17,394
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 2:
Line 2: − + + + + + − + + + + + + + Line 15:
Line 25: − + +
add details
[[Image:WashingtonFIwar.jpg|thumb|250px|[[George Washington]] during the French and Indian War]]
[[Image:WashingtonFIwar.jpg|thumb|250px|[[George Washington]] during the French and Indian War]]
==Name==
The war is called the ''French and Indian'' because the [[Iroquois]] confederacy—which had been playing the British and the French against each other successfully for decades fought on both sides. The French were defeated and in the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)]], France surrendered its vast North American empire to Britain.
The war is called the ''French and Indian'' because the [[Iroquois]] confederacy—which had been playing the British and the French against each other successfully for decades fought on both sides. The French were defeated and in the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)]], France surrendered its vast North American empire to Britain.
==British Empire==
The French and Indian war took on a new significance for the North American colonists in Great Britain when [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt the elder]] decided that it was necessary to win the war against France at all costs. For the first time, North America was one of the main theatres of what could be termed a "world war". During the war, the British Colonies (including the [[Thirteen Colonies]], which would later become the basis of the United States) position as part of the British Empire was made truly apparent, as British military and civilian officials took on an increased presence in the lives of Americans. The war also increased a sense of American unity in other ways. It caused men, who might normally have never left their colonies, to travel across the continent, fighting alongside men from decidedly different, yet still "American," backgrounds. Throughout the course of the war, British officers trained American ones (most notably [[George Washington]]) for battle which would later benefit the American Revolution. Legislatures and officials of the American colonies had to cooperate intensively, for the first time, in pursuit of the continent-wide military effort.
==Battles==
The war began when British troops under General Edward Braddock on their way to oust the French from Fort Duquesne (modern Pittsburgh) in 1755 were ambushed and defeated by French troops and their Indian allies at the battle of the Wilderness. Virginia colonel [[George Washington]] took over when Braddock was killed and led a successful retreat back to Virginia.
The French and Indian war took on a new significance for the North American colonists in Great Britain when [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt the elder]] decided that it was necessary to win the war against France at all costs. For the first time, North America was one of the main theatres of what could be termed a "[[world war]]". During the war, the British Colonies (including the [[thirteen colonies]], which would later become the basis of the United States) position as part of the British Empire was made truly apparent, as British military and civilian officials took on an increased presence in the lives of Americans. The war also increased a sense of American unity in other ways. It caused men, who might normally have never left their colonies, to travel across the continent, fighting alongside men from decidedly different, yet still "American," backgrounds. Throughout the course of the war, British officers trained American ones (most notably [[George Washington]]) for battle which would later benefit the American Revolution. Legislatures and officials of the American colonies had to cooperate intensively, for the first time, in pursuit of the continent-wide military effort.
The French and their Indian allies forced the surrender of the British at Fort William Henry in upstate New York in 1757. The garrison surrendered to French commander Louis-Joseph de Montcalm-Gozon (1712-59) but he failed to enforce the articles of capitulation that obliged him to protect his prisoners from the wrath of his Indian allies. The Indians massacred most of the prisoners and took home their scalps as trophies. Several of the prisoners had smallpox, and the scalps infected and killed hundreds of Indians in the following weeks.
The most famous battle was the British victory in 1759 during the siege of Quebec. General Marquis de Montcalm led French forces, and General James Wolfe led British troops. Both Montcalm and Wolfe died in the fight.
