The Road to Revolution
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The French & Indian War
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7 Years WarAll the participants of the Seven Years' War.
Great Britain, Prussia, Portugal, with allies France, Spain, Austria, Russia, Sweden with allies Conflict between Great Britain and France broke out in 1754–1755 when the British attacked disputed French positions in North America and seized hundreds of FrenchMerchant Ships. Meanwhile, rising power Prussia was struggling with Austria for dominance within and outside the Holy Roman Empire in central Europe. In 1756, the major powers "switched partners"; Prussia established an alliance with Britain while traditional enemies France and Austria formed an alliance of their own with the Treaty of Versailles. The Anglo-Prussian alliance was joined by smaller German states (especially Hanover) and later Portugal, which therefore suffered a Franco-Spanish invasion. The Austro-French alliance included Sweden, Saxony and later Spain. The Russian Empire was originally aligned with Austria, but switched sides upon the succession of TsarPeter III in 1762. The taxation needed for war caused the citizens of Russia considerable hardship, being added to the taxation of salt and alcohol by Empress Elizabeth in 1759 to complete her addition to the Winter Palace. Like Sweden, Russia concluded a separate peace with Prussia. British Controls |
Pontiac's RebellionPontiac's War, Pontiac's Conspiracy, or Pontiac's Rebellion was a war that was launched in 1763 by a loose confederation of elements of Native American tribes primarily from the Great Lakes region, the Illinois Country, and Ohio Country who were dissatisfied with British postwar policies in the Great Lakes region after the British victory in theFrench and Indian War (1754–1763). Warriors from numerous tribes joined the uprising in an effort to drive British soldiers and settlers out of the region. The war is named after the Ottawa leader Pontiac, the most prominent of many native leaders in the conflict.
The war began in May 1763 when Native Americans, offended by the policies of British General Jeffrey Amherst, attacked a number of British forts and settlements. Eight forts were destroyed, and hundreds of colonists were killed or captured, with many more fleeing the region. Hostilities came to an end after British Army expeditions in 1764 led to peace negotiations over the next two years. Native Americans were unable to drive away the British, but the uprising prompted the British government to modify the policies that had provoked the conflict. Warfare on the North American frontier was brutal, and the killing of prisoners, the targeting of civilians, and other atrocities were widespread. The ruthlessness and treachery of the conflict was a reflection of a growing divide between the separate populations of the British colonists and Native Americans. Contrary to popular belief, the British government did not issue the Royal Proclamation of 1763 in reaction to Pontiac's War, though the conflict did provide an impetus for the application of the Proclamation's Indian clauses.[3] This proved unpopular with British colonists, and may have been one of the early contributing factors to the American Revolution. |
Proclamation of 1763The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War, which forbade all settlement past a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains.[1] The Royal Proclamation continues to be of legal importance to First Nations in Canada and is significant for the variation of indigenous status in the United States. It eventually ensured that British culture and laws were applied in Upper Canada after 1791, which was done to attract British settlers to the province. Its geographic location is similar to the Eastern Continental Divide's path running northwards from Georgia to the Pennsylvania-New York State border, and north-eastwards past the drainage divide on the "St. Lawrence Divide" from there northwards through New England.
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