FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR analysis question...PLEASE HELP?

Question

MULTIPLE PARAGRAPH RESPONSE:
The French and Indian War has also been called the "Great War for Empire"
Explain why this might be an appropriate name for this war

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any sites that can help, sources i can go to, are really appreciated.
any history buffs that can provide a long answer...thanks so much !!!!

AP U.S. History is the subject.

the chapter is The Duel for North america 1608-1763

Answer 1

This war involved the great European powers (France and England) and settle once and for all the dominance of the English over the North American Continent. the French influence over the New World was stopped by the conflict and the Spanish were relegated to a second class status in the Americas after the ascendancy of England after the end of the Seven Years War (of the French and Indian War if you prefer)

Answer 2

The Seven Years' War, The Great War for Empire or the French and Indian War all refer to the same 1756-1763 conflict which falls into a much broader category of what can be considered the Second Hundred Years' War. Beginning with the placement of William of Orange on the British throne in 1689, the French and English were at each others' throats with great regularity until the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 and the establishment of the Concert of Europe.
Calling the 1756-1763 war the Great War for Empire seems a bit premature. The English and French were basically playing checkers with the world before (to a smaller extent) and afterwards. If anything, the Napoleonic Wars can be called the Great Wars for Empire since the defeat of France by the British, et al, allowed for the rapid expansion of British colonial possessions such as the securing of their position in Indian and the land grab of Africa and the Middle East.

Answer 3

The volley fired by a young Virginian in the backwoods of American set the world on fire”1

From the 1750's and through the early 1760's, the British, the French, and many American Indian nations engaged in a war that changed the course of American history: the French and Indian War. It started over who would control the Ohio River Valley and a familiar figure, George Washington, was an early participant.

At the time about 3,000 to 4,000 American Indians were living in the Ohio River Valley. The French had settlements in Canada, the “Illinois country” and Louisiana (which included New Orleans). The British settled east of the Allegheny Mountains along the eastern seaboard. Both the French and the British thought they had an indisputable claim to the Ohio River Valley, as did the Indians who lived there. For both economic and political reasons all three powers wanted to control this region. As tensions and actions escalated a clash seemed inevitable. On May 28, 1754 the first shot was fired and as British historian Horace Walpole wrote, it “set the world on fire.”

Eventually France and Britain declared war on each other and the fighting spread from North America to Europe, the Caribbean, India, and the Philippines. War was not new to these powerful European nations. They had been traditional rivals and enemies in a dozen previous wars.

As the French and Indian War continued in North America the American Indians fought for their own cause. They were influential in shaping the outcome of the war.

The fall of the French colonial city of Montreal in 1760 signaled the end of fighting between the French and British on this continent. Those two powers agreed Britain would control the Ohio River Valley. However, the British did not keep their promises to the American Indians and instituted new unfavorable trade policies. These actions sparked Pontiac’s War in 1763. The British and American Indians continued to struggle over the land. Eventually the British won and settlers pushed most of the Indians westward.

At the end of the French and Indian War Great Britain had a vast new empire to administer. The relationship between the British colonies in North America and their mother country began to change. The British government enacted policies that set the stage for the American Revolution.

http://www.frenchandindianwar250.org/relive/stories.aspx


http://www.alexandriacentral.org/cove/frenchindianwar.html


http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h608.html

Answer 4

I've never heard that name, but it makes sense. France and England were the two world powers at the time and they were always fighting among each other. The French and Indian war is known by that name only in USA, in Europe it's the 7 year war because it was also fought in India and many major navy battles around the world. The war was about which country will have the largest Empire in the world. And because the English won, they took almost all North America, and India, and to make things worse for the French they became without a doubt the best navy in the world. So the war was about who will build an Empire, and it was Britain who built that huge empire and France had to stick to a few territories.

