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French and Indian War: A History From Beginning to End
French and Indian War * * *Download for FREE on Kindle Unlimited + Free BONUS Inside!* * * Read On Your Computer, MAC, Smartphone, Kindle Reader, iPad, or Tablet. The French and Indian War is one of the most significant, yet least acknowledged and understood, periods of American history. Fought chiefly between the two imperial powers of England and France in the mid-18th century, the struggle would also draw in native Indian nations who sought to exert their own strength and sovereignty over the North American continent. Inside you will read about... ✓ Imperial Appetites ✓ Sparks Ignite ✓ Rumours of War ✓ Pitt Rising ✓ The Montcalm Before the Storm ✓ Fortresses Fall ✓ From the Plains of Abraham to Peace From the first shots fired in the Ohio Valley wilderness in 1754 until the Treaty of Paris signed in 1763, the French and Indian War became a conflict that encircled the globe, drawing in nation after nation and inciting battles from the Caribbean to the Philippines. This book tells the story of this mighty struggle and how its outcome ultimately laid the foundations for the modern world we inhabit today.
135 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 2, 2017
About the author
Hourly History
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
January 25, 2020
I’d highly rate the book because it is brief in plain English, so you can get through the pages fast. Meanwhile, it doesn’t miss the points and lessons we learn from the event in big picture.
The history of the Seven Years' War (French and Indian War was the North American Theater of this global warfare), the first part of the Second Global War, like the Great War (1914-1918) as the first round of the Third Global War, supports my idea that the Thirty Years' War in the previous century was actually a part of the first hegemonic war between rising Bourbon-France and declining Hapsburg-Spain over the global waters, trade and hegemony.
Now the British (The United Kingdom of Great Britain was officially established in 1707 under the reign of Queen Anne (actually under the English Parliament since the end of English Civil War and Bill of Rights signed in 1689)) had to fight the French to take over the global hegemony, and they'd complete the task by the time the new order called Vienna Congress (1815) replaced the old Peace of Westphalia (1648).
(Kindle Locations 9-18)
…France’s dominance in North America was forever ended…For most of the war, France clearly held the upper hand, winning victory after victory, with England struggling to maintain control of its frontier. The conflict beginning in the wilderness of America ultimately became a global war, with blood spilled on battlefields across Europe, in the islands of the Caribbean, even in the far-flung domains of India and the Philippines. Further, though Great Britain emerged the victor…Indeed, many colonists were gripped with patriotic fervor over the emergence of the British Empire as the dominant world power by the war’s end…
>>> Well, just like the United States after the Great War in 1918. Wilson’s 14 Points wouldn’t be possible if America joining the war wasn’t recognized as one of the most vital factors for the allied victory.
(Kindle Location 29)
…Within a generation, and as a direct result of policies established during the French and Indian War, Americans would fight to free themselves from the empire they helped establish…
>>> And this war was the cause of both the Revolutions in America and France leading all to the following sequence of the Second Global War known as the Napoleonic War. So the Seven Years’ War was like the World War I, while the following Napoleonic War with the new order of Vienna Congress was like the World War II with the new global order of the United Nations (under the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank).
(Kindle Location 34)
…The key to security, these nations understood, lay in power - and the key to power was wealth in all its many forms: land, resources, and especially gold…wasted no time in sending their own contingents of intrepid pioneers to lay claim to as much of the wealth as they could…
>>> The clear reason of all the three Global Wars ever since Columbus found his India in 1492.
(Kindle Location 43)
…By the dawn of the 18th century, the North American continent had been largely subdued by France. From their stronghold at Quebec, they maintained control of the St. Lawrence River, building forts and establishing trade routes throughout the Great Lakes region all the way down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. With the establishment of New Orleans in 1718, the domain of King Louis XV dwarfed the meager settlements of the English along the eastern coast of America…
>>> It wasn’t England, but France, which was the dominant maritime power after Spain until the Seven Years’ War was won by Great Britain. Still today in some of the Southeastern provinces in India, the official language is not English, but French, proving the long and deep influence of the French power before the British took over the Indian Empire. Portuguese (under Spain at the time) too, still have some of its remnants in India as India was largely under its naval power before the French. Anyway the miserable result of the Seven Years’ War, its loss of North America and India caused too much damage to France; literally the country lost the global ocean to Great Britain. The prolonged war without any gain for the countrymen only caused anger of the people as always. The lost war caused France the Revolution in Paris, leading to Napoleonic War, an expansion of the Seven Years’ War, just like France had to keep fighting the Habsburg Empire after Peace of Westphalia until it signed a complete version of it, aka the Treaty of the Pyrenees, only after concluding the final hegemonic fight with Spain, and like they still had to fight the World War II after the Treaty of Versailles caused more trouble without settling as new order like the Congress of Vienna or the United Nations did.
