ABSTRACT
The late 1750s brought to a close the long-standing series of conflicts between China and the Zunghars of Xinjiang. Victory underlined China’s position as the leading land power, but this was a war waged entirely on land and only in East Asia. The contrast with the range and variety of the AngloFrench struggle was striking. Indeed, the naval strength and transoceanic advances of the British at the expense both of the French in North America in 1758-60 and of the French and native powers in India in 1750-65, ensured that Britain became the strongest global power, and underlined the extent to which the Seven Years’ War was a world war, an important contribution to the global context of military developments.
