You may remember studying the Seven Years’ War in European History, and your U.S. History class may have introduced you to the same war in the colonies, the French and Indian War. But chances are that you may not remember the significance of that war on the development of colonial unity and the future nation. Most history teachers, including me, become excited about the approaching revolution and, with limited instructional time, may quickly introduce the causes and results of the French and Indian War without building a firm foundation and linking the conflict to the gathering storm clouds.

We’re going to correct that oversight today.

The European conflict between England and France known as the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) was a continuation of their jousting for European dominance and overseas mastery. While today we consider Great Britain and France to be strong allies — and they are — there have been eras throughout history when their national goals placed them in competition. During the 75 years prior to the Seven Years’ War, England and France had met on the battlefield for extended engagements three times: King William’s War (1689-1697), Queen Anne’s War (1703-1713), and King George’s War (1744-1748). While other European nations were involved in each conflict, often as the focal point as in Queen Anne’s War, which is also known as the War of Spanish Succession (a story for another day!), England and France were the major players. It was the military clash in the North America colonies that would eventually help “turn the world upside down.”

So, why did the war extend to the colonies? What question were the warring nations trying to answer? The French and Indian War was fought to decide the future of the upper Ohio River Valley. Were those lands part of the British Empire or French Empire? While British settlers were in the majority in the contested region, the French were more “present” in exploration and trade, based on long-established alliances with the native peoples.

While both had a strong presence in the region and had managed to avoid warfare, things changed in 1749. The New France Governor-General de Blainville ordered all trading posts along the Allegheny River and the upper Ohio River to lower the British flags that flew on site, since he considered the British colonial trappers and traders to be trespassers on French lands. The British were ordered to retreat to the eastern slopes of the Appalachians; they refused, citing their historic presence in the lands. The governor-general responded in 1752 with a military attack on the British colonial trading center at Pickawillany on the upper Great Miami River. The post was destroyed, and every English-speaking trader in the upper Ohio Valley was either killed or captured in the aftermath. The colonists on the western frontier called for help in avenging the deaths and encroachments on trading regions.

How did the British colonies justify their own claims to the land?

Consider the Virginians’ claim to “their” western lands. The colonial government at Williamsburg argued that the colony’s 1609 charter included the lands of the upper Ohio and that their claim was more established than the French claim based on La Salle’s later journey down the Mississippi. The Virginia council had already granted about 2,300 square miles of land to settlers pushing westward, including families related to the Lees, Randolphs, Carters, and Washingtons.

When the news of the attacks reached the colonial capital, Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie, assured he was acting within the charter, dispatched a young George Washington to the French Fort LeBouef to warn the residents that they were based on land that belonged to Virginia. The French ignored the warning and the Ohio Company of Virginia began construction on a fort at the junction of the Allegheny and Monogahela Rivers (today’s Pittsburgh) with the pledged support of Virginia troops.

How did the French respond? Before the Virginia militia commanded by Colonel Joshua Fry could arrive, the French struck and overwhelmed the uncompleted fort. After Fry’s death in May 1754, Washington took command and hunkered down with his troops at Fort Necessity. Following an initial encounter in which a French scouting party was taken captive while their commander was killed, the French laid siege to Fort Necessity. Outnumbered two to one, Washington chose to surrender the fort and withdraw south while the colonial government appealed to London and King George II.

After first refusing to honor the request from the Virginians, the king ordered British General Edward Braddock to Virginia to push the French from the Ohio Valley region while British Admiral Edward Boscawen would block the Gulf of the St. Lawrence to prevent France from sending reinforcement to the region.

The war was on.