(Kindle Location 227)
…In May of 1756, following the French capture of the British-held island of Minorca in the Mediterranean Sea, Great Britain and France each issued declarations of war against the other. Before the war’s end, its battles would be fought over the entire globe. Known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War, this conflict became what Winston Churchill would later call “the first world war.”
>>> No, it was the Second Global War. First was the Eighty Years’ War and Franco-Spanish War (1635–59) with the Peace of Westphalia (later upgraded to the Treaty of the Pyrenees). Second was the Seven Years’ War and Napoleonic War with the Congress of Vienna. Third was the World War I and World War II with the League of Nations (later upgraded to the United Nations under International Monetary Fund and World Bank).
The Treaty of the Pyrenees (French: Traité des Pyrénées, Spanish: Tratado de los Pirineos, Catalan: Tractat dels Pirineus, Portuguese: Tratado dos Pirenéus) was signed on 7 November 1659 to end the 1635-1659 war between France and Spain,[1] a war that was initially a part of the wider Thirty Years' War. It was signed on Pheasant Island, a river island on the border between the two countries which has remained a French-Spanish condominium since the treaty. The kings Louis XIV of France and Philip IV of Spain were represented by their chief ministers, Cardinal Mazarin and Don Luis Méndez de Haro, respectively.[2]
France entered the Thirty Years' War after the Spanish Habsburg victories in the Dutch Revolt in the 1620s and at the Battle of Nördlingen against Sweden in 1634. By 1640, France began to interfere in Spanish politics, aiding the revolt in Catalonia, while Spain responded by aiding the Fronde revolt in France in 1648. During the negotiations for the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, France gained the Sundgau and cut off Spanish access to the Netherlands from Austria, leading to open warfare between the French and Spanish.
The Treaty of the Pyrenees was the last major diplomatic achievement by Cardinal Mazarin. Combined with the Peace of Westphalia, it allowed Louis XIV remarkable stability and diplomatic advantage by means of a weakened Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé and a weakened Spanish Crown, along with the agreed dowry, which was an important element in the French king's strategy:
In the Pyrenees, the treaty resulted in the establishment of border customs and restriction of the free cross-border flow of people and goods. All in all, by 1660, when the Swedish occupation of Poland was over, most of the European continent was at peace (Portuguese Restoration War, third stage), and the Bourbons had ended the dominance of the Habsburgs.[1][3]
[1] J. P. Cooper (20 December 1979). The New Cambridge Modern History: Volume 4, The Decline of Spain and the Thirty Years War, 1609-48/49. CUP Archive. p. 428. ISBN 978-0-521-29713-4.
[2] Peter Sahlins (1989). Boundaries: The Making of France and Spain in the Pyrenees. University of California Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-520-91121-5.
[3] Stewart P. Oakley (28 June 2005). War and Peace in the Baltic, 1560-1790. Routledge. pp. 84–85. ISBN 978-1-134-97451-1.
(Kindle Locations 262-272)
In Another shrewd move, Pitt found a way to take advantage of Frederick’s war on the continent. Rather than merely being a drain on Britain’s resources, Prussia’s incursions into Austria served as an excellent distraction. France was highly vested in its supremacy in Europe, and its alliance with Austria required giving attention to these continental land battles. Canada - which now seemed relatively secure, from France’s point of view - would become the less urgent theater of war. Pitt invested just enough of Britain’s military power in Europe to distract France from what Britain considered to be the real prize: North America.
France’s position in North America was still the stronger one, and Pitt knew that small skirmishes in the frontiers of the Ohio Valley would never be decisive. If a lasting wound were to be inflicted, it must be in the very heart of New France. Pitt was resolved; they must take Quebec…
>>> This is how Great Britain challenged and successfully overturned the table against the French supremacy, then-European and Global hegemon.
