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Perhaps the biggest reason these two world powers went to war. other than the fact they were mortal enemies, was for the contestation over the Ohio river valley. This was very fertile farmland that included Pennsylvania, what is now West Virginia, and of course Ohio. |  |
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There were many rivers included in the Ohio river valley, and I you controlled the rivers, you controlled the most important means of transportation, as well as trade, and settlements. At the time canoes or rafts were much better ways to transport military personnel. Trails had to be blazed, and one could be easily ambushed form the woods. Armies could only move as fast as the men could walk, while on a river you can cover much more ground in the period of a day. Pittsburgh, and the point in specific, was a major location to control for the success of the war. The French originally built fort Duquesne here. But, in a somewhat surprise attack by the British, and the French garrison almost completely gone, the French burned the fort to the ground, because they knew they could not hold the fort, and did not want the British to use the fort to their advantage. The British in turn built fort Pitt, the largest and most Formidable fort in America at the time. This fortification eventually helped in British victory. |
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| THe French and British also had very different plans for America, but both wanted control of it nonetheless. The british wanted it to settle, and build colonies, basically extend their already vast empire. |
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The French were the complete opposite, mainly wanting to use the land for trapping, and also to settle it somewhat. The British went into this war with a huge advantage, both in numbers and in resources. Great Britain was obviously already more established in America at the time, with the 13 colonies and the frontier constantly expanding | |
| The French, on the other hand, had only small hunting camps, and some larger settlement dotted across Canada and the Midwest. They had to constantly import resources to keep alive. |
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THey therefore also had no concentration of force. THats where the indians come in. THey swelled Franc'es numbers, joing them instead of the british because the knew the french weren't here to inhabit the land, the indians land. Most indians, not all but most, joined the French in their Hostilities against the british. | |
| ALthought the french had a sizeable army back home, they were short on men in America, and the indians obviously coulnt fight the whole war on their own. Because of this they had to adapt more savage and "Ungentlemanly" tactics for the time. |
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They started raiding frontier settlements, killing the men, and enslaving the women, and burning buildings to the ground. This was absolutely barbaric for the time. Usually |
