Battle for Empire: The Very First World War 1756-63

By Tom Pocock

Book Overview

The true story of the first major global conflict...

The first world war was not that which began in 1914, but the so-called Seven Years War which, in 1756, brought into being global conflict.

The new factor which dramatically altered the course of history was British sea power. With the support of the navy, a few thousand men dispossessed the French of their fledgling North American empire and saw them, and the Dutch, utterly vanquished in India. Attacks on Cuba and the Philippines crippled the Spanish Empire.

Through feats of extraordinary courage and endurance, fighting merchant adventurers such as Robert Clive laid the foundations of an Indian empire. In North America, soldiers such as the Virginia militia officer George Washington, the future first President of the United States, and James Wolfe, who died in the battle for Quebec, determined that the continent would be British - not French.

In this vivid account of this first 'modern' war, Tom Pocock uses the testimony of eyewitnesses to dramatic effect.

Praise for Tom Pocock:

'Pocock's book makes enthralling reading... his prose is excellent' - Nigel Nicolson, The Spectator

'The lessons of history are brought to life by Tom Pocock and his latest book is a thoroughly good read' - The Times

'Tom Pocock has caught the flavour of this age. He is a first-rate story-teller, writing with an appropriate gusto about his robust heroes' - Lawrence James, Evening Standard

Tom Pocock is the author of 18 books (and editor of two more), including two about his experiences as a newspaper war correspondent.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1839014105
• ISBN13: 9781839014109
• Release Date: September 2022
• Publisher: Lume Books
• Length: 266 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

"A Conquest Too Dearly Obtained"

So wrote a British sailor, lamenting the Britons' huge losses at the Siege of Havana. Despite the cost, the British Armada took Cuba from the Spanish and proceeded to conquer the Phillippines too. By war's end, however, the Spanish weren't hit too hard, trading back these gems for relatively worthless properties such as Florida. The French, by contrast, lost not only Quebec but also trading bases in India - both for good. There are few events in history with as profound an effect on the modern map than the Seven Years' War, and Pocock (a descendant of one of its great sea admirals) makes a marvellous yarn out of it. There are some wonderful quotes, too, e.g. that of a young, sarcastic Royal American officer lambasting a stupid superior who missed a strategic opportunity...

An eminently readable history of the Seven Years War

Tom Pocock, whose biographies of Nelson are also very much worth your time, has written a wonderful short history of the Seven Years War, which he is correct in referring to as the first truly world war, and as the war that set Britain on its road to empire. Pocock has a real talent for vividly depicting people in a chapter or two, including the unfortunate Admiral Byng (shot to "encourage the others" as Voltaire wryly observed), Wolfe, and Clive. Very, very much worth reading; the Seven Years War (which has been consistently reduced to the status of a minor squabble in American history books under the misnomer of the "French and Indian War") has been almost forgotten but its effect on the history of the late 18th and the 19th centuries cannot be overestimated.

British Global Strategy and Rapid Deployment 1756-63

Tom Pocock correctly identifies the Seven Years War (1756-63) as "The First World War" and gives a very readable account of how Britain waged it outside Continental Europe. The focus is however purely on this aspect and, as such, the campaigns on the European Continent, including the spectacular role played by Prussia, are excluded. The sheer geographic scale and the vaunting ambition of British policies are however well conveyed as well as the brilliant strategies underlying the first war to be fought with truly global objectives. As well as the better-known campaigns such as "The French-Indian War" in North America, Clives's amazing conquests in India and Byng's disastrous manoeuvres off Minorca (that led to his execution by firing squad "to encourage the others"), there are fascinating accounts of less familiar undertakings such as the operations of the author's own kinsman in the Indian Ocean and the captures of Manila and Havana by British expeditionary forces. The Havana operation, which finally succeeded at a horrendous cost in deaths from disease as well as military action, is an epic that would merit a book in its own right. Though satisfying as far as it goes, once feels that the author missed an opportunity in "Battle for Empire" in not expanding the scope to cover the whole war, on all fronts. There is a gap in the market for a readable single-volume narrative history of the war, ideally written with the easy style, lively depiction of personalities and colourful anecdotes which Mr.Pocock provides in this one.