FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS

The 'French and Indian Wars' is a name used in the United States for a series of conflicts in North America that represented the actions there that accompanied the European dynastic wars. In Quebec, the wars are generally referred to as the 'Intercolonial Wars'. While some conflicts involved Spanish and Dutch forces, all pitted Great Britain, its colonies and Indian allies on one side and France, its colonies and Indian allies on the other. As such, the American conflicts were also part of the persistent Anglo-French Second Hundred Years' War, which was fought intermittently between 1688 and 1815.
The expanding French and British colonies were contending for control of the western, or interior, territories. Whenever the European countries went to war, there were actions within and by these colonies although the dates of the conflict did not necessarily exactly coincide with those of the larger conflicts.
The North American wars, and their associated European wars, in sequence, are:

Years of War	North American War	European War	Treaty
1689 – 1697	'King William's War' ''1st Intercolonial War'' (in Quebec)	War of the Grand Alliance War of the League of Augsburg	Treaty of Ryswick
1702 – 1713	'Queen Anne's War' ''2nd Intercolonial War''	War of the Spanish Succession	Treaty of Utrecht (1713)
1744 – 1748	'King George's War' ''3rd Intercolonial War''	War of Jenkins' Ear War of the Austrian Succession	Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)
1754 – 1763	'The French and Indian War' ''4th Intercolonial War''	Seven Years' War	Treaty of Paris (1763)

The naming of conflicts after the British monarch of the day is not used by Canadians, who merely employ the name of the larger European conflict (e.g. the ''War of the Grand Alliance'' rather than ''King William's War'') or refer to them as the Intercolonial Wars.
As the wars proceeded the military advantage moved inexorably towards the British side. This was largely a reflection of the greater population and productive capacity of the British colonies compared with those of France. The French were able to largely offset this in the first three conflicts by more effective mobilization of Native American allies, but were finally overwhelmed in the fourth war.
Ironically, the overwhelming victory of the British played a role in eventual loss of their American colonies. Without the threat of French invasion, the American colonies saw little need for British military protection and resented British limits on the colonization of the new French territories as stated in the Proclamation of 1763. These pressures contributed to the American Revolutionary War.
The first three of the French and Indian Wars follow the same basic pattern. That is they all start in Europe and then move to America. Once the fighting begins in America it is mostly fought by militia men. In all three wars the English are victorious. The gains or assests made by the English during the wars in America are always returned to the French at the end of the war.

'See also:'

★ British colonization of the Americas

★ French colonization of the Americas
'Further Reading:'

★ A Few Acres of Snow: The Saga of the French and Indian Wars by Robert Leckie; Wiley & Son; Hardcover: ISBN 0-471-24690-5; Paperback: ISBN 0-471-39020-8

Contents

External links

External links

★ The Quebec History Encyclopedia: ''The Seven Years' War in Canada''