French & Indian War.pdf

French & Indian
War
The Seven Years’ War
1754-1763
Mr. Peters (c) 2010

A. 1753 … It Begins
• Major George Washington is sent on a
reconnaissance (spy) mission into the Ohio Valley to
establish American claims to the area, and to let the
French know their presence was unwanted.
• He made it to Fort Le Bouef, on the shores of Lake
Erie.
• In 1754, a now Lt. Col. Washington was sent to build
a fort near present-day Pittsburgh, PA, which they
called Fort Duquesne.
• The French attacked, causing Washington’s forces to
retreat, during which they build another fortification
called Fort Necessity.
• On July 4, 1754, Washington surrendered this fort as
well and was captured, and released by the French.
Mr. Peters (c) 2010

B. “The Shot Heard Around
the World”
• Washington’s failed expedition into the Ohio Valley
would touch off what one historian wrote as, “The
volley by a young Virginian in the backwoods of
America set the world on fire.”
• After the previous war between England and France,
known as the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-
1748), France built a series of fortifications across the
Great Lakes, through the Ohio Valley, and down the
Mississippi.
• The purpose was to contain the British menace (the
Thirteen Colonies).
Mr. Peters (c) 2010

Mr. Peters (c) 2010

• The Americans had a genuine fear, that
should war break out between France
and Britain again, that they would be
caught between two hostile powers:
– France to the north and west
– Spain to the south
• The French & Indian War (Seven Years
War to Europeans), became the first
world war to be initiated in North
America and spread to Europe.
Mr. Peters (c) 2010

C. Acadia
• Throughout 1755, the British suffered a series of
defeats because the French skillfully outsmarted the
mainly colonial militia by projecting military power
without exercising it, and by relying on more
experienced field commanders.
• As a consequence, the British feared a “fifth column”
appearing in Acadia, so they deported the Frenchspeaking
population to the Thirteen Colonies,
Louisiana, and France.
• This event marks one of the darkest periods in
Canadian History, as a governing authority sought
the extermination of a race of people by removing
them from their ancestral land.
Mr. Peters (c) 2010

D. The Battle for Quebec
• In 1756, an able Prime Minister by the
name of William Pitt, took charge. He at
once formulated a plan of attack:
– A coastal invasion of Quebec, with the
object being the capture of the fortress of
Quebec City.
– An invasion from the Thirteen Colonies,
with the object being the capture of
Montreal.
Mr. Peters (c) 2010

• In 1759, British General Wolfe executed a daring plan
of attack on Quebec:
– Earlier in the year he had tried to lure the French
General Montcalm onto the field of battle by
launching raids up and down the coast, but this
strategy failed.
– The time was late fall and he had to attack quickly
to avoid being frozen in the St. Lawrence.
– In desperation, he ordered his men to climb a
steep cliffside, under cover of darkness, onto the
Plains of Abraham, in front of Quebec City.
– Though Montcalm could have withstood a siege
long enough to allow winter to claim the British, he
instead gave battle.
Mr. Peters (c) 2010

• As a consequence, Wolfe was able to
decisively defeat Montcalm in a bloody
and brief battle. Both commanders
were killed during the melee.
• In 1760, the British captured Montreal
and the war came to an effective end in
North America, though it continued to
rage on in Europe until 1763.
Mr. Peters (c) 2010

Treaty of Paris (1763)
• France officially ceded all of its holdings in
North America, west of the Mississippi; while
regaining the Islands of Guadeloupe and
Martinique (the British offered Canada for
these islands, but the French refused).
• For Canada, this marked the end of French
rule and the beginning of British, and would
form the basis of what was British North
America and what would become the
Dominion of Canada in 1867.
Mr. Peters (c) 2010

• The strategic impact of the war on
global affairs was thus:
– The cost of the war and of controlling the
newly acquired territories was high. The
British looked to the colonies to help pay
those costs. That began the long spiral of
events that led to the American Revolution.
– In effect, the Seven Years War would
ultimately be responsible for our current
world order – the United States as a global
superpower.
Mr. Peters (c) 2010