The First Global War : Britain, France, and the Fate of North America, 1756-1775

By 1756 the wilderness war for control of North America that erupted two years earlier between France and England had expanded into a global struggle among all of Europe's Great Powers. Its land and sea battles raged across the North American continent, engulfed Europe and India, and stretched from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, Indian, and Pacific waters. The new conflict, now commonly known as the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763, was a direct continuation of the last French and Indian War. This study explores the North American campaigns in relation to events elsewhere in the world, from the ministries of Whitehall and Versailles to the land and sea battles in Europe, Africa, South Asia, and the Caribbean. Few wars have had a more decisive effect on international relations and national development. The French and Indian War resulted in France's expulsion from almost all of the Western Hemisphere, except for some tiny islands in the Caribbean and St. Lawrence. Britain emerged as the world's dominant sea power and would remain so for two centuries. Finally, within a generation or two the vast debts incurred by Whitehall and Versailles in waging this war would help to stimulate revolutions in America and France that would forever change world history. Cover 1 THE FIRST GLOBAL WAR 4 Contents 6 Introduction 8 1 1756 12 NORTH AMERICAN STRATEGIES 14 ROGERS’ RANGERS 16 FORT OSWEGO, FORT BULL, AND THE RIVER FIGHT 17 POLITICAL INTRIGUE IN PENNSYLVANIA 20 INDIAN DIPLOMACY 23 THE NEW COMMANDERS 27 LAKE GEORGE 29 OSWEGO’S FALL AND AFTERMATH 31 THE FRONTIER WAR 36 THE WORLD WAR 39 WINTER QUARTERS 41 CONSEQUENCES 42 NOTES 45 2 1757 50 LOUDOUN AND VAUDREUIL 52 THE LAKE GEORGE FRONT 54 LOUISBOURG 56 FORT WILLIAM HENRY 62 THE FRONTIER WAR 75 LOUDOUN AND THE AMERICANS 81 THE WORLD WAR 82 CONSEQUENCES 85 NOTES 87 3 1758 92 THE FRONTIER WAR 95 LOUISBOURG 97 FORT CARILLON 105 FORT FRONTENAC 113 FORT DUQUESNE 115 THE WORLD WAR 123 CONSEQUENCES 126 NOTES 129 4 1759 136 THE QUEBEC CAMPAIGN: FIRST PHASE 140 NIAGARA 153 THE PENNSYLVANIA FRONTIER 160 FORT CARILLON AND LAKE CHAMPLAIN 162 TO THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM 167 THE WORLD WAR 182 CONSEQUENCES 185 NOTES 188 5 1760 194 QUEBEC 195 RESTIGOUCHE 202 THE FRONTIER WAR 203 MURRAY 206 HAVILAND 208 AMHERST 211 CONVERGENCE 213 WORLD WAR 215 CONSEQUENCES 216 NOTES 218 6 Peace and War, 1761–1768 222 CORRUPTION TRIALS 224 INDIAN WARS 225 THE WORLD WAR 228 TREATY OF PARIS 232 ‘‘AMHERST’S WAR’’: 1763 234 THE PROCLAMATION OF 1763 238 ‘‘AMHERST’S WAR’’: 1764 239 NOTES 244 7 The World Turned Upside Down, 1763–1776 248 AMERICAN POSSIBILITIES 249 BRITISH PROBLEMS 252 THE ACTS 255 NOTES 269 Bibliography 272 PAPERS IN INSTITUTIONS 272 PUBLISHED ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS AND SOURCES 273 SECONDARY SOURCES: BOOKS AND ARTICLES 280 Index 312 About the Author 320