American Colonies: The Settling of North America

There was a 30-year period of peace between the imperial powers after the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-13) before war brewed again. There were various intermediary conflicts, among them the War of Jenkin’s Ear (Britain versus Spain) and its expanded form, the War of the Austrian Succession, which drew France into the fray. But the climatic war between the imperial powers for the North American continent arrived in 1754: the Seven Years’ War.

Hostilities were stoked in 1753 by a young and inexperienced officer, George Washington, who ambushed a French patrol. The episode allowed the British government to escalate the conflict. Luckily for Washington, the veteran British general Edward Braddock was unwilling to adapt to warfare in the Americas and walked straight into a French and Indian ambush. His death allowed Washington to take command, but Braddock’s defeat encouraged the Indians and their French allies to take the offensive. The French generals Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil and Louis-Joseph de Montcalm were competent but had a falling out over the treatment of Indians, leaving the French open. In 1757 William Pitt took over British command and started paying the colonists to provide troops instead of ordering them, which greatly increased colonial participation in the war (as well as British debt).