Generally, praise for Britain's victory in the Seven Years' War has gone to Pitt rather than Newcastle, who officially headed the government. Traditionally, accounts of the war have portrayed Pitt as a visionary who won the war by reversing Newcastle's previous unwise policy of focusing on European affairs; Francis Parkman records correspondence between Pitt and his military administrators and none between them and Newcastle. Others have defended Newcastle by contrasting his 'continental policy' with Lord North's failure to gather European allies during the American War of Independence, which led to Britain's eventual defeat in this conflict.