The takeover of the Ohio Country by the French alarmed the British government to the degree that it did something it had never done before, sending regular troops from Europe to bolster the colonial militias in order to put an end to the French threat once and for all. Arriving in 1755, two major campaigns were planned for that year. The first was an invasion of what is today New Brunswick in order to put to an end raids by the Wabanaki Confederacy on New England, which had been continuing unabated since King George’s War, and the second was an invasion of the Ohio Country by British troops, colonial militia, and the Iroquois. The invasion of New Brunswick went off without a hitch, which was then closely followed by the forced expulsion of large parts of the French colonial population, many of whom fled to Louisiana, ending forever the threat of the Wabanaki Confederacy in one fell swoop. However, the invasion of the Ohio County did not go to plan. While small in numbers, the French troops were well trained and well versed in combat in the New World. As well, their numbers had been greatly bolstered by a significant number of allied natives from across the Midwest and Great Lakes regions, and even some from as far west as the Siouan nations in what is today Minnesota. The British invasion force was almost completely wiped out, allowing the French to launch attacks across the northern frontier and invade northern New York. Though further British troops were sent across the Atlantic to shore up the colonial defenses, the French and their native allies largely had free reign to do as they would.
What had begun as a North American conflict between France and Britain soon expanded into a worldwide conflagration in 1756 which became known as the Seven Years’ War. Central Europe was again falling into conflict, with Prussia and Austria coming to blows over who should dominate the German States, drawing an alliance of Britain, Portugal, and Russia to support the former and France, Spain, and Sweden to support the latter. The war than spread into the Caribbean, west Africa, India, and the Philippines, with both France and Britain hoping to use it as an excuse to expand their overseas empires. As with all wars, it was a giant clusterfuck which caused chaos and death, and left the nations involved riddled with debt and the dead.
Back in North America, one by one the French managed to capture the frontier forts between Quebec and New York and by 1757 were fully poised to sweep south into the colonies. However, fate was not on their side. Small pox began to spread amongst their troops, having a particularly terrible affect on their native allies, many of whom returned home, further spreading the dreaded diseases across the Midwest, devastating towns and villages across the region. This created animosity between the French and their allies for some reason, greatly weakening them for the following year’s campaign season. With British reinforcements arriving in 1758, the British successfully took several forts as the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, effectively blockading Quebec from France, which was soon after followed by a successful invasion of the Ohio Country. However, all was not fortuitous for the British and their colonies. Angered over continued trespass of their territories by British colonists, the Cherokee left their long standing alliance with the British and began launching attacks across southern frontier. Unable to spare troops, the local militias were left to defend the southern colonies as best they could.
Despite the setback of the Cherokee switching sides, the was quickly winding down. In 1759, British and colonial militia invaded Quebec, successfully taking the colony by the following year and effectively ending French resistance. Though sporadic fighting continued, by 1761 the British had managed to occupy the formerly French trading posts throughout the Great Lakes and Midwest, pacifying the small pox ravaged natives in the areas. This allowed British troops to be sent south to aid the militias of the southern colonies in a scorched earth invasion of Cherokee territory, destroying towns and food supplies until the Cherokee capitulated and signed a treaty to end the conflict. British troops were also sent to the Caribbean to take French and Spanish settlements.
By 1763, France and its allies, facing mounting debts and continued losses, chose to negotiate an end to the conflict. France made significant concessions to Britain, handing control over significant parts of North America and India, thus solidifying the British as the new dominant world superpower. In North America, France gave Britain all of its claims east of the Mississippi River in order to retain control of its more lucrative sugar producing colonies in the Caribbean. They as well gained Florida from Spain, though Spain did get all of France’s claims west of the Mississippi River in compensation for its losses, though only after it agreed with Britain that the Mississippi River would be free for both sides to navigate. The conclusion of the French and Indian War left the Thirteen Colonies for the first time secure from French assault, but it also opened a can of worms which would ultimately lead to a revolution.
