Karl W. Schweizer – författare

This is the first comprehensive one-volume overview of the diplomatic, military and maritime history of the causes and conduct of the Seven Years’ War and its American manifestation, the French and Indian War (1753-63). The Seven Years’ War was the first global conflict in history and a precursor to the American War of Independence. The authors summarize both older and more recent scholarship on these subjects, and synthesize them in a complete annotated bibliography. The book also includes biographical sketches and critical reappraisals of some of the major figures of the periodThe Seven Years War will be of great interest to students of the Seven Years War, American history, diplomatic and military history.

The Seven Years War has been described as the first global conflict in history. It engulfed the Euro-Atlantic world from 1756 to 1763, and engaged the energies of European cabinets as never before. More than previous conflicts, the Seven Years War involved a variety of approaches to war, and taxed the military, material and moral resources of the powers involved. Drawing on a diverse array of archival, printed primary and secondary sources, The Seven Years War: A Transatlantic History covers the war’s origins, its conduct on land and at sea, its effects on logistics and finance, its interactions with domestic politics, its influence on international relations and its approach to peace. The book highlights the role of personality, alongside the enduring importance of communication, misperception and understanding. In so doing, it endeavours not merely to chronicle the war’s events, but to situate them in the context of mid-eighteenth century warfare, finance, politics and diplomacy.The Seven Years War will be of great interest to students of the European history, American history, maritime history, diplomatic and military history.

Based on hitherto unused manuscript material, War, Politics and Diplomacy examines the origin, development and collapse of the Anglo-Prussian alliance against the complex backdrop of European politics during the Seven Years War (1756-63). Unlike earlier books in the field, this study views the alliance not as a static entity but as a flexible, dynamic instrument of statecraft ever responsive to military and diplomatic shifts. By examining, for the first time, the disintegration of the alliance in a light of preceding intra-alliance relations, Karl W. Schweizer demonstrates that its failure was certain from the conditions of its formation, the progress of the war, and above all, from the disparate aims and interests of the two partners, England and Prussia. This new approach to the history of the alliance produces a fundamentally different interpretation of its overall development, a disbelief in its prospect of survival after the war and hence a modified evaluation of the role played by the principal statesmen involved.

In 1716, the French diplomat and author Francois de CalliËres published the treatise "De la Maniere de negocier avec les souverainsoan outstandingly successful manual of advice for diplomats, perhaps the best of its kind ever written. It has become the classic text, highly regarded by 18th century statesmen, who considered it essential reading for prospective diplomats, and by modern historians who have praised its insights into the conventions and techniques that remained a distinctive feature of European statecraft for almost 300 years.This book is the first, complete critical edition of Callieres' work based on an accurate but virtually unknown English translation of 1716. It also includes a biographical introduction, based on French manuscript sources, which provides an account of Callieres' life as writer and diplomat, a discussion of the origin of the work and an assessment of the intellectual and historical background to which the treatise belongs. In addition, the book includes appendixes on the French political academy, Callieres' library and a list of his publications as well as those of his father, Jacques, also a notable author in his day. The volume concludes with a bibliography of works on diplomatic theory covering the period 1648 to 1815.This reprint of the 1983 edition by Leicester University Press makes available once again this historical work of enduring value.