Comics Explained: Shazam (Captain Marvel)

San Diego Comic Con has given us many things to talk about ranging from the new Godzilla movie to the new edgier version of the Teen Titans. However, one thing that has got people talking is the trailer for Shazam! Shazam, or Captain Marvel as he's been known as for most of his publication history, is a very interesting part of comic book history. Although a DC character he did not originate in DC and he was even more popular than Superman at one point! Captain Marvel got a radio drama before Superman did and in 1941 he was the first superhero from comics to get their own movie. Today we'll look at Shazam a.k.a Captain Marvel.

Origins - Real World and Fictional

Whiz Comics #2, his debut

Captain Marvel originated in one of the many new comic book publishers which emerged in the late-1930s and early-1940s thanks to the success of Batman and Superman, especially Superman. One such was founded in 1939 called Fawcett Comics who hired writer Bill Parker to make superhero stories for them. Parker planned to create a superhero group years before Justice League and the Avengers came along, (although the League's precursor the Justice Society made its debut the same year Captain Marvel did), where each member had a superpower granted by a mythical being. Fawcett's executive director intervened suggesting that one character should have all the powers, mostly to compete with Superman. Parker then made 'Captain Thunder' and got C.C. Beck to draw the new hero. Beck later said: "When Bill Parker and I went to work on Fawcett’s first comic book in late 1939, we both saw how poorly written and illustrated the superhero comic books were. We decided to give our reader a real comic book, drawn in comic-strip style and telling an imaginative story, based not on the hackneyed formulas of the pulp magazine, but going back to the old folk-tales and myths of classic times." Beck's cartoony style of drawing would greatly influence how comics were drawn for a long time afterwards. In 1939 their comic was first published to low sales and they hit an issue: they couldn't copyright their original title. A year later the comic itself was renamed Whiz Comics instead of Flash or Thrill Comics and their hero renamed 'Captain Marvelous' which became shortened to 'Captain Marvel'. This reprint, in 1940, became very popular and propelled Fawcett Comics to national fame.

Now to get into Captain Marvel's fictional origin. Unlike Batman and Superman Captain Marvel is a literal child which explains his popularity. With a young audience Parker decided to make him a child for the primary audience to empathise with. A homeless orphan (despite being seemingly well fed and dressed) called Billy Batson is living in the subway of New York, later retconned to be Fawcett City, ends up meeting a strange old man on a subway with strange runes on it. He is then transported to an underground throne room where the old man explains that he is the Wizard Shazam who gets his power from the six gods - Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury. Shazam wanted to give Billy his powers as he is soon to die but the reason why changed. Originally it was because he had a hard life being orphaned at an early age and turfed out by his uncle who stole his inheritance but in later retellings in Shazam! #1 it was due to him being 'pure of heart'. Now whenever Billy utters the words 'Shazam!' he can turn into the hero Captain Marvel who has the the Wisdom of Solomon, Strength of Hercules, Stamina of Atlas, Power of Zeus, Courage of Achilles, and Speed of Mercury. He also gets an adult body and in the alternate future story Kingdom Come we find out that this body is what Billy would look like when he gets older. Now Billy can become a hero seeking advice from Shazam who resides as a spirit in the Rock of Eternity. In a similar sense to Superman Billy in Whiz Comics #3 becomes a journalist, despite being about 12, which allows him to investigate crime which he later fights as Captain Marvel. 

Marvel Family #1 

Captain Marvel soon became an immensely popular character dwarfing Superman. For one, Captain Marvel could fly which Superman couldn't do at the time and after a year of being published he got his own movie. By 1944 Captain Marvel comics were selling over 1.3 million an issue and two comics were issued a week. He quickly gained a recurring villain, set to be the antagonist in the new movie, called Doctor Sivana he also made his debut in Whiz Comics #2. A bald headed mad scientist as a villain may sound awfully familiar... Doctor Sivana, not Black Adam, would for a long time be Captain Marvel's main opponent with him even taking over Venus at one time. Meanwhile, the popularity of the comics brought in new characters forming the Marvel Family. The first was 1941's Whiz Comics #25 introducing Captain Marvel Jr. in a truly eccentric comic which typifies everything cheesy and fantastic about Golden Age comics. When Captain Marvel was fighting a superpowered agent of Hitler literally called Captain Nazi the Nazi attacked an old man and his grandson, Freddy Freeman. The old man died but the grandson was rendered unconscious so Billy took the boy to see if Shazam could heal him. Shazam couldn't but revealed that Billy as Captain Marvel could by granting Freddy some of his power. He did and turned Freddy into Captain Marvel Jr. A year later in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 a new character, designed to look like Judy Garland, was introduced who turned out to be Billy's long lost twin sister, (of course!), called Mary. Mary Marvel soon became extremely popular immediately getting her own comic title years before Supergirl was even introduced! Soon enough in Marvel Family #1 the three appeared together smashing the comic book scene.

Legal Troubles

Now time to discuss the tricky part of Captain Marvel - the court battles. The immediate success of Captain Marvel and the many similarities to Superman enraged DC, or as it was then called National Comics. In 1941 National took Fawcett to court and years of litigation meant that it didn't go into court until 1948 in National Comics Publications vs. Fawcett Publications with National arguing that Captain Marvel was infringing on Superman whereas Fawcett argued that although similar it was not infringing. The judge argued that although Captain Marvel was infringing Superman as National had not properly copyrighted several Superman strips it was decided in 1951 that National had abandoned the Superman copyright. National appealed and it seemed to in favour of them this time so Fawcett decided to settle out of court for a reason not to do with the trial. After the end of the war sales of superhero comics plummeted and would not pick up until the start of the 1960s with a new wave of DC heroes and Marvel's rise under Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Despite being extremely popular during the War after their sales were cut in half. Fawcett decided that comics were done for so decided to offer National $400,000 and that they would stop printing Captain Marvel. By 1954 all Captain Marvel titles had ceased printing. The decline of Captain Marvel caused ripples. A British company, L. Miller and Son, had made their money reprinting black-and-white comics of American comics and Captain Marvel was just as popular among the British as he was in America. With Captain Marvel's end they were worried so they decided to make their own comic a bit too heavily influenced by Captain Marvel called Marvelman which ended up ceasing printing in 1963. Marvelman was one of the many comics who inspired a young man called Alan Moore who in 1982 would revive Marvelman in a violent, pessimistic and graphic comic which I highly recommend people read. Containing ideas of superpowered heroes to be feared, and exploration of mythology which would set the stage up for Watchmen. In the 1960s a company called M.F. Enterprises were publishing their own hero called Captain Marvel which upset Marvel who ended up copyrighting 'Marvel' and 'Captain Marvel' so Marvelman had to be renamed Miracleman when it was published in the US. As a twist of fate Marvel bought Miracleman and republished it as Marvelman.

Shazam!

Shazam #1 when he returned after twenty years

During the 1960s superheroes were back and Fawcett wanted to reintroduce Captain Marvel but couldn't due to the earlier agreement with National. Meanwhile, DC's sales were dipping as they went into the 1970s so the two previous enemies made an agreement: DC would license Captain Marvel splitting the profits. In 1973 Shazam #1 brought back Billy Batson in a series of stories being written by Dennis O'Neil with C.C. Beck returning for ten issues before leaving thanks to creative differences. They also had to name the comic Shazam! to avoid copyright infringement with Marvel who at the time was publishing their own comic by the same title. On the front cover they used to have 'The Original Captain Marvel' until this royally infuriated Marvel had issued a cease-and-desist resulting them changing it to say 'The World's Mightiest Mortal' from Shazam! #15. In this comic they revised his origin with a prime example being the reason why Billy was chosen to be Captain Marvel was because he was pure of heart instead of living a hard life. Unfortunately Shazam! never sold well despite it reinvigorating interest in the Marvel Family so DC regularly featured crossovers with Superman and the Justice League. However, it did properly reintroduce one villain who has replaced Doctor Sivana as Captain Marvel's main antagonist: Black Adam.