(Kindle Locations 496-507)
…The long war was over. The terms of peace were much to the liking of King George III but were vastly different from what Pitt would have chosen. Not only was the king eager to end the war, but he was also similarly uneager administer all of the lands that Great Britain had conquered. He feared to commit his empire to more than she could reasonably manage. Though his caution may have been wise, it was not popular. Many Britons, including Pitt, felt that the terms of peace fell far short of what the long war had accomplished. Pitt remarked, “The peace was insecure, because it restored the enemy to her former greatness. The peace was inadequate, because the places gained were no equivalent for the places surrendered.” His feelings would be borne out in less than a generation’s time…
>>> Even the winners were not happy about the result just like the Japanese didn’t like the result of the Great War in the early-20th century. Expansion of that world war was inevitable until the winners and the losers totally agreed to end the bloodshed.
(Kindle Location 521)
…The taxes imposed in the 1760s were indeed burdensome during the postwar recession…
>>> The war imposed economic recession on both sides. The British colonists in North America and the French people felt the hardest. Rebellions were to rise, and one of them would end up with Emperor Napoleon.
The history of the Seven Years' War (French and Indian War was the North American Theater of this global warfare), the first part of the Second Global War, like the Great War (1914-1918) as the first round of the Third Global War, supports my idea that the Thirty Years' War in the previous century was actually a part of the first hegemonic war between rising Bourbon-France and declining Hapsburg-Spain over the global waters, trade and hegemony.
Now the British (The United Kingdom of Great Britain was officially established in 1707 under the reign of Queen Anne (actually under the English Parliament since the end of English Civil War and Bill of Rights signed in 1689)) had to fight the French to take over the global hegemony, and they'd complete the task by the time the new order called Vienna Congress (1815) replaced the old Peace of Westphalia (1648).
(Kindle Locations 9-18)
…France’s dominance in North America was forever ended…For most of the war, France clearly held the upper hand, winning victory after victory, with England struggling to maintain control of its frontier. The conflict beginning in the wilderness of America ultimately became a global war, with blood spilled on battlefields across Europe, in the islands of the Caribbean, even in the far-flung domains of India and the Philippines. Further, though Great Britain emerged the victor…Indeed, many colonists were gripped with patriotic fervor over the emergence of the British Empire as the dominant world power by the war’s end…
>>> Well, just like the United States after the Great War in 1918. Wilson’s 14 Points wouldn’t be possible if America joining the war wasn’t recognized as one of the most vital factors for the allied victory.
(Kindle Location 29)
…Within a generation, and as a direct result of policies established during the French and Indian War, Americans would fight to free themselves from the empire they helped establish…
>>> And this war was the cause of both the Revolutions in America and France leading all to the following sequence of the Second Global War known as the Napoleonic War. So the Seven Years’ War was like the World War I, while the following Napoleonic War with the new order of Vienna Congress was like the World War II with the new global order of the United Nations (under the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank).
(Kindle Location 34)
…The key to security, these nations understood, lay in power - and the key to power was wealth in all its many forms: land, resources, and especially gold…wasted no time in sending their own contingents of intrepid pioneers to lay claim to as much of the wealth as they could…
>>> The clear reason of all the three Global Wars ever since Columbus found his India in 1492.
(Kindle Location 43)
…By the dawn of the 18th century, the North American continent had been largely subdued by France. From their stronghold at Quebec, they maintained control of the St. Lawrence River, building forts and establishing trade routes throughout the Great Lakes region all the way down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. With the establishment of New Orleans in 1718, the domain of King Louis XV dwarfed the meager settlements of the English along the eastern coast of America…
>>> It wasn’t England, but France, which was the dominant maritime power after Spain until the Seven Years’ War was won by Great Britain. Still today in some of the Southeastern provinces in India, the official language is not English, but French, proving the long and deep influence of the French power before the British took over the Indian Empire. Portuguese (under Spain at the time) too, still have some of its remnants in India as India was largely under its naval power before the French. Anyway the miserable result of the Seven Years’ War, its loss of North America and India caused too much damage to France; literally the country lost the global ocean to Great Britain. The prolonged war without any gain for the countrymen only caused anger of the people as always. The lost war caused France the Revolution in Paris, leading to Napoleonic War, an expansion of the Seven Years’ War, just like France had to keep fighting the Habsburg Empire after Peace of Westphalia until it signed a complete version of it, aka the Treaty of the Pyrenees, only after concluding the final hegemonic fight with Spain, and like they still had to fight the World War II after the Treaty of Versailles caused more trouble without settling as new order like the Congress of Vienna or the United Nations did.
