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George Washington
22 year old George Washington's militia attacked a small detachment of French soldiers. however, the French quickly counterattacked. The battle that followed in July, the French forced Washington to surrender. These battles were the begining of the French and Indian War -
Unusual tactics
After his defeat Washington aided the British General Edward Braddock. In an attempt to drive the French out of the Ohio Valley. Braddock launched an attack on Fort Duquesne. He sent out nearly 1,500 soldiers to the Fort. The French and Natives ambushed them. Not acustomued to enemies who used gorilla war fare and used to enemies who marched in orderley rows. The British turned and fled. People started to to question the strength of the British army with defeat after defeat durring 1755 and 1756 -
Revigoration of the Britsh army by William Pitt
William Pitt was an energetic, and self confident politician who revigorated the British army and they began to keep winning battles. In September of 1759, the war took a dramatic turn. Durring the night, British troops under General James Wolfe climbed the high cliffs that protected Quebec. In captruing the French by surprise the British won a short but deadly battle. Winning the battle at Quebec led the British to victory in the war. -
Pontiac and his relization.
Pontiac the Ottawa leader realized that the French loss was also a loss for the Natives as well. The British did not care as much about the Natives as the French did in helping and trading with them. This led to Pontiac capturing 8 British forts in the Valley and destroyed 2 others. In response the British presented small pox infected blankets to the 2 Deleware cheifs duriing peace negotiations and the virus srpead to many Natives. Ultimately the Natives had to surrender by the end of 1765 -
Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 was a law that banned all settlement west of the appalachians. It was called the Proclamation line wich colonists could not cross. However British could not effectively enforce this law just like the Navigation Acts, and the colonists continued to move west -
George Grenville
George Grenville was choosed by King George III as a financial expert to help lowere Britains war debt. He was to serve as prime minester in 1763. However he would soon come to anger merchants throught the colonies. -
Sugar Act
In 1764 Grenville proposed the Sugar Act to Parliment. It did 3 things. It halved the work of foreign ,ade molasses in hopes that the colonists would pay a lower tax then risk arrest by smuggling it. It also placed duties on certain imports. Hoever most importantly, it strengthend the enforcement of the law allowing prosecutors to be treated bad. The colonialists and British continued to argue more and more leading to major rebellion
