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During the last 17 or so years Britain had been involved in some wars overseas. In 1739 Britain went to war with Spain. It was known as the War of Jenkins Ear. Really. I'm not kidding. Let me tell you why. In 1731 Robert Jenkins was the captain of British merchant ship, Rebecca, which was stopped and searched by the Spanish coastguard off the island of Cuba. Jenkins was beaten up by the Spanish and, it is said, his ear was cut off. Luckily, for everyone who wanted a war, Captain Jenkins preserved his missing ear in a jar.
Some eight years later, Captain Jenkins, and his bottled ear, were summoned to Parliament to explain what had happened and, possibly, exhibit his now eight-year-old bottle of ear. Presumably he waxed on for a while and the end result was that Britain declared war on Spain and, as I said, the war became known as the war of Jenkins Ear. Much of it was fought at sea and it tended to merge, in about 1742, into another war fought by most of the powers in Europe and called the War of Austrian Succession.
None of the battles in this war took place in England so we won't talk much about it here. Britain and the Netherlands were on the side of Austria against mainly Prussia and France, and, in a battle at Dettinegn, George II led his troops, the last time an English monarch took part in a battle. This war ended in 1748.
Then in 1756 it was time for another war. Again no battles were fought in Britain but we were involved, in fact the war was essentially between France and Britain with others joining in. By now both countries had conquered large parts of the world and the war was fought in Canada, America (South and North), India, the West Indies and Europe. It could be argued that this was actually the very first global, or world, war. This war lasted for seven years and was called................The Seven Years War.
France forged alliances with Austria and Russia against Prussia. Britain allied with Prussia. In 1762, Spain entered the war on the side of France. Britain emerged from the war victorious in 1763, and under the Treaty of Paris acquired Quebec, Florida, Minorca, large parts of India and the West Indies.
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