THE GREAT WAR FOR EMPIRE

THE FRENCH & INDIAN WAR: A.K.A. THE SEVEN YEARS WAR

1756 - 1763

GEORGIA STANDARDS

•SSUSH3a: Explain how the end of Anglo-French imperial competition as seen in the French and Indian War and the Treaty of Paris laid the ground work for the American Revolution.

North America in 1750

THE WAR BEGINS

• Britain’s ultimatum –• Gov. Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia dispatched a young

British officer (Col. George Washington) into the Pennsylvania back country in order to give France an ultimatum to stop aggressive movements toward British settlements

• Washington met with the French but the ultimatum was rejected

• As Washington is returning from the mission his party mistakenly attacks a French diplomatic party under French ambassador to the British Colonies, Joseph Coulon de Jumonville• Native American guide for Washington (the Half-King)

murders Jumonville

• This murder causes France to declare war on Britain, thus beginning the French & Indian War

Lt. Col. George Washington

Jumonville Glen (site of Jumonville’s death)

EARLY VICTORIES FOR FRANCE

• The French had established a strong relationship with the Native Americans• Remember the French didn’t want more land only access

to beaver fur

• The British mount the first major attack on the French by trying to capture the French stronghold of Fort Duquesne• Ft. Duquesne is located at the key strajunction of the

Ohio, Allegheny, and Monongahela Rivers (known as the “Forks of the Ohio”)

• British General Edward Braddock is given command of the mission and places George Washington as his second in command

• The French, along with their Indian allies, attack the British before they reach Ft. Duquesne and easily route the entire force (French victory)

• Braddock is killed and Washington assumes command to organize the retreat

Braddock’s Defeat

THE WAR TURNS

• The British take control of their first French province, Nova Scotia (French province of Acadia), in 1755

• Battle of the Plains of Abraham (1759)• British General James Wolfe leads a British

offensive against the French stronghold of Quebec

• British (under Wolfe) defeat French (under Marquis de Montcalm) in battle outside of Quebec

• British take control of Quebec despite Wolfe being killed

• William Pitt• British politician who was instrumental in gaining

an alliance with powerful Iroquois nation

James Wolfe Marquis de Montcalm

Battle site for the Plains of Abraham (outside Quebec)

THE WAR ENDS

• In September 1760 British forces take control of modern day Detroit ending the military conflict in the war

• 1763 Treaty of Paris• British and French politicians negotiate a peace treaty to

officially end the war

• France was forced to give up all her colonial possessions in Canada and east of the Mississippi River

• Spain was awarded French land west of the Mississippi but gave Florida over to Britain

• Britain became the dominant colonial power in North America

THE AFTERMATH

• With France losing its claims in North America tensions resumed and grew between the American colonists and Native American populations (who had been allied with the French)

• 1763: Pontiac’s Rebellion• Ottawa Chief Pontiac began attacking British forts

and colonial settlements on the frontier along the Ohio River

• British officials send blankets to Pontiac’s followers to attempt to show peace

• Many of these blankets are infected with smallpox

• Virus spreads and the rebellion is stopped

PONTIAC

BRITAIN CONSOLIDATES ITS POWER

• Proclamation of 1763• To avoid further conflict with Native

Americans Britain issues the Proclamation of 1763

• Proclamation restricted American colonists from moving west of the Appalachian Mountains

• Set aside land between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River for Native American settlements

• This angered many American colonists by Britain further overstepping its promise of limited control in the Colonies (which allowed many colonies to govern themselves)

NORTH AMERICA AFTER THE WAR (1763)