Today I am going to talk about the third and last indirect cause of Venezuela’s Independence. The whole idea of listing six causes in six entries, is for the reader to see the “Domino Effect” that occurs from the first until the last one.

As the Age of Enlightenment unfolded throughout Europe spreading knowledge, new schools of thought and the initial bases for the industrial revolution, tensions between the two great super powers of the Old Continent had reached a peak. The fact that expansionism in colonies in America and Africa was also part of the equation (IE. The French-Indian Wars), eventually led to Great Britain and its allies (Prussia and Hanover), go into war against France and its allies (Russia, Saxony, Sweden and Austria) in what would be the largest major conflict up to date in the world.

The Seven Years’ War

Largely overlooked for many years, only recently has The Seven Years’ War been able to attain the importance it deserved in history books, with some scholars even informally labeling it as “World War Zero” or “The First Actual World War”, due to the number of key players involved in the conflict, as well as the amount of fronts and theaters where it was fought.

Regarding Venezuela’s implication as a consequence to the Seven Years’ Wars, there are three things that are of importance to consider:

  1. The overall result: Great Britain emerging as winner and France as loser.
  2. The impact of the result in Europe: what happened to both Great Britain and France, after the war.
  3. The impact of the result in America: what would happen in the theater where the war was fought, that is… The American Colonies.

All of these three elements are going to lead to the three direct causes of Venezuela’s Independence, which I will start listing in the following entry.