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| The Seven Years' War (1756-1763) The third and final struggle for supremacy in America is known in Britain as the Seven Years' War, and in the USA as the French and Indian War.
It began in the valley of the Ohio, which is on the far side of the Appalachian Mountains and, in 1753, lay between British Virginia and the French Mississippi Valley. This huge region was known as Louisiana. To reinforce their claim to the Ohio, the French had captured a British settlement on the site of modern Pittsburgh and had named it Fort Duquesne. A twenty one-year old English American, called George Washington, (who had invested in Ohio lands and who, therefore, had a personal interest in seeing them remain in British hands), arrived with 200 Virginian militiamen to evict the French. George Washington's mission failed, however.
In 1755, a much larger professional army, under General Braddock, also failed to dislodge the French from Fort Duquesne. Britain declared war on France in May 1756 and the new British Prime Minister, William Pitt, determined to finish with the French colonies in North America once and for all. He would control the Atlantic sea routes, isolate French colonies from Europe and seize them for Britain. The most able soldier in North America at the time was considered to be the Marquis de Montcalm. He faced insurmountable problems, however. New France was cut off from France by the British Navy. The French Canadian Governor and Intendant were awkward with him, and he only had a small force of a few thousand French troops plus 9000 Canadian militia to lead. The British took Fort Duquesne and descended the Ohio to the Mississippi. Only the St. Lawrence remained in French hands by 1758 ....
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© Shirley Burchill, Nigel Hughes, Richard Gale, Peter Price and Keith Woodall 2007 Footnote : As far as the Open Door team can ascertain the images shown on this page are in the Public Domain. |
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