Black Adam is easily Captain Marvel's most infamous villain with him being a staple in the comics and he is set to be played by Dwayne 'the Rock' Johnson in his own movie, and possibly Shazam! as well. Strangely he only appeared in one comic under Fawcett, 1945's The Marvel Family #1. In this it is revealed that Billy is not the first to hold the moniker of Captain Marvel; in Ancient Egypt a man named Teth-Adam had the power until he overthrew the pharaoh to install himself in power. I personally love what he says to the pharaoh as he's overthrowing him: For resisting me, you get a broken neck! Shazam then branded him Black Adam and banished him to the edges of the universe as Adam vowed to return. 5,000 years later he arrives on Earth to kill Shazam where he fights the Marvel Family until being tricked into saying 'Shazam' reverting him to his human form. Doing so causes 5,000 years of ageing to catch up with him reducing him to ash. In the Shazam! comics Black Adam was resurrected by Doctor Sivana and soon he went on to fight the Marvel Family.

The fabulous Golden Age Black Adam

Post-Crisis

In 1985 DC decided to reboot its universe and within a year in Legends #1 Captain Marvel was brought back leading into a revamped origin in 1987 with a four-part series entitled Shazam: The New Beginning. However, DC soon ignored this in 1994's Power of Shazam which updated the comics and really made Black Adam his main villain. In this new origin Billy's parents were archaeologists, his father was called C.C. to homage C.C. Beck, sent to Egypt with Theo Adam for the Sivana Foundation. Theo Adam finds out he is the resurrected but depowered Black Adam so he sacrifices Billy's parents to restore his power and has Mary kidnapped. Meanwhile, like in the original comic Shazam had Billy, now in Fawcett City, taken to him where he is given the power of Captain Marvel. In the pre-Crisis stories Billy had a different personality when he was Captain Marvel but now it was changed so Captain Marvel and Billy had the same personality. Captain Marvel's clashes with Black Adam and them being teammates in the new Justice Society meant that Adam's popularity soon grew. By 1991 DC had stopped leasing Fawcett's characters with them being outright bought by DC which explains the amount of appearances and titles which the Marvel Family had. They would frequently appear in comics including 1996's Kingdom Come. A brief summary of Kingdom Come is that in the future Superman retired as a new breed of violent heroes came about and he returned to put them in their place. I would highly recommend reading it as I cannot do it justice with it dealing with questions of justice, responsibility, gods, men and idol worship. Captain Marvel appears as a foil to Superman near the end and they fight - quite ironic considering their history. Superman is weak against magic so the fight is actually in Marvel's favour.

Marvel vs. Superman in Kingdom Come

In 2005's Infinite Crisis Shazam was killed by the Spectre (the embodiment of God's vengeance) so Billy is chosen to be the new protector of the Rock of Eternity starting from The Trials of Shazam! where he got a new look as well as being known as Marvel. Captain Marvel Jr. formally took over the Captain Marvel moniker becoming Billy's replacement as Mary lost her powers. She would later be turned to evil when Black Adam gave her some of his powers. The Trials of Shazam! was never really popular saw only lasted until 2008 when Billy returned as Captain Marvel where Black Adam even became the guardian of the Rock of Eternity briefly. 

New 52

The New 52 Shazam

In 2011 DC rebooted its universe once again in the New 52. After a brief reboot Geoff Johns and Gary Frank properly brought back the character in Justice League and their story seems to have been almost recreated in the trailer for the new movie at certain parts. Here Captain Marvel had been formally renamed as for years he had marketed as Shazam to avoid copyright with Marvel, so it was simple just to have the character be called Shazam. In this update Billy is a bit of a knucklehead who is a cynic after going from foster house to foster house until adopted by the Vasquez family. Here Mary and Freddy have already been adopted and are now his adopted siblings alongside three other children. Angry one day Billy runs away and when catching a subway is transported to the Rock of Eternity where he encounters the Wizard. The Wizard is disappointed that Billy is not entirely good and Billy retorted that 'perfect good' can't exist which convinces the Wizard; he can see that Billy has done good and has the ability to do good so grants him the power of Shazam. As this was happening Doctor Sivana, who now has an eye that can see magic, freed Black Adam who now wanted to strip Billy of his powers in order for him to absorb the powers for himself. As Billy was abusing his powers for self gain, like getting money to buy beer, he was attacked by Adam. Eventually Black Adam kidnapped Billy's adopted family resulting in Billy granting them some power. Black Adam is only defeated when Billy in his mortal form goaded Adam into transforming himself which caused him to rapidly age. Since then Shazam has had some appearances with John Constantine even stealing his powers to defeat a demon at one point. Geoff Johns has announced that he will be writing a new Shazam comic title to be debuted in November 2018.

Thank you for reading and I hope you found it interesting. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby 

Who was Nelson Mandela?

As of writing a few days ago we saw the centenary of the birth of anti-Apartheid, and former South African president, Nelson Mandela. Mandela had a great impact on South African and global politics before, during and after his imprisonment, and has continued to serve as a source of inspiration for people across the globe. I would personally consider Mandela as being one of my idols. I would also recommend reading my other article on Mandela's wife and fellow anti-Apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela for any extra information which I may have left out of this article.

Early Life

Mandela was a Xhosa born 18 July 1918 in the little village of Mvezo along the banks of the Mbashe River in Cape Province in the south of South Africa. He was given the name Rolihlahla meaning 'pulling the branch of a tree', or more colloquially 'troublemaker' which friends and relatives would joke was foreshadowing to his future fate. When Mandela was born the South African government had began stripping the rights from black Africans and Indians thirty years before the official start of Apartheid. The African National Congress (ANC), formed 1912, had sent a delegation to the Versailles peace conference in order to voice the grievances of black South Africans. Although Mandela was born into a very rural village as he was born into the royal family he was eligible to serve as a councillor as his father had done before him. At a young age his religious mother sent him to a Methodist school where his teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave him the name Nelson which Mandela believed to possibly be a reference to Lord Nelson. When not at school he helped raise cattle with his mother and sisters becoming deeply engaged in Thembu culture until the death of his father when he was aged nine. After that his mother took him to Thembuland's provincial capital, Mqhekezweni, to live with Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo who was the acting regent of the Thembu. Despite Jongintaba's awe inspiring appearance he took in the young Nelson raising him with his own children, the son and heir Justice and his sister Nomafu. Nelson soon attached himself to the elder Justice as they learnt English, Xhosa, history (especially African) and geography. While at Mqhekezweni he became more religious thanks to the local Methodist Revenrand Matyolo. Furthermore, Mandela's early education would slowly start to influence his later views. Watching the discussions between Jongintaba and local chiefs helped install a devotion to democracy and hearing local chief's stories planted the seeds of an African nationalist. At this stage though he still viewed white presence as being a necessary evil and his devotion to the royalty persisted for years. In Xhosa culture it was believed that one could only become a man if he was circumcised so at age 16 the regent had Mandela go through the ceremony at Tyhalarha on the banks of the Mbashe.

