What Are The Causes Of The French And Indian War

The French and Indian war lasted from 1756 until 1763 (actually events leading to the war started in 1754). This war was also known as the Seven Years’ War because, well it lasted seven years (nine to be exact but seven years’ war has a better ring to it). The competing claims over ancestral Indian land covering the Ohio River valley, known as the “most fertile country of America” was the major cause of this war. The French built forts in parts of Western Pennsylvania to protect their interest in this land. When the Governor of Virginia heard about the French forts, he sent a Virginia militia officer to warn the French to leave the area. That officer was one of the most notable historical figures in American history, Major George Washington. The French commander refused to leave so Washington went back to inform the Governor. Due to the refusal, in the spring of 1754, Washington took 150
He found out that the French had already beat him to this site and they had erected another fort there. The next day the Virginians attacked a French scouting party killing ten soldiers including the commander, and capturing twenty one others. The Indians that were with the Virginians tomahawked and scalped many of the French soldiers who had been wounded in the attack. The soldiers who were mutilated and died were the first people to die in the French and Indian war. Washington and his group left and set up a fort that was called Fort Necessity. However on July 3, 1754, French soldiers attacked the fort killing or wounding a third of Washington’s men before he surrendered. France was now in control of the Ohio land that had caused so many fights and arguments in the beginning.
There are several things that may not have occurred had the French and Indian