French and Indian War

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The French and Indian War is the common American name for the decisive nine-year conflict (1754–1763) in North America between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its North American Colonies against France and its North American Colonies, which was but one of many theatres of the Seven Years' War. France was assisted in its North American operations by tribes and groups of native Americans ("Indians") who were interested in expelling the English from the continent and regaining their ancestral lands in New England. A small minority of natives fought on the English side.

The war is known in Canada as The War of the Conquest. It resulted in France's loss of all its possessions in North America, except for some Caribbean islands and Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, two small islands off Newfoundland. The British acquired Canada, while Spain gained Louisiana in compensation for its loss of Florida to the British. The native Americans were pacified or moved further west.

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Nomenclature for the North American conflict

  • French and Indian War in the U.S.
  • The British Conquest or War of the Conquest in Canada
  • The Seven Years' War in France and Britain

Although scholars, such as Fred Anderson, generally refer to all facets of the conflict as the Seven Years' War, the conflict is popularly referred to as the French and Indian War in the United States, as it is seen from the perspective of British American forces fighting against French forces and their Algonquin and Huron allies in North America. (British and British American forces had allied with the Iroquois.) In Britain, France, and Canada, the designation French and Indian War is nearly unknown: English Canada, France, and Britain typically refer to the war as the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), dating the war not from the start of actual fighting in North America, but rather from the official declaration of war in Europe. French Canadians refer to it both as la Guerre des sept ans and the Guerre de la conquête (War of the Conquest) since it is the war in which Canada was conquered by the British and became part of the British Empire. Because of Quebec provincial regulations on Canada-Quebec History curriculum in high school , Anglo-Quebecers also refer to it as The War of the Conquest. In Ontario, it is now increasingly also referred to as "The War of the Conquest," or just "The Conquest." In Britain, it is simply regarded as the most important theatre of the Seven Years' War.

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Causes

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Overview

The French and Indian War, unlike the others, began on North American soil and then spread to Europe, where Britain and France continued fighting. Britain officially declared war on France in 1756, marking the beginnings of the Seven Years' War in Europe. Native Americans fought for both sides but primarily alongside the French. The first major event was in 1754. Major George Washington, then twenty-one years of age, was sent to negotiate boundaries with the French, who did not give up their forts. Washington led a group of Virginian (colonial) troops to confront the French at Fort Duquesne (present day Pittsburgh). Washington stumbled upon the French, and in the ensuing skirmish, a French Officer (de Jumonville) was killed, news of which would certainly provoke a strong French response. Washington pulled back a few miles and established Fort Necessity. The French forced Washington and his men to retreat. Meanwhile, the Albany Congress was taking place as means to discuss further action.

Edward Braddock led a campaign against the French in 1755; Washington was among the British and colonial troops. Braddock employed European tactics: bold, linear marches and firing formations. This led to disaster at the Monongahela, where the French and natives, though heavily outmanned and outgunned (the British had a heavy cannon), used superior tactics to gun down and rout the British. Braddock was killed; Washington, despite four close calls, escaped unharmed and led the survivors in retreat. When he took off his jacket, it had four bullet holes in it. Major French victories continued at Fort William Henry, Fort Duquesne, and Carillon, where Montcalm famously defeated five times his number.

1756 brought with it William Pitt as the leader of Great Britain. His leadership, and France's continued neglect of the North-American theatre, turned the tide in favor of the British. The French were driven from many frontier posts such as Fort Niagara, and the key Fortress Louisbourg fell to the British in 1758. In 1759, the Battle of the Plains of Abraham gave Quebec City to the British, who had to withstand a siege there after the Battle of Sainte-Foy a year later. In September of 1760, Pierre François de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal, the King's Governor of New France, negotiated a surrender with British General Jeffrey Amherst. General Amherst granted Vaudreuil's request that any French residents who chose to remain in the colony would be given freedom to continue worshiping in their Roman Catholic tradition, continued ownership of their property, and the right to remain undisturbed in their homes. The British provided medical treatment for the sick and wounded French soldiers and French regular troops were returned to France aboard British ships with an agreement that they were not to serve again in the present war.

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Outcome

Image:French attack St. John's Newfoundland 1762.jpg


The war officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on February 10, 1763. The treaty resulted in France's loss of all its possessions in North America (all of Canada was ceded to Britain) except Saint Pierre and Miquelon, two small islands off Newfoundland. France also kept the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique because of their rich sugar crops and the ease with which it could be controlled. Spain gained Louisiana in compensation for its loss of Florida to the British.

One result of the war was that Britain gained control of a strip of territory along the St. Lawrence River that now forms part of the Province of Quebec with approximately 54,000 French-speaking, Roman Catholic population. Near the beginning of the war, in 1755, the British had expelled French-speaking populations in Acadia to Louisiana, creating the Cajun population, but this would not be repeated in 1763.