==Indians==
Indian warriors' played a major role in alliance with the French to attack the American backcountry of Virginia and Pennsylvania from 1754 to 1758. The French and Canadians supplied their Indian allies from the Susquehanna and Ohio valleys to neutralize colonial Anglo-American military power during the larger Seven Years' War. But the warriors - chiefly Potawatomis and Ottawas - fought for their own goals and devised tactics for their own aims. Although the Indians depended on French supplies, they were not united as one people under explicit loyalty to French leadership. During 1754-58, the Indians successfully paralyzed the two colonies, and these four years of war present a complex picture of Indian groups. Individual groups of Indians had various motives, used strategies adapted to political aims as well as warfare, and waged battles devised to affect truces and alliances with whites and other Indians. Frontier warfare declined throughout 1758, not because Anglo-American forces defeated Indian war parties or the French, but because the French were unable to supply their Indian allies.<ref> Matthew C. Ward, "Fighting The 'Old Women': Indian Strategy on the Virginia and Pennsylvania Frontier, 1754-1758." ''Virginia Magazine of History and Biography'' 1995 103(3): 297-320. 0042-6636 </ref>
==Impact of war==
The British and colonists triumphed jointly over a common foe. The colonists' loyalty to the mother country was stronger than ever before. However, a disunity was beginning to form. [[British Prime Minister]] William Pitt the Elder had decided to wage the war in the colonies with the use of troops from the colonies and tax funds from Britain itself. This was a successful wartime strategy, but after the war was over, each side believed that it had borne a greater burden than the other. The British populace, the most heavily taxed of any in Europe, pointed out angrily that the colonists paid little to the royal coffers. The colonists replied that their sons had fought and died in a war that served European interests more than their own. The British answered that the colonists' poor discipline made them inferior soldiers anyway. This dispute was a link in the chain of events that soon brought about the American Revolution.
The British and colonists triumphed jointly over a common foe. The colonists' loyalty to the mother country was stronger than ever before. However, a disunity was beginning to form. [[British Prime Minister]] William Pitt the Elder had decided to wage the war in the colonies with the use of troops from the colonies and tax funds from Britain itself. This was a successful wartime strategy, but after the war was over, each side believed that it had borne a greater burden than the other. The British populace, the most heavily taxed of any in Europe, pointed out angrily that the colonists paid little to the royal coffers. The colonists replied that their sons had fought and died in a war that served European interests more than their own. The British answered that the colonists' poor discipline made them inferior soldiers anyway. This dispute was a link in the chain of events that soon brought about the American Revolution.
===Memory===
In his great novel ''The Last of the Mohicans'' (1826), [[James Fenimore Cooper]] used a historical setting and relied heavily on historical documents. Cooper's fiction strayed little from his sources on historical incidents in 1757 during the French and Indian War. He simply invented some contextual features. Cooper resorted to artistic judgments when his sources were inadequate, but his porytrayals were highly realistic.<ref> Ian K. Steele, "Cooper and Clio: The Sources for 'A Narrative Of 1757.'" ''Canadian Review Of American Studies'' 1989 20(3): 121-135. </ref>
==Further reading==
==Further reading==
* Anderson, Fred. ''Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766'' (2000), 887pp; the standard scholarly study [http://www.amazon.com/Crucible-War-British-America-1754-1766/dp/0375706364/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237018499&sr=8-16 excerpt and text search]
* Anderson, Fred. ''Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766'' (2000), 887pp; the standard scholarly study [http://www.amazon.com/Crucible-War-British-America-1754-1766/dp/0375706364/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237018499&sr=8-16 excerpt and text search]
* Leckie, Robert. ''"A Few Acres of Snow": The Saga of the French and Indian Wars.'' (1999). 388 pp. popular history
* Leckie, Robert. ''"A Few Acres of Snow": The Saga of the French and Indian Wars.'' (1999). 388 pp. popular history
* Nester, William R. ''The Great Frontier War: Britain, France and the Imperial Struggle for North America, 1607-1755'' (2000) also published as ''The First Global War: Britain, France, and the Fate of North America, 1756-1775.'' 320 pp.
* Nester, William R. ''The Great Frontier War: Britain, France and the Imperial Struggle for North America, 1607-1755'' (2000) also published as ''The First Global War: Britain, France, and the Fate of North America, 1756-1775.'' 320 pp.
* Titus, James. ''The Old Dominion at War: Society, Politics, and
Warfare in Late Colonial Virginia.'' (1991). 213 pp.
====Notes====
====Notes====