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Free Example of French and Indian War Essay
Northern America was under control of the Spanish, French and British governments in the 18th century. It had been subdivided into sections according to the controllers. Florida was being controlled by Spain together with northern and central parts of Northern America. The eastern part was under British control.
During this period, all powerful nations of the world were scrambling for wealth that is money and land. The war took around a century for it to subside. Although it was not all that serious, it had some negative impact on the economic growth.
The main cause of the French and Indian war was to know the most powerful country in the northern part of America. The fighters majorly relied on their colonialists and their collaborators to conquer their enemies.
The actual genesis of this conflict was on land. French being the pioneers to settle to explore the great lake and Ohio as well as Mississippi, they usual sent their traders and trappers to these areas because they had created trading centers in these places. The French owned these territories themselves because they first occupied the place before any European settlers in the world.
On the contrary, the British territories were targeting the same piece of land. The British Empire believed that they were the real owners of the land right from the eastern shore to the west coast despite the fact that the west coast was not known at that time. The settlers at the eastern part began to migrate to the west because the eastern part was now full with settlers. By moving to the east, they dismantled the Indians who were trading at this area. In turn, the Indians were full of worries of losing their land to them. (291)
The Indians as a whole were capable of fighting back the land that belongs to them but because they had internecine differences they amongst themselves, they could not make. This differences arouse when the French and British started to fight, the Indian were undecided on who to support. They were forced to divide others supporting the French and others supporting the British.
The French settlers were living in what was being called at that time New France which is currently part of Canada. There were rules that each and every settler from the French should be in the Roman Catholic Church. Those from the protestant could not meet this requirement therefore forcing them to resettle in the British colonies.
French were known to be traders of fur, so the valued fur more than land in that regard, they did not show any sign of appreciation to the British having bought fur from the Indians at high prices. Trading fort was established by the French where Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania currently lie. It was named Fort Duquesne where French could trade their fur.
The British raised alarm to the French that the site where the fort had been built belonged to them, they claimed that entire Virginia was theirs. The Governor of Virginia, who was at the throne at this period (1754) decided to sent a colonialist (George Washington- later first president of U.S.) to inform the French to withdraw from the site. The French resisted the order from the British. As a result, hundred and fifty men were sent to force them out of the place. Frenchmen tried to oppose but they defeated others being killed. Through this, French and Indian war begun. (282)
George Washington was joined by Gen. Edward Braddock together with heavy troops at the Duquesne. The war was not to the expectation of the British General. He expected the troops to come towards one another as the fire their guns towards each other. The troops chose to employ a war whereby they could hide on woods and donning clothes so that they could see their enemies approaching and shot them without them realizing. Despite the fact that the British killed several troops from French and Indian, they were defeated and as a result, General Braddock was killed.
The larger part of the war took place around Lakes George and Champlain in the New York state neighboring Canadian boundary. Lake Champlain covers a wider area of Montreal city in Canada and is to the north of Lake George. The two lakes acted as a strategy for moving troops to fight as there were few roads at that time. Those who were not able to move their troops at the time of need would automatically be defeated. Any of the troops who will win will have the power to control the whole of North America.
Bases of French army were situated in Quebec and Montreal cities while the British military armies were situated along river Hudson in New York. Between these two places was battling region for the two rivals. When then French realized that they had been defeated by the British in December1755, the constructed a military base on the southern part of Lake Champlain and named it fort Carillon with the aim of consolidating the lake region. The French could have the control of Lake Region and the routes that would lead to Lake George (Cave, 2004). As a result, they would be able to conquer the British with a lot of ease.
On the contrary, the British troops also were forced to build their fort on the far south of Lake George and named it Fort William Henry. The French had two walls filled with logs. (337)
The walls were later rebuilt by using stones. The walls would act as a defensive mechanism as dirt was filled in between the two walls.
Marquis de Montcalm was sent by the France military commander to take care of the troops. As soon as he arrived, he begun attacking the British forts in 1757, Fort William Henry included. An agreement was reached that the British Commander to surrender and British troops would fairly be treated, immediately after they had been defeated. This was an order from the French and Indians after they had declared to kill at least 1000 British soldiers together with the settlers.
One year after the signing of the agreement, the British planned a revenged mission to the French and the Indians thereby destroying fort Carillon which was under Commander General Montcalm. The fight seemed unbelievable because the British armies were defeated by the small groups of French and Indian troops. They slowly revenged a year after they had been defeated with Commander General Jeffery Amhurst. Luck was at this time on their side as the caught a chance to win from the French. In this process, fort carillon was given a new name called fort Ticonderoga which was used by the French and Indian’s military during times of war. This in history was used by Americans’ when they were fighting for independence.
After the French and Indian were defeated in Quebec, they came into an agreement with the British to sign a treaty in 1763 in Paris to end the war. British grant themselves power to take control of nearly all the lands that was under the French from the east coast of north America all the way to the Mississippi river. The western side of river Mississippi belonged to Spain so that the British would be far away from them. Indians nearly scooped everything on the western (311) side (Santella, 2004). Texas and New Mexico were the only remaining pieces of land on the western side that were under the control of Spain's colonies.
There resulted negative outcomes of this French and Indian war. The British parliament came out with an idea that taxes should be increased on the colonies as they knew that they were the final beneficiary from this increase because they had emerged heroes in the war, so their allies was a must that they would follow the orders. Items that were affected by these increased taxes were legal documents and tea.
Stamps were issued for any legal document and newspapers so as to affix onto them. The idea was seriously resisted in 1765 and a protest was organized.
British, French and Indian troop’s relationship started to deteriorate slowly by slowly in their home countries. After the completion of war which was William Pitt’s objective, a British prime minister, North America was now under the control of British. There are a number of islands whereby French were forced out especially those that lie to the northern part of America. France also suffered another disaster by loosing India to British.
Before the start of French and Indian War, there were over 2.5 million people, but after the war, there were only 50,000 people alive. These statistics shows that many people lost their lives during the fight. Chief Pontiac had a goal of uniting all the tribes that existed during this time of hardship as several people had been killed.
After the war, the British expanded their territories, which meant an increase in tax so as to build and sustain the empire, people suffered directly from this excessive taxation from the empire. In addition, debts that had been borrowed during the war period were now (297) being repaid at the rate of 20% annually. This was a huge amount to the Englishmen in homes as they could not afford it. (1539)
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