The European theater of the war was settled by the Treaty of Hubertusburg on February 15, 1763.

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Long term

The decisive result of the war meant that it was the last of the French and Indian Wars. The most immediate outcome of the war was the end of France’s power in the Americas, having only four islands left to them. Another important consequence was that the British colonists felt empowered having defended their own land, in addition to obtaining more. They felt as if all the land from the Atlantic to the Mississippi was theirs to live on. However, Britain disallowed the colonists from living on that land by the British Royal Proclamation of 1763.

Also, the Albany Congress was the first time the colonists from multiple colonies had officially met for any reason. Thoughts of unity were starting to make their appearance, eventually leading to the Revolutionary War. At the same time, George Washington was gaining experience, learning British tactics and their weaknesses.

Britain was fighting wars in Europe and the Americas simultaneously; this put it into fiscal straits. There were great expenses associated with shipping infantry, artillery, and supplies across the ocean to America. To help pay these expenses, Britain would enforce Mercantilism upon the colony in America through taxation. This created more tension and disagreement between the colonies and the mother country. This period marks the end of what was known as Britain's policy of salutary neglect in regard to America, another step on the road to Revolution.

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Reasons for French defeat

The people of mainland France had some difficulty accommodating to mercantilism, an economic theory that emphasized export trade. Both the Dutch and Britain's thriving mercantilism enabled them to fight wars on land and sea and be able to recoup their losses financially with productive colonies in the Americas and Asia. With every war that France engaged in, often times in attempts to overthrow Dutch commercial superiority, she struggled to find finances to push on. By 1672, France had the most powerful army on land, and a growing naval threat. But due to financial problems, France actually had to withdraw its navy after successful victories against the Dutch. France was never able to effectively shake her people's resistance against mercantilism. By the 1680's, France’s growing military might, her success against the Dutch, the revocation of Protestant toleration, and the incursions on British American traders made her the target of King William of England. With Louis XIV's lavish spending (after his victories in the 1670's, and Jean-Baptiste Colbert’s struggling economic policy, France would be no might for the British Royal Navy. The 1688 war of the Grand Alliance would show that not only Britain felt threatened by France. The Holy Roman Empire allied with, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, the United Provinces, and Britain to fight off France’s incursion on German territory. It also served as an excuse to cripple French Canadian territorial expansion in Canada. King William's War, as it was known in North America, would be the start of subsequent conflicts in North America known as the French and Indian Wars. British American militia would make successive attempts at conquering New France. With every American war, the British Americans gained more and more ground. Its apex would be the War of the Conquest in 1759. Once again, her economy could not keep up with the costs of war and she once again would provide little naval aid to the colonies. Today, some people in Quebec blame France for abandoning them in 1759, but the reality is that if France had sent a powerful navy to defend New France, she would have done so at the expense of mainland France. New France had, up until then, failed to show any significant benefit to France and was not worth keeping at the risk of losing European territory.


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Trivia

  • The final battle of the war in North America was the Battle of Signal Hill, in which the French surrendered St. John's to the British under the command of Colonel William Amherst.
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Present day locations of battles and expeditions

United States


Canada


Unknown Location

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European conflicts and their North American battles

The French and Indian War was the last of four major colonial wars between the British, the French, and their Native American allies. Of the four wars, the Seven Years' War resulted in the most significant territorial change.

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Further reading

  • Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766. New York: Knopf, 2000. ISBN 0375406425.
  • Anderson, Fred. The War that Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War. New York: Viking 2005. ISBN 0670034541. Released in conjunction with the 2006 PBS miniseries The War that Made America.
  • Eckert, Allan W. Wilderness Empire. Bantam Books, 1994, originally published 1969. ISBN 0-553-26488-5. Second volume in a series of historical narratives, with emphasis on Sir William Johnson. Academic historians often regard Eckert's books, which are written in the style of novels, to be fiction.
  • Fowler, W.M. Empires at War: The French and Indian War and the Struggle for North America, 1754-1763. New York: Walker, 2005. ISBN 0-8027-1411-0
  • Jennings, Francis. Empire of Fortune: Crowns, Colonies, and Tribes in the Seven Years War in America. New York: Norton, 1988. ISBN 0393306402.
  • Parkman, Francis. Montcalm and Wolfe: The French and Indian War. Originally published 1884. New York: Da Capo, 1984. ISBN 0-306-81077-8.
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See also

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External links

fr:Guerre de Sept Ans (Amérique du Nord) ja:フレンチ・インディアン戦争 ka:ფრანგებისა და ინდიელების 1754-1763 წლების ომი nl:Franse en Indiaanse oorlog [[pt:Guerra Franco-Indígena]

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