today we're looking at the french and indian war
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the questions down in the description so the french indian war lasted from 1754 to 1763
and was part of a larger world war known as the seven years war that primarily pitted old
enemies france and britain against one another now you might be wondering why it's called the
seven years war even though it looks like the years don't really match up there well
you have to consider britain did not actually declare war on france until 1756 so 1756 to 1763
that's seven years the french indian war was simply the north american theater
of that bigger war and was fought for control over the north american continent to find
out why the war happened and how it started see my other video on the causes of the war
one thing you have to consider during the war is the amount of time that it took for action to
take place you have to consider that the bulk of france and britain's forces had to be taken across
the atlantic ocean in order to even fight the war but early on in the war the french had much more
success than the british one major failed british offensive early in the war was the march to
capture the french fort of fort de caine which sat at the confluence of the allegheny and monongahela
rivers where present-day pittsburgh pennsylvania sits in the summer of 1755 new british commander
of troops in north america general edward braddock along with george washington marched from maryland
towards fort de caine on july 9 1755 they were ambushed by friend by the french along with their
native american allies not far from fort de caine at the battle of the monongahela the british were
severely beaten in the battle being unable to deal with the guerrilla tactics being used by
the french and native americans general braddock himself was mortally wounded during the battle
and died of his wounds a few days later as 1755 and 1756 wore on the british suffered setback
after setback largely due to the fact that the american colonies could not work together
to get anything done and each colony wanted to maintain their own power there was little support
from england since they were more concerned with the fighting occurring back in europe
and of course you have to consider the fact that the french had many more native american allies
in 1757 the tide of the war began to change as william pitt became the new british prime
minister or the head of the british government of course there at this time there still was a
king of course king george that they had to answer to but pitt viewed the fight in north america as
the key to winning the entire seven years war and building a much larger empire for britain so as
many times as the case pitt began to throw money at the war and began borrowing money to finance
the war now remember that that's going to be very very important later on but the british also
began committing more troops to fighting in north america and in july of 1758 the british won their
first major victory at the siege of lewisborg at the mouth of the saint lawrence river from
there they went on to capture fort de caine in november of 1758 of course the french actually
burnt fort decaying before the british captured it so the british built a new much larger fort
and named it fort pitt of course named after william pitt and that's where we get the name
for the city of pittsburgh today on september 13 1759 the british troops under general james wolf
climbed the cliffs overlooking the city of quebec and defeated the french on the plains of abraham
during the battle both the british commander and the french commander were mortally wounded and
killed then in september of 1760 the british captured montreal and now the french had lost
their last stronghold in canada as the british continued to win victories more and more native
american tribes went over to the british side sensing that it might be in their best interest
to be aligned with the british when the war ended but also at the same time spain entered the war
on the side of france hoping to maintain some of their colonial territories in north america once
the war was over in february of 1763 delegates from britain spain and france met in paris
and worked out a treaty in the war of course known as the treaty of paris but i'll cover the outcome
and that treaty in another bell ringer the war for north america had lasted for almost nine years
and had transformed from a war that started over claims into a world war being fought on separate
continents and involving several nations in the end the war would set the stage for a revolution
that would come over a decade later and result in the in the independence of the american colonists
so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching