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FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR

by USHistory.org 2016

In 1754, the final round of conflict in a series of wars between France and Great Britain broke out in its North American theater. In the United States, it would be referred to as the French and Indian War. The following text recounts the events of the French and Indian War—what the struggle between two European powers meant for the people living in the New World, and the ramifications of this contest for land and power.

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EUROPEAN STRUGGLE FOR DOMINANCE

The New World served as the stage for a small but significant part of the struggle for global domination between England and France. France established French colonies, called New France, as early as the 1530s along the shores of modern-day Canada and stretching inland towards the Great Lakes region. During the 1600s, France was the dominant power on the European continent, emerging victorious from the Thirty Years War. As the century drew to a close; however, England was ready to start settling the New World.

During the century that preceded American independence, England and France would fight four major wars, with the rest of Europe and eventually North America participating as well. With each conflict, France would slowly lose power, territory, and influence.

Round four, the final conflict of this particular global struggle between England and France, broke out in 1754. Unlike the three previous conflicts, this war began in the New World. French and British soldiers butted heads with each other over control of the Ohio Valley. At stake were the lucrative fur trade and access to the all-important Mississippi River, the lifeline of the frontier to the west. A squadron of soldiers led by a brash, twenty-two-year-old George Washington attacked a French stronghold named Fort Duquesne. Soon after the attack, Washington’s troops were forced to surrender. Shortly after that, a second British force was also met with defeat. When news of this reached London, war was declared, and the conflict known in Europe as the Seven Years War began. Americans would call this bout the French and Indian War.

FORGING ALLIANCES

The name “French and Indian War” obscures the fact that Native Americans fought on both sides of this conflict, as well as in other campaigns between Britain and France—and later in the American Revolution. Faced with an invading force of European settlers and imperialists, Native Americans only had so many choices; forming temporary coalitions was one of the few routes they could take. These alliances were based more on practicality than cultural similarities. Often, tribes would pit one side against the other as a means of survival. In the eyes of many Native Americans, this conflict, like many other conflicts, merely settled which group of Europeans that the natives would have to deal with later.

A majority of the Native American tribes involved in the conflict sided with France in the French and Indian War, despite the larger British presence in North America. Unlike the British, the French took strides to develop diplomacy with indigenous populations. This included economic trade, exchange of language, marriage, and cohabitation. Tribes began to become increasingly dependent on European goods. A prosperous fur trade flourished along the St. Lawrence and Mississippi Rivers. While this does not mean that the French settlers and Native Americans lived in complete harmony, there was at least some level of trust and benefit to their alliance.

In contrast, the British did much less to understand their native neighbors. Whether out of ignorance or hostility, the British acted in ways that strained their relationship with the native peoples. In the end, France and Britain prioritized land, wealth, and the extension of their empires, none of which were in the best interest of indigenous peoples. Natives did what they could to protect their ancestral lands and to maintain their traditions and lifestyles. Nevertheless, time and time again, alliances were formed, if only briefly, so that each side might pursue what was best for them.

WARFARE

The first phase of this war was a sheer disaster for Britain. Assaults on French territory ended in bitter defeat. The French and their Indian allies inspired fear on the British frontier by burning and pillaging settlements. The French even struck within sixty miles of Philadelphia. Americans were dismayed. They believed that Britain was not making the proper commitment to North America.

The turning point in the war came when the British statesman William Pitt took over wartime operations. He believed North America was critical for England’s global domination. Pitt turned command of recruitment and supplies over to local authorities in America and promised to reimburse them for their efforts. He committed more troops and rearranged commanding officers, replacing old war heroes with energetic young ones.

Militarily, the tide began to turn, as the British captured Louisbourg, an important strategic port the British used to close the St. Lawrence Seaway. The death blow to the French cause was struck in Quebec in 1759. Commander James Wolfe bravely sent his forces up a rocky embankment to surprise the French. The battle that followed saw a crucial stronghold was transferred to British hands. The French chapter of North American history had ended in a bloody finale.

THE WAR’S AFTERMATH

The fighting in North America mostly ended by 1760. The war officially ended with the Treaty of Paris (1763), which forced France to surrender its North American territories east of the Mississippi to Great Britain. [The arrangement strengthened the American colonies significantly by removing their European rivals to the north and south and opening the Mississippi Valley to westward expansion.]This would have massive consequences for all involved, shaping the destinies of North America and Europe as we know it.

Despite this great increase in land, the imperial struggle took its toll on England. The empire had incurred a tremendous amount of debt. Its attempts to recover losses by increasing taxes on the American colonists would ultimately be one of the causes of the American Revolution. Furthermore, the leadership experience gained by colonial fighters such as George Washington during the wars would be used against the Redcoats in the decades that followed. France was weakened by the loss of New France, the financial burden of war, and the embarrassing overall defeat.

France and Great Britain were not the only sides affected by the war. The outcome of the French and Indian War would have a profound effect on the course of Native Americans’ histories. The significant loss of French presence in North America might have benefitted Native Americans at one point, but the loss left this territory open to British (and later American) expansion and rule. The switch from French to British control was a difficult one.

While many Native American tribes sided with the French in the war, the tide eventually turned in favor of the British. Aware that it was in their best interest, Native Americans became more eager to make peace with the apparent victor. But this would not erase any fundamental misunderstandings or the history of violence between them.

IMPACT OF THE WAR ON THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

The British crown borrowed heavily from British and Dutch bankers to bankroll the war, doubling British national debt. King George II argued that since the French and Indian War benefited the colonists by securing their borders, they should contribute to paying down the war debt.

To defend his newly won territory from future attacks, King George II also decided to install permanent British army units in the Americas, which required additional sources of revenue.

In 1765, parliament passed the Stamp Act to help pay down the war debt and finance the British army’s presence in the Americas. It was the first internal tax directly levied on American colonists by parliament and was met with strong resistance. It was followed by the unpopular Townshend Acts and Tea Act, which further incensed colonists who believed there should be no taxation without representation. Britain’s increasingly militaristic response to colonial unrest would ultimately lead to the American Revolution.

Fifteen years after the Treaty of Paris, French bitterness over the loss of most of their colonial empire contributed to their intervention on the side of the colonists in the Revolutionary War.