Development of the War

The French and Indian War lasted nearly nine years, and it moved forward in three distinct phases. During the first of these phases, from the Fort Necessity debacle in 1 !" until the e#pansion of the war to $urope in 1 !%, it was primarily a local, North &merican 'onflict. The $nglish did not do well these first years. There were few (ritish naval reinforcements and so the colonists managed the war largely on their own. )irtually all Indian tribes were now allied with the French. *nly the Iro+uois had seen themselves forced to the (ritish side and they ,ept themselves as neutral as possible. The second phase of the struggle began in 1 !% when the governments of France and $ngland formally opened hostilities and a truly international conflict -The .even /ears0 War1 began. The fighting now spread to the West Indies, India, and $urope itself. (ut the principal struggle remained the one in North &merica where so far $ngland had suffered nothing but frustration and defeat. (eginning in 1 ! , William 2itt ,the $nglish secretary of state, began to transform the war effort by bringing it for the first time fully under (ritish control. 3e did this at first by forcing supplies, e+uipment, shelter, and manpower from the colonists. This was cause for much resentment among the colonists, who resisted these new impositions and firmly, at times even violently, resisted them. (y early 1 !4, the friction between the (ritish authorities and the colonists was threatening to bring the war effort to a halt. (eginning in 1 !4 therefore, 2itt initiated the third and final phase of the war by rela#ing many of the policies that &mericans had ob5ected to. This resulted in an immediate increase in &merican support for the war and a dramatic increase in &merican enlistment. 2itt also dispatched large numbers of additional troops. &lmost immediately, the tide of the

battle began to turn in $ngland0s favor. The

William Pitt, English Secretary of State

French, now even more outnumbered then before and plagued by poor harvests, could no longer offer enough resistance to the (ritish troops and &merican militias. In 6uly 1 !4, the fortress of 7ouisbourg was captured by two brilliant $nglish generals -and their armies1, 6effrey &mherst and 6ames Wolfe. &nd on .eptember 18 1 !9, the supposedly inpregnable city of :uebec fell to the army of ;eneral 6ames Wolfe. This mar,ed the beginning of the end of the &merican phase of the war. & year later, in .eptember 1 %<, the French army formally surrendered to &mherst in =ontreal. The French and Indian War had profound effects for both the (ritish $mpire and the &merican colonists. It is often seen as the source of much of the resentment between the $nglish government and the colonists that eventually led to the &merican >evolution of 1 !.