

Daniel Marston does an admirable job covering the basics of this complicated war. As with many Essential Histories authors, he is faced with major constraints as far as how much detail he is able to get in, with the severely limited amount of space. He accomplishes what these volumes are meant to accomplish, which is to give a concise overview of the war and its immediate repercussions, ect. Still, a war of this magnitude could really be divided up into multiple volumes as Essential Histories has done for more popular wars. There is a companion volume of sorts, also by Marston, that just covers the North American part of the war (The French-Indian War 1754-1760 -Essential Histories-).

Overall, this fits in nicely with the rest of the Essential Histories collection and does an adequate job of summarizing a long and complex war. Very nice organization and hardly any wasted space, this one shouldn't disappoint.

This book was researched and written with scrupulous care. Any reader can see this from the opening pages. There is a wide variety of interesting images, illustrating important points in the text. The author uses primary sources: there are quotations from accounts written by men who actually served in the various theaters of the Seven Years War. The narrative is rich in historical detail, and the details are all chosen to illustrate issues that the author thinks are most critical in understanding these events. The great mass of information about the war has been synthesized and compacted into clear arguments about how the war was shaped by economic, social, and political pressures, as well as by the different ways that each nation organized their military. The author also shows how the resolution of the war changed some of these structures, affecting events that followed.

Anyone except a professional historian will finish this book with more facts and figures about the Seven Years War than when he or she began. But this is not what I valued most highly about it. I closed this book with a clear sense of the shape of the war, an almost visual image, that tied all this information together. The ability to create so much coherence out of so many global events in such a small number of pages is a rare talent. I would recommend this book to anyone with any interest in learning more about this period.