sentences:  By the early eighteenth century, the French had become the chief European rivals of the British.During the eighteenth century, it was highly possible for the Indian subcontinent to have succumbed to French control, but the defeat inflicted on them in the Seven Years War (1756–1763) permanently curtailed French ambitions.The Treaty of Paris of 1763 restored the original five to the French while making it clear that France could not expand its control beyond these areas.