A young Mandela

After the ceremony the regent said to Mandela: 'It is not for you to spend your life mining the white man's gold, never knowing how to write your name'. Wanting him to truly become a councillor for Justice later in life he sent Mandela to higher education, the first being Clarkebury Boarding Institute. It was there that Mandela first met a white person. He had occasionally seen white people at Mqhekezweni but it was only at Clarkebury that he properly met one; the school governor, Reverend Harris, was a 'white Thembu' as he apparently 'loved and understood the Thembu people' despite running a tight ship. At Clarkebury he was shocked thinking that his relation to royalty would earn him respect but in reality he was mocked for his country accent. At the age of 19 he then went to Healdtown, a Methodist college at Fort Beaufort, which once acted as a British military outpost. Imperialism and nationalism blended at Healdtown, the governor Reverend Arthur Wellington (who claimed that he was a descendent of Lord Wellington), where Mandela became enraptured by British history and geography while also engaging in Xhosa culture winning an prize in 1938 for an essay written in Xhosa. There he made friends with future ANC activists and his first non-Xhosa friends including the Sotho-speaking Zachariah Molete. It was only when he went to do his BA at Fort Hare, a small university which was unique for allowing blacks to attend. Fort Hare became a centre for the intellectual black South African elite and many members of the ANC, Communist party and African liberation movements (including Robert Mugabe and Julius Nyerere) would pass through its doors at some time or another. Mandela loved Fort Hare developing his lifelong love for running and boxing as some of his friends became involved with anti-racism protests, ANC activism, and at times even pro-communist events. At this stage Mandela was supportive of Britain but unlike other aristocrats he was kind and considerate to the non-aristocrats at the university. 

When returning to Mqhekezweni in 1940 he and Justice found out the regent had arranged marriages for them so they ran away to Johannesburg. While in the city Mandela got a job as a night watchmen in the Crown Mines and there he saw some of the worst of South African racism and capitalism. Mining companies kept contact with local chiefs in order to continue a wave of cheap labour, tribal hierarchies were reproduced (Justice was always treated as royalty), different groups were segregated, and working conditions were poor. Mandela was soon fired after the headman found out that he was a runaway. He soon came into contact with ANC member Walter Sisulu who would become a lifetime friend of Mandela. As he had studied law Sisulu got Mandela a job at the law firm ran by a white liberal Jew called Lazar Sidelsky - like in the US many South African Jews saw racism and antisemitism as being linked together. At the law firm he properly became interested in politics thanks to a Xhosa communist, Gaur Radebe, and a Jewish communist who became his first white friend, Nat Bregman. Ironically years later Radebe would become anti-communist while Mandela started defending communists in the ANC. He started becoming more interested in wider African nationalism over simply Xhosa as he lived in the city of Alexandra as he studied for a BA from the University of South Africa at night. With little money he often had to walk home and study by candlelight but had the benefit of a communal feeling learning about Zulu, Sotho and Swazi culture (he even briefly dated a Swazi girl). He also started visiting communist meetings being impressed at how blacks, whites, Indians, and 'coloureds' (Mixed race) were together although he disagreed with how they reduced social issues to class and their atheism. In 1941 he was visited by the regent who forgave him for running away before passing away greatly affecting Mandela. 

ANC Activism

Mandela and Oliver Tambo

In 1943 Mandela joined the University of Witwatersrand to study law and as he was the only black student he faced intense racism. They weren't openly racist but Mandela put it the best way possible: 'No one uttered the word "kaffir"; their hostility was more muted, but I felt it just the same'. It was at Witwatersrand that Mandela met many ANC, Indian and communist activists including the later leaders of the South African Communist Party (SACP) Joe Slovo and Ruth First. In 1943 Mandela joined in with the bus boycotts resulting in a reversal of the fare increases and at Sisulu's request joined the ANC. Mandela would meet ANC member Anton Lembede who represented the Africanist branch of the ANC who believed that blacks should not work with non-blacks. Despite having non-black friends Mandela was influenced by this believing that blacks should be independent and that Indians and communists were too interested in their own communities or class. He and Lembede would form the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) a year later. Following the end of the Second World War institutional racism strengthened, especially to Indians, and anti-communism skyrocketed. Indian protests by figures like Dr. Yusuf Dadoo and Ahmed Kathrada did partially convince Mandela that an alliance with Indians could work. Mandela started becoming more and more involved with the ANC becoming ANCYL secretary when Lembede suddenly died and was replaced by the more moderate but articulate Peter Mda. In 1948 the political situation worsened. Daniel Malan's National Party came to power; the Nationalists were deeply racialist and were determined to separate different races. Their policy was called 'Apartheid'. Mandela had to devote himself so much to politics that he ended up failing his final exam three times before Witwatersrand refused him to resit in 1949.

Mandela and Evelyn at their wedding

While this was happening Mandela became a family man. While visiting Walter Sisulu Mandela met his cousin, Evelyn Mase. Evelyn was a Xhosa from rural Transkei and who was orphaned at the age of 12 when he mother passed, the father (a mineworker) died when she was an infant. She started training to be a nurse which is how she met Nelson. The two quickly fell in love and were married in 1944. The new couple had little money having to move in with her brother but they were happy. She said that 'Everyone we knew said that we made a very good couple'. Oliver Tambo's wife Adelaide also said that 'Many wives envied Evelyn for her man who was dedicated to the family and brought food in town to take home'. A year after they were married Evelyn had their first child, a son called Thembekile ('Thembi'). Nelson's mother and sister soon moved in with them. Unfortunately their first daughter, Makaziwe, was born ill and passed at just nine months. To honour her their second daughter was named Makaziwe in traditional Xhosa fashion. In 1950 they had their second son, Makgatho. 

1950 saw Mandela made president of the ANCYL and was brought onto the ANC's national executive. A strike was organised for black workers on May Day which Mandela actually opposed; as it was multi-racial and not ANC-led he opposed it but seeing its success his opposition to it started to ebb as a result. However, following the strike the Suppression of Communism Act was passed which defined communism as anything that wanted to change society through direct action or encouraging 'feelings of hostility between the European and the non-European races'. This affected most civil rights groups across South African society and the government used it very readily to silence opposition. As a result this brought many together, although it took a while for Mandela to be convinced. His friend and communist general secretary, Moses Kotane, convinced him to read Marx, Lenin and Mao and seeing the USSR's assistance to anti-imperialism he started to be won over by Marxism and cooperation with non-blacks and non-ANC groups. In 1952 the ANC joined the Defiance Campaign in order to challenge Apartheid. Inspired by Gandhi the Defiance Campaign aimed to use nonviolent protests and speeches to tackle Apartheid and although Mandela saw this as being more pragmatic he became heavily involved giving speeches including one at Durban to a crowd of 10,000. Thousands joined the ANC as a result and Mandela soon gained an image for his fiery rabble rousing speeches. The Campaign greatly angered the Apartheid state and used the Suppression of Communism Act to crack down on the activists. Over two years 8,000 were arrested including Mandela, Dadoo and Sisulu in 1952. He was banned from attending meetings so the ANC placed the 'Mandela Plan' or 'M-Plan' in case the ANC was banned. Mandela's 'No Easy Walk to Freedom' speech was read out to the ANC rally in Transvaal detailing his views and plans to turn the ANC into smaller cells if it got banned. Despite this Mandela and Oliver Tambo formed their own law firm to help the black community affected by police brutality and other aspects of the Apartheid state. 

