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The Seven Years' War (Essential Histories) |  | Author: Daniel Marston
Brand: Essential Histories Specials
Category: Book
List Price: $17.95
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Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 255927
Media: Paperback
Edition: illustrated edition
Pages: 96
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 0 x 0 x 0
MPN: ESS006
ISBN: 1841761915
Dewey Decimal Number: 355
EAN: 9781841761916
ASIN: 1841761915
Publication Date: July 25, 2001
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Product Description
The closest thing to total war before World War One, the Seven Years' War was fought in North America, Europe, the Caribbean and India with major consequences for all parties involved. This fascinating book is the first to truly review the grand strategies of the combatants and examine the differing styles of warfare used in the many campaigns. These ranged from the large-scale battles and sieges of the European front to the ambush and skirmish tactics used in the forests of North America. Daniel Marston's engaging narrative is supported by official war papers, personal diaries and memoirs, and official reports.
CONTENTS: NA
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
Nicely organized, provides adequate coverage of a long and complex war. September 11, 2009
C. T. Hunter (Gainesville, FL United States)
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.
For a 96 page book it does suprisingly well at the breadth it provides March 20, 2009
Yoda (Hadera, Israel)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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 Good Summary of the Other War February 19, 2007
Mike Dillemuth (Virginia)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
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 Cliff Notes of military history April 2, 2006
Hiram Grant
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
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.
Easily navigable short history of the Seven Years' War November 24, 2005
Brian Hawkinson (San Jose, CA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
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.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
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