Introduction

Abstract

This might certainly seem to be the case, so total did the fiasco that faced France appear to be at the end of a disastrous war that spanned seven years, three continents, and two oceans. The marquise du Deffant described France at that time as “Madame Job.” The list of lost frontiers accentuated the disappointment which Frenchmen felt. The Treaty of Paris, signed on February 10, sealed the conflict and redistributed the French and British colonial empires to the latter’s advantage. The British seized Canada; took possession of the strategic Ohio valley; conquered the left bank of the Mississippi River basin; took Isle Royale in Lake Superior and the Caribbean islands of Dominica, Grenada, St Vincent and Tobago; and hoisted the Union Jack over all of France’s trading posts in Senegal, with the exception of Gorée. The fleur de lys had all but disappeared from continental America, including Louisiana. Only the Union Jack remained flying. To the East, on the Indian subcon- tinent, France renounced all territorial claims and retained only five indefensible trading posts at Chandernagore, Karaikal, Mahe, Yanam, and Pondicherry.