Westphalia, Hesse and Lower Saxony Electoral Saxony Brandenburg Silesia East Prussia Pomerania Iberian Peninsula Naval Operations The Battle of Villinghausen (or Vellinghausen, also known as the Battle of Kirchdenkern), took place during the Seven Years' War fought on the 15th and 16 July 1761 in the western area of present-day Germany, between a large French army and an Anglo-German force led by Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick.

Allied reinforcements under General Spörcken arrived bringing Ferdinand's forces up to 65,000 while the combined French armies numbered around 90,000.

News of the battle provoked euphoria in Britain, and led William Pitt to take a much tougher line in the ongoing peace negotiations with France.

[3] Despite the defeat the French still had a significant superiority in numbers and continued their offensive, although the two armies split again and operated independently.

The Treaty of Paris led France to evacuate the remaining German territory it had occupied during the war.