A little background into why the French and Indian War happened and the impact that it had on colonial development.

1. Who is this soldier and why should we care about him?

2. Who is he?

3. Conflictchangesall

4. Why does the war happen?

5. rivalries England and France had become fierce colonial rivals around the world by the 1750s.

6. rivalries In North America, this bought both nations into conflict close to the Appalachian Mountains on the western frontier of the English Colonies.

7. rivalries Many Virginia planters relied on tobacco as their major cash crop, which was problematic because tobacco robbed the soil of its nutrients.

8. rivalries Because of this, tobacco farmers were always looking for more land, and they believed the land along the Ohio River belonged to them.

9. rivalries There were further complications because the religions of the two groups (French = Roman Catholic, English = Protestant) were opposed to each other.

10. rivalries The expansion by the English colonists to the West also made the Amerindians of the region nervous, as they too were running out of places to move without coming into conflict with other groups.

11. rivalries Given all of these differences, it was inevitable that the French and the English would face off against one another.

12. ambush In May, 1754 George Washington led a small force of Virginia militia to the Ohio Valley and ambushed a small French force.

13. ambush The militia quickly constructed a fort and waited for French retaliation, and when that retaliation came, the French forced Washington and his troops to surrender.

14. ambush This was to be the early trend for the British in what was to become the French and Indian War, as the British fought both the French and Amerindian tribes loyal to them.

15. ambush By the end of the war, however, the British had turned the tables on the French and defeated them.

16. ambush In the Treaty of Paris of 1763, the British gained control of all of Canada and the land between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River.

17. ambush The colonies saw victory as a way to expand their land holdings and began to resent their British leaders in London because of London’s lack of respect for the colonial assistance in the victory.