(Kindle Location 227)
…In May of 1756, following the French capture of the British-held island of Minorca in the Mediterranean Sea, Great Britain and France each issued declarations of war against the other. Before the war’s end, its battles would be fought over the entire globe. Known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War, this conflict became what Winston Churchill would later call “the first world war.”
>>> No, it was the Second Global War. First was the Eighty Years’ War and Franco-Spanish War (1635–59) with the Peace of Westphalia (later upgraded to the Treaty of the Pyrenees). Second was the Seven Years’ War and Napoleonic War with the Congress of Vienna. Third was the World War I and World War II with the League of Nations (later upgraded to the United Nations under International Monetary Fund and World Bank).
The Treaty of the Pyrenees (French: Traité des Pyrénées, Spanish: Tratado de los Pirineos, Catalan: Tractat dels Pirineus, Portuguese: Tratado dos Pirenéus) was signed on 7 November 1659 to end the 1635-1659 war between France and Spain,[1] a war that was initially a part of the wider Thirty Years' War. It was signed on Pheasant Island, a river island on the border between the two countries which has remained a French-Spanish condominium since the treaty. The kings Louis XIV of France and Philip IV of Spain were represented by their chief ministers, Cardinal Mazarin and Don Luis Méndez de Haro, respectively.[2]
France entered the Thirty Years' War after the Spanish Habsburg victories in the Dutch Revolt in the 1620s and at the Battle of Nördlingen against Sweden in 1634. By 1640, France began to interfere in Spanish politics, aiding the revolt in Catalonia, while Spain responded by aiding the Fronde revolt in France in 1648. During the negotiations for the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, France gained the Sundgau and cut off Spanish access to the Netherlands from Austria, leading to open warfare between the French and Spanish.
The Treaty of the Pyrenees was the last major diplomatic achievement by Cardinal Mazarin. Combined with the Peace of Westphalia, it allowed Louis XIV remarkable stability and diplomatic advantage by means of a weakened Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé and a weakened Spanish Crown, along with the agreed dowry, which was an important element in the French king's strategy:
In the Pyrenees, the treaty resulted in the establishment of border customs and restriction of the free cross-border flow of people and goods. All in all, by 1660, when the Swedish occupation of Poland was over, most of the European continent was at peace (Portuguese Restoration War, third stage), and the Bourbons had ended the dominance of the Habsburgs.[1][3]
[1] J. P. Cooper (20 December 1979). The New Cambridge Modern History: Volume 4, The Decline of Spain and the Thirty Years War, 1609-48/49. CUP Archive. p. 428. ISBN 978-0-521-29713-4.
[2] Peter Sahlins (1989). Boundaries: The Making of France and Spain in the Pyrenees. University of California Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-520-91121-5.
[3] Stewart P. Oakley (28 June 2005). War and Peace in the Baltic, 1560-1790. Routledge. pp. 84–85. ISBN 978-1-134-97451-1.
(Kindle Locations 262-272)
In Another shrewd move, Pitt found a way to take advantage of Frederick’s war on the continent. Rather than merely being a drain on Britain’s resources, Prussia’s incursions into Austria served as an excellent distraction. France was highly vested in its supremacy in Europe, and its alliance with Austria required giving attention to these continental land battles. Canada - which now seemed relatively secure, from France’s point of view - would become the less urgent theater of war. Pitt invested just enough of Britain’s military power in Europe to distract France from what Britain considered to be the real prize: North America.
France’s position in North America was still the stronger one, and Pitt knew that small skirmishes in the frontiers of the Ohio Valley would never be decisive. If a lasting wound were to be inflicted, it must be in the very heart of New France. Pitt was resolved; they must take Quebec…
>>> This is how Great Britain challenged and successfully overturned the table against the French supremacy, then-European and Global hegemon.
(Kindle Locations 496-507)
…The long war was over. The terms of peace were much to the liking of King George III but were vastly different from what Pitt would have chosen. Not only was the king eager to end the war, but he was also similarly uneager administer all of the lands that Great Britain had conquered. He feared to commit his empire to more than she could reasonably manage. Though his caution may have been wise, it was not popular. Many Britons, including Pitt, felt that the terms of peace fell far short of what the long war had accomplished. Pitt remarked, “The peace was insecure, because it restored the enemy to her former greatness. The peace was inadequate, because the places gained were no equivalent for the places surrendered.” His feelings would be borne out in less than a generation’s time…
>>> Even the winners were not happy about the result just like the Japanese didn’t like the result of the Great War in the early-20th century. Expansion of that world war was inevitable until the winners and the losers totally agreed to end the bloodshed.