Nelson and Winnie

However, Mandela's marriage started breaking down. His own infidelities and Evelyn becoming a Jehovah's Witness which argued against direct confrontation caused the two to drift apart. The added strain of Mandela's activities, his law firm, and the Treason Trial added further stress to the family. In 1958 the couple divorced causing stress to both and greatly upset Thembi in particular. Mandela would write how Thembi would sleep in his bed next to him due to the divorce. Following his divorce in 1958 he soon found love again. Mandela described this in Long Walk to Freedom:  'I drove a friend from Orlando to the medical school at the University of Witwatersrand and went past Baragwanath Hospital, the leading black hospital in Johannesburg. As I passed a nearby bus stop, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a lovely young woman waiting for the bus. I was struck by her beauty.' She later visited his legal firm and the two started talking. She was the daughter of two teachers from the Eastern Cape. Winnie Madikizela had a history of political activism so knew about Mandela. The two soon married and within two years the couple had two daughters, Zenani and Zindzi. 

Trials, Exile and MK

Not deterred by the bans after the Defiance Campaign the ANC continued on. There were some splits - the PAC was one who were firmly Africanist compared to the ANC. In 1955 when the government tried to move black residents from Sophiatown, a suburb in Johannesburg, to move in whites Mandela organised a protest. Sophiatown was important to urban blacks with it being a centre of urban black culture, similar to Harlem in New York. The strike failed convincing the ANC that violence may have to be needed in the future - Sisulu even asked China for arms but was rejected due to the ANC's size. In 1955 the ANC joined with unions, Indian activists, other Africanists and the underground communists to draft the Freedom Charter. Declaring that 'South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white' it called for racial equality before the law, equal rights to vote, and nationalisation of major industries. Clearly inspired by Marxism and radical policies Mandela admitted this saying 'It is a revolutionary document precisely because the changes it envisages cannot be won without breaking up the economic and political set-up of present South Africa'. The government hated this. Mandela had another wave of travel bans imposed on him just as his marriage with Evelyn ended. In 1956 the 'Treason Trial' began. Mandela and 155 other individuals ranging from unionists to the ANC leadership were arrested on charges of 'high treason' in December 1956 with the state arguing that the Freedom Charter could only be achieved through violence. The trial dragged on for four years seeing protests in favour of the accused, the four National party supporting judges being replaced, Oliver Tambo fleeing abroad, and the strength of the defendants being sapped. In the end the accused were found not guilty in 1961. During this time Mandela's marriage to Evelyn ended with her having custody of their three children and also him marrying Winnie with the birth of both of his daughters with her. The state even arrested Winnie and in 1959 the Africanist PAC split from the ANC.

Protests at the Treason Trial

Despite viewing the PAC as naive Mandela got behind their pass burning protests - black Africans and other minorities were forced to carry around passes. He publicly burnt his in solidarity with the PAC following the 1960 Sharpeville massacre where police shot over 60 protesters. Apartheid was solidifying itself in South Africa. In 1958 Hendrik Verwoerd became prime minister who cast himself as chosen by God and wanted to properly entrench Apartheid into society. Among this was a policy to truly separate the black and white populations - the black population would be divided into 'nations' and given their own 'homelands' regardless whether they had lived for generations. In retaliation Mandela secretly travelled the country despite his travel bans and the abandonment of his family and firm organising support for the ANC's national strike. The press nicknamed him the 'Black Pimpernel' and he was almost was caught a few times by a police who became a virtual military. A treat among black Africans was to leave milk in the sun and then drink the skin; when visiting a white friend they spotted his milk on a window and almost investigated. He was also advised to shave his beard but he refused because he was attached to it - as someone repeatedly told to shave their beard I can definitely sympathise with this part of his life. To Mandela's dismay the three day national strike was a failure. Around this time Mandela joined the Communist party although how devoted to communism he was and how pragmatic his joining was is still debated. The ANC's president Chief Albert Luthuli was very against armed violence to Mandela's dismay but he managed to win him over to form an armed group. Inspired by Castro's Cuban Revolution Mandela, Sisulu and Slovo co-founded Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation, shortened to MK) in 1961 on the anniversary of Castro's victory. Operating from a smallholding called Lilliesleaf in Rivonia it planned a guerrilla campaign of sabotage to avoid civilian casualties. On December 16 1961 on a day when whites celebrated a victory over the Zulu king Dingane in 1838 bombs were set off across Johannesburg and other cities. However, most of the attacks were clumsy and did little to no lasting damage. Officially to not tarnish the ANC's reputation, especially as Chief Luthuli had won the Nobel Peace Prize, MK was independent but in practice it served as the ANC's armed wing.

Mandela addressing a crowd at the Rivonia Trial

Three weeks after MK's formation Mandela crossed the border into Bechuanaland (Botswana) to travel across Africa for six months to get support for MK. When in Ethiopia he also personally underwent military training saying: 'If there was to be guerrilla warfare I wanted to be able to stand and fight with my people and to share the hazards of war with them'. He met many African leaders including Julius Nyerere of Tanganyika (modern Tanzania), Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and Ahmed Sekou Toure of Guinea. While abroad he met up with Tambo who had also been generating anti-Apartheid support. While in Sierre Leone he was embarrassed when the entire parliament shook his hand and he realised that they thought he was Chief Luthuli. After six months he arrived back in South Africa but after two weeks in July 1962 when he was careless about security travelling from Durban to Johannesburg he was arrested. It has since been found out that the CIA actually helped find Mandela due to his association with communists. The police had no evidence to link Mandela to MK so he was charged at the Rivonia Trial for leaving the country illegally and inciting African workers to illegally strike. A raid on Lilliesleaf got some evidence with several key anti-Apartheid activists being arrested as well including Ahmed Kathrada and Sisulu. The trial went from October 1963 until June 1964  and were initially charged under the Sabotage Act which brought the death penalty with it. Mandela's forceful personality and charisma allowed him to give a three-hour speech called 'I am Prepared to die' inspired by Castro's 'History will Absolve me' speech. He said 'It was only when all else had failed when all channels of peaceful protest had been barred to us, that the decision was made to embark on violent forms of political struggle, and to form Unkhonto we Sizwe. We did so not because we desired such a course but solely because the Government had left us with no other choice'. On June 12 1964 Mandela, then aged 45, with several others including Sisulu and Kathrada were sentenced to life imprisonment. Thus his life as prisoner no. 466/64 began. 

