French and Indian War
| French and Indian War[a] | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Seven Years' War and the Sixty Years' War | |||||||||
The war theater | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
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| ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Killbuck Shingas Pontiac | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 42,000 regulars and militia (peak strength, 1758)[2] | 10,000 regulars (troupes de la terre and troupes de la marine, peak strength, 1757)[3] | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
|
3,000 regulars killed in action or died of wounds, 10,400 died of disease 11,000+ provincial troops and Native allies died of all causes Total: 25,000 dead[4] | Unknown | ||||||||
The French and Indian War,[b] 1754 to 1763, was a conflict in North America between Great Britain and France, along with their respective Native American allies. Historians generally consider it part of the global conflict 1756 to 1763 Seven Years' War, although in the United States it is often viewed as a singular conflict unassociated with any larger European war.[5]
Although Britain and France were officially at peace following the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, tensions over trade continued in North America, which culminated in a dispute over the Forks of the Ohio, and the related French Fort Duquesne which controlled them. In May 1754, this led to the Battle of Jumonville Glen, when Virginia militia led by George Washington ambushed a French patrol.[6]
In 1755, Edward Braddock, the new Commander-in-Chief, North America, planned a four-way attack on the French. None succeeded, while the Braddock Expedition ended in disaster at the Battle of the Monongahela on July 9, 1755, with Braddock himself dying of his wounds a few days later. From 1755 to 1757, further British operations in Pennsylvania and New York failed, but were offset by the British capture of Fort Beauséjour on the border between British Nova Scotia and French Acadia. Over the next nine years, French settlers were expelled and replaced by those from New England.[7]
The Seven Years' War began in 1756, and a number of disastrous campaigns in 1757, including the Louisbourg Expedition (1757) and Siege of Fort William Henry led to the fall of the British government. The new Prime Minister, William Pitt significantly increased British military resources in the colonies when France was struggling to support their limited forces in New France, preferring to concentrate their forces in Europe. Between 1758 and 1760, the British launched a campaign to capture French Canada, taking Quebec in 1759, then Montreal the following year. This largely ended fighting in North America.
In accordance with the Treaty of Paris (1763), France ceded its Canadian possessions to Britain, along with its claim to territories east of the Mississippi River. France also gave Spain French Louisiana west of the Mississippi River in compensation for their loss of Spanish Florida to Britain. The French presence in North America was reduced to the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, confirming Britain's position as the dominant colonial power.
- ^ "Terminology Guide Research on Aboriginal Heritage" (PDF). library and Archives Canada - University of British Columbia. 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 14, 2024.
- ^ Brumwell, pp. 26–31, documents the starting sizes of the expeditions against Louisbourg, Carillon, Duquesne, and West Indies.
- ^ Brumwell, pp. 24–25.
- ^ Emma Hart, Marie Houllemare, Trevor Burnard. "The Oxford Handbook of the Seven Years' War." June 2024. Page 73. Essay "Resources" by Peter Wilson, chapter 4.
- ^ Taylor 1994, pp. 39–48, 72–74.
- ^ Peyser 1996, p. 221.
- ^ Eccles, France in America, p. 185
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