Although 1759 is not a date as well known in British history at 1215, 1588 or 1688, there is a strong case to be made that it is the most significant year since 1066. In 1759 - the fourth year of the Seven Years War - the British defeated the French in arduous campaigns in India and the West Indies, in Germany and Canada, and also achieved absolute mastery of the seas. In the two greatest battles of 1759 - Quebec and Quiberon - Britain effectively beat France for global supremacy.
Drawing on a mass of primary materials - from texts in the Vatican archives to oral histories of the North American Indians - Frank McLynn shows how the conflict between these two countries triggered the first 'world war', raging from Europe to Africa; the Caribbean to the Pacific; the plains of the Ganges to the Great Lakes of North America. It also brought about the War of Independence, the acquisition by Britain of the Falkland Islands and, ultimately, the French Revolution.
Although 1759 is not a date as well known in British history as 1215, 1588 or 1688, there is a strong case to be made that it is the most significant year since 1066, due to two great battles where Britain beat France for global supremacy and founded the first British Empire.
Frank McLynn, makes the case that 1759 is the most significant year in British history since 1066, as a result of the two great battles that year whereby Britain effectively beat France for global supremacy and founded the first British Empire.
