Overseas expansion

From the 1650s, the New World increasingly became a battleground between the two powers. The Western Design of Oliver Cromwell intended to build up an increasing British presence in North America, beginning with the acquisition of Jamaica from the Spanish Empire in 1652. The first British settlement on continental North America was founded in 1603, by the 1760s these had grown into thirteen separate colonies.

The French had settled the province of Canada to the North, and controlled Saint-Domingue in the Caribbean, the wealthiest colony in the world. Both countries, recognising the potential of India, established trading posts there. Wars between the two states increasingly took place in these other continents, as well as Europe.

Seven Years War

The loss of Quebec to the British in 1759 was a major blow to French colonial ambitions, compounded by defeats in Europe and India.

The French and British fought each other and made treaties with Native American tribes to gain control of North America. Both nations coveted the Ohio Territory and in 1753 a British expedition there led by George Washington clashed with a French force. Shortly afterwards the French and Indian War broke out, initially taking place only in North America but in 1756 becoming part of the wider Seven Years War in which Britain and France were part of opposing coalitions.

The war was described by Winston Churchill as the first "world war", because fighting took place on several different continents. In 1759 the British enjoyed victories over the French in Europe, Canada and India severely weakening the French position around the world. In 1762 the British captured the cities of Manila and Havana from Spain, France's strongest ally, which led ultimately to a peace settlement the following year that saw a large number of territories come under British control.

The Seven Years War is regarded as a critical moment in the history of Anglo-French relations, which laid the foundations for the dominance of the Anglosphere during the next two and a half centuries, and arguably the spread of democracy and English common law.

American War of Independence

The Anglo-American settlers had originally fought on the side of the British, but as some Americans grew dissatisfied with British policies the French saw an opportunity to undermine British overseas power. When the American War of Independence broke out in 1775, the French began sending covert supplies and intelligence to the American rebels.

The British defeat at Yorktown was made possible by the combined actions of a French fleet and army. It marked the end of the First British Empire.

In 1778 France, hoping to capitalise on the British defeat at Saratoga and fearing a rapprochement between the British and the Americans, entered the war and in 1779 persuaded their Spanish allies to do likewise. France despatched troops to fight alongside the American rebels, and besieged Gibraltar with Spain. Plans were drawn up, but never put into action, to launch an invasion of England.

The British were forced to withdraw forces from the American mainland to protect their more valuable possessions in the West Indies. While the French were initially unable to break the string of British victories, the combined actions of a French fleet and army, forced the British into a decisive surrender at Yorktown in 1781.

In 1783 the French-led alliance managed to gain a number of concessions out of the British at the Treaty of Paris most notably the recognition of American independence. For a brief period after the war, Britain's naval power was subdued by an alliance between France and Spain.

The crippling debts incurred by France during the war, and the cost of rebuilding the French navy during the 1780s caused a financial crisis, leading directly to the French Revolution of 1789. The loss of the colonies was taken by some, such as the Emperor Joseph II of Austria, to mark the end of Britain as a major power.