The Seven Years War In Voltaire's 'Candide'

The Seven Years War was fought between Great Britain and France and affected many different countries. Conflict began when the British attacked French territory in North America and seized many of their ships. In addition, Prussia engaged in conflict with Saxony. Since Saxony had an alliance with France, Russia, Austria, Sweden, all of these countries were drawn into war. In Voltaire’s Candide, the French are represented by the Abares while the Bulgarians signified Fredrick the Great’s Prussian army. The ghastly consequences and destruction brought on by the Seven Years War affected the composition of Candide. Voltaire was disgusted by the amount of slaughter in the war, which led him to write the anti-war satire (“Candide”, 1).