today we're looking at advantages and disadvantages in the french and indian war
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questions down in the description so the french indian war broke out in may of 1754 when a young
george washington opened fire on a small french scouting party although the skirmish was small
it was enough to ignite a major war between the european superpowers of britain and france
for control of north america during the war both sides had advantages and disadvantages
the british had several advantages going into the conflict over the french
first the english colonies had a population far greater than new france the population of the
english colonies when the war began was estimated to be over 1 million compared to barely 60 000
living in new france with most of them living in canada second the british had a superior navy that
grew its dominance at sea throughout the war as it made it very difficult for the french to get
troops to america to fight third the british had the aid of some native american tribes
the iroquois and cherokee both sided with the british at the outset of the war
now you might wonder why any native american tribe would side with english since the english were
very interested in taking land you must consider that by this point many native americans had grown
accustomed to purchasing european manufactured goods such as you know clothing pots pans and guns
from the british and the british offered better trade prices for their goods than the french
lastly although the war did not start well for the british by the end of the war they had strong
leadership back in parliament in england that was determined to do whatever it took to win the war
the primary advantage for the french was their strong relationship with native american tribes
remember the french had been more interested in trade rather than taking land from native
americans tribes such as the algonquin ottawa and shawnee sided with the french these tribes
provided invaluable information about the terrain and geography of the areas where the war was
being fought and taught the french to fight in a new style that the british were unprepared for
guerrilla warfare became the primary tactic used by the french and the native americans against the
british this warfare involved using hit-and-run tactics ambushes and attacking in densely wooded
areas they wouldn't come out into the open and face the british in traditional european style
of fighting of the time secondly the french had a centralized government that could act quickly once
a decision was made it was possible to move troops and supplies to where they were needed to fight
as mentioned before the british were an army built for open field warfare and the french
and native americans were simply not fighting in that style there was quite a learning curve for
the british to understand how to fight in this manner and of course the fact that they were
wearing red uniforms that stuck out clearly in the woods did not really help them at all
secondly the british did not have a centralized government yes there was a king back in england
but in the english colonies each colony had their own individual colonial government and they could
not agree on how the war should proceed so at times it was difficult to get anything done
in fact as the war was beginning benjamin franklin proposed what was known as the albany plan of
union and also published this political cartoon of the broken up snake urging the colonies to
join or die his albany plan of union called for a grand council who would make laws raise
taxes and set up defense for the colonies basically what congress does today franklin
toured the colonies urging the colonies to approve the plan but nonetheless the colonies did not want
to give up their individual power this angered franklin so much that he left the colonies and
moved to london where he would remain for the next 20 years until the american revolution began
the primary disadvantage for the french was their extremely small population to draw from to fight
the war and the air and the area of new france was also extremely vast and just difficult to defend
and add to that there were very few of these troops that the french had in america that
were well trained and trying to get troops from france to america became very difficult
with the might of the british navy both sides had several things going for them but also had several
obstacles to overcome so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching
you