A Brief History of the French and Indian War, 1755-1763
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The French and Indian War started in southwestern Pennsylvania in 1755.
For the next eight years France, Great Britain and Native Americans
battled to control what they considered to be one of the most important pieces
of real estate in North America.
This location, then called the Forks of the Ohio, is now the City of Pittsburgh. In the 1700's, the French, British and Native Americans each knew the value of this point of land where three rivers merged, for whoever controlled this point of land and these waterways also controlled access to the frontier beyond. Through this war -- known as the Seven Years' War in Europe -- French land claims in North America were transferred to Great Britain and Spain, changing the course of our world forever. Great Britain's treasury had been depleted by the cost of the Seven Years' War, and Parliament imposed new taxes on the American colonists to help replenish the treasury, justifying them by saying that since the colonists had benefitted from the removal of an enemy along their borders they should bear much of the cost. This started a series of escalating counter-actions that eventually ignited the American Revolution. Online Resources:
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