Seven Years' War - Nomenclature

Nomenclature

In Canada, France, and the United Kingdom, the name Seven Years' War is used to describe the North American conflict as well as the European and Asian conflicts, as the name Nine Years' War was already taken.

In the United States, however, the North American portion of the war, which started in 1754, is popularly known as the French and Indian War. Many scholars and professional historians in America, such as Fred Anderson, however, follow the example of their colleagues in other countries and refer to the conflict as the "Seven Years' War," regardless of the theatre.

In French Canada, the conflict is sometimes referred to as La Guerre de la Conquête, meaning The War of the Conquest.

The conflict in India is termed the Third Carnatic War while the fighting between Prussia and Austria is called the Third Silesian War. In Swedish historiography, the name Pommerska kriget (Pomeranian War) is used, as Swedish involvement was limited to Pomerania.

The war was described as the first "world war", though this label was also given to various earlier conflicts such as the Eighty Years' War, the Thirty Years' War, the War of the Spanish Succession and the War of the Austrian Succession, and to later conflicts such as the Napoleonic Wars. As a partially Anglo-French conflict involving developing empires, the war was one of the most significant phases of the 18th century Second Hundred Years' War.