Big Picture

Questions

1. What was so significant about the war that occurred in the 1750s?
2. How is the French and Indian War related to the Seven Years' War?
3. What did the three groups of victor believe they had secured with their success?
4. What were the consequences of France losing the war?

Answers

1. Three different empires -- the British, the French, and the Iroquois League -- all wanted to be in control of the interior of the North American continent.
2. The French and Indian War is sometimes seen as an extension of the global struggle that was happening between the great European powers of the time. It's more than that. (Specifically, it started in 1754, while the Seven Years War started in 1756.)
3. British: believed they had established a claim to the whole of the interior of the North American continent. Indians: believed they had secured their political rights to their own territory. Americans: believed they had opened up a western frontier.
4. They lost almost all hold on the North American continent, made the British into even more permanent rivals, and acquired a taste for revenge.