In the mid-eighteenth century
Europe's two great powers, France and Great Britain, were at odds about who would rule the newly discovered North American continent. The French ruled the area west of the Allegheny Mountains from the Canadian border to the Great Lakes and a settlement in and around Louisiana on the Gulf of Mexico. In contrast, the British ruled the east coast of North America from Maine to the Carolinas. Both forces decided to claim North America as their own and compel the other to stay confined or expel them completely. Native American tribes which gave which gave the French an advantage because they had always made allies of the Indians while the British were not so friendly and broke many agreements they had with the Native Americans.
In 1752, the British sent Major George Washington of Virginia to persuade the French
to vacate the lands around the Ohio forks area (modern day Pittsburgh, PA). Washington, lacking battlefield experience at this point in his life, stumbled onto a French encampment and opened fire. The end of the battle saw the Indians that had accompanied Washington from Virginia slaughter the French survivors of the battle. This single event will be the impetus for the French and Indian War. The French, now determined to lock the British out of the Ohio Country, along with their Native American allies join forces against the British. The British send General Braddock with Washington at his side to engage the French and take Fort Duquesne at the Ohio Forks. During the battle, General Braddock is mortally wounded and dies a few days later. The British troops are stymied by the French at this engagement and lose over 1000 men to the French's 21. The French win this engagement by the use of Indian-style fighting tactics (ones which the colonists will also use successfully against the British during the American Revolution) which hereafter Washington adopts for all his future engagements with the French. With Washington primed by this battlefield experience, and more that he would gain in the future, it truly does become the war that made America.
Work Cited
“The War That Made America: Part 1 – A Country Between.” Daily Motion, uploaded by MyVids101, March 3, 2016, http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3vnco9.