(Kindle Location 521)
…The taxes imposed in the 1760s were indeed burdensome during the postwar recession…
>>> The war imposed economic recession on both sides. The British colonists in North America and the French people felt the hardest. Rebellions were to rise, and one of them would end up with Emperor Napoleon.
October 1, 2018
Not much is known about the war that was fought during the 18th Century for dominance in North America as the world was busy with the wars that were being fought on the continent. However, what was happening in the continent was impacting the developments in North America. The book brings about quite clearly how the French influence was eliminated in the region by the British.
May 3, 2019
I clearly remember thinking that the French and Indian War made no sense to me when I was in the fifth grade. I wondered why the French and Native Americans were at war with each other, and why that war had anything to do with American history. Clearly the way it was being taught was wrong (at least to me).
Winston Churchill once called this war, known in Europe as The Seven Year War, the first world war. The French and the Native Americans were allied and fighting the British. George Washington fought in this war on the British side. It was a war fought to see who had supremacy in the world, France or Britain. The French and Indian War was a proxy war fought for one side or the other to lay claim to the Ohio Valley. Additions to this proxy war on the North American continent, battles were fought in the Caribbean and as far away as India.
Thanks to this short read, I now (some 60+ years later) have a better grasp on the part the French and Indian War played on the road to American independence. If you are uncertain of things in history, I highly recommend these short narratives by Hourly History. I grant that it is impossible to present all you might want to know about a particular subject, but they do offer a great starting point by naming names, places and events for further study.
Winston Churchill once called this war, known in Europe as The Seven Year War, the first world war. The French and the Native Americans were allied and fighting the British. George Washington fought in this war on the British side. It was a war fought to see who had supremacy in the world, France or Britain. The French and Indian War was a proxy war fought for one side or the other to lay claim to the Ohio Valley. Additions to this proxy war on the North American continent, battles were fought in the Caribbean and as far away as India.
Thanks to this short read, I now (some 60+ years later) have a better grasp on the part the French and Indian War played on the road to American independence. If you are uncertain of things in history, I highly recommend these short narratives by Hourly History. I grant that it is impossible to present all you might want to know about a particular subject, but they do offer a great starting point by naming names, places and events for further study.
June 4, 2021
Excellent
Hourly history has quickly become one of my favorite things to read. I read everything, mostly fiction and historical fiction because reading is my escape. Hourly history has restored my love of reading history by allowing me to read about a wide variety of topics without going into a long sometimes dry research rabbit hole. I really enjoy how detailed without going to deep into various historical events over a wide timeline. Definitely recommend.
Hourly history has quickly become one of my favorite things to read. I read everything, mostly fiction and historical fiction because reading is my escape. Hourly history has restored my love of reading history by allowing me to read about a wide variety of topics without going into a long sometimes dry research rabbit hole. I really enjoy how detailed without going to deep into various historical events over a wide timeline. Definitely recommend.
November 28, 2021
Enjoyed reading this!
These abbreviated histories are very interesting and entertaining. So much has happened on this earth, phew! And still much more is to happen. The last quote from this books sums up the struggle of humanity that dates back to antiquity, and I quote , "power is often an illusion, and that when wielded carelessly it will sow the seeds of its own undoing." When will human beings realize the fallacy of power 🙄🙄
These abbreviated histories are very interesting and entertaining. So much has happened on this earth, phew! And still much more is to happen. The last quote from this books sums up the struggle of humanity that dates back to antiquity, and I quote , "power is often an illusion, and that when wielded carelessly it will sow the seeds of its own undoing." When will human beings realize the fallacy of power 🙄🙄
April 8, 2022
I learned much from this brief history of the French and Indian War. Most of what I knew was that the French and Indians fought together against the British, and that George Washington first learned how to command during this time.
I learned that many of the Indians were neutral till near the end of the war. Also the French had the upper hand for most of the battle until William Pitt found leaders who could beat the French.
Good brief summary of this period of time.
I learned that many of the Indians were neutral till near the end of the war. Also the French had the upper hand for most of the battle until William Pitt found leaders who could beat the French.
Good brief summary of this period of time.
April 17, 2023
War for empire
The French and Indian War as it was known in America has an unusual story to tell. This entry in the Hourly History series does a fairly well written account of it. Although it is brief it does touch on some major points about the War and just how much influence it had. So if you have an hour and want to find out some about this war then this a good place to start.