Imprisonment

Mandela became known as the world's most famous political prisoner. The night of the verdict Mandela and the others were flown from Cape Town to Robben Island where they had to collect seaweed and lime. Conditions were appalling. Kept in a 8 foot by 7 foot cell (2.4 x 2.1 m) he had to sleep on a straw mat, eat hard food, work long hours, was forced to not speak to other prisoners, and had to wear shorts. Africans were seen as children so had to wear shorts as they weren't 'adults'. The glare from breaking gravel and collecting lime permanently damaged Mandela's eyes as he and other prisoners were verbally and physically harassed by the guards. Mandela would describe it as the 'Dark Years'. To improve working conditions Mandela and other prisoners organised strikes, including hunger strikes, which had mixed success. They did organise themselves to educate themselves, their protests, and their debates. At one time a guard offered to help liberate Mandela but he was cautious and for good reason - it later transpired that it was a plot to assassinate him. While in prison he did get some privileges, including a course with a London university, but this was at expense of other ones - he received very few family visits and letters were often censored if they were received at all. When Winnie was allowed to visit they had to use code to discuss their lives - for example Nelson would ask how 'Ngutyana' was doing where Ngutyana was Winnie's clan name. When his mother was dying she was allowed a visit in 1968 and tragically shortly after Thembi was killed in a motorcycle accident. He was barred from the funerals of both his mother and son. In between rare visits and the regular work Mandela and other prisoners would engage in debates and lectures which would go on to nuance and temper Mandela's own views. The PAC were deeply affected along with the ANC and South African Indians' Congress so they regularly debated. Some young Xhosa even asked to be circumcised due to Mandela's lectures on Xhosa culture. Reading material was severely censored - War of the Worlds was banned for having 'war' in the title and Little Red Riding Hood was even banned for having 'red' in the title as well.

Mandela in 1966

While outside Apartheid was becoming strengthened, Winnie was arrested at times, and the arrested were soon forgotten about to be eclipsed by a new generation of activists including Steve Biko. Inside the prison the prisoners after years of protest after 1967 managed to get trousers, were allowed games, and had better food. In 1970 the extremely brutal and racist Commander Piet Badenhorst was put in charge of the prison but Mandela managed to get him replaced when he complained of his abuse to visiting judges. In 1975 he and other prisoners were reclassified as Class A giving them extra rights, including the opportunity to send more letters outside to figures like Desmond Tutu. He even started writing his autobiography which would become Long Walk to Freedom but it was discovered and had his rights to his London university revoked. The 1970s saw the hardening of Apartheid sending the new activists to prison creating debates with the younger prisoners. His own words were smuggled outside, such as his condemnation of the Soweto uprising in 1976, allowing more people to hear his words. Mandela's influence on younger activists started scaring the state who in 1982 sent him and other prisoners to Pollsmoor. Conditions at Pollsmoor were better than Robben Island, Mandela had access to 52 letters a year now and could have a garden, but he missed the debates at Robben Island, and he became a martyr. Oliver Tambo had international anti-Apartheid activism focus on Mandela, Nelson would even joke that people thought 'Free' was his first name due to the slogan 'Free Nelson Mandela!'. Hard-right politicians during the last decade of the Cold War, like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, encouraged South Africa to keep him and other prisoners imprisoned. At one point Thatcher even called for Mandela's execution! 

In prison Mandela's health was declining. In 1985 he had surgery and he would catch TB forcing him to be moved to Victor Verster where he got his own personal chef whom he developed a friendship with. Outside Apartheid was collapsing. Violence skyrocketed as clashes between the ANC,  other groups, the state and a Zulu conservative party called Inkatha took place; Winnie even had her own group called the 'Mandela United Football Club' which assassinated opponents (including 14-year old Stompie Moeketsi in 1989). The economy was doing appallingly; international boycotts and faults in the South African economic system caused by Apartheid were slowly destroying it. In 1987 the Minister of Justice met with Mandela to negotiate and end to violence but Mandela refused, he said the ANC would only stop violence if the government did. In 1989 he even met with the prime minister, P.W. Botha, who was a fierce supporter of Apartheid but couldn't handle the escalating situation, especially following his stroke. Six weeks later F.W. de Klerk replaced Botha and started the process of legalising the banned parties and releasing prisoners. Finally on February 11 1990 Mandela walked from prison hand-in-hand with Winnie.

Transition and Presidency

Despite Mandela's release Apartheid lingered on for another four years. Mandela and de Klerk met regularly to try and end the violence with little success. Between 1987 and 1990 4,000 were killed in clashes between Inkatha and anti-Apartheid activists in Natal which continued until 1994. It is estimated that about 14,000 died in political violence in the four years between Mandela's arrest and the first multi-racial election. Anthony Sampson has accused de Klerk of encouraging Inkatha and since we have found out that he did indeed do this; violence by the ANC had a police response but violence from Inkatha was ignored. A literal neo-Nazi group was even formed by pro-Apartheid whites called the Afrikaner Weerstand Beweging and an activist called Chris Hani was assassinated in April 1993 by a Polish anti-communist and English-speaking MP who supported Apartheid. Relations between de Klerk and Mandela soon soured as each blamed each other for the violence despite both winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. Of course Mandela was not the only one to help bring down Apartheid. Finally on April 26 1994 Nelson Mandela cast his vote at Ohlange High School in Inanda near Durban in South Africa's first multi-racial election. With a staggering majority Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa and the first president of a new state.

In his typical self-depreciating manor he would joke that he would miss the quiet of prison while president. Mandela's presidency has been seen as being mixed with many individuals, both in and out of the country, seeing him as a sellout. Winnie also criticised his presidency for this reason and it had nothing to do with their divorce. The couple separated in 1992 and were divorced in 1996 as they had drifted apart (according to Mandela) and also due to Winnie's own infidelities and association with violence (according to Martin Meredith). There are two reasons why Mandela's presidency has seen as being a disappointment. The first is the economy. Mandela hoped to have a series of welfare reforms, nationalisation and policies to bring black Africans out of destitution with the intention of using the state's immense wealth to do so. However, he soon found out that years of Apartheid had in fact destroyed the economy, the state had a veneer of wealth which fooled everyone. The second was that Mandela was focused on peace between minorities and whites. Seeing the exodus of the white populations of Mozambique, Angola and Zimbabwe which took the wealth with them which he hoped to avoid (although it did partially happen). Trying to appease whites he made de Klerk his deputy which gave conservative whites a foot in the door to block some of Mandela's more radical plans. However, his presidency was praised for reconciliation with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which was controversial but respected. The 1996 constitution also protected gay rights and paved the way for the legalisation of gay marriage in 2006 which he supported. While president he did have Long Walk to Presidency published and married Graca Machel, the widow of Mozambique's president. He chose to only serve one term handing power to the ANC's new leader Thabo Mbeki in 1999.

Post-Presidency

At the World Cup

Until his death in 2013 Mandela remained a figure in South African society. Among the campaigns he took part in were advocacy for those with HIV/AIDs and called for more treatment of it, especially as his son Makgatho tragically passed because of AIDs in 2005. During his presidency he had tried to smooth over Libyan-UK relations which had worsened thanks to the Lockerbie bombing and post-presidency he tried to call for better treatment of Libyan terrorists in British prisons. He was also one of the many political figures to oppose the invasion of Iraq and was very critical of US foreign policy. Mandela, Tutu and Machel formed a group called the Elders which aimed to advise world leaders and politicians in affairs which included calling on Robert Mugabe to improve human rights in Zimbabwe. Of course the world definitely paid attention when Mandela got South Africa to host the 2010 Football World Cup and appeared at the opening ceremony. For the last few years of his life he suffered from respiratory problems before sadly passing in 2013. His funeral saw thousands of mourners come to pay their respects and was televised worldwide.

Despite disappointments in his presidency Nelson Mandela inspired thousands to millions around the world. His devotion to democracy, equality and freedom couple with oppression in prison for decades made him an icon and an idol for individuals across the world.

