Britain Declares War on France

May 17, 1756

The colonial brushfires in America and India finally reached the palaces of Europe. Britain declared war; France's new ally, Austria, declared back. The 'Diplomatic Revolution' had flipped old enmities: Prussia and Britain on one side, France, Austria, Russia on the other. The Seven Years' War was on. Winston Churchill would later call it the first true world war, fought on five continents and three oceans simultaneously.