The French and Indian War as it was known in America has an unusual story to tell. This entry in the Hourly History series does a fairly well written account of it. Although it is brief it does touch on some major points about the War and just how much influence it had. So if you have an hour and want to find out some about this war then this a good place to start.
April 23, 2020
Enjoyable History
I really enjoy history.
There are books that not only give highlights but also dip slightly into details.
There are books that are dull and dry and extremely boring.
This book, as with all the hourly history books I've read, are not of the latter.
Good Job with this book.
I really enjoy history.
There are books that not only give highlights but also dip slightly into details.
There are books that are dull and dry and extremely boring.
This book, as with all the hourly history books I've read, are not of the latter.
Good Job with this book.
October 4, 2025
Great Introductory Learning
I didn't have a lot of knowledge of North America, pre-revolutionary period, so this book provided a great introduction. Couple with an upcoming trip to the Lake George and Champlain area will provide an opportunity to learn more about the battles in that region. Thank you!
I didn't have a lot of knowledge of North America, pre-revolutionary period, so this book provided a great introduction. Couple with an upcoming trip to the Lake George and Champlain area will provide an opportunity to learn more about the battles in that region. Thank you!
April 6, 2020
Great background for US war of Independence
This overview of the French & Indian War, gives good insight to the set-up for the Revolutionary War. It also shows how “if” a few things had gone another way—the world would not be vastly different.
This overview of the French & Indian War, gives good insight to the set-up for the Revolutionary War. It also shows how “if” a few things had gone another way—the world would not be vastly different.
April 9, 2020
Great summary
Great summary of the events that happened during the seven year war, specifically focused on the North American events. Highly recommend reading this prior to “Crucible of War” by Anderson.
Great summary of the events that happened during the seven year war, specifically focused on the North American events. Highly recommend reading this prior to “Crucible of War” by Anderson.
November 12, 2022
another excellent primer.
Slightly different in emphasis than the colonial series, this book emphasizes more of the political and historical importance of the French and Indian war. Good read; again an excellent overview of this critical war.
Highly recommended
Slightly different in emphasis than the colonial series, this book emphasizes more of the political and historical importance of the French and Indian war. Good read; again an excellent overview of this critical war.
Highly recommended
March 30, 2023
French and Indian War
This is a very good book about the European countries of England, and France using the Native American tribes against each other to try to win control of what is now America.
This is a very good book about the European countries of England, and France using the Native American tribes against each other to try to win control of what is now America.
June 7, 2023
History lesson of China today. Don,t follow the Japanese 1930
The untold story is the influence of money and commerce on all political decisions. The money me of today Wii cost us dearly in blood and treasure
The untold story is the influence of money and commerce on all political decisions. The money me of today Wii cost us dearly in blood and treasure
June 25, 2025
A 1-Hour "all you want to know" read.
Concise, to the point account. Much like a post game p!ay by play review. The main leaders, their plans and actions, the geniuses and the inept. The outcome lit the spark for American independence.
Concise, to the point account. Much like a post game p!ay by play review. The main leaders, their plans and actions, the geniuses and the inept. The outcome lit the spark for American independence.
February 14, 2019
A fair amount of detail for such a short book. Maps would have been helpful.
May 21, 2019
The best part of this book is the exposition of how events in America were influenced by world events and how they affected those events. American history without knowledge of world pressures gives a distorted picture of the events leading to American independence. This book provides a great summary of the decades prior to the War for Independence, both in North America and the rest of the geopolitical domain of Great Britain. I recommend it to all aficionados of books about the American Revolution.
July 3, 2020
A simple, but sparse, overview of the war. You won’t get any detail, but you will understand the basics - which is exactly what these books are for.
March 30, 2021
Hhhh
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Xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xXxX zzz zzz. zzz zzz zzz as xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xx
March 28, 2023
This part is the summary of historical facts leading to the creation of today's Canada.
Pact with facts of mostly military nature.
Pact with facts of mostly military nature.
June 14, 2024
Basically, from 1756 to 1763, the French and American Indians fought against Britain to avoid paying tax to the king. Both France and Britain walked away with land within the United States.
April 11, 2025
interesting
I had a limited understanding of the war and whilst this was a brief summary of that, it didn’t add to much to my knowledge.
I had a limited understanding of the war and whilst this was a brief summary of that, it didn’t add to much to my knowledge.