Thank you for reading. For future blog posts please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby. The sources I have used are as follows:

-Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, (London: Abacus, 1994)

-Martin Meredith, The State of Africa: A History of the Continent since Independence, (London: Simon & Schuster, 2005)

-William Beinart, Twentieth-Century South Africa, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001)

-Anthony Sampson, Mandela: The Authorised Biography, (London: Harper Collins, 1999)

-Saul Dubow, Apartheid, 1948-1994, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014)

World History: Seven Years' War

A depiction of the Battle of Warburg, 1760

The Seven Years' War was a key war in shaping the world in which we live in today. For one, it has been seen as the first truly world war - Winston Churchill's A History of the English Speaking Peoples goes as far as to call it the First World War and some historians refer to it as World War Zero. American readers would likely know this war by another name - the French-Indian War. What is now Canada and the United States proved instrumental in both causing the war and making them the centre of world politics. From the Seven Years' War Britain and Prussia emerged as great powers, British rule in India became established, and the seeds of the formation of the United States were planted. Events in the Americas greatly linked to the events of Europe which linked to events in India, Africa and the Philippines. We also see a bit of a conundrum in how long the war was. From official declaration of war to the peace treaties the war lasted just under seven years (six years and eight months), fighting broke out in America in 1754, and some historians place it as an extension of earlier wars. I will warn people now; I am not a military historian so I'll be focusing less on battles as I won't be able to properly describe them.

Background

A map of the Five Nations in modern New York and Pennsylvania

Some historians, such as Fred Anderson, place more emphasis on the American origins whereas others, like Franz Szabo, place more emphasis on Europe. Thanks to how intertwined European and American affairs were during this war both are technically correct. In this section we'll look at the background of the war in Europe, the Americas, and India. We'll first look at the Americas. Since the start of the 1600s England (after 1707 Britain) and France had established colonies in North America and the Caribbean and by 1750 they started becoming prosperous. Of course sugar, tobacco, indigo, and coffee plantations in the Caribbean based on slavery made a fortune so until the 1700s London viewed its colonies in what is now the US as a bit of a backwater wilderness. However, thanks to the Navigation Acts of 1651, 1660, and 1663, which prevented non-English shipping to the colonies, they became a thriving market for English/British exports causing the population to boom from 234,000 in 1700 to 1,206,000 in 1750 (of which 242,000 were slaves). For this Britain needed a big navy to protect their maritime merchants. Meanwhile, French colonies in the Caribbean, like Martinique and Saint-Domingue, prospered and they took advantage of their position on the mainland by controlling the Mississippi through New Orleans. French Canada was not prosperous, called a 'barren frontier', but was kept as described by Admiral Roland-Michel Barren, comte de la Galissoniere, who argued that France needed to keep Canada to limit British expansion which would give their enemy an economic advantage. Finally we have the Native Americans. European settlers and traders confronted various Native American peoples including the Iroquois Five Nations, (composed of the Mohawk, Oneida, Seneca, Onondaga, and Cayuga) which became the Six Nations when joined by the Tuscarora. Europeans traded weapons with the Five Nations in return for crops, fish, and pelts where in the mid-1600s the Nations waged a vicious and bloody war of conquest to get access to more land. The Hurons, Eries, and Neutrals were dispersed from the Great Lakes and the Ohio Valley of Monongahela, Shawnee and other residents so they could have greater access to resources. The Five Nations, and other Native Americans, when they could would pit English and French colonies against one another profiting as the two went to war although at times it did backfire, especially when Anglophile, Francophile and Neutral factions threatened to tear the confederacy apart in 1701. 

Frederick II of Prussia

Meanwhile, in Europe the Anglo-French rivalry wove into geopolitics. After 1661 Bourbon France under Louis XIV became the most important continental power challenging their Habsburg opponents in Austria and Spain. The Nine Years' War (1688-97), War of Spanish Succession (1701-14) and War of Austrian Succession (1740-8) had been waged over the Bourbon-Habsburg rivalry which brought in wider states, including Britain. Until just before the Seven Years' War Britain had allied itself to Austria against their mutual rival of France as argued by the Duke of Newcastle in 1743; he argued Britain had to intervene on the continent as if France managed to dominate the continent it would manage to gain the economic and naval might to threaten Britain. Of course there were other intermittent wars which also affected India and America. Times were changing. Ostensibly dynastic wars soon developed other factors - for example thanks to the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) Britain placed economy and strategy over land grabs gaining land in Canada, and the strategic ports of Gibraltar and Minorca. The rise of Prussia in Germany is part of this. Frederick II of Prussia (r.1740-86), later called 'the Great' by nationalists, built upon the military and economic reforms of his father allowing the small state of Prussia to soon become a dominant power in Europe. Taking advantage of the disputed succession of Austria's Maria Theresa he invaded Austria to seize the wealthy lands of Silesia which he kept after the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748). Similarly Russia trying to be closer to its western neighbours started intervening more and more. 

Finally we have India. After the death of Mughal emperor Aurangazeb in 1707, which you can read about here, the Mughals started going into a decline. Parts of the empire fell to the rising power of the Marathas, Mysore and other powers, over-taxation caused uprisings, and decentralised rule started to tear apart the empire. Local rulers named nawabs were increasingly granted by Aurangazeb the ability to be 'tax farmers' where they would collect taxes on behalf of the empire and they would get to keep some of the revenue raised via this. As a result over-taxation happened as some nawabs chose to profit by raising taxes to raise their profit. However, some, like the nawabs of Bengal and Oudh, eventually stopped paying taxes to the central government becoming de facto independent from the Mughals. Since the 1500s Europeans had formed the East Indian Trading Companies to trade in Asia and established fortified settlements, called factories, in India (and other areas) to trade. Among these was Pondicherry for France, Goa for Portugal and Surat for Britain. With the decline of Mughal rule Companies had to rely on their own armies to protect themselves and actively court local merchants - in the case of Bengal Jagat Sen and Omi Chand. 

Origins

Fort Duquense

Now that we've looked at the very extensive background we can finally look at the origins of the war. Originally only the European aspects were discussed but since the 1960s the American have started to be seen as being just as, or even more, important as the European origins. The focal point of this was the Ohio Valley. In the early-1740s the wealthy Penn family, of whom Pennsylvania is named after, made a deal with the Six Nations which deprived the Delawares of two-thirds of their land and opened up the region for colonial settlers. At the same time France, wanting to solidify its connection to the Canadian colonies started building forts along the Ohio River which alarmed the British who feared that the French presence would influence Native Americans to attack the settlers. There were few French settlers while instead most were traders so posed far less a threat to their land compared to their Anglo counterparts. Furthermore, religion intervened. French Jesuit missionaries had converted some tribes to Catholicism making them more disposed to be sympathetic to the French compared to the Protestant settlers. Things came to ahead when France, despite threats from Britain, built Fort Duquesne where the Allegheny and Monongehala Rivers met. A colonial militia led by the young George Washington in retaliation attacked a small French force at Jumonville Glen in May 1754 killing ten, including the commander Jumonville, causing a French retaliatory attack on Fort Necessity forcing Washington to surrender. As this was eighteenth-century diplomacy negotiation involved sending more troops to the colonies where in June 1755 the British attacked the French in Canada and then proceeded to expel the Acadians. The following month one of the most famous battle took place during the war. A force of 2,000 British troops under Edward Braddock, with a young Washington, marched to take Fort Duquesne but were ambushed by French and their Native American allies wiping out the force with Braddock even being killed. For two years massacres, atrocities, and battles took place. Hundreds of settlers were killed, around 5,000 Acadians eventually were expelled, British ships attacked the French in the Mediterranean and British forts fell in northern New York. 

