Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/513

Russia and Prussia become European Powers 381 perfidious Frederick and regaining her lost territory. This led to one of the most important wars in modern history, in which not only almost every European power joined, but which involved the whole world, from the Indian rajahs of Hindustan to the colonists of Virginia and New England. This Seven Years' War (1756-1763) will be considered in its broader aspects in the next chapter. We shall mention here only the part played in it by the king of Prussia. Maria Theresa's ambassador at Paris was so skillful in his negotiations with the French court that in 1756 he induced it, in spite of its two hundred years of hostility to the House of Hapsburg, to enter into an alliance with Austria against Prussia. Russia, Sweden, and Saxony also agreed to join in a concerted attack on Prussia. Their armies, coming as they did from every point of the compass, threatened the com- plete annihilation of Frederick and his kingdom. 660. Frederick's Victorious Defense. However, it was in this war that Frederick earned his title of "the Great," and showed himself the equal of the ablest generals the world has seen. Undaunted by the overwhelming numbers of his enemies and by the loss of several battles, Frederick defeated the French and his German enemies in the most famous, perhaps, of his battles, at Rossbach in 1757. A month later he routed the Austrians. Money paid to him by the English government enabled him to keep up the fight. The accession of a new Tsar, who was an ardent admirer of Frederick, led Russia to conclude peace with FREDERICK II OF PRUSSIA, CALLED "THE GREAT"