Answer 5

the great war for empire aka French and Indian War in the United States or The British Conquest or War of the Conquest in Quebec and Ontario and the seven years war was the last war that had been raging between France and England since 1690 also known as the 100 years war. but unlike all the other four wars this was the first war to start in America. The main point of conflict between French and British colonists was the ownership of the Ohio Country. Both the British and the French claimed the territory as did the Iroquois Confederacy. The Treaty of Utrecht, which ended the War of Spanish Succession in 1713, had stated that the Iroquois were subjects of the British Crown. Since the Iroquois claimed the Ohio Country as their land, the British asserted that the Ohio Country rightfully belonged to them. The French, of course, didn't agree with the British claim. but there was a another reason for the war fur was becoming very poplar in Europe.so both sides knew who ever won this war stood to gain a fortune in controlling the fur business. the reason it's called the great war for empire is because all the major empires played a roll in this conflict. another reason is because France lost every thing in the new world and England gained an empire in the new world

Answer 6

I'm with dhlund250 on this one. If you want to talk about "great wars" in this era, the fighting of the 1750s and 1760s in North America hardly matters worth a damn. The real war was fought against post-revolutionary France and Napolean's Empire. What North America was about was the French king tying the British Army down as best they could in North America. Both Britain and France had gotten into the colony business for one reason; MONEY. As time progressed though, the French king had managed his North American possessions into financial ruin while the American colonists had earned the English had some pretty valuable assetts on the continent. Given this condition the French crown (meaning the King and his ministers) made a clear strategic decision. They encouraged their native allies (who's allegiance had been bought through a primitive form of economic diplomacy through the fur trade) and their local populace to engage in a form of terrorism against their American neighbours. They engaged in ambushes, civilian strikes, and basic guerilla warfarre althroughout the English colonies to scare as many people as they could. This meant the English had to send more troops out to North America and spread them out further to be prepared for attack. It was a huge expensive commitment on the part of the British Army and it did help the French keep a potentially dangerous enemy busy and not fighting where it really mattered (for example beside the Dutch or the Prussians)

If you need anymore evidence of the French Crown's indifference, all one needs to look to is how little concern the French had for regaining Quebec. They could have gotten their colony back. They could have attempted to retake it by force. They never did. Once the British were on shore in 1760, the St. Lawrence Valley remained uncontested British territory. Only the independant Americans were crazy enough to invade and get their asses kicked. If the French had really been concerned about having a North American empire such as your name "the Great War for Empire" implies, don't you think they would have put up more of a fight. The fact is the didn't give a hoot. New France was a tool to be used, and it was.....

Answer 7

Because the Brits won the war. The prevailing view of heads of state at that time was that the Indian tribes were savages. Thus the British started a propaganda campaign to make it seem as if the British were fighting the Indians and the French to make France look bad for allying with Indians. The reality however is that both the English and the French allied with various Indian tribes.

Answer 8

Can you add some information please? Where did this title come from - what subject are you studying? Do you know what years the war covered? What books have your read/titles? I'm not too history orientated.....but have a mind that just loves reading.... My way of relaxing.

Do you mean the Asia India or the American Indians? Like French Quebec. Or the French Empire - was that Napoleon I who went a-warmongering - have a feeling Napoleon may come under "French Empire" - but didn't know he went to India?

Over to you....

Ahhhhh! JUST CHECKED THE QUESTION AND FOUND YOU ALREADY HAVE SOME KNOWLEDGEABLE PEOPLE HELPNG OUT......

Answer 9

I am European and, sorry, I don´t remember when the war you mentioned was. Wasn´t it the one that ended in 1763? If not so, I want to excuse for wasting your time. If it was, that war was called Seven Years´ War and it was mainly a fight between the five major powers of Europe and the fighting in North America was not really important. Perhaps one could say that the war decided whether Britain or France was to own Canada and East India. In that case it was a struggle about future empires.

Answer 10

A number of years ago I read something that said the war between England and France was truly the first world war since it was fought all around the world. The author's contention was that the two great wars of the twentieth century should have been called World Wars II and III.