As this was happening a 'Diplomatic Revolution' was being organised in Europe. As argued by Franz Szabo victory over Austria had inflated Frederick II's ego while Britain disappointed Maria Theresa by allowing the Habsburgs to lose many key lands. Frederick wanted to continue war against Austria and possibly conquer Hanover but doing so would draw in Britain as through a series of events, which deserves to be talked about by itself, George of Hanover was also George II of Britain. Frederick was unsure if France would be a willing ally as they had been during the War of Austrian Succession as another victory had the potential of making Prussia a big enough power to challenge France. The states of Europe took notice of events in North America and saw a new Anglo-French war was brewing. By 1756 Britain no longer saw Austria as a strong enough to challenge France and George II always preferred Hanover to Britain and believed that Austria was unable to defend his German kingdom. The rising power of Prussia could serve as a good alternative and an alliance was made in the 1756 Westminster Convention formalised in a proper alliance two years later. Seeing this Maria Theresa sent her foreign minister, Count Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz, to approach France who agreed to an alliance with the 1756 Treaty of Versailles as France now viewed the rising Prussia as a bigger threat to them. Hearing about the anti-Prussian alliance and bolstered by the British alliance Frederick invaded Saxony officially starting the Seven Years' War. Doing so, however, enraged Europe who saw it as an unprovoked attack allowing Tsarina Elizabeth of Russia to enter an alliance with France and Austria sending 80,000 to her new allies.

Course of the War

The Battle of Prague

In this section I'll briefly go over the land and naval battles. Prussia managed to get off to an early lead defeating the Saxon army at the Battle of Lobositz in October 1756 before it could be reinforced by the Austrians and quickly managed to occupy Saxony. Things weren't going as well for Britain. The Battle of Minorca saw the French navy defeating the British and the island fell so the angry British decided to court-martial and execute Admiral John Byng who lost the island. In America more and more forts were captured by the French and their Native American allies. Much more tribes allied to France over Britain for the earlier mentioned reasons, hence why it is called the French-Indian War in the US. Frederick, however, would also start seeing defeat. His own indecision had allowed the Austrians to occupy some of Silesia, and a year later despite winning the bloody Battle of Prague he was roundly defeated as he tried to siege the city while also fighting an Austrian counterattack. In the summer of 1757 Russia took Prussia's key fort in Memel and used it to attack the centre of the kingdom but its own logistics prevented it from doing too much damage. Seeing this Sweden intervened to take Prussian Pomerania, (which is why it is called the Pomeranian War in Sweden), and a Hungarian general, Andras Hadik, defeated Frederick even briefly occupying Berlin. Two British governments, the Duke of Newcastle and William Pitt, fell due to setbacks in America, such as the fall of Fort William Henry, forming a new coalition government which combined the two prime minister's tactics. By 1759 the French-Austrian-Russian alliance was succeeding so much that France even managed to formulate a plan to invade Britain! However, the strength of the British navy prevented this. The British navy managed to destroy the French fleets at the Battle of Lagos and Quiberon Bay scuppering these plans and allowed Britain to blockade French ports. From 1759 to 1763 the war in Europe was largely at a stalemate. Frederick's prestige had been shattered, especially by the Russians, and had only been saved by poor Russian logistics and the destroyed economies of France and Austria. In 1762 Elizabeth of Russia died and her son Peter, who loved Prussia, mediated a peace including Sweden and even placed some of his troops under Frederick's control. However, the following year Peter was ousted in a coup led by his wife, Catherine the Great, who took Russia out of the war. The war in Europe was reaching a stalemate with the combatants slipping to bankruptcy and deaths in the hundreds of thousands. However, the war was instead won outside of Europe.

I want to talk about India separately so I'll discuss the course of the war in the Americas, Africa, and Asia instead. British prime minister William Pitt believed, quite rightly, that the war would be won in the colonies over the Duke of Newcastle's plan to focus on propping up Prussia. It turned out both tactics was needed as shown in his quote by an American contemporary 'The great object of the nation is the American war...the probability of our succeeding in our main point is...much increased by the part the French take in the affairs of Germany, which turns their attention, as well as their money, from their marine, and...making expeditions to our Colonies.' French troops in America were led by the Marquis de Montcalm who managed to thrash the British, with his Native American allies, in the first half of the war capturing Fort William Henry in 1757 and Fort Carillon in 1758. However, despite this Montcalm was unable to prevent the capture of several key forts including Frontenac and finally Duquense and 1759 proved to be disastrous for the French. Under generals James Wolfe and James Murray Louisbourg and Fort Niagara fell to the British opening the way to Quebec which fell in September. At the Battle of the Plains of Abraham the British defeated the French and Six Nations despite the death of Wolfe during the battle with Montcalm also dying a day later from his wounds. Montreal was captured shortly after and the Six Nations in 1760 opted to sign a peace treaty with Britain. When Spain entered the war Britain managed to capture both Cuba and the Philippines, as well as Gaudeloupe in 1759. We also have the African front. In 1758 at the request of traders Pitt sent a fleet capturing the fort of Saint Louis in Senegal which they expanded upon later.

India and the Seven Years' War

The Battle of Plassey

In India the Seven Years' War has been known as the Third Carnatic War, the earlier two had been fought between the British East Indian Company (EIC) and the French Compagnie des Indes and had saw Robert Clive become influential for fighting in the wars. The EIC in Kalikata, (Calcutta), had been reinforcing their factory in case of French attack which made the nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud Daula, fearful. The EIC's connection to the wealthy merchants Jagat Seth and Omi Chand in accompaniment with their own might made the nawab fearful that they were working to undermine his rule. When the EIC continued fortifying Fort William Siraj attacked and local Indian troops deserted leading to the fort's capture in June 1756. What happened next has gone down in infamy from the account of the civilian commander John Zephaniah Howell. We know very little about the 'Black Hole of Calcutta' as it was soon exaggerated to justify war in India. Possibly between 64 and 68 soldiers were kept overnight in a 4.3m x 5.5m room, although Howell and some later historians argued that Siraj did not order and may not have known about the imprisonment. The next day thanks to heat and suffocation only around 23 survived. Stories soon were spread exaggerating the numbers and claiming that women and children had also been captured. It gave easy justification for the EIC to send Robert Clive from Madras (modern Chennai) to retake Calcutta and defeat Siraj. They met at the Battle of Plassey in 1757 but Crispin Bates has argued it is a bit of a stretch to call it a battle. Our earlier mentioned merchants disliked Siraj's high taxes and had made money with their EIC connections so decided to make the battle easier. They bribed a major general, Mir Jaffar, into switching sides and he did marching his troops to join Clive. As a result in a battle with over 60,000 combatants only 522 people died. Strangely the Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah I, was pleased; he had been angry that Siraj had been stopped sending tax payments which limited attempts at reform. When the war ended in 1765 the EIC was given to them to rule over. After Plassey the EIC and their allies turned on the other Europeans in India, i.e. the French, and roundly defeated them.

