Called the first truly world war by Winston Churchill, the Seven Years’ War pitted Great Britain and France in a titanic struggle to determine the fate of empire around the planet. Fought on five continents, the Seven Years’ War saw the world’s two superpowers engage in the largest war in world history at that time. From 1755 to 1757 though, the war seemed to fully in French control, and the wavering British referred to this trying time as "The Years of Defeat."