Page "William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham" Paragraph 47

By summer 1757 the British war effort over the previous three years had broadly been a failure.

Britain's attempts to take the offensive in North America had ended in disaster, Minorca had been lost, and the Duke of Cumberland's Army of Observation was retreating across Hanover following the Battle of Hastenback.

In October Cumberland was forced to conclude the Convention of Klosterzeven which would take Hanover out of the war.

The French Invasion of Hanover posed a threat to Britain's ally Prussia, who they would now be able to attack from the west as well as facing attack from Austria, Russia, Saxony and Sweden.