Economies and Logistics

The Seven Years' War has been viewed as one of the first 'modern' wars in which the global economy and logistics had to be taken into account. For example, the Russians had failed to reform their supply lines and logistics of such a large army, the Russian army was often twice the size of that of Frederick, since their earlier war with the Ottoman Empire. This meant that although they could take Memel they were unable to properly enter Prussian lands giving Frederick time to breathe. The way the war was thought out also hinged on how they could utilise the economies and resources of their own states and hamper that of their opponents. In 1746 Frederick wrote in General Principles of War that if one wanted to succeed it was legitimate and just to coerce peoples in occupied lands into helping the war effort. Franz Szabo even uses the term 'merciless fiscal exploitation of Saxony' to describe his actions after taking Dresden where 5 million Talers of the 6 million Talers of Saxony's annual taxation went to funding Frederick's war. By the end of the war 50 million was extracted from Saxony. Britain and France were the ones fighting on all fronts so had to balance both. Hence why Britain had to balance Pitt's colonial war and Newcastle's continental one. Small contingents were sent to aid Prussia and after 1758 over £670,000 a year (£91.5 million in 2017's money) was sent to fund the Prussian war. A big part in why it is seen that the Anglo-Prussian (and later Portuguese) alliance won was due to Britain shattering the French and Spanish economy. Capturing the very rich island of Cuba and the Philippines allowed Britain to claim their wealth for itself, Saint Louis allowed Britain to have greater profits from the slave trade, and the seizing of India gave them very lucrative benefits from India trade. Even the conquer of Canada involved breaking of economic access to Quebec. Britain was also very aggressive in attacking neutral ships trading with France, as the Dutch learned, which became a policy they used until the Napoleonic Wars, and British blockades of French ports strangled the economy further. 

Why did Britain manage to do this though? Paul Kennedy has written extensively on this and has placed great emphasis on geopolitics and pre-war economics. Kennedy has argued that it is very difficult for a state to be both a continental and a world power. Although a world power France being on the continent meant that it shared land borders with its enemies which needed defending. Protecting the main base took precedence over defending America and India. In contrast Britain had the luxury of being an island offering a natural defence as a naval invasion was far more difficult although not impossible, in 1745 France (and to an extent Spain) helped Jacobite rebels invade Britain. Due to this Britain could focus far more on being a world power - a mentality which can be seen today if you look at the discourse of some of the right-wing supporters of Brexit. Events before 1754 allowed Britain to truly be a world power instead of a continental one. As mentioned earlier Britain had used its colonies to be a market for exports and was eager to take part in the Triangular Trade (slaves from Africa to the Americas whose goods were sold in Britain and the money was then used to buy more slaves). In order to make sure this trade was protected a large navy was needed. Ironic though considering how there were only a few key naval battles during the Seven Years' War and even then Britain lost one, the Battle of Minorca.

Peace and Aftermath

The expansion of British land in the US, the pinky colour is what they gained after the Treaty of Paris

Four peace treaties were signed ending the war: St Petersburg, Hamburg, Paris, and Hubertursburg. The first two, signed 1762, established status quo peace with Sweden and Russia. The other two were signed in 1763 and decided to go to pre-war borders in Europe. Thanks to Hubertursburg Prussia did manage to get Saxony and Austria to drop claims to Silesia but the real changes came thanks to the Treaty of Paris. Areas seized by Spain and France were returned to Britain and Portugal who returned the Indian factories, Guadeloupe, the Philippines, Cuba, Goree, and several Caribbean islands. Britain kept French Canada, Tobago, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Dominica, and Florida. France also lost its land in what is now the continental US. Half of French Louisiana had been given to Spain the year before and the rest, from the Mississippi to the Appalachians, was given to Britain. However, France was just glad to keep the wealthy Guadeloupe and Voltaire dismissed Canada as 'A few acres of snow'. 

The Seven Years' War proved to be the most influential war until the First World War. Prussia had managed to establish itself as a continental power managing to survive an onslaught from France, Austria, Russia, and Sweden and thanks to Frederick managed to bounce back thanks to his immigration policies and agrarian reforms. Despite this Prussia would take a century to return to such military strength; in 1806 Prussia was defeated by Napoleon's army of French peasants at the Battle of Jena. Despite this Prussia soon became the state to imitate. The war did influence attempts to reform the Russian and French militaries to reform themselves with Russia replacing France as the key figure in Polish affairs. Over the next thirty years Russia and Prussia, and to an extent Austria, successfully divided up Poland with no interference from France. Britain came to be a great power. Before that it had been seen as second to Spain and France but thanks to the Seven Years' War the British economic and naval might made it a major player in world affairs. Thanks to the Treaty of Paris France agreed to not intervene with British client states in India giving them free reign to establish their own hegemony in India. One could become very rich via the EIC, so much so that it caused a moral panic in Britain, as it was believed that 'nabobs' like Robert Clive could use their wealth to lead a decadent life. EIC officials, and Clive was no exception, soon became as corrupt and brutal as their Indian predecessors - in 1770 misrule allowed a famine in Bengal to kill a third of the population. For a time when the Mughal emperor was captured the EIC used this to establish their rule in the north and eventually conquered the south.

The famous 1770 painting of the death of James Wolfe. Witnessing Wolfe's death are men representing England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland; a trapper for America, and a Native American. Some tribes did fight for the British although more allied themselves with the French

Finally we have events in America. Initially the colonialists had welcomed victory and had expressed their love for the British. It was not uncommon for colonial elites, like Elijah Boardmen of Massachusetts, to make themselves appear like their British counterparts like modelling their homes to resemble the landed gentry, sent their sons to London for study, and Washington even had a coat of arms made! Up until the American Revolution colonialists glamorised the Seven Years' War and some of the major images associated with the war comes from this period. Many of the expelled Acadians went on to settle in Louisiana which explains the remaining strong French aspects of Cajun culture. Tensions remained high though with the Native Americans who were some of the worst affected by the result of the war. With the French out of America they lost a bulwark against Anglo-American encroachment and soon clashes between settlers and Native Americans broke out with the 1763 Pontiac's Rebellion and an attack on Detroit by Ottawas, Hurons and others the same year. This would soon pave way for genocide and displacement which would characterise the late-eighteenth century and the nineteenth. Britain, like other combatants, were bankrupted by the war. At home and America the government raised taxes causing grievances for the colonists. Various other laws, such as emancipation for Catholics and the quartering of soldiers, upset the colonists further. As a result, these all came together resulting in the American Revolution.

Conclusion

As we've looked over today the Seven Years' War went on to shape the world we live in. Caused by politics and economics over dynastic struggles it showed a shift away from the wars of the early modern world and that of the modern. It went on to shape the major factors which would shape the modern world which would last until the Second World War: wars which covered the entire world, the importance of the Americas, British world hegemony, Prussian hegemony in Europe, and British conquest of India. The Seven Years' War, despite not being nearly as destructive or encompassing, was truly the First World War.

Thank you for reading. The next World History post will look at the American Revolution. The sources I have used are as follows:

-Daniel Baugh, The Global Seven Years' War, 1754-1763: Britain and France in a Great Power Contest, (London: Routledge, 2011)

- Patrice Louis-René Higonnet, 'The Origins of the Seven Years' War', The Journal of Modern History, 40:1, (1968), pp.57-90

-Crispin Bates, Subalterns and the Raj: South Asia since 1600, (London: Routledge, 2007)

-M.S. Anderson, Europe in the Eighteenth Century, 1713-1783, Third Edition, (London: Longman, 1987)

-Franz Szabo, The Seven Years' War in Europe, 1756-1763, (Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, 2008)

-Fred Anderson, Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766, (New York, NY: Alfred Knopf, 2000)

-Eric Foner, Give me Liberty! An American History, Fourth Edition, (New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2014)

-Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000, (New York, NY: Vintage, 1989)

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