The Seven Years' War in the Second Hundred Years' War

Peace did not create a long settled interval. French activity in America began quickly, and the American Revolutionary War drew on conditions formed during the earlier conflict. Colonial resistance already existed; in this account, agents connected with the Secret du Roi accelerated forces set in motion by the French and Indian War. The Seven Years' War therefore marks the point where a contest for Europe became a contest for the wider world. European dominance still mattered. Later French successes under Napoleon show that control of Europe alone could not decide the entire struggle.