June 1, 2025
This helped me understand so much about the conflict Churchill labeled the first world war. Well written, concise, powerful.
March 15, 2017
I enjoy reading the Hourly History publications to get a condensed understanding of various historical topics. Of those HH ebooks I have read to date Henry Freeman's [French & Indian War] is the best written, and provides context of the time period when this War occurred. The author brings the events alive that led up to the War -> as well as the War's outcome on events that followed, not only in North America, but also Europe. It is remarkable that the European monarchs continually failed to see the big picture, and how their bone-headed decisions and actions directly contributed to history's grestest follies, for example: a) the failure of the King to value William Pitt, b) failure of the English Parliment to appreciate the dynamics of colonial America, and c) the French acquiessence of their holdings in North America.
June 7, 2024
It's a short book about a period of history we know little about. I thought Last of the Mohicans was pure fiction until now but it's inspired by a true story. It's bite sized pieces of information that can be easily memorised and used as a launchpad for further inquiry and research. It's not exhaustive but it is an Hourly History book so it's a good primer.
February 22, 2017
This is a short summary of the war between the British and the French during the late 18th Century (part of the Seven years war) for control over North America; with Native Americans choosing whom to back depending on their own strategic interests.
The book starts with the background to the war and the events leading up to it; how the French initially had an upper hand because of the strategic support by some of the native American tribes; the differences of opinion between the French generals Montcalm and Marquis Vanderuil which started the downfall of the French in the war. It goes on to describe the strategies employed by William Pitt, the then Prime Minister of Great Britain and how his relentless pursuit to retain colonies in the New World led to the success of the British forces. The book ends with how this war was the beginning of the movement for American independence owing to the taxes imposed on the settlers by the British to recover the costs of war.
This book was structured very well and focused on both, the French and the British side equally and brought out the reasons for the initial success of the French, the reason for the resurgence of the British and the role of the Native American tribes in the war. I also liked it as to how the author went on to describe the consequences of this war to the British Empire. The book also gave considerable information on the personalities involved in the war, such as Montcalm, Vanderuil, Dieskau, Abercromby, Washington and Amherst.
However, I would have liked it if there was some more content on the Native American involvement and on what basis each chose their side; for the book ended it in one line stating that the Natives had to choose a side in order to protect their own strategic interests. Additionally, I have the same point to make again; what I had made earlier in my review of British History in 50 events by Hourly History; wherein, the book continues to refer to the country as England even though the war took place during the 1750s, nearly five decades after the Act of Union, 1707.
I felt the content of the book was good, for I got to know a lot about a topic which I didn't know about earlier and to be frank, when I first read the title; I imagined that this book was going to be about the Carnatic Wars; while I was aware of the war in the Americas because of a painting by Benjamin West and the eventual British victory but that was all I knew about it.
On the whole, I would award the book a rating of four on five.
The book starts with the background to the war and the events leading up to it; how the French initially had an upper hand because of the strategic support by some of the native American tribes; the differences of opinion between the French generals Montcalm and Marquis Vanderuil which started the downfall of the French in the war. It goes on to describe the strategies employed by William Pitt, the then Prime Minister of Great Britain and how his relentless pursuit to retain colonies in the New World led to the success of the British forces. The book ends with how this war was the beginning of the movement for American independence owing to the taxes imposed on the settlers by the British to recover the costs of war.
This book was structured very well and focused on both, the French and the British side equally and brought out the reasons for the initial success of the French, the reason for the resurgence of the British and the role of the Native American tribes in the war. I also liked it as to how the author went on to describe the consequences of this war to the British Empire. The book also gave considerable information on the personalities involved in the war, such as Montcalm, Vanderuil, Dieskau, Abercromby, Washington and Amherst.
However, I would have liked it if there was some more content on the Native American involvement and on what basis each chose their side; for the book ended it in one line stating that the Natives had to choose a side in order to protect their own strategic interests. Additionally, I have the same point to make again; what I had made earlier in my review of British History in 50 events by Hourly History; wherein, the book continues to refer to the country as England even though the war took place during the 1750s, nearly five decades after the Act of Union, 1707.
I felt the content of the book was good, for I got to know a lot about a topic which I didn't know about earlier and to be frank, when I first read the title; I imagined that this book was going to be about the Carnatic Wars; while I was aware of the war in the Americas because of a painting by Benjamin West and the eventual British victory but that was all I knew about it.
On the whole, I would award the book